The Interior Castle or The Mansions
S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
St. Teresa of Avila
Discussion of Mansion 6 - Chapter 1
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Discussion of Mansion 6 - Chapter 1
Some Characteristics of the Sixth Mansion
█ Regarding a Betrothal / Espousal
▀ The Soul Seeks solitude and prayer
in order to dispose itself again
to God's Visits
▀ Love and Longing for the Visits of God
█ The Soul undergoes many trials,
approaching the Spiritual Marriage,
until the Seventh Mansions
▀ Preparatory to the Seventh Mansions
▀ Possible Trials of the Sixth Mansion
▫ Criticism of her behavior and intentions
◦ Praise causes the soul to suffer
◦ Severe bodily infirmity.
◦ Fear and Anguish of the Soul
◦ Aridity
█ The Fruits of the Sixth Mansions
▀ Detachment from Praise or Criticism
▪ Through Humility
▪ Through Zeal for God's Glory.
▀ Thankfulness for Trials and
Strengthened by Trials
▀ Love of Enemies
▀ Desire to Suffer for God
█ St. Teresa's Recommendations
▀ Faith and Patience
▀ Humility
▀ Love: Works of Charity
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█ Regarding a Betrothal / Espousal
Recall from Mansion 5 Chapter 4,
St. Teresa wrote:
"the espousals...take place in the next mansion."
(the sixth mansions)
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 4: #3 ]
"To show you...
how Christ treats the souls
(that) He takes for His brides,
I will now speak of the sixth mansions."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 4: #11 ]
"Thus it is in the spiritual espousals:
When
- the preliminary agreement
has been made
and
(when)
- the soul...having resolved
to fulfil the will of her Spouse in all things
(Then God)
◦ bestows this favour upon her,
◦ visits her
and
◦ draws her into His presence,
as He wishes her to know Him better."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 4: #2 ]
"There is no longer
any question of deliberation,
but the soul in a secret manner sees
to what a Bridegroom it is betrothed;
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 5: Ch. 4: #2 ]
▀ The Soul Seeks solitude and prayer
in order to dispose itself again
to God's Visits
- "sighs more than ever for solitude,
- withdrawing as far
as the duties of its state permit
from all that can interrupt it"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #1 ]
▀ Love and Longing for the Visits of God;
"the soul,
- wounded with love for its Spouse"
"The sight
(that) it has enjoyed of Him
is so deeply imprinted on the spirit
that its only desire
is to behold Him again."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #1 ]
▪ Regarding this type of "sight":
The consciousness of the Visits of God
is not received
through the sense of sight
(not through the vision of the eyes)
or
through the natural imagination
but is received by the "eyes of the soul".
"even by the imagination,
nothing is seen in this prayer
that can be called, ' sight'.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #1 ]
"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 ]
"This vision, though imaginary,
I never saw with my bodily eyes,
nor, indeed, any other,
but only with the eyes of the soul."
[ Life: Ch. 28: #5
Translation: D. Lewis ]
St. John of the Cross spoke
of the 'interior bodily senses'
in his "The Ascent of Mount Carmel":
"...two interior bodily senses
which are called imagination and fancy...
All the things, then,
that these senses can receive and fashion
are known as imaginations and fancies,
which are forms that are represented
to these senses by bodily figures and images.
This can happen in two ways.
(natural and supernatural)
...one way is supernatural,
wherein representation...is made,
to these senses passively,
without any effort of their own;
these we call imaginary visions,
produced after a supernatural manner..."
[ Ascent: Bk. 2: Ch.12: # 3]
( See also Ascent: Bk2: Ch. 16 ) |
█ The Soul undergoes trials
until the Spiritual Marriage
until the Seventh Mansions
"..this pledge of what is in store for us
is needed to inspire us with courage
to bear our crosses.
