Teresa of Ávila

You don't hide: when you know something is wrong, you say it out loud, and start putting it right yourself instead of waiting for others. That is Teresa. For years she drifts through a lukewarm convent life until, at thirty-nine, a second conversion turns everything around. She sees visions and describes the soul as an interior castle, with God dwelling in its innermost room. Then she acts: against every resistance she leads her order back to its original austerity and founds seventeen convents of the Discalced Carmelites, John of the Cross at her side. In 1970 the Church declares her a Doctor of the Church. Mysticism and getting things done are no contradiction. And you, where are you still living lukewarm, though you already know that more is being asked of you?