Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Spaniard, is known not only for
her mystical raptures but also for her practical activism. The
Interior Castle, Teresas most famous treatise on the spiritual
path, written in 1577, may be seen as more than a prescription
for achieving personal union with the Divine - it can serve as a
clear set of guidelines for conscious peacemaking in the world.
At 51, Teresa took the reforms she had advocated in the convent
out to the rest of the church. "She braved burning sun, ice and
snow, thieves, and rat-infested inns to found more convents,"
writes Terry Matz in The Daybook of Saints. The papal
representative called her "a restless, disobedient gadabout who
has gone about teaching as though she were a professor." "She
often had to enter a town secretly in the middle of the night to
avoid causing a riot," continues Matz. The Interior Castle is
the fruit of a vision Teresa had near the end of her life. She
perceived the soul as a crystal palace, so radiantly beautiful
that the Beloved hi