The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila, Part 4

This is my final post on The Interior Castle and it takes up the last two mansions, the sixth and seventh.  As a reminder, these are my comments I posted on the Goodreads Catholic Thoughts book club, and I copied over other people’s comments in reply to one of my comments so that you could see the give and take.

You can read Part 1, here.  

You can read Part 2, here.

You can read Part 3, here.

You can also read The Interior Castle on line, here.

Sixth Mansion

Susan Margaret wrote: "Rather than me just putting forth a monologue or summary of what we have read, I was thinking that discussion questions might help to promote more participation. If anyone wants to post some questi...lthough most of us may only be in the first, second, or third mansions, what advice can you take from Teresa from her comments in the sixth mansion that you can apply to your journey in the first three mansions? "

The sixth mansion is so long I'm having a difficult time finding a key passage or two. In fact the sixth mansion is more than a third of the book. I'll try posting something later, but to answer your question, I would say pray and perform acts of compassion for your fellow neighbor. It's through those two things that we increase in spirituality. 

In the third chapter of the sixth mansion, Theresa starts talking about “locutions,” or as I understand it, voices from God.  It is interesting that she stipulates that just because one hears such locutions in the midst of meditative prayer does not mean that they are from God.  She says, “these may come from God, in any of the ways I have mentioned, or they may equally well come from the devil or from one's own imagination.”  So how does one know if they are from God?  She writes:

“To return, then, to our first point: whether they come from within, from above or from without, has nothing to do with their coming from God. The surest signs that one can have of their doing this are, in my opinion, as follows. The first and truest is the sense of power and authority which they bear with them, both in themselves and in the actions which follow them. I will explain myself further. A soul is experiencing all the interior disturbances and tribulations which have been described, and all the aridity and darkness of the understanding. A single word of this kind -- just a "Be not troubled" -- is sufficient to calm it. No other word need be spoken; a great light comes to it; and all its trouble is lifted from it, although it had been thinking that, if the whole world, and all the learned men in the world, were to combine to give it reasons for not being troubled, they could not relieve it from its distress, however hard they might strive to do so. Or a soul is distressed because its confessor, and others, have told it that what it has is a spirit sent by the devil, and it is full of fear. Yet that single word which it hears: "It is I, fear not," takes all its fear from it, and it is most marvellously comforted, and believes that no one will ever be able to make it feel otherwise. Or it is greatly exercised because of some important piece of business and it has no idea how this will turn out. It is then given to understand that it must be, and all will turn out well; and it acquires a new confidence and is no longer troubled. And so with many other things.”

So the first sign that it is from God is the power and authority of the word.  I won’t quote the entire passages, but there are two more signs.  Second “is that a great tranquillity dwells in the soul, which becomes peacefully and devoutly recollected, and ready to sing praises to God.”  And third “is that these words do not vanish from the memory for a very long time: some, indeed, never vanish at all.”  So power, tranquility, and lasting memory.

As I said, the sixth mansion is very large and so it’s hard to select just an idea or two to highlight, but I think this one I’m going to highlight now is very important.  In chapter seven of the sixth mansion she talks about not excluding the physical humanity of Christ. 

“You will also think that anyone who enjoys such sublime favours will not engage in meditation on the most sacred Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, because by that time he will be wholly proficient in love. This is a thing of which I have written at length elsewhere, and, although I have been contradicted about it and told that I do not understand it, because these are paths along which Our Lord leads us, and that, when we have got over the first stages, we shall do better to occupy ourselves with matters concerning the Godhead and to flee from corporeal things, they will certainly not make me admit that this is a good way.”

What I think she’s saying there is that those who are intensely focused on prayer and meditation may have a tendency to only consider the spiritual and divine dimension of our Lord, and therefore exclude his humanity.  It sounds like at one point in her life, she had succumbed to this tendency herself.  She goes on:

“I may be wrong and we may all be meaning the same thing; but it was clear to me that the devil was trying to deceive me in this way, and I have had to learn my lesson. So, although I have often spoken about this, I propose to speak to you about it again, so that you may walk very warily. And observe that I am going so far as to advise you not to believe anyone who tells you otherwise. I will try to explain myself better than I did before. If by any chance a certain person has written about it, as he said he would, it is to be hoped that he has explained it more fully; to write about it in a general way to those of us who are not very intelligent may do a great deal of harm.”

She feels this is so important she really needs to re-emphasize it.  When you think about the heresies of Arianism and Gnosticism, I can fully understand St. Theresa’s concern.  If one only conceptualizes on the incorporeal, then the physical disappears.  In addition to forgetting the humanity of Christ, an additional danger is that we may also forget the Blessed Mother and the saints”

“Some souls also imagine that they cannot dwell upon the Passion, in which case they will be able still less to meditate upon the most sacred Virgin and the lives of the saints, the remembrance of whom brings us such great profit and encouragement. I cannot conceive what they are thinking of; for, though angelic spirits, freed from everything corporeal, may remain permanently enkindled in love, this is not possible for those of us who live in this mortal body.”

By contemplating on the corporeal as well as the spiritual, it will lead us to acts of mercy for the living, our friends and neighbors:

“We need to cultivate, and think upon, and seek the companionship of those who, though living on earth like ourselves, have accomplished such great deeds for God; the last thing we should do is to withdraw of set purpose from our greatest help and blessing, which is the most sacred Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot believe that people can really do this; it must be that they do not understand themselves and thus do harm to themselves and to others. At any rate, I can assure them that they will not enter these last two Mansions; for, if they lose their Guide, the good Jesus, they will be unable to find their way; they will do well if they are able to remain securely in the other Mansions. For the Lord Himself says that He is the Way; the Lord also says that He is light and that no one can come to the Father save by Him; and "he that seeth Me seeth my Father." It may be said that these words have another meaning. I do not know of any such meaning myself; I have got on very well with the meaning which my soul always feels to be the true one.”

