 Welcome to The Commentaries, a podcast series from Tan in which you'll learn how to read and understand history's greatest Catholic works from today's greatest Catholic scholars. In every series of The Commentaries, your expert host will be your personal guide to not just read the book, but to live the book, shining the light of its eternal truths into our modern darkness. Visit tancommentaries.com to get your copy of the book and to subscribe for access to all the great reading plans, new episodes, bonus content, and exclusive deals for listeners of The Commentaries. Welcome back to The Commentaries series on the Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila. I'm Father Reed and today, day six, we continue examining the third mansions of the Interior Castle. These third mansions are important for it is here that we are dealing with souls who are moving through the purgative way into the illuminative way. What this means is that the people at this stage of the spiritual life are moving away from the period in which their progress is largely dependent upon their own efforts to the point in which God really begins to sanctify them by working directly upon the soul. And they are moving toward the period of aridity and prayer known in the language of St. John of the Cross as the first dark night of the soul or the dark night of the senses. So truly, if you make it into the third mansions, you're making clear progress in the spiritual life. In fact, St. Teresa says that the soul who makes it into the third mansions is blessed because if they persevere and do not turn back, they are on a safe road toward salvation. The real effort and determination are still needed. As always, St. Teresa has a lot of great advice in this chapter for helping us progress in the spiritual life. So let's get started. Teresa begins the second chapter, really where she left off, the last one. That is in describing the souls that are found in the third mansions. The first thing she mentions here is that oftentimes even minor trials can bring great distress to these souls, even though it seems they have gained mastery over this world. Because they have lived well-ordered lives and practiced virtue, they think they suffer these things for God rather than realizing that their sufferings are more probably due to some imperfection within themselves. Her point here is that we must never think too much of ourselves and the virtue we've gained. Yes, we may have ceased to commit mortal sins and to have made some progress in prayer, but we may still suffer with some real defects and imperfections. In this we have to ask ourselves how well we suffer the adversities and setbacks of life. What kind of attitude do we have when we suffer? Are we at all sanctimonious? Or are we willing to accept the fact that perhaps, just perhaps, we deserve our sufferings and that God is allowing them as a means of purifying us? St. Teresa is clear here that God will withdraw his favor from us from time to time to help us see our defects and ultimately grow in humility. And so, Teresa thinks this type of distress is actually great mercy from our Lord. Of this, she writes, souls soon learn in this way. They perceive their faults very clearly, and sometimes the discovery of how quickly they are overcome but by slight earthly trials is more painful than the subtraction of God's sensible favors. I consider that God thus shows them great mercy, for though their behavior may be faulty, yet they gain greatly in humility. St. Teresa also says that it's good for us to prepare ourselves for trials, seeking complete freedom of spirit to follow God's will. She gives examples of how souls can be tested by God to prove whether or not they are really masters of their passions. And once again, she implores her readers to strive constantly for humility for this is the virtue that is so necessary here. She says, the object of our life must be to do what he requires of us. Let us not ask that our will may be done, but his. If we have not yet attained to this, let us be humble, as I said above. Humility is the ointment for our wounds. If we have it, although perhaps he may defer his coming for a time, God, who is our physician, will come and heal us. Now let's chew on a line from this quote for just a moment. Humility is the ointment for our wounds. Have you ever considered that truth? How different an attitude most people in our world have. Most of us pay too little attention to this vital virtue. And yet without humility, we'll never make real progress in the spiritual life. Indeed, God cannot resist a soul, and that is truly humble. As one spiritual writer put it, we reach out to God and God is out of reach. We acknowledge who we are, and God comes down to us. In other words, if we seek to get to God all by our own efforts and merits, we will never make it. But if we humbly recognize how we truly are, that we need God, then God gives us his aid. As St. Teresa goes on, she mentions that souls in the Third Mansions also practice penance in a well-balanced way. Discretely, without jeopardizing health, and this is because their reason is still very much in control. So in other words, they're still lacking some amount of abandonment and zeal. She says, their love is not strong enough to overcome their reason. I wish it were that they might not be content to creep on their way to God, a pace that will never bring them to their journey's ends. So this