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 2
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Discussion of Mansion 5 Chapter 2
█ Summary
Here, in Chapter 2,
St. Teresa continues to describe the Fruits of
The Prayer of Union,
The Fifth Mansions.
The soul with God's grace
has emerged from the cocoon of purification
and
has been transformed like the butterfly.
Generally,
It has not yet reached perfection;
Its Detachment is not complete;
Its will is not totally surrendered to God.
Yet, the Fifth Mansion
"contains favours of various degrees."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
And there are those led by God
to a more perfect conformity to His Will.
These souls have been imprinted
with the Model of Christ
like wax imprinted by a seal.
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
▀ How Wonderfully Silk is Made.
From cocoon to silk
From silk worm to Butterfly
The Marvels Our Lord Works in the Soul
▀ This Grace and Gift of God
▀ Fruits of The Prayer of Union
■ Humility
■ Desire to praise our Lord God
■ Grief at seeing God Offended
■ Desire To Do Penances
■ Desire To Receive Great Crosses
■ Desire for Solitude and Prayer
■ Peace and Consolation
▪ But not constant or continuous delight
▪ Peace derived from partaking
in Christ's Sorrows and Love
■ Detachment
from the World and Earthly Life
Yet not totally detached
from one's own will
Yet still not totally attached
to the Will of God
▀ Among the Many Favors of Various Degrees:
A Greater Degree of Grace
The Grace of Surrender to God's Will
■ Not Acquired by Effort; Not Earned by Merit
■ God alone works this grace
▪ Those, who are led to this grace
are compared to wax
which has been imprinted with a seal
▀ Christ as the Model / Seal
of Perfect Surrender in Love
■ Those imprinted
with the Model /Seal of Christ
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▀ How Wonderfully Silk is Made.
From cocoon to silk
From silk worm to Butterfly
The Marvels Our Lord Works in the Soul
| The Sikworm | The Soul |
It all comes from an egg
resembling a tiny pepper-corn.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #1 ]
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The silkworm symbolizes the soul
[Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #2 ]
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When, in the warm weather,
the mulberry trees
come into leaf,
the little egg
which was lifeless
before its food was ready,
begins to live.
[ IC : Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
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which begins to live
[ IC : Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #2 ]
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The caterpillar nourishes itself
upon the mulberry leaves
[ IC : Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
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when, kindled by the Holy Spirit,
it commences using the ordinary aids
given by God to all,
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #2 ]
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When it has grown large,
people place near it small twigs
[ IC : Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
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...and applies the remedies
left by Him in His Church,
such as
regular confession,
religious books, and sermons;
These are the cure for a soul
dead in its negligence and sins
& liable to fall into temptation.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #2 ]
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upon which,
of its own accord,
it spins silk from its tiny mouth
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
When the silkworm
is full-grown...
it begins
to spin silk...
[ IC : Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #2 ]
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Preparation of the soul
for God's indwelling.
[ IC : Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #4 ]
Then it comes to life and continues
nourishing itself
on this food and
on devout meditation
until it has attained full vigour,
which is the essential point,
[ IC : Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
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...until it has made
a narrow little cocoon
in which it buries itself.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
to build the house
wherein it must die.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #2 ]
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"By this 'house',
when speaking of the soul,
I mean 'Christ'."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
"Our life is hid in Christ or in God
or that Christ is our life."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #3 ]
"He is our home"
"How much,
by God's grace,
we can do,
(by preparing this home
for ourselves),
towards making Him
our dwelling-place
as He is in the Prayer of Union.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #4 ]
"We can
take away from
and
add to ourselves,
like the silkworms."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #4 ]
"Hasten over your work
and
build the little cocoon."
Let us
▪ renounce self-love and self-will,
▪ care for nothing earthly,
▪ do penance,
▪ pray,
▪ mortify ourselves,
▪ be obedient,
and
▪ perform all the other good works
of which you know.
Act up to your light;
you have been taught your duties.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #5 ]
and
you will see God
and
be immersed in His greatness,
as the little silkworm is enveloped
in its cocoon.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #5 ]
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Mystic death
of the silkworm.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #5 ]
wherein it must die.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #2 ]
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Die!
Die as the silkworm does
when it has fulfilled the office
of its creation,
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #5 ]
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Then this large and ugly worm
leaves the cocoon
as a lovely
little white butterfly.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
It despises the work it did
while yet a caterpillar
-- the slow weaving
of its cocoon
thread by thread --
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
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"He manifests Himself
in this kind of union."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #5 ]
"The soul has become
entirely dead to the world,
it comes forth
like a lovely little white butterfly!"
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
"How beautiful is the soul
after having been
immersed in God's grandeur
and
united closely to Him
for but a short time!
Indeed, I do not think it is ever
as long as half an hour."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
"Truly,
the spirit does not recognize itself,
being as different
from what it was
as is the white butterfly
from the repulsive caterpillar."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
"Everything on earth disgusts it
after what it has experienced,
particularly when God has
often given it this wine
which leaves fresh graces
behind it
at every draught.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
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"its wings have grown and
it can fly;
Could it be content to crawl ?"
