Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Interior Castle or The Mansions: Interior Castle: Mansion 7 - Chapter 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 7 - Chapter 2

Discussion of Mansion 7 Chapter 2

█ Summary or Highlights

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

█ Divine and Spiritual Nuptials

▀ This Secret Union takes place

in the innermost centre of the soul

▀ An Intellectual Vision

▀ The Soul is United to God

▀ The Butterfly Dies: To Live in Christ

▀ Spiritual Joy and Peace overflow

to the faculties

■ Strengthening them in their efforts

in God service
and
in following God's Will

■ Crosses and Sufferings in the faculties

Yet Peace in the Soul

▀ Spiritual Wisdom

▀ Spiritual Marriage is Permanent.

■ As long as the soul does not offend God

▀ More Careful Not To Offend God

▀ Strong Desire to Labor and Suffer for God

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

█ No Door separating the 6th and 7th Mansions

No Door between

the Spiritual Bethrothal

and

the Spiritual Marriage

▀ The soul's locus is now

in God's Presence Chamber

in the innermost centre of the soul

■ Heightened Awareness

of the Soul's Interior Life

■ Distinction between Soul and Spirit

■ St. Teresa Experiences

this Apparant Divide

▀ Communication from God

■ Visions:

Differences of the 6th and 7th Mansions

▪ 6th Mansion:
God Communicates to the soul
through its faculties

▪ 7th Mansion:

God Communicates "directly

on the substance of the soul."

■ Visions:

Relatedness of the 6th and 7th Mansions

▪ Spiritual Progression in Intimacy with God

▪ More direct communication

and more complete sharing

▀ Permanence in regard

to the 6th and 7th mansions

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

█ St. Teresa Advises:

▀ Detachment

█ Divine and Spiritual Nuptials

"I found him whom my soul loveth:

I held him: and I will not let him go"

[ Canticles 3: 4 ]

"I to my beloved, and my beloved to me"

[ Canticles 6: 2 ]

▀ "This secret union takes place

in the innermost centre of the soul

where God Himself must dwell"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: # 2 ]

The "divine and spiritual nuptials...

took place in the interior of the soul"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: # 1 ]

"God places the soul

in His own mansion

which is in the very centre

of the soul itself."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 1: # 12 ]

"Here God appears in the soul's centre"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: # 2 ]

▀ An Intellectual Vision

"not by an imaginary

but by an intellectual vision

far more mystic than those seen before,

just as He appeared to the Apostles

without having entered through the door

when He said:

'Pax vobis.' "

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

▀ The Soul is United to God

"He has thus deigned

to unite Himself to His creature:

He has bound Himself to her

as firmly as two human beings

are joined in wedlock

and

will never separate Himself from her."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #3 ]

"The spirit of this soul,

is made one with God."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #3 ]

"Perhaps when St. Paul said,

'He who is joined to the Lord

is one spirit,'

he meant this Sovereign Marriage,

which presupposes

His Majesty's having been

joined to the soul by union.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #6 ]

"so the soul feels certain

there must be some one within it

who

lances forth these darts (of love)

and

vivifies its own life"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #8 ]

"Our Lord Jesus Christ...asked

that they might be made one

with the Father

and

with Himself;

as Jesus Christ, our Lord,

is in the Father

and

the Father in Him!"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #10 ]

"That they all may be one,

as thou, Father, in me,

and I in thee;

that they also

may be one in us;

...that they may be one,

as we also are one"

[ John 17: 21- 22 ]

The soul, united to God,

"is like a tree

grafted on a stock

growing near a stream

which makes it greener and more fruitful.

...whose spirit has truly become one

with the celestial water..."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: # 13 ]

▀ The Butterfly Dies: To Live in Christ

"And I live now

not I;

but Christ liveth in me."

[ Galatians 2: 20 ]

"His affairs…were her own"

He would care for hers"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #1]

"Our Lord said to me...

'all I have is thine'

and from that time forth...

our Lord's Passion...belongs to me"

[ Relation 9: #8 ]

St. Paul "says:

'To me,

to live is Christ

and

to die is gain.' "

"This, I think, might here be uttered

by the soul,

for now the little butterfly (the soul) ...

dies with supreme joy,

for Christ is her life.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #6 ]

"it is God Who gives it life"

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

"And nobody putteth a piece of new cloth

unto an old garment.

For it taketh away the fullness thereof

from the garment,

and there is made a greater rent.

Neither do they put new wine

into old bottles.

Otherwise the bottles break,

and the wine runneth out,

and the bottles perish.

But new wine they put into new bottles:

and both are preserved.

