I was contemplating whether those who are annoyed that I am leaving the cloister to establish monasteries might be right, and whether it would not be better for me to devote myself much more diligently to prayer. Then I perceived these words: “As long as a person is on earth, it does not benefit them as much to delight in me more as it does to do my will.”
It seemed to me that God's will for me was expressed in the words of St. Paul that women should live in seclusion, as was recently cited to me and as I have heard several times. However, He said to me: “Let them know that it is necessary to keep in mind the whole Holy Scripture. Not just one part, but all contexts. Or do they perhaps want to bind my hands?”
(Teresa of Jesus, Spiritual Relations 19; June 30, 1571)
