Moral Demands from Love. An Ethical Reading of Theresa of Avila´s Dwelling Places in the Interior Castle

Abstract

Theresa is a woman filled with desires as infinite as her capacity of love. Theresa has “a foolish love for God” and God “is mad of love for Theresa”. This loving experience of love for God translated by her in love for her neighbors makes a radical change in her life, a new frame of thinking, feeling and acting. “Without love there is nothing” would be Theresa´s motto and she felt that throughout all her life. When a human being loves in this way, there should be a radical change and this would affect all behavior and the heart´s core of this person. The praxis of Christian love is the root from which springs out the right behavior and the best manifestation of “the work of God” in a human being. The only way to reach the heights of holiness is through the practice of loving God and our neighbors.