The Intercession of Fr. Marie Eugene

 
Venerable Fr. Marie-Eugene's whole life was marked by the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost and Our Lady. He started the Secular Institute, Notre Dame de
Vie in 1932. He died on Easter Monday, March 27, 1967, the very day on which he loved to celebrate the Easter joy of Mary, Mother of Life.
 
Fr. Marie-Eugene, we beg your intercession to ask Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to bless The Traditional Lay Carmelites of Fatima for the glory of God and the
 salvation of souls.

​Every Friday, I will post chapter summaries of his first book which he wrote for the lay people who were in his Secular Institute. This book is called, "I Want to See God". It was written pre-Vatican II but has been put back into print in 1998 and is available on Amazon.
The summary of the first chapter is:
I WANT TO SEE GOD – Chapter 1 Notes
The Book of Mansions
 

1. Historical Circumstances

St. Teresa wrote the Interior Castle or Book of the Mansions in 1577.
She was then 62 years old.
15 years earlier, she had founded the first convent of the reformed
Carmelites, St. Joseph’s in Avila.
10 years earlier – she had extended the reform to the friars.
In 1571 – She was appointed the Prioress of the convent of the Incarnation
Where she had been for 28 years prior to the reform. She met opposition but
re-established regularity and won their hearts. She was freed of this charge in 1574
and returned to founding more foundations.
The non-reformed Spanish Carmelites presented their grievances against the
Teresian Reform to the friars. The chapter declared that the reformed groups must be
treated as rebels; that the reformer, Teresa of Jesus, must stop her foundations and
remain in one convent of her choice.
She chose the convent in Toledo for retirement.
In 1577, the Calced friars took into custody St. John of the Cross.
In 1577-1578, the Carmelite Reform went through hours of agony.
She was asked to write on prayer but felt she could not as she thought she said it all.
With God’s grace, the Interior Castle was written June 2 – Nov. 29, 1577 – six months.
 

1. Composition and Division of the Work

She writes: “I had no idea how to begin to carry out the obligation laid upon me by obedience, a thought occurred to me which I will now set down, in order to have some foundation on which to build. I began to think of the soul as if it were a castle made of a single diamond or of a very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions.”
 
Breakdown of the Interior Castle Book (Not in this book but FYI)
 
The First Mansions
 Chapter I. Description of the Castle
 Chapter II. The Human Soul
 
 The Second Mansions
 Chapter I. War
 
 The Third Mansions
Chapter I. Fear of God
 Chapter II. Aridity in Prayer
The Fourth Mansions
Chapter I. Sweetness in Prayer
 Chapter II. Divine Consolations
 Chapter III. Prayer of Quiet
 
The Fifth Mansions
Chapter I. Prayer of Union
Chapter II. Effects of Union
Chapter III. Cause of Union
Chapter IV. Spiritual Espousals
 The Sixth Mansions
Chapter I. Preparation for Spiritual Marriage
Chapter II. The Wound of Love
Chapter III. Locutions
Chapter IV. Raptures
Chapter V. The Flight of the Spirit
Chapter VI. Spiritual Jubilation
Chapter VII. The Humanity of Our Lord
Chapter VIII. Intellectual Visions
Chapter IX. Imaginary Visions
Chapter X. Intellectual Visions Continued
Chapter XI. The Dart of Love
 
The Seventh Mansions
 
Chapter I. God's Presence Chamber
Chapter II. Spiritual Marriage
Chapter III. Its Effects
Chapter IV. Martha and Mary
 
 

1. Value of the Work

 She had met many confessors and theologians since she wrote her Life and this along with her experiences helped to be fruitful in her writing. She had St. John of the Cross for three years as a confessor at the Convent of the Incarnation to which he came at her request. Teresa gave from her grace as mother of souls; John of the Cross used his authority as father and communicated his knowledge as mystical doctor. Their conversations sometimes ended in ecstasy; and it was after a Holy Communion received from the hands of John of the Cross that Teresa was raised to spiritual marriage on Nov. 18, 1572. Since then in the Seventh Mansion, she was in the continual presence of the Holy Trinity. Her gaze could penetrate the light of the mystery of God and there gather new riches. Through spiritual marriage she has become a mother of souls, sharing with others the fruitfulness of her own soul.
It was under the influence of her double grace as spouse of Christ and mother of souls that she gave to Christian literature one of its masterpieces among the treatises on spirituality.