This, to put it bluntly, is a book about Discalced Carmelites. I write about them because, although people are interesting, Discalced Carmelites are more interesting than people. I write about them, too, because I know more about this subject than I know about any other. This book is not an analysis of their sanctity. It is not an insight into the deep recesses of their spiritual life. Nor can it, in any way, be classified as Carmelite literature because it falls far short of the high standards set by our holy parents, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. This book is simply an effort to convey the fact that, although religious life may not always be easy, there is nothing quite so satisfying. It is not a dreary thing. It is not a world wherein somber, brown-robed men straggle through dingy vaulted corridors. It is not a life of long faces and sad hearts. Rather, it is a kingdom that rarely feels the draughts of true sorrow. Lived with, and in imitation of Christ, it could only be, even in its essence, a life of honest joy.
