Acquiring a spirit of prayerful silence is vital to the interior life.

It requires a real desire to detach all thought from the outside world to center only on the Divine Presence.  For most of us, devoting time to a daily practice of “quiet prayer” is hard given everything always calling for our attention.

It can be done.

Despite the world’s constant disarray, we can learn how to be still to know that He is God.

My pursuit of cultivating time for “quiet prayer” began with Saint Teresa of Avila’s work “The Interior Castle.”  A gift from my father, I read the profoundly inspiring book while on an annual family trip to Montauk, Long Island (July 2007).  Captured in my journal is the mystic’s description of a “magnificent castle” with multiple dwellings present within the soul.  Avila saw this beautiful image in a vision.

She elucidates, “The Beloved Christ dwells at the center of the soul’s castle and the doorway to find Him is contemplative prayer.”

As life around me was anything but still, I needed to set time aside to tune out the clamor of a noisy world.  According to the Spanish saint, “We can hear the voice of God in silence.”

With Avila as my spiritual teacher, I began my own quiet practice of contemplative prayer.

Encountering God in stillness is not a gift given only to saints, but to all who seek his holy grace in the ordinary activity of life.  As Avila tells us, “Even when we are in the kitchen, our Lord is moving among the pots and the pans.”

St. Teresa of Avila teaches about the spiritual levels or interior dwellings the soul yearns to reach for ultimate union with God.

My journal notes underscore her words,

 “God is not forthcoming in the consolations we crave, but in the complete surrender of the will. Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed.  They cannot command them. The deeper we delve into the interior castle of the soul, the closer we come to the divine presence of God.”

St. Teresa of Avila Points the Way in a Dream

My spiritual friendship with the 15^th century saint was not limited to the study of her spiritual teaching.  I met her in a vivid dream.  Scripture shows us that God often uses dreams to make his desires known.  Remember that an angel came to St. Joseph in a dream to assure him of God’s will for Blessed Mary.  Daniel was the only person who could decipher Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and Jacob’s son Joseph dreamed that he would someday rule over his brothers.  Thus, a dream can be a beautiful gateway to the spiritual.

In the encounter, I found myself inside an ancient catacomb where holy deceased were laid to rest.

Walking within the cave, I drew near to the body of a person wrapped in white cloth.  The body suddenly rose, and appearing before me was a beautiful woman wearing the vestments of a Carmelite nun.  She said, “I am Teresa of Avila and wish to depart from this place of rest.  Can you lead me out of here?”

Unsure of what to do, I expressed worry over what lay ahead fearing that someone would surely stop me from taking her away.  She gently encouraged that no one could see her but me.  Then, she began to cough terribly. Moving to console her, she was now sitting in an old wheelchair resolutely pointing the way out of the darkened cave.

The dream ended.

Since I knew very little about the saint at the time, I went to my local library and took a book out about her life.

On the inside front cover was the first picture I had ever seen of the young Teresa.  Her face was identical to the woman in my dream.   I can still see her deep brown eyes.  She was also dressed in the same brown garments of a Carmelite.  Avila’s biography reveals years of sickness that led to paralysis in her legs for three years.  The illness occurred not long after entering the Carmelite Monastery.  During this period of poor health, a wheelchair was consistently used to move her.

Was it the young struggling Teresa I met in my dream?  Perhaps she visited in a dream to set my feet firm spiritual rock.

“God dwells within you, within every cell of your being. Seek Him there, in the depths of your own heart.”

The quote from The Interior Castle beautifully encapsulates the profound understanding that the divine presence of God resides within all of us. 

Whether we are awake or asleep – God is there.

Throughout her writing, Avila consistently recognizes the magnitude of her own human limitations. It took seventeen years of struggle to let go of her worldly detachments.  Around the age of forty, she was finally able to truly conform her way of life to the will of God.  Then, her extraordinary spiritual life flourished.  We can all be encouraged by her journey.  It took years for the great saint to surrender all her fears and attachments to God in total trust.

As we stand alone before God in our own unique way, we may ask ourselves these questions:

What must we leave behind to totally center on Him?

Can we put to rest all disquietude and distraction, even for awhile, as we pray?

What atmosphere or “cell” must we create in our surrounding to listen for his voice?

How can time be set aside each day, saved only for Him?

Only by turning our thoughts inward with intention can we invite the Divine Presence into our heart.

It takes time and devotion to reach that place of quiet contemplation.  Slowly, it becomes a way of life which cannot revert back to the old way of focusing only on what is “above the river.”

God takes hold of you – and there is no letting go.  Looking back on her life, Avila shares, “Never forget that God dwells within your little castle (your soul). If I had understood as I do now that in this little palace of my soul dwelt so great a King, I would not have left Him alone so often.” (Way, 28:11).

The same is true for me.