Summary of Interior Castle

The Interior Castle of St.
Teresa of Ávila
A Summary and Analysis
Connie Rossini
Copyright © 2017 Connie Rossini
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, without the prior
written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews
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A summary of St. Teresa’s Interior Castle
Where are you in Teresa’s seven mansions?
St. Teresa of Avila by Rubens (Wikimedia Commons).
Today I’d like to start digging a little deeper into Teresa of Avila’s Interior
Castle. Specifically, let’s talk about the seven mansions and how each of them is
different.
While Teresa divides her book into sections talking about seven different stages of the
spiritual life, we should note that she speaks about “first dwelling places,” et cetera, not
“the first mansion.” What does this mean? Each stage has several rooms. Not everyone
follows exactly the same path to union with God.
“You must not imagine these mansions are arranged in a row, one behind
another, but fix your attention on the centre, the room or palace occupied
by the King. Think of a palmito, which has many outer rinds surrounding
the savoury part within, all of which must be taken away before the centre
can be eaten. Just so around this central room are many more, as there
also are above it. In speaking of the soul we must always think of it as
spacious, ample and lofty; and this can be done without the least
exaggeration, for the soul’s capacity is much greater than we can realize,
and this Sun, Which is in the palace, reaches every part of it. It is very
important that no soul which practises prayer, whether little or much,
should be subjected to undue constraint or limitation. Since God has given
it such dignity, it must be allowed to roam through these mansions —
through those above, those below and those on either side. It must not be
Copyright ©2017 Connie Rossini 3 All Rights Reserved

compelled to remain for a long time in one single room — not, at least,
unless it is in the room of self-knowledge.” (Chapter 2, no. 8; all quotes are
from the E. Allison Peers translation, which is in the public domain.)
Identifying your present level

I’m a person who never fits into one category on personality and temperament tests.
Until last year when my husband brought home material from work on the DISC
temperaments system, these tests always frustrated me. They never seemed to ask the
right questions, or ask them in the right way, to get at my true temperament.
I find something similar happens when I try to find myself in Interior Castle. Some of the
characteristics of one level fit me, but others do not. I find my soul spread out, as it
were, among three different groups of mansions. I believe this is a common experience.
“While the seven mansions provide an apt vehicle for explaining the
development of contemplative prayer, we ought not to imagine them as
pigeon holes and the developments as discrete jumps from one stage to
another. Living things grow gradually, and communion with God being the
supreme of all living things, likewise matures imperceptibly… ‘There is no
closed door,’ says St. Teresa, ‘to separate the one from the other’…” (Fr.
Thomas Dubay, Fire Within, 80)
Fr. Dubay follows Teresa in saying that this is especially true in the final mansions, the
pinnacle of the spiritual life.
A chart to help you

I searched through all my Discalced Carmelite formation material to find a chart I could
give you. I found I started filling one out long ago but (typically) never finished it. So
thanks, readers, for being the catalyst to help me finish this project!
In each of the dwelling places, we should look at several aspects of the life of the soul:
• prayer development
• virtue
• soul’s traits
• temptations
• advice


St. Teresa’s first mansions
Pursued by the Furies by John Singer Sargent

(Wikimedia Commons). The soul in the first mansions is
surrounded by reptiles and temptations to sin.
Okay, you’ve all poured over the chart of the seven mansions from Teresa of
Ávila’s Interior Castle and now you’re ready to study each in depth, right? Let’s dig right
in.
Many people, unfortunately, live completely outside the castle of their souls. These
include the unbaptized, atheists and agnostics, and Christians who have unconfessed
mortal sin. Their state is truly pitiable and only an act of God can open their eyes to it.
“So accustomed have they grown to living all the time with the reptiles and
other creatures to be found in the outer court of the castle that they have
almost become like them; and although by nature they are so richly
endowed as to have the power of holding converse with none other than
God Himself, there is nothing that can be done for them. Unless they
strive to realize their miserable condition and to remedy it, they will be
turned into pillars of salt for not looking within themselves, just as Lot’s
wife was because she looked back.” (1:1, 7)
Of course, when Teresa says “there is nothing that can be done for them,” she does not
mean that we should give up hope for their ultimate salvation. But often it is worse than
a waste of time to try to argue with them or present them with the Gospel. It can be a
matter of throwing our pearls before swine (Mt 7:6). We can still pray and sacrifice for
them, however. And it may be that a few of them are open, but truly ignorant.

How can such people enter the castle? By beginning to pray.
As we grow in holiness, we become more and more interior-focused. That does not
mean we focus more on ourselves, or that we ignore other people. Instead, it means we
begin to place the soul’s concerns above those of the body, God’s way above the way
of the world. We begin to detach ourselves, with God’s grace, from everything but God.
This process takes a lifetime. We don’t have to worry about the tasks of the seventh
mansions when we are in the first. Each stage has enough concerns of its own, to
paraphrase the Gospel (Mt 6:34).
The first dwelling places

So then, what is the life of the soul like who has barely entered the castle?
“These are very much absorbed in worldly affairs; but their desires are
good; sometimes, though infrequently, they commend themselves to Our
Lord; and they think about the state of their souls, though not very
carefully. Full of a thousand preoccupations as they are, they pray only a
few times a month, and as a rule they are thinking all the time of their
preoccupations, for they are very much attached to them, and, where their
treasure is, there is their heart also.” (1:1, 8)
Mortal sin is a real danger for them. They are doing the bare minimum to stay in the
state of grace. Many reptiles from outside the castle have entered these first rooms with
them. The soul walks in semi-darkness, unable to see the beauty in the center of the
castle, even when it would like to. The Devil easily conquers it.
Spiritual advice
R. Thomas Richard has written an intriguing book about the Our Father and Carmelite
Spirituality, called The Interior Liturgy of the Our Father. I have not read the entire
book, but it has received an endorsement from Dr. Anthony Lilles. And I have an article
on the same subject in my Carmelite formation files.
In “The Our Father, and the Interior Castle of St. Teresa,” Richard connects the seven
petitions of the Lord’s Prayer with the seven mansions. The sequence is in reverse
order. Thus, the petition of the first mansions is, “Deliver us from evil.” Richard writes
that the weakness of souls in these mansions requires urgent prayer for God to free
them from “the horror and ugliness of all sin, and to grow also in the realization of the
sublime beauty of the soul.”
Souls in the first mansions, Teresa writes, should begin addressing God as often as
possible, calling on the saints, especially the Blessed Mother, to intercede for them.
They must acknowledge how weak they are, and not be ashamed to ask for help.

