Gujarat: Carmelites to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Teresa of Avila’s birth
Baroda (AsiaNews) – In order to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Teresa of Avila, Sister Marie Gemma OCD, prioress of the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Mumbai, organised a seminar for tomorrow evening centred on the Spanish saint, founder of her order.
Titled ‘An Evening with Santa Teresa of Jesus’, the event will see the participation of Mgr Thomas Macwan, archbishop of Ahmedabad, Mgr Godfrey de Rozario, bishop of Baroda, and Fr Archibald Gonsalves OCD, former provincial of the order.
The book ‘Journeying with Saint Teresa Today’, by Archbishop Macwan, will be presented at the gathering in Prem Jyot, the Carmelite monastery in Baroda (Gujarat).
In addition to representatives of religious orders and lay groups, seven Jesuit missionaries were also invited from Spain. The founder of the latter’s order, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a close friend of Teresa.
'Journeying with Saint Teresa today' includes a quote for each day of the year taken from her main works: The Life, the Way of Perfection, and The Interior Castle.
For Sister Gemma, the book gives readers access to Saint Teresa’s spiritual journey, which culminates in union with God.
It also offers some gems from the saint’s treasure trove, which will hopefully inspire them in their everyday life. This is what motivates the Discalced Carmelite nuns Association of India who remain grateful to their founder 500 years after her birth.
At the beginning, the book says that Saint Teresa “journeyed alongside the men and women of her time, in friendship, receiving and sharing with them the fruits of her inward pilgrimage [. . .].
Today, “She still continues to do so - inspiring, encouraging, teaching and guiding countless people of varied creeds and cultures through the soul-stirring books she left behind which record her life's journey, her adventures with God, always in companionship with Jesus.”
Indeed, "Teresa was convinced that the sincere practice of charity increased one's love of God” and that “A deep and true love of God in Christ almost always enkindles a love of the Cross. The Cross acts as fuel to the flame of one's Love of God.”
“May Saint Teresa of Avila bless us and continue to inflame us with the fire of love that burnt in her heart.”
.png)
