Dime gran fatiga, y como si yo pudiera algo o fuera algo, lloraba con el Señor y le suplicaba remediase tanto mal. - Teresa of Ávila

The devil makes you think you are poor and makes even others who practice prayer think this of themselves. And he is somewhat right because you have promised poverty — orally, that is. I say orally, for it is impossible that, if with the heart we understand what we promise and then promise it, the devil could draw us for twenty years and even our whole lives into this temptation; 'impossible,' because we would see that we are deceiving the world and our own selves.

I was thinking about what I could do for God, and I thought that the first thing was to follow the call to the religious life, which His Majesty had given me, by keeping my rule as perfectly as I could.

Be assured that the more progress you make in loving your neighbor, the greater will be your love for God.