To St. Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Spanish nun and mystic philosopher, courage was the most important virtue. When Teresa was only 11, her mother died, which left her grief-stricken and prompted her to turn to Christianity’s Virgin Mary as her spiritual mother. At age 20, she devoted herself to the Catholic Church and entered a convent, where she spent the rest of her life contemplating the profound matters of the soul. With this insight, she reminds us that life is rarely easy, but courage gets us through even the greatest obstacles.