Spiritual Ecstasy: Saturday in the Third Week of Lent

Today's Lenten Station Church is, or rather, was supposed to be the church of Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian, but it is under restoration... so we went across the street.  The kindly priest at the 'Cheisa di Santa Maria della Vittoria (Church of St Mary of Victory) opened up at 0655, just in time for us to vest quickly for a 0700 Mass.  The exterior of the Church looks like this and mirrors the Church of Susanna across the street (which would be to your left):

I wondered at the title of the Church, until I stepped inside and looked up:

You can't see it, I know.  What you can take in with your eyes when you are standing there does not even remotely come through in a blurry little BBrry photo... and I couldn't find a picture of it on the internet either, which is unfortunate.  Anyway, the apse ceiling (half-dome above the main altar) which you just barely see above the beautiful sun-burst on the wall behind the altar, is a depiction of the Battle of Prague (1648).  The Catholic victory is attributed to the intervention of our Lady and hence the title of the Church.

Even though that is the name of the church, the real reason why this church is a favourite stop for tourists, art lovers and students of the spiritual life is a famous sculpture by Bernini called 'The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa'.

Okay, to understand this sculpture you have to understand the mystical life and writings of St. Theresa. Primarily, you have to read her 'Life', that is, her spiritual autobiography, in which she tries to describe the spiritual intimacy, joy and mystical union with God that she experienced as a contemplative nun.  She was a Discalced Carmelite nun... discalced meaning to go without shoes.  Remember when Moses turned aside to see the burning bush that although it was on fire didn't burn?  The bush contained the presence and glory of God and yet was not consumed by this intense 'overshadowing' or filling with the glory of God... And the Voice from the burning bush spoke to Moses and told him to take off his shoes for the place on which he was standing was holy ground.

Firstly, that represents to us the Blessed Virgin Mary who contained within her womb the second Person of the most holy Trinity, the Son of God, and yet was not consumed or destroyed for that fact... because she was 'full of grace', as the angel Gabriel said at the Annunciation.

Secondly, every consecrated virgin and nun, and in this particular case St. Theresa of Avila (Spain) seeks to be truly holy, and to be 'discalced', meaning 'made to put off their shoes' because they find themselves in the presence of God on holy ground, united to God in that mystical union in which they are filled with his presence to the extent that a human being can be, without perishing in the process.

 All that to say, that in her spiritual autobiography which she was compelled to write by her confessor (because she was too humble to do so otherwise), St. Theresa wrote of one intense experience of God:

I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying.

And this passage became the inspiration for Bernini's statue of 'St. Theresa in Ecstasy'. Foolish interpreters of this spiritual ecstasy have often made it out to be a kind of sensual experience because that is the only thing that this carnally obsessed society can understand.  They know nothing of what St. Theresa is talking about so they try to relate it to the one thing that dominates their own thinking and then blindly attempt to equate it to their own shallow and spiritually atrophied existence. No, my friends, this is spiritual intimacy, union with God who is a consuming fire.  This is holy ground... take off your shoes.

And Mary said to the angel (Gabriel): How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.... And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.

"And that's all I want to say about that."  More later today, perhaps.  I am praying for my friends and family who are following along with my sabbatical.  May God bless you.