Season 8: "Let Us Pray"(Day 4): Interior Castle by St Teresa of Avila (Mansion 4)| Fr Sony CMI

so I'm going to in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit AB father We Praise You To You worship and glorify thank you Father for this wonderful day given us thank you Father for the zoom meeting Lord great is your mercy Great Is Your Love Lord for your bringing us again again Lord to teach us and to lead us into a deeper Union with you Lord we pray oh lord lord circumcise our hearts Lord so that we may love you with all our heart Lord pour out your grace Upon Us Lord so that we may have a perfect union and relation and communion with the Holy Spirit oh holy spirit take complete control holy spirit about this Zoom session especially s father so your hands we under all the participant we under all the people who who are watching to the YouTube Lord pour out your grace Lord pour out your grace Lord remove all the hindrances Lord that is not allowing us to have a deeper relationship with you Lord fill us Lord fill us with your holy SP and Fire Lord we pray this in Jesus name amen so let us all unmute and pray this prayer together heavenly father in the name of Jesus Heavenly Father the name of Jesus cover us with the blood of your son of son heavenly father in the name of Jesus father of Jesus build the wall of fire around us fire around us heavenly father in the name of Jesus Heaven father father in the name of Jesus Jesus let your angels encamp around us day and night let your angels angels en US and Night Holy Spirit we welcome you Spirit we welcome you teach us lead us and guide us in Jesus name us us guide us in Jesus name Heavenly Father wash my spiritual and physical senses with the blood of Jesus father my senses your blood of Jesus and fill my physical and spiritual senses with your Holy Spirit and spiritual senses with your Holy Spirit Dear Mother Mary we cons Our Lives into your hands please session into your hands pray for us and pray with us that we be filled with the Holy Spirit All Saints and Angels pray for us let us pray the together the Lord is with you [Music] bless hay [Music] amen all the glory be to the father and to the Son and the Holy Spirit am to you father yeah thank you very much for the great prayer I'm just uh applauding it uh for presentation so we are in the fourth mention now we finished the third mention last week I mean yesterday um so we are just beginning the uh last I mean uh fourth Mansion I was working on it today with a little bit of change of uh the uh text and everything so she Begins the fourth Mansion uh by saying I'm interesting uh myself to the holy spirit that he will speak in my in her place from here so that you may understand properly in the sense she previously also she had offered herself to the Holy Spirit when she wanted to talk to the sisters with regard to the internal Journey but here particularly at the time of uh uh the fourth Mansion she says um this she is doing because uh in the fourth Mansion Supernatural experiences begin so whatever she may be saying maybe uh she may understand it properly but she may find it difficult to explain so she is asking the Holy Spirit to speak on her behalf and uh that is how she begins this fourth mansion and she says closer to the dwelling greater Beauty for The Dwelling Places so when we are reaching further you know we are reaching for far into our own soul we are closer to the dwelling of the uh the place where God resides God stays so there the beauty of the whole place you know the wall everything is far greater and so it is so delicate that the intellect may not be able to uh capture the whole thing intellect may be incapable of finding words also to express it so so much is the beauty that she says for those not experienced whenever she says this it may be incomprehensible it may they may not be able to understand it properly and for those she says who have some experience in this regard they may be able to understand it easily so she says up to third Mansion there are quite a number of people in the world but when it comes to the uh fourth Mansion uh since it is uh the you know the inexpressible experiences are coming uh she says that it is not easy for us to comprehend it and she again says those who reached the fourth Mansion would feel that we spent much time in the second and third and first Mansions uh but she says there is no particular rule no you reached the third Mansion or you stayed there for five years so there is uh it is time for you to go further there is no rule like that and why she says the Lord gives the grace to go further as he desires as he Wills because everything belongs to him inter interiorly everything belongs to him so it is not in Justice you know the way the Lord is telling in the gospel for those who came at the 11th Hour also received one Dinara one dinar so that means that those who came at the last minute as well as those who came early are getting the one din which is God himself so it is nothing to be justified in the eye of a uh God you know it is not an injustice that God is doing he says she says and she says in this Mansion poisonous ctures are creatures are rare very rare if at all they appear they are for the benefit of Grace for us Us in the sense see the second sentence there if Temptations are not there there is the danger of being deceived by Satan on the spiritual Delights given by God and that is much more harmful because some people say you know uh you know father Daniel he's a great preacher he says those who are going to God may be praying for certain gifts and if you are aiming for gifts only you are not uh uh doing properly gifts are only a byproduct of what God gives you are you have to aim for God himself and you are the dwelling place of God and he Compares this with the people who are going for uh a mill to uh to get oil you know they dry the coconut and they go to a mill to extract the coconut from extract the oil from the coconut so after extracting he says many people want only the remains you know the waste remaining that is those are the um blessings but God would like to give himself to us but we don't want God we need only the blessings so that way we are doing not um the one God the one dinari God would offer himself you know so and what is the problem here uh the third sentence here in this the soul would not gain much and will be lost