In episode 154, Saint Teresa of Avila describes the intense rapture experience of the spirit's flight. She tries to articulate this supernatural embrace from God, where He picks up the soul. The soul sees with the imaginary and intellectual visions when this happens. Welcome to the Interior Castle Six Mansions Chapter 5 - the Flight of the Spirit.
Timeline:
00:00:00 Opening Scripture Luke 2:25-27
00:02:51 Tales of Glory Episode 154 Intro
00:11:47 Sixth Mansions Chapter 5 Outline
00:13:19 Outline I Another kind of rapture -flight of the spirit
00:13:42 nos. 01. The flight of the spirit.
00:15:19 nos. 02 Self-control completely lost
00:29:07 Outline II Waters in the VI Mansions
00:29:23 nos. 03. Symbol of the two cisterns
00:33:29 nos. 04. Obligations following these favors.
00:38:25 Outline III Courage and the state of the soul
00:38:49 nos. 05. Humility produced by them.
00:46:36 nos. 06. How our crucified Lord comforted such a soul.
00:47:42 nos. 07. A humble soul fears these favors.
00:48:26 Outline IV Rapture of the spirit
00:48:43 nos. 08. Mysteries learnt during the flight of the spirit.
00:53:15 nos. 09. Imaginary visions sometimes accompany intellectual ones.
00:58:02 Outline V Explains the phenomenon of the flight of the spirit.
00:58:25 nos. 10. How the flight of the spirit takes place.
01:02:38 nos. 11. The soul fortified by it.
01:04:37 nos. 12. Three great graces left in the soul.
01:10:47 Outline VI The Spouse shares His treasures.
01:11:01 nos.13. The third grace.
01:15:25 nos. 14. Fear caused by this favor.
01:15:59 Conclusion
Listen to the Podcast on Anchor.fm
Watch the Podcast on Spotify
Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Watch the Podcast on YouTube
Watch the Podcast on Rumble
Show Notes
Commentary Notes
Scriptural Reading Luke 2: 25-27
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law,
I. Another kind of rapture - flight of the spirit
A. nos. 1. The flight of the spirit.
Rel. viii. 10-11. Life, ch. xviii, 8; xx. 3.
Rel. viii. 10-11
10. The difference between trance and transport is this,—in a trance the soul gradually dies to outward things, losing the senses and living unto God. A transport comes on by one sole act of His Majesty, wrought in the innermost part of the soul with such swiftness that it is as if the higher part thereof were carried away, and the soul leaving the body. Accordingly it requires courage at first to throw itself into the arms of our Lord, that He may take it whithersoever He will; for, until His Majesty establishes it in peace there whither He is pleased to take it—by take it I mean the admitting of it to the knowledge of deep things—it certainly requires in the beginning to be firmly resolved to die for Him, because the poor soul does not know what this means—that is, at first. The virtues, as it seems to me, remain stronger after this, for there is a growth in detachment, and the power of God, who is so mighty, is the more known, so that the soul loves and fears Him. For so it is, He carries away the soul, no longer in our power, as the true Lord thereof, which is filled with a deep sorrow for having offended Him, and astonishment that it ever dared to offend a Majesty so great, with an exceedingly earnest desire that none may henceforth offend Him, and that all may praise Him. This, I think, must be the source of those very fervent desires for the salvation of souls, and for some share therein, and for the due praising of God.
11. The flight of the spirit—I know not how to call it—is a rising upwards from the very depths of the soul. I remember only this comparison, and I made use of it before, as you know, my father, in that writing where these and other ways of prayer are explained at length, and such is my memory that I forget things at once. It seems to me that soul and spirit are one and the same thing; but only as a fire, if it is great and ready for burning; so, like fire burning rapidly, the soul, in that preparation of itself which is the work of God, sends up a flame,—the flame ascends on high, but the fire thereof is the same as that below, nor does the flame cease to be fire because it ascends: so here, in the soul, something so subtile and so swift, seems to issue from it, that ascends to the higher part, and goes thither whither our Lord wills. I cannot go further with the explanation; it seems a flight, and I know of nothing else wherewith to compare it: I know that it cannot be mistaken, for it is most evident when it occurs, and that it cannot be hindered.
