The Interior Castle or The Mansions of S. Teresa of Jesus of the Order of our Lady of Carmel St. Teresa of Avila Discussion of Mansion 5 - Chapter 1 |
Discussion of Mansion 5 Chapter 1 █ Contents ▀ The Difficulty in Describing "the riches, treasures, and joys contained in the Fifth Mansions" ▀ Many Souls Enter the 5th Mansions ▀ To Prepare and Dispose Oneself to this Grace ▀ Characteristics of the 5th Mansions according to The Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Chapter 1 and its Foot Notes ▀ Its Contrast to the Fourth Mansions ▀ The Importance of Holy and Learned Spiritual Directors |
▀ The Difficulty in Describing "the riches, treasures, and joys contained in the fifth mansions" "They are impossible to depict, nor can the mind conceive, nor any comparisons portray them, all earthly things being too vile to serve the purpose". [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 1 ] ■ St. Teresa prays for inspiration "Send me, O my Lord, light from heaven that I may give some (light) to (others)" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 1 ] "as I wish to show you if it please God to enable me." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 2 ] |
▀ Many Souls Enter the 5th Mansions "in reality there are very few who never enter this mansion" some more and some less, (But) "that certain graces I am about to describe are bestowed on only a few..." but most of them may be said at least to gain admittance into these rooms. but if the rest only arrive at the portal, they receive a great boon from God, [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 2 ] ■ 'Many are called, but few are chosen.' [ Mt. 20: 16 ] All we who wear the holy habit of the Carmelites are called to prayer and contemplation. This was the object of our Order, to this lineage we belong. Our holy Fathers of Mount Carmel sought in perfect solitude and utter contempt of the world for this treasure, this precious pearl" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 2 ] St. Teresa spoke here above of the Carmelites but elsewhere she teaches that all are called who have striven for detachment: "In my opinion, His Majesty only bestows this favour on those who have renounced the world, in desire at least, if their state of life does not permit their doing so in fact. He thus specially calls them to devote themselves to spiritual things; [ Interior Castle: Mansion 4: Ch.3: # 4 ] |
▀ To Prepare and Dispose Oneself to this Grace "How little do most of us care to prepare our souls, that our Lord may reveal this jewel to us!" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 2 ] ▪ Prayer "Since some foretaste of heaven may be had on earth, ◦ beg our Lord to give us grace not to miss it through our own fault. ◦ Ask Him to show us where to find it --ask Him to give us strength of soul to dig until we find this hidden treasure, which lies buried within our hearts" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 2 ] ▪ Strive with God's Help to Practice Virtue; Good Works; Service to God "He makes it impossible for no one to gain these riches, but is content that each should do his best." If one lacks " that strength of body", then still pray and strive to do what one can. [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 2 ] ▪ Detachment from temporal objects "if you would purchase this treasure of which we are speaking, God would have you keep back nothing from Him, little or great. He will have it all; In proportion to what you know you have given, will your reward be great or small. There is no more certain sign whether or not we have reached the prayer of union." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 3 ] "The reason why there are so few contemplatives is that there are so few persons who wholly withdraw themselves from transitory and created things'." [ Imitation, bk. iii. ch. xxxi. 1] "for this King does not allow Himself to be taken except by one who surrenders wholly to Him." [ Way of Perfection: Ch. 16: #5 ] "for the fault is wholly our own... [Life: Ch. 11: # 1 ] We - think so much of ourselves, and - are so dilatory in giving ourselves wholly to God, ...neither do we perfectly prepare ourselves for it. [Life: Ch. 11: # 2 ] So, because we - do not give ourselves up wholly and - do not give at once, this treasure is - not given wholly and - not given at once to us... [Life: Ch. 11: # 5 ] ...God withholds Himself from no one who perseveres." [Life: Ch. 11: # 6 ] ▪ Conformity with God's Will "In order to declare His wondrous works more clearly, He will leave us no share in them except - complete conformity of our wills to His and - abandonment of all things" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 10 ] ▪ Humility "...what wonders shall we see, if we • keep ever before our eyes our own baseness and frailty and • recognize how unworthy we are to be the handmaids of so great a Lord, Whose marvels are beyond our comprehension! [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 10 ] ▪ Trust in the Providence of God "I am convinced that those who refuse to believe that God can...(in this way) communicate Himself to His creatures, shut fast their hearts against receiving such favours themselves. ... Be convinced that it is possible for God to perform still greater wonders." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 7 ] |
▀ Characteristics of 5th mansion
according to
The Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Chapter 1 and its Foot Notes
Characteristics | The Prayer of Union ( The 5th Mansions ) |