[ Mt 9: 16 - 17 ]

"stripping yourselves of the old man

with his deeds,

And putting on the new man,

him who is renewed unto knowledge,

according to the image of Him

that created him

[ Col 3: 9 -10 ]

▀ Spiritual Joy and Peace Overflow

to the faculties

"For from the bosom of the Divinity...

issue streams of milk,

which solace the servants of the castle.

I think He wishes them to share,

in some way,

the riches the soul enjoys;

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

"The soul feels certain

that there is a Sun

whence this brilliant light streams forth

from the interior of the spirit

to its faculties."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: #8 ]

■ Strengthening them in their efforts

in God service and in following God's Will.

"Therefore from the flowing river...

some drops of water flow

every now and then

to sustain the bodily powers,

the servants of the bride and Bridegroom"

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

"Let anyone who thirsts

come to me and drink.

...Rivers of living water

will flow from within him."

[ John 7: 37 - 38 ]

■ Crosses and Sufferings Yet Peace in the Soul

But, along with the Peace of the Spirit,

the faculties, senses, and emotions

still encounter the daily trials of life:

"It is not intended

that the powers, senses and passions

should continually enjoy this peace.

The soul does so, indeed,

but in the other mansions

there are still times

of struggle, suffering, and fatigue,

though as a general rule,

peace is not lost by them."

"there can be crosses and sufferings

and

yet peace in the soul."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: #14 ]

"though tumults and wild beasts

rage with great uproar

in the other mansions,

yet

nothing of this enters the seventh mansions,

nor drives the soul from it.

Although the mind regrets these troubles,

they

- do not disturb it

- nor rob it of its peace,

for the passions are too subdued

to dare to enter here

where they would only suffer

still further defeat.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: #15 ]

Also See below

Section: No Door separating

the 6th and 7th Mansions

Subsection:
The soul's locus is now

in God's Presence Chamber

in the innermost centre of the soul

Topic: St. Teresa Experiences

this Apparant Divide

between 'Spirit' and 'Soul'

▀ Spiritual Wisdom

"So mysterious is the secret

and

so sublime the favour

that God thus bestows instantaneously

on the soul,

that it feels a supreme delight,

"Our Lord vouchsafes for the moment

to reveal to it His own heavenly glory

in a far more subtle way

than by any vision or spiritual delight."

"to show...

how far His love for us extends

in order that we may praise His greatness."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: #3 ]

"the soul learns

that 'it is God Who gives it life,'

by certain secret intuitions

too strong to be misunderstood,

and

keenly felt"

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

▀ Spiritual Marriage is Permanent.

"The soul always remains

in its centre with its God."

"Spiritual Marriage is like rain

falling from heaven into a river or stream,

becoming one and the same liquid,

so that the river and rain water

cannot be divided;

or it resembles a streamlet flowing

into the ocean,

which cannot afterwards be disunited from it.

This marriage may also be likened to a room

into which a bright light enters

through two windows

--though divided when it enters,

the light becomes one and the same."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: # 5 ]

"The soul itself...

never moves from this centre,

nor loses the peace He can give."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: # 9]

■ As long as the soul does not offend God

"the soul seems in security,

for as long as

- His Majesty thus holds it in His care

and

- it does not offend Him."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: # 13 ]

▀ More Careful Not To Offend God

"she does not consider herself safe,

but is more careful than ever

to avoid committing the least offence

against God."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: # 13 ]

▀ Strong Desire to Labor and Suffer for God

"she

- is most anxious to serve Him

and

- feels a constant pain and confusion

at seeing

how little she can do for Him

compared with 'all she ought.'

This is

no light cross

but a severe mortification...

For the harder the penances

she can perform,

the better is she pleased.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: # 13 ]

St. Teresa gives two perspectives

regarding the Seventh Mansions:

1). Its Relatedness to the 6th Mansions

That the 7th Mansion, the Spiritual Marriage,

may be seen as a progressional continuum

of the 6th Mansion, the Spirtual Betrothal,

since

"The door leading from one to the other

being wide open"

and

"No door is required to enter it."

If the soul spiritually progresses

in the 6th Mansions,

with the help of God,

it will encounter those graces and attributes

of the 7th Mansions

with the stipulation that

"some things in the last rooms

are only shown to those

who get thus far"

2). Its Difference from the 6th Mansions

"Vast difference...between the visions seen"

in this mansion and in the former mansions"

"There is the same distinction between

spiritual espousals and spiritual marriage

as between people...only betrothed and

others...united for ever in holy matrimony"

█ No Door separating the 6th and 7th Mansions

No Door between the Spiritual Bethrothal and

the Spiritual Marriage

St. Teresa said:

"This ( Mansion 6 ) and the following mansions

(Mansion 7)...

