Teresa de Jesus (of Avila)(1515-1582).

The first (...) supernatural prayer that I noticed in myself (...) is an inward concentration (...). No sense is lost here, no faculty, everything remains intact, but only for the purpose of conversing with God. (...) This concentration often produces a calmness and inner peace, in which the soul finds that there is nothing left for her to do; even speech is burdensome to her. (...) she wants nothing but love. Buber, Ecstatic Confessions, P.112-113.

The will loves more than it understands; but it does not even understand whether it loves, nor what it does, so as to be able to say it. (...) The breath is so shortened that one cannot speak, nor open one's eyes (...). Ibid., P.113.

(...) the soul with her readiness for God resembles a fire: it ignites swiftly, throws out a flame, and blazes up (...). Ibid., P.114.

It seems to me that I must call out loud and let everyone know how necessary it is for them not to be content with little, and how great is the good that God will give us if we prepare ourselves to receive it. Ibid., P.117.


I found completeness

when each breath began to silently say the name

of my Lord.

(…)

I have no seams, no walls, no laws.

My frontiers and God’s are the same.

(…)

I said to my Lord,

“this Holy place I have entered-

is Your name the only key

to this?”

And my Lord responded,

“How old do you think is existence?

For eons of time, souls have been entering Me;

every prophet’s name is a key,

as is every heart full of

forgiveness

and love.”

P.272-3.

 

He desired me so I came close.

No one can near God unless He has

prepared a bed for

you.

(…)

When I first heard His courting song, I too

looked at all I had done in my life

and said,

“How can I gaze into His omnipresent eys?”

(…)

but then He sang again, a song even sweeter, (…)

“I made you, dear, and all I make is perfect.

Please come close, for I

desire

you.”

P.274.

 

When my mouth touched His I became invisible,

the way the earth would if the sun

took it into

its arms.

The ecstatic death I know. (…)

How do we make love to God;

how does the soul make love

to God?

(…)

The heart has divine instincts;

it just needs to be turned loose in the sky.

Does not every angel know where

He lives, (…)

P.275.

 

Just these two words He spoke

changed my life,

“Enjoy Me.”

What a burden I thought I was to carry-

a crucifix, as did He.

Love once said to me, “I know a song,

would you like to hear it?”

And laughter came from every brick in the street

and from every pore

in the sky.

After a night of prayer, He

changed my life when

He sang,

“Enjoy Me.”

P.276.

 

How did those priests ever get so serious

and preach all that

gloom?

I don’t think God

tickled them

yet.

(…) P.277.

 

(…) Anxious to see you, our souls became your glory,

our eyes became your fire.

All concepts of God are like a jar

we break,

because only the infinite can

contain our perfect

love.

P.282.

 

When your soul was born,

it was like a still ocean that had yet to experience

its infinite life.

God then came to the shores of our souls and gazed upon the

immaculate splendor that His divine heart created.

He took off His clothes and dove into us.

(…)

Light baptizes life wherever it falls,

and every religion and all upn this earth

is a shadow.

A shadow may move but it has no real power of its own,

though it can affect the weak and frighten them, and men can use

that darkness to exploit others. (…)

P.283.

 

Most men in power have not the strength or wisdom

to be satisfied with the way

things are.

The sane know contentment, for beauty is their lover,

and beauty is never absent from this world.

(…)

The child blames the external and focuses his energies there;

the warrior conquers the realms within

and becomes

gifted.

Only the inspired should make decisions

that affect the lives of many,

never a man who has not held God in his arms

and become the servant of

unity.

P.286.

 

They are like shy, young school kids-time and space,

before the woman and the man who are

intimate with God.

The realized soul can play with this universe

the way a child can a ball.

A chalice-the Grail-my body became, for it held the Christ

and He drank

from me.

Sanctified are our limbs,

for every heart has touched God, though most with closed eyes.

(…)

We fear dying till we know the truth of ourselves.

(…)

There is a divine world of light

with many suns in

the sky.

I slept with my Lord

one night,

now all that is luminous

I know we

conceived.

P.287-8.

 

God stood at the shore of Himself and dove in.

How can he do things like that?

Anything goes with

the Big Guy, I

guess.

A divine splash happenened,

billions of drops were propelled into space.

(…). P.289.

 

(…)

God, like a medic on a field, is tending our souls.

Our horns get locked with desires, but don’t hold yourself

too accountable; for all desires are

really innocent. That is what

the compassion in His

eyes tells me.

(…)

What are all these insane borders we protect?

What are all these different names for the same church of love

we kneel in together? For it is true, together we live; and only

at that shrine where all are welcome will God sing

loud enough to be heard.

(…)P.290.

 

(…)

Any real ecstasy is a sign

you are moving

in the right

direction,

don’t let any prude tell

you otherwise.

P.295.

 

God

dissolved

my mind-my separation.

I cannot describe now my intimacy with Him.

How dependent is your body’s life on water and food and air?

I said to God, “I will always be unless you cease to Be,”

and my Beloved replied, “And I

would cease to Be

if you

died.”

P.298.

All the above quotes from:

Ladinsky Daniel (2002). Love Poems from God. Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. Penguin Group.

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Last updated: 2008/10/27