Your prayer is distracted. Your mind wanders to your grocery list. And you're quietly wondering if you're doing it wrong. Here's the good news: Teresa of Ávila, the first woman Doctor of the Church, spent twenty years struggling through distracted prayer, and she became the greatest teacher of contemplative prayer the Western mystical tradition has ever produced.
In this episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS introduces the real Teresa of Ávila: the charming nun torn between the convent parlor and the chapel, whose honesty about her own messy prayer life makes her the patron of every distracted pray-er alive. You'll discover Teresa's masterpiece map of the soul, the Interior Castle: a crystal castle with God dwelling at the center, which means the spiritual journey is in, not up. Nina walks you through the rooms at the level of what they feel like, so you can locate yourself on the map today, and shows you how to tell the spiritual feelings you manufacture from the ones God actually gives.
Nina also shares practical steps for seasons of spiritual dryness, tells the story of her own 40-day silent retreat, from compulsive boredom games to a moment of overwhelming joy in a snow-covered field, and leads two full minutes of real, guided silence on air: your first step through the castle door. The episode closes with Teresa's beloved prayer: Let nothing disturb you. Plus, find out whether Teresa is your mystic mentor with Nina's free two-minute quiz.
What You'll Learn:
The Interior Castle explained room by room, and how to find where you are on Teresa's map of the soul
The four waters of prayer, and why prayer gets easier the longer you stay with it
How to recognize real consolations in prayer, and Teresa's warning about chasing spiritual feelings
Practical steps for when prayer feels dry or dead, including Teresa's "determined determination"
Nina's story of a 40-day silent retreat, plus two minutes of guided silence you can pray along with
Vocal prayer vs. contemplative prayer: the difference between talking at God and being with God, and which one your soul is craving right now
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