← Back to Ávila Pilgrimage 2026 diary
Day 3 · Toledo – Segovia – Ávila
Prayer as the Foundation of This House
Retreat Pilgrimage with St Teresa of Ávila · 10–16 October 2026
Today we joined Teresa of Jesus on the road from Toledo to Segovia, where she founded a Carmel in 1574. She travelled these roads by mule cart, in heat and cold, convinced that every new house must be built on prayer before it is built in stone. We travelled in an air-conditioned coach, but the invitation was the same: to let the journey become a spiritual awakening, each of us on our own road towards God.
Segovia also holds the tomb of St John of the Cross, Teresa’s companion in the reform. Standing there, we remembered that Toledo, the city we had just left, was the place of his imprisonment. In that dark cell he composed some of the most luminous poetry in the Spanish language, including the line that punctuated our day:
¡Qué bien sé yo la fonte que mana y corre, aunque es de noche!
How well I know that fountain that flows and runs, even though it is night!
John did not wait for the darkness to lift before he trusted the spring. He knew by faith that it was running. So many of us arrive on pilgrimage carrying some kind of night. John’s word to us is not that the night is unreal, but that the fountain is flowing even now.
By evening we had reached Ávila, the home of Teresa.
Pause and pray
Where in your life is it “night” just now? Can you trust that the fountain is still running there?
Watch on Instagram: Toledo to Segovia · The fountain that flows by night
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