Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Interior Castle or The Mansions: Interior Castle: Mansion 6 - Ch 5 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 5

Discussion of Mansion 6 Chapter 5

Summary or Highlights

█ Rapture

█ The Operation of Love:

The 'flight of the Spirit'

▀ The Confirmation of the Spiritual Betrothal

▀ Characteristics

■ Movement of the Soul: rapid, elevating

■ Irresistible: Can not be controlled

■ Spiritual Knowledge

▀ Aftermath: The Fruits of Rapture

"Peace, Calm, and Good Fruits", Virtue

■ "Three Graces of a very high order."

▪ Knowledge of the Greatness of God

▪ Self- Knowledge and Humility

▪ Detachment

■ Courage

▀ St. Teresa's Advice to Those

"Who have received these or like favours"

■ Thanksgiving and Acknowledgement

of His Mercy and Favors

■ Avoidance of the Occasions of Sin

■ Great Courage needed

for the loss of bodily control

■ Humility and Self-Knowledge

■ Great Courage needed

at the acknowledgment of

such great favors from God

and

the debt of love owed to Him

■ Persevere in Prayer and Serving God

St. Teresa continues from Mansion6: Chapter 4

to teach regarding rapture:

█ Rapture

█ The Operation of Love:

The 'flight of the Spirit'

▀ The Confirmation of the Spiritual Betrothal

"...His Majesty ratifies these espousals

when He ravishes the soul by ecstasies"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 4: #1 ]

"God now appears to be teaching the soul,

which has so often

placed itself absolutely in His hands

and

offered itself entirely to Him,

that it no longer belongs to itself"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #1 ]

"With such jewels the Bridegroom begins

to deck His Bride"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #13 ]

"that this spiritual flight signifies

a certain high estate and union of love,

to which...God is wont to elevate the soul:

it is called the spiritual betrothal

of the Word, the Son of God.

[ Spiritual Canticle: Stanzas xiv: #1

St. John of the Cross:

Translation:

Benedictines of Stanbrook]

"the soul, in its flight

to the divine ark of the bosom of God...

[ Spiritual Canticle: Stanzas xiv: #3 ]

"...drinks deeply of the wisdom of God...

...rejoices consciously

in the inestimable banquet of love

[ Spiritual Canticle: Stanzas xiv: #4 ]

▀ Characteristics

"another form of rapture,

... essentially the same as the last,

yet produces very different feelings

in the soul.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #1]

■ Movement of the Soul: rapid, elevating

"the soul suddenly feels

so rapid a sense of motion"

"the spirit appears

to hurry it away with a speed"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #1 ]

"her soul's being drawn above her"

"sometimes...even the body rises with it"

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

"But now this great God

lets loose the streams..

a mighty wave rises,

strong enough to uplift on high

the little vessel of our soul.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #3 ]

"sudden rapture of the spirit.

The soul really appears

to have quitted the body,

which however is not lifeless,

yet she....cannot...tell

whether her spirit remains

within her body or not.

She feels

that she has been wholly transported

into...a very different region

from that in which we live,

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #8 ]

"I cannot tell

whether the soul dwells in the body

meanwhile or not:

...the soul...may,

while remaining in its own place,

through the strength of the ardour

coming to it from ( Our Lord )

send up some higher part of it

above itself.

"the truth is that,

with the swiftness of a bullet...

an upward flight takes place

in the interior of the soul.

(I know no other name for it, but 'flight.')

and the soul is quite outside itself"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6:Ch.5: #10]

"the spirit to feel literally separated

from the body"

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6:Ch.5: #14]

"whether in the body,

I know not,

or out of the body,

I know not: God knoweth),

such an one

rapt even to the third heaven

...that he was caught up into paradise,

and heard secret words,

which it is not granted to man to utter'

(2 Cor. xii. 2-4)."

■ Irresistible: Unable to Control

"Can it possibly be resisted?

No"

"Resistance only accelerates the motion...

thus it is snatched away more vehemently

in consequence of its opposition."

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

"Far less can the interior of the soul now

stay where it chooses

force its senses or faculties

to act more than He

Who holds them in His dominion decrees;

As for the exterior powers,

they are here quite useless."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #4 ]

■ Spiritual Knowledge

"Great mysteries are revealed to it

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #10 ]

"transported...

where a light so unearthly is shown"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #8 ]

"In an instant her mind learns

so many things at once

that if the imagination and intellect

spent years in striving to enumerate them,

it could not recall a thousandth part of them.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #8 ]

"Our Lord seems to seek

to show the soul something of the land

to which it is travelling...

much like "those children of Israel

who were sent on first

to the Land of Promise (and)

brought back tokens from it"

[Interior Castle:Mansion 6: Ch.5: #11 ]

"With such jewels the Bridegroom begins

to deck His Bride;

they are too valuable for her

to keep them carelessly.

These visions are so deeply engraved

in her memory

that I believe she can never forget them

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #13 ]

▪ Intellectual vision

"Occasionally,

besides what the eyes of the soul perceive

in intellectual vision,

other things are shown it.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #9 ]

▪ Imaginary Visions

"This vision is

not intellectual

but imaginary "

▫ "seen by the eyes of the soul

more clearly than earthly things

are seen by our bodily eyes.

