# Session One Preface, General Introduction and Prologue Required Reading: The Interior Castle Study Edition, pgs. 1-29 (second edition, pgs. xv-xxxix) Additional Reading: St. Teresa of Avila: 100 Themes on Her Life and Work, The Basic Essentials of the Interior Castle, pgs. 345-348 Explanatory note: The Interior Castle is the image most developed by St. Teresa. It forms the basis of all her teachings. She uses it to illustrate the entire spiritual process, serving as a means of explaining the structure of human persons (body, soul, and spirit), and their relationship with God, Who is both transcendent and immanent. It serves as well to comment on the biblical text of the indwelling of God in the soul. “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). “And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn. 14:21). “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn.14:23). (see Glossary pg. 456; second edition 2020, pg. 427) Essential Points to Discuss: • “The Interior Castle is more than a book. It is a wonderful image of the mystery of the human person” (Preface, pg. 1). • St. Teresa wrote The Interior Castle at the request of Fr. Gracián, OCD, an enthusiastic supporter of her reform, and Don Alonso Velasquez, her spiritual director. • Turmoil within the Order: Teresa was living through one of the most adverse periods of her life when she was engaged in writing her sublime book on prayer: a. Teresa was ordered to return to her monastery (St. Joseph’s in Avila) and to remain there “as a kind of prisoner.” b. In October of 1577, she was re-elected prioress of the Monastery of the Incarnation (in Avila). The election was not supported by the authorities in charge, who gave orders to annul the valid election. The nuns persisting to vote for Teresa in the second election were excommunicated. c. St. John of the Cross was secretly seized by the non-reformed [Calced] Carmelites and imprisoned in a small cell in the Carmelite monastery in Toledo. Note: Religious communities of the time did have the authority to punish members who were persistently disobedient. While the friars were acting in good faith, John was acting in obedience to the Dominican visitators that the Pope had appointed for all religious orders in Spain. (For more details on the competing ecclesial authorities, see Journey to Carith chapter 6, or John of the Cross Man and Mystic chapter 3.) • Teresa began writing The Interior Castle on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, June 2, 1577, in the reformed Carmelite (Discalced) Monastery of St. Joseph, Toledo, Spain. In little over a month, she had written more than half the manuscript. Due to discord in the Order, her work was interrupted for almost five months. Teresa took up her pen again and 7 completed her work by November 29, 1577, the eve of the Feast of St. Andrew. Thus, the actual time spent on this spiritual masterpiece was a mere two months (see General Introduction, pg.7; second edition, pg. xxi). • Teresa speaks of this castle on three levels: experiential, symbolic, and theological. At the experiential level, this castle belongs to the author herself. Symbolically, Teresa uses the castle to express what is, in reality, inexpressible. Theologically, Teresa explains the profound meaning of her experiences (see Prologue — Interpretive Notes, pg. 31, second edition, pg. 5). • In writing The Interior Castle, Teresa proposed at the outset to compose a fundamentally theological treatise — neither devotional nor superficial. “May God deliver us from foolish devotions” (Life 13.16). • Teresa uses the castle and its many rooms to describe the dwelling places. “At the center of the castle is God’s dwelling place. The gate of entry is prayer” (General Introduction, pg. 12, second edition, pg. xxvi). • Teresa observes that the human soul is capable of God; that is to say, from the depth of its being, the soul is open to transcendence. The soul is not locked up in itself, but has a primordial call from God. The human person is a paradise and a garden for God. The seven dwelling places are not seven rooms but seven degrees of life or communion of the human with the Divine (100 Themes on Her Life and Work, pgs. 345-346). • Humanity of Christ: The single most important teaching of Teresa is the “Humanity of Christ” as first described in chapter 22 of Life and years later she repeats in the Interior Castle, chapter 7 of the Sixth Dwelling Places. “After reading both texts one can only conclude that Teresa, in both texts, has a decisive message about the radical centrality of the humanity of Christ for the entire Christian life…When Teresa speaks of the humanity of Jesus, she is thinking of the Jesus of salvation history — the historical Jesus…At the same time, the humanity of Christ is integrated into the mystery of his person in which both divine and human are joined, constituting the mysterious framework of his being and history” (Interpretive notes, pg. 324. second edition, pgs. 296-297). “The Lord helps us, strengthens us, and never fails; He is a true friend. And I see clearly, and I saw afterward, that God desires that if we are going to please Him and receive His great favors, we must do so through the most sacred of humanity of Christ, in whom He takes His delight [see Mt. 3:17]. Many, many times I perceived this truth through experience…I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate [see Jn. 10:9] if we desire His sovereign Majesty to show us great secrets. …You should desire no other path even if you are at the summit of contemplation. On this road one walks safely. This Lord of ours is the one through whom all blessings come to us” (Life, 22:6-7). • Ascetical prayer: This is the prayer found in the first three dwelling places. It relies on human effort along with God’s grace. p.8 • Mystical prayer: This is the prayer found in the last four dwelling places. Teresa calls it “supernatural prayer” because it is a gift of God and cannot be acquired through one’s own efforts (see Glossary, pg. 456; second edition, 434). Teresa observes: “We always hear about what a good thing prayer is, and our constitutions oblige us to spend so many hours in prayer. Yet only what we ourselves can do in prayer is explained to us; little is explained about what the Lord does in the soul, I mean about the supernatural” (DP I, 2:7). p.9 --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year B: The Interior Castle (The Seven Dwelling Places)* (US National Formation Program, 2024).