Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Interior Castle or The Mansions: Interior Castle: Mansion 6 - Ch 2 Discussion - The Mansions - St. Teresa of Avila

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 2

█ The Soul Longs for and Seeks the Beloved

█ God Increases the Soul's Longing for Him

▀ God's Operations of Love

which increases the soul's longing for Him

►Operation of Love:

The Wound of Love

■ The Call of the Bridegroom.

■ The Wound of Love

▪ The Dart of Love: Piercing of the Heart

▪ From spark of Love to Flame

▪ Duration and Intensity varies

▪ The Effect on the Faculties

▪ The Aftermath

▪ The Fruits of the Wound of Love

■ St Teresa's Recommendations

■ No Need to Fear Deception

►Operation of Love:

A Sudden Delightful Fervor

▪ Fruits of this Favor

■ St. Teresa's Recommendations:

█ The Soul Sighs for and Seeks the Beloved

"Where have You hidden Yourself,

And abandoned me to my sorrow,

O my Beloved!

You have fled like the hart,

Having wounded me.

I ran after You, crying;

but You were gone. "

"IN this first stanza,
the soul,

enamored of...the Son of God, the Bridegroom,

desiring to be united to Him ...

sets before Him the anxieties of its love,

complaining of His absence.

And this the more so

because, now pierced and wounded with love,

for which it had abandoned
all things, even itself,

it has still to endure the absence of the Beloved"

[ The Spiritual Canticle: Stanza I, The Bride;

St. John of the Cross: Translation: D. Lewis ]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"When You said, 'Seek My face,'

my heart said to You,
'Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.'

Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation!

[ Psalm 27: 8-9]

"Wait for the LORD;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the LORD."

[ Psalm 27:14]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The soul makes amorous complaints

to its Bridegroom,

even uttering them aloud;

Nor can it control itself,

knowing that

though He is present,

He will not manifest Himself

so that it may enjoy Him.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 3]

"leaving the heart longing

to suffer anew its loving pangs"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 7]

This causes a pain,

keen although sweet and delicious

from which the soul could not escape

even if it wished;

But this it never desires.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 3]

█ God Increases the Soul's Longing for Him

through His "Operations of Love"

Recall from Mansion 6: Chapter 1: Paragraph 2:

"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...

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 1: # 2]

St. Teresa, here, describes

some "operation(s) of love"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 4]

to show some ways

"in which the Spouse treats (the soul)

before uniting her entirely to Himself.

He increases her longing for Him

These desires are delicate and subtle impulses

springing from the inmost depths of the soul"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 1]

These are the graces and favors

which God may bestow in the Sixth Mansions.

"This is as God chooses,

for no human means can obtain it"

by their own efforts.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 6]

▀ God's Operations of Love

which Increases the Soul's Longing for Him

► The Wound of Love

St. Teresa describes its two aspects:

The Call and The Wound.

■ The Call of the Bridegroom.

"even when the mind is not recollected

even thinking of God,

although no sound is heard,

His Majesty arouses it suddenly

as if by a swiftly flashing comet

by a clap of thunder.

Yet the soul

thus called by God

hears Him well enough...

that sometimes, especially at first,

it trembles and even cries out,

although it feels no pain."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 2]

"the Beloved clearly shows

He dwells in the soul

and

calls by

so unmistakable a sign

and

so penetrating, a summons

that the spirit cannot choose but hear it,

while He appears to reside

in the seventh mansion.

He speaks in this manner,

which is not a set form of speech..."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 4]

"they are as certainly perceived

by the soul

as is a loud voice by the ears."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 12]

■ The Wound of Love

"It is conscious of having received

a delicious wound

but cannot discover how,

nor who gave it"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 2]

"knowing that

though He is present,

He will not manifest Himself ...

causes a pain,

keen although sweet and delicious..."

"This favour is more delightful

than the pleasing absorption

of the faculties in the prayer of quiet

which is unaccompanied by suffering.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 3]

"This favour acts so strongly upon the spirit

that it is consumed by desires

yet...it realizes clearly

that its God is with it."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 5]

▪ The Dart of Love; Piercing of the Heart

"...why is it pained? ...

this suffering seems

to pierce the very heart,

and

when He Who wounded it

draws out the dart,

He seems to draw the heart out too,

so deep is the love it feels.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 5]

( Note:

St. Teresa discusses

the Transverberation, the dart of Love,

in Mansion 6, Chapter Eleven )

▪ From spark of Love to Flame

God might be likened

to a burning furnace

from which a small spark

flies into the soul

that feels the heat of this great fire"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 6]

"Moses saith,

'Our Lord God is a consuming fire'

that is, a fire of love.

...He consumes infinitely,

burning with great vehemence,

and

transforming into Himself

all He touches."

