8 Treats of the great good it did her not to turn from prayer completely and thereby lose her soul, and of what an excellent means prayer is for winning back what is lost. Urges all to this practice. Tells how it is so highly profitable and that even though one may abandon it again, there is great value in giving some time to so great a good.

9 Treats of the means by which the Lord began to awaken her soul and give it light amid such thick darknesses and strengthen her virtues that she might not offend Him.

10 Begins to tell about the favors the Lord granted her in prayer, of how we ourselves can help, and how important it is that we understand the graces the Lord gives us. Asks the one to whom this is sent to keep secret what she writes about from here on, for they commanded her to speak so personally about the favors the Lord grants her.

11 Tells of the reason for the failure to reach the perfect love of God in a short time. Begins to explain through a comparison four degrees of prayer. Goes on to deal here with the first degree. The doctrine is very beneficial for beginners and for those who do not have consolations in prayer.

12 Continues the discussion of this first stage. Tells how far we can get, with the help of God, through our own efforts, and about the harm that results when the spirit desires to ascend to supernatural things before the Lord grants them.

13 Continues with this first stage and gives advice concerning some temptations the devil at times causes. The advice is very helpful.

14 Begins to explain the second degree of prayer in which the Lord now starts to give the soul a more special kind of consolation. Explains how this experience is supernatural. This matter is worth noting.

15 Continues on the same subject and gives some advice about how to act in this prayer of quiet. Discusses the fact that many souls reach this prayer but few pass beyond. Knowledge of the things touched on here is very necessary and beneficial.

16 Treats of the third degree of prayer. Explains sublime matters and what the soul that reaches this stage can do and the effects produced by these great favors of the Lord. This chapter lifts the soul up in the praises of God and brings wonderful consolation to whoever reaches this stage.

17 Continues the same subject, the explanation of this third degree of prayer. Concludes the discussion of its effects. Speaks of the harm caused by the imagination and memory.

18 Discusses the fourth degree of prayer. Begins to offer an excellent explanation of the great dignity the Lord bestows upon the soul in this state. Gives much encouragement to those who engage in prayer that they might strive to attain so high a stage since it can be reached on earth, although not by merit but through God’s goodness. This should be read attentively, for the explanation is presented in a very subtle way and there are many noteworthy things.

19 Continues on the same subject. Begins to explain the effects this degree of prayer produces in the soul. Strongly urges souls not to turn back. Speaks of the harm that results from abandoning prayer. This chapter is very important and most consoling for the weak and for sinners.

20 Discusses the difference between union and rapture. Explains the nature of rapture and tells something about the good possessed by the soul that the Lord in His kindness brings to this prayer of rapture. Tells of its effects. There is much to marvel over.

21 Continues and concludes the discussion of this last degree of prayer. Tells about what the soul that experiences this prayer feels upon returning to life in the world and about the light the Lord gives it concerning the world’s illusions. It contains good doctrine.

22 Treats of how safe a path it is for contemplatives not to raise the spirit to high things unless the Lord raises it and of how the humanity of Christ must be the means to the most sublime contemplation. Tells about a mistaken theory she once tried to follow. This chapter is very beneficial.

23 Returns to the account of her life, of how she began to seek greater perfection, and by what means. For persons trying to guide souls that practice prayer it is helpful to know how these souls must proceed in the beginning. How she profited from knowing about this.

24 Continues on the same topic. Tells how her soul made progress after she began to obey, how little it helped her to resist God’s favors, and how His Majesty began giving her more perfect ones.

25 Discusses the nature of these locutions the Lord grants to the soul without the use of the sense of hearing, some of the delusions that can result from these locutions, and how one can discern when they come from God. This chapter is most helpful and gives much doctrine for those who find themselves in this degree of prayer since the matter is explained very well.

26 Continues on the same subject. Tells and explains about things that happened to her, which both caused her to lose the fear and confirmed that it was the good spirit speaking to her.

27 Treats of another way in which the Lord instructs the soul, and without speaking to it, makes His will known in a wonderful manner. Explains also a non-imaginative vision and great favor the Lord granted her. This chapter is very note worthy.

28 Deals with the great favors the Lord granted her and how He appeared to her the first time. Explains what an imaginative vision is. Tells about the remarkable effects and signs this vision leaves behind when it is from God. This is a very instructive chapter and well worth noting.

29 Continues the topic begun and tells of some great favors the Lord granted her and of some things His Majesty told her for her own assurance and so that she could answer those who contradicted her.

30 Returns to the account of her life and tells how the Lord removed many of her trials by bringing to the city in which she lived the saintly Friar Peter of Alcántara, of the order of the glorious St. Francis. Discusses the great temptations and interior trials she sometimes underwent.

31 Deals with some exterior temptations and representations of the devil and the torments he inflicted on her. Treats also of some matters very beneficial for advising persons who journey on the path of perfection.

32 Discusses how the Lord desired to put her spirit in a place in hell she had deserved because of her sins. Gives a brief account of what was shown her there. Begins to deal with the way in which the monastery of St. Joseph, where she now is, was founded.

