Contemplative Haven: Seventh Mansions (Part 1 of 3) 
Seventh Mansions (Part 1 of 3)
Although the soul will continue to advance in love once in the Seventh Mansions, and as St. Teresa says, “will be greatly assisted to go onward in perfection”, there is no higher spiritual state while on earth. It is also known as the Transforming Union, and can be surpassed only after death, with the Beatific Vision.
The Soul is Brought In:
“When our Lord is pleased to have pity upon this soul, which suffers and has suffered so much out of desire for Him, and which He has now taken spiritually to be His bride, He brings her into this Mansion of His, which is the seventh, before consummating the Spiritual Marriage.”
The soul is brought into this last mansion by “a representation of the truth”, by the granting of an intellectual vision of the Holy Trinity in which It reveals Itself in all three Persons. Saint Teresa tells us, “First of all the spirit becomes enkindled and is illumined, as it were, by a cloud of the greatest brightness. It sees these three Persons, individually, and yet, by a wonderful kind of knowledge which is given to it, the soul realizes that most certainly and truly all these three Persons are one Substance and one Power and one Knowledge and one God alone; so that what we hold by faith the soul may be said here to grasp by sight…” In this intellectual vision, all Three Persons, “communicate Themselves to the soul and speak to the soul…”
From this day forward, the soul “perceives quite clearly” that the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, “are in the interior of her heart – in the most interior place of all and in its greatest depths.” The soul now has complete confidence that God will never leave her, never allow her to fall out of His hand, but even so, says St. Teresa, the soul is, “walking more carefully than ever, so that she may displease Him in nothing.” St. Teresa believes that it is possible to lose this favour of having been brought into the Seventh Mansions, if the soul, “fails God”, and in this respect differs from St. John of the Cross, for example, who teaches that once a soul is in the Transforming Union there is no possibility of returning to a lower spiritual state, that it is confirmed in grace. Father Dubay notes that this is, "one of the rare differences between the two Carmelite Doctors."
The Soul is Brought In:
“When our Lord is pleased to have pity upon this soul, which suffers and has suffered so much out of desire for Him, and which He has now taken spiritually to be His bride, He brings her into this Mansion of His, which is the seventh, before consummating the Spiritual Marriage.”
The soul is brought into this last mansion by “a representation of the truth”, by the granting of an intellectual vision of the Holy Trinity in which It reveals Itself in all three Persons. Saint Teresa tells us, “First of all the spirit becomes enkindled and is illumined, as it were, by a cloud of the greatest brightness. It sees these three Persons, individually, and yet, by a wonderful kind of knowledge which is given to it, the soul realizes that most certainly and truly all these three Persons are one Substance and one Power and one Knowledge and one God alone; so that what we hold by faith the soul may be said here to grasp by sight…” In this intellectual vision, all Three Persons, “communicate Themselves to the soul and speak to the soul…”
From this day forward, the soul “perceives quite clearly” that the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, “are in the interior of her heart – in the most interior place of all and in its greatest depths.” The soul now has complete confidence that God will never leave her, never allow her to fall out of His hand, but even so, says St. Teresa, the soul is, “walking more carefully than ever, so that she may displease Him in nothing.” St. Teresa believes that it is possible to lose this favour of having been brought into the Seventh Mansions, if the soul, “fails God”, and in this respect differs from St. John of the Cross, for example, who teaches that once a soul is in the Transforming Union there is no possibility of returning to a lower spiritual state, that it is confirmed in grace. Father Dubay notes that this is, "one of the rare differences between the two Carmelite Doctors."
After this initial intellectual vision, this “Presence is not of course always realized so fully”, nor so clearly, admits St. Teresa, but the soul feels a constant Divine companionship nevertheless. Something else comes into being now, something which Father Thomas Dubay calls “dual awareness and operation”, and which St. Teresa describes by using a ‘Martha-Mary’ analogy. The person will be functioning quite normally in day-to-day life, even experiencing many trials and worries, yet, “the essential part of her soul [seems] never to move from that dwelling-place.”. The part of oneself that is busily undergoing trials and worries will actually wish to complain about the part of oneself that is experiencing the peaceful and quiet Divine companionship, just as Martha complained about Mary. St. Teresa attempts to explain this, saying that it almost seems as if the soul is divided, although it really is not; she goes on to say that she believes there is, “some kind of difference, and a very definite one, between the soul and the spirit, although they are both one.” She finds herself incapable of explaining this, nor the fact that she believes that, “the soul is a different thing from the faculties”. It is apparent that she has reflected deeply on these things, but does not dwell on what she calls the "subtle things in the interior life". She writes:
“But we shall see everything in the life to come if the Lord, of His mercy, grants us the favour of bringing us to the place where we shall understand these secrets.”
posted by Gabrielle at 2:45 PM
1 Comments:
“walking more carefully than ever, so that she may displease Him in nothing.”
From what I know about her secular life, I think St. Teresa traveled more deeply into the world than St. John. Perhaps she never left. Hence the fear of return. It seems more pragmatic that the head of the order would think this way. Why confirm tenure upon folks in a job that is really never completed on this side of the vale. She probably dealt with enough wayward nuns to influence her thinking on this topic.
What I learned from this post is perhaps there is no reconciliation between the Martha and Mary in us all. I did not know that St. Teresa believed that the person could function normally and have worries, yet ". . . never move from that dwelling-place." My expectation was that the soul would obtain a healthy level of detachment from worldly life. In other words become detached enough to stop worrying about worldly things.
Can you explain in a little more detail the Teresian concept of the spirit and the faculties? I've guessed what they are but I am not sure.
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