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DiscerningCatholic

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domenica_therese

Are you familiar with St. Teresa of Avila's book Interior Castle? Her perspective on the purpose of spiritual trials in the natural progression of the spiritual life has been enormously consoling to me in my vocational journey.

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DiscerningCatholic

Aha...I bought a copy of that around 2 years ago and am STILL stuck on the first two paragraphs. :| 

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DiscerningCatholic, there is a short and sweet version of that, written by a Carmelite nun in England. ;) And she has included some lovely touching cartoon drawings. I find her little books a beautiful help to understanding St Teresa's original writings in everyday, down-to-earth language.

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DiscerningCatholic

No, not stuck as in "OMCheese this is so confusing." It's bad, but not that bad. :P It's just that there's this one part in the second paragraph that says " It is no small misfortune and disgrace that, through our own fault, we neither understand our nature nor our origin. Would it not be gross ignorance, my daughters, if, when a man was questioned about his name, or country, or parents, he could not answer?"

 

Just...LOADED. 

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domenica_therese

Well you should keep reading because the rest of the book is all about how to fix that exile from yourself. :)

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Translations can make a big difference, DC.  

 

If you don't have the Otillio Rodriguez/Kieran Kavanaugh translation you might want to hunt it up... especially look for the 'study edition' that was published by the institute of Carmelite Studies (ICS) over the last few  years... lots of stuff that will help you to understand what Teresa is saying better.

 

 AND you might want to start with another of St. Teresa's books, The Way of Perfection, because knowing what she says in there will help A LOT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(silly typos!)

Edited by AnneLine
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OnlySunshine

Translations can make a big difference, DC.  

 

If you don't have the Otillio Rodriguez/Kieran Kavanaugh translation you might want to hunt it up... especially look for the 'study edition' that was published by the institute of Carmelite Studies (ICS) over the last few  years... lots of stuff that will help you to understand what Teresa is saying better.

 

 AND you might want to start with another of St. Teresa's books, The Way of Perfection, because knowing what she says in there will help A LOT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(silly typos!)

 

 

I personally thought that "The Way of Perfection" was a more difficult read than "The Interior Castle."  I learned a lot from the latter, and still remember most of it to this day.  It was a big help.  I also loved reading "Abandonment to Divine Providence" and "I Believe in Love."

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TheresaThoma

(I think I will stick with St Thomas Aquinas' commentary on the Gospel of St John. What you all are describing makes it look simple!)

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DiscerningCatholic

I have the translation by the Benedictines of Stanbrook...picked it up in Barnes and Noble a few years ago.

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Read mansions 3-6.   Trust me, you're not in the first and it's very unlikely you're in the second.  I had the same problem when I was younger and never got beyond the first mansion until I was in my 30s.  You can always go back and read the earlier mansions some other time.  Her flowery language and tangents are hard for some of us to take, but just make yourself read it.  I much prefer St. John of the Cross.

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Aha...I bought a copy of that around 2 years ago and am STILL stuck on the first two paragraphs. :|

 

Ha, I have a copy of the City of God that I bought in 2009? And I'm still on the first page.  I think I'm going to try the Librivox version. 

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DiscerningCatholic

Yes, that and Plutarch's Lives and Plato's Republic, Symposium, Gorgias, Ion and Meno, and the Iliad and the Odyssey...I'm now in the fourth year of this course. I think the first year was the worst. 

 

I will never be able to be referred to as an "uncultured swine." 

 

In other news, I was just accepted to Benedictine College.

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Yes, that and Plutarch's Lives and Plato's Republic, Symposium, Gorgias, Ion and Meno, and the Iliad and the Odyssey...I'm now in the fourth year of this course. I think the first year was the worst. 

 

I will never be able to be referred to as an "uncultured swine." 

 

In other news, I was just accepted to Benedictine College.

 

I learned all I need to know about Plutarch's Lives from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!

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