And these physically acts of mercy are part of the graces that leads us through the fifth and sixth mansions. 

Seventh Mansion

When discussing the fourth mansion (I think it was) I said I wasn’t sure if Theresa considered the spiritual marriage a metaphor or a real marriage.  I’m now convinced.  It is a true marriage.  She says so in the first chapter of the seventh mansion:

“When Our Lord is pleased to have pity upon this soul, which suffers and has suffered so much out of desire for Him, and which He has now taken spiritually to be His bride, He brings her into this Mansion of His, which is the seventh, before consummating the Spiritual Marriage. For He must needs have an abiding-place in the soul, just as He has one in Heaven, where His Majesty alone dwells: so let us call this a second Heaven”

While that is not as physical as St. Catherine of Siena describes her spiritual marriage, I would say it’s a real event and not a metaphor.  Back when discussing the fourth mansion, I mentioned how I tend to focus on how a work is organized, and that there was certain a break between the third and fourth mansions.  Some people see the structure of the Interior Castle as the first three mansions constitute one unit—call it the sections requiring human effort—and the last four as the sections requiring supernatural grace.  I see the Interior Castle divided into three sections, the first three, the next three, and the seventh mansion as its own unit.  Later in the first chapter Theresa says:

“But in this Mansion everything is different. Our good God now desires to remove the scales from the eyes of the soul, so that it may see and understand something of the favour which He is granting it, although He is doing this in a strange manner. It is brought into this Mansion by means of an intellectual vision, in which, by a representation of the truth in a particular way, the Most Holy Trinity reveals Itself, in all three Persons. First of all the spirit becomes enkindled and is illumined, as it were, by a cloud of the greatest brightness. It sees these three Persons, individually, and yet, by a wonderful kind of knowledge which is given to it, the soul realizes that most certainly and truly all these three Persons are one Substance and one Power and one Knowledge and one God alone; so that what we hold by faith the soul may be said here to grasp by sight, although nothing is seen by the eyes, either of the body or of the soul, for it is no imaginary vision. Here all three Persons communicate Themselves to the soul and speak to the soul and explain to it those words which the Gospel attributes to the Lord -- namely, that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit will come to dwell with the soul which loves Him and keeps His commandments.

Oh, God help me! What a difference there is between hearing and believing these words and being led in this way to realize how true they are! Each day this soul wonders more, for she feels that they have never left her, and perceives quite clearly, in the way I have described, that They are in the interior of her heart -- in the most interior place of all and in its greatest depths. So although, not being a learned person, she cannot say how this is, she feels within herself this Divine companionship.”

As Theresa says, “everything is different” in the seventh mansion.  The spirit is illumined, a knowledge is conferred, and the Trinity speaks to the soul.  They, the Trinity, “are in the interior of the heart” and feels the “Divine companionship.”  What has happened here is what I would call a transfiguration, like that of our Lord on top of the mountain.  While it’s still a grace that one progresses to the seventh, but I think the experience of the seventh mansion goes beyond that of any of the other mansions.

Irene Replied: 

“I am not sure how you are distinguishing between metaphore and real in your comment. But, I would argue that, whenever we are applying human language to the Divine, there is always a level of the metaphoric to it. Marriage is a human covenant. I think Teresa is using this very human experience to talk about something sublime, something for which there is no more precise language to describe it. However, I do agree that there is a real union of the soul with God in this final stage of this spiritual journey.”

My reply to Irene:

“Good question, Irene. I'm very familiar with St. Catherine of Siena's mystical marriage. It would take too long to find the passages in my books on her to pull out exactly what happened during her ceremony so I'll go by memory. But according to her it was an actual ceremony where Christ entered her room, the Blessed Mother handed Christ over as spouse, and she was given a ring to confirm the marriage. One can either believe her or not, but if one believes her, then that's a fairly physical experience, sort of like a stigmata is physical. A metaphor would be someone saying that he/she was married to Christ, but without some "physical" mystical experience.

For St Theresa, it sounds like Christ physically came to her in a marriage, though she doesn't get anywhere as detailed as St. Catherine, at least not in this book. I guess you can read about mystical marriages here:

By the way it occurs to me that those with religious vows are actually married to Christ. I wasn't thinking along those lines.”

Irene Replied:

“No where in Teresa's writing does she describe a vision of a ritual paralleling a marriage ceremony. She describes a mystical union on a spiritual level that is a total union of love with the beloved. Based on other texts I have read by Teresa, I think she would say that her experience of the 7th mansion was like and unlike human marriage. I think she is using the term metaphorically, but that the union of love is very real.”

My reply to Irene:

This is the only work I have read of St. Theresa’s, and I do think it was a mistake to start with this.  In many places she assumes you have read her previous works, and that puts the reader at a disadvantage.  I guess that’s understandable since she is writing for her nuns.

My first impulse was to say Theresa’s spiritual marriage is metaphor, but it does strike me as more physical than not.  I agree there is no ceremony in Interior Castle, and I can’t speak for her other writings.  But look here at chapter 2 of the 7^th mansion. 

“LET us now come to treat of the Divine and Spiritual Marriage, although this great Favour cannot be fulfilled perfectly in us during our lifetime, for if we were to withdraw ourselves from God this great blessing would be lost. When granting this favour for the first time, His Majesty is pleased to reveal Himself to the soul through an imaginary vision of His most sacred Humanity, so that it may clearly understand what is taking place and not be ignorant of the fact that it is receiving so sovereign a gift. To other people the experience will come in a different way. To the person of whom we have been speaking the Lord revealed Himself one day, when she had just received Communion, in great splendour and beauty and majesty, as He did after His resurrection, and told her that it was time she took upon her His affairs as if they were her own and that He would take her affairs upon Himself; and He added other words which are easier to understand than to repeat.”

