The Interior Castle

DESCRIBES AN EFFECT WHICH PROVES THE PRAYER SPOKEN OF IN THE LAST
CHAPTER TO BE GENUINE AND NO DECEPTION, TREATS OF ANOTHER FAVOUR OUR
LORD BESTOWS ON THE SOUL TO MAKE IT PRAISE HIM FERVENTLY.

1. The soul longs for death. 2. The soul cannot help desiring these
favours. 3. St. Teresa bewails her inability to serve God. 3. Fervour
resulting from ecstasies. 5. Excessive desires to see God should be
restrained. 6. They endanger health. 7. Tears often come from Physical
causes. 8. St. Teresa's own experience. 9. Works, not tears, are asked
by God. 10. Confide entirely in God. 11. The jubilee of the soul. 12.
Impossibility of concealing this joy. 13. The world's judgment of this
jubilee. 14. Which is often felt by the nuns of St. Joseph's. 15. The
Saint's delight in this jubilee.

1. THESE sublime favours leave the soul so desirous of fully enjoying
Him Who has bestowed them that life becomes a painful though delicious
torture, and death is ardently longed for. Such a one often implores
God with tears to take her from this exile where everything she sees
wearies her. [306] Solitude alone brings great alleviation for a
time, but soon her grief returns and yet she cannot bear to be without
it. In short, this poor little butterfly can find no lasting rest. So
tender is her love that at the slightest provocation it flames forth
and the soul takes flight. Thus in this mansion raptures occur very
frequently, nor can they be resisted even in public. Persecutions and
slanders ensue; [307] however she may try, she cannot keep free from
the fears suggested to her by so many people, especially by her
confessors.

2. Although in one way she feels great confidence within her soul,
especially when alone with God, yet on the other hand, she is greatly
troubled by misgivings lest she is deceived by the devil and so should
offend Him Whom she deeply loves. She cares little for blame, except
when her confessor finds fault with her as if she could help what
happens. She asks every one to pray for her [308] since she has been
told to do so, and begs His Majesty to direct her by some other way
than this which is so full of danger. Nevertheless, so great are the
benefits left by these favours that she cannot but see that they lead
her on the way to heaven, [309] of which she has read and heard and
learnt in the law of God. As, strive how she may, she cannot resist
desiring to receive these graces, she resigns herself into God's hands.
Yet she is grieved at finding herself forced to wish for these favours
which appears to be disobedience to her confessor, for she believes
that in obedience, and in avoiding any offence against God, lies her
safeguard against deception. Thus she feels she would prefer to be cut
in pieces rather than wilfully commit a venial sin, yet is greatly
grieved at seeing that she cannot avoid unwittingly falling into a
great number. God bestows on such people so intense a desire neither
ever to displease Him in however small a matter, nor to commit any
avoidable imperfection, that, were there no other reason, they would
try to avoid society and they greatly envy those who live in deserts.
[310] On the other hand, they seek to live amidst men in the hopes of
helping if but one soul to praise God better. [311] In the case of a
woman, she grieves over the impediment offered by her sex [312] and
envies those who are free to proclaim aloud to all Who is this mighty
God of hosts. [313]

3. O poor little butterfly! chained by so many fetters that stop thee
from flying where thou wouldst! Have pity on her, O my God, and so
dispose her ways that she may be able to accomplish some of her desires
for Thy honour and glory! Take no account of the poverty of her merits,
nor of the vileness of her nature, Lord, Thou Who hast the power to
compel the vast ocean to retire, and didst force the wide river Jordan
to draw back so that the Children of Israel might pass through! [314]
Yet spare her not, for aided by Thy strength she can endure many
trials. She is resolved to do so--she desires to suffer them. Stretch
forth Thine arm, O Lord, to help her lest she waste her life on
trifles! Let Thy greatness appear in this Thy creature, womanish and
weak as she is, so that men, seeing the good in her is not her own, may
praise Theefor it! Let it cost her what it may and as dear as she
desires, for she longs to lose a thousand lives to lead one soul to
praise Thee but a little better. If as many lives were hers to give,
she would count them well spent in such a cause, knowing as a truth
most certain that she is unworthy to bear the lightest cross, much less
to die for Thee.

4. I cannot tell why I have said this, sisters, nor what made me do so;
indeed I never intended it. You must know that these effects are bound
to follow from such trances or ecstasies: they are not transient, but
permanent desires; when opportunity occurs of acting on them, they
prove genuine. How can I say that they are permanent, when at times the
soul feels cowardly in the most trivial matters and too timorous to
undertake any work for God?

