Martha and Mary Walk Together

Sometimes in this 'prayer of quiet' the Lord grants another favor which is very difficult to understand if there is not a great deal of experience. But if there is some experience, the one who receives it will immediately understand. It will be a great consolation for you to know what it is, and I believe God often grants this favor together with the other one. When this quiet is great and lasts for a long while, it seems to me that the will wouldn't be able to remain so long in that peace if it weren't bound to something. For it may happen that we will go about with this satisfaction for a day or two and will not understand ourselves - I mean those who experience it - and they definitely see that they are not wholly in what they are doing, but that the best part is lacking, that is, the will. The will, in my opinion, is then united with its God, and leaves the other faculties free to be occupied in what is for His service - and they then have much more ability for this. But in worldly matters, these faculties are dull and at times as though in a stupor.

This is a great favor for those to whom the Lord grants it; the active and the contemplative lives are joined. The faculties all serve the Lord together: the will is occupied in its work and contemplation without knowing how; the other two faculties serve in the work of Martha. Thus Martha and Mary walk together.

I know someone whom the Lord often placed in this state. She didn't know what to make of it and asked a great contemplative. He answered that the experience was very possible, that it had happened to him. Thus, I think that because the soul is so satisfied in this 'prayer of quiet' the faculty of the will remains more continually united with Him who alone can satisfy it.

- St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, 31:4,5