It seems to me that love is like an arrow sent forth by the will. If it travels with all the force that the will has, freed from all earthly things, and directed to God alone, it truly must wound His Majesty. Thus, fixed in God Himself, who is love, it is brought back from there with the greatest gain…The tremendous gain drawn from this kind of prayer is clearly recognized through the effects, the virtues, the living faith and the contempt for the world left in the soul.
– St. Teresa of Avila