THE THIRD DWELLING PLACES

Part Two

The third dwelling places make clear that deep personal prayer is the way to move beyond the restraining power of our personal brokenness. It is faithfulness to the discipline of daily prayer that opens the way to freedom and healing, service and love for others.

Settling for Less

We have arrived at the third dwelling places because we are faithful to a serious and responsible moral life. Our prayer grows in importance as it becomes deeper and more personal. Most often, we are committed to a community of support. For many, the participation in the liturgy and the life of the church is a prime part of their way of life.

However, self-deception plays a major role in the third dwelling places. We learn slowly that selfishness has not been conquered by our great progress in leaving the second dwelling places. We learn that humility is in short supply.

We tend to create an image of God under our management. We begin to act as if we have a better plan than God. The temptation to water down the Jesus of the Gospels to a more comfortable model seldom is resisted.

Settling for less is the heavy pull in the third dwelling places. God’s call for more is gentle but unyielding. We want to sink roots, to create a world where we set the direction. Desire for control dominates. The instinct to avoid further struggle dictates the program.

The great temptation of this crisis is that of compromise. We display a sincere exterior but within, there is a growing diminishment of the dynamism of discipleship and love. We tend to introduce into our lives derivatives of and substitutions for the Gospel. There is a great attraction to conform to worldly standards. A desire for a career and to transform Christian radicalism into more a cautious approach slowly surface. We seek positions, exterior prestige, with no consideration as to whether this corresponds to the demands that Jesus makes upon our lives.

Self-righteousness becomes a fact of life in the third dwelling places. It is quite difficult to deal with persons so wrapped in smugness. We convince ourselves that we are the victims but in fact our selfish patterns hurt others. Teresa has one recommendation for dealing with people caught in this bind: compassion. Most often we are not ready for correction, so we need to receive patience and kind acceptance.

The attitude of “my way or the highway” is a common temptation in the third dwelling places. We do it in a religiously sophisticated style, but the reality is the same. The tendency to rigidity towards new ideas, and often, new persons prevails.

The Rich Young Man

The story of the rich young man is quite helpful. “From the time I began to speak of these dwelling places I have had this young man in mind. For we are literally like him….” (IC.3.1.6)

Teresa says that the residents share some of the burden of the young man who walked away from Jesus’ invitation. “When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad because he had many possessions.” (Mt 18:16-23)

We all say that we want to follow Jesus. But since there is need of much more sacrifice to possess the Lord completely, words are insufficient. Action is the answer. The back and forth of the third dwelling places is the love of God and the love of the world pulling at the heart. Ultimately, we need to discover the depth of our personal brokenness. Only then, will we experience our deep need for God’s loving mercy.

When we reflect on the contrast between the young man who walked away and the disciples, we have a good insight into the choices of the third dwelling places. The twelve walked the road to Jerusalem in fear and confusion. Their dreams of power, privilege, and prestige were slipping away by the hour. Their reluctant faithfulness to Jesus slowly destroyed not only their dreams but their control. Nevertheless, in the end, they did not walk away. They eventually remained faithful. These options of life and death are the stuff of the third dwelling places.

When we decide to resist the call to move on to the demands of the fourth dwelling places we pay a price. It is self-righteousness, the plague of most religious individuals and institutions. This happens when there is not enough love and especially not enough humility. Then we capitulate to human prudence. Teresa says in this dwelling places reason still holds sway over love. Only a deep-seated love will carry us ahead to the new life of contemplation that beckons in the fourth dwelling places.

“With humility present, this stage is a most excellent one. If humility is lacking, we will remain here our whole life – and with a thousand afflictions and miseries. For since we will not have abandoned ourselves, this state will be very laborious and burdensome. We shall be walking while weighted down with the mud of our human misery, which is not so with those who ascend to the remaining rooms.” (Interior Castle. 3.2.9)

The fourth dwelling places await. They are the bridge. They are the beginning of contemplation which purifies and transforms on the way to union with God in the seventh dwelling places.