“There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.”

St. Teresa of Avila

Whenever I think of saints, I envision someone old and sedate with a kind and pious demeanour. Rarely do I see them as a rambunctious child. Born in 1515, St. Teresa of Avila, a prominent Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun, ran away at the age of seven with her brother Rodrigo to find martyrdom among the Moors. She was stopped by her uncle. As a teenager, she liked taking care of her appearance and reading about medieval tales of knighthood, the popular fiction of the time. When St. Teresa was 14, her mother died. She took refuge in a deeper commitment to the Virgin Mary, her spiritual mother. Experiences in childhood create a foundation upon which to build a life. St. Teresa of Avila devoted her entire days to God’s work. Forty years after her death in 1622, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV. In 1970, Pope Paul VI named her a Doctor of the Church.

“The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.”

St. Teresa of Avila