33 Continues on the same subject, about the foundation dedicated to the glorious St. Joseph. Tells how she was ordered not to become involved with the project, of the time she abandoned it, of some trials she had, and of how the Lord consoled her.

34 Discusses how at this time it was opportune for her to leave the city. Tells about the reason and how her superior ordered her to go to console a lady of the nobility who was very distressed. Begins to deal with what happened there and the great favor the Lord granted her in making her the means by which He awakened a very eminent person to serve Him wholeheartedly, and how afterward she had this person’s support and favor. The chapter is most important.

35 Continues on the same subject: the foundation of this house of our glorious father St. Joseph. Tells of the means the Lord provided by which holy poverty would be observed in it, the reason why she left the lady she was staying with and returned, and of some other things that happened to her.

36 Continues the same subject. Tells how this monastery of the glorious St. Joseph was finally founded and of the strong opposition and persecution the nuns had to undergo after taking the habit. Tells also of the great trials and temptations she suffered and how the Lord brought her out of them all victoriously to His own praise and glory.

37 Discusses the effects of a certain favor the Lord granted her. Some very good doctrine accompanies this discussion. Tells how one should strive for a greater degree of glory, and esteem it highly, and that we shouldn’t neglect ever lasting goods for any difficulty.

38 Deals with some great favors the Lord granted her by showing her certain heavenly secrets, and with other great visions and revelations that His Majesty wanted her to see. Tells of the effects they had on her and of the great profit her soul derived from them.

39 Continues on the same subject, telling of the great favors the Lord granted her. Treats of how He promised to answer her prayers for other persons. Tells of some remarkable instances in which His Majesty granted her this favor.

40 Continues with the same subject, telling of the great favors the Lord granted her. Good doctrine can be deduced from some of these favors; for, in addition to obeying, her main intention, as she said, has been to write about those favors that will be of benefit to souls. With this chapter the written account of her life comes to an end. May it be for the glory of the Lord, amen.

Epilogue

Spiritual Testimonies

Introduction

Testimony

1 Her spiritual state and manner of prayer

2 Detachment and other virtues flowing from God’s favors

3 General account of her state of soul

4 Prophecy of her death

5 God’s standards are different from the world’s

6 Our Lord encourages her to make more foundations

7 A message to be given

8 Right intention and detachment

9 Public rapture

10 Surrender and joy in God

11 Take courage, the order of the Blessed Virgin will flourish

12 Transpiercing of the soul

13 An intellectual vision of the Blessed Trinity

14 Habitual experience of the indwelling Trinity

15 Enclosure and the will of God

16 Prayer for her brother Agustín de Ahumada

17 Desires for death

18 Prophecy about St. Joseph’s at Ávila

19 Penance and obedience

20 Intellectual vision of a soul in grace and in sin

21 Her vision of our Lady in the choir of the Incarnation

22 Eucharistic experience

23 Am I not your God

24 True humility—Put my counsels in writing

25 The nature of union

26 Do not renounce what awakens love

27 Spiritual improvement at the Incarnation

28 A favor on St. Mary Magdalene’s feast

29 Infused knowledge of the Blessed Trinity

30 Her mission in Carmel

31 Spiritual Marriage

32 The way of suffering and love

33 A prophetic vision and victory for her Carmel

34 A spiritual token

35 The vow of obedience to Father Gratian

36 The vow of obedience to Father Gratian

37 Desire to live and serve the Lord

38 Locution about Father Gratian

39 Establishing a feast of our Lady

40 God’s omnipresence

41 The constitutions and the Lord’s law

42 Infused knowledge of the Trinity

43 Renewal of vows in our Lady’s hands

44 Union with Christ in the Eucharist

45 The reform of the monastery of Paterna

46 An effect of the spiritual marriage

47 The value of good works

48 The Lord tells her to record His words

49 God’s presence in the soul

50 Father Gratian’s health

51 The indwelling of the Blessed Trinity

52 Deep secrets in Communion

53 Intellectual vision of the Lord’s nearness

54 Vision of Father Gratian

55 The feast of the Presentation of our Lady in the temple

56 Infused understanding of a Magnificat verse

57 Revelation about the survival of her Carmel

58 Account of her spiritual life for the Inquisitor of Seville

59 The degrees of infused prayer

60 Changing confessors

61 Perfection and poor health

62 Self-love and the desire for penance

63 Forgiveness of sins

64 Counsels for the Discalced Fathers

65 The present state of her spiritual life

Soliloquies

Introduction

Soliloquy

1 Separation from God

2 Solitude and thirst for souls

3 Merciful Redeemer and Just Judge

4 Recovering lost time

5 Loving complaints and petitions; Martha’s complaint

6 Painful longing for God

7 Your delight is to be with the children of men

8 Cure the blindness caused by our evil deeds

9 You give living water to the thirsty

10 Raise up sinners from their death

11 The fear of endless torments

12 Those who withdraw from God are sick people

13 The souls of the blessed help us in our misery

14 The love and the wrath of God

15 The suffering of longing for God

16 The wounds of love

17 All my good is in pleasing You

Notes to the Life

Notes to the Spiritual Testimonies

Notes to the Soliloquies

Biblical Index

Index

CONTENTS