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
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"knowing by experience
how our Lord aids
and transforms the soul
until it no longer seems the same
in character and appearance.
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
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"No wonder this pretty butterfly,
estranged from earthly things,
seeks repose elsewhere."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8 ]
Where can
the poor little creature go?
It cannot return
to whence it came,
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8 ]
It knows not
where to stay
nor take its rest;
Oh, to see the restlessness
of this charming little butterfly,
although never in its life
has it been more tranquil
and at peace!
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
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"that is not in the soul's power,
do what it will,
but depends upon God's pleasure.
Alas,
what fresh trials begin
to afflict the mind!
Who would expect this
after such a sublime grace?
In fact, in one way or another
we must carry the cross
all our lives."
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8 ]
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▀ The Grace and Gift of God
"In the contemplation...
we can do nothing.
It is His Majesty Who does everything;
The work
is His alone
and
far transcends human nature.
[ Way of Perf: Ch. 25: #3 ]
"our Lord knoweth well
what is expedient"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #7 ]
"not in the soul's power,
do what it will,
but depends upon God's pleasure."
[ Life: Ch. 18: #8 ]
■ Preparation and Disposition for Graces
"when the soul
on which God bestows this grace
disposes itself for their reception,
...our Lord works...marvels... in it.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
"though we can take no active part
in this work of God within us,
yet we may do much to prepare ourselves
to receive this grace.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1 ]
■ God's Grace Enhances
the Soul's Unworthy Efforts
"The little we can do
will hardly have been accomplished
when this insignificant work of ours,
which amounts to nothing at all,
will be united by God to His greatness
and
thus enhanced with such immense value
that our Lord, Himself,
will be the reward of our toil.
Although He has had the greatest share in it,
He will
join our trifling pains
to the bitter sufferings He endured for us
and
make them one.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #4 ]
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▀ Fruits of The Prayer of Union
"how our Lord aids and transforms the soul
until it no longer seems the same
in character and appearance"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
■ Humility
"It does not know
- how it can have merited so
great a good,
or rather,
- whence this grace came
which it well knows it merits not.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
"I saw afterwards
- my own foolishness and
- want of humility;
for
- our Lord knoweth well
what is expedient,
and that
- there is no strength in my soul
to be saved,
if His Majesty did not give it
with graces so great.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #7 ]
■ Desire to praise our Lord God
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
■ Grief at seeing God Offended
"would have all men know God"
"while it is bitterly grieved
at seeing them offend Him."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
"During prayer this grief breaks forth
in floods of tears,
probably from the great pain felt
at seeing God offended
and
at thinking how many souls...
are lost eternally...
The soul
realizes the greatness of God's mercy
and
knows that however wicked men are,
they may still repent and be saved;
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #9 ]
■ Desire To Do Penances
"Longs to
▫ sacrifice itself
and
▫ die a thousand deaths for Him."
"would like to perform
the most severe penances"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
"Formerly
it feared penance,
now it is strong:
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
■ Desire To Receive Great Crosses
"It feels an unconquerable desire
for great crosses"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
"All that it can do for God
seems nothing to the soul
compared with its desire."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
■ Desire for Solitude and Prayer
"It sighs for solitude..."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
■ Peace and Consolation
▪ But Not constant or continuous delight
"If people told me
that ever since attaining
to the Prayer of Union,
they had enjoyed constant
peace and consolation,
I should reply
that they could never
have reached that state"
St. Teresa continued to say
that this constant consolation was likely due to:
spiritual consolation combined with
human emotions and
physical disability / human weakness
or perhaps a deceit of the devil.
"but that, at the most,
if they had arrived as far
as the last mansion,
their emotion must have been
some spiritual satisfaction
joined to physical debility.
It might even have been a false sweetness
caused by the devil,
who gives peace for a time only
to wage far fiercer war later on."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8 ]
▪ Peace derived from partaking
in Christ's Sorrow and Love
"I do not mean
that those who reach this stage
possess no peace;
They do so in a very high degree..."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8 ]
But she explains
that the consolations are not constant
but derived from
the sorrows
they share in Christ's sorrow
and
the joys of surrendering to His Will.
"for their sorrows,
though extremely severe,
are so beneficial and proceed
from so good a source
as to procure both peace and happiness.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8 ]
■ Detachment
from the World and Earthly Life
"Everything on earth disgusts it
after what it has experienced
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
Formerly,
"It wanted courage to forsake
relations, friends, or possessions:
Neither its actions, its resolutions,
nor separation from those it loved
could detach the soul,
but rather seemed to increase its fondness."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
"Now...
It wearies of everything,
realizing
that no true rest can be found in creatures.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #7 ]
■ Yet not totally detached
from one's own will
Yet not totally attached
to the Will of God
"Discontent with this world
gives such a painful longing to quit it"
"that, if the heart finds comfort,
it is solely from the thought
that God wishes it
to remain here in banishment.
