Vatican City, 28 March 2015 (VIS) –
Pope Francis has written a letter to Fr. Saverio Cannistra,
prepositor general of the Order of Descalced Brothers of the Blessed
Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, to commemorate the fifth centenary of
the birth of St. Teresa of Jesus and and to participate in the giving
of thanks for the charism of this “remarkable woman”.
“I consider it a providential grace
that this anniversary coincides with the year dedicated to
consecrated life, in which the Saint of Avila shines as a sure guide
and attractive model of total commitment to God. … How much we
continue to benefit from the witness of her consecration, born
directly of her encounter with Christ, her experience of prayer, as a
continual dialogue with God, and her community life, rooted in the
maternity of the Church!”
“St. Teresa was above all a teacher
of prayer. The discovery of Christ's humanity was central to her
experience. Moved by the desire to share this personal experience
with others, she describes it in a lively and simple way, accessible
to all, as consisting simply in 'a relationship of friendship …
with Whom we know loves us'. The prayer of Teresa was not a prayer
reserved solely to a space or time of day; it arose spontaneously on
the most diverse occasions. … She was convinced of the value of
continual, if not always perfect, prayer. … To renew consecrated
life today, Teresa has left us a great heritage full of concrete
suggestions, ways and methods of praying that, far from closing us in
ourselves or leading us merely to inner balance, enable us always to
start again from Jesus, and constitute a genuine school for growth in
love for God and neighbour”.
“Starting from her encounter with
Jesus, St. Teresa lived 'another life'; she transformed herself into
a tireless communicator of the Gospel. Keen to serve the Church, and
faced with the great problems of her time, she did not limit herself
to being an observer of the situations surrounding her. … In this
way she began the Teresian reform in which she asked her sisters not
to waste time discussing 'matters of little importance' with God
while “the world is in flames'. This missionary and ecclesial
dimension has always distinguished the Discalced Carmelites. As she
did during her times, St. Teresa opens up new horizons to us today;
she calls us to a great enterprise, to look upon the world through
Christ's eyes, to seek what He seeks and to love what He loves”.
“St. Teresa knew that neither prayer
nor mission could sustain an authentic community life. Therefore, the
foundation she laid in her monasteries was fraternity. … She was
very careful to warn her sisters of the danger of self-referentiality
in fraternal life”, emphasising the need to “'place what we are
at the service of others. To avoid such risks, the Saint of Avila
reminded her sisters above all of the virtue of humility, which is
neither outward neglect nor inner timidness of the soul; instead, it
involves each person being aware of their own possibilities and of
what God can achieve in us. The contrary is what she refers to as a
'false point of honour', a source of gossip, jealousy and criticism,
that seriously harm relations with others. … With these noble
roots, Teresian communities are called to become houses of communion,
able to bear witness to the fraternal and maternal love of the
Church, presenting to the Lord the needs of the world, riven by
divisions and wars”.
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