St Teresa’s walking stick (Staff):
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St Teresa’s staff has finished its tour around Ireland and has been safely returned to its home in Avila. What has the visit meant to us? St Teresa is not as well known as her younger French daughter St Therese (The Little Flower). Nevertheless, hundreds of people turned out to welcome her staff.
We came close to her relic so that in some we would have encouragement for the spiritual journey we are all on, and that we would come closer to the Lord through her teaching on prayer.
St Teresa founded seventeen monasteries and while she couldn’t live in all of them at the same time she kept all of them in her heart and prayers. On her travels to found a new monastery, she called in to see those she had already founded whenever she was near enough to make a detour. She was always anxious to know that life in the monasteries was being lived as she intended it to be.
The printing press had just been invented and printing was very expensive. When copies of books were to be made they were usually copied by hand. This meant that copies might not always be exactly the same as the original. There might be interpretations or little notes added, at will, by the copier.
St Teresa had handwritten the constitutions that were to be followed in the monasteries. When a new foundation was made someone had to make a copy of the constitutions for the new monastery. When Teresa visited she always asked to see the copy the monastery was following to make sure that it was faithful to her ideal.
Our task at the time of her visit is to ask ourselves how Teresa would express her ideal of Carmelite life today and how we can be faithful to her inspiration.
Her burning desire was to get back to the original rule of Carmel lived by the ancient hermits on Mt Carmel. A very simple lifestyle of prayer, solitude and Community Sharing. She urged her Sisters to begin again anew, meaning that we begin each new day with the same fervour as if we were starting out afresh.
As part of the 5h Centenary celebrations of the birth of St Teresa of Avila, we are delighted to announce that St Teresa’s walking stick (Staff) is on a world tour and It will be in Ireland from 18th – 30th July 2015 visiting the Churches of the Carmelite friars and nuns all over the country.
The Carmelite Monastery, Roebuck Road, Dublin 14, will have the privilege of hosting the staff on the morning of 20th July. It will arrive in time for Mass at 7.30am and will depart for Kilmacud Carmel at lunchtime.
A date for your diary: 20th July, RoebuckCarmel
7.30am Special Mass to welcome the presence of St Teresa and her staff
12.00-noon Midday prayer
You are invited to venerate the relic at any time during the morning.
On the NET:
To see the video of the presentation of St. Teresa’s staff to Pope Francis,
go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?http://bit.ly/1MTLMLH