Saint Teresa of Jesus
While at St. Joseph's in Avila, on the vigil of Pentecost, I was in the hermitage of Nazareth reflecting upon a very great favor our Lord had granted me on that day, more or less twenty years before, when an intense spiritual impulse and fervor began which caused my faculties to be suspended. In this great recollection I heard from our Lord the following:
That I should tell the Discalced Fathers that for their part they ought to strive to observe four things and that as long as they keep them their religious order will grow, and that when they fail to do so they will be falling away from their original purpose. The first is that their leaders be in accord. The second, that though they have many houses, there be few friars in each. The third, that they speak little with seculars, but that when they do, it be for the good of these persons' souls. The fourth, that they teach by works more than by words.
This happened in the year 1579. And because it is very true, I sign it with my name:
Teresa of Jesus
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