The Interior Castle By St. Teresa of Avila, is a book about progression in the spiritual life, particularly in regard to different grades or states of prayer, which she refers to as "mansions." St. Teresa sees the spiritual life as an ascension up the interior of a castle with many mansions. She wrote this book to her fellow Carmelite nuns to help them in their prayer lives
She divides several chapters up by each mansion and there she discusses ways souls can achieve greater union with God, through various stages of their prayer lives. In the first few chapters she writes about the importance of getting out of mortal sin and how one must progress beyond their struggles with vices, defects, and how dryness in prayer is a result often of the second stage of the Christian spiritual journey.
I would argue the main things to take away from the book is how the spiritual life is a journey that takes many years to master, St. Teresa's main concern is for souls to reach perfect union with God, which some have interpreted as a grade of prayer that is called the "Transforming Union". This is akin to what is called in the Christian East "Theosis" or becoming very much like God. It is an easy read that all Christians or anyone seeking a spiritual path can benefit from, St. Teresa offers a way of being as followers of Christ that is radical to our modern interpretations of Spiritualty yet I believe it is also very compelling and inspiring as well as very practical. This book is also a great help to spiritual directors, given its content.
Works Cited Interior Castle , by St. Tereas of Avila (Dover Thrift)
Untitled (catholic-church.org), link on the "nine grades of Prayer".
No comments:
Post a Comment