Third Mansion — Ordered Life and Spiritual Dryness

The Tercera Morada represents souls well-advanced in the vida activa — they practice charity, avoid mortal sin, and maintain an ordered spiritual life — yet suffer sequedad espiritual, a dryness that reveals the limits of ascetical effort alone. Teresa of Ávila warns in the Interior Castle that these souls risk a subtle pride in their own virtue, mistaking moral regularity for transformative grace. God tests them with small trials (pruebas) to expose hidden attachments, preparing the transition from acquired virtue to the infused gifts that characterize the higher mansions.