THE HUMAN SOUL – CHAPTER II – THE FIRST MANSIONS
DESCRIBES THE HIDEOUS APPEARANCE OF A SOUL IN MORTAL SIN AS REVEALED BY GOD TO SOME ONE: OFFERS A FEW REMARKS ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE: THIS CHAPTER IS USEFUL AS IT CONTAINS SOME POINTS REQUIRING ATTENTION. AN EXPLANATION OF THE MANSIONS.
BEFORE going farther, I wish you to consider the state to which mortal sin brings this magnificent and beautiful castle, this pearl of the East, this tree of life, planted beside the living waters of life which symbolize GOD Himself.
No night can be so dark, no gloom nor blackness can compare to its obscurity.
Suffice it to say that the sun in the centre of the soul, which gave it such splendour and beauty, is totally eclipsed, though the spirit is as fitted to enjoy GOD’s presence as is the crystal to reflect the sun.
2. Mortal Sin Prevents the Soul’s Gaining Merit
While the soul is in mortal sin nothing can profit it; none of its good works merit an eternal reward, since they do not proceed from GOD as their first principle, and by Him alone is our virtue real virtue.
The soul separated from Him is no longer pleasing in His eyes, because by committing a mortal sin, instead of seeking to please GOD, it prefers to gratify the devil, the prince of darkness, and so comes to share his blackness.
I knew a person to whom our Lord revealed the result of a mortal sin and who said she thought no one who realized its effects could ever commit it, but would suffer unimaginable torments to avoid it.
This vision made her very desirous for all to grasp this truth, therefore I beg you, my daughters, to pray fervently to GOD for sinners, who live in blindness and do deeds of darkness.
3. The Soul Compared to a Tree
In a state of grace the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal.
Its works are pleasing both to GOD and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree.
Otherwise it would produce neither leaves nor fruit, for the waters of grace nourish it, keep it from withering from drought, and cause it to bring forth good fruit.
But the soul by sinning withdraws from this stream of life, and growing beside a black and fetid pool, can produce nothing but disgusting and unwholesome fruit.
Notice that it is not the fountain and the brilliant sun which lose their splendour and beauty, for they are placed in the very center of the soul and cannot be deprived of their luster.
The soul is like a crystal in the sunshine over which a thick black cloth has been thrown, so that however brightly the sun may shine the crystal can never reflect it.
4. Disorder of the Soul in Mortal Sin
O souls, redeemed by the Blood of JESUS Christ, take these things to heart; have mercy on yourselves!
If you realize your pitiable condition, how can you refrain from trying to remove the darkness from the crystal of your souls?
Remember, if death should take you now, you would never again enjoy the light of this Sun.
O JESUS! how sad a sight must be a soul deprived of light!
What a terrible state the chambers of this castle are in!
How disorderly must be the senses – the inhabitants of the castle – the powers of the soul its magistrates, governors, and stewards – blind and uncontrolled as they are!
In short, as the soil in which the tree is now planted is in the devil’s domain, how can its fruit be anything but evil?
A man of great spiritual insight once told me he was not so much surprised at such a soul’s wicked deeds as astonished that it did not commit even worse sins.
May GOD in His mercy keep us from such great evil, for nothing in this life merits the name of evil in comparison with this, which delivers us over to evil which is eternal.
5. Vision of a Sinful Soul
This is what we must dread and pray GOD to deliver us from – for we are weakness itself – and unless He guards the city, in vain shall we labour to defend it.
The person of whom I spoke said that she had learnt two things from the vision granted her.
The first was, a great fear of offending GOD; seeing how terrible were the consequences, she constantly begged Him to preserve her from falling into sin.
Secondly, it was a mirror to teach her humility, for she saw that nothing good in us springs from ourselves but comes from the waters of grace near which the soul remains like a tree planted beside a river, and from that Sun which gives life to our works.
She realized this so vividly that on seeing any good deed performed by herself or by other people she at once turned to GOD as to its fountain head—without whose help she knew well we can do nothing—and broke out into songs of praise to Him.
Generally she forgot all about herself and only thought of GOD when she did any meritorious action.
6. Profit of Realizing these Lessons
The time which has been spent in reading or writing on this subject will not have been lost if it has taught us these two truths; for though learned, clever men know them perfectly, women’s wits are dull and need help in every way.
Perhaps this is why our Lord has suggested these comparisons to me; may He give us grace to profit by them!
So obscure are these spiritual matters that to explain them an ignorant person like myself must say much that is superfluous, and even alien to the subject, before coming to the point.
My readers must be patient with me, as I am with myself while writing what I do not understand; indeed, I often take up the paper like a dunce, not knowing what to say, nor how to begin.
Doubtless there is need for me to do my best to explain these spiritual subjects to you, for we often hear how beneficial prayer is for our souls; our Constitutions oblige us to pray so many hours a day, yet tell us nothing of what part we ourselves can take in it and very little of the work GOD does in the soul by its means.
It will be helpful, in setting it before you in various ways, to consider this heavenly edifice within us, so little understood by men, near as they often come to it.