lack of zealous love for God keeps us from progressing as we should. And therefore, St. Teresa says, For the love of God, let us exert ourselves and leave our reason and our fears in his hands, paying no attention to the weaknesses of nature which might retard us. Let our only care be to hasten to our Lord's presence. Extreme humility is the principal point. It is the want of this, I believe, that stops people's progress. So what is most necessary is humility. As St. Teresa says, Not only should we wish others to consider us the worst of all, we should endeavor to make them think so. If we act in this manner, our soul will do well. Otherwise, we shall make no progress and shall always remain the prey to a thousand troubles and miseries. Truly without humility, without true abandonment, this stage becomes laborious and burdensome. But even so, there are consolations to be found here that help spur on souls to the remaining mansions, but we must be prepared not to expect those consolations that we received in prayer in earlier stages. St. Teresa sees the necessity of distinguishing between consolations and what she calls sensible devotion, as she believes that people commonly conflate the two, but she says she'll make that distinction in the fourth mansions. Whatever favors are received from God should be caused for gratitude, though. The more humble the soul, the more moved they will feel to give thanks. And if we don't receive favors from God, we should be grateful for the favors he gives to others. Teresa reminds her readers that perfection does not consist in consolation, but in greater love. She says our reward will be in proportion to this and to the justice and sincerity of our actions. She also reminds her readers that we can lose these favors from God through our own fault, and this is no small matter. What is important is that souls practice prompt obedience and to have someone to whom they can be accountable, who is free from illusion about the world. This can be a confessor or a spiritual director, or even just someone you know who has made some progress in prayer. She says this is true even for the laity, and she insists that we need the help of others to help prevent us from doing our own will, because doing our own will is usually what harms us. Now, for those of you who are lay people, this brings up the importance of having a regular confessor. Now, it's not important that you go to a confession every single week as a lay person, unless you're in a state of mortal sin, but it is very helpful that you go regularly every two weeks or every four weeks or every six weeks. And if you can, to go to the same confessor over and over again, a man who can kind of get to know your soul, because if he knows who you are, it has some understanding of your history, he can better direct you. Teresa goes on that we must also be willing to look at our own faults and not worry about the faults of others, even those who may shock us. She says it is best to keep our will, which bids us ever to live in silence and in hope. Our Lord will care for the souls belonging to him, and if we beg His majesty to do so by His grace, we shall be able to aid them greatly. So in other words, keep your judgments to yourself. Don't worry too much about the sins of others. Stay in your own lane and simply commend those folks to God. Even more, St. Teresa reminds us of how easily those souls in the third mansions can fall back to the first mansions. So we must avoid near occasions of sin. An effort must be put forth to avoid offending our Lord. So at this point, we reach the end of the ascetical portion of this book. As the soul moves from the third to the fourth mansions, the soul moves from the point of doing much of the work itself to God working within it. While it is true that we must continue cooperating with God's will, no matter how far we progress through the interior castle, it is in the fourth mansions that God really becomes active within a soul. The great danger of the third mansions is that a soul, in its enthusiasm, can get so caught up in itself that it becomes unable to submit itself fully to God. In the trials of life, or the litmus test, what souls in the third mansions must remember is that trials are from God and are necessary for growth in the spiritual life. Most importantly, how do we deal with the trials in our lives shows how much we truly love God? Are we upset and fretful? Or can we embrace our sufferings peaceably? If we wish to progress, we must be willing to seek God's will alone, abandoning ourselves to Him, even if the trials of life completely disrupt our plans. We must faithfully submit to our Lord's will. True growth in holiness will only occur if we are fully open to God's most holy will, especially if His will requires us to suffer. If we aren't willing to bear some suffering, we will never progress beyond this stage. And that brings us to the end of day six in our study of the interior castle. Thank you so much for listening and joining me on your spiritual journey to grow deeper in your spiritual life. Next time we're gonna begin discussing the fourth mansions. With that in mind, let's pray together, St. Teresa's Prayer. Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices. Amen. May God bless you and may St. Teresa intercede for you. This has been an episode of The Commentaries, a podcast brought to you by Tan. 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