Exclamations, Or Meditations of The Soul on Its God Exclamation 13 S. Teresa of Jesus of the Order of our Lady of Carmel St. Teresa of Avila ░░░░░░░░░░░░ "Written By The Holy Mother Teresa Of Jesus On Different Occasions, According To The Devotion Imparted To Her By Our Lord After Holy ComMunion. A.D. 1569." ░░░░░░░░░░░░ From the Book, "Minor Works Of St. Teresa Conceptions Of The Love Of God Exclamations, Maxims And Poems" |
Exclamations, Or Meditations of The Soul on Its God Exclamation 13 |
Exclamation XIII
[1]
[1]
1.
O my Lord, very God of mine !
"He who knows Thee not,
loves Thee not." [2]
How true this is,
but woe, ah, woe !
to those who seek not to know Thee ! [3]
The hour of death
is an hour of terror;
But, alas, alas, my Creator,
how terrific will be that day
on which Thy justice shall be executed !
Often do I think, my Saviour,
how beautiful are Thine eyes
to those who love Thee,
on whom Thou, my only Good,
dost deign to gaze with affection.
I think
but one such tender glance,
bent on those
Thou holdest as Thine own,
is recompense for many a year's service.
2.
Good God,
how hard it is to make this understood
by one
who has not "tasted and seen [4]
how sweet the Lord is."
O Christians, Christians,
reflect on your brotherhood
with this great God !
Realize it;
Think not lightly of it;
For His gaze is as full
of terror
for His persecutors
as
of love
for His friends.
3.
Oh !
We do not understand
that sin is a pitched battle
of all the senses and powers
of the soul
against God:
The greater the sinner's power,
the more does he scheme
to betray his King.
Thou knowest, my Lord,
that the thought of seeing
Thy divine gaze
turned on me in wrath
in that last terrible day of judgment
has often terrified me
far more than all I have heard
of the tortures and furies of hell, [5]
and
I besought Thee of Thy mercy
to save me from such misery,
as I beseech Thee now, Lord !
What evil could happen to me in this world
approaching this ?
Give me all earthly ills, my God,
but spare me this misery ! [6]
Let me
not lose my God,
nor the peaceful contemplation
of Thy beauty:
Thy Father gave Thee to us, Lord;
Let me not lose so precious a Jewel !
4.
I confess, eternal Father,
that I have kept it negligently,
but that may still be remedied.
Lord, it may be remedied
while I still dwell in this land of exile.
Foot Notes: [1] Milner, etc., Excl. XIV. _____________________ [2] 1 John iii. 6: Omnis qui peccat, non vidit eum, nee cognovit eum. _____________________ [3] "If a man loves Thee not, O Lord, he loves Thee not because he knows Thee not, and he knows Thee not because he does not understand Thee" ( St. Augustine's Soliloquies. Migne, P.L. t. xl. c. i. col. 865). _____________________ [4] Ps. xxxiii. 9: Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blog Addition: Regarding Footnote reference #4 O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: Blessed is the man that hopeth in him. [Psalm 34: 8] _____________________ [5] Castle, M. vi. ch. ix. 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blog Addition: Regarding Footnote reference # 5 What will that day be in which Thou comest as our Judge, since now, when Thou comest as a Friend to Thy spouse, the sight of Thee strikes us with such awe? O daughters! what will it be when He says in wrath: Go, accursed of my Father?' Let this impression be the result of this favour granted by God to the soul and we shall reap no little benefit from it, since St. Jerome, saint as he was, ever kept the thought of the last judgment before his eyes. Thus we shall care nothing what sufferings we endure from the austerities of our Rule, for long as they may last, the time is but a moment compared to this eternity of pain. I sincerely assure you that, wicked as I am, I have never feared the torments of hell for they have seemed to me as nothing when I remembered that the lost would see the beautiful, meek and pitiful eyes of our Lord turned on them in wrath. I have thought all my life that this would be more than my heart could bear. [ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 9: # 4 ] _____________________ [6] "Burn me, wound me, spare me not here, that Thou mayest spare me in eternity" (St. Augustine). |
End of Exclamation 13 Exclamations, Or Meditations Of The Soul On Its God S. Teresa of Jesus of the Order of our Lady of Carmel St. Teresa of Avila From the Book, "Minor Works Of St. Teresa Conceptions Of The Love Of God Exclamations, Maxims And Poems" |
Note: Attempt was made to display the quotes of the other books being cited by the editor's foot notes. But, they may not be the actual intended passages that were cited by the editor since the editions/translations used by the editor may have different paragraph numbering than those available to this blog. |
