Sayings of the Saints: Teresa of Avila

In the face of those who equate a dourness with holiness, and the obsession with devotional practice with the practice of Christian virtue, St. Teresa of Avila, the 16th century Doctor of the Church who led the reform of the Carmelite Order into a more ascetic form, is noted to have prayed: From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, O Lord, deliver us!