"The soul is now determined
to take no other Bridegroom
than our Lord,
but He disregards its desires
for its speedy espousals,
wishing
- that these longings
should become still more vehement
and
- that this good,
which far excels all other benefits,
should be purchased
at some cost to itself.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #2 ]
■ Preparatory to the Seventh Mansions
"How many troubles
both interior and exterior
must one suffer
before entering the seventh mansions !"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #3 ]
And although for so great a gain,
all that we must endure
is but a poor price to pay"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #2 ]
"This severe torture felt by souls
just at the entrance
of the seventh mansion
is accompanied by many other sufferings;
Some of which I will mention:"
(in the following chapters)
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #27 ]
■ Possible Trials of the Sixth Mansion
Many are the trials
which assault this soul,
causing an internal anguish
so painful and so intolerable
that I can compare it to nothing
save that suffered by the lost in hell,
for no comfort can be found
in this tempest of trouble.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 18 ]
"Its pains are indescribable;
It is wrung with nameless anguish
and spiritual suffering."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 24 ]
"Possibly all souls
may not be led in this way...
yet...it might greatly comfort a soul...
if it knew what usually happens to those
on whom God bestows graces
of this kind,
for at the time
they really seem to have lost everything.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #4 ]
~ St. Teresa described some of the trials experienced by those who have been led by God into the Sixth Mansions:
▫ Criticism of her behavior and intentions
"They say
(that) she wants to pass for a saint,
that she goes to extremes in piety
to deceive the world
and
to depreciate people
...deceiving her confessors
...she is manifestly deluded--
it is all the devil's work…
...she is leading virtue astray.
Persons,
she thought were her friends,
desert her..."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #5 ]
◦ Praise causes the soul to suffer
Coversely, if a soul is praised:
"Praise pains such a soul
more than blame
because it recognizes clearly
that any good it possesses
is the gift of God
and
in no wise its own,
seeing that but a short time ago
it was
weak in virtue
and
involved in grave sins."
"Commendation causes it
intolerable suffering, at least at first,
although later on,
the soul is comparatively indifferent
to either" (praise or criticism)
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #7 ]
◦ Exterior Trials
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 13 ]
◦ Heavy Crosses
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 14 ]
◦ Severe Bodily Infirmity.
"Our Lord now usually sends
severe bodily infirmity.
but corporal pains of the worst kind
enter the interior of our being also,
affecting both spirit and body,
so that the soul,
in its anguish,
knows not what to do with itself....
God
never sends us more
than we can bear
and
always gives us patience first.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 13 ]
◦ A "timorous and inexperienced Confessor"
may not understand her state and
may not be able to counsel and direct her. "He, at once, ascribes everything
to the devil
or (to) melancholy."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 15 ]
⌂ Difficulty of describing the soul's state
"If the soul seeks for consolation
from its confessor,
all the demons appear to help him
to torment it more.
"A confessor who dealt
with a person suffering in this manner
thought that her state must be
very dangerous
as so many things were troubling her"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 19 ]
She lost all control over herself:
although she had learnt to read,
yet she could no more understand a book...
for her mind was incapable of acting.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 19 ]
"...unable to pray or read,
like a person stunned
by heavy trials, and
by the dread that the evil one
had deluded me;
utterly disquieted and wearied"
[ Life: Ch. 25: #21
Translation: D. Lewis ]
◦ "Fear and Anguish of the Soul
especially if they have lived wicked lives…"
⌂ Anxiety on account of past sins
"...the remembrance of their misdeeds
is ever before them..."
"when...they discover any faults in themselves,
these torturing thoughts return"
"If at any time she has done good,
or
if His Majesty ever bestowed
any favours on her,
they seem to have been
but a dream or a fancy,
while her sins stand clearly before her.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 21 ]
⌂ Fear of being deceived by the devil
"...their belief
that God permits them to be deceived
in punishment for their sins."
While actually receiving these graces,
they feel secure and cannot but suppose
that these favours proceed
from the Spirit of God;
but this state lasts a very short time..."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 16 ]
⌂ Scruples and fears raised by the devil.
"the further pain of thinking we
- cannot make our confessors
understand the case
and
- are deceiving them.
Although such a person
examine(s) her conscience
with the greatest care,
and....
reveals even the first movement
of her mind
to her director,
it does not help her.
Her understanding,
being too obscure to discern the truth,
she believes all that the imagination...
puts before her mind,
besides crediting the falsehoods
suggested to her by the devil...
the evil spirit even tries
to make her think
(that) God has rejected her.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 18 ]
⌂ The trial of a timorous and
and inexperienced confessor
will be compounded here
if the soul, itself, is "beset by the same fears"
The soul "feels a torture and dismay
at his condemnation"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 16 ]
The soul is quieted for a time
when the confessor reassures it
although it returns later on
to its former apprehensions,
but when he augments its fears,
they become almost unbearable
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 17 ]
◦ Aridity
"...when such spiritual dryness ensues...
the mind feels as if it
never had thought of God
nor ever will be able to do so.
