Interior Castle (Thrift Editions)

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Based on James Finley’s many years of reading, meditating, and leading retreats on this 16th-century mystic, this course also draws from Mirabai Starr’s work translating the original Spanish text to reveal the essence of Teresa and her message. Interior Castle is intended for students already experienced with the spiritual path. This course is presented largely in James Finley’s poetic, creative, non-linear style and is, therefore, best suited to those who have experience learning in a heart-centered way that transcends and includes the intellect. Learning Objectives

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will clearly understand that the spirit of Mother Tireza ( sic) of Jesus is true, since it leads to the same effects as are to be found in the saints; and because this is in truth my judgment and opinion, I have hereunto set my name, this, the 22nd day of February, 1582. P. Rodrigo Alvarez.' 8

Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada was born at Avila, Old Castile, 28 March, 1515; died at Alba de Tormes, 4 Oct., 1582. it is presumptuous in me to wish to choose my path, because I cannot tell which path is best for me. I must leave it to the Lord, Who knows me, to lead me by the path which is best for me, so that in all things His will may be done.” She told me this vision on the same day, for in this as well as in other things she was so communicative that on the following morning she said to me: "How I forgot myself yesterday! I cannot think how it could have happened. Those high aspirations of mine, and the affection I have for you must have caused me to go beyond all reasonable This context is necessary to understand this book, or at least half of it. This is because, although ostensibly guide for prayer, it is also a handbook for avoiding the suspicions of heterodoxy. It is full of advice for those having mystical experiences on which visions to discount, because they are products of Satan or the imagination, and which visions to accept. Teresa also explains when you should yield to one’s prioress or confessor, and when you should stand your ground. St. Teresa was obviously acutely aware of the paranoid climate, and thus this book is as full of pragmatic counsel as religious guidance. She even explains in the beginning that the only reason she wrote the book was because she was commanded to. Hoc scaena diu durare potest. S. Teresia suadet agendi quod animam Deo agendi aperiet. Praesentiam Dei in anima agnosce in oratione, gratiam te aperie. Hoc stadio entis in quarta mansione major transitus est. Hoc notat motum a via purgativa ad viam Illuminativam. S. Teresia in multis spiritalibus verbis insilit.

The Interior Castle: Saint Teresa’s Diamond | Carmelite The Interior Castle: Saint Teresa’s Diamond | Carmelite

This stage may last for a long time. St. Teresa recommends doing what will open the soul up to God’s action. Recognize God’s presence within the soul in prayer, opening yourself to grace. 5. The Fourth Mansions Incipe crucem potius amplecti quam ab ea fugere. Noli prohibere passiones accipere, eas vere desiderare incipe (propter Dominum). Expect and persevere through all spiritual dryness and desolations in prayer. This can include the “ night of the senses“. Here, God purifies the soul of both worldly and spiritual attachments to consolation. September 12, 2019: p.272 Thought I really understood this last time I read it, many years ago. I remember thinking, Teresa is SO easy to understand! Now, I am struggling with her. And this is the STUDY EDITION! It is not her writing, well yes, she does meander, but trying to know what she is referring to... I am never sure I am sure. Which is probably just as well... Mary of St. Joseph says she heard from Mary of the Nativity that Father Jerome Gracian commanded the Saint to write the Mansions; she, however, begged to be excused, because so many books having been written by holy and learned men, there remained nothing for a woman to write. At length she yielded under obedience. This nun (Mary of the Nativity) was frequently in the Saint's cell while she was writing and she noticed her resplendent face and the almost preternatural velocity with which her hand travelled over the paper. 7Of foreign translations it will be sufficient to mention the one by Cyprien de la Nativité, in Œuvres de la Sainte Mère Térèse de Jésus, Paris, 1657, and the new one in Œuvres already mentioned. When Luis de Leon undertook the editing of St. Teresa's writings he received a long letter from Don Diego de Yepes, afterwards Bishop of Tarazona, a former friend and confessor of the Saint, in which he records his personal recollections. I shall only insert here what he says about the Interior Castle: Even though God has forgiven the soul, it still has lingering desires to sin. On top of sins, the soul also has many attachments to esteem and worldly things.

The Interior Castle: Study Edition - Google Books

The work was copied, probably under the supervision of the Saint, who introduced many changes; when completed the original was handed to Father Jerome Gracian and to the Dominican, Fray Diego de Yanguas, for approval. Both, particularly the former, made numerous corrections, which Fuente, not without reason, calls impertinent, scratching out whole sentences and adding others. The book thus revised must have enjoyed a certain celebrity, though not to the same extent as the Life, to which St. Teresa herself preferred it. Scarcely a week after its completion she wrote to Father Salazar, S.J.: 'If Señor Carillo [Salazar himself] came, the person in question [the Saint] thinks he would find another jewel which in her opinion is superior to the former [the Life]. This one reflects nothing foreign to itself, but is resplendent in its own beauty. It is enriched with more delicate enamels than the former, the workmanship, too, is more perfect. For, as the person in question says, the jeweller was less experienced when he fashioned the previous one. Moreover, the gold of the new Oratio quietis — Oratio quietis est « quieta, alta et tranquilla felicitas in voluntate. Quae quidem beatitudo permanet, licet anima quid agatur non intelligat. Hic ita occupatur voluntas in Deo, et in gaudio, ut ne memoria quidem seu intellectus eam interrumpat. Oratio quietis, sicut supernaturalis recordatio, infunditu (non nostro labore). Virtus nostra crescit et ad terrena desideria redigit. Orationem optamus et in ea perseveremus, dum magis gratuiti erga Deum fiunt.As the author of the Interior Castle, Teresa portrays the spiritual development of the human soul and its response to God as being like a great castle, wherein lies seven rows of mansions. With each graduation, the soul moves from the outer mansions to the inner mansions, ever moving into closer union with God. Interior Castle is not required reading for this course although it is highly encouraged. We recommend Mirabai Starr’s modern translation (Riverhead Books: 2004). The translation James Finley references throughout the course is from E. Allison Peers (Doubleday: 1961), which is out of print. Financial Assistance named, that it is impossible to consider them otherwise than the genuine work of the author. In the present translation they have been inserted in their proper places. will appear from the fact that she nearly always repeats the very words she had used in her Life and in the other reports of her interior progress, although she did not have these writings before her eyes, nor had she ever seen them since they first left her hands. Every one of her experiences must have produced a profound impression to be remembered so minutely after an interval of years.