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Days 1–2 · Toledo
Pilgrims of Love · The Ways of Gentleness and Love
Retreat Pilgrimage with St Teresa of Ávila · 10–16 October 2026
We flew from Heathrow to Madrid and travelled on to Toledo, the city where Teresa founded a Carmel in 1569 and, in 1577, began to write The Interior Castle. With the Solemnity of our Holy Mother only days away, our first reflection asked a simple question: how do we prepare?
Teresa’s own answer is in The Way of Perfection. Before she teaches her sisters a single method of prayer, she names three things that must be in place: love for one another, detachment, and humility. They became the anchoring points of our first days.
Detachment is not coldness. It is the open hand that lets God give what He wants to give. Humility, for Teresa, is simply walking in the truth about ourselves, our poverty and our dignity together. And love of God and neighbour is the test of everything else. If prayer does not make us kinder to the person beside us on the coach, something is missing.
None of this is reserved for nuns behind a grille. Teresa insists it belongs to everyone who prays. In Toledo we began to see that a pilgrimage is not a change of scenery but a change of heart, practised one gentle choice at a time.
Pause and pray
Which of the three is the Lord asking you to make room for today?
Watch on Instagram: The reflection
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass; God never changes.
Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices. — St Teresa of Jesus