From the great number of their disciples raised up to the altar, it is readily apparent that the spirituality of Ss. Teresa and John is fertile and productive, and will continue to be so until the end of time. The charism of the Carmelite monks is firmly anchored in the spirit of these great saints, so that they may readily be identified as their sons in the cloisters of Carmel. The Carmelite monks also hold in great esteem and seek to imitate all the glorious saints of the Carmelite Order, who followed the example of Ss. Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross.

St. Teresa's deepest conviction as a Carmelite was to imitate the way of life of the early hermits of the Order. She often said: "Let us remember our holy fathers of past days, the hermits whose lives we attempt to imitate. What sufferings they bore, what solitude, cold, thirst and hunger, what burning sun and heat! And yet they had no one to complain to except God." She also said to her daughters: "For the whole manner of life we are trying to live is making us, not only nuns, but hermits, like the holy fathers our predecessors." In the way of life instituted by Ss. Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross, the Carmelite monks find the means necessary to return to the pristine charism of those first hermits on Mount Carmel.