You can probably read that in both ways.  Christ coming in “His most sacred Humanity” strikes me as quite physical.  But then it is also though a vision.  But remember, even Catherine’s ceremony was in a vision.  Theresa continues:

“This, you will think, was nothing new, since on other occasions the Lord had revealed Himself to that soul in this way. But it was so different that it left her quite confused and dismayed: for one reason, because this vision came with great force; for another, because of the words which He spoke to her, and also because, in the interior of her soul, where He revealed Himself to her, she had never seen any visions but this. For you must understand that there is the greatest difference between all the other visions we have mentioned and those belonging to this Mansion, and there is the same difference between the Spiritual Betrothal and the Spiritual Marriage as there is between two betrothed persons and two who are united so that they cannot be separated any more.”

She says there is something different going on in the 7^th mansion than the previous, and it comes “with great force.”  The next paragraph is rather long and I won’t quote it all.  At first she distinguishes between a spiritual betrothal and a spiritual marriage, and I’m not sure I get the difference, except that a spiritual marriage goes way deeper.  She goes on to say:

“But what passes in the union of the Spiritual Marriage is very different. The Lord appears in the centre of the soul, not through an imaginary, but through an intellectual vision (although this is a subtler one than that already mentioned), just as He appeared to the Apostles, without entering through the door, when He said to them: "Pax vobis". This instantaneous communication of God to the soul is so great a secret and so sublime a favour, and such delight is felt by the soul, that I do not know with what to compare it, beyond saying that the Lord is pleased to manifest to the soul at that moment the glory that is in Heaven, in a sublimer manner than is possible through any vision or spiritual consolation. It is impossible to say more than that, as far as one can understand, the soul (I mean the spirit of this soul) is made one with God, Who, being likewise a Spirit, has been pleased to reveal the love that He has for us by showing to certain persons the extent of that love, so that we may praise His greatness. For He has been pleased to unite Himself with His creature in such a way that they have become like two who cannot be separated from one another: even so He will not separate Himself from her.”

She says Christ appears in her “just as He appeared to the Apostles.”  Well, that’s quite real.  Today’s Mass reading we see St. Thomas sticks his hand into Christ’s side.  And that “union” she speaks of in those last few sentences I quoted, that strikes me as physical, not metaphor.  I guess this could be in the eye of the reader, but we are reading about spiritual phenomena, and that in itself is abstract, so we might reach a conclusion that it’s metaphor.  But if the spirit is a real thing, then the happenings to the spirit are real and not metaphor.  Do you see where I’m coming from?

Irene replied:

“I see where you are coming from. I suspect we are using words differently. Since she continually speaks of soul and spirit, and since the soul is our spiritual nature and is not a physical reality, but a spiritual reality, I would not call this union physical, but spiritual. Since marriage is a physical as well as a spiritual union, I would use metaphore for her use of the term.”

My reply:

To clarify terms, Irene, metaphor would be a comparison of one thing with another.  For instance Teresa compares the evolution of the soul to a butterfly.  She doesn’t literally mean the soul is a butterfly.  She compares the flow of God’s graces into the soul as water flows into a cup.  She doesn’t mean that water actually flows into the soul.  Now in this case she says that Christ unites with her in marriage.  Her soul is “made one with God,” pulling the quote from that last paragraph I quoted.  That doesn’t sound like the same thing as the butterfly or the water.  I think she means Christ really, physically (though it’s spiritual) unites with her.  OK, we may just have to disagree. :)

Irene Replied:

Maybe we don't have to disagree. I don't think Teresa is using union in a metaphoric way. I think she has experienced a union with Christ that is profound, so profound that it is like a marriage bond. I think marriage is a metaphore for this very real mystical union.

My Reply:

That's a good point Irene.  The union is certainly physical.  We agree there.  The question then is whether referring to the union as marriage is metaphor.  I don't think Teresa is clear, but maybe that's because she thinks whichever way she intends  it's self-evident.  Is the term marriage itself a metaphor?  What exactly is a marriage, let alone a "spiritual marriage?"  Thinking back to when I got married, it was all so - what's the right word? - nebulous, intangible, surreal.  A priest and a rabbi (my wife is Jewish) said some words, we exchanged rings, sealed it with a kiss, and signed a piece of paper, and all of a sudden your whole life is different.  What exactly just happened?  LOL.  Of course if I dared to tell my wife our marriage was all a metaphor, she might whack me with the nearest frying pan.  :-P

Irene Replied:

Well, we might disagree on the term physical. Since Teresa always speaks of the soul in regard to the union, and since the soul is not physical, I would not use physical for the union. I would definitely call it real, but a spiritual reality rather than a physical reality in keeping with Catholic understanding of the soul.

