The Commentaries

Welcome to The Commentaries season on The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena! Your host Sister Mary Madeline Todd, OP, starts the journey by explaining why she feels St. Catherine chose her to lead you deeper and closer to Christ. The Dialogue flows from a conversation in prayer that Catherine had with God the Father. It covers four major topics: 1. Divine Providence 2. Discretion 3. Prayer 4. Obe...

Fr. Reid reviews St. Teresa's stages of contemplation: Passive Recollection Prayer of Quiet Prayer of Union Spiritual Betrothal Spiritual Marriage It’s Teresa’s belief that God gives this favor of contemplation to those who have renounced the world, at least in their desires, and whom He desires to call to advance further to a higher life. Episode 20 is a review of the book and the previous 19 pod...

Fr. Reid examines St. Teresa's various forms of prayer and reminds us of a very important principle in the spiritual life: our growth in virtue and our faithfulness to prayer are corollaries. The more we pray, the more we grow in virtue. The more we grow in virtue, the more we will want to pray. Of course, the opposite is true as well. The less we pray, the less we will grow in virtue. And the mor...

St. Teresa is at pains to express how the soul spiritually married to our Lord now lives a new life, a life of complete union with Christ. When our Lord says in His Sermon on the Mount to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” this is what He wants from us. Episode 18 focuses on The 7th Mansions, Chapters 3 & 4. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF: The Interior Castle (Del...

St. Teresa discusses our Lord’s presence in the very center of our souls, mortal sin, Trinitarian theology, and the distinction between spiritual betrothal and spiritual marriage. At this stage, Teresa says the soul “is far more active than before in all that concerns God’s service” and is even more attentive to avoid offending God in any way. Episode 17 focuses on The 7th Mansions, Chapters 1 &am...

St. Teresa says God reveals Himself to a soul as Truth Itself and encourages us to live in conformity with the truth. Fr. Reid explains how the more a soul receives from God, and consequently comes to know and love Him, the more the soul suffers in seeing itself so distant from Him and unable to enjoy Him completely as it will in Heaven. Episode 16 focuses on The 6th Mansions, Chapters 10 & 11...

St. Teresa explains how intellectual visions happen when a soul feels our Lord Jesus Christ beside it in an indubitable way without seeing Him with either the eyes of the body or the eyes of the soul. Fr. Reid also goes into Teresa's explanation of imaginary visions, which seem more beneficial, but which the devil meddles with more. Episode 15 focuses on The 6th Mansions, Chapters 8 & 9. LEARN...

St. Teresa discusses a variation of a rapture she calls “flight of the spirit.”In this phenomenon, the soul is carried away with an alarming speed and an intensity that cannot be resisted. Fr. Reid explains how the soul desires to praise God unceasingly, embraces an intense joy in God, and is compelled to share this praise and joy with others. Episode 14 focuses on The 6th Mansions, Chapters 5-7....

While the devil is able to counterfeit some things, he cannot reproduce the sense of peace and delight that come with authentic locutions. St. Teresa says that, in spiritual betrothal, God allows us to have raptures in order to draw us out of our faculties, and she parses out different types of raptures. The different things the Lord does to the raptured soul are remembered forever and are often b...

St. Teresa talks about the great sufferings that occur in The 6th Mansion, The Dark Night of The Soul. Fr. Reid enlightens us on St. Teresa's own personal trials, and tells us how God makes the soul desire Him all the more vehemently "by services so delicate that the soul itself cannot discern them," but which are painful. Episode 12 focuses on The 6th Mansions, Chapters 1 & 2. LEARN MORE - US...

St. Teresa tells us that union with God’s will is really what we should be striving for! The Prayer of Union proceeds from union with God’s will, and the person who is united with God’s will finds peace. Episode 11 focuses on The 5th Mansions, Chapters 3 & 4. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF: The Interior Castle (Deluxe Edition): https://bit.ly/42oGlwW TAN Classics Deluxe Set: ht...

St. Teresa compares the soul to the silkworm. The soul begins to live by the help God gives it through the remedies of the Church: Confession, reading good books, hearing sermons, etc. These things help a person mature to the point in which he can spin the cocoon – which is Christ! Fr. Reid also explains what St. Teresa means when she describes a soul in The 5th Mansions as a sleeping soul. Episod...