Life, ch. xviii, 8
8. I purpose also to speak of the graces and effects which abide in the soul, and of that which the soul itself can do, or rather, if it can do anything of itself towards attaining to a state so high. The elevation of the spirit, or union, comes together with heavenly love but, as I understand it, union is a different thing from elevation in union itself. To him who may not have had any experience of the latter, it must seem that it is not; and, according to my view of it, even if they are both one, the operations of our Lord therein are different: there is a growth of the soul's detachment from creatures more abundantly still in the flight of the spirit.248 I have clearly seen that this is a particular grace, though, as I say, it may be the same, or seem to be so, with the other; but a little fire, also, is as much fire as a great fire—and yet there is a visible difference between them. Before a small piece of iron is made red-hot in a little fire, some time must pass; but if the fire be great, the iron very quickly, though bulky, loses its nature altogether in appearance.
Life, ch. xx. 3. (3-5,7)
3. A rapture is absolutely irresistible; whilst union, inasmuch as we are then on our own ground, may be hindered, though that resistance be painful and violent; it is, however, almost always impossible. But rapture, for the most part, is irresistible. It comes, in general, as a shock, quick and sharp, before you can collect your thoughts, or help yourself in any way, and you see and feel it as a cloud, or a strong eagle rising upwards, and carrying you away on its wings.
4. I repeat it: you feel and see yourself carried away, you know not whither. For though we feel how delicious it is, yet the weakness of our nature makes us afraid at first, and we require a much more resolute and courageous spirit than in the previous states, in order to risk everything, come what may, and to abandon ourselves into the hands of God, and go willingly whither we are carried, seeing that we must be carried away, however painful it may be; and so trying is it, that I would very often resist, and exert all my strength, particularly at those times when the rapture was coming on me in public. I did so, too, very often when I was alone, because I was afraid of delusions. Occasionally I was able, by great efforts, to make a slight resistance; but afterwards I was worn out, like a person who had been contending with a strong giant; at other times it was impossible to resist at all: my soul was carried away, and almost always my head with it,—I had no power over it,—and now and then the whole body as well, so that it was lifted up from the ground.
5. This has not happened to me often: once, however, it took place when we were all together in choir, and I, on my knees, on the point of communicating. It was a very sore distress to me; for I thought it a most extraordinary thing, and was afraid it would occasion much talk; so I commanded the nuns—for it happened after I was made Prioress—never to speak of it. But at other times, the moment 156I felt that our Lord was about to repeat the act, and once, in particular, during a sermon,—it was the feast of our house, some great ladies being present,—I threw myself on the ground; then the nuns came around me to hold me; but still the rapture was observed.
7. It seemed to me, when I tried to make some resistance, as if a great force beneath my feet lifted me up. I know of nothing with which to compare it; but it was much more violent than the other spiritual visitations, and I was therefore as one ground to pieces; for it is a great struggle, and, in short, of little use, whenever our Lord so wills it. There is no power against His power.
B. nos. 2. Self-control completely lost.
Life, ch. xx. 9.
9. The effects of rapture are great: one is that the mighty power of our Lord is manifested; and as we are not strong enough, when His Majesty wills it, to control either soul or body, so neither have we any power over it; but, whether we like it or not, we see that there is one mightier than we are, that these graces are His gifts, and that of ourselves we can do nothing whatever; and humility is deeply imprinted in us. And further, I confess that it threw me into great fear, very great indeed at first; for when I saw my body thus lifted up from the earth, how could I help it? Though the spirit draws it upwards after itself, and that with great sweetness, if unresisted, the senses are not lost; at least, I was so much myself as to be able to see that I was being lifted up. The majesty of Him who can effect this so manifests itself, that the hairs of my head stand upright, and a great fear comes upon me of offending God, who is so mighty. This fear is bound up in exceedingly great love, which is acquired anew, and directed to Him, who, we see, bears so great a love to a worm so vile, and who seems not to be satisfied with attracting the soul to Himself in so real a way, but who will have the body also, though it be mortal and of earth so foul, such as it is through our sins, which are so great.