My Comment

I wanted to end this book discussion with one last passage from the Seventh Mansion that I think is a summation of what this journey through the Castle is about.  In the second chapter Teresa speaks on the results of prayer and contemplation lead to Christ inside one’s selfg:

“This, with the passage of time, becomes more evident through its effects; for the soul clearly understands, by certain secret aspirations, that it is endowed with life by God. Very often these aspirations are so vehement that what they teach cannot[229] possibly be doubted: though they cannot be described, the soul experiences them very forcibly. One can only say that this feeling is produced at times by certain delectable words which, it seems, the soul cannot help uttering, such as: "O life of my life, and sustenance that sustaineth me!" and things of that kind. For from those Divine breasts, where it seems that God is ever sustaining the soul, flow streams of milk, which solace all who dwell in the Castle; it seems that it is the Lord's will for them to enjoy all that the soul enjoys, so that, from time to time, there should flow from this mighty river, in which this tiny little spring is swallowed up, a stream of this water, to sustain those who in bodily matters have to serve the Bridegroom and the bride. And just as a person suddenly plunged into such water would become aware of it, and, however unobservant he might be, could not fail to become so, the same thing may be said, with even greater confidence, of these operations to which I refer. For just as a great stream of water could never fall on us without having an origin somewhere, as I have said, just so it becomes evident that there is someone in the interior of the soul who sends forth these arrows and thus gives life to this life, and that there is a sun whence this great light proceeds, which is transmitted to the faculties in the interior part of the soul. The soul, as I have said, neither moves from that centre nor loses its peace, for He Who gave His peace to the Apostles when they were all together can give peace to the soul.”

Christ has come within and is the source of a divine sustenance that one feeds upon.  The water from that river symbol she keeps using has become a sort of milk.  And in the next paragraph she tells us in this state we leave the corporeal and inter into a pure spirituality. 

“For it is quite certain that, when we empty ourselves of all that is creature and rid ourselves of it for the love of God, that same Lord will fill our souls with Himself. Thus, one day, when Jesus Christ was praying for His Apostles (I do not know where this occurs), He asked that they might become one with the Father and with Him, even as Jesus Christ our Lord is in the Father and the Father is in Him. I do not know what greater love there can be than this. And we shall none of us fail to be included here, for His Majesty went on to say: "Not for them alone do I pray, but also for all who believe in Me"; and again: "I am in them."

So to bring Christ in means to empty ourselves out.  One then has become an empty vessel from which the flowing water (or milk) pours into and fills the space.

The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila, Part 3

I'm finally getting back to posting on The Interior Castle.  Here were my observations for the fourth and fifth mansions from the Goodreads Catholic Thought book club discussions on St. Theresa of Avila's Interior Castle.

You can read Part 1, here.  

You can read Part 2, here.

You can also read The Interior Castle on line, here.

Fourth Mansion

As couple of people have mentioned already, the fourth mansion starts a different mode in the journey for Theresa.  One of the things I look for when I read is a structure to the work.  The first three mansions as I see it comprise a unit, what I labeled in my book as the human effort mode.  Each mansion in the first three requires an ongoing and increasingly greater effort on the part of the individual to progress.  Each mansion then is an incremental gradation toward spiritual fulfillment.  Once we get to the fourth mansion all human effort has been maximized and further progress requires divine grace.  Progress from here can only be as a result of God’s increasing his grace to the individual.  From mansions four onward I called this unit the supernatural assisted mode, though one might possibly split off the seventh mansion into its own unit.  I need to think a little more on that last point.  Early in the first chapter she says:

“It seems that, in order to reach these Mansions, one must have lived for a long time in the others; as a rule one must have been in those which we have just described, but there is no infallible rule about it, as you must often have heard, for the Lord gives when He wills and as He wills and to whom He wills, and, as the gifts are His own, this is doing no injustice to anyone.”

So in order to get to the fourth mansion, you would have needed to labor through the first three for quite a while.  And at some point it seems God wills you into the fourth. 

“It seems to me that the feelings which come to us from Divine things are as purely natural as these, except that their source is nobler, although these worldly joys are in no way bad. To put it briefly, worldly joys have their source in our own nature and end in God, whereas spiritual consolations have their source in God, but we experience them in a natural way and enjoy them as much as we enjoy those I have already mentioned, and indeed much more. Oh, Jesus! How I wish I could make myself clear about this! For I think I can see a very marked difference between these two things and yet I am not clever enough to make my meaning plain: may the Lord explain it for me!”

She then tells us about when she first reached the fourth mansion:

“My own experience of this state -- I mean of these favours and this sweetness in meditation -- was that, if I began to weep over the Passion, I could not stop until I had a splitting headache; and the same thing happened when I wept for my sins. This was a great grace granted me by Our Lord, and I will not for the moment examine each of these favours and decide which is the better of the two; I wish, however, that I could explain the difference between them. In the state I am now describing, the tears and longings sometimes arise partly from our nature and from the state of preparedness we are in; but nevertheless, as I have said, they eventually lead one to God. And this is an experience to be greatly prized, provided the soul be humble, and can understand that it does not make it any the more virtuous; for it is impossible to be sure that these feelings are effects of love, and, even so, they are a gift of God.”

I can’t say I understand it.  The headache—and later in the chapter she describes the noises in her head as a “brimming river”—and the weeping over the Passion signals a new state.  One reaches it through ”preparedness,” of which I assume are the labors of the first three mansions and through God’s gift.

Now if anyone thinks I’m off here, please correct me.  I don’t want to sound like I’m confident in my reading.  I’m not.

As Kerstin mentioned above, there is a lot of water and river metaphor in this mansion.  In chapter two of the fourth mansion she refers to two fountains, each filling a basin. 

“To understand it better, let us suppose that we are looking at two fountains, the basins of which can be filled with water. There are certain spiritual things which I can find no way of explaining more aptly than by this element of water; for, as I am very ignorant, and my wits give me no help, and I am so fond of this element, I have observed it more attentively than anything else. In all the things that have been created by so great and wise a God there must be many secrets by which we can profit, and those who understand them do profit by them, although I believe that in every little thing created by God there is more than we realize, even in so small a thing as a tiny ant.

