Your soul is a castle

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El Alcazar, Segovia Spain. Photo illustration by Connie Rossini, All Rights Reserved.
El Alcazar, Segovia, Spain. Photo illustration
 by Connie Rossini. All rights reserved.
Teresa of Avila wrote Interior Castle in obedience to her superiors in 1577. She had written extensively about prayer and her experience of it in her autobiography (Life) several years before, but that book was now in the hands of the Inquisition. She had no desire to write another book. She was busy with the monasteries she had founded, in the midst of what could be an official quashing of her reform, and she had terrible tinnitus that made her head ring with noise. But she obeyed, having no idea what she was going to say.

She prayed for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The result was one of the most iconic images of the soul ever created.
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 many mansions.” (First Mansions, Chapter 1)
The King (Jesus) dwells in the center of the baptized soul like a burning sun. Light from this sun reaches every corner of the castle, but those closest the center are the brightest. The castle has upper and lower stories and even a courtyard. Our goal as Christians is to progress towards the central room of the castle. Unfortunately, most of us get stuck somewhere along the way. Some abandon the faith, leaving the castle itself.
Continue reading at Contemplative Homeschool.

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