St. Teresa of Avila, also known as Teresa of Jesus, offers an insider's peek into mystical union, or perfect love, with God in the Interior Castle (Doubleday Image Books, New York: 1989). Learn more about Teresa's background and descriptions of the different levels of holiness with God in this brief guide.
Who is St. Teresa of Avila?
Teresa of Jesus (1515-1582) is a Doctor of the Church for her invaluable insights into the spiritual life. Despite debilitating physical illness, the Inquisition, and other trials, this Spanish Carmelite sister strove to surrender herself to God. St. Teresa is famous for her ecstasies, or experiences of mystical union with God that inspired great religious art such as the sculptor Bernini's Teresa in Ecstasy.
Why Did St. Teresa of Avila Write The Interior Castle?
The saint passionately taught anyone who would listen how to deepen his or her relationship with God. At the encouragement of her confessor and spiritual director, Teresa began to pray for God's guidance in how best to share her mission. After a powerful vision of the spiritual life as a beautiful and mysterious fortress, Teresa began writing down this vision and the relationship between the human soul and God in 1579.
Overview of the Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila
St. Teresa writes that "... I began to think of the soul as a castle made of a single diamond or a very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms (Avila 28). A believer who prays opens the door of God's castle. The saint offers the reader a journey through each room or mansion that lies therein.
Teresa details life in each of the seven mansions as well as the unique temptations and joys on the believer's journey to unity with Christ. Believers find support, guidance, and even humor from Teresa in the journey through the various rooms to Christ.
Mansions in St. Teresa’s Interior Castle
The first three mansions in the spiritual life are where most people live their entire lives, according to St. Teresa. People here often have one foot in the worldly concerns and one foot in the spiritual world. They care more about what others think of them and their image than of how clean their souls are in God’s eyes. Those who seek God through the sacraments, intense study of the Holy Scriptures, and prayer may advance to the next mansions if they surrender their lives completely to God.
In mansions four, five, and six, the believer begins to experience God through prayer. Intense desire for God, inner peace and joy, and even visions are common for those in these rooms. Believers who enter these rooms experience a mystical relationship with God.
Mansion seven is the holy of holies. The faithful drawn here by God’s grace experience intense periods of personally enjoying God’s presence in prayer. St. Teresa uses the language “Bride of Christ” or “union with Christ” to describe the experience of life in this mansion.
Teresa of Avila’s Spirituality for Today
The Interior Castle is standard reading for those training to be spiritual directors or anyone interested in prayer or the mystical life. Teresa does not write as an expert, but as a guide enthusiastically welcoming others into new levels of intimacy with God.
The Interior Castle offers Christian answers to anyone who has experienced the supernatural in prayer and wonders, “is there something wrong with me?” For Teresa, God is so powerful and wondrous that closeness with Him inspires visions and overpowering experiences of peace and joy in anyone who enters the last mansions, or innermost spaces of his or her immortal soul, seeking God’s love.
For more on St. Teresa's personal life, St. Teresa of Avila: Life with Purpose may be of interest.
SOURCES:
Avila, Teresa. The Interior Castle. Translated by E. Allison Peers. Image Books: Doubleday, 1989.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library. "Biography of Teresa of Avila." Accessed online June 2011.
Melissa Roberts - A trained hospital chaplain, Melissa is a freelance writer, teacher, retreat leader, and spiritual director.
