1. The lesson of a mystic

At the end of the book Interior Castle Saint Teresa reviews the meaning of Christian life, of mystical life and of the path of prayer. In making this necessary examination, she offers at one and the same time a key for interpreting the whole long process of spiritual life ⁴. Teresa's proposal begins from two basic principles. The first principle is that all the graces God bestows on us, even mystic graces, in reality pertain to the one true grace, namely, conformation to Christ in his being and action. Thus all graces tend to mould Christians who live their love for the Father and the fulfilment of his will in full unity of life. The second principle starts from a shrewd analysis of the nature of love. Real love produces «ecstasy» , i.e., being in a state of exaltation, polarized in the person. one loves; one forgets one's own life, one's own honour and rest. This is how every Christian and every con­templative should be: «How little one should think about resting, and how little one should care about honours, and how far one ought to be from wishing to be esteemed in the very least if the Lord makes His special abode in the soul» ⁵.

Teresa's vigorous cry which calls for action and forcefully asserts the necessity that union with God be translated into apostolic action is very famous: «This is the aim of prayer: this is the purpose of the Spiritual Marriage, of which are born good works and good works alone. Such works, as I have told you, are the sign of every genuine favour and of everything else that comes from God» ⁶.

In this way the fruitfulness of works must be placed at the basis of a real pedagogy of prayer «It will profit me little if I am alone and deeply recollected, and make acts of love to Our Lord and plan and promise to work wonders in His service, and then, as soon as I leave my retreat and some occasion presents itself, I do just the opposite» ⁷. Giving an outlet to prayer, linking the continuity of prayer and works is Teresa's pedagogical teaching in which one can see, with the caricature of the example used, a fundamental anxiety. There could be no clearer statement about the consistency that is needed for friendship with God, even from the point of view of loyalty to oneself, without falling into an idealism that leaves prayer in good words and thoughts, completely detached from life. And yet, to balance her observations and prevent misunderstandings that could belittle prayer, the Saint hastens to make an obvious defence of prayer and of everything in it that is an effort at a loyal confrontation with God even if works often do not seem to follow feelings with the same logic: «I was wrong when I said it [prayer] will profit me little, for anyone who is with God must profit greatly» ⁸. Saint Teresa is convinced that when prayer expresses a real desire to be with God, it always has a beneficial effect on life, in spite of the inconsistencies we meet; God himself can take us at our word and put us in a position where we have to work for him so that he may strengthen us in the very actions that before frightened us. But the ideal is to express resolutions in works, according to this elementary pedagogy­-What I meant was that the profit is small by comparison with the far greater profit which comes from conformity between our deeds on the one hand and our resolutions and the words we use on the other. Anyone who cannot achieve everything at once must progress little by little. If she wishes to find help in prayer, she must learn to subdue her own will...» ⁹.

The first service rendered to Christ and his Church is to be the Church, to be Christ: vital com­munion, friendship. A Church without prayer diminishes her essence. She mortifies her nature as a Body united to Christ the Head, as a Spouse in com­munion with Christ her Bridegroom, as a Temple from which prayer and the spiritual sacrifice of her life always rises. If we do not pray, we diminish the life of the mystical Body and our own identity which has a necessary reference to Christ And our service suffers too. Our word is not prophetic, our charity is weak and it is not pastoral; our very celebration of the mysteries does not ring out as a celebration of prayer. We do not let ourselves be made fruitful by God. Everything becomes monotonously human. We lack the link with the source. We are not full of the Spirit; and without the Spirit we lack the vital breath, fire, love.