5. I believe it is because our Lord, for its greater good, then leaves
the soul to its natural weakness, which at once convinces it so
thoroughly that any strength it possessed came from His Majesty as to
destroy its self-love, enduing it with a greater knowledge of the mercy
and greatness of God which He deigned to show forth in one so vile.
However, the soul is usually in the former state. Beware of one thing,
sisters; these ardent desires to behold our Lord are sometimes so
distressing as to need rather to be checked than to be encouraged--that
is, if feasible, for in another kind of prayer of which I shall speak
later, it is not possible as you will see.

6. In the state I speak of these longings can sometimes be arrested,
for the reason is at liberty to conform to the will of God and can
quote the words of St. Martin; [315] should these desires become very
oppressive, the thoughts may be turned to some other matter. As such
longings are generally found in persons far advanced in perfection, the
devil may excite them in order to make us think we are of their
number--in any case it is well to be cautious. For my part, I do not
believe he could cause the calm and peace given by this pain to the
soul, but would disturb it by such uneasiness as we feel when afflicted
concerning any worldly matter. A person inexperienced in both kinds of
sorrow cannot understand the difference, but thinking such grief an
excellent thing, will excite it as much as possible which greatly
injures the health, as these longings are incessant or at least very
frequent.

7. You must also notice that bodily weakness may cause such pain,
especially with people of sensitive characters who cry over every
trifling trouble. [316] Times without number do they imagine they are
mourning for God's sake when they are doing no such thing. If for a
considerable space of time, whenever such a person hears the least
mention of God or thinks of Him at all, these fits of uncontrollable
weeping occur, [317] the cause may be an accumulation of humour round
the heart, which has a great deal more to do with such tears than has
the love of God. Such persons seem as if they would never stop crying:
believing that tears are beneficial, they do not try to check them nor
to distract their minds from the subject, but encourage them as much as
possible. The devil seizes this opportunity of weakening nuns so that
they become unable to pray or to keep their Rule.

8. I think you must be puzzling over this and would like to ask what I
would have you do, as I see danger in everything. If I am afraid of
delusions in so good a thing as tears, perhaps I myself am deluded, and
may be I am! But believe me, I do not say this without having witnessed
it in other people although not in my own case, for there is nothing
tender about me and my heart is so hard as often to grieve me. [318]
However, when the fire burns fiercely within, stony as my heart may be,
it distils like an alembic. [319] It is easy to know when tears come
from this source, for they are soothing and gentle rather than stormy
and rarely do any harm. This delusion, when it is one, has the
advantage, with a humble person, of only injuring the body and not the
soul. But if one is not humble, it is well to be ever on one's guard.

9. Let us not fancy that if we cry a great deal we have done all that
is needed--rather we must work hard and practise the virtues: that is
the essential--leaving tears to fall when God sends them, without
trying to force ourselves to shed them. Then, if we do not take too
much notice of them, they will leave the parched soil of our souls well
watered, making it fertile in good fruit; for this is the water which
falls from heaven. [320] However we may tire ourselves in digging to
reach it, we shall never get any water like this; indeed, we may often
work and search until we are exhausted without finding as much as a
pool, much less a springing well!

10. Therefore, sisters, I think it best for us to place ourselves in
the presence of God, contemplate His mercy and grandeur and our own
vileness and leave Him to give us what He will, whether water or
drought, for He knows best what is good for us; thus we enjoy peace and
the devil will have less chance to deceive us.

11. Amongst these favours, at once painful and pleasant, Our Lord
sometimes causes in the soul a certain jubilation [321] and a strange
and mysterious kind of prayer. If He bestows this grace on you, praise
Him fervently for it; I describe it so that you may know that it is
something real. I believe that the faculties of the soul are closely
united to God but that He leaves them at liberty to rejoice in their
happiness together with the senses, although they do not know what they
are enjoying nor how they do so. This may sound nonsense but it really
happens. So excessive is its jubilee that the soul will not enjoy it
alone but speaks of it to all around so that they may help it to praise
God, which is its one desire. [322]

12. Oh, what rejoicings would this person utter and what demonstrations
would she make, if possible, so that all might know her happiness! She
seems to have found herself again and wishes, like the father of the
prodigal son, to invite all her friends to feast with her [323] and
to see her soul in its rightful place, because (at least for the time
being) she cannot doubt its security. I believe she is right, for the
devil could not possibly infuse a joy and peace into the very centre of
her being which make her whole delight consist in urging others to
praise God. It requires a painful effort to keep silent and to
dissemble such impulsive happiness. St. Francis must have experienced
this when, as the robbers met him rushing through the fields crying
aloud, he told them in answer to their questions that he was the herald
of the great King.' [324] So felt other saints who retired into the
deserts so that, like St. Francis, they might proclaim the praises of
their God.

