the inner peace: bathed in bliss

[Guest guest]

theresa of avila [xvi century spanish mystic]

(camino de perfecion) chap.53

(my clumsy translation from french)

 

3. it is like a drowsiness, inner and outer, so that the

body does not want to move; as one who has arrived at the

end of her journey wants to rest, and senses in her body a

great delight and a deep peace; the soul is so happy just

to feel so close to the fountain that before drinking from

it, it is already quenched; it seems that it has nothing

left to desire: the powers (impulses/thoughts/passions?)

are totally appeased and would not like to stir; yet these

are not suspended, because they can think of "him" whom

they are close to; it is a peaceful thought. those in this

state would like the body not to move, so that they are not

disturbed; their thought is one and not multiple; they

hardly can talk; they will spend one hour to say just one

prayer. god and the soul are so close to each other that they can

understand with signs. those people are in the palace, by the king's

side; they are in his kingdom because the lord has already started to

grant it to them in this world. sometimes tears come to their eyes,

but they shed them painlessly and with a great softness; they have no

desire but to see this name sanctified. it seems that they are no

more in the world, they neither want to see it or to hear it, but to

see and hear only their god. nothing saddens them and no one, it

seems, can give them pain.