“Our Primitive Rule tells us to pray without ceasing. Provided we do this with all possible care (and it is the most important thing of all) we shall not fail to observe the fasts, disciplines and periods of silence which the Order commands; for, as you know, if prayer is to be genuine it must be reinforced with these things – prayer cannot be accompanied by self-indulgence.”
Source: Saint Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, Dover Thrift Editions, 2012.
