Chapter 24 Summary and Analysis

Introducing the Seventh Dwelling, Teresa explains that in the analogy of being God's bride, the soul and her Lord are now wed, and He is preparing to take her into His chamber to consummate their love. The soul being filled with light, getting progressively brighter as she nears His most intimate chamber, Theresa reminds the soul to remember to pray for those who are still shackled, blind, deaf and living in darkness. In the same way it would be cruel to leave a man standing blindly amid a great fast to starve, it is cruel to leave a soul unaware of how to gain nourishment without the knowledge of how to get it.

In the case of the soul in the state of grace, however, she is now ready to come into the very center of herself, where her King has...