Continuing on the Prayer of Recollection

Now to return to what I was saying. I would like to know a way of explaining how this holy fellowship with our Companion, the Saint of saints, may be experienced without any hindrance to the solitude enjoyed between the soul and its Spouse when the soul desires to enter this paradise within itself to be with its God and close the door to all the world. I say 'desires' because you must understand that this recollection is not something supernatural, but that it is something we can desire and achieve ourselves with the help of God 0 for without this help we can do nothing, not even have a good thought. This recollection is not a silence of the faculties; it is an enclosure of the faculties within the soul.

The soul gains from this recollection in many ways as is written in some books [on mental prayer. Since I'm speaking only of how vocal prayer should be recited well, there's no reason to say so much. What I'm trying to point out is that we should see and be present to the one with whom we speak without turning our backs on Him, for I don't think speaking with God while thinking of a thousand other vanities would amount to anything else but turning our backs on Him. All the harm comes from not truly understanding t hat He is near, but in imagining Him as far away. And indeed how far, if we go to heaven to seek Him! Now, is Your face such, Lord, that we should not look at it when You are so close to us? How will we know whether You've heard what we're saying to You? This alone is what I want to explain: that in order to acquire the habit of easily recollecting our minds and understanding what we are saying, and with whom we are speaking, it is necessary that the exterior senses be recollected and that we give them something with which to be occupied. For indeed we have heaven within ourselves since the Lord of heaven is there.]

We must, then, disengage ourselves from everything so as to approach God interiorly and even in the midst of occupations withdraw within ourselves. Although it may be for only a moment that I remember I have that Company within myself, doing so is very beneficial. In sum, we must get used to delighting in the fact that it isn't necessary to shout in order to speak to Him, for His Majesty will give the experience that He is present.

- St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, 29:4, 5