God Is Our True Destiny
This the second of a series of blogs on some major themes of The Interior Castle.
When Teresa was a child, she was taught about the utter importance of saving her soul. This meant avoiding hell. So, she convinced her brother that they should go to the land of the Moors and die as martyrs and go straight to heaven. They only had gone short distance from their home when they began to re-think the issue and return home. It was Teresa’s first experience with ambivalence, selling God short with the very human practice of compromise.
It was a hard and long journey for Teresa to embrace the true freedom to let go and let God. This happened when she eventually realized that union with God was her true and singular destiny. Finally realizing in the depth of her heart that God was the goal, she began to filter everything in her life through this overwhelming truth. She began to see her life and all of reality with an extraordinary unity. Her values changed and her life now had an outstanding harmony. This opened her up for God as all-loving and all merciful.
It was in this time of full spiritual maturity that she wrote The Interior Castle, the journey through the stages of progress to the center and final calling of the Castle, to be in union with God.
In this painful pursuit of God that she describes so beautifully in her text, Teresa discovered several truly important details about her destiny. These insights gave her a clear sense of direction. Growing wisdom allowed her to see that union with God was the final and ultimate calling of her life. Therefore, everything else needed to be measured in light of this goal. Death is simply a step on this journey.
In the following reflections on the themes of The Interior Castle, there are many truly significant truths about the spiritual life. Self-knowledge, humility, prayer and service are all critical to this journey to God. However, none is more important for Teresa than the energizing and unifying goal of union with God. This is the spiritual life, in the final analysis
Teresa sets the stage for the journey to seek God with the image of the Castle. We need to recall that for Teresa, the Castle is a symbol for the human person. The path is to God at the center of our being.
We can see that the over-all message of The Interior Castle in the following points:
- The goal is union with God. This will take place in this life by purification and transformation in one’s journey to the center, where God dwells. Failing that, we will pass through purgatory after this life has ended. Either way, we end up united with God. However, the method and time are our choice.
- The journey to the center, where God awaits, unfolds in our ever-deeper awareness and acceptance of God’s love and mercy.
- The way forward in the experience of God is a process of letting go of our selfishness. In that process there is a relentless exposure of the depth and breadth of our self-absorption. Teresa is clear that only God can both expose and transform the deeper levels of self-love.
- She presents a vision for our journey to the center but little is said about methods of prayer emphasizing the unique and constant call to be open to the Spirit on the journey.
The other themes so prominent in the Interior Castle are rooted and emerge from the clear goal awaiting at the center of the Castle: union with God.
The text reveals a long passage which is the spiritual life. Prayer is the only sure entry into the Castle. Teresa calls this beginning of a relationship with God as becoming “the servants of love”. However, it soon becomes apparent that prayer demands the twofold gift of self-knowledge and humility. Likewise, the growth in prayer needs the support of Teresa’s Program of integrating and practicing the three qualities of humility, detachment and fraternal charity.
Even with these gifts of deep personal generosity, it is only God’s action that will provide the final purification and transformation that prepares us for the new life of being one with God.
In all of this, Teresa gives us a beautiful and ever-so-useful road map to the life-giving experience of the Divine Presence. This is the gospel truth of the way, the life and the truth. It all grows out of the clear destination of union with God.