Our Lord gave me grace to understand something of such matters when I wrote on them before, yet I think I have more light now, especially on the more difficult questions.
Unfortunately I am too ignorant to treat of such subjects without saying much that is already well known.
Now let us turn at last to our castle with its many mansions.
You must not think of a suite of rooms placed in succession, but fix your eyes on the keep, the court inhabited by the King.
Like the kernel of the palmito, from which several rinds must be removed before coming to the edible part, this principal chamber is surrounded by many others.
However large, magnificent, and spacious you imagine this castle to be, you cannot exaggerate it; the capacity of the soul is beyond all our understanding, and the Sun within this palace enlightens every part of it.
A soul which gives itself to prayer, either much or little, should on no account be kept within narrow bounds.
Since GOD has given it such great dignity, permit it to wander at will through the rooms of the castle, from the lowest to the highest.
Let it not force itself to remain for very long in the same mansion, even that of self-knowledge.
Mark well, however, that self-knowledge is indispensable, even for those whom GOD takes to dwell in the same mansion with Himself.
Nothing else, however elevated, perfects the soul which must never seek to forget its own nothingness.
Let humility be always at work, like the bee at the honeycomb, or all will be lost.
But, remember, the bee leaves its hive to fly in search of flowers and the soul should sometimes cease thinking of itself to rise in meditation on the grandeur and majesty of its GOD.
It will learn its own baseness better thus than by self-contemplation, and will be freer from the reptiles which enter the first room where self-knowledge is acquired.
Although it is a great grace from GOD to practice self-examination, yet ‘too much is as bad as too little,’ as they say; believe me, by GOD’s help, we shall advance more by contemplating the Divinity than by keeping our eyes fixed on ourselves, poor creatures of earth that we are.
10. Self-knowledge Gained by Meditating on the Divine Perfections
I do not know whether I have put this clearly; self-knowledge is of such consequence that I would not have you careless of it, though you may be lifted to heaven in prayer, because while on earth nothing is more needful than humility.
Therefore, I repeat, not only a good way, but the best of all ways, is to endeavour to enter first by the room where humility is practiced, which is far better than at once rushing on to the others.
This is the right road – if we know how easy and safe it is to walk by it, why ask for wings with which to fly?
Let us rather try to learn how to advance quickly.
I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know GOD, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.
11. Advantages of Meditation on Self-knowledge
Two advantages are gained by this practice.
First, it is clear that white looks far whiter when placed near something black, and on the contrary, black never looks so dark as when seen beside something white.
Secondly, our understanding and will become more noble and capable of good in every way when we turn from ourselves to GOD: it is very injurious never to raise our minds above the mire of our own faults.
I described how murky and fetid are the streams that spring from the source of a soul in mortal sin.
Thus (although the case is not really the same, GOD forbid! this is only a comparison), while we are continually absorbed in contemplating the weakness of our earthly nature, the springs of our anions will never flow free from the mire of timid, weak, and cowardly thoughts, such as:
‘I wonder whether people are noticing me or not!
If I follow this course, will harm come to me?
Dare I begin this work?
Would it not be presumptuous?
Is it right for any one as faulty as myself to speak on sublime spiritual subjects?
Will not people think too well of me, if I make myself singular?
Extremes are bad, even in virtue; sinful as I am I shall only fall the lower.
Perhaps I shall fail and be a source of scandal to good people; such a person as I am has no need of peculiarities.’
12. Christ Should Be our Model
Alas, my daughters, what loss the devil must have caused to many a soul by such thoughts as these!
It thinks such ideas and many others of the same sort I could mention arise from humility.
This comes from not understanding our own nature; self-knowledge becomes so warped that, unless we take our thoughts off ourselves, I am not surprised that these and many worse fears should threaten us.
Therefore I maintain, my daughters, that we should fix our eyes on Christ our only good, and on His saints; there we shall learn true humility, and our minds will be ennobled, so that self-knowledge will not make us base and cowardly.
Although only the first, this mansion contains great riches and such treasures that if the soul only manages to elude the reptiles dwelling here, it cannot fail to advance farther.
Terrible are the wiles and stratagems the devil uses to hinder people from realizing their weakness and detecting his snares.
13. The Devil Entraps Beginners
From personal experience I could give you much information as to what happens in these first mansions.
I will only say that you must not imagine there are only a few, but a number of rooms, for souls enter them by many different ways, and always with a good intention.
The devil is so angry at this that he keeps legions of evil spirits hidden in each room to stop the progress of Christians, whom, being ignorant of this, he entraps in a thousand ways.
He cannot so easily deceive souls which dwell nearer to the King as he can beginners still absorbed in the world, immersed in its pleasures, and eager for its honors and distinctions.
As the vassals of their souls, the senses and powers bestowed on them by GOD, are weak, such people are easily vanquished, although desirous not to offend GOD.
14. Our Strength Must Come from GOD
Those conscious of being in this state must as often as possible have recourse to His Majesty, taking His Blessed Mother and the saints for their advocates to do battle for them, because we creatures possess little strength for self-defence.
