Teresa of Avila, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
You ask as though the two were rivals, and in the seventh mansion they are not. The marriage is the highest state, and the service is the reason for it. I put the chapter that closes the book under this heading: our Lord's principal intention in conferring these sublime favours, and how necessary it is for Mary and Martha to go together.1 Take the marriage first, because I will not make it smaller than it is.
It is not like the espousals of the earlier mansions, which are as one betrothed and often dissolved; here the soul is united for ever, as in holy wedlock.2 It takes place in the innermost centre of the soul, where God Himself must dwell, and it needs no door, for what passes there does not come through the senses and faculties as the earlier favours did.2
The soul, I mean the spirit of the soul, is made one with God, Who is spirit, and He binds Himself to her as firmly as two human beings are joined, and will never separate Himself from her.2 But look at what the soul is like once He has brought it into His presence chamber. It is no longer made blind and dumb, as in the prayer of union, where during the moment itself it feels nothing, all its powers being lost; now He removes the scales from its eyes, that it may see and understand something of the grace received.3
And that is where Martha comes in. I told of a soul whom God had favoured so, and who afterwards, in great sufferings, complained of her own soul as Martha did of Mary, reproaching it for enjoying solitary peace while leaving her so full of troubles and occupations that she could not keep it company.4 So the soul rests in the centre, and the faculties are still busy in the house.
This is no fancy, I said, though the soul is undivided; the effects show that the spirit and the soul, though one, are not the same.5 Do not suppose, either, that the marriage lifts a soul beyond weakness. Our Lord leaves such persons now and then to their natural weakness, and the venomous creatures from the moat round the Castle join together to take their revenge.6
It lasts a day, perhaps a little longer; and it teaches them what they gain from the holy Company they keep, and keeps them humble.7 So here is my answer, as I gave it to my daughters at the end of that chapter. Prayer is for the sake of works. The marriage is given so that works may be born, and a soul that sat in its centre enjoying the sweetness and would not rise to help a sister would have mistaken the gift for the purpose. Hear the one, then, who is yourself both Martha and Mary: serve, and let Him keep the rest.
Union is not the sweetness. The union that matters is of the will with God's will, and a soul that has it may have no rapture at all; the silkworm must die so that the butterfly may fly, and the butterfly's flight is works. In the seventh mansion the soul is at peace in its centre while the faculties labour in the house, and this is the end: not to enjoy but to serve, so that works are born of it.
A nun who cannot be a contemplative and keeps the rule in love is not less; a contemplative who would not leave her prayer to help a sister has not understood prayer.8910
The conclusion sets forth what appears to be our Lord's principal intention in conferring these sublime favours on souls, and explains how necessary it is for Mary and Martha to go together.The Interior Castle, or The Mansions
He has bound Himself to her as firmly as two human beings are joined in wedlock, and will never separate Himself from her.The Interior Castle, or The Mansions
Now, however, He acts differently: our pitiful God removes the scales from its eyes, that it may see and understand somewhat of the grace receivedThe Interior Castle, or The Mansions
she complained of her soul as Martha did of Mary, reproaching it with enjoying solitary peace while leaving her so full of troubles and occupations that she could not keep it company.The Interior Castle, or The Mansions
Interior effects show for certain that there is a positive difference between the soul and the spirit, although they are one with each other.The Interior Castle, or The Mansions
our Lord occasionally leaves such persons to the weakness of their nature. The venomous creatures from the moat round the Castle and the other mansions at once join together to revenge themselvesThe Interior Castle, or The Mansions
our Lord wishes the soul to keep in mind its natural condition, that it may be humble, and may better understand how much it owes HimThe Interior Castle, or The Mansions
No earthly events can trouble it, unless it should see itself in danger of losing God or should witness any offence offered Him. Neither sickness, poverty, nor the loss of any one by death affect it, except it be that of persons useful to the Church of God, for the soul realises thoroughly that God's disposal is wiser than its own desires. 5.The Interior Castle, or The Mansions
And this will be easy to understand for one to whom Our Lord has given it; and for one to whom He has not, at the least many words and comparisons will be needed.Spiritual Testimonies, Relaciones I-LXVII
The Lord gave me to understand what the spirit is, and how the soul was at that time, and how the words of the Magnificat are understood: Exultavit spiritus meus; I shall not know how to say it; it seems to me I was given to understand that the spirit was the highest part of the will.Spiritual Testimonies, Relaciones I-LXVII
The teaching that makes her the opponent of the quietism that later claimed her, and that readers who come for the raptures find hardest to credit.