Prayer article #8

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies …”

by Sister Kathleen McDonagh, IWBS

Very frequently, Teresa of Avila uses images to express her thoughts on our relationship to God and on prayer – usually very simple concrete images. A well-known image in Teresa’s writing is the image of the silkworm.

The silkworm, Teresa tells us, comes from a tiny seed. When it emerges from the seed, it feeds on mulberry leaves until full grown. Then it spins a thick cocoon in which it is enclosed. And there the silkworm loses its life in order to give life to the beautiful butterfly which emerges from the cocoon (Interior Castle, “Fifth Dwelling Place,” Ch. 2, #2). This is the same thought which Jesus expressed when he said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn. 12:24). It is the pattern of the Paschal Mystery – the dying and the rising of Christ.

Dying to a former way of life – even a very good way of life – in order to rise to something new and better is a necessary condition for growth in prayer. We have to loosen our grip on our own way of doing things, stand before God with open hands, and let him lead us where he will. This is the thrust of the fifth, sixth, and seventh dwelling places in Teresa’s Interior Castle. “Whether you have little or much, He wants everything for Himself,” Teresa says (Interior Castle, “Fifth Dwelling Place,” Ch. 1, #3). And God will not be satisfied with anything less than “everything.” Only when we empty ourselves completely, can he fill us with his love.

The more we free ourselves from our own way of doing things, the greater the possibility that God will gift us with what Teresa calls “the prayer of union.” This union, Teresa tells us, is “above all earthly joys, above all delights, above all consolations, and still more than that” (Interior Castle, “Fifth Dwelling Place,” Ch. 1, #6).

And the result of it is complete change - transformation.

How transformed the soul is when it comes out of this prayer after having been placed within the greatness of God and so closely joined with Him for a little while! (Interior Castle, “Fifth Dwelling Place,” Ch. 2, #7)

As always, Teresa insists that this transformation cannot be confined to times of prayer but must carry over into acts of practical love. She is talking, not about extraordinary acts of heroism, but about the countless little opportunities that arise in our everyday life to show kindness and love to others. She tells us: “The Lord doesn’t look so much at the greatness of our works as at the love with which they are done” (Interior Castle, “Seventh Dwelling Place,” Ch. 4, #15). Let us always strive to pray and minister with love.

For reflection and prayer

1. When have I had to experience the death of something very dear to me but through this death have come to something new and better? How was the death experience for me? The new life? What do I need to let go of right now in order to come to something better? Pray with Jn. 12:24; John 20.

2. Do I realize that it is not “the greatness of our works” that counts as much as “the love with which they are done”? In what concrete ways can I live this out? Pray with John 15:9-17; First Letter to John 4:7 – 21.