CHAPTER II.

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.

1. Effects of mortal sin. 2. It prevents the soul's gaining merit. 3. The

soul compared to a tree. 4. Disorder of the soul in mortal sin. 5. Vision of

a sinful soul. 6. Profit of realizing these lessons. 7. Prayer. 8. Beauty of

the Castle. 9. Self-knowledge 10. Gained by meditating on the divine

perfections. 11. Advantages of such meditation. 12. Christ should be our

model. 13. The devil entraps beginners. 14. Our strength must come from God.

15. Sin blinds the soul. 16. Worldliness. 17. The world in the cloister. 18.

Assaults of the devil. 19. Examples of the devil's arts. 20. Perfection

consists in charity. 21. Indiscreet zeal. 22. Danger of detraction.

1. BEFORE going farther, I wish you to consider the state to which mortal

sin [46] brings this magnificent and beautiful castle, this pearl of the

East, this tree of life, planted beside the living waters of life [47] 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. [48]

2. 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 [49] 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. 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 centre of the soul and

cannot be deprived of their lustre. 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. 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. 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. [50] The person of whom I spoke [51] 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. 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!

7. 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. [52] 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.

8. 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. [53] Like the kernel of the

palmito, [54] from which several rinds must be removed before coming to

the eatable 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.

9. 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 practise 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. 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

practised, 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

endeavouring 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. 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. [55] 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? [56] 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. 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 strata-gems the devil uses to hinder people from

realizing their weakness and detecting his snares.

13. 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 honours 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. 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 [57] 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.

15 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.

16. 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, honours, 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. 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. 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. [58]

19. As I said elsewhere, [59] 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. [60] This is good in

itself; but suppose that the Prioress has forbidden her to practise 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 behaviour in good part.

20. 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.

21. 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, [61] 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; [62] 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. [63]

22. 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.

_________________________________________________________________

[46] Life, ch. viii. 31; ch. xl. 15.

[47] Ps. i. 3: 'Et erit tamquam lignum quod plantatum eat secus decursus

aquarum.'

[48] Way of Perf. ch. xxviii. 9.

[49] In this as in most other cases when the Saint speaks of 'a person she

knows,' she means herself. Life, ch. xl, 15.

[50] cxxvi. 1: 'Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui

custodit eam.'

[51] Life, ch. viii. 33; ch. xl. 15, 16.

[52] Life, ch. x. 2 sqq. Constitut. 2, 6.

[53] Way of Perf.. ch. xxviii. 1.

[54] The palmito here referred to is not a palm, but a shrub about four feet

high and very dense with leaves, resembling palm leaves. The poorer classes

and principally children dig it up by the roots, which they peel of its many

layers until a sort of kernel is disclosed, which is eaten, not without

relish, and is somewhat like a filbert in taste. See St. John of the Cross,

Accent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch, xiv, 3.

[55] Supra, -º 3.

[56] Life, ch. viii. 6, x. 4, xxiii. 3-5. Way of Perf. ch. ix. 1.

[57] Life ch. xiii. 23. Way of Perf. ch. x. 4. Castle, M. iii. ch. ii. 8.

Concep. ch. ii. 20. Const. 21.

[58] Life ch. i. 23.

[59] No doubt the Saint often used this excellent comparison in her verbal

instructions, but it occurs nowhere else in her writings.

[60] Way of Perf. ch. x. 5; xxxix. 4; Rel. iii. 12.

[61] The Saint must frequently have spoken on the subject, but she never

treated it more fully than in this place. Way of Perf. ch. xii. 7. Life, ch.

xiii. 11, 14 sqq. Visitation of convents.

[62] Way of Perfection, ch. ii. 3. Visit. 20-22, 34, 36.

[63] 'It is terrible to think what harm a Prioress can do! For although the

Sisters witness things which scandalize them (of which there are plenty

here!), yet they think it would be sinning against obedience to see any harm

in them.' (Letter to Father Gracian, written at Malagon at the beginning of

December, 5579. Letters, Vol. III.)

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________