Module Seven: The Pleasing Beloved
“Just as His Majesty has a room of his own in heaven, so he has a special place inside the soul where he alone dwells. Let’s call it another heaven.”
-St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, p. 261
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17
Module Seven: The Pleasing Beloved
Study:
In preparation for this week's material, please read Seventh Dwelling, Chapters 1–4 (pp 259–295 in the Mirabai Starr translation). Please read the Wisdom for the Way essay titled, “The Pleasing Beloved,” found here. Available on April 13, 2022.
After you have completed the above, choose one or more of the the following:
“Dialogue: The Sixth and Seventh Mansions Part 2” from the Turning to the Mystics Podcast
“The Life and Work of Teresa of Avila with Mirabai Starr” from the Turning to the Mystics Podcast
Joan Chittister, "The Monastic Heart for Challenging Times" on the Henri Nowen: Now and Then podcast
Discussion Questions:
St. Teresa admonishes her readers to remembered their ensouled aspect. How does this inform your understanding of Jesus’s Greatest Commandment: to love God and love neighbor?
On page 271, St. Teresa says the following: “It seems that God is continuously sustaining the soul with streams of milk flowing from the divine breasts. This brings solace to all the inhabitants of the castle.” Who are the inhabitants of the castle? What does this indicate about community?
St. Teresa reveals, in the depths of the seventh dwelling, that the purpose of prayer is to draw the soul into intimate relationship with the Beloved so that the soul can bear good works. If missional is defined as living moving toward and with the other, what does this mean for living missionally?