The Diamond Castle

Theresa M. Lynn

Description

The Diamond Castle is a beautiful text for children on Saint Teresa of Avila's work, Interior Castle. It introduces the beauty and splendor of the soul as imagined through the metaphor of the soul as a diamond castle. Many of St. Teresa's doctrines are introduced through additional castle symbolism, as defined by St. Teresa. Most especially, the "room of self-knowledge, identification of Christ as King of the Castle who dwells in the center room, praying to Christ as His Majesty, the importance of the Our Father prayer, the importance of keeping your castle clean so the Splendor of Christ's glory will shine out, and much more.

The book includes a Ten Commandments pictorial, Glossary of terms used in the book, and key to the diamond castle symbols. An extensive reference of End Notes will assist catechists and academics who would like to explore the doctrines found in this first edition of The Diamond Castle.

The book is meant to be first in a series of books which will teach children and even adults on major themes surrounding an interior life of grace as realized through union with His Majesty, Christ the King.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Religious
• Juvenile Nonfiction
• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 03 juin 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456626570
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Diamond Castle
Adapted from the Interior Castle by Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
“We know we have souls. But we seldom consider the precious things that can be found in this soul, or who dwells within it, or its high value.” 1
— SAINT TERESA OF AVILA —

Copyright © 2016 The Diamond Castle by
Theresa M. Lynn
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions” at the address below.
The Diamond Castle Project, [e-mail]
www.TheDiamondCastleProject.com
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN 978-1-4566-2657-0
Dedicated to Christ the King-
Who reigns in our hearts
Introduction by Theresa Lynn
Today in America, castles at the Disney theme parks, princess costumes, wizards, and magic fill the imaginative hearts and minds of our children. While they can create happy playtimes, a young mind may believe that this type of play can be realized concretely in some future reality. It is many a little girl who “wants to be a princess when she grows up.” In the end, the entertainment of Disney, which promises a place “where dreams come true” and where “magic happens” points to what St. Teresa of Avila called, “building castles in the air.” 2
It is my hope that by bringing The Diamond Castle to young children, it will help them to make the distinction between the real castle that lies within themselves and leads them to know and love God, and the castles that are just for momentary pleasure. One castle lasts forever; the other castles fall and there is only one real King, Christ Jesus. Saint Teresa always refers to him as His Majesty.
Saint Teresa’s metaphor is the anti-thesis to the charm of make-believe. Our children’s hearts are so open to what is beautiful and good. As parents and catechists we must help them to know what is true and what is make-believe. When they are taught what is true and lasting they can discern as they grow to what is authentic beauty and authentic goodness.
The Diamond Castle first came to mind when I was teaching my fourth grade religious education students. The lessons included multi-syllable Catholic terms flowing from our beautiful doctrines surrounding, Sacrament, Paschal Mystery and the Eucharist . The children in my classes seemed to not have any problem with these “big words.” In addition, the curriculum offered the teaching of the four types of prayer, went over the beatitudes, moral lessons, and what is venial and mortal sin, the virtues, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and corporal works of Mercy.
Their verbal skills and amicable behavior in class also impressed me. They would answer theological and religious education questions that I would present to them and their profound answers and correct responses were not only edifying to me, but showed me how the Holy Spirit was working in their young minds. Often, to see what they knew, I would ask them questions about things they had not even been taught yet. These young seven and eight year old students seemed to be really starting to grasp the mysteries of the Church.
Each class started with a blank sheet of paper for the students to take notes with colored markers and crayons. Usually, I would start with a lesson that was outside of that week’s textbook instructions. I would typically begin with Church history. History can be illustrated with a timeline. I would have them draw a line with an arrow on both ends and a vertical line through the middle for the time Christ entered into history. We plotted salvation history before Christ (BC), and after Christ (AD), or Old Testament and Old Covenant and New Testament and New Covenant times.
The first question I would ask my students was, “How long ago did Jesus live?” There were various answers from 100 to a million years ago. This showed me that their concept of history and time was still being formulated. It showed me they needed the basics as well as learning the terms which would help them in what would be their future dialogue with others about who the Church is, and what she believes. When did the people throughout salvation history, like Moses and Abraham live? After Christ, when was St. Teresa of Avila born? What did it look like on the timeline?
Prayer was a big lesson and an important activity in each week’s class. Springing from the implementation of Vatican II’s “universal call to holiness,” prayer gained its own section in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and religious education materials have followed this initiative by including lessons on prayer. At the third and fourth grade level, students are learning new prayers like the Memorarae and the types of prayer; petition, praise, thanksgiving, adoration.
Beyond the types of prayer and memorizing the standard prayers, since I saw that the student’s intellects seemed open and capable of learning deeper theological concepts, I thought of introducing them to what it meant to have a “spiritual life.” I wanted to share with the students what I had learned about holiness and the soul’s union with God, while studying theology at the Institute for Pastoral Theology with Ave Maria University. The first place to start would be to teach them that they have a soul and who dwells there.
However, I did not find any lesson on the soul as part of the textbook curriculum. I was inspired to realize that Saint Teresa of Avila’s use of castle imagery, to depict the soul and how God is experienced there, could provide a creative way for teaching a lesson on the soul.
St. Teresa of Avila recommends that you think of the soul as a beautiful diamond castle where the His Majesty the King of Glory resides. I had the students draw their own diamond castle. Using the Index in the back of The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila , translated by Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D., I picked out symbols from the list, that I thought they could grasp. Young minds and even adults aren’t ready in the first lesson for many of the symbols and their meaning that St. Teresa uses throughout the Interior Castle . But the basic symbols of vermin for sin and light for Christ’s presence were easy for them to understand and incorporate into their drawings. Their drawings were edifying. Some drew hearts in the center of the page to illustrate Christ and His merciful Love. I did not suggest the use of the heart to them, they thought of it on their own. The “heart” is so much a part of Catholic spirituality.
Drawings of the diamond castle were so inspiring to me that I decided to put the lesson down on paper. It is my prayerful hope that The Diamond Castle will be the first in a series of books that will teach children about their soul and union with God. It starts your child on a journey that Saint Bonaventure described as “a journey of the mind to God.” I am thankful to Al Cassidy, the illustrator, of the diamond castle image. It truly should stir your child’s imagination and illustrate the beauty of the soul that St. Teresa of Avila speaks of in her spiritual works.
I don’t know if anyone has ever attempted an artistic rendering of the diamond castle metaphor, but I believe Al Cassidy accomplished it well. As I expressed to him on more than one occasion, when Saint Faustina Kowalska was following our Lord’s request to have the image of his Divine Mercy painted and she was concerned that the painting did not show our Lord as beautiful as he really is, our Lord told her, “It is good enough.”