These two large basins can be filled with water in different ways: the water in the one comes from a long distance, by means of numerous conduits and through human skill; but the other has been constructed at the very source of the water and fills without making any noise. If the flow of water is abundant, as in the case we are speaking of, a great stream still runs from it after it has been filled; no skill is necessary here, and no conduits have to be made, for the water is flowing all the time. The difference between this and the carrying of the water by means of conduits is, I think, as follows. The latter corresponds to the spiritual sweetness which, as I say, is produced by meditation. It reaches us by way of the thoughts; we meditate upon created things and fatigue the understanding; and when at last, by means of our own efforts, it comes, the satisfaction which it brings to the soul fills the basin, but in doing so makes a noise, as I have said.

To the other fountain the water comes direct from its source, which is God, and, when it is His Majesty's will and He is pleased to grant us some supernatural favour, its coming is accompanied by the greatest peace and quietness and sweetness within ourselves -- I cannot say where it arises or how. And that content and delight are not felt, as earthly delights are felt, in the heart -- I mean not at the outset, for later the basin becomes completely filled, and then this water begins to overflow all the Mansions and faculties, until it reaches the body. It is for that reason that I said it has its source in God and ends in ourselves -- for it is certain, and anyone will know this who has experienced it, that the whole of the outer man enjoys this consolation and sweetness.”

Now let me see if I get this straight, and [lease correct me if you think I’m wrong.  The first fountain, the one where the water comes from aqueducts, that is

Before we ended the fourth mansion I wanted to touch on the last chapter.  Chapter three of the fourth mansion is also important and perhaps we should identify a couple of points.  Here’s the point about seeking God inside oneself:

“I do not think I have ever explained this before as clearly as here. When we are seeking God within ourselves (where He is found more effectively and more profitably than in the creatures, to quote Saint Augustine, who, after having sought Him in many places, found Him within) it is a great help if God grants us this favour. Do not suppose that the understanding can attain to Him, merely by trying to think of Him as within the soul, or the imagination, by picturing Him as there. This is a good habit and an excellent kind of meditation, for it is founded upon a truth -- namely, that God is within us. But it is not the kind of prayer that I have in mind, for anyone (with the help of the Lord, you understand) can practise it for himself. What I am describing is quite different. These people are sometimes in the castle before they have begun to think about God at all. I cannot say where they entered it or how they heard their Shepherd's call: it was certainly not with their ears, for outwardly such a call is not audible. They become markedly conscious that they are gradually retiring within themselves; anyone who experiences this will discover what I mean: I cannot explain it better. I think I have read that they are like a hedgehog or a tortoise withdrawing into itself; and whoever wrote that must have understood it well. These creatures, however, enter within themselves whenever they like; whereas with us it is not a question of our will -- it happens only when God is pleased to grant us this favour. For my own part, I believe that, when His Majesty grants it, He does so to people who are already leaving the things of the world. I do not mean that people who are married must actually leave the world -- they can do so only in desire: His call to them is a special one and aims at making them intent upon interior things. I believe, however, that if we wish to give His Majesty free course, He will grant more than this to those whom He is beginning to call still higher.”

Again she makes it very clear that you can’t get to the God inside you on your own; it has to be granted.  Further she distinguishes between the Prayer of Quiet, which the prayer directly from the source, and the Prayer of Recollection, which is the one that one that comes through aquaducts.

“As I understand it, the soul whom the Lord has been pleased to lead into this Mansion will do best to act as I have said. Let it try, without forcing itself or causing any turmoil, to put a stop to all discursive reasoning, yet not to suspend the understanding, nor to cease from all thought, though it is well for it to remember that it is in God's presence and Who this God is. If feeling this should lead it into a state of absorption, well and good; but it should not try to understand what this state is, because that is a gift bestowed upon the will. The will, then, should be left to enjoy it, and should not labour except for uttering a few loving words, for although in such a case one may not be striving to cease from thought, such cessation often comes, though for a very short time.

I have explained elsewhere the reason why this occurs in this kind of prayer (I am referring to the kind which I began to explain in this Mansion). With it I have included this Prayer of Recollection which ought to have been described first, for it comes far below the consolations of God already mentioned, and is indeed the first step towards attaining them. For in the Prayer of Recollection it is unnecessary to abandon meditation and the activities of the understanding. When, instead of coming through conduits, the water springs directly from its source, the understanding checks its activity, or rather the activity is checked for it when it finds it cannot understand what it desires, and thus it roams about all over the place, like a demented creature, and can settle down to nothing. The will is fixed so firmly upon its God that this disturbed condition of the understanding causes it great distress; but it must not take any notice of this, for if it does so it will lose a great part of what it is enjoying; it must forget about it, and abandon itself into the arms of love, and His Majesty will teach it what to do next; almost its whole work is to realize its unworthiness to receive such great good and to occupy itself in thanksgiving.”

I grant you it is very confusing.  Unfortunately St. Theresa jumps around and refers back to previous works and assumes we know them.  So if I have correctly unwound her logic here, the water, which signifies consolations I think, from the prayer of recollection fills together from that of the Prayer of Quiet, all of which over flows the basin and infuses the soul.  If I have this wrong, someone please correct me.

Fifth Mansion

There are a few sections in the Fifth Mansion that are of note.  In the second paragraph of the first chapter, she says:

“So I must say here that, though all of us who wear this sacred habit of Carmel are called to prayer and contemplation -- because that was the first principle of our Order and because we are descendent upon the line of those holy Fathers of ours from Mount Carmel who sought this treasure, this precious pearl of which we speak, in such great solitude and with such contempt for the world -- few of us prepare ourselves for the Lord to reveal it to us. As far as externals are concerned, we are on the right road to attaining the essential virtues; but we shall need to do a very great deal before we can attain to this higher state and we must on no account be careless. So let us pause here, my sisters, and beg the Lord that, since to some extent it is possible for us to enjoy Heaven upon earth, He will grant us His help so that it will not be our fault if we miss anything may He also show us the road and give strength to our souls so that we may dig until we find this hidden treasure, since it is quite true that we have it within ourselves. This I should like to explain if the Lord is pleased to give me the knowledge.”

