Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, also known as Saint Teresa of Avila, because she was born in Avila, Spain, on the 28th of March 1515. And she entered the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation in 1530. 1335 at the age of 20. Following years of illness and spiritual struggle, she experienced a profound renewal of her prayers prayer life. Imagine years struggling to find a good routine, a good discipline in prayer. I think we can all relate to that, we who are trying to grow in our spiritual life. In 1562, she founded St. Joseph's Convent in Avila, and beginning the reform of the Carmelite Order, she established 17 reformed convents and collaborated with Saint John of the Cross and also had as her spiritual director an amazing Franciscan saint by the name of Peter of Alcantara. She died in Alba de Tormes in 1582 and was canonized in 1622, and declared a doctor of the church in 1970.