Chapter IV. Raptures
Stanbrook Abbey translation, Thomas Baker third edition, 1921
Teresa of Ávila and Benedict Zimmerman
20. She considers it a great favour when God sends her this rapture in secret, for when others see it the shame and confusion she feels are so great as somewhat to diminish her transport. Knowing the malice of the world, she fears her ecstasy will not be attributed to its proper cause but may give rise to rash judgment instead of the praise due for it to God. Although this pain and distress are unavoidable, they seem to me to show a certain want of humility, for if she wished to be despised, what would she care?286
21. Our Lord once said to some one who was troubled by such thoughts: ‘Do not be disturbed; people will either praise Me or condemn thee; in either case thou wilt be the gainer.’287 I learnt afterwards that she was greatly encouraged and comforted by this speech; I speak of it in case others may suffer in the same way. Apparently our Lord would have all men know that this soul is His own and that none may molest it, for it is all His. Men are welcome to attack, if they will, the body, the honour, and the possessions of such a person, for glory will accrue to His Majesty from all they do; but the soul they may not assail; unless by a most culpable presumption it withdraws from the protection of its Spouse, He will defend it against the whole world and against all hell besides.
22. I do not know whether I have succeeded in teaching you what a rapture is; to explain it fully would, as I said, be impossible. Still I do not think time has been lost in describing a genuine rapture. The effects in false raptures are very different. I do not call them ‘false’ because people who experience them intentionally deceive others, but because they are themselves unwittingly deceived. As the signs and effects do not correspond with this great grace, the favour itself becomes so discredited that naturally, when our Lord afterwards bestows it on any soul, nobody believes in it. May He be for ever blessed and praised! Amen, Amen!
Source notes
Castle, M. vii. ch. iii. 4. Way of Perf. ch. xxxviii. 1. Excl. xiv. 3. Life, ch. xl. 27.
Life, ch. xvi. 6. Rel. i. 4.
Ibid. ch. xx. 5, 6.
Life, ch. xxxi. 15. St. John of the Cross in stanza xiii. 8. of the Spiritual Canticle, refers to this and the following chapters. ‘This,’ he says, ‘is an appropriate opportunity for discussing the difference between raptures, ecstasies, and other elevations and subtle flights of the spirit, to which spiritual persons are liable; but as my object is to do nothing more than explain this canticle, I leave the subject for those who are better qualified than I am. I do this the more readily because our mother, the blessed Teresa of Jesus, has written admirably on this matter, whose writings I hope to see soon published,’