Week 6: Book Two, Chapters I–VI — The Inward Life and the Joy of a Good Conscience

1.Chapter I opens Book Two with Christ's words, 'The kingdom of God is within you,' and Thomas draws the implication: 'Christ will come to thee, and show thee His consolation, if thou prepare a worthy mansion for Him within thee.' What does it mean practically to prepare your interior life as a dwelling for Christ? What would need to be cleared out or rearranged?

2.Thomas writes in Chapter I: 'If thou hadst once entered into the mind of Jesus, and hadst tasted yea even a little of his tender love, then wouldst thou care nought for thine own convenience or inconvenience.' He is describing a transformation of desire, not just behavior. Have you ever tasted something of that kind of love? What was it like, and what did it do to your ordinary preoccupations?

3.Chapter II offers a striking summary of humility: 'Reckon not thyself to have profited in anywise unless thou feel thyself to be inferior to all.' Thomas is not calling us to false self-deprecation or low self-worth in a psychological sense, but to a particular posture before God and others. What is the difference between healthy humility and unhealthy self-contempt? How do you navigate that?