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Fourth Sunday of Advent
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

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Ahlborn image



 
Mel Ahlborn 
Interior Castles, from Teresa of Avila's book of the same name
June 1994
20"w x 28" h
Private Collection 
Let us not be so foolish as to lose time by waiting to receive 
what has already been given us once.
-Teresa of Avila
On the paths of our inner lives little has changed since St. Teresa penned her manuscript Interior Castles some 400 years ago. She writes of how to build a mansion of love within ourselves that grows to become an eternal welcome for Christ's presence and an infinite willingness for God's mission.

This illuminated panel measures 20 by 28 inches, done with gouache, ink and gold leaf on paper. It took nine months to complete and draws artistic influence from 14th century English monastic Hermann Scheerre. Several texts wind through the panel. The main body text is excerpted, in phrases, from the E. Allison Peers translation, Image/Doubleday, 1989. Rubrics (red lettering) highlight another phrase. Across the tops of the seven castles can be read "Let us not be so foolish as to lose time by waiting to receive what has already been given us once."

Text : Think of the soul as if it were a castle in which there are many rooms and midst them all is the chiefest room where the most secret things pass between God and the soul. As far as I am concerned the door of entry into this castle is prayer and meditation. All that the beginner in prayer has to do is to prepare oneself with all possible diligence to bring one's will into conformity with the will of God. Be intent upon discovering what the Lord is working in one's soul. Enter, then, enter within one's self.

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    © 2002 The Episcopal Church and Visual Arts