Although no words are pronounced,

the spirit is taught many truths"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #9 ]

"for instance,

if it beholds any of the saints,

it knows them at once

...as if intimately acquainted with them

for years.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #9 ]

"In an imaginary vision

it usually sees our Lord

accompanied by a host of angels"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch.5: #9]

▪ Wonderful Intuition"

"neither the bodily eyes

nor the eyes of the soul

see anything,

for these visions and many other things...

are revealed

by some wonderful intuition

that I cannot explain.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch.5: #9]

▀ Aftermath: The Fruits of Rapture

"Peace, Calm, and Good Fruits", Virtue

"This clearly shows it to be

no work of the devil;

Neither the imagination

nor the evil one

could represent what leaves

- such peace, calm, and good fruits

in the soul,

and particularly

- the following three graces

of a very high order.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #12 ]

■ "Three Graces of a very high order."

▪ Knowledge of the Greatness of God

"The first of these is

a perception of the greatness of God

which becomes clearer to us

as we witness more of it."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #12 ]

▪ Self- Knowledge and Humility

"Secondly,

we gain self-knowledge and humility

from seeing how creatures

so base as ourselves

in comparison with the Creator

of such wonders

have dared to

offend Him in the past

venture to gaze on Him now.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #12 ]

The soul looks

"first

at what His Majesty has done for it

and

then

upon itself,

it sees

- How little good it has performed

compared with what it was bound to do,

and

- that the paltry service it has rendered

was full of faults, failures and tepidity.

...the many imperfections

of all its good deeds

- ...ever mindful of its sins..."

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

▪ Detachment

"The third grace is

a contempt for all earthly things

unless they are consecrated to the service

of so great a God.

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #13 ]

"when the person returns to consciousness,

she is so greatly benefited

that she holds all this world's goods as filth

compared with what she has seen.

Henceforth,

earthly life is grievous to her

and

what used to please her

now remains uncared for and unnoticed."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch.5:#10]

■ Courage

"Our Lord seems...to give it courage

to pass through the trials

of its painful journey,

now that it knows where it must go

to find rest.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #11 ]

▀ St. Teresa's Advice to Those

"Who have received these or like favours"

■ Thanksgiving and Acknowledgement

of His Mercy and Favors

These visions

...are too valuable for her

to keep them carelessly.

...can never forget them...

for to do so

would be the greatest misfortune.

But the Spouse Who gave her these gifts

has power to give her grace

not to lose them."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #13 ]

■ Avoidance of the Occasions of Sin

"to strive with all their might

not to displease such a Master ! "

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #4 ]

■ Great Courage needed

for the loss of bodily control

"requires strong courage,

besides great faith, trust, and resignation,

so that God may do

what He chooses with it."

"very alarming, especially at first."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #1 ]

"I told you that courage was required

by the soul,

for do you think it is a trifling matter

for the spirit to feel literally separated

from the body,

as it does when perceiving

that it is losing its senses

without understanding the reason?

There is need that He

Who gives all the rest

should include fortitude.

You will say

this fright is well rewarded,

and so say I."

[Interior Castle: Mansion 6:Ch.5: #14]

"...yield... into the hands of Him

Who is Almighty,

seeing it is best

to make a virtue of necessity.

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

■ Humility and Self-Knowledge

"We please our Lord

• by self-knowledge,

• by the constant recollection

of our poverty and miseries,

and

• by realizing that we possess nothing

but what we have received from Him"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch.5: #7]

St. Paul asked how can we glory

in what we have

since everything we might have

has been given us by God.

[ 1 Cor: 4:7 ]

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #7

Foot Note # 295 ]

■ Great Courage needed

at the acknowledgment of

such great favors from God

and

the debt of love owed to Him

"Remember that she who owes much

has much to pay."

"And unto whomsoever much is given,

of him much shall be required:

and

to whom they have committed much,

of him they will demand the more.

[ Lk 12:48 ]

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #4 ]

"This thought terrifies the soul exceedingly:

Unless the great courage needed

was given it by our Lord,

it would suffer great and constant grief;

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

"Therefore, courage is needed...

in order to receive this

and many other favours

which come to a soul

elevated to this state by our Lord;

I think that if the soul is humble

it requires more valour than ever

for this last mercy.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #7 ]

■ Persevere in Prayer and Serving God

"Remember that she who owes much

has much to pay."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch. 5: #4 ]

St. Teresa advises the soul to make effort in

"casting itself on the mercy of God

since it cannot repay its debt to Him

and

begging for the pity and compassion

He ever shows to sinners."

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

St. Teresa, herself, prayed often and

"in great affliction ...

for she felt she had

never had anything to offer God

nor to sacrifice for His sake.

The Crucified One consoled her

by saying

that He gave her for herself

all the pains and labours

He had borne in His passion,

that she might offer them as her own

to His Father.

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

End of the Discussion of

Mansion 6 Chapter 5

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 20, 2012

Interior Castle: Mansion 6 - Ch 5 Discussion - The Mansions - St. Teresa of Avila - Teresa of Jesus