13. I knew Fray Peter of Alcantara who used to do this. I believe he
was a saint on account of the life he led, yet people often took him
for a fool when they heard him. [325] Oh happy folly, sisters! Would
that God might let us all share it! What mercy He has shown you in
placing you where, if He gave you this grace and it were perceived by
others, it would rather turn to your advantage than bring on you
contempt as it would do in the world, where men so rarely hear God
praised that it is no wonder they take scandal at it.

14. Oh miserable times and wretched life spent in the world! How blest
are those whose happy lot it is to be freed from them! [326] It often
delights me, when in my sisters' company to see how the joy of their
hearts is so great that they vie with one another in praising our Lord
for placing them in this convent: it is evident that their praises come
from the very depths of their souls. I should like you to do this
often, sisters, for when one begins she incites the rest to imitate
her. How can your tongues be better employed when you are together than
in praising God, Who has given us so much cause for it?

15. May His Majesty often grant us this kind of prayer which is most
safe and beneficial; we cannot acquire it for ourselves as it is quite
supernatural. Sometimes it lasts for a whole day and the soul is like
one inebriated, although not deprived of the senses; [327] nor like a
person afflicted with melancholia, [328] in which, though the reason
is not entirely lost, the imagination continually dwells on some
subject which possesses it and from which it cannot be freed. These are
coarse comparisons to make in connection with such a precious gift, yet
nothing else occurs to my mind. In this state of prayer a person is
rendered by this jubilee so forgetful of self and everything else that
she can neither think nor speak of anything but praising God, to which
her joy prompts her. Let us all of us join her, my daughters, for why
should we wish to be wiser than she? What can make us happier? And may
all creatures unite their praises with ours for ever and ever. Amen,
amen, amen!
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[306] Excl. ii. See poem 4, Cuan triste es, Dios mio'; and the two
versions of Vivir sin vivir en mi.' (Poems 3 and 4. Minor Works.)

[307] Life, ch. xxv. 18.

[308] Ibid. ch. xxv. 20. Rel. vii. 7.

[309] Ibid. ch. xxvii. 1, 2.

[310] Rel. i. 6.

[311] Life, ch. xxxii. 14; xxxv. 13. Castle, M. vii. ch. iv. 21 .
Found. ch. i. 6, 7.

[312] Way of Perf. ch. i.

[313] III Reg. xix. 10.

[314] Ps. cxiii. 3; Exod. xiv. and Jos. iii.

[315] 'When St. Martin was dying, his brethren said to him: Why, dear
Father, will you leave us? Or to whom can you commit us in our
desolation? We know, indeed, that you desire to be with Christ, but
your reward above is safe and will not be diminished by delay; rather
have pity on us whom you are leaving desolate.' Then Martin, always
pitiful, moved by these lamentations, is said to have burst into tears.
Turning to God, he replied to the mourners around him only by crying: O
Lord, if I am still necessary to Thy people, I do not shrink from toil;
Thy will be done.' (Sulpitius Severus, Life of St. Martin, letter 3.)

[316] Way of Perf.. ch. xvii. 4; xix. 6.

[317] Life, ch. xxix. 12.

[318] Compare with this what we have said in note 1 to the second
chapter of the Fourth Mansions. Rel. ii. 12.

[319] Life, ch. xix. 1-3.

[320] Way of Perf. ch. xix. 6. Life, ch. xviii. 12 sqq.

[321] Philippus a SS. Trinit. l.c. p. iii. tr. i. disc. iv. art. 5.
Antonius a Sp. S. l.c. tr. iv. n.156.

[322] Rel. ii. 12.

[323] St. Luke xv. 23.

[324] 'He plunged into a large forest, and there in a loud voice and in
French, he made the echoes resound with the praises of God. Some
robbers, attracted by his singing, rushed out upon him. But the sight
of so poor a man destroyed their hopes of booty. They questioned him,
and Francis gave them no answer beyond saying in allegorical language:
I am the herald of the great King!' The robbers considered themselves
insulted by these words. They threw themselves upon him, beat him
severely, and went off after having thrown him into a ditch full of
snow. This treatment only added fire to the zeal of Francis. He sang
his holy canticles with greater love than before.' (Rev. Father Léon,
Lives of the Saints of the Order of St. Francis, vol. 1, ch, i,)

[325] 'St. Peter of Alcantara, in the jubilation of his soul through
the impetuosity of divine love, was occasionally unable to refrain from
singing the divine praises aloud in a wonderful manner. To do this more
freely, he sometimes went into the woods where the peasants who heard
him sing took him for one who was beside himself.' (Rev. Alban Butler,
Lives of the Saints.)

[326] Way of Perf. ch. ii. 8; iii. i; viii. 1.

[327] Compare with this what has been said in the fourth chapter of
this Mansion, § 17, note 17.

[328] Melancholia here as elsewhere means hysteria.
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