How else should these souls pray?
“I do not say mental prayer rather than vocal, for, if it is prayer at all, it
must be accompanied by meditation. If a person does not think Whom he
is addressing, and what he is asking for, and who it is that is asking and of
Whom he is asking it, I do not consider that he is praying at all even
though he be constantly moving his lips.” (1:1, 7)
All of us must take care not to rattle off words, but to pray from the heart. Those in the
first mansions might be confining themselves to a Hail Mary or Our Father. If they strive
to recollect their souls for even the space of those short prayers, they will come into
contact with Christ. If they do not do so, they are not praying at all.
Charlotte Mason and distractions in prayer

This reminds me of the Charlotte Mason method of education, popular among
homeschoolers. I use many Charlotte Mason ideas myself. Mason advocated short
lessons followed by narrations, to train young children to pay close attention to the
subject at hand. She considered this the foundation of true education. When a child has
made a habit of paying attention for fifteen minutes, the teacher can begin extending the
lesson time, in small increments.
I think we can learn much from this. How often do we pray a Rosary and find our minds
wandering for four of the five decades? Perhaps we should go back to the beginning,
practicing saying one Hail Mary with fixed attention, then moving on to two, et cetera.
We may balk at the idea of having to do something so basic. But is our pride keeping us
from growing in intimacy with Christ? Are we willing to become little, to go back to a
practice we should have made a habit of in the first mansions, in order to advance
through the second or third mansions?
I have to confess that my mind wanders terribly during vocal prayer (although not so
much in mental prayer). I always fear I am not praying at all, that I am wasting my time.
Of course, we can’t overcome all distractions in prayer on our own. But I am committing
today to try this method of baby steps to see if it will help me. Beginning today, I will say
one Hail Mary, slowly and prayerfully during my mental prayer time. I am not too big for
returning to spiritual kindergarten in some areas.
In Way of Perfection, Teresa tells of a nun who went straight from praying the Our
Father with attention, to infused contemplation. Many authorities believe this nun was
Teresa herself, who suffered terribly from distractions. If Teresa was not too proud to
begin this way, how can we be?

Definitions
That reminds me that some of my readers may be unfamiliar with the terms Teresa
takes for granted. Here are a couple definitions from the late Fr. John Hardon to keep in
mind as we continue.
vocal prayer – “In its broadest, generic sense, vocal prayer is prayer that follows a set
form of words. In vocal prayer the words may be those of someone whom we’ve never
met... Again, in vocal prayer in the broadest sense it may be using the words of Sacred
Scripture. Or using the words of our Lord when He taught us the Lord’s Prayer. Or it
may be a prayer composed by one of the saints, like saint Francis of Assisi, or naturally,
St. Ignatius of Loyola. That’s the one meaning of vocal prayer.” This is the sense in
which St. Teresa speaks of vocal prayer. She does not concern herself with whether or
not we are praying aloud.
mental prayer – “In mental prayer we use our own thoughts to express our mind and
heart to God.” That’s it. You can even pray mental prayer aloud! I do this sometimes
when I’m in danger of falling asleep. It helps keep me awake.

Teresa of Avila’s second mansions
Last Crusader by Lessing (Wikimedia Commons). I pray we all

move beyond the battlefield of the second mansions before we are
this age!
I hope you are ready to begin studying St. Teresa of Avila’s second mansions. I’m
excited about this. My guess, based on experience, is that most of my readers are in
this stage or the next. Some of you might be in first mansions, perhaps crossing at
times into the second.
Now you may think you are way beyond the second mansions, because you have been
following God for a long time. You might have read Interior Castle before and thought
you found yourself in a much more advanced place. The first time I read the book, I
thought I might be in fifth mansions. I only wish! I was firmly in the Purgative Way. My
mistake was due to:
1. Not understanding what Teresa was talking about.
2. Not understanding myself.
3. Not understanding the heights God calls us to.
Growth in Christ takes both knowledge and will. One of my favorite Old Testament
verses is Hosea 4:6, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” We know so much about
technology, the natural world, and the lives of celebrities, and so little about ourselves
and our purpose in life! We have already talked about the need for self-knowledge,

which Teresa emphasizes in first mansions, chapter 2. But we’ll look at that a little
deeper here.
Our lack of understanding is not entirely our fault. When was the last time you heard a
sermon or homily about Teresa’s mansions? When was the last time your parish held a
retreat on becoming saints? When was the last time you heard a speaker about
humility?
Since we are living in a thoroughly secular world, we can think we are saints when we
just try to follow the ten commandments. But being a “basically good” person is not the
same as holiness.
More and more I am coming to see how the first three mansions are only the beginning
of the spiritual life. They are necessary steps. They generally take a long time for people
to get through. Yet this period of the Christian life, called the Purgative Way, is only a
preparation for a closer union with God. The battle against sin is only the first part of the
journey. It’s spiritual childhood–and not in the sense that St. Therese speaks of.
Now, that’s not to disparage the second mansions or to discourage you! If you are in the
second mansions, you have made real progress. Your spiritual life has changed greatly.
You have had a conversion. Here are some characteristics of souls in second
mansions.
The second mansions are a battlefield

The first mansions, as you recall, are filled with reptiles. In the second mansions, we
have another analogy: the battlefield. Souls in the second mansions have one foot in
God’s kingdom–but the other still in the world. The spirit battles against the flesh. St.
Paul speaks of the person in second mansions in this way:
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do

the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is
good. So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within
me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I
can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but
the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no
longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. So I find it to be a law
that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law
of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war
with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which
dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from
this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So
then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I
serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:15-25)

Many times I have heard people quote this passage to say, “See, even St. Paul still did
what he did not want to do!” Don’t for a minute believe that he is describing the state of
his own soul at the time he wrote his letter! He is speaking about the state of a soul
under the rule of the law, and this is very similar to the state of a soul in the second
mansions. Second mansions are very much about practicing good works, learning how
to be good. But there is so much more to the Christian life!
The good news, as Paul indicates, is that this state of affairs doesn’t have to last. God
can rescue us from it, and He will if we persevere.
Less danger, more effort

St. Teresa writes that souls in the second mansions encounter less danger than those
in the first, but require more effort to stay where they are and to progress farther. They
do not as easily fall prey to mortal sin and have begun to work on conquering venial sin.
Yet they don’t routinely avoid the near occasion of sin. They still commit premeditated,
deliberate venial sin.
For example, they may have learned to avoid pornography, but they still use vulgar
language without thinking twice about it. Or they try not to hate their neighbors, but have
no qualms about gossiping. They would try to avoid committing perjury, but they don’t
mind lying now and then and might even say their lies were “necessary.”
More is required of the soul. He must become firmer in his resolutions. He must be
determined never to go back to where he was before. Sometimes these souls are too
laid back and fall back into mortal sin or give up prayer.
These souls hear God’s call

Unlike those in the first mansions, who rarely thought about or addressed God, souls in
the second mansions hear God’s voice all around them. That doesn’t mean they see
visions or have locutions. St. Teresa writes:
“His appeals come through the conversations of good people, or from

sermons, or through the reading of good books; and there are many other
ways, of which you have heard, in which God calls us. Or they come
through sicknesses and trials, or by means of truths which God teaches us
at times when we are engaged in prayer.”
These souls begin to know what God requires of them. They know He is calling them on
to deeper union. But they also hear the call of the world and of the Devil, tempting them
to turn back. They are caught between the eternal joys of the soul and the temporal
pleasures of the body.

