An Introduction to Teresa of Avila’s Seven Mansions
The structure of the mansions:
To begin with, Teresa uses two gorgeous visuals to help us understand the structure of our souls, and the dwelling place of the Lord.
Your soul is like two things: one, it is like a crystal, and two, it is like a many-tiered mansion. Putting them together, your soul is like a many-tiered mansion which is made out of crystal.
Jesus’ Plan to Reveal the Father to Men and Women
I shall begin. My plan for men is for their greatest good. Shall I tell you? It is so beautiful! It is radiant! It is my desire to turn back the veil, the many, many veils, that separate them from the sight of my Father, and the inner knowledge of Him, which I possess. It was for this that I came into the world, it was for this that My Mother was placed here for such long a time, to imbue men and women with a direct image of the Father, and to indicate me, who am also a direct image of the Father.
Surrender in the Midst of the Sea: Message from God the Father
There are two worlds, my child. Two worlds, and two loves. What do you love? You love Me. What does the world love? It loves money. It loves comfort. It loves false stability. As you seek MY stability within the world which loves money, you are tossed from this place to that! How can you land anywhere? EVEN MY CHURCH HAS CHOSEN MONEY BEFORE ME…
She Is My Everything
God has given you this treasure… He hath not given her to you so that you may be exalted, but the very gift of her exalts you! As Jesus was given to Mary not to exalt her, but because the very gift of Him within her was her exaltation, so is woman to you, oh man. The very gift of woman to you, oh man, exalts you.
A Stirring of a New Renaissance
To claim humankind’s entry into a New Renaissance might seem like a high-flown claim, and to be honest (or rather to clarify), I must say I do not claim it for all of humankind. Men and women who live in and of the world sadly do not see a need for art that engages beauty. This recognition of the need for beauty must come from the heart, placed there and stirred up by God. It is not a worldly need, but a personal need. The renaissance itself is personal. It is a call from the Lord into the heart to seek out beauty, and if the heart does not find it… to make it. Not for its own distinction, but for the sake of the beauty which is absent. This is why a renaissance is awakening - not in the world at large, but in the individual hearts of those seeking and yearning for beauty, and it is why I am so bold as to claim a New Renaissance - because it is a stir and call in my own heart. Is it stirring in your own?
The Peace of Christ in the Thousand Years
People think that if they have the peace of God, they have the ability to be perfectly tranquil and loving, no matter what others do to them, or experiences they endure…
They think the era of peace, to come, shall be full of individuals who smile at each other benignly, and bow placidly, when they meet…
The Theme of ‘Home’ in the Heart of a Man
While woman’s first order of being is to look inward toward her heart, man’s first order of being is to look outward toward the welfare of his family. I was reading a book recently, entitled Celebrating Our God-given Gender, wherein the author speaks of man’s need to do violence to his own nature, in order to thrive as the man who God designed him to be…
Cultivating Imagination through Family Structure
Bridging the Divide between Culture and the Church
Reclaiming Beauty, Art, and Language
New Renaissance
JP II’s New Evangelization worked, but without harvesters, this rich harvest will be lost…
“I Must Provide for Myself”
The way the Lord created men and women to live is radically different from the current systems of the world. Because it is so radical, He does not call everyone to live in it, all at once, immediately eschewing the paths of the world. This would lead to overwhelm and collapse.
Rather, He desires to shift the world into a fuller and richer system, doing so gently, even as He guided the early Christians into the establishment of Christianity. That shift was both radical, and a natural process, with stages and steps.
How to Travel the Emotion Wheel
All 7 of these emotions are good, and serve a purpose of centering us in the Lord, but they can also become overwhelming when they grow too great, and threaten to control us, rather than guide us. Therefore, there is a process by which we can travel out of a specific emotion, and - unsurprisingly - that process is Biblical.
How Creation Speaks of God
Men show me through the practice of their virtue, but the sky, plants, and water speak of me no matter their behavior or flow. Men also show me through their creations. If there is truth and beauty within the creation, then they are speaking of me.
Radical Femininity
Men are called by God to provide the necessities of life. By forming himself into the stability and backbone of the home, the man paradoxically earns himself freedom to live a life more free from labor. He finds himself free to participate in the polis of the larger community, because he has provided so well for his intimate community.
The woman, also, finds herself living a paradox. Because her husband has shown himself eager to provide for her, and grant stability, she finds herself free to labor. Her heart overflows with confidence and nurturing love, and everything to which she puts her hand prospers. Her activity increases, when he provides stability; and his interior life expands, when she proves herself worthy of holding his heart.
Home is the Heart of a Woman
Before I could meet the man who would become my husband, I believed I needed to extend myself into the working world, with my feminine genius, to make my mark, change lives, and earn an income. Then, once I had made those external victories, I would be formed enough to meet the man of my dreams, leave the public sphere, and have children. Then we could relax, take a deep breathe, and declare, “At last, we are home.”
Women Are Not Called to ‘Provide’
As I struggled with health issues, part-time jobs, and ever-increasing debt, I started to think, “Maybe I’m not smart enough, hard-working enough, or worthy enough to work. Maybe I will never be worthy of a husband providing for me.”
On Reading Private Revelation
Ask Like Mary
Pleased to demonstrate the lengths you will go for the sake of your beloved, you grin, and tell them…
How the World Sees Reality Upside Down: The Priority of Goods
Once we see how the world values its priorities, will we be able to invert that order, and see how God values everything? I’m always fascinated by trying to see myself, others, and the world through God’s eyes, and I had a feeling that I might be looking at the world all wrong.
Medicine Series: 3 Views of Pain
There are two philosophies regarding pain which I have yet come across. There may be some room for interpretation or variation within each, but by and large they distill down to what I call the Modern World View and the…
I apologize, but the search engine can be a bit finicky. First try usually gets you a ‘no results’ message, but just push that enter button again, and what you’re looking for should pop up. Happy Reading!