Certainty that the soul "dwelt in Him" | "...clear proof whether the favour comes from God or no. ...nor leave any doubt ...an unmistakable sign." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 7 ] "God visits the soul in a manner which prevents its doubting, on returning to itself, that it dwelt in Him and that He was within it.. ...so firmly is it convinced of this truth that, although years may pass before this favour recurs, the soul can never forget it nor doubt the fact, The conviction felt by the soul is the main point." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] "I do not say that she saw it at the time, but that she perceives it clearly afterwards, not by any vision but by a certitude which remains in the heart which God alone could give." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 9 ] ▪ Conscious of a Divine Presence, not bodily presence "Do not mistake and imagine that this certainty of God's having visited the soul concerns any corporal presence such as that of our Lord Jesus Christ Who dwells in the Blessed Sacrament, although we do not see Him: It relates solely to the Divinity." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 9 ] |
| The Senses | ■ Sleep of the Senses "God then deprives the soul of all its senses that He may the better imprint in it true wisdom... ...It neither sees, hears," [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] "He does not require the faculties or senses to open the door to Him; They are all asleep. He enters the innermost depths of our souls without a door," [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 10 ] "nor are the senses awake, but rather as lost, so that the soul may be the more occupied with the object of its fruition: so it seems to me." [ Relations 8: #7 ] |
The Faculties (in general) (The Will, Understanding / Intellect, Memory / Imagination ) | ■ Sleep of the Faculties "In the prayer of union the soul is asleep, fast asleep, as regards the world and itself: In fact, during the short time this state lasts, it is deprived of all feeling whatever, being unable to think on any subject, even if it wished." "This is a delicious death, for the soul is deprived of the faculties (which) it exercised while in the body: ... it seems to have left its mortal covering to abide more entirely in God. So completely does this take place, that I know not whether the body retains sufficient life to continue breathing; On consideration, I believe it does not; At any rate, if it still breathes, it does so unconsciously." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 3 ] "...if consciousness is not completely lost, at least no movement is possible: The person may be compared to one who falls into a dead faint with dismay." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 4 ] "...the faculties... They are all asleep. " [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 10 ] "... it is quite possible for the Lord to grant you perfect contemplation. In this way His Majesty shows that He is listening...by suspending the understanding, putting a stop to all thought, Such a person understands that, without any sound of words, she is being taught by this Divine Master, Who is suspending her faculties... The faculties rejoice without knowing how they rejoice; The soul is enkindled in love without understanding how it loves... It is well aware that this is not a joy which can be attained by the understanding" [ Way of Perf: Ch. 25: #1-2 ] "In this state Our Lord ....Himself, (is) doing all the work. It is a - sleep of the powers of the soul, - which are not wholly lost, - nor yet understanding how they are at work." "...for, in fact, the faculties are almost all completely in union, yet not so absorbed that they do not act." [ Life: Ch. 16: # 3 ] "The faculties of the soul now retain only the power of occupying themselves wholly with God; Many words are then uttered in praise of God--but disorderly, unless it be that our Lord orders them himself. At least, the understanding is utterly powerless here; the soul longs to send forth words of praise, but it has no control over itself,-- it is in a state of sweet restlessness." [Life: Ch. 16: # 4] "When all the faculties of the soul are in union, .... they can then do nothing whatever, because the understanding is surprised, as it were." [ Relations 8: #7 ] "yet while it continues no faculty of the soul - is aware of it, or - knows what is passing there. Nor can it be understood while we are living on the earth" [ Life: Ch. 20: #24 ] |
The Will | "if the soul can love it knows not how, nor whom it loves, nor what it desires." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 3 ] "The will loves more than the understanding knows" [ Relations 8: #7 ] |
The Understanding | "The mind entirely concentrates itself on trying to understand what is happening, which is beyond its power" "It is so astounded" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 4 ] "Our understanding could not grasp them" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] "but the understanding does not know that the will loves, nor what it is doing, so as to be able in any way to speak of it." [ Relations 8: #7 ] "nor understands anything while this state lasts" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] "....in a state of prayer, so high as this, the soul understands that God is doing His work without any fatiguing of the (person's) understanding, It is as if amazed in beholding our Lord - taking upon Himself the work of the good gardener, - refusing to let the soul undergo any labour whatever, but that of taking its pleasure in the flowers beginning to send forth their fragrance" [ Life: Ch. 17: #2 ] ▪ St. Teresa advises: "In all such matters we must not seek to know how things happened: It comes from God alone; Therefore, let us not strive to understand it." "It is enough to know that it is He, the all-powerful God, Who has performed the work." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] |