Desire for consolations

Souls in the second mansions are suffering, because they know they should be living
totally for God and they are not. Sin brings real sorrow–if not right away, then after
some reflection. They hate the struggle they have to endure.
They may have experienced a euphoria when they gave their lives to Christ more fully.
But soon that euphoria is gone. They can’t understand why. They think that more
consolations would help them to advance more quickly. Teresa cautions them to let God
be God and decided for Himself when to give consolations. The Lord wants them to
learn perseverance in virtue.
Souls in second mansions have begun to practice prayer more regularly. We’ll save the
discussion of prayer for next time.

Prayer in the second mansions
An Old Woman Praying by Maes (Wikimedia Commons).
Reading Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila, we might find ourselves surprised. The
Church has proclaimed Teresa a Doctor of Prayer, but the first part of her master work
on the subject barely mentions prayer! If prayer is so vital to the spiritual life, why hasn’t
she said more about it? How can we grow into the later stages if she doesn’t tell us
what to do in the early ones?
The first thing we need to get clear is that for Teresa prayer and virtue grow together, no
matter where we are in the seven mansions. Some people think that everyone can be
contemplatives, regardless of their lifestyle. This is one of the basic problems
with Centering Prayer.
Real growth in virtue takes commitment to prayer

Others have the opposite problem. They think that if they are living a moral life, that’s all
they need. Not committed to prayer, they think they are nonetheless spiritually
advanced, so they see no reason to start praying more faithfully. This is a danger of the
second mansions.

I grew up in a family where we prayed together daily and went to charismatic prayer
meetings. My parents prayed daily. But I didn’t really form a habit of mental prayer.
On the other hand, I always strove to live a good life and thought myself pretty
successful. So why did I really need to pray more? In young adulthood I did pray several
times a week–much more than the once a month or so of the person in the first
mansions. But I was unable to commit to daily prayer.
I had to be convinced of the necessity of prayer before I’d make the effort. If this is
where you find yourself, please read Why should you pray?
“All that the beginner in prayer has to do — and you must not forget this,
for it is very important — is to labor and be resolute and prepare himself
with all possible diligence to bring his will into conformity with the will of
God. As I shall say later, you may be quite sure that this comprises the
very greatest perfection which can be attained on the spiritual
road.” (Interior Castle, Second Mansions)
This is one reason why Teresa does not talk about methods of prayer in these stages.
She does not want us to think that methods are the ends. To recap, the beginner who
wants to advance in prayer must do two things:
• be determined to persevere, come what may
• strive to do God’s will as much as possible
But this leaves us in a quandary. How can we persevere in prayer when we barely know
how to pray? Does she mean we should just resolutely say the Rosary?
Meditating on Sacred Scripture

Here we must make a distinction. Although God can take someone who only prays
vocal prayer and make him a contemplative, we shouldn’t stick to vocal prayers out of
laziness or ignorance. There is a better way to pray for those who want to advance
quickly, and most of us can practice it. Teresa writes about it in her earlier works:
Christian meditation.
As I’ve pointed out many times, Christian meditation is different from eastern
(Hindu/Buddhist) forms of meditation. Since they have different ends, they also use
different means.
Why do the saints and most Catholic teachers on prayer prefer meditation to other
forms of prayer?

Mediation on Sacred Scripture makes us intimate with Christ’s character. We want to

know Him and love Him so that we can serve Him. Sacred Scripture informs our minds.
It moves our hearts. When we learn about Jesus, we want to follow Him more closely!
Meditation is not Bible study. We don’t just want to learn facts, study the historical
meaning of the text, or look at maps and commentaries. We want to encounter Jesus
Christ. Elsewhere Teresa says:
“The soul’s profit, then, consists not in thinking much, but in loving much.”
(Teresa of Avila, Book of Foundations v.)
A simple method
There are many ways to meditate on Sacred Scripture, but they are not that different
from one another. Here is “a simple method” proposed by Fr. Peter Thomas Rorhback
in Conversation with Christ:
1. Prepare by focusing your mind and heart on Christ, setting aside distractions.
2. Select material to meditate on, preferably a short passage from the Gospels.
3. Consider the who, what, and why of the passage, and what does it mean to me?
4. Converse with Jesus about your reading.
5. Conclude with thanksgiving and resolutions.
Here is an alternate (and more detailed) method of Christian meditation from an earlier
post. Notice how similar they are.
How long should you pray? Beginners at mental prayer should aim for fifteen minutes
daily. Anything less is giving God too little of your time. Try to gradually extend the time
to thirty minutes.
And don’t worry! When you reach the third mansions, you will want to pray more than
you have time for. It will be the most precious part of your day.

Prayer in the third mansions
Il Penseroso by Thomas Cole. Simplified mental prayer is typical of the third

mansions.
We’re going to start discussing the third mansions from St. Teresa of Avila’s Interior
Castle with the most exciting part–prayer. In the third mansions, prayer begins
simplifying, as the soul prepares herself to receive infused contemplation.
Now, when I say prayer begins simplifying in the third mansions, that doesn’t mean that
a stark line lies between one mansion and another. We don’t one day say, “I’m going to
take one step forward and leave second mansions behind forever, entering the third.”
More likely, we peer through the doorway, thinking, “Those rooms look interesting.”
Then we look over our shoulder and say, “But I’m comfortable here.” We might go
through the door, make a small circle, and go back out. We might lean against the door
frame, with one foot on each side.
My point is that our prayer might start simplifying long before we leave second
mansions completely behind. But when it is habitually simpler–and accompanied by
growth in virtue–we can assume we have moved on to a new stage.
Affective prayer
There are really two types of simplified prayer in the Purgative Way. The first is usually
called affective prayer, and the second has many names, including acquired recollection
and the prayer of simplicity.

Jordan Aumann, O.P. writes in Spiritual Theology:
“Affective prayer may be defined as a type of prayer in which the

operations of the will predominate over discursus of the intellect. There is
no specific difference between affective prayer and meditation, as there is
between meditation and contemplation; it is merely a simplified meditation
in which love predominates. For this reason the transition to affective
prayer is usually gradual and more or less easy, although this will vary
with individuals.” (Ch. 12)
Let me try to put that in simpler language. Discursive prayer is another name for
meditation, which points out again how different the Christian concept of meditation is
from eastern-influenced meditation. Discursive describes applying our reasoning
powers to prayer. It is related to the word discourse. So, as we discussed in the second
mansions, in Christian meditation we take a text, usually Sacred Scripture, and we think
about it. Aumann writes, “As soon as we cease to reason, we cease to meditate.”
Meditation is not an end in itself. It is not meant to be an intellectual exercise. It is meant

to lead us to affective prayer. Affective prayer is the prayer of the heart (will), while
meditation is the prayer of the mind (intellect). Again, Aumann says, “The most
important element in meditation is the act of love aroused in the will on the presentation
of some supernatural truth by the intellect.”
Carmelite forms of meditation tend to focus less on reasoning than the prayer of St.
Ignatius does. Teresa of Avila writes,
“For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing

between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who
we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love
much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight
but desire to please God in everything.” (Fourth Mansions, Ch. 2)
That is why in the Carmelite-recommended meditation methods the conversation with

Christ is the climax and should be the longest part of our prayer time.
When a person has practiced meditation for some time (although this can also happen
with beginners) he tends to move quickly from the mind to the will. Instead of spending
a long time reasoning, he is drawn toward speaking to Christ. This is exactly as it should
be.