St. Teresa talks about the mind not being put to rest until called to the Prayer of Recollection by God. Fr. Reid walks us through the four reasons that is and stresses the importance of not forcing things and allowing God to work. St. Teresa also addresses the effects of divine consolations, and she warns those who receive them about how the devil will meddle with them. Episode nine focuses on Th...

St. Teresa explains how divine consolations dilate the heart and stresses how humility is key to receiving The Prayer of Quiet. Fr. Reid explains Teresa's analogy of the two water basins to compare and contrast the prayer of the 3rd mansions with that of the 4th mansions. Episode eight focuses on The 4th Mansions, Chapter 2. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF: The Interior Castle (Delu...

Moving from meditation to contemplation, St. Teresa makes the distinction between experiences through our own meditation and petitions to the Lord, or sweetness in prayer, and spiritual consolations, which arise from God. Fr. Reid explains how the latter expands our hearts. Episode seven focuses on The 4th Mansions, Chapter 1. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF: The Interior Castle (De...

St. Teresa again counsels humility and seeking to conform oneself with God’s will. And she teaches us that our perfection lies not in the consolations we receive from God, but in our love. Fr. Reid explains how we must be obedient, have someone to be accountable to, and look only at our own faults instead of those of others. Episode six focuses on The 3rd Mansions, Chapter 2. LEARN MORE - USE COUP...

Just because our souls get to an advanced state, St. Teresa implores us to understand how easy it can be for us to fall and go backwards in the spiritual life. Fr. Reid stresses the importance of having fear of the Lord and breaks down exactly what that means. Episode five focuses on The 3rd Mansions, Chapter 1. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF: The Interior Castle (Deluxe Edition):...

St. Teresa advises to conform ourselves to God's will, embrace the cross, and be willing to suffer in order to advance in The Interior Castle. Fr. Reid explains how the souls in The Second Mansions differ from those in The First Mansions, and stresses the importance of learning how to master our emotions. Episode four focuses on the only chapter on the The Second Mansions. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON...

St. Teresa describes a soul in mortal sin, and Fr. Reid provides relevant information from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the same subject. St. Teresa also stresses the importance of self-knowledge and humility, how the devil tries to trick us into false humility, and how to overcome that. Episode three focuses on the 1st Mansions, Chapter 2. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF...

This episode begins with an anthropological discussion of St. Teresa’s understanding of the greatness of the human soul and our human dignity, and continues with Teresa’s explanation of how we enter The Interior Castle through prayer, making a distinction between the two types of souls found outside the castle. Episode two focuses on the 1st Mansions, Chapter 1. LEARN MORE - USE COUPON CODE COM25...

Fr. Timothy Reid begins the exploration of The Interior Castle by putting this Catholic classic into historical context, explaining the castle imagery used by St. Teresa of Ávila, and breaking down how the book is organized. In episode one, Fr. Reid also provides a brief summary of each of the seven mansions and explains the 20 podcast episodes of The Commentaries: The Interior Castle will deepen...

TAN Publisher Conor Gallagher introduces Fr. Timothy Reid as our expert guide through the seminal work of the first female Doctor of the Church. In 20 episodes, discover how The Interior Castle survived the centuries as a classic of Catholic spirituality due to St. Teresa’s humble conviction, authenticity, and her ability to articulate the deep mysteries of spiritual experiences. Her portrayal of...

“Be not anxious, stand not to dispute with thy thoughts, nor to answer the doubts which the devil suggests. But believe the words of God, believe his saints and prophets, and the wicked enemy will fly from you. It is often very profitable to the servants of God to suffer such things, for the devil tempts not unbelievers and sinners whom he already surely possesses, but the faithful and devout he,...

Book 4, Chapter 12 of The Imitation of Christ tells us how to properly prepare to receive the Holy Eucharist. "Shut out the whole world, and all the tumult of vices: sit like a sparrow solitary on the housetop, and think in your excess and in the bitterness of your soul. For every lover prepares the best and fairest room for his dearly beloved; and hereby is known the affection of him that enterta...

O Christ, in bread and wine disguised, Hidden from our earthly eyes, But present here in mystery, From death and sin, please set us free. Grant us pure and true devotion. Rule our senses, thoughts, emotions. Let Thy blood refresh our souls. Let Thy body make us whole. Amen. Episode 15 of The Commentaries dives into Book Four of The Imitation of Christ , chapters 1-7. GET THE BOOK - USE COUPON CODE...