The Memory | ▪ Thoughts are suspended "No effort is needed here to suspend the thoughts" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 3 ] "As to the memory, the soul...has none then, nor any power of thinking" [ Relations 8: #7 ] |
Disturbance to the faculties by their own activity | "However active these small lizards may be, they cannot enter the fifth mansion, for neither the imagination, the understanding, nor the memory has power to hinder the graces bestowed on it." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 5 ] |
Disturbance to the faculties by the devil | "The devil cannot interfere nor do any harm, for His Majesty is so joined and united with the essence of the soul, that the evil one dare not approach, nor can he even understand this mystery." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 6 ] |
Consolations | "These heavenly consolations are above all earthly joys, pleasure, and satisfaction." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 6 ] "penetrates to the very marrow: [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 7 ] "The pleasure, sweetness, and delight are incomparably greater than in the former state of prayer... . . . It is rejoicing in this agony with unutterable joy; to me it seems to be nothing else but - a death, as it were, to all the things of this world, and - a fruition of God." [ Life: Ch. 16: # 1 ] "...to the soul a kind of fruition most full of delight." [ Life: Ch. 16: # 1 ] "The one desire of such a person is to praise God, and while in this excess of delight she is so inebriated and absorbed as to appear beside herself. ...she seems in a state of divine intoxication, and does not know what she wants, or says, or for what she asks." [ Conceptions of the Love of God: Ch. 4: #3 ] |
Fruits (long lasting after-effects ) | ▪ "True Wisdom" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] "wherein true wisdom is acquired" [ Life: Ch. 16: # 1 ] "it is left with greatly increased knowledge" [ Conceptions of the Love of God: Ch. 4: #3 ] ▪ Detachment from the world Attachment to God "In fact, (the soul) has died entirely to this world, to live more truly than ever in God." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 3 ] ▪ Growth in Virtue "By the wealth of humility, and other virtues and desires, left in the soul after this may be learnt how great the blessing is that flows from this grace, This... is...the greatest grace wrought by our Lord on this spiritual road, -- at least, it is one of the greatest. [ Relations 8: #7 ] "it is left with.... such growth and strength of virtue as to be unable to recognize its former self." [ Conceptions of the Love of God: Ch. 4: #3 ] "It only knows how to enjoy, sustained as it is by the divine milk with which its Spouse continues to nourish it, and to increase its virtues that He may caress it more, and that it may deserve daily to receive new favours from Him." [ Conceptions of the Love of God: Ch. 4: #4 ] "The flowers are already opening; they are beginning to send forth their fragrance." [Life: Ch. 16: # 1-4] |
Duration | ".. never more than a very brief time; It appears to the soul to be much shorter than it really is." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] "the short time this state lasts..." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 3 ] "They are lost but for a brief interval; it passes quickly away" [ Relations 8: #7 ] "but...the previous prayer of union, this utter transformation of the soul in God, continues only for an instant" [ Life: Ch. 20: #24 ] |
This grace can not be merited. | ▀ A Gift of God, Bestowed according to His Will "We can do nothing on our own part to gain this favour" [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 8 ] "...the words of the Bride in the Canticles, 'The King brought me into the cellar of wine,' She does not say (that) she went of her own accord, although ... she wandered up and down seeking her Beloved. I think the Prayer of Union is the 'cellar' in which our Lord places us when and how He chooses, but we cannot enter it through any effort of our own. His Majesty alone - can bring us there and - come into the centre of our souls." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 10] ▪ St. Teresa advises: "Do not concern yourselves as to whether those who receive these graces are good or wicked" "He knows best and it is no business of yours: You ▫ should serve Him with a single heart and with humility, and ▫ should praise Him for His works and wonders." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 7 ] "It perceives that this is a blessing which could not be gained by the merits of all the trials suffered.... It is a gift of the Lord... This, daughters, is perfect contemplation." [ Way of Perf: Ch. 25: #1-2 ] |
▀ Its Contrast to the Fourth Mansions
In a brief contrast of the Fifth Mansions
with the Fourth Mansion,
St. Teresa said of the Fourth Mansions:
▪ Compared to the Certainty of the Fifth Mansion
that the soul dwelt in God,
the Fourth Mansion has doubts:
“...Until the soul has gained much experience,
it doubts what really happened to it.
