▀ Characteristics of the Rapture
■ Purified from all Sins
"This living...water...
has come straight from heaven.
The soul which has once drunk of it
is cleansed and left pure
and
free from all sins."
[ Way of Perfection: Ch. 19: #8
Translation:Benedictines of Stanbrook ]
"Such a one may piously believe
(that) her sins are now forgiven,
supposing that she
is in the disposition
and
has made use of the means
required by the Church. "
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #3 ]
■ Closely United with God
"The soul being thus purified,
God unites it to Himself"
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #3 ]
"...the spirit is very closely united to God.
It is introduced into this mansion
of the empyrean heaven
which must be in the centre of our souls
for since God resides in them,
He must own one of the mansions."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #10 ]
▪ 6th Mansion (Betrothal) is not separated
from the 7th Mansion (Spiritual Marriage)
"this and the following mansions
...may be treated as one,
the door leading from one to the other
being wide open.
However,
as some things in the last rooms
are only shown to those who get thus far,
I thought it better
to treat the mansions separately."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #4 ]
God "bids that the doors of all the mansions
should be closed at once,
only leaving open the one He is in,
so that we may enter it."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #13 ]
"God ravishes the soul wholly to Himself,
as being His very own and His bride,
and
shows her some small part
of the kingdom
she has thus won.
However little this may be,
all is great that is in this great God."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #13 ]
■ Spiritual Knowledge
United with God,
"in a way known only to Him and the spirit"
the soul does not "understand what happens
as to be able to explain it to others afterwards."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #3 ]
"What I do understand is
that the soul has
never been more alive to spiritual things
nor so full of light and of knowledge
of His Majesty
as it is now.
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #4 ]
"While the soul is in this suspension,
our Lord favours it
by discovering to it secrets such as
heavenly mysteries
and
imaginary visions..."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #5 ]
■ Joy of the soul during raptures.
"While the soul is in ecstasy,
...its inebriation of joy in Him, suffices it. "
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #10 ]
■ Suspension of the Faculties and the Senses
"He will allow of no obstacle
from the powers or the senses
but bids that the doors of all the mansions
should be closed at once,
only leaving open the one He is in,
so that we may enter it.
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #13 ]
"He ravishes the soul by ecstasies,
thus depriving it of its faculties"
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #1 ]
"If the use of these were retained,
I think the sight of its close vicinity
to so mighty a Sovereign
would probably deprive the body of life."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #1 ]
"...the mind had not lost
the use of its faculties,
for this ecstasy does not resemble
a swoon or a fit
in which nothing
either interior or exterior is felt."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #3 ]
"...the powers and senses were so absorbed
that we might call them dead..."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #4 ]
"While the soul is in ecstasy,
- our Lord does not appear to wish it
to apprehend these mysteries
and
- its inebriation of joy in Him, suffices it.
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #10 ]
"But sometimes He is pleased
to withdraw it from this rapture
when it at once perceives
what the mansion contains."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #10 ]
"By the commands of the Bridegroom,
the doors
of the mansions
and even those
of the keep
and
of the whole castle
are closed;
for when He intends ravishing the soul,
He takes away the power of speech,
and
although occasionally
the other faculties
are retained rather longer,
no word can be uttered.
Sometimes the person is
at once deprived of all the senses,
the hands and body becoming as cold
as if the soul had fled;
occasionally no breathing can be detected."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #17 ]
■ Duration
This condition lasts but a short while;
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #17 ]
"This supreme state of ecstasy
never lasts long"
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #18 ]
■ The Faculties in the Aftermath
"On returning to itself,
the mind can recall
what has been seen
but is unable to describe it"
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #10 ]
"This supreme state of ecstasy
never lasts long,
but although it ceases,
it leaves
the will so inebriated,
and
the mind so transported out of itself
that for a day,
or sometimes for several days,
such a person is incapable
of attending to anything
but what excites the will
to the love of God;
Although wide awake enough to this,
she seems asleep
as regards all earthly matters.
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #18 ]
"when this profound suspension diminishes
the body seems to
come to itself
and
gain strength to return again to this death
which gives more vigorous life to the soul.
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #17 ]
▪ Often an Inability
to Understand or even to Remember
▪ Imaginary Visions
"heavenly mysteries
and
imaginary visions,
...admit of description afterwards
because they remain so imprinted
on the memory
that it never forgets them.
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #5 ]
▪ Intellectual Visions
But when the visions are intellectual
they are not thus easily related,
some of those received at such a time
being so sublime
that it is not fitting for man,
while living in this world,
to understand them in a way
that can be told;
Although
when the use of the faculties returns
much can be described
of what was seen in intellectual vision."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #5 ]
St. Teresa offered
"a suitable comparison" regarding
a general
rather than
a specific
remembrance and understanding
of a vision:
"Although I was in the (Duchess') room
(for) some time,
there were so many objects in it
that I
- forgot what I had seen
and
- could no more remember each object,
nor of what it was made,
than if I had never seen it,
though I recalled the sight
of the whole collection."
"...amazed...(she) wondered
what could be the use of such (riches),
then I thought
that the sight of so many different things
should lead one to praise God.
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #9 ]
St. Teresa also gives examples
of the Patriarch, Jacob,
who received divine visions
but "he was unable to reveal
for unless he had received
more interior light
he could never have discovered
such sublime mysteries"
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #6 ]
"Neither was Moses able to relate
more than God willed
of what he had seen in the burning bush"
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #7 ]
She provided more clarification of this
in "The Life" where she writes
that the reception of a grace
(such as a vision from God)
is distinct
from the gift and grace
of understanding it
and
from the the gift and grace
of being able to
express it in words
and
communicate it to others.
• "it is one grace
that our Lord gives grace;
and
• it is another grace
to understand
◦ what grace and
◦ what gift it is;
and
• it is another and further grace
to have the power
to describe and explain it to others.
...it is
a great advantage and
a great grace to understand it;
for every one who has it
has great reason to praise our Lord;
and so, also, has he
who has it not:
because His Majesty has bestowed it
upon some person living
who is to make us profit by it."
[ Life: Ch. 17: # 7
Translation: David Lewis ]
Of some of her own visions,
St. Teresa stated
that she could not explain them
unless God gave her the gift and grace
to understand and explanation them:
"...being so ignorant and dull,
I can explain nothing
and
I am well aware
that if anything is rightly stated,
it does not come from myself."
[ Interior Castle: Rm 6: Ch. 4: #11 ]
■ Although visions may not be
remembered as to specific content
or
understood as to meaning
one does Profit by their Fruits.
St. Teresa emphasizes this
by her own question:
" 'But,' you will ask me,
'if the very sublime favours
(which) our Lord bestows in this mansion
cannot afterwards be remembered,
What profit do they bring ?' "
She answers:
"though the recipient is incapable
of describing them,
they
- are deeply imprinted
in the centre of the soul
and
- are never forgotten."
She goes on to say
that although
"no image is seen
and
"the powers of the soul
do not comprehend them...
I know
that certain truths of the greatness of God
remain so impressed on the spirit
by this favour
the soul would...worship Him as (God)"
even if
"faith...did not...(already) teach
Who He is".
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