Por eso, no os descuideis

I have taken the cue of some good friends in reading an excerpt from a spiritual book before driving.  The most recent book in my car is the fourth of a set called Sermon in a Sentence (Ignatius Press), which features writings of the Carmelite reformer and mystic St. Teresa of Avila.  The other day the random line was a verse of a poem entitled For the Veiling of Sister Isabel de los Angeles, a retelling of the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Mt 25).

Keep ready your oil jar / Of merit and deeds, / Ample to keep / Your lamp aflame / Lest outside you be kept / When He comes. / Do not be careless.

For Spanish speakers and curious types like me, I include the original, leaving you to provide the accent marks:

Tened oleo en la aceitera / de obras y merecer, / para poder proveer / la lampara, no se muera; / porque quedareis de fuera / si entonces no la teneis, / por eso, no os descuideis.

St. Teresa pulled no punches in talking to her sisters.  I would profit from not being spared any punches myself.