Aumann gives many more pieces of practical advice, which I will paraphrase here:
• we need material to feed the mind before the will is moved (a book, a picture, an
image in the mind)
• we shouldn’t run from one movement of the will to another
• we should gently return to meditation when the affections have run their course
• we shouldn’t confuse affective prayer with infused contemplation
• we shouldn’t get lazy with meditation
• we should keep our focus on God, not the sweetness of our prayer

Acquired recollection in the third mansions
Teresa of Avila by Gerard (Wikipedia). The final stage

of ascetical prayer is acquired recollection.
The next stage of prayer that we have to talk about has been called by so many names
that it is often hard to tell that various writers are talking about the same thing. Teresa of
Avila calls it recollection. But she also calls the first stage of infused
contemplation recollection. This adds to our confusion.
I will call this stage of prayer acquired recollection, as opposed to the infused
recollection that is a pure gift of God. Other authors use the terms acquired
contemplation (a term I now reject as especially misleading), the prayer of
simplicity, or the prayer of simple gaze.
In Interior Castle Teresa doesn’t speak much of prayer in the third mansions, except to
say that souls at this stage “spend hours in recollection.” If we find prayer tedious, tend
to avoid it, or cut it short, we are probably not firmly in the third mansions. People in the
third mansions love to pray and would spend much of their day praying if they could. In
fact, they begin to recollect themselves throughout the day as their duties allow them.

For more details on acquired recollection, we must turn to Way of Perfection. Teresa
writes:
“But if we cultivate the habit, make the necessary effort and practice the
exercises [of recollecting ourselves] for several days, the benefits will
reveal themselves, and when we begin to pray we shall realize that the
bees are coming to the hive and entering it to make the honey, and all
without any effort of ours. For it is the Lord’s will that, in return for the time
which their efforts have cost them, the soul and the will should be given
this power over the senses. They will only have to make a sign to show
that they wish to enter into recollection and the senses will obey and allow
themselves to be recollected. Later they may come out again, but it is a
great thing that they should ever have surrendered, for if they come out it
is as captives and slaves and they do none of the harm that they might
have done before.” (Peers translation, Ch. 28)
(Read more on recollecting ourselves here.)
Gazing silently at God

At first meditation is difficult. Then it becomes easier. Before long, we can just picture in
our minds a scene from the Gospel and are moved to make acts of love. That is
the affective prayer we spoke of last time.
Now, instead of being moved to speak to Jesus, we are moved to sit quietly in His
presence. As Teresa says, this may last only a few seconds. Then we return to our
image or reflection, until it occurs again. And if it doesn’t, we go back to affective prayer,
or even discursive meditation if necessary. At times the recollection may last for several
minutes. Or we may sit quietly for an hour, with just a glance now and then back at the
image that first helped us recollect ourselves. Our prayer time flies by. It is sweet, and
we try to make more time for prayer if our duties allow it, adding a second prayer time
during the day or turning our gaze inward during our duties whenever we can.
Jesus is drawing us. We hear Him calling. We are eager to remove every barrier that
keeps us from Him.
Pere Marie Eugene notes that there are two elements to acquired recollection: “the
gaze fixed on its object, and the calm or silence that this produces.” He explains further
about the soul:
“It will be aware of the object of its gaze, giving little attention to the peace
it brings; or, it will give itself up to peaceful and sweet repose, giving to the
object only the attention necessary to prolong the impression and renew
it.” (I Want to See God, Ch. 9)

Don’t force the soul

When we begin to experience this, it’s imperative that we give ourselves up to it. We
should never force ourselves to meditate or to speak! On the other hand, we should not
try to unnaturally prolong acquired recollection. We should not force the soul one way or
another, but let God lead us where He may. Teresa says in the fourth mansions:
“God gave us our faculties to work with, and everything will have its due
reward; there is no reason, then, for trying to cast a spell over them —
they must be allowed to perform their office until God gives them a better
one.” (Ch. 3)
We may also find this phenomenon occurring during vocal prayers. For example, while
praying the Rosary, we may find ourselves drawn to a simpler meditation on each
mystery, offering simple prayers in the heart at the same time our lips say the Hail Mary.
We may picture just one image, using no reasoning at all. Then we are gradually led to
this same stillness, and we set our beads aside to gaze at God.
In acquired recollection, the soul is still doing much of the work. But now and then
something deeper, and more mysterious happens–the beginning of infused
contemplation. We will save that discussion for the fourth mansions, after we talk about
growth in virtue in the third mansions.

The third mansions and preparing for

Lent
Christ and the Rich Young Ruler by Hoffman. Don’t go away sad! Let your
desires for God produce fruit through detachment, and you will reach the
innermost mansions.
Are you ready to begin the season of Lent? What does Lent have to do with St. Teresa
of Avila’s teaching about the third mansions in the interior castle?
Teresa offers us many images to aid our understanding of the interior life. First, she
asks us to imagine the soul as a castle, with God the Divine King dwelling in the central
room. Then she speaks of the first mansions as filled with reptiles. The second
mansions are a battlefield. What of the third?
The person in the third mansions, she says, is like the rich young man of the Gospel. He
has great desires. He wants to inherit eternal life. He even goes so far as to keep the
commandments.
But, as we know, that wasn’t the end of the story.
“Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and
give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow
me.’

When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great
possessions.” (Mt 19:21-22)
This serves as a warning to all of us.
We need more than great desires

Great desires, Teresa says, are necessary for advancing in the spiritual life.
“And in my opinion, there is no reason why entrance even into the final
dwelling place should be denied these souls [in the third mansions], nor
will the Lord deny them this entrance if they desire it; for such a desire is
an excellent way to prepare oneself so that every favor may be granted.”
(Third Mansions, Ch. 1)
But great desires are not enough. If we really love Jesus–that is, if we really desire
union with him–we will put our love into action. And so Teresa clarifies what she has
said above with these words:
“There is no doubt that if a person perseveres in this nakedness and

detachment from all worldly things he will reach his goal.”
Did you catch that? Nakedness and detachment. The perfect reflection for Lent!
The nuns entering Carmel took off their worldly garments, symbolizing leaving their old
life behind. They gave up everything. This “nakedness” can’t be relegated to the past,
Teresa insists. It must be a way of life.
The rich young man had great desires, but he didn’t want to leave his comforts behind
in order to pursue them.
What is holding you back?

When people subscribe to my blog, I ask them what is holding them back from living
fully for God. Are you one of those who wrote back an answer? What did you say? If
you didn’t answer in writing, do you know what the answer would be?
What is holding you back from God? What is keeping you from growing in intimacy with
Christ?
Could it be:
• Selfishness with your time?

• Desire for material possessions?
• Wasting time with digital media?
• Lack of generosity with prayer?
• Confidence in yourself?
• Gossiping?
• Complaining?
• Worrying and fretting?
If Jesus were to challenge you, “If you wish to be perfect…,” how would he finish the
sentence?
Now you know what to focus on for Lent.