in absorption you know if we are looking for um the blessings um there is the danger of being deceived by said on spiritual Delights spiritual Delights please keep that word spiritual Delight in the sense you know some people get a joy in while praying some people get a a a peace while praying an enjoyment you know shivering of all those things you know in this the soul would not gain much and will be lost in absorption if we are aiming for that again and again oh oh that Joy experience absorb will be there and that is dangerous she says and fourth sentence also in this state of human life Spirit cannot stay for long continually she says um in this state of human life he she says this Spirit no spiritual life cannot stay for long continually you know we may feel that you know um many people say that also Holy Spirit and the grace of Holy Spirit as um um jessen was putting up the day before yesterday I think um the benefits of uh praising and worshipping H you mentioned an example from um the book of uh Mr Anthony brother Anthony you said it is like a hand pump um praise and ship you know in in tongues it's like a hand pump when we pump water reaches a level and if you don't do the praise and worship in tongue for a day it may be going down and we may need to begin from Far Below and if you miss one day the same way the spirit of God cannot stay in the human life in the same status for long time and uh so again this losing in absorption is the danger Satan will always tempt us oh go for that experience go for that experience and that is dangerous she says and again yesterday I told you to note down that word consolations again she's explaining much more about consolations here she says we acquire consolations through our own meditations petitions and they proceed from our own nature you know because we hard pray we do um we don't do commit sin and we try to be holy we try to do charity work so there is a consolation given by God through our effort obviously God she says God has a hand in them because all goodness come from God and read the second sentence they arise from virtuous work not only in prayer you know there is this type of a happiness or Joy or consolation she's giving some examples from the world where we also get a consolation you know example the see in inheriting I lost a tea there in inheriting inheriting a fortune uh we see a person who loves very much you know accidentally we come across a person on the road who loves us very much and we have a success in business and many people talk about our success in business seeing a husband or wife after a long time when you after you heard that they were dead you know and you came across that person so there is a flow of tears and you feel so much joy in the world so due to this um worldly experiences also we get some happiness joy consolation Etc so so she categorizes three type of experiences here one is consolation we receive from God for all what we do for god um through our prayer petitions and all pray or prayerful charity work we do in the name of God so we ardly do them and uh receive a consolation and second type of um happiness we receive is just without any uh spiritual aspect to it we work hard uh lovingly in the world and we get a certain type of consolation like inheriting a fortune we see a person who loves very much success in business which is appreciated by others seeing a husband or wife when you heard that they were dead all those things but she says there is a gradation for the worldly consolations it stays very low and for the consolations we receive from God through our um prayers and our devotion that is a still upward grade and the last one the third number which is mentioned here spiritual Delights is is something else and spiritual Delights are gifts given by God himself without any of our effort you know all all on a sudden God pours something onto your soul and we need to look for that she says and she says but spiritual Delights I'm just changing this uh is because spiritual Delights begin in God and we en we do enjoy them more she says the diff the main difference is that spiritual Delights begin in God but all our consolations are beginning in us and since our prayers reach God we get them so there is a big difference between spiritual delight and consolations consolations are certain things we work hard we do quite a number of prayers we do so there is a consolation received from God because of our hard work but spiritual Delights are a gift from God and we do enjoy them more than the consolations he says and if you consider Psalm 19 number 32 Psalm 119 number 32 do you want to read it J Psalm please I run the way of your Commandments for you enlarge my understanding yeah see in many other translations instead of understanding it is said you enlarge my heart I run the way of your Commandments for you enlarge my heart if you read number 30 uh 34 give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart so she says there is a lot to do with enlarging of our heart you know that word enlarging instead of that she uses the word dialect you know dilation very much doctors would know what is dilation and we we all would know what is dilation dilation is enlarging of you know when we dilate our eyes our retina get En gets enlarged so dilation of heart is something God works in us when God's love is being poured on to us and only because uh we get that dilation of heart from God we are able to comprehend the mighty presence in our soul that would be the meaning she would later on convey to us so uh let us hope for uh being enlarged by God's word of God so that we may get his presence uh uh stayed in us um third number in this uh page is uh works we do for God may bring tears in our eyes but they are at times um because of our own passion Jesus you know and the the prayers we do in the consolations We compare prayers we do and sometimes when we pray there is tears coming out of our eyes um all those she says maybe because of our own passion it may not be because always coming from God so there is a big difference she's again comparing these two type of spiritual experiences she says in the number four she's unable to explain it and she finds herself uh very small in comprehending and explaining these things but at the same time she is trying to do that see number five consolations and sweetness she says at times consolations