(but)
Even this is not enough
to reconcile it to fate,
for after all the gifts received,
it is not yet so entirely surrendered
to the will of God
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #9]
"Here, although conformed to His will,
the soul feels
an unconquerable reluctance to submit,
for our Lord has not given it higher grace."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #9 ]
"... the torture
at seeing our Lord sinned against
is so unbearable
that she would far rather die
than continue in such anguish."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #13]
▪ Contrasted to Detachment of the Will
St. Teresa speaks here of
this timid soul who "would far rather die"
"a soul
whose charity is so weak
compared to that of Christ...".
She contrasts to
- how Christ continued on earth through
Obedience to His Father
and
Love of mankind
and
- how the soul imprinted by Christ
▫ would by the zeal
of one's repentance and Love
"want to do still more"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #13]
▫ pray "that God should dispose of it
according to His will."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
"We must carry the cross all our lives"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8]
"What joy to suffer in doing God's will!"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #13]
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▀ Among Many Favors of Various Degrees:
A Greater Degree of Grace
The Grace of Surrender to God's Will
God's gift of True Sorrow and Repentance leading
to Compassion and Love
to Total Surrender
"for as I said,
it contains favours of various degrees.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #1]
■ Not Acquired by Effort;
Not Earned by Merit
If we tried for many years
to obtain such sorrow
( for the offenses to God by ourselves
and
for the offenses to God by others
and
for the plight of all us, offenders)
by means of meditation,
we could not succeed"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #10 ]
"If for long days and years I considered
how great a wrong it is
that God should be offended,
and
that lost souls are His children
and my brethren"
This (sorrow and repentance)
by the help of God,
we can obtain by such meditation;
but it does not seem to penetrate
the very depths of our being"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #11 ]
■ "God alone works this grace"
"He only bestows this grace on those
He takes entirely for His own."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #11 ]
"the Bride says
that God
brought her 'into the cellar of wine
and
set in order, charity in her'?
St. Teresa describes a supernatural grace
whereby the sorrow "appears to
cut the soul to pieces
and
grind it to powder
through no action...of its own...
--even sometimes with no wish--"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
A few years ago...perhaps but a few days--
this soul thought of nothing
but itself.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #10 ]
( Now)
The soul
has so entirely yielded itself
into His hands
and
is so subdued by love for Him
that it knows or cares for nothing
but that God should dispose of it
according to His will."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
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▪ Those, who are led to this grace
are compared to wax
which has been imprinted with a seal
which has been imprinted with a seal
The Wax
imprinted into a seal
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The Soul
becoming more like Christ
through the gift of
ardent love and
desire to save souls..
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It does not mould itself
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
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All is done for us by Thee,
[ IC: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #12 ]
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but need only be in a fit condition
--soft and pliable;
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
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Who dost but ask us
to give our wills to Thee
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #12 ]
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it does not soften itself
but must merely
remain still
and
submit to the impression.
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
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that we may be plastic as wax
in Thy hands.
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #12 ]
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"the wax ….
impressed with the signet."
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
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"the spirit should come forth
stamped with His seal ...
without knowing how"
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #11 ]
He gives it something of His own
-- that which His Son possessed
when living on earth --
ardent love
and...
desire to save souls...
He could bestow no greater gift on us.
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #12 ]
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what God does to this soul
so that it may know
that it is His.
[ IC: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #12 ]
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▀ Christ as the Model
of Perfect Surrender For Love
"His perfect obedience to His Father
and
His love for His brethren"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #13 ]
"Who could ever have longed more eagerly
to leave this life than did Christ?
As He said at the Last Supper:
'With desire I have desired
to eat this pasch with you,
before I suffer' "
[Lk 22: 15 ]
In her meditation, St. Teresa asks:
"Does not that bitter death
(which) Thou art to undergo
present itself before Thine eyes
in all its pain and horror?"
'No, for
My ardent love
and
My desire to save souls
are immeasurably stronger
than the torments.
This deeper sorrow
I have suffered and still suffer
while living here on earth,
makes other pain seem
as nothing in comparison.' "
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #12 ]
"...the constant witness
of the great offences committed
against His Father...
pained Him far more
than His most sacred Passion."
"the constant sight
of the many sins committed against God
and
of the numberless souls
on their way to hell
must have caused Him such anguish"
"...while His agony was allayed
by the consolation
of gaining our salvation through His death
and
of proving how He loved His Father
by suffering for Him."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5:
Ch. 2: #13]
■ Those imprinted
with the Model / Seal of Christ
"Thus, people urged by fervent love,
who perform great penances,
hardly feel them
but
want to do still more
and
count even that as little...
What joy to suffer in doing God's will!"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #13]
"we must carry the cross all our lives"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #8]
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▀ The Next Mansion
"if, after the soul has received these favours,
it strives to make still farther progress,
it will experience great things.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
...in the next mansion...
(The fruits) are of the same nature,
yet in a more advanced state,
the effects are far stronger..."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 2: #6 ]
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End of the Discussion
of Mansion 5 Chapter 2
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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