Lay people and the third mansions
Did Teresa of Avila write for lay people or just

nuns? What does she say in the third mansions?
(Photo by Ruben Ojeda of a statue by Gregorio
Fernández, Wikimedia Commons)
My most recent post at SpiritualDirection.com was about the one path to holiness.
everyone, I wrote, is called to deepen their relationship with God through prayer.
Everyone becomes holy by prayer and virtue. As always when this subject comes up,
some want to argue that Teresa of Ávila’s teaching on the mansions was not meant for
lay people.
Lay people are too busy to be expected to pray much, the argument goes. So they must
be content with offering their day to God and the like.
Now, I have no problem with lay people offering their day to God, making their work a
prayer, praying as they work, et cetera. Of course we should do that. But I do have a
problem with the notion that only monks, nuns, and priests are called to contemplation,
or that only they need to spend much time dedicated to mental prayer.
So I was happy to read the second chapter on the third mansions in Interior Castle. In
this chapter, although Teresa is writing primarily for her cloistered nuns, she uses lay
people in her examples.
Do not be disturbed
Teresa’s main point in this section is that those who have reached the third mansions
should not be easily disturbed by their sufferings, their sins, or the evil and trouble they
see in the world. (This is basically, by the way, the message of Trusting God with St.
Therese). Then she gives these examples:
• A rich, childless man loses some money, but not enough to make him go broke.
He is disturbed, saying he would have liked to give the money to the poor.
Teresa says he would have done better to accept the loss as part of God’s
permissive will for him.
• Another person has enough, but continually strives for more. “[H]e need have no
fear of ascending to the dwelling places closest to the King.”
• A public opportunity to be humbled presents itself, and the person is disturbed

instead of grateful for a chance to grow in virtue.
“[T]hese things don’t take place here,” Teresa says to her sisters. Then why does she
mention them? She believes her sisters can learn from them. Can we as lay people not
also learn from the nuns and their struggles?
The way to holiness for a nun and a homeschool mom are not so different. One has
fewer worries and distractions and more time for prayer, and we would hope a more
peaceful, God-focused atmosphere. But both need self-mastery, prayer, and the
sacraments. Teresa writes:
“And believe me, the whole affair doesn’t lie in whether or not we wear the
religious habit but in striving to practice the virtues, in surrendering our will
to God in everything, in bringing our life into accordance with what His
Majesty ordains for it, and in desiring that His will not ours be done.”
So then, the basics are the same for us all!
Humility, humility, and humility!

Teresa goes on to say, if we want to move forward from the third mansions, we must
practice humility constantly. And we must be willing to do some “unreasonable” things
for God out of love. Being too measured means advancing too slowly.
“With humility present, this stage is a most excellent one. If humility is

lacking, we will remain here our whole life–and with a thousand afflictions
and miseries.”
So if you have advanced a bit in your spiritual life and seem to be stuck in the third
mansions, or if you are living a well-regulated life of prayer and virtue but feel afflicted

and miserable, the cure is humility! Accept whatever God brings you, without
complaining or being disturbed. Accept the slowness of your progress (but don’t make
false humility an excuse). Accept your sins and shortcomings. Accept the fact that life is
imperfect, that the world rejects God, and that most people will think you’ve gone crazy
if you actually begin following God with all–rather than most–of your heart.
Let God be in control. Trust him with the big things. Trust him with the little things. Hold
back nothing that he asks of you. Give him your all with joy. Maybe this is the one thing
you are lacking.

4th mansions: consolations versus delights
The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini. (Wikipedia) Sensible

consolations are not the same thing as infused
contemplation with its heavenly delights.
Now we begin to look at contemplative prayer as Teresa of Ávila sees it. The fourth
mansions are the transition from prayer that is produced by the soul to prayer that God
gives the soul. In this post, I want to look at what Teresa says about consolations
versus delights. This is from the first chapter of the fourth mansions.
Consolations are produced naturally by the soul. We can’t say that God has no part in
them, for everything that brings us closer to him is in some way his gift. But they are
completely different from delights, which he gives without our doing anything to receive.
It’s so important not to mistake consolations for infused delights!
How can we tell the difference? I am going to use an analogy here, and I don’t want you
to get side-tracked by it. In 1 Corinthians 14, St. Paul writes about speaking in tongues
in this way (my paraphrase): the speaker may be praising God in a tongue of men or
angels, but if I can’t understand him, it’s gibberish to me. That doesn’t make his prayer
gibberish in itself, but until I learn the language he is using, or someone interprets it for
me, I get nothing out of it.
Now, this is just an analogy I want to use. Don’t get hung up on speaking in tongues
right now–that’s not my point. My point is that infused contemplation is like speaking in
tongues in this aspect: until a person has experienced it, he won’t understand it. It is
beyond concepts and words. But if he has experienced it, he will understand.
So, how can we know if we are experiencing infused delights of contemplation, or

merely consolations? We can study what consolations are. We can say what infused
contemplation is not.
Infused contemplation is not:
Peaceful feelings. Peaceful feelings can be produced in many ways. We can feel
peaceful looking at a sunset, practicing Buddhist meditation or Centering Prayer, gazing
at a baby’s face, or enjoying a glass of wine. We don’t need a special gift of God for
this. These feelings are not infused. They are natural. Sometimes when we pray, we
might feel really at peace, and this can help us desire God more and inspire us to follow
him more closely. Well and good. That doesn’t mean we are experiencing
contemplation.
Strong desires for God. Now, I have to be careful here, because there is a dark, dry
yearning for God that is infused. But on a purely natural level, we can desire God just as
we can desire anything else. I’m going to make this personal. Due to my temperament, I
sometimes in prayer experience what Hannah said, “My heart leaps up with joy to the
Lord.” I feel like my desire for God is so strong that my heart is going to leap right out of
my chest and I can hardly stand it. I used to think this was a contemplative desire. Now I
realize this is a purely natural desire. I felt something similar when I was dating my
husband-to-be.
Tears and other emotions. Other people might cry during prayer, feeling that their
tears come from nowhere and they cannot stop them. But Teresa says that these tears
are not contemplation either. They are the response of our passions to a desire for God.
Again, they might inspire us to strive to follow him more closely, but they don’t
necessarily have a lasting effect on us. We could cry in a similar manner over
completely worldly things–or good things that fall short of God.
Locutions, revelations, etc. We shouldn’t confuse the contemplative life with

supernatural phenomena like private revelations. The Devil can counterfeit revelations,
but he can’t produce the effects of contemplation. We can also easily deceive
ourselves, thinking our own pious reflections are revelations from God.
Fr. Thomas Dubay writes:
“When a newcomer to the life of prayer begins to receive sense pleasure

in it, he ought not to allow himself to be carried away. It comes and it
goes, and in any event it is neither perfection nor sanctity. Second, all
should realize that, at any time, progress in pursuing God does not consist

in enjoying Him more but in doing His will more completely.” (Fire
Within, 234).
Doing his will more completely. That is the first true sign of contemplation. We’ll end
here for this time, and next time look at the signs that we are truly experiencing infused
contemplation more fully.

