The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

Excerpt: ...I wish now to go on with the story of my life. Our Lord grant that I have been clear enough in what I have hitherto said! I feel assured that he will understand me who has had experience herein, and that he will see I have partially succeeded; but as to him who has had no such experience, I should not be surprised if he regarded it all as folly. It is enough for him that it is I who say it, in order to be free from blame; neither will I blame any one who shall so speak of it. Our Lord grant that I may never fail to do His will! Amen. 1 . Ch. xxv. § 26 . 2 . Ch. xv. § 6 . 3 . Ch. xxxiii. ; the foundation of the house of St. Joseph. 4 . Ch. xxv. § 23 . 5 . The Bollandists, n. 185, attribute some of the severity with which her confessor treated the Saint to the spirit of desolation with which he was then tried himself; and, in proof of it, refer to the account which F. Baltasar Alvarez gave of his own prayer to the General of the Society. 6 . See Relation, vii. § 7 . 7 . St. John of the Cross, Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch. 22, § 14. 8 . The visions of the Saint began in 1558 (De la Fuente) or, according to Father Bouix, in 1559. 9 . St. Luke xvi. 28: Ne et ipsi veniant in hunc locum tormentorum. Chapter XXVII. The Saint Prays to Be Directed by a Different Way. Intellectual Visions. 1 . I now resume the story of my life. I was in great pain and distress; and many prayers, as I said, 1 were made on my behalf, that our Lord would lead me by another and a safer way; for this, they told me, was so suspicious. The truth is, that though I was praying to God for this, and wished I had a desire for another way, yet, when I saw the progress I was making, I was unable really to desire a change,--though I always prayed for it,--excepting on those occasions when I was extremely cast down by what people said to me, and by the fears with which they filled me. 2 . I felt that I was wholly changed; I could do nothing but put myself in the hands of...