The Four Stages According to Saint Teresa of Avila

One the greatest works of literature to have come out of the 16th century Counter-Reformation, is the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. More than a narrative description of external events in her own life, it follows her spiritual development from the dryness of a reluctant novice to a woman so enraptured with the love God, that if we share her Faith, we can only attribute it to the supernatural. Within the narrative framework of this book, she sets out to describe the four stages of prayer, the later advancing from the earlier. A cursory Protestant reading of this, will, I think, hastily presume a modern Roman Catholic brand of works righteousness. But, I think a mature reading will see it as an honest and theological sound description of the work of Grace in one's life of prayer. For St. Teresa, the purpose of life is union with God. This is likewise the purpose of prayer. Therefore the purpose of life is union with God through prayer.

In her discussion, she uses the metaphor of a garden; the earth being the soul and the water being the understanding of Grace. She says,

“A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for His Lord's pleasure, on most unfruitful soil which abounds in weeds. His Majesty roots up the weeds and will put in good plants instead.”

The first stage consists of drawing, or attempting to draw, water from a well by one's own effort. She calls this “the First Water” or “mental prayer. In it, we withdraw our minds from the outside world, and focus our minds upon seeking penitence and meditating upon Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. This is a slow and painful stage, in which we are filled 'drop by drop'. There is considerable strain involved. But through these efforts we can draw up some of our inward understanding of Grace. She says, “We shall do alright if we walk in righteousness and cling to virtue, but we shall advance at a snail's pace. Freedom of spirit is not to be had in that way.” God has placed the water in the well of our garden. At other times, the well is dry and we must await more water. It is not helpful or healthy to grasp at the water that isn't there. We must wait for the well to again fill up before we can again draw water. God sometimes suspends our understanding. We must accept this. We must wait and prepare our garden for the life sustaining water. This stage, or beginning method is useful at first, and all men will have to fall back on it in their prayer life, but it is the lowest stage and least effective.

The stages of prayer, I think, correlate with the stages in our personal sanctification. According to the process outlined in by St. Paul, this 'First Water' correlates with Gal. 2:17-19. In apprehending Christ, in his Sacrifice, we are made aware of our sinfulness and are made capable of faith. If we don't hold the Reformed doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints, we believe that we can go back to this stage continually throughout our lives, even after our Baptism. St. Teresa admits that she from time to time falls back to this stage, and indeed, all men do. She says,

“The soul's growth is not like the body's (…). A child that has grown up and whose body has formed does not shrink and become small again. But this may, by Lord's will, happen to the soul, a I know by my own experience.”

Still maintaining the metaphor of a garden, she describes the second stage as drawing water by means of a “windlass” (which evidently is a kind of pulley). In this way we are aided, by God, in our drawing of understanding. This is the “prayer of quiet”. Much less labor is now required, “the soul becomes recollected”, and one begins “to come in contact with the supernatural. One still strains but the burden is much less. We are starting to be won over by the divine and we have a greater and more frequent understanding of things. “On arriving at this state, the soul begins to lose desire for earthly things.” We begin to become detached. There are fewer and fewer distractions. We are given over to a state of quietude. After our justification, we begin our process of sanctification. We are given over to Christ and are are transformed, through Him, into more perfect people. In this stage, we are interiorly made aware of our transformation.

The third stage is described as a garden which has been irrigated. We no longer must continually strain but leave our soul open to understanding. The Lord takes over our work and becomes a gardener Himself. We are essentially enraptured and in a state of perfect joy. The garden is beginning to flower. “The soul 's humility is now greater and more profound than it was before. It clearly sees that it has done nothing except consent to the Lord's granting it graces, and embraces it with its will.” Like the Eastern hesychasts, St. Teresa admits that a perfect union with God is possible in this lifetime, at least temporarily. This stage is almost a complete union, except that one is conscious of this rapture.

The fourth stage is this union. She likens it to rain falling upon the garden. We make no effort, no strain. We are completely enraptured. This rapture is a result of a perfect, though, temporary union with God. It is a special grace. She compares the union with God to a blazing fire and the state of one's soul to slug of iron. In this fire the iron slug will change its nature and glow. This is the soul enraptured. Both Martin Luther and Thomas a Kempis use similar analogies to describe the union of man and God. In this state we can no longer consciously analyze our experience. In this way it differs from the third stage, though it is contingent on that earlier stage. Such a stage is brief. St. Teresa herself says he has only experienced it for periods of less than an half hour. In this stage, time, memory and imagination melt away, leaving one only in the presence of God. It is as if one has been lifted into heaven. What an amazing thing this must be – to be swept into such ecstasy! This has been the goal of mystical prayer, even before the rise of the Church. The Hindu The Upanishads are all about this sort of union and so is the entire Buddhist ascetic tradition. But what makes St. Teresa's and the broader Carmelite tradition different is its center in Christ, it focus on humility, and waiting. It is centered Biblically and I believe, it is based in something authentic, something that St. Teresa and countless saints have experienced.