II. Waters in the VI Mansions
A. nos. 3. Symbol of the two cisterns.
Castle, M. iv. ch. ii. 3.
3. To make the matter clearer, let us imagine we see two fountains with basins which fill with water. I can find no simile more appropriate than water by which to explain spiritual things, as I am very ignorant and have poor wits to help me. Besides, I love this element so much that I have studied it more attentively than other things. God, Who is so great, so wise, has doubtless hidden secrets in all things He created, which we should greatly benefit by knowing, as those say who understand such matters. Indeed, I believe that in each smallest creature He has made, though it be but a tiny ant, there are more wonders than can be comprehended. These two basins are filled in different ways; the one with water from a distance flowing into it through many pipes and waterworks, while the other basin is built near the source of the spring itself and fills quite noiselessly. If the fountain is plentiful, like the one we speak of, after the basin is full the water overflows in a great stream which flows continually. No machinery is needed here, nor does the water run through aqueducts.
B. nos. 4. Obligations following these favors.
III. Courage and the state of the soul
A. nos. 5. Humility produced by them.
B. nos. 6. How our crucified Lord comforted such a soul.
C. nos. 7. A humble soul fears these favors.
IV. Rapture of the spirit
A. nos. 8. Mysteries learnt during the flight of the spirit.
B. nos. 9. Imaginary visions sometimes accompany intellectual ones.
V. Explains the phenomenon of the flight of the spirit.
A. nos. 10. How the flight of the spirit takes place.
Life, ch. xx. 32. Castle, M. iv. ch. i. 10.
Life, ch. xx. 32.
32. For my part, I believe that a soul which has reached this state neither speaks nor acts of itself, but rather that the supreme King takes care of all it has to do. O my God, how clear is the meaning of those words, and what good reason the Psalmist had, and all the world will ever have, to pray for the wings of a dove!294 It is plain that this is the flight of the spirit rising upwards above all created things, and chiefly above itself: but it is a sweet flight, a delicious flight—a flight without noise.
B. nos. 11. The soul fortified by it.
Numbers 14 v 24.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.
22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.
24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
C. nos. 12. Three great graces left in the soul.
Life, ch. xx. 31 and Life, ch. xxv. 5.
Life, ch. xx. 31
31. This is really the way in which these things come to pass; if the raptures be true raptures, the fruits and advantages spoken of abide in the soul; but if they did not, I should have great doubts about their being from God—yea, rather, I should be afraid they were those frenzies of which St. Vincent speaks. I have seen it myself, and I know it by experience, that the soul in rapture is mistress of everything, and acquires such freedom in one hour, and even in less, as to be unable to recognize itself. It sees distinctly that all this does not belong to it, neither knows it how it came to possess so great a good; but it clearly perceives the very great blessing which every one of these raptures always brings. No one will believe this who has not had experience of it, and so they do not believe the poor soul: they saw it lately so wicked, and now they see it pretend to things of so high an order; for it is not satisfied with serving our Lord in the common way,—it must do so forthwith in the highest way it can. They consider this a temptation and a folly; yet they would not be astonished, if they knew that it comes not from the soul, but from our Lord, to whom it has given up the keys of its will.
VI. The Spouse shares His treasures.
A. nos. 13. The third grace.
B. nos. 14. Fear caused by this favor.
Supplemental References on the Interior Castle
Interior Castle: The Classic Text with Spiritual Commentary - My favorite reference.
Fire Within: Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and the Gospel on Prayer -excellent reference!
Into the Deep: Finding Peace Through Prayer - Dan Burke great book!
The Essential Teresa of Avila - Interior Castle, Life, Way of Perfection in Modern English!!!
Till Next Time
Thank you for attending the "Interior Castle: Sixth Mansions" workshop. We finished chapter 5 on Raptures - Flight of the Spirit. Next time we move into another interesting topic, effects on the soul from the flight of the spirit in chapter 6. We will likely move to Chapter 6, but the Holy Spirit controls the Tales of Glory programming schedule, and something else could be added in for Episode 156.
God Bless,
Rev. Mike
