In
Teresa of Avila’s “Interior Castle” there are seven mansions. Each mansion represents a particular
development in the life of prayer. Teresa
wrote primarily for the nuns under her care.
Nuns and monks have made a basic commitment to live in a community whose
life is structured around the seven times of prayer that make up the Daily
Offices. That commitment to community
and regular prayer forms the necessary foundation for the contemplative
theology of Teresa.
The great mystery of Christian life is that we
are the temple of the Holy Spirit,[i]
and through the gift of the Spirit the Father and the Son come to us and make their
home within us.[ii] That is not only an objective fact based on
Holy Scripture and the doctrine of the Church, but also a fact that is meant to
be experienced subjectively in our personal experience in real time.
The Quaker Thomas Kelly wrote “Deep within us
all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place a Divine
Center, a speaking Voice, to which may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our
time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling
us home unto Itself.”[iii] That Light is Christ Jesus our Lord. He is the light of the world.
In her book The Interior Castle, Teresa of Avila
tells us, “I began to think of the soul as if it were a castle made of a single
diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in
Heaven there are mansions.”[iv] She goes on to say, “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.”[v]
However not every soul is a glorious
castle. With its central dwelling place
and surrounding rooms the medieval castle is an image of the interior life; but
what of the ruined castle with its crumbling stairs and battlements and all of
its wooden floors long since rotted out?
Evelyn Underhill remarks, “Some souls, like some people, can be slummy
anywhere. There is always a raucous and
uncontrolled voice ascending from the basement, and a pail of dirty water at
the foot of the stairs.”[vi]
The first order of business with the soul is
housecleaning. John testifies, “But if
we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”[vii]
We come to the door of the castle through the
grace of forgiveness and our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Saviour and
Lord. That is only safe way to approach
the door. Teresa tells us, “As far as I
can understand, the door of entry into this castle is prayer and meditation.”[viii]
If we are going to enter through the door we
have to purposefully approach the door.
Prayer, to be prayer at all must be both conscious and intentional. Teresa says,
“If a person does not think Whom he is addressing, and what he is asking
for, and who it is that is that is asking and of Whom he is asking it, I do not
consider that he is praying at all even though he may be constantly moving his
lips.”[ix] St. Benedict tells us, “Whenever we want to
ask some favour of a powerful man, we do it humbly and respectfully for fear of
presumption. How much more important,
then, to lay our petitions before the Lord God of all things with the utmost
humility and sincere devotion?”[x] What tends to be lost in our age is a sense
of awe, and love without awe is a poor counterfeit.
There is in St. Teresa a fusion of awe and
familiarity with her Lord. She refers to
her Lord as “His Majesty,” and at the same time refers to Him as “the
Beloved.” Too often in prayer we strive
to reach that place of warm familiarity and intimacy without realizing that
holy awe is an absolute necessity; and those who shy away from holy awe do not
in truth recognize the God they seek to approach. Teresa tells us that if we do not recognize
the person we are addressing we are not praying, just moving our lips.
That acknowledgment of awe runs through all of
the Psalms and is a fundamental part of prayer.
It is not just a sense of awe in relationship with God in Trinity in
Unity, or a sense of awe in God the Father alone. We are particularly prone to sentimentalize
our relationship with Jesus, but of Him the Psalmist declares;
Psalm
110 Dixit Dominus
1 The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my
right hand, *
until
I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD will send the scepter of your
power out of
Zion, * saying, “Rule over your enemies round about
you.
Zion, * saying, “Rule over your enemies round about
you.
3 Princely state has been yours from the
day of your
birth; * in the beauty of holiness have I begotten
you, like dew from the womb of the morning.”
birth; * in the beauty of holiness have I begotten
you, like dew from the womb of the morning.”
4 The LORD has sworn and he will not
recant: *
“You
are a priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek.”
Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord who is at your right hand
will smite kings in the day of his
wrath; *
he
will rule over the nations.