So since God graces those to enter beyond the fourth mansion, it still will require a lot of work to go beyond, and there is still the danger that one might regress.  The soul in the fifth mansion goes beyond the dream-like state of the fourth:

“Do not think it is a state, like the last, in which we dream; I say "dream", because the soul seems to be, as it were, drowsy, so that it neither seems asleep nor feels awake. Here we are all asleep, and fast asleep, to the things of the world, and to ourselves (in fact, for the short time that the condition lasts, the soul is without consciousness and has no power to think, even though it may desire to do so). There is no need now for it to devise any method of suspending the thought. Even in loving, if it is able to love, it cannot understand how or what it is that it loves, nor what it would desire; in fact, it has completely died to the world so that it may live more fully in God. This is a delectable death, a snatching of the soul from all the activities which it can perform while it is in the body; a death full of delight, for, in order to come closer to God, the soul appears to have withdrawn so far from the body that I do not know if it has still life enough to be able to breathe. I have just been thinking about this and I believe it has not; or at least, if it still breathes, it does so without realizing it. The mind would like to occupy itself wholly in understanding something of what it feels, and, as it has not the strength to do this, it becomes so dumbfounded that, even if any consciousness remains to it, neither hands nor feet can move; as we commonly say of a person who has fallen into a swoon, it might be taken for dead. Oh, the secrets of God!  I should never weary of trying to describe them to you, if I thought I could do so successfully.”

And then at the end of the chapter she makes one of her most important points of all:

“I recall that, as you have heard, the Bride in the Songs says: "The King brought me" (or "put me", I think the words are) "into the cellar of wine." It does not say that she went. It also says that she was wandering about in all directions seeking her Beloved. This, as I understand it, is the cellar where the Lord is pleased to put us, when He wills and as He wills. But we cannot enter by any efforts of our own; His Majesty must put us right into the centre of our soul, and must enter there Himself; and, in order that He may the better show us His wonders, it is His pleasure that our will, which has entirely surrendered itself to Him, should have no part in this. Nor does He desire the door of the faculties and senses, which are all asleep, to be opened to Him; He will come into the centre of the soul without using a door, as He did when He came in to His disciples, and said Pax vobis, and when He left the sepulchre without removing the stone. Later on you will see how it is His Majesty's will that the soul should have fruition of Him in its very centre, but you will be able to realize that in the last Mansion much better than here.”

So Christ in this state puts one in the center of the soul, and, even more importantly, one finds Christ there.  Christ has entered the center of our soul, and we are there with Him.

Matthew mentioned the silkworm metaphor that's in the fifth mansion.  There is one more thing that should be highlighted here.  In the fourth chapter St. Theresa explains how the Prayer of Union will lead to the spiritual marriage:

"I want to explain to you still further what I think this Prayer of Union is; and I will make a comparison as well as my wit will allow. Afterwards we will say more about this little butterfly, which never rests -- though it is always fruitful in doing good to itself and to other souls -- because it has not yet found true repose. You will often have heard that God betrothes Himself to souls spiritually. Blessed be His mercy, which is pleased so to humble itself! I am only making a rough comparison, but I can find no other which will better explain what I am trying to say than the Sacrament of Matrimony. The two things work differently, for in this matter which we are treating there is nothing that is not spiritual: corporeal union is quite another thing and the spiritual joys and consolations given by the Lord are a thousand leagues removed from those experienced in marriage. It is all a union of love with love, and its operations are entirely pure, and so delicate and gentle that there is no way of describing them; but the Lord can make the soul very deeply conscious of them."

Marriage with God is not original with St. Theresa.  I know St. Catherine of Siena had a spiritual marriage with Christ, and somehow I seem to think I recall other saints claiming similar, though I'm not a hundred percent certain.  It seems to be an extension of allegory of God's love in the Song of Songs, the allegory being the physical love described represents spiritual love.  With St. Catherine it was an actual marriage, with an invisible wedding ring.  Do you think with St. Theresa it's just metaphor?  I can't quite tell.  She continues in the next paragraph to say the betrothal will occur later (I think it will be the seventh mansion)

"It seems to me that this union has not yet reached the point of spiritual betrothal, but is rather like what happens in our earthly life when two people are about to be betrothed. There is a discussion as to whether or no they are suited to each other and are both in love; and then they meet again so that they may learn to appreciate each other better. So it is here. The contract is already drawn up and the soul has been clearly given to understand the happiness of her lot and is determined to do all the will of her Spouse in every way in which she sees that she can give Him pleasure. His Majesty, Who will know quite well if this is the case, is pleased with the soul, so He grants her this mercy, desiring that she shall get to know Him better, and that, as we may say, they shall meet together, and He shall unite her with Himself.  We can compare this kind of union to a short meeting of that nature because it is over in the very shortest time. All giving and taking have now come to an end and in a secret way the soul sees Who this Spouse is that she is to take. By means of the senses and faculties she could not understand in a thousand years what she understands in this way in the briefest space of time."

I find it strange that she says "there is a discussion to see if they are suited for each other."  Who would tell God, I'm not suited for you?  LOL.  Very interesting.

The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila, Part 2

Here were my observations for the second and third mansions from the Goodreads Catholic Thought book club discussions on St. Theresa of Avila's Interior Castle.

You can read Part 1, here.  