Indeed in every state of life all our help must come from GOD; may He in His mercy grant it us, Amen!
What a miserable life we lead!
As I have spoken more fully in other writings on the ill that results from ignoring the need of humility and self-knowledge, I will treat no more about it here, my daughters, although it is of the first importance.
GOD grant that what I have said may be useful to you.
You must notice that the light which comes from the King’s palace hardly shines at all in these first mansions; although not as gloomy and black as the soul in mortal sin, yet they are in semi-darkness, and their inhabitants see scarcely anything.
I cannot explain myself; I do not mean that this is the fault of the mansions themselves, but that the number of snakes, vipers, and venomous reptiles from outside the castle prevent souls entering them from seeing the light.
They resemble a person entering a chamber full of brilliant sunshine, with eyes clogged and half closed with dust.
Though the room itself is light, he cannot see because of his self-imposed impediment.
In the same way, these fierce and wild beasts blind the eyes of the beginner, so that he sees nothing but them.
Such, it appears to me, is the soul which, though not in a state of mortal sin, is so worldly and preoccupied with earthly riches, honors, and affairs, that as I said, even if it sincerely wishes to enter into itself and enjoy the beauties of the castle, it is prevented by these distractions and seems unable to overcome so many obstacles.
It is most important to withdraw from all unnecessary cares and business, as far as compatible with the duties of one’s state of life, in order to enter the second mansion.
This is so essential, that unless done immediately I think it impossible for any one ever to reach the principal room, or even to remain where he is without great risk of losing what is already gained; otherwise, although he is inside the castle, he will find it impossible to avoid being bitten some time or other by some of the very venomous creatures surrounding him.
17. The World in the Cloister
What then would become of a religious like ourselves, my daughters, if, after having escaped from all these impediments, and having entered much farther into the more secret mansion, she should, by her own fault, return to all this turmoil?
Through her sins, many other people on whom GOD had bestowed great graces would culpably relapse into their wretched state.
In our convents we are free from these exterior evils; please GOD our minds may be as free from them, and may He deliver us from such ills.
18. Assaults of the Devil
Do not trouble yourselves, my daughters, with cares which do not concern you.
You must notice that the struggle with the demons continues through nearly all the mansions of this castle.
True, in some of them, the guards, which, as I explained, are the powers of the soul, have strength for the combat, but we must be keenly on the watch against the devils’s arts, lest he deceive us in the form of an angel of light.
He creeps in gradually, in numberless ways, and does us much harm, though we do not discover it until too late.
19. Examples of the Devil’s Arts
As I said elsewhere, he works like a file, secretly and silently wearing its way: I will give you some examples to show how he begins his wiles.
For instance: a nun has such a longing for penance as to feel no peace unless she is tormenting herself in some way.
This is good in itself; but suppose that the Prioress has forbidden her to practice any mortifications without special leave, and the sister thinking that, in such a meritorious cause, she may venture to disobey, secretly leads such a life that she loses her health and cannot even fulfil the requirements of her rule – you see how this show of good ends.
Another nun is very zealous about religious perfection; this is very right, but may cause her to think every small fault she sees in her sisters a serious crime, and to watch constantly whether they do anything wrong, that she may run to the Prioress to accuse them of it.
At the same time, may be she never notices her own shortcomings because of her great zeal about other people’s religious observance, while perhaps her sisters, not seeing her intention but only knowing of the watch she keeps on them, do not take her behavior in good part.
20. Perfection Consists in Charity
The devil’s chief aim here is to cool the charity and lessen the mutual affection of the nuns, which would injure them seriously.
Be sure, my daughters, that true perfection consists in the love of GOD and our neighbour, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be. The sole object of our Rule and Constitutions is to help us to observe these two laws.
Indiscreet zeal about others must not be indulged in; it may do us much harm; let each one look to herself.
However, as I have spoken fully on this subject elsewhere, I will not enlarge on it here, and will only beg you to remember the necessity of this mutual affection.
Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people’s if we are always criticizing trivial actions which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through ignorance of their motives.
See how much it costs to attain perfection!
Sometimes the devil tempts nuns in this way about the Prioress, which is still more dangerous.
Great prudence is then required, for if she disobeys the Rule or Constitutions the matter must not always be overlooked, but should be mentioned to her; if, after this, she does not amend, the Superior of the Order should be informed of it.
It is true charity to speak in this case, as it would be if we saw our sisters commit a grave fault; to keep silence for fear that speech would be a temptation against charity, would be that very temptation itself.
However, I must warn you seriously not to talk to each other about such things, lest the devil deceive you.
He would gain greatly by your doing so, because it would lead to the habit of detraction; rather, as I said, state the matter to those whose duty it is to remedy it.
Thank GOD our custom here of keeping almost perpetual silence gives little opportunity for such conversations, still, it is well to stand ever on our guard.
The Saint must frequently have spoken on the subject, but she never treated it more fully than in this place.
Below: Monasterio de la Encarnación (Ávila, Spain), chapel [photo by Zarateman via CC 1.0 license]
