“On the other is a man disengaged from all the senses, superior to all inclinations of degraded nature, one who lives amid flames but is not burned, who is surrounded by an ocean of lights but is not dazzled, who feels the arrows of the most perfect love but is not wounded.” -Blessed Basil Moreau’s Sermon on St. Joseph.
When I first experienced the mystery of the wound of love in a deep moment of prayer, my heart was penetrated through and through by the arrow of perfect love. In this moment of prayer, Christ “Dilatasti cor meum”—dilated my heart. My soul felt as though it were being refined in a crucible, purified to be shaped by a hammer and finally quenched into a new vessel, one with an increased capacity to love God and others. It was not until I read The Interior Castle, that I could articulate the reality of God’s gift to me. I came across the passage: “This joy is not, like earthly happiness, at once felt by the heart; after gradually filling it to the brim, the delight overflows throughout all the mansions and faculties, until at last it reaches the body.” (Mansions V.II.V) I became deeply emotional upon reading these words because I realized that my conviction was not merely a fleeting moment of passion, but an experience I shared with the Doctor of Prayer, St. Teresa.
From this moment on, St. Teresa of Avila became a mirror that guided me to Christ by reflecting the Light of God. Her desire to attain spousal unity with Christ continued to expand my heart and teach me how to love. When I reflect on my relationship with St. Teresa, my imagination is drawn to the relationship between Dante and Beatrice in Paradiso. The poet Dante is led through the glorious levels of heaven by the captivatingly beautiful Beatrice, whose face reflects the beauty of the Most Holy Trinity. Rather than traversing the great celestial heavens with Beatrice in search of the face of God, I retreat into the interior castle of my soul to discover the God who dwells in my innermost being, accompanied by St. Teresa, my spiritual mother.
Keegan Link, Holy Cross Postulant
Published 15 October 2024, Memorial of St. Teresa of Ávila
