In her Meditations on the Song of Songs, Saint Teresa talks about progress in the spiritual life – which is to say, progress in contemplation, suffering divine things, and doing the will of God – in terms of war and peace.

I tell you that even though in prayer the Lord grants you favours… when you leave prayer, you will meet with a thousand little obstacles, a thousand little occasions to break on rule carelessly, or not to carry out another well, interior disturbances, and temptations.

Indeed, there is war. To be sure, we are not the general. That is God’s job. We just fight and apply for help. But there is, still, war.

However – contrary to popular religious opinion – the war isn’t the ultimate or ultimately advisable state. We are not stuck in a static situation where war, experienced by the individual, is our only lot. Nope. Not the case. Teresa adds,

to be without war is possible, once the Lord has brought the soul to an abundance of contemplation.

It is not possible as a passing phase. It is possible as an end, goal, or term. Once contemplation is in abundance and overflowing onto all our works, once our will is united to Jesus’, “to be without war is possible” even in this world. Near-complete docility to the will of God in the general manifestation and also in the particular manifestations of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and any accompanying inspirations reduces the war inside to very little indeed. There may be skirmishes in a state of abundant contemplation; but “war” there is not.

Teresa chooses to not discuss these souls in detail, preferring to insist on the necessity of the war to make progress:

Let us exclude [from our discussion] souls that are far advanced and very mortified after having endured this war for many years. Since they are already dead to the world, our Lord ordinarily gives them peace, but not in such a way that they don’t deplore a fault they may commit and experience deep sorrow over it.

But the fact remains that the progress of the war is, in fact, a progress towards the end of the war. The progress of the war is progress towards a gift, given by God as all things are in the spiritual life and in contemplation, of abundant, overflowing peace. Not, of course, peace as the world gives. But peace, divine peace.