The Interior Castle By Saint Teresa of Avila

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I’ve been reading this book for a few weeks. It’s slow-going as I’m having to reread sections that are hard for me to process. I am married, have three grown children, one grandchild, and a career. I know this book was written for Teresa’s sisters. At times the book seems so curious to me since I don’t have the time to pray with such concentration. That is why I decided to read it, so I could understand this focused meditation. How can someone in the world relate to Saint Teresa? What have others done to work toward such a life of prayer?
 
I believe prayer is a gift. I pray in whatever way I am able & trust the Holy Spirit will guide me. If He wants silent prayer He will help me be silent. If He wants meditative prayer He will help me meditate. Etc…

Interior Castles definitely needs to be read more than once. Try listening to the audiobook too if you get a chance.
 
This book isn’t meant to be read like you would read a novel. It is meant to be read a little bit at a time. After you read it you should think about what you read.
 
The stages of interior prayer she sets out are based on her experience. Just remember that God guides people differently, and you can’t expect to copy someone’s prayer life. I have found that mansions 1-4 are very good (mansion 3 in particular) but get lost at the higher stages of mystical experience. I would strongly recommend The Way of Perfection as a better entrance into the thought of Teresa on prayer. It is very practical. The first sections are about how to form community, again written for the sisters she was forming but applicable to anyone. And the rest of the book is taking each line of the Our Father and meditating on its meaning. I found it changed the way I say the Our Father, making it much deeper.
 
This is my second favorite book after The Ascent of Mount Carmel. However, it is challenging, so be patient with yourself as you go.

Many people get caught up in the concepts of levels, and ask themselves what level they have reached, and so forth. This misses the point.

There are many mansions, and in using this metaphor Teresa struggles to make her ineffable experience understandable. It is a work of mysticism. Some readers relate easily to her words while many more struggle and give up on reading more.

Two authors may help to break it down Carmelite concepts into “real world” terms. Each of them has a gift for making Carmelite prayer relevant for people not in holy orders. One is Father Marc Foley and the other is the spiritual director Anthony Lilles.

There is also a Teresian form of lectio divina which may easily be made to fit into daily life, which you may discover online.

As others have said, allow God to lead you into prayer. There is no wrong prayer, and Teresa writes of how God will lead the soul who honestly seeks him.

Labels and descriptions, as well as concepts of “advancement” in the spiritual life may have their place. Literary metaphors can be transcendent.

But what matters is letting God take the lead and surrendering to Divine Love. For me, this is the essence of Teresian prayer, and something each of us can do if we allow him to show us the way.
 
One book that helped me to better understand both St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross is The Fire Within, by Fr. Thomas Dubay. He explains the writings of these saints in a very clear manner.
 
martinezc5 said:
I’ve been reading this book for a few weeks. It’s slow-going as I’m having to reread sections that are hard for me to process. I am married, have three grown children, one grandchild, and a career. I know this book was written for Teresa’s sisters. At times the book seems so curious to me since I don’t have the time to pray with such concentration. That is why I decided to read it, so I could understand this focused meditation. How can someone in the world relate to Saint Teresa? What have others done to work toward such a life of prayer?
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I am glad you have had the time to focus on the writings and the spirituality of this great saint. I agree with all the advices so far. I would also add, that from my personal experience, her book “The life of St. Teresa of Avila…” also gives insights of her inner thoughts. There is also an 8-episode CD movie series about her life. This series also helps to understand the context of time, place and history.

For reasons I have yet understood, my prayer life has improved for the better. I am certain that yours will too… I wish you well.
 
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Another book - contemporary, in this case, and written by a lay man - that helps by putting Teresa’s mansions on the interior life in the context of several of other important perspectives on the interior life (John of the Cross, Thomas Aquinas, Bernard of Clairvaux). Putting these “together” in a sense, helps in understanding them all. The book (link goes to Amazon llisting) is The Ordinary Path to Holiness.
 
Dear fide,

Thanks for mentioning this book, “The Ordinary Path to Holiness” I have read it more than once and have recommended it to many other lay persons because it does help to understand how all are called to holiness. The author’s references to the writings of St.Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila help us to apprecitiate God’s work in the interior lives of all of us.

Sometimes Catholics can have a tendency to place priests and religious on a pedestal and denigrate their own vocations to married state or the single state, forgetting the beautiful examples we have in the Holy Family and in the Saints who courageosly lived in the world while not being “of the world” like St. Gianna Molla, St. Thomas More, St. Louis who was King of France and little St. Maria Ghoretti a martyr at only 12 yrs old and St. Dominic Savio who died at age 15 a holy teenager.

I have read St. Teresa’s Interior Castle and continue to read it as well as her other books and St. John of the Cross’ writing as well. Prayer is so very important! I agree with many who have contributed to this thread but I encourage all to remember that the Holy Spirit has been sent to the Church to teach us ALL truth. Jesus is our Way our Truth and our Life. Our Mother Mary knew Him best of all and by the power of the Holy Spirit she continues to bring Him to us.

May we all do as Mary did, and all the saints have done: Listen to Him, pondering all in our hearts and Do the Truth we hear – as He has revealed Himself – let us do whatever He tells us.
 
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Thank you all for such thoughtful responses. One more question. As I’ve been reading this book, and by the way, also picked up 'The Way of Perfection" and made it through the section on the Lord’s Prayer. I’ve been thinking so much about St. Joseph. Could he have been able to pray like St. Teresa explains? Surely he lived in the seventh castle! What also is a profound thought for me is that St. Joseph had original sin. Did he descend to the dead too? Where can I research this? What a great man St. Joseph must have been, and thanks to God he spent his day in Adoration of the Savior of the world! Please any direction you can provide is appreciated! God bless!!
 
martinezc5 said:
What also is a profound thought for me is that St. Joseph had original sin. Did he descend to the dead too? Where can I research this?
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Since Mary was the only human who was immaculately conceived, Joseph did have original sin. However, there is a school of thought that he and John the Baptist were sanctified and their original sin removed in their mothers’ wombs, as a special grace given to them. The Church does not take an official position on this afaik, but Catholics are permitted to believe this.

As for Joseph descending to the dead, Catholic tradition holds that he died before Jesus’ death, and there is no scripture suggesting that he was somehow taken up to heaven like Elijah and Enoch, so Joseph must have descended into Sheol as there was no other place for his soul to go - Jesus had not yet died and Heaven was not yet opened. Joseph would have gone to Heaven along with the other righteous dead after Jesus died and opened the gates of Heaven to them.

There are a variety of Catholic opinions, both theologically based and from private revelation, about whether Joseph’s soul alone went to Heaven and his body remained in an as-yet-unlocated tomb here on earth (which visionaries have claimed we will find at some point), or whether Joseph was assumed into Heaven body and soul. The Church does not take a position on this, and allows people to believe either way. Fr. Donald Calloway’s new book “Consecration to St. Joseph” discusses this in some detail, although Fr. Calloway is most definitely biased towards the “St. Joseph was assumed body and soul” position.
 
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