[ Living Flame of Love: Stanza 2: #3:

St. John of the Cross

Translation: David Lewis ]

"The sensation is so delightful

that the spirit lingers in the pain

produced by its contact."

for the pain

is delicious

and

is not really pain at all,

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 6]

▪ Duration and Intensity varies

"nor does it always continue

in the same degree;

Sometimes it lasts for a long time;

on other occasions it passes quickly...

and though felt at times for a long while,

yet it is intermittent."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 6]

"... it is never permanent

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 7]

▪ The Effect on the Faculties

"There is no suspension here

of the senses or other faculties:

they wonder at what is happening,

without impeding it.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 8]

"... the senses,

the imagination and the faculties,

dare not stir.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 4]

Nor do I think that they can either

increase or dispel this delightful pain.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 8]

▪ The Aftermath

"... it is never permanent

and

therefore does not wholly inflame the spirit;

but when the soul is ready to take fire,

the little spark suddenly dies out,

leaving the heart longing

to suffer anew its loving pangs"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 7]

▪ The Fruits of the Wound of Love

"great benefits left in the soul"

▫ "is resolute to suffer for God"

"longs to bear many crosses"

▫ "far more determined than before

to withdraw from worldly pleasures"

and involvements

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 11]

■ St Teresa's Recommendations:

▫ "there is no need to fear deception

▫ but far more fear

of not being sufficiently grateful

for so signal a grace.

...let her thank Him fervently

Let her endeavour

▫ to serve Him

and

▫ to amend her life in every respect;

then she will see

what will follow

and

how she will obtain

still higher and higher gifts."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 8]

_______________________

■ No Need to Fear Deception

St. Teresa seems to be talking of herself:

"...who has always greatly dreaded...deceptions,

yet could never bring herself

to feel any alarm about this state of prayer

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 13]

▪ Not a deception by the devil

"No grounds exist for thinking...

that it is an illusion of the devil

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 7]

St. Teresa said:

"we may feel more secure against deception

concerning this favour ...for these reasons:

▫ "Firstly,

because the devil cannot give

such delicious pain:

He may cause pleasure or delight

which appears spiritual

but is unable to add suffering,

especially suffering of

so keen a sort,

united to peace and joy of soul.

His power is limited to what is external;

Suffering produced by him

is never accompanied with peace,

but with anxieties and struggles."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 10]

▫ "Secondly,

because this welcome storm

comes from no region

over which Satan has control."

(Satan has no control
over the interior depths of the soul)

▫ "Thirdly,

because of the great benefits left in the soul

which, as a rule,

- is resolute to suffer for God

and

- longs to bear many crosses.

It is also far more determined than before

to withdraw

from worldly pleasures

and worldly involvements

and other things of the same sort."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 11]

■ Not a deception by ones own self

"No grounds exist for thinking

(that) this comes

from any natural cause

from melancholy,

that it is an illusion...

(of) the imagination.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 7]

"It is very clear that this is no fiction:

The imagination

may counterfeit some favours

but not this,

which is too manifest

to leave room for doubt.

It is impossible for these experiences

to proceed from melancholy

whose whims arise and exist

only in the imagination,

whereas this emotion

comes from the interior of the soul.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 12]

________________________

▪ But Sustained doubts would indicate

that these "were not genuine impulses"

"Should any one still remain uncertain,

let her know

that hers were not genuine impulses;

that is, if she is dubious

as to whether or no she experienced them,

for they are as certainly perceived

by the soul

as is a loud voice by the ears.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 12]

▀ Operation of Love:
A Sudden Delightful Fervor

St. Teresa describes another favor

that God may bestow

on those in the Sixth Mansion.

"Our Lord also uses

other means of rousing the soul;

for instance--

when reciting vocal prayer...

a person may be seized

with a delightful fervour

as if suddenly encompassed with a fragrance

powerful enough to diffuse itself

through all the senses.

by which the Spouse

▫ makes His presence understood,

▫ moving the soul to a delicious desire

of enjoying Him"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 14]

"...not...that there really is any perfume

but...I...use this (as a) comparison"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 14]

"This favour

springs from the same source as the former"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 15]

"...comes from the interior of the soul"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 12]

but causes no suffering here"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 15]

▪ Fruits of this Favor

thus

▪ disposing it to heroic acts,

and

▪ causing it to render Him fervent praise."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 14]

■ St. Teresa's Recommendations:

"there appears no cause here for fear,

but rather for receiving it with thanksgiving."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 2: # 15]

End of the Discussion of

Mansion 6 Chapter 2

The Interior Castle

The Mansions

S. Teresa of Jesus

of the Order of our Lady of Carmel

St. Teresa of Avila

Note:

Attempt was made to display the quotes

of the other books being cited

by the editor's foot notes.

But, they may not be the actual intended passages

that were cited by the editor

since the editions/translations used by the editor

may have different paragraph numbering than those

available to this blog.

Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Interior Castle or The Mansions

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Interior Castle: Mansion 6 - Ch 2 Discussion - The Mansions - St. Teresa of Avila - Teresa of Jesus