Teresa of Avila is one of my all time favorite saints, a near and dear friend, and a wonderful patron. This year, to introduce Gianna to her, I created an Interior Castle craft project.

First, we talked about Teresa’s vision of the soul as a castle made out of one big diamond. Castles are an easy thing for her to imagine, and we dreamed and talked about big beautiful rooms and tall towers. Then I explained to G that inside each of us is a castle, and at the very center of that castle in the most beautiful room lives the King, Jesus.

I told her that our whole lives should be spent getting to the center room of our castles, the room where Jesus lives. We talked about ways that we can do that. I reminded her that I take time in the morning to pray before breakfast- one of the ways I try to get to the center of my castle.

Then we talked about diamonds. I asked her what happens to a diamond when the sun hits it and held up my engagement ring to the light. We both agreed that it sparkled beautifully (thanks honey!). I asked her what would happen if I got dirt on my ring. It wouldn’t sparkle any more. So then we talked about our souls as diamonds, and what kinds of things make them dirty (perfect timing- G told William his drawing was ugly) and what makes them sparkle.

We brainstormed a list of things that make G’s soul sparkle, and she picked three to write down.

click below for the pdf

What-Makes-My-Soul-Sparkle Download

And then we began our craft. Here’s what we did:

First, I printed out a castle coloring page and a Jesus coloring page. I resized them to fit the piece of cardboard I was planning on using. G colored both in.

Next, I folded the cardboard (you could also use construction paper or card stock) into a trifold, so that it would open. We cut out her castle and then cut it in half, gluing each half on the cardboard so the castle opened up.