When men speak of Him,
they seem to be talking
of some person heard of long ago."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 17 ]
"Although, in a state of grace...
-- for, in spite of these torments,
it has
not offended God,
nor would it do so
for any earthly thing --
yet so hidden is this grace,
that the sufferer believes that
neither now,
nor in the past,
has she ever possessed
the faintest spark of love for God.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 21 ]
"Prayer makes no difference
as far as comforting the heart,
which no consolation can enter;
Nor can the mind even grasp
the meaning of the words of vocal prayer:
Mental prayer is out of the question
at such a time,
since the faculties are unequal to it.
Solitude harms the soul;
Yet society or conversation
is a fresh torment.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 23 ]
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█ The Fruits of the Sixth Mansions
▀ Detachment from Praise or Criticism
The soul learns to be indifferent
to praise and criticism in many ways:
"first …
that men are as ready
to speak well as ill of others,
so it attaches no more importance
to the one than to the other."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #8 ]
▪ Through Humility
"Secondly,
our Lord having granted it greater light,
it
- perceives that no good thing in it,
is its own
but is His gift,
and
- becomes oblivious of self,
praising God for His graces
as if they were found in a third person."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #8 ]
"The third reason is that,
realizing the benefit reaped by others
from witnessing graces given it by God,
such a one thinks
that it is for (the other person's) profit,
(that) He causes them
to discover virtues...in her,
that do not exist."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #9 ]
▪ Through Zeal for God's Glory.
"Fourthly,
souls
seeking God's honour and glory
more than their own
are cured of the temptation...
of thinking
that human praise will cause them
the injury they have seen it do to others.
Nor do these souls care much
for men's contempt
if only, by their means,
any one should praise God at least once"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: #10 ]
"human praise
...still causes some discomfort
unless the soul has become
utterly regardless of men's tongues.
It is infinitely more grieved
at being undeservedly esteemed
by the world
than by any calumny"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 11 ]
▀ Thankfulness for Trials and
Strengthened by Trials
"the soul is rather strengthened
than depressed by its trials,
experience having taught it
the great advantages derived from them."
God "... permits them..
for (the souls) greater gain."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 12 ]
▀ Love of Enemies
"It does not think (that) men offend God
by persecuting it (itself),
but that He permits them to do so
for its greater gain."
The soul "bears a special affection
for these people,
holding them as truer friends
and greater benefactors
than those who speak well of her. "
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 12 ]
▀ Desire to Suffer for God
"I should always choose
the way of suffering,
if only for the sake
of imitating our Lord Jesus Christ;
though, in fact,
it profits us in many other manners.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 14 ]
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█ St. Teresa's Recommendations
"God alone relieves these troubles."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 20 ]
"Their comfort must come from above
-- Nothing earthly can help them."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 22 ]
▀ Faith and Patience
"there is no other remedy
in such a tempest
except to wait for the mercy of God
Who, unexpectedly, by
some casual word or
unforeseen circumstance,
suddenly dispels all these sorrows"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 20 ]
"The best remedy for these crosses
( I do not mean
for gaining deliverance
from them,
for I know of nothing
that will do that,
but for enabling one to bear them)
is to trust in the mercy of God,
which never fails those
who hope in Him.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 24 ]
▀ Humility
"It praises our Lord God...
for it was He Who won the victory.
The soul is fully conscious
that the conquest was not its own
as all weapons of self-defence
appeared to be in the enemies' hands.
Thus it realizes
its weakness
and
how little man can help himself
if God forsake him. "
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 20 ]
"It realizes
the nothingness of human nature
and
what miserable creatures we are."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 21 ]
"This great God wishes us to acknowledge
His sovereignty
and
our own misery
-- an important point for those
who are to advance still farther.
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 22 ]
▀ Love: Works of Charity
"The best remedy for these crosses
( I do not mean for gaining deliverance from them
...but for enabling one to bear them)
is to perform external works of charity"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: # 24 ]
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End of the Discussion
of
Mansion 6 Chapter 1
of
The Interior Castle
or
The Mansions
S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
St. Teresa of Avila
|
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