Life in Teresa’s fourth mansions
Woman Praying in Church by Jean-Baptiste Jules

Trayer (Wikimedia Commons).
How should a person behave when he enters the fourth mansions? How should he act
throughout the day? How should he pray?
First, let’s look at our behavior during prayer. As I have said (some might say ad
nauseum) contemplative prayer is a gift from God. It does not come from the soul’s
willing it or applying any technique.
Spiritual growth through the seven (groups of) mansions is gradual. Contemplative
prayer begins subtly. It usually grows slowly deeper. Infused recollection blends into the
prayer of quiet, which blends into the union of the fifth mansions.
A soul in the fourth mansions will probably not experience contemplation every time she
prays–at least not at first. What should she do? She should not try to produce
contemplation, since that’s impossible. Instead, she should go back to meditating on
Sacred Scripture, affective prayer, or acquired recollection.

On the other hand, if God gives the soul contemplation, she should not try to force
herself to meditate. She will find it impossible anyway.
In Way of Perfection, Teresa tells us how to behave during contemplative prayer:
“The most we should do is occasionally, and quite simply, to utter a single

word, like a person giving a little puff to a candle, when he sees it has
almost gone out, so as to make it burn again.” (Ch. 31)
Remember, she is not saying that the repeated word produces the prayer. This is her
recommendation for someone already given this prayer by God.
Growth in virtue
How does the soul advance in the fourth mansions? Teresa cites the following effects of
this prayer:
• no more fear of Hell or of the ill effects of penances
• desire for suffering and patience in it
• withdrawing from all worldly delights
• growth in all the virtues
As Fr. Thomas Dubay notes in Fire Within, these effects, like the prayer itself, are
infused (see p. 89). For example, in the third mansions you might meditate on the need
for humility, make resolutions, and strive throughout the day to practice it, making some
progress. In the fourth mansions, you may find you have taken a huge leap forward in
humility even though you haven’t been thinking about it for some time.
If you do not experience a mysterious growth in virtue and detachment, that is a

sign your prayer is probably not infused. Whatever other signs you think you have to
convince you that you are in the fourth mansions, if you don’t desire God more and find
it suddenly easier and more satisfying to do his will in even little things, you are probably
not as advanced as you think you are.
Of course, like the prayer itself, this infused virtue comes gradually. If you experience
contemplative prayer once or twice, you will probably notice a difference in your attitude
and in your ability to do God’s will. But you must respond to any grace God gives you.
You must work even harder to love God and your neighbor so that you can continue to
grow.
If you are not sure whether your prayer is infused, try to consult a good spiritual director
or knowledgeable priest.

Don’t expect raptures yet

Since one reader asked me last time if the prayer of quiet was the same as ecstasy or
rapture, I’ll briefly address this too.
Teresa says that some people who are psychologically impressionable and who may be
physically weakened by penance will swoon when they experience the prayer of quiet.
They think they are experiencing rapture, which belongs to the late fifth and sixth
mansions. What is really happening is that they are giving way to their own weakness.
The remedy she says, is less time spent in prayer and less penance. They should try to
serve God in an active life instead.
In the fourth mansions, the will experiences contemplation. The intellect gradually
begins to take part in it. But the imagination and memory, as well as the body, are still in
command of themselves (as much as they ever were). They will begin to feel the effects
of contemplation as the soul experiences the prayer of union.

5th Mansions: the prayer of union
Statue of St. Teresa of Avila at Carmelite Monastery,

Varroville, NSW, Australia. The prayer of union leaves the
soul with desire only for God.
Souls generally remain in the fourth mansions of the Interior Castle for years. But for
those who are raised beyond them, even greater intimacy with God lies ahead. Today
we begin exploring Teresa of Ávila’s fifth mansions.
The prayer of union begins in the fifth mansions. How does it differ from the prayer of
quiet? As I said last time, the prayer of quiet primarily involves the will. In the prayer of
union, the intellect, the memory, and the imagination also share in contemplation.
The sign of true union
St. Teresa says true union always produces a sign of its authenticity. That sign is the
soul’s certitude. She knows just as surely as if she had been speaking to Christ in the
flesh that she has been in union with God. Even when spiritual directors or companions
try to persuade her otherwise, she doesn’t believe them.

If you don’t have this certainty, Teresa says, you may have had some kind of authentic
mystical experience, but it wasn’t union (Interior Castle V, 1:11).
Years later, the soul remembers the exact time and place of the union. Its impression
never fades.
What is it like?
Teresa believes that most souls who are faithful in the fourth mansions will be brought
at least to the threshold of the fifth. But there are many different types of union in the
fifth mansions, and different souls will experience various types.
Teresa writes:
“During this time of union, [the soul] neither sees, nor hears, nor
understands, because the union is always short and seems to the soul
even much shorter than it probably is.” (V, 1:9)
Later, in the seventh mansions, the soul will understand the union. Now it is struck deaf
and dumb, not even thinking or imagining during the time of prayer, but just enjoying
union with God.
Comparing the delights of union with mere earthly delights, she says, is like comparing
something you feel in the marrow of your bones with material you feel with your skin.
Earlier, she says:
“There is no need here to use any technique to suspend the mind since all
the faculties are asleep in this state–and truly asleep–to the things of the
world and to ourselves. As a matter of fact, during the time that the union
lasts the soul is left as though without its senses, for it has no power to
think even if it wants to. In loving, if it does love, it doesn’t understand how
or what it is it loves or what it would want. In sum, it is like one who in
every respect has died to the world so as to live more completely in God.”
(V, 1:4)
The effects of union
She describes the soul as a silkworm. Before this union, the soul is like a fat, ugly worm.
Afterwards, it is like a beautiful butterfly. It doesn’t even recognize itself. Its old self has
died and it is completely made new.
This soul has a deep peace, deeper than any it has experienced before. At the same
time, the soul suffers greatly at the sight of anyone offending God. This suffering does
not affect its peace, yet it is deeper than any suffering it has experienced before, “for it
seems that the pain breaks and grinds the soul into pieces” (V, 2:11).

“Almost each time [the soul experiences union] it gains new treasures” (V, 2:7).
Detachment, desire to suffer for God and do penances, and contempt for the world all
grow exponentially. Everything but God becomes a burden to it.

