Second Meditation

(Interior Castle, book I: chapter 2)

"Thus says the LORD: The heavens are my throne, the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me; what is to be my resting place? My hand made all these things when all of them came to be, says the LORD. This is the one whom I approve: the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at my word." (1)


The First Rooms

Across the bridge the handmaid steals
In search of Him who dwells therein.
In the first rooms dim light reveals
Her wretchedness of self and sin.

The crystal walls reflect contrast:
The handmaid to Divinity;
Her state to Beauty Unsurpassed --
The mirror of humility.

Within these rooms the vermin reign:
Their honor, pride, and vain pleasures;
The humble, with grace, will sustain
Their search for Beloved's treasures.

The proud are cast down to their place
To be lifted by Mercy's grace.


May Mercy reflect our reality clearly, so that we may find the safe way of humility.

(1) Isaiah 66:1-2


(c) Paul Buis, 2002