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: Mansion 6:

Ch. 4: # 4 ]

"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: Mansion 6:

Ch. 4: # 13 ]

By her phrasing ( Mansion 7: Ch. 2: # 2 ),

"I believe that no door is required to enter it",

St. Teresa seems to describe the 7th Mansion

as a continuum of the 6th Mansion,

rather than

as two separate Mansions.

Yet, she does indicate

a progressive development and demarcation

whereby the 7th Mansion attributes include:

▪ The soul's locus is now

in the innermost centre of the soul,

in His "Presence Chamber"

so, there is a new awareness

▫ of a distinction between

the 'soul' and the 'spirit'

▫ of the spirit's Interior Life

▪ God now communicates directly

with the spirit in the centre of the soul

not through the soul's faculties

St. Teresa specifies an Intellectual Vision

which is now communicated directly

to the spirit in its innermost center.

▪ Permanence of the Union of the soul in God

▀ The soul's locus is now

in God's Presence Chamber

in the innermost centre of the soul

The Soul is brought by God

to "His own mansion" in the center of the soul

In Mansion 7's Chapter 1,

St. Teresa and the editor ( Foot Note # 402 )

refer to the soul in the 7th mansion

as "Spirit",

having been led by God

into "His Presence Chamber",

His "second heaven",

the center of the soul.

(Mansion 7: Ch. 1: # 3 )

The "Spirit"

shares this inner abode with God.

The Spirit is

- independent of its senses and faculties

and

- not distracted or disturbed by them.

■ New Awareness of the Soul's Interior Life

"You must not think of the soul

as insignificant and petty

but as an interior world

containing the number

of beautiful mansions

[Mansion 7: Ch. 1: # 6]

"God places the soul

in His own mansion

which is in the very centre

of the soul itself.

They say the empyreal heavens,

in which our Lord dwells,

do not revolve with the rest:

So the accustomed movements

of the faculties and imagination

do not appear to take place in any way

that can

- injure the soul

- disturb its peace.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 1: # 12 ]

■ Distinction between Soul and Spirit

"in a manner her soul appeared divided"

[Mansion 7: Ch. 1: # 14]

"Interior effects show for certain

that there is a positive difference

between the soul and the spirit,

although they are one with each other."

[ Mansion 7: Ch. 1: # 15 ]

"The distinction between soul and spirit...

consists in this,

that the term, soul, comprises the

faculties,

senses,
and

passions,

whereas the term, spirit,

denotes the

substance of the soul

independently of its powers.

In the inferior degrees

of the Mystical life,

God operates through the faculties,

while in the Mystical marriage,

He acts directly

on the substance of the soul."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 1:

# 15 and Foot Note #402 ]

■ St. Teresa Experiences this Apparant Divide

between 'Spirit' and 'Soul'

St.Teresa seems to be experiencing

this apparant divide since

- the Spirit,

"independently of its powers"

was free to remain in the center with God

unmolested by the faculties

(thoughts, memories, etc.).

while

- the 'Soul' and its faculties contended

with her daily trials.

While sensible of her abode with God

in the center of the soul (like Mary),

St. Teresa (like Martha) must still contend

with the trials and demands of living

in the exterior world.

"she complained of her soul

as Martha did of Mary,

reproaching it

(because it was) enjoying solitary peace

...while(she was) undergoing

great sufferings,

...while (she was) ...so full

of troubles and occupations

that she could not keep it company."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 1: # 14 ]

Also See above

Section: Divine and Spiritual Nuptials

Sub section:
Spiritual Joy and Peace Overflow

to the faculties

Topic: Crosses and Sufferings

Yet Peace in the Soul

▀ Communication from God

"I believe

that no door is required to enter it.

I say, 'no door is required,'

■ Visions:
Differences between the 6th and 7th Mansions

▪ The 6th Mansions

◦ Visions are characteristically impressed

on the faculties

(Imaginary Vision

appears to be presented to senses, faculties)

(Intellectual visions have been discussed

Mansion 6: Ch.3, 4, 8, 10
as impressed on the Intellect)

"I say, 'no door is required,'

for all I have hitherto described

seems to come

through the senses and faculties

as must the representation

of our Lord's Humanity"

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

"In the inferior degrees of the Mystical life,

God operates through the faculties"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 1: # 15 and Foot Note #402 ]

▪ The 7th Mansions

◦ Visions are communicated directly

to the soul's innermost center.