Final thoughts on Teresa’s fifth mansions
Bodium Castle (photo by Tony Hammond, Flickr Creative Commons

http://bit.ly/1N5Unav).
Today we finish the discussion of the fifth mansions in Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle.
The soul is passive in the prayer of union, but she must not be passive in her spiritual
life if she would maintain her closeness to God. Teresa has been using the analogy of a
silkworm to describe the soul at this stage of the spiritual life. She writes:
“It must always be understood that one has to strive to go forward in the
service of our Lord and in self-knowledge. For if a person does no more
than receive this favor and if, as though already securely in possession of
something, she grows careless in her life and turns aside from the
heavenly path, which consists of keeping the commandments, that which
happens to the silkworm will happen to her. For it gives forth the seed that
produces other silkworms, and itself dies forever. (V.3.1)
Obedience to God, Teresa insists, is the way to stay close to Him. No prayer method
can accomplish this, no holding one’s breath, or altered state of consciousness. The life
of prayer is inextricably tied to the life of virtue.
She even says that anyone who wants to attain to the prayer of union should pursue
perfect alignment of his will with God’s. Through this means, union is available to all

(V.3.3). Moreover, such a soul disdains sickness, poverty, death, and every other form
of suffering except two: separation from God or seeing him offended.
The best way of knowing how closely we have aligned our will with God’s is seeing how
well we love our neighbor. God will repay this love with his own (V. 3.8).
Love proves itself in action

Here is a passage with advice for all of us, no matter where we are in the spiritual life:
“Let’s try to understand ourselves even in little things, and pay no attention
to any big plans that sometimes suddenly come to us during prayer in
which it seems we will do wonders for our neighbor and even for just one
soul so that it may be saved. If afterward our deeds are not in conformity
with those plans, there will be no reason to believe that we will accomplish
the plans. I say the same about humility and all the virtues. Great are the
wiles of the devil: to make us think we have one virtue–when we don’t–he
would circle hell a thousand times.” (V.3.9)
Teresa’s spirituality is surprisingly practical. Serve a sister who is sick or in pain, she
says, out of love for God. This is how we align our will with God’s. If we do not genuinely
love our neighbor, our union is an illusion.
Avoid self-love
Teresa then urges her sisters to avoid near occasions of sin, for it is still very easy for
the soul in the fifth mansions to fall. The soul is only at the courtship stage with God, not
even yet betrothed to him.
We must continually beg God in prayer to preserve us from sin. We must also think
often about our faults and weaknesses, so that the Devil cannot easily lead us towards
self-love.
We must always strive to keep moving forward, to grow in our love.
Let’s close with these encouraging words:
“How prepared this Lord is to grant us favors now just as He has granted
them to others in the past. And in part He has even more need that we
desire to receive them, for there are fewer now who care about His honor
than there were then.” (V.4.6)
May we all be among those few!

Raptures and Ecstasy
The Transverberation of St. Teresa by Bernini (Wikimedia

Commons). In the late fifth mansions, union begins to
overpower the body.
In the advanced stages of Teresa of Avila’s fifth mansions, the effects of infused
contemplation overflow to the body. The soul experiences what are known as raptures
and ecstasies. let’s look at both these phenomena more closely.
Not locutions or visions

First we should distinguish between raptures and ecstasies and what some authors call
“extraordinary favors.” Raptures and ecstasies occur as union with God in prayer
becomes so strong that it overpowers the body. They are thus normal for people in the
late fifth and sixth mansions. Extraordinary favors are just that–they are gifts given to
particular individuals as God chooses.
Locutions and visions are the two main types of extraordinary favors God grants.
Teresa of Avila heard God’s voice and saw various types of visions as she progressed
towards him. But not everyone does. St. Therese of Lisieux is famous for the lack of
extraordinary phenomena in her life. She reached the heights of holiness without them.
God led her by a darker way.

God can give locutions and visions to anyone he chooses, at any point in the spiritual
life. They don’t indicate that a person is holy, nor do they of themselves make a person
holy.
Raptures and ecstasies, on the other hand, are actually the prayer of union manifesting
itself physically.
What is rapture like?

In rapture–which is synonymous with ecstasy for St. Teresa–the spiritual world
becomes more real to the soul than the physical world. In this, the soul is advancing
towards truth. The spiritual world is more real than the physical. The spiritual world has
existed for eternity in God. The physical world is his creation. We normally see the world
inside-out, as though the world of the senses is the real world. Saints see the truth.
“God unites it [the soul] with Himself, in a way which none can understand
save it and He, and even the soul itself does not understand this in such a
way as to be able to speak of it afterwards, though it is not deprived of its
interior senses; for it is not like one who suffers a swoon or a paroxysm so
that it can understand nothing either within itself or without. The position,
in this case, as I understand it, is that the soul has never before been so
fully awake to the things of God or had such light or such knowledge of
His Majesty. This may seem impossible; because, if the faculties are so
completely absorbed that we might describe them as dead, and the
senses are so as well, how can the soul be said to understand this secret?
I cannot say, nor perhaps can any creature, but only the Creator Himself.”
(Interior Castle 6.4)
Teresa says that the soul in this state often sees vision (though the visions themselves
are not the rapture). Sometimes she sees these with the imagination, sometimes with
the intellect. She says further:
“For when He means to enrapture this soul, it loses its power of breathing,
with the result that, although its other senses sometimes remain active a
little longer, it cannot possibly speak. At other times it loses all its powers
at once, and the hands and the body grow so cold that the body seems no
longer to have a soul — sometimes it even seems doubtful if there is any
breath in the body. This lasts only for a short time (I mean, only for a short
period at any one time) because, when this profound suspension lifts a
little, the body seems to come partly to itself again, and draws breath,
though only to die once more, and, in doing so, to give fuller life to the
soul. Complete ecstasy, therefore, does not last long.” (Ibid.)

The effects of rapture

Even after life comes back to the body and the rapture is said to be over, the soul is
affected for a day or more, with the will and understanding still overpowered, even
though the body no longer is. It seems to be asleep to any affections but affection for
God.
The lasting effect is an increased desire to do God’s will, come what may, and to suffer
as much as possible for his glory. God protects the soul in a special way, so that no
one, not even the demons, can harm it, as long as it stays free of sin.
False ecstasies
Here is Teresa’s humorous take on those who falsely think they are experiencing
rapture:
“Some women, because of prayers, vigils and severe penances, and also
for other reasons, have poor health. When they experience any spiritual
consolation, therefore, their physical nature is too much for them; and as
soon as they feel any interior joy there comes over them a physical
weakness and languor, and they fall into a sleep, which they call ‘spiritual’,
and which is a little more marked than the condition that has been
described. Thinking the one state to be the same as the other, they
abandon themselves to this absorption; and the more they relax, the more
complete becomes this absorption, because their physical nature
continues to grow weaker. So they get it into their heads that it
is arrobamiento, or rapture. But I call it abobamiento, foolishness; for they
are doing nothing but wasting their time at it and ruining their health.”
(Interior Castle 4.3)
Practical as ever, Teresa says such people should eat more, get more rest, do less
penance, and spend less time in prayer. They should focus on a more active life, so that
the Devil does not delude them.
These are the first of the ways that God unites the soul closer to him in the sixth
mansions. Next time we will look at touches and flights of spirit.