Second Mansion

Susan Margaret wrote: "In the first paragraph on the Second Mansions, Teresa mentions something that I think all of us on Goodreads – Catholic Thought have in common and that is, “…most of us never get tired of the multitude of books that deal with matters of the soul” (pg 55, Mirabai Starr edition). I really like the fact that Teresa is such an avid reader; it gives me something I can easily relate to. "

Manny in repsnse: I'm amazed at how learned she is. I don't know the details of her biography; how did she become so well read and a fine writer for a woman of her age. It's a rare woman in her times that even got to go to school, let alone be so exceptional. 

Kerstin wrote: "I find her writing style a little rambling. It almost seems as if one has to make a synopsis of every paragraph to extract what the essence is."

Manny in repsonse: Kerstin, if I may speculate, I think what you're having trouble with is St. Theresa's poeticism. She writes like a poet. So much of what she says is in analogies, similes, and metaphors, and therefore it's not direct. And to be fair to St. Theresa, the subject matter doesn't lend itself to direct speech. Such spirituality is difficult to express, and one has to grasp for comparisons. I could be wrong. I could also be the translation. 

For me, I had similar issues at the beginning. But over time her style has worked its way into my head. I'm fifteen pages from the end, and her writing seems quite logical and conversive. 

 

Matthew in the Introduction section mentioned he felt he was mostly in the first mansion.  I would have to say for me—and I bet most of us here—are in the second mansion.  In the 2^nd paragraph is where she describes those people:

“In this part of the castle are found souls which. have begun to practise prayer; they realize the importance of their not remaining in the first mansions, yet often lack determination to quit their present condition by avoiding occasions of sin, which is a very perilous state to be in.  However, it is a great grace that they should sometimes make good their escape from the vipers and poisonous creatures around them and should understand the need of avoiding them. In some way these souls suffer a great deal more than those in the first mansions, although not in such danger, as they begin to understand their peril and there are great hopes of their entering farther into the castle. I say that they suffer a great deal more, for those in an earlier stage are like deaf-mutes and are not so distressed at being unable to speak, while the others, who can hear but cannot talk, find it much harder. At the same time, it is better not to be deaf, and a decided advantage to hear what is said to us.”

Yes that probably describes me.  I pray and understand the condition of my sins, and understand the need to avoid them, but I can’t say I break free of them often.  She goes on in the next paragraph to understand the psychology of me and those like me:

“These souls hear our Lord calling them, for as they approach nearer to where His Majesty dwells He proves a loving Neighbour, though they may still be engaged in the amusements and business, the pleasures and vanities of this world. While in this state we continually fall into sin and rise again, for the creatures amongst whom we dwell are so venomous, so vicious, and so dangerous, that it is almost impossible to avoid being tripped up by them. Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him. So sweet is His voice, that the poor soul is disconsolate at being unable to follow His bidding at once, and therefore, as I said, suffers more than if it could not hear Him.”

Though I hear our Lord, we are just too wrapped up in the business and amusements of this world, like the Super Bowl.  You would think that watching the Super Bowl would be relatively innocuous but it would amaze how many little sins will happen during the course of a Super Bowl party: the language, the bad thoughts, the gambling, the pleasure of watching someone lose, etc.  All venial sins, I’m sure, but sins nonetheless sins which pull you away from elevating the soul.  

Third Mansion

Along the line of needing a trusted spiritual adviser, this paragraph from the first chapter of the third mansion suggests that it would be helpful and that it might not:

"Still I must give you one warning: be not too confident because you are nuns and the daughters of such a Mother. David was very holy, yet you know what Solomon became.  Therefore do not rely on your enclosure, on your penitential life, nor on your continual exercise of prayer and constant communion with God, nor trust in having left the world or in the idea that you hold its ways in horror. All this is good, but is not enough, as I have already said, to remove all fear; therefore meditate on this text and often recall it: 'Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord.' "

You could look at that paragraph and conclude you can't do it on your own,  Even Solomon failed.  But it also warns that just because you have Theresa of Avila as a spiritual mother, it doesn't mean that you will progress.  I've never had a spiritual director, and it would have to be someone I really felt comfortable with if I were to take one on, but I don't know how much it helps.  I guess it can't hurt.

In reply to Andy above, I found this somewhere in the middle in the second chapter to be significant:

“Believe me, the question is not whether we wear the religious habit or not, but whether we practise the virtues and submit our will in all things to the will of God. The object of our life must be to do what He requires of us: let us not ask that our will may be done, but His. If we have not yet attained to this, let us be humble, as I said above. Humility is the ointment for our wounds; if we have it, although perhaps He may defer His coming for a time, God, Who is our Physician, will come and heal us.”

Humility and submission to the will of God in all things—which is the same thing—is how one makes it to the third mansion.

The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila, Part 1

I’ve been reading The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila, and as I’ve mentioned we’ve been having a discussion of it as part of a book club read for the Catholic Thought group at Goodreads.  We’re still going through, and you’re welcome to join our book club and participate if you like.  Below are my contributions to the discussion.  They are my posts put together sequentially.  Even though you might miss the give and take and not notice when one posts ends and another starts, I think you’ll be able to get my thoughts. 

For you information, The Interior Castle divides into seven mansions, and our group is taking each one in series.   I’ll break these up into a few posts.  I’ll post these as part of a Faith Filled Friday series.  This first one will cover the Preface and first mansion.  If you wish to read The Interior Castle, you can do so online, here. 

Preface

I’m not sure what is considered the Introduction.  If we mean the introduction by the editor, then everyone’s translation will probably have a different introduction.  So I’m not going to comment on the introduction in my edition.

But St. Theresa does have a Preface, and if that’s what Doreen is calling the Introduction, I do have a couple of thoughts, and these are just random thoughts that come to me as I read and jot down in the margins.