(Intellectual Vision)

(to the soul's centre)

"...what passes

in the union of the spiritual nuptials

is very different from those

( that "seems to come

through the senses and faculties" )

Here, God appears in the soul's centre,

not by an imaginary

but by an intellectual vision

far more mystic than those seen before"

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

"while in the Mystical marriage,

He acts directly

on the substance of the soul."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 1: # 15 & Foot Note #402]

■ Visions:
Relatedness of the 6th and 7th Mansions

◦ Spiritual Progression in Intimacy with God

◦ Direct communication and more complete sharing

since God brings the soul into

"the Center of the soul where He also abides"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 1: # 3 ]

In her description of the Spiritual Nuptials,

St.Teresa seems to be including

both the 6th and the 7th Mansions,

the Spiritual Betrothal/ Espousal

and

the Spiritual Marriage.

Hence, "No door is required":

She included an Imaginary Vision of Jesus

wherein He was uniting "His affairs" with hers

▪ "The first time":

( Imaginary Vision )

(in the interior of the soul )

"WE now come to speak

of divine and spiritual nuptials..."

The first time God bestows this grace,

He,

by an imaginary vision

of His most sacred Humanity,

reveals Himself to the soul

so that it may understand and realize

the sovereign gift it is receiving.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: # 1 ]

(She)... beheld our Lord,

full of splendour, beauty, and majesty,

as He was after His resurrection.

He told her that henceforth

she was to care for His affairs

as though they were her own

and

He would care for hers"

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #1]

"Our Lord said to me:

'Thou knowest of the betrothal

between thee and Myself,

and

therefore all I have is thine...

and from that time forth

I look at our Lord's Passion

in a very different light,

as on something that belongs to me"

[ Relation 9: #8 ]

"This may seem nothing new,

for our Lord had thus revealed Himself

to her at other times;

yet this was so different

that it left her bewildered and amazed,

both on account of the vividness

of what she saw

and

of the words heard at the time,

also

because it took place

in the interior of the soul

where...no other vision had been seen.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 2: #1]

■ 7th Mansion:

(Intellectual Visions)

(in the soul's centre)

"He, before consummating

the celestial marriage,

brings her into this His mansion

or presence chamber.

This is the Seventh Mansion,

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 1: #3]

"When His Majesty deigns to bestow

on the soul

the grace of these divine nuptials,

He brings it into His PresenceChamber

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 1: # 7 ]

"while in the Mystical marriage,

He acts directly

on the substance of the soul."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:

Ch. 1: # 15 & Foot Note #402]

"just as He appeared to the Apostles

without having entered through the door

when He said:

'Pax vobis.'

I believe

that no door is required to enter it."

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

▀ Permanence in regard

to the 6th and 7th mansions

■ 6th Mansions: Spiritual Espousal / Betrothal

▪ Not Permanent

"Spiritual betrothal...

like the grace of union

is often dissolved"

For though two things are made one by union,

- separation is still possible

and

- each part then remains a thing by itself.

This favour generally passes quickly,

and

afterwards the soul,

as far as it is aware,

remains without His company.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: #4 ]

Union may be symbolized

by two wax candles,

the tips of which touch each other

so closely that there is but one light;

or again, the wick, the wax, and the light

become one,

but the one candle can again be separated

from the other

and the two candles remain distinct;

or the wick may be withdrawn

from the wax."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: # 5 ]

"some things in the last rooms

are only shown to those who get thus far"

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

■ 7th Mansions: Spiritual Marriage

▪ Permanent

as long as one does not err and offend God

See above

Section: Divine and Spiritual Nuptials

Topic: Spiritual Marriage is Permanent.

█ St. Teresa Advises:

▀ Detachment

"Our Lord's words act within us, ...

they must have wrought their effect

in the souls already disposed

- to banish from within themselves

all that is corporal

and

- to retain only what is spiritual,

in order to be joined in this celestial union

with the uncreated Spirit.

Without doubt,

if we

- empty ourselves of all

that belongs to the creature,

- depriving ourselves of it

for the love of God,

that same Lord will fill us with Himself."

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: #9 ]

"It is we

who fail by

not disposing ourselves fitly,

nor removing all

that can obstruct this light,

so that we do not behold ourselves

in this mirror

wherein our image is engraved.

[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch. 2: #11 ]

End of the Discussion of

Mansion 7 Chapter 2

The Interior Castle

The Mansions

S. Teresa of Jesus

of the Order of our Lady of Carmel

St. Teresa of Avila

Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Interior Castle or The Mansions

Monday, April 30, 2012

Interior Castle: Mansion 7 - Chapter 2 Discussion - The Mansions - St. Teresa of Avila - Teresa of Jesus