The suffering of the sixth mansions
Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini (detail). Photo by Nina-no,

Wikimedia Creative Commons.
We’ve been talking about the sixth mansions. Last time we looked at raptures and
ecstasy. There are many more types of mystical phenomena that one can experience in
the sixth mansions. Among them are what St. Teresa of Avila calls transports, touches,
wounds of love, flights of spirit, and even levitation. Teresa sometimes experienced the
last of these in community prayer, to her great embarrassment.
All of these are external phenomena that are rooted in the growing union of love
between God and the soul.
In the seventh and final mansions, the soul will experience the spiritual marriage. But
she is not there yet. Teresa writes:
“The soul is now completely determined to take no other spouse; but the
Spouse disregards its yearnings for the conclusion of the Betrothal,
desiring that they should become still deeper and that this greatest of all
blessings should be won by the soul at some cost to itself. And although
everything is of but slight importance by comparison with the greatness of
this gain, I assure you, daughters, that, if the soul is to bear its trials, it has
no less need of the sign and token of this gain which it now holds. Oh, my
God, how great are these trials, which the soul will suffer, both within and
without, before it enters the seventh Mansion! Really, when I think of

them, I am sometimes afraid that, if we realized their intensity beforehand,

it would be most difficult for us, naturally weak as we are, to muster
determination enough to enable us to suffer them or resolution enough for
enduring them, however attractively the advantage of so doing might be
presented to us, until we reached the seventh Mansion, where there is
nothing more to be feared, and the soul will plunge deep into suffering for
God’s sake.” (6.1)
Teresa doesn’t speak of this darkness in the same manner that John of the Cross does,
but she does tell us of many sufferings the soul in advanced prayer has to endure:
• Misunderstanding, fear, and gossip about her spirituality, even among those
closest to her.
• Difficulty finding a confessor because of this detraction.
• Human praise, which hurts even more, since she knows she doesn’t deserve it.
• Pain and illness.
• Misunderstanding and bad advice from confessors.
• A feeling of being abandoned by God, deservingly.
• Inability to understand spiritual books.
Surprisingly, Teresa advises a soul in this state not to try to practice mental prayer or
spend much time alone, but rather to do works of charity and patiently wait for God to lift
her suffering. Mental prayer is impossible now. God leaves the soul completely
incapable of helping herself, so that she learns at last that she is completely dependent
on Him.
All this is a necessary preparation for the heights of the spiritual life.

The seventh mansions
Church window in the Convent of St. Teresa, Caballeros, Spain.

Photo by Håkan Svensson (Xauxa), Wikimedia Commons.
At last, we have arrived at the seventh mansions of the Interior Castle! Well, in this
booklet anyway. Since it is impossible to understand many of the things Teresa writes
about here without having experienced them, I’m going to sum up her four chapters
briefly.
The seventh mansions are the mansions of the spiritual marriage. But even here, there
is growth in the soul. And the union, although it becomes the closest union possible
while on earth, still falls short of the Beatific Vision of Heaven.
The same is true of knowledge. Teresa says that the soul sees and understands things
in the seventh mansions that it could not before. She sees that spirit and soul, for
example, are slightly different things. But she does not fully understand the distinction.
Full knowledge waits for Heaven, where, as St. Paul tells us:
“Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
The soul in the seventh mansions has an intellectual vision of the Holy Trinity. She does
not see the Trinity with her imagination, but she knows with certainty and really
experiences God as Three in One. She also experiences a vision of Christ. Teresa
mentions both an intellectual vision and an imaginary vision. I do not know whether she
is referring to two separate visions or speaking about different ways in which different

souls experience this vision. For Teresa, she saw the risen and glorified Lord after
receiving Communion.
The spiritual marriage takes place in the innermost room of the soul, the dwelling place
of God Himself. It is like Heaven in the midst of the soul. All throughout the soul’s daily
occupation, she continues to experience this union, although it is not always of the
same intensity. She is aware of it at times as we can be aware of the presence of other
people in a dark room. They were there when the lights were on. When the lights go
out, we know they are present still, even though we can’t see them.
Teresa also says it is as if the soul is both Mary and Martha at the same time. Some
part of the soul is always in a peaceful union, and the rest of the soul, which works and
suffers, is in a sense envious of this inner calm.
Dryness in prayer is almost completely gone. However, sometimes the Lord seems to
leave for up to a day at a time. This happens rarely, to remind the soul that union is
completely outside her power.
In the earlier mansions, the soul has desired death so as to be united with Christ. Now
she desires to live, because only by living can she suffer so as to do good for other
souls. She would be willing to stay on earth forever if it would help someone else to love
the Lord. Yet this separation from Him is itself the greatest suffering she can offer for
others’ sakes.
The soul easily loves her enemies. She carefully avoids sin and imperfections—
although she may still commit now and then what are objectively venial sins. She does
this inadvertently.
And then there is the union itself. Teresa can only describe this profound union by
pointing to the words of Christ:
“that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be in us” (Jn 17:21).
She also uses the analogy of light coming in from two different windows and meeting
and becoming one. You cannot separate out any longer which light came from which
window. Or it is like a stream that flows into a great river. It is no longer separate from
the river. Or rain that falls into a lake that becomes one with the lake.
In all these analogies it’s important to recognize she is not saying that the soul and God
are the same thing. But “the two become one.” Separation through sin is still possible,
and the soul is more careful than ever, more fearful (with a filial fear) than ever of falling.
These then are some of the many ways in which St. Teresa describes life in the seventh
mansions, the height of the spiritual life on earth. I pray that all of us may attain to such
a union!

Summary of Interior Castle

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The Interior Castle of St.

A Summary and Analysis

Where are you in Teresa’s seven mansions?

St. Teresa of Avila by Rubens (Wikimedia Commons).

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Identifying your present level

A chart to help you

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St. Teresa’s first mansions

Pursued by the Furies by John Singer Sargent

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How can such people enter the castle? By beginning to pray.

The first dwelling places

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How else should these souls pray?

Charlotte Mason and distractions in prayer

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Teresa of Avila’s second mansions

Last Crusader by Lessing (Wikimedia Commons). I pray we all

1. Not understanding what Teresa was talking about.

2. Not understanding myself.

3. Not understanding the heights God calls us to.

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The second mansions are a battlefield

“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do

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Less danger, more effort

These souls hear God’s call

“His appeals come through the conversations of good people, or from

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Desire for consolations

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Prayer in the second mansions

An Old Woman Praying by Maes (Wikimedia Commons).

Real growth in virtue takes commitment to prayer

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• be determined to persevere, come what may

• strive to do God’s will as much as possible

Meditating on Sacred Scripture

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Mediation on Sacred Scripture makes us intimate with Christ’s character. We want to

4. Converse with Jesus about your reading.

5. Conclude with thanksgiving and resolutions.

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Prayer in the third mansions

Il Penseroso by Thomas Cole. Simplified mental prayer is typical of the third

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Jordan Aumann, O.P. writes in Spiritual Theology:

“Affective prayer may be defined as a type of prayer in which the

Meditation is not an end in itself. It is not meant to be an intellectual exercise. It is meant

“For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing

That is why in the Carmelite-recommended meditation methods the conversation with

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• we shouldn’t run from one movement of the will to another

• we shouldn’t confuse affective prayer with infused contemplation

• we shouldn’t get lazy with meditation

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Acquired recollection in the third mansions

Teresa of Avila by Gerard (Wikipedia). The final stage

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(Read more on recollecting ourselves here.)