and spiritual Delights she says at other times sweetness is beginning in God and ending in us spiritual Delights are the same beginning in God source is God and ends in us but consolations are what we receive from God when we do quite a number of hard spiritual realities and she says about her experience uh number six weeping about p of Christ I would get acute headache very difficult she would survive she says as if your head is going to be broken so also when she weeps about her sins she would get this type of uh um sweet experiences different experiences and she says this was my Lord's favor to me this was a type of a sweetness a spiritual Delight give to her from God and she says she doesn't want to compare this now Much Anymore uh these tears and pain are partly from our own nature and temperament she says since they are directed towards God they are to be valued you know she she doesn't degrade them as not to have any consolations from God because of our hard work and everything but she says since they are directed towards God we have to take them seriously those experiencing are to be humble enough to not to consider them better you know because we have these spiritual consolations received because of our devotions and all we shouldn't we should be very humble to accept that we are not a better person we are not becoming a better person because we have these type of uh experiences I don't know if I told you this um there was this man who told me who when he taught us he told that uh uh there are there is a he taught us a type of counseling counseling called co-counseling co-counseling Co counseling is a time when I spent 10 minutes speaking my my pain struggle and everything to another person when he or she listens to me and after listening carefully after listening lovingly she then begins to tell 10 minutes uh her issues to me so we uh share these times together and she says and and he the man who taught us says tears are coming out of our eyes uh when we may be sneezing all those excretions will be coming out of our faces so these type of experiences may be there in some type of prayers as we all know very well I have this small type of experience when I uh pray Rosary or when I praise and worship or when I do meditation on the word of God I sometimes YN too much yarning too much tears come out of my eyes too much much but that doesn't mean that I'm a better person it it is a a glimpse of God's love being called on to me and she says you know number two here is this out of love of God we do not know is is it out of my love for God we do not know sometimes this may not be shees out of our love for God it it may be some kind of passion within us uh may be making this happen and number three it is important to pursue in this intellectual exercise since nothing else is given to them you know these prayers or meditation on the word of God anything we need to intellectually pursue this you know this intellectual pursuit of a spiritual journey was initially proposed by um uh St uh uh ignatious of Lola which is many a Time practiced by Many religious sisters and fathers which is also called ignation method of prayer which is again called discursive prayer Etc recently we conducted a retreat here on ignatian spirituality ignan methodology of prayer Etc and the priest one father savior from nearby he said only after attending this intellectual pursuit of prayer the the producers of you know you have heard about the the new web series called uh chosen the chosen in America um that is a very very very good web series on the life of Jesus from mainly from the gospels so that production company was started just after the intellectual discursive um uh ignation prayer methodology he was touched by that so the point Mother Teresa AA is making here is even if it is intellectual Pursuit and hard work and learning the word of God blah blah blah all those things we should continue that because nothing better is given to them nothing better is given to us um the last number four but they should do the following also with all these uh she says they should do the following also what are they praising God is important you know the the aspect of praising God has reached the Catholic prayer I think only recently when um this charismatic spirituality has been given to us particularly that word praising and all it was there you know in all the prayers in the masses and all we clearly mentioned let the father be praised in the name of Father Etc all was there but exact praising worshiping and everything came to be more more prevalent only recently rejoicing in goodness in his good in God's goodness rejoicing oh how good is God you know all those um prayers are helpful Desiring his honor and Glory you know in all my activities God may be glorified whatever happening in my life God may be glorified that type of an attitude and next thing is making acts of love you know charity work in the name of God in the name of Jesus and he says these will awaken the will these will Enlighten the mind this will um give more joy to the Mind of a person rather than not only just pursuing the intellectual work of a prayer these type of uh praising and worshiping and making acts of Love Will awaken the will and number two she says be careful when God provides sweetness do not deny it for the sake of the completion of meditation you know when there are so many steps in the process of meditation and some people say oh I have to complete uh if there is an intervention of God coming to us giving some sweetness please follow the sweetness and enjoy that she says and she says the important thing is not to think much but to love much so do so so do that which stirs stirs Your Love so over these years we may have practiced so many prayers but we need to now consider what has stirred our love for God what has improved our love for Jesus what has improved our love for the world has it ever done that and she says perhaps we do not know what is what love is that is also a big danger these days these days it was relentlessly talking to us uh talking to me and various other places this is a world when people have started to uh feel that love has been uh paralyzed there is no love anymore we do quite a number of things for earning money earning uh Glory uh Power Etc but lack of Love is very much uh prevailing these days uh I I would I would like to share an