The mind feels a thousand misgivings,
Was it nothing but fancy, or... sleep?
Did it come
from God
or
from the devil, disguised as an angel of light?'
or
(our own) nature may sometimes deceive us"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 5 ]
▪ Compared to the “sleep” of the soul
in the Fifth Mansion,
in the Fifth Mansion,
regarding the Fourth Mansion, she described:
"a sort of drowsiness"
(I call it 'drowsiness'
because the soul seems to slumber,
being neither quite asleep
nor wholly awake). "
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: #3 ]
by their own activity,
St. Teresa said of the Fourth Mansions:
"Although there is little chance
of the poisonous reptiles entering here,
yet agile little lizards will try to slip in,
though they can do no harm,
especially if they remain unnoticed.
These, as I said,
are trivial fancies of the imagination,
which are often very troublesome."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 5 ]
▀ The Importance of Holy and Learned Spiritual Directors ■ It is important to seek guidance regarding such matters. ■ Experience helps but Learning and Holiness is essential in a Spiritual Director "If they are.... Servants of God... not thoughtless and indevout, God...enables them to recognize the truth when it is put before them. God...sets them to give light to His Church... they - are never dismayed at His mighty works, - knowing perfectly well that it is in His power to perform far greater wonders. If some of the marvels told are new to them, yet they have read of others of the same kind, showing the former to be possible." I have had great experience as to this and have also met with timid, half-instructed people whose ignorance has cost me very dear." [ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 1: # 7 ] "...It is of great consequence that the director should be - prudent... of sound understanding and - a man of experience. If, in addition to this, - he is a learned man, it is a very great matter. But if these three qualities cannot be had together, the first two are the most important, because learned men may be found with whom we can communicate when it is necessary. ... Learning is a great thing, for it - teaches us who know so little, and - enlightens us; so when we have come to the knowledge of the truths contained in the holy writings, we do what we ought to do. [ Life: Ch. 13: #24 ] "Though learning does not seem necessary for discretion, my opinion has always been, and will be, that every Christian should continue to be guided by a learned director if he can, and the more learned the better. They who walk in the way of prayer have the greater need of learning; and the more spiritual they are the greater is that need. [ Life: Ch. 13: #26 ] I am certain myself that a person given to prayer, who treats of these matters with learned men, unless he is deceived with his own consent, will never be carried away by any illusions of the devil. I believe that the evil spirits are exceedingly afraid of learned men who are humble and virtuous, knowing that they will be found out and defeated by them. [ Life: Ch. 13: #26 ] "...a spiritual director is necessary; but if he be not a learned man, he is a great hindrance. It will help us much if we consult those who are learned, provided they be virtuous; even if they be not spiritual, - they will be of service to me, and - God will enable them to understand what they should teach; - He will even make them spiritual, in order that they may help us on. [ Life: Ch. 13 : #27 ] "...if he be a person living in the world, - let him praise God for the power he has of choosing whom he will obey, and - let him not lose so excellent a liberty; - let him be without a director till he finds him-- for our Lord will give him one, if he - is really humble, and - has a desire to meet with the right person. [ Life: Ch. 13: #29 ] |
End of the Discussion of Mansion 5 Chapter 1 of The Interior Castle or The Mansions of S. Teresa of Jesus of the Order of our Lady of Carmel St. Teresa of Avila |
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