Bodium Castle
East Sussex, England

Neuschwanstein Castle
German, Bavaria

Raglan Castle
Monmouthshirein, south east Wales

(Photos from Google Images) 3
Foreword by Timothy P. Herrman, Ph.D.., S.T.L.
Over two centuries ago, Mary Lamb and her brother, Charles, published a book that would establish their literary careers and become a “best seller” for years to come. The book was called, Tales from Shakespeare , and the intended goal of the book was to present young people with a translation of a classic work that would not only remain faithful to the author’s intention, but also be written in a language that children could more easily understand. There was no doubt in the Lamb’s minds that the plays of Shakespeare were classics, but Shakespeare’s language made reading and understanding the plays difficult, especially for a young audience. The writing itself demonstrated the faithfulness of the Lambs to the author and its reception demonstrated the success of their goal. As a result, many people were introduced to Shakespeare who otherwise would never have known him or his plays. Such a task, when done well, not only is a tribute to the source itself, but serves as a real contribution to society by lifting the hearts and souls of readers, and positively influences culture. Their goal is a goal shared by many artists, especially artists of the word.
This type of translation is by no means easy. It requires that the author capture and translate the “mind” or intention of the source accurately and in a language that is manageable to the audience. A good ambassador must know the mind of the source so well that he or she can communicate that author’s mind to others without merely parroting or repeating the source. That is, the ambassador must be able to address questions or related issues that were not part of the original communication.