St. Teresa of Avila and Watering the Garden
Common Stages in the Spiritual Journey: Early Wisdom from St. Teresa of Avila
The spiritual journey has some different elements to it than many of us learned about when we were growing up. We may have been taught how to pray for other people (known as intercessory prayer) and learned that we should do that. Beyond intercessory prayer, small group Bible studies, and attending worship, we were not exposed to many ways to deepen our Christian identity. A growing awareness in the Church is learning prayer practices which can help us awaken to God’s wonderful love pulsing in us and through us.
For most of us, beginning the spiritual journey requires we commit to the inconvenience of making a new habit, forming a discipline. Many faithful Christians have not been taught or ever expected to incorporate prayer practices into their daily lifestyles. Happily, that expectation is changing.
St. Teresa of Avila and Watering the Garden
St. Teresa of Avila was a Carmelite nun in Spain during the same time that Martin Luther lived in Germany, in the 16th century. Her contemporaries also included St. John of the Cross and Ignatius of Loyola, both also in Spain. Teresa and Luther (and John and Ignatius) were busy trying to reform the Church of the day. Luther got booted out of the Roman Catholic Church altogether; Teresa had to explain herself to the Spanish Inquisition. She wrote her first book, The Book of Her Life, to describe her theology and faith practices to the Inquisitors. At this point in her life and career, she used the metaphor of watering a garden to describe the spiritual journey. Read how she describes it in The Book of Her Life:
Beginners must realize that in order to give delight to the Lord they are starting to cultivate a garden on very barren soil, full of abominable weeds. His Majesty pulls up the weeds and plants good seed. Now let us keep in mind that all of this is already done by the time a soul is determined to practice prayer and has begun to make use of it. And with the help of God we must strive like good gardeners to get these plants to grow and take pains to water them so that they don’t wither but come to bud and flower and give forth a most pleasant fragrance to provide refreshment for this Lord of ours. Then He will often come to take delight in this garden and find His joy among these virtues.
The First Stage
When we first begin, it feels laborious to discipline ourselves to spend time in prayer each day—it feels like harder work than we think it should be. Teresa likens this first stage to watering the garden using a bucket to draw water out of a well. If we were watering a garden with a bucket and well, we would have to dip the bucket into the well, draw the heavy bucket up with the rope, carry it to the garden and water the plants. Then, we would walk back over to the well, let down the bucket, draw it up again, walk back to the garden and pour it on the plants. Over and over we would make that trip to give the garden all the water it needs. Similarly, when we first begin the spiritual journey and changing our habit, it can feel like an awkward and difficult task. It is only the first stage. Do not let such an inconvenience keep you from the rich and gracious life our good Lord has for your soul.
Beginners in prayer, we can say, are those who draw water from the well. This involves a lot of work on their own part, as I have said. They must tire themselves in trying to recollect their senses. Since they are accustomed to being distracted, their recollection requires much effort. They need to get accustomed to caring nothing at all about seeing or hearing, to practicing the hours of prayer, and thus to solitude and withdrawal—and to thinking on their past life.
The Second Stage
After some time in this first stage, we will find that the journey is becoming a little easier and we can experience some times when we feel quite connected to God and blessed by this time alone with our Lord. Teresa likens it to now being able to fill our bucket from a water wheel where we have a little less work to do. The water wheel fills the bucket for us and we do not experience as much labor as when we filled it ourselves from the well.
As she described it:
Here the soul begins to be recollected and comes upon something supernatural because in no way can it acquire this prayer through any efforts it may make. . . Here the water is higher, and so the labor is much less than that required in pulling it up from the well. I mean that the water is closer because grace is more clearly manifest to the soul.
Common Stages in the Spiritual Journey: Early Wisdom from St. Teresa of Avila
The spiritual journey has some different elements to it than many of us learned about when we were growing up. We may have been taught how to pray for other people (known as intercessory prayer) and learned that we should do that. Beyond intercessory prayer, small group Bible studies, and attending worship, we were not exposed to many ways to deepen our Christian identity. A growing awareness in the Church is learning prayer practices which can help us awaken to God’s wonderful love pulsing in us and through us.
For most of us, beginning the spiritual journey requires we commit to the inconvenience of making a new habit, forming a discipline. Many faithful Christians have not been taught or ever expected to incorporate prayer practices into their daily lifestyles. Happily, that expectation is changing.
St. Teresa of Avila and Watering the Garden
St. Teresa of Avila was a Carmelite nun in Spain during the same time that Martin Luther lived in Germany, in the 16th century. Her contemporaries also included St. John of the Cross and Ignatius of Loyola, both also in Spain. Teresa and Luther (and John and Ignatius) were busy trying to reform the Church of the day. Luther got booted out of the Roman Catholic Church altogether; Teresa had to explain herself to the Spanish Inquisition. She wrote her first book, The Book of Her Life, to describe her theology and faith practices to the Inquisitors. At this point in her life and career, she used the metaphor of watering a garden to describe the spiritual journey. Read how she describes it in The Book of Her Life:
Beginners must realize that in order to give delight to the Lord they are starting to cultivate a garden on very barren soil, full of abominable weeds. His Majesty pulls up the weeds and plants good seed. Now let us keep in mind that all of this is already done by the time a soul is determined to practice prayer and has begun to make use of it. And with the help of God we must strive like good gardeners to get these plants to grow and take pains to water them so that they don’t wither but come to bud and flower and give forth a most pleasant fragrance to provide refreshment for this Lord of ours. Then He will often come to take delight in this garden and find His joy among these virtues.
The First Stage
When we first begin, it feels laborious to discipline ourselves to spend time in prayer each day—it feels like harder work than we think it should be. Teresa likens this first stage to watering the garden using a bucket to draw water out of a well. If we were watering a garden with a bucket and well, we would have to dip the bucket into the well, draw the heavy bucket up with the rope, carry it to the garden and water the plants. Then, we would walk back over to the well, let down the bucket, draw it up again, walk back to the garden and pour it on the plants. Over and over we would make that trip to give the garden all the water it needs. Similarly, when we first begin the spiritual journey and changing our habit, it can feel like an awkward and difficult task. It is only the first stage. Do not let such an inconvenience keep you from the rich and gracious life our good Lord has for your soul.
Beginners in prayer, we can say, are those who draw water from the well. This involves a lot of work on their own part, as I have said. They must tire themselves in trying to recollect their senses. Since they are accustomed to being distracted, their recollection requires much effort. They need to get accustomed to caring nothing at all about seeing or hearing, to practicing the hours of prayer, and thus to solitude and withdrawal—and to thinking on their past life.
The Second Stage
After some time in this first stage, we will find that the journey is becoming a little easier and we can experience some times when we feel quite connected to God and blessed by this time alone with our Lord. Teresa likens it to now being able to fill our bucket from a water wheel where we have a little less work to do. The water wheel fills the bucket for us and we do not experience as much labor as when we filled it ourselves from the well.
As she described it:
Here the soul begins to be recollected and comes upon something supernatural because in no way can it acquire this prayer through any efforts it may make. . . Here the water is higher, and so the labor is much less than that required in pulling it up from the well. I mean that the water is closer because grace is more clearly manifest to the soul.