example with you with regard to uh uh love I remember we uh last year when I came to this place chalaki after a retreat we sat together in the evening having meal and everything so uh after lunch when we were about to wash the plate this intense thought is coming to my mind who taught you to love who taught you to love oh that was disturbing me quite uh badly so I told my Superior um this question is repeatedly coming to my mind who taught me you to love then he said to me Sony I will answer that question I think that question is directed towards me immediately he got the point uh God meant there so he started his own story he said when he was 6 years old it happened that they had a big property and uh um he was uh uh staying I don't know if I told you this they were staying in uh um North Kola they had a big property and all there was this field where quite a number of cows were there so the six-year-old was given the job in the evening uh to Grace the cows in the backyard so he having a just a a shorts no nothing top was there he went taking the cows to the the power is gone I'm sorry can you hear properly yes Father yeah so after gracing the cows after some time it rained so what happened this six-year-old boy did not think much about um cows and all he came home uh to the house and what happened the cows went and bit many other plants tapioca plants and everything the father was quite Furious so he caught hold of the child beat him black and blue so in that fear in that sadness he slept uh soon on The Veranda of the house next morning mother gave him a shirt and with that shirt she went he went to to to church for celebrating Mass so in the church celebration went on mass was there but after the mass everybody left the place but this child six-year-old child is not going so what happened the priest came and he saw the child sitting there and he asked the child what what are you doing here the child this priest now told pointing towards the uh Christ uh crucifixion he said Christ got more beatings than I did Christ got more beatings than I did he repeatedly says that he Christ got more beatings than I did so the priest understood what happened because the priest knows the father already he was very angry man he knows so what the priest did priest took the little one uh on his shoulder uh went to his uh uh dining hall shared his breakfast with the half of the put and Curry was given to him and they and he says and the priest father Matthew my Superior says that was the moment he experienced the love of the father through Jesus only who is a priest there so in in uh John chapter 6:45 we read we should all be taught by God we should all be taught by God so in the context when thees of AA is saying perhaps we do not know what love is we need to send or dedicate our heart to the Lord dilate my heart and let me feel let me understand the love of God we need to say that and love is not uh not in great Delight she says you know when we get get a lot of delight Happiness joy love is not not in that one he she says but in Desiring God with strong determination if we have a strong determination to love God we we have somewhere other experienced love she says and number three what are the signs of our love for God she says we have strong desire to please God in everything we have strong desire not to offend God as far as possible AAP as far as possible we have a desire not to offend God as far as possible we have a strong decision to strive for the glory of of his son and the spread of the Catholic Church she says these are the signs of real love she says and he says don't um don't think that the most important thing is to be not to be disturbed by other thoughts and if so All Is Lost you know many people come to complain to us for the confession and everything father I couldn't concentrate on the mass I couldn't concentrate on my rosary all thoughts were coming to my mind and she says that is not the important thing in prayer and she says she was also struggling due to influx of thoughts thoughts were disturbing her badly she gives an example before four years she came to know the difference between imagination and understanding since understanding is a faculty of the Soul it may stay idle like a love d you know our understanding may stay idle like a do thoughts are but very active only God can make them still you know we know that thoughts come to our mind but our concentration in the mass will be there and when the faculties of Soul are stilled by God and my thoughts were all over the place he says she was puzzled and she she had that great consult in Mass but all over the Mind thoughts were moving in and out uh she felt that she was connected to God but thoughts were disturbing her she was puzzled so uh this this is all I have prepared for today because um I I couldn't do much more much more than this also this is itself is very intense I think uh so this is all what I have for us today um can I stop uh presenting and ask for questions yes any any questions um so let us all unmute and praise and worship the Lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah PR [Music] praise father praise father father [Music] h prise praise praise praise praise thank you Father thank you Jesus thank you holy spirit thank thank you Jesus thank you holy spirit thank you thank you Jesus thank you Holy Spirit than thank you for this togetherness and please remember me in your prayers these days so that the Holy Spirit as she prayed herself Holy Spirit may be inspired May inspire me to to uh receive the message for you um for you in the sense whatever individually would like to hear Holy Spirit may talk to me so that I may speak to you um so I I I dedicate my prayer to you also um so the grace of the father uh Fellowship of the Son and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and always and forever amen amen father while praying I got this verse uh that is try for spiritual gifts especially you may prophecy especially that you may prophecy when St Paul says so I think we have to pray for spiritual gifts but the love of God should be a focus yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah father for this wonderful class thank you Holy Spirit for leading us and teaching us all the glory be to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit praise the Lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah