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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is her fear of not being in alignment with the Mother Church?
(a) her ignorance of Church doctrine
(b) her problems with the Spanish Inquisition
(c) her bishop does not like her
(d) because she is a woman

2. What does Teresa say inhabits the outside of the castle?
(a) vile, poisonous creatures
(b) lay people
(c) dragons and monsters
(d) the dead

3. What simile does Teresa use to describe turning away from a life of prayer?
(a) like putting out all the candles in a dark house
(b) like never washing out a drinking cup
(c) like throwing a shroud over a brightly shining jewel
(d) like putting mud in a cake

4. What does she think about what she has to say in this book?
(a) that she has already said everything in other books
(b) that no one will understand what she says
(c) that she cannot write what she does not know
(d) that there is too much information for only one book

5. What does Teresa say is important at the Fourth Dwelling intimacy with God?
(a) not to give meaning to feelings
(b) not to speak much but to listen more
(c) not to continue looking inward
(d) not to think much but to love much

6. What does Teresa suggest might be offered as a temptation in the second dwelling?
(a) seemingly virtuous worldly alternatives
(b) a feeling that one has arrived
(c) the sense that the sould is right with God
(d) lasting peace if one does not progress beyond

7. What do souls rightly handling spiritual trials do?
(a) let them go
(b) adjust their perspective
(c) work them out for themselves
(d) sweep them under the carpet

8. What does Teresa say a person who prays must do?
(a) make confession before prayer
(b) turn attention away from earthly treasures
(c) light candles to help the prayer ascend
(d) lie prostrate on the ground

9. Who may, according to Teresa, cause doubt and turning away from her experience as soon as she is out of the throes of it?
(a) sisters who know more than she does
(b) the harsh realities of day to day living
(c) inept and paranoid spiritual advisors
(d) people who come with too many earthly problems

10. What worries Teresa about being able to quote other writers?
(a) her accidentally stealing their words
(b) her lack of a reference library
(c) her failing memory
(d) her need to appear scholarly

11. What must the formerly rich man do when he is reduced to poverty?
(a) realize that he has sinned
(b) take up a new religion
(c) curse God and die
(d) to maintain faith that God works wisely for his good

12. Before beginning the writing, to what does she compare herself?
(a) a cat that sleeps all the time
(b) a rabbit that fears preditors
(c) a fish that is left out of water
(d) a bird that has been taught to speak

13. How does Teresa identify a period of spiritual aridity?
(a) when the words of prayer simply will not come
(b) when the time for prayer feels like a drudgery
(c) when the supplicant forgets to drink water
(d) when proceeding faithfully is more work than gratification

14. What is it when the soul retreats from the senses and begins to rebuild the temple where it can go to worship?
(a) the Prayer of Contrition
(b) the Prayer of Recollection
(c) the Prayer of the Faithful
(d) the Lord's Prayer

15. Why is Teresa the one ordered to write the book on prayer for women?
(a) because the men are busy writing other books
(b) because it will keep her out of trouble
(c) because women communicate better with women
(d) because she has experience writing books

Short Answer Questions

1. What sign does the bride give that she is ready for union with God?

2. What does she say is at the center of the castle?

3. Even at this stage, what does Teresa say God allows?

4. Where does Teresa say her words come from?

5. What does Teresa say about good deeds that only glorify the person who does them?

(see the answer keys)

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