She comments in that second paragraph that she has already said what she will say in this book in other books.  I have not read any other of her books, but I am a little surprised by that.  What did she mean?  I am not aware she wrote about a spiritual journey in the form of a castle before.  The Wikipedia entry does not mention that she wrote anything along those lines before.  Her book The Way to Perfection speaks about ways of prayer that perfect the soul and the four stages of perfection.  This book describes seven stages of the soul.  Are they the same thing only now she’s come up with seven categories instead of four, a sort of fine tuning on her original thoughts?  If anyone has read The Way to Perfection, can someone comment on the difference between the two books?

I love her metaphors and similes.  The Castle with all these rooms is a metaphor that shapes the book.  Also in that second paragraph she says she “writes mechanically as birds taught to speak.” So she says she writes as a parrot speaks.  I find that unusual.  So does that imply someone taught her?  I find what she says extremely original.

In the last paragraph in the Preface she says she’s been commanded to write this for the nuns in the convents “because women best understand each other’s language.”  Well, that’s probably true back in her day when I bet most women were illiterate.  I wonder how many of those nuns in her day could read.

First Mansion

I think we should quote the central sentence of the entire book, right in that first paragraph in the First Mansion:

“I thought of the soul as resembling a castle, formed of a single diamond or a very transparent crystal, and containing many rooms, just as in heaven there are many mansions.”

I agree, that’s a great image, but as I look at it more carefully she says the castle is “formed of a diamond or very transparent crystal.”  Normally we think of a soul as being vaporous and amorphous.  A crystal is just the opposite.  It’s hard.  I don’t think she explains why.

And look at the end of that complicated metaphor.  The soul (resembling a mansion) has “many rooms, just as in heaven there are many mansions.”  What confuses me is that I thought the soul enters these rooms but here she seems to be saying that the soul is made up of rooms.  Fast forward to the fifth paragraph where she addresses that:

“Now let us return to our beautiful and charming castle and discover how to enter it. This appears incongruous: if this castle is the soul, clearly no one can have to enter it, for it is the person himself: one might as well tell some one to go into a room he is already in! There are, however, very different ways of being in this castle; many souls live in the courtyard of the building where the sentinels stand, neither caring to enter farther, nor to know who dwells in that most delightful place, what is in it and what rooms it contains.  Certain books on prayer that you have read advise the soul to enter into itself, and this is what I mean.”

So the soul is a castle with rooms and yet it walks into its rooms, into itself.  Now that is mystical!

There were interesting passages in chapter 2 as well.  For instance the very opening lines:

“Before going farther, I wish you to consider the state to which mortal sin brings this magnificent and beautiful castle, this pearl of the East, this tree of life, planted beside the living waters of life which symbolize God Himself. No night can be so dark, no gloom nor blackness can compare to its obscurity. Suffice it to say that the sun in the centre of the soul, which gave it such splendour and beauty, is totally eclipsed, though the spirit is as fitted to enjoy God's presence as is the crystal to reflect the sun. While the soul is in mortal sin nothing can profit it; none of its good works merit an eternal reward, since they do not proceed from God as their first principle, and by Him alone is our virtue real virtue. The soul separated from Him is no longer pleasing in His eyes, because by committing a mortal sin, instead of seeking to please God, it prefers to gratify the devil, the prince of darkness, and so comes to share his blackness.”

There’s that crystal again as I mentioned it in my other comment.  And a few lines into the next paragraph, St. Theresa brings in what will be another big metaphor later in this book, the spring or river:

“In a state of grace the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal. Its works are pleasing both to God and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree. Otherwise it would produce neither leaves nor fruit, for the waters of grace nourish it, keep it from withering from drought, and cause it to bring forth good fruit. But the soul by sinning withdraws from this stream of life, and growing beside a black and fetid pool, can produce nothing but disgusting and unwholesome fruit.”

There’s the crystal again.  I think in St. Theresa’s symbolism, the crystal represents the pure soul.  I’m pretty sure that tree beside the river is an allusion to the beginning of Psalm 1:

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.  Rather, the law of the Lord is his joy; and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted near streams of water that yields its fruit in season; its leaves never wither; whatever he does prospers.”

Another interesting passage is that on self-knowledge.  It’s a few paragraphs in from the beginning of the chapter.

“A soul which gives itself to prayer, either much or little, should on no account be kept within narrow bounds. Since God has given it such great dignity, permit it to wander at will through the rooms of the castle, from the lowest to the highest. Let it not force itself to remain for very long in the same mansion, even that of self-knowledge. Mark well, however, that self-knowledge is indispensable, even for those whom God takes to dwell in the same mansion with Himself. Nothing else, however elevated, perfects the soul which must never seek to forget its own nothingness. Let humility be always at work, like the bee at the honeycomb, or all will be lost. But, remember, the bee leaves its hive to fly in search of flowers and the soul should sometimes cease thinking of itself to rise in meditation on the grandeur and majesty of its God. It will learn its own baseness better thus than by self-contemplation, and will be freer from the reptiles which enter the first room where self-knowledge is acquired. Although it is a great grace from God to practise self-examination, yet 'too much is as bad as too little,' as they say; believe me, by God's help, we shall advance more by contemplating the Divinity than by keeping our eyes fixed on ourselves, poor creatures of earth that we are.”

There’s a lot to unpack there.  As I think I understand it, the sequence of events is prayer leads being industrious like the bee, which leads to humility which leads to self-knowledge.  It’s this self-knowledge that leads to the first mansions.  Now to be frank, I don’t know what she means by “self-knowledge.”  She doesn’t define it, but it seems to be different than self-examination.  That too is interesting because that contrasts with Jesuit spirituality, where self-examination plays a big part.  St. Theresa says—and this may be her Carmelite spirituality—that it’s better to focus n the Divinity than on oneself.  Still I’m at a loss to know what she means by self-knowledge.  Did she define it somewhere and I missed it?