6 He will heap high the corpses; *
he
will smash heads over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook beside
the road; *
therefore
he will lift high his head.[xi]
A common problem with contemporary Christians is
the tendency to enter through the gate and never go beyond the courtyard. Teresa tells us that, “Many souls remain in
the outer court of the castle, which is the place occupied by the guards; they
are not interested in entering it.”[xii] Part of the problem is that they have not
been taught to enter the castle itself.
All of their attention has been focussed on the necessity of entering
through the gate, rather than dwelling in the castle, and much effort is spent
on attempting to relive the initial experience of conversion, rather than pursuing
the more arduous business of living with Christ in the interior of the
castle.
Teresa tells us that many “reptiles” also enter
through the gates with us. By reptiles Teresa
is referring to the thousand preoccupations of worldly people “for they are
very much all the time filled with their preoccupations, for they are very much
attached to them, and, where their treasure is, there is their heart also.”[xiii]
Prayer at this stage remains difficult
and arduous because of the variety of distractions that come from our attachment
to the world. Entry into the first floor
of the castle is no protection. Teresa
tells us that the reptiles come through the very doors of the castle with us, “Eventually
they enter the first rooms on the lowest floor, but so many reptiles get in
with them that they are unable to appreciate the beauty of the castle or to
find any peace within it.”[xiv]
There is one room on the first floor of the
castle that is most important, and that is the room of self-knowledge: Teresa
says, “I do not know if I have explained this clearly; self-knowledge is so
important that, even if you were raised right up to the heavens, I should like
you never to relax your cultivation of it; so long as we are on earth, nothing
matters more to us than humility.”[xv] You will visit this room frequently and
occasionally spend a great deal of time there.
“Yet one can have too much of a good thing, as the saying goes.”[xvi]
It is in the room of self-knowledge that
humility is acquired, yet if you gaze only at yourself you will lose
perspective and perhaps even become prey to the Accuser who is always looking
for an open window to enter. You must
leave the room of self-knowledge seeking the vision of God and his glory in
order to even understand the meaning of your self-knowledge. “So long as we are buried in the wretchedness
of our earthly nature these streams [of misery] of ours will never disengage
themselves from the slough of cowardice, pusillanimity and fear. We shall always be glancing around and
saying: “Are the people looking at me or not?” “If I take a certain path shall
I come to any harm?” “Dare I begin such and such a task?” “Is it pride that is
impelling me to do so?”[xvii]
Our context within the created order must also
be understood, and understood with both balance and appreciation for the
wonders that God has made, including ourselves, and with an understanding of
the nature of the evil that we encounter in the world. It is not enough to view ourselves in
isolation, although that is essential; one must view one’s self in the context
of humankind. Benedictine balance calls
us to moderation and balance, not to a focus on grim self-knowledge alone. It is important to accept the grace of God
already evident in the experience of each one of us. St. Paul speaks a great truth when he says,
“By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”[xviii] We have come this far by grace, through the
gate, across the castle grounds, through the castle door itself and into the Room
of Self-knowledge.
That in itself is a great accomplishment. But we must not rest there but hear also that
our God proclaims that we are precious in his eyes, honoured, and that he loves
us;[xix]
and even more than that, through the effective work of redemption and grace we
are already beautiful in his sight.
Self-knowledge demands that we not only see our need for penitence and
transformation but that we also see the glory of that ongoing transformation
already at work in our lives.
[i]
I Corinthians 6:19-20
[ii]
John 14:23 “Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with
him.”
[iii]
Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, (New York: Harper and Row, 1941),
p. 29
[iv]
Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, E. Allison Peers, trans, and ed.
(New York; Doubleday, 1989), p. 28
[v]
Ibid.
[vi]
Evelyn Underhill, The House of the Soul, (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1930),
p. 19
[vii]
1 John 1:7-9
[viii]
Teresa. p. 31
[ix]
Ibid. p. 32
[x]
The Rule of St. Benedict, CH. 20:1,2
[xi]
The Book of Common Prayer 1979, p. 753-754
[xii]
Teresa. p. 31
[xiii]
Ibid. p. 32
[xiv]
Ibid. p. 33
[xv]
Ibid. p. 38
[xvi]
Ibid.
[xvii]
Ibid. p. 39
[xviii]
I Corinthians 15:10
[xix]
Isaiah 43:4
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