During our W2W Ministry meeting last Friday, we learned about a saint who died before she was 20, Saint Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes, Chile's first saint who was canonized in 1993.
How did a slip of a girl who began her journey to become a Carmelite nun in 1919 only to die of typhus eleven months later become a saint?
Why would 100,000 pilgrims visit her shrine every year seeking inspiration on joy and guidance on attaining a direct relationship with God?
What is it about Saint Teresa of Los Andes that appeals so much to people, especially young people, who hunger for transcendent love and happiness?
Juana or Juanita as she was known by close friends and family wrote in her diary she was drawn to God as early as the age of six. After she made her First Holy Communion at age 10 she underwent a complete transformation from self-centred, stubborn and proud to selfless, loving and beatifically prayerful.
Respecting the sanctity of the Eucharist, Juanita had actively sought, prior her First Communion, to acquire virtues to make herself worthy of receiving Christ within her. In turn, God answered her love for Him with the mystical grace of interior locution or private revelation.
Juanita possessed an enormous capacity to love and to be loved joined with an extraordinary intelligence. God allowed her to experience his presence. With this knowledge he purified her and made her his own through what it entails to take up the cross. Knowing him, she loved him; and loving him, she bound herself totally to him.*
As she grew older, so deep was her love for God that Juanita decided to consecrate her life by becoming a Discalced Carmelite when she was 14 and she made a vow of chastity when she was 15. She eventually began her novitiate in May 1919 at age 19 where she conducted a brief but powerful apostolate of letter-writing before her death in April 1920.
In her letters and through the way she lived her life, Teresa of Los Andes confirms for us that God exists, that God is love and happiness, and that he is our fulfilment. She radiated exuberance, joy and an unwavering conviction that following Jesus is the one and only thing worth the effort, that gives us true happiness.
As she wrote in one letter:
God is my heaven here below. I live with him. Even when I am walking, we speak together without being interrupted by anyone. If you would know him enough, you would love him. If you would stay with him for one hour, you would know heaven on earth.
She was in love with him and ready each moment to crucify herself for him... The holiness of her life shone out in the everyday occurrences, wherever she found herself: at home, in college, with friends, the people she stayed with on holidays. To all, with apostolic zeal, she spoke of God and gave assistance. She was young like her friends, but they knew she was different. They took her as a model, seeking her support and advice.
Nothing is more attractive than a person who is genuinely lovely and who seeks the good of others; who has got it all together and yet is so humble and sensitive that your sensibilities are not offended or threatened in any way.
How did she do it? She simply loved God with all her heart, soul, strength and mind and then loved her neighbour as she loved herself (Luke 10:27). She gave herself over to prayer, to the acquiring of virtue and the practice of a life in accord with the Gospel. Simple. Not easy. But possible.
Yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday and Father Arro shared that the only way he could have sustained his priesthood of near 60 years was through love, God's love. We are all not just sheep who hear the Master's voice but shepherds who lead because we are loved and we want to spread that love to others.
Love is the supernatural grace that must be paid forward, especially today when our Christian way of life is scorned, hated and persecuted. A little lambkin, Juanita, shows us how we can achieve this.
Saint Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes, pray for us that we may, like you, be transformative symbols of God's love in the world.
* http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_19930321_teresa-de-jesus_en.html
How did a slip of a girl who began her journey to become a Carmelite nun in 1919 only to die of typhus eleven months later become a saint?
Why would 100,000 pilgrims visit her shrine every year seeking inspiration on joy and guidance on attaining a direct relationship with God?
What is it about Saint Teresa of Los Andes that appeals so much to people, especially young people, who hunger for transcendent love and happiness?
Juana or Juanita as she was known by close friends and family wrote in her diary she was drawn to God as early as the age of six. After she made her First Holy Communion at age 10 she underwent a complete transformation from self-centred, stubborn and proud to selfless, loving and beatifically prayerful.
Respecting the sanctity of the Eucharist, Juanita had actively sought, prior her First Communion, to acquire virtues to make herself worthy of receiving Christ within her. In turn, God answered her love for Him with the mystical grace of interior locution or private revelation.
Juanita possessed an enormous capacity to love and to be loved joined with an extraordinary intelligence. God allowed her to experience his presence. With this knowledge he purified her and made her his own through what it entails to take up the cross. Knowing him, she loved him; and loving him, she bound herself totally to him.*
As she grew older, so deep was her love for God that Juanita decided to consecrate her life by becoming a Discalced Carmelite when she was 14 and she made a vow of chastity when she was 15. She eventually began her novitiate in May 1919 at age 19 where she conducted a brief but powerful apostolate of letter-writing before her death in April 1920.
In her letters and through the way she lived her life, Teresa of Los Andes confirms for us that God exists, that God is love and happiness, and that he is our fulfilment. She radiated exuberance, joy and an unwavering conviction that following Jesus is the one and only thing worth the effort, that gives us true happiness.
As she wrote in one letter:
God is my heaven here below. I live with him. Even when I am walking, we speak together without being interrupted by anyone. If you would know him enough, you would love him. If you would stay with him for one hour, you would know heaven on earth.
She was in love with him and ready each moment to crucify herself for him... The holiness of her life shone out in the everyday occurrences, wherever she found herself: at home, in college, with friends, the people she stayed with on holidays. To all, with apostolic zeal, she spoke of God and gave assistance. She was young like her friends, but they knew she was different. They took her as a model, seeking her support and advice.
Nothing is more attractive than a person who is genuinely lovely and who seeks the good of others; who has got it all together and yet is so humble and sensitive that your sensibilities are not offended or threatened in any way.
How did she do it? She simply loved God with all her heart, soul, strength and mind and then loved her neighbour as she loved herself (Luke 10:27). She gave herself over to prayer, to the acquiring of virtue and the practice of a life in accord with the Gospel. Simple. Not easy. But possible.
Yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday and Father Arro shared that the only way he could have sustained his priesthood of near 60 years was through love, God's love. We are all not just sheep who hear the Master's voice but shepherds who lead because we are loved and we want to spread that love to others.
Love is the supernatural grace that must be paid forward, especially today when our Christian way of life is scorned, hated and persecuted. A little lambkin, Juanita, shows us how we can achieve this.
Saint Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes, pray for us that we may, like you, be transformative symbols of God's love in the world.
* http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_19930321_teresa-de-jesus_en.html
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