序言

這篇以《靈心城堡》為主題的專著是由我們迦密聖母的修女耶穌德蘭為她的姊妹和女兒——戴足加爾默羅修女們寫的。

很少有像寫關於祈禱的文章這樣艱鉅的任務落在我身上。原因之一是，我覺得天主沒有給我力量或渴望，除此之外，在過去的三個月裡，我一直受到噪音的困擾，頭腦中的巨大弱點使我甚至在必要的事務上都感到痛苦。 ³⁰

然而，正如我所知，服從具有使看似不可能的事情變得容易的力量，我的意志以一種良好的恩典服從，儘管本性似乎非常痛苦，因為天主沒有給我足夠的力量來承受與疾病的持續鬥爭，同時履行許多不同的職責。願在其他更困難的事情上幫助我的主，在這件事上以祂的恩典幫助我，因為我相信祂的憐憫。我想我幾乎沒有什麼可說的，這在我其他在服從下寫的作品中已經提出過。事實上，我擔心這只是它們的重複。我就像一隻學會說話的鸚鵡；它只知道它被教導或聽到的內容，它一遍又一遍地重複同樣的事情。如果天主希望我寫出任何新的東西，祂會教我，或讓我想起我在其他地方說過的話。即便如此，我也應該感到滿足了，因為我很健忘，所以我應該很高興能夠回憶起一些人們說我講得好的事情，免得他們完全忘記了。 如果我們的主連這個都不肯賜給我，那麼，如果我因努力服從而使我的大腦疲倦並增加我的頭痛，我將獲得功德，儘管我的話對任何人都毫無用處。因此，我在 1577 年的聖三一節那天，在托萊多的卡梅爾聖約瑟夫修道院（我居住的地方）開始了這部作品，並將我所有的作品提交給那些博學之人的評判，我是按照他們的命令來完成這些作品的。如果我說任何違背神聖羅馬天主教教義的話，那將是無知的錯誤，而不是惡意，這可以被認為是肯定的。靠著神的良善，我現在並將永遠忠於教會，就像我過去一樣。願他永遠受到祝福和榮耀。阿門。

讓我寫這篇文章的人告訴我，卡梅爾聖母院的修女們需要有人來解決她們在祈禱方面的困難：他認為婦女們最能理解彼此的語言，而我的姐妹們對我的感情會讓她們特別注意我的話，因此我向她們解釋清楚這個問題很重要。因此，我只寫信給我的姊妹們；認為其他人可以從我所說的話中受益的想法是荒謬的。如果我們的主能讓我幫助其中一位修女更好地讚美他，那就是對我很大的恩惠。陛下深知我沒有其他目的。如果有什麼事情是切中要害的，他們會明白這不是我寫的，也沒有理由把它歸咎於我，因為以我的理解力和技巧，我無法寫出任何類似的東西，除非天主以他的仁慈使我能夠這樣做。

THIS TREATISE, STYLED THE INTERIOR CASTLE, WAS WRITTEN BY TERESA OF JESUS, NUN OF OUR LADY OF CARMEL, FOR HER SISTERS AND DAUGHTERS, THE DISCALCED CARMELITE NUNS.

RARELY has obedience laid upon me so difficult a task as this of writing about prayer; for one reason, because I do not feel that God has given me either the power or the desire for it, besides which, during the last three months I have suffered from noises and a great weakness in my head that have made it painful for me to write even on necessary business.³⁰

However, as I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible, my will submits with a good grace, although nature seems greatly distressed, for God has not given me such strength as to bear, without repugnance, the constant struggle against illness while performing many different duties. May He, Who has helped me in other more difficult matters, aid me with His grace in this, for I trust in His mercy. I think I have but little to say that has not already been put forth in my other works written under obedience; in fact, I fear this will be but repetition of them. I am like a parrot which has learnt to talk; only knowing what it has been taught or has heard, it repeats the same thing over and over again. If God wishes me to write anything new, He will teach it me, or bring back to my memory what I have said elsewhere. I should be content even with this, for as I am very forgetful, I should be glad to be able to recall some of the matters about which people say I have spoken well, lest they should be altogether lost. If our Lord will not even grant me this, still, if I weary my brains and increase my headache by striving to obey, I shall gain in merit, though my words should be useless to any one. So I begin this work on the Feast of the Blessed Trinity in the year 1577, in the Convent of St. Joseph of Carmel at Toledo, where I am living, and I submit all my writings to the judgment of those learned men by whose commands I undertake them. That it will be the fault of ignorance, not malice, if I say anything contrary to the doctrine of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, may be held as certain. By God’s goodness I am, and always shall be, faithful to the Church, as I have been in the past. May He be for ever blessed and glorified. Amen.

He who bids me write this, tells me that the nuns of these convents of our Lady of Carmel need some one to solve their difficulties about prayer: he thinks that women understand one another’s language best and that my sisters’ affection for me would make them pay special attention to my words, therefore it is important for me to explain the subject clearly to them. Thus I am writing only to my sisters; the idea that any one else could benefit by what I say would be absurd. Our Lord will be doing me a great favour if He enables me to help but one of the nuns to praise Him a little better; His Majesty knows well that I have no other aim. If anything is to the point, they will understand that it does not originate from me and there is no reason to attribute it to me, as with my scant understanding and skill I could write nothing of the sort, unless God, in His mercy, enabled me to do so.