This is a beautiful piece of spiritual writing that it feels weird to rate, so my rating is for this particular edition and translation. I enjoyed Starr's translation, and her introduction helped clarify some points I wasn't sure about. However, this translation does soften some of the religious language. I personally found it made it more poetic and universal, but can't help but wonder if this change goes against the intent of Avilla or that it might somehow degrade her religious message by making it more palatable. I haven't read any other translations, but it was just a thought that came up when I read the introduction.

I love Teresa's self-deprecating and conversational voice, teaching that prayer can be something so enchanting and ordinary, and yet also dangerous, in both the spiritual and ordinary life (especially for an intelligent, strong-willed woman who dares to write her own books). Still, it was hard to follow the progression of the "rooms" and enter her medieval mindset. However, I would rather blame my shortcomings as a reader and Christian than blame the wonder that was Teresa of Avila.

when you finished this like a month ago and forgot to mark it whoops

“The Beloved looks less at the grandeur of our deeds than at the love with which we preform them.”

“The Interior Castle” by St. Teresa of Avila is a good book to journey with. If you are someone who insists on perfect agreement with any writer you read or person you can learn from, this book is not for you. But if you are willing to learn from someone with whom partial agreement is the most you can hope for, then I strongly encourage you to make space to wander through the words of a Spanish woman who centered her life on God in the 1570s.

This book is an amazing treatise of Catholic mysticism and spirituality. Through the image of seven dwelling places inside a castle, which is our soul built by God, for His glory, St. Teresa of Avila guides us in the power of prayer and contemplation, the favors God concedes freely and by His own accord to His servants, and the temptations that follow us in all the dwelling places, sometimes stronger, other times, weaker. The importance of fear for God, the desire to respect and fulfill His will for us, and the humility of the soul and of our desires are important messages in this short, though very enlightening, book by this Spanish saint. Hence, it is a mandatory reading for Catholics and otherwise who are trying to deepen their knowledge of their spiritual path here on Earth, and trying to perfect the charity, that is, the love of God and our neighbor.