When the Young ascend to Mount Carmel

Apr 09, 2015

SEREMBAN: There was hardly a cloud in the sky as groups of young people travelled from the Klang Valley to a hilly Kampung Pasir in Seremban. At the highest point of the neighbourhood, a few nuns in brown and white habit were waiting in excitement in the parlour with a team of Secular Carmelites and a friar. It was no ordinary day. That day, March 28, 2015, was exactly 500 years from the day St Teresa of Avila, also known as St Teresa of Jesus OCD, was born into this world.

The Carmelite nuns there have been waiting and preparing for this big celebration for over a month, with the help of the Third Order Carmelites, the Secular Carmelites. “They had planned to begin this celebration of the 500th Anniversary of the Birth of St Teresa of Avila with the youth”.

According to Sr Clara,the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Birth of St Teresa of Avila began on October 15, 2014 with a Eucharistic Celebration and the unveiling of a statue of the Saint by His Grace Archbishop Julien Leow. The year long celebration which will end on October 15, 2015, the saint’s Feastday, is focusing on a vision to make St Teresa known to all, especially the youth as she has been named by the Church as “Doctor of Spirituality.” As people arrived and picked up their name tags, some of them walked around to look at the few areas of the monastery that were accessible to the public. For many of the youth present there, it was their first visit to the Carmelite Monastery, and to a cloistered convent.

The event was officially inaugurated by Fr Gregory Chan, ASAYO’ Director, followed by an action song cum icebreaker to get us up and moving conducted by the Assumption Youth Network (AYN). In fact, the AYN were the animators of the event. All of the members of the Third Order of the Carmelites were present and were on hand for various needs. The speaker for the day was Fr Jose Reegan, OCD the Director of the Spirituality Centre in Mumbai, whom the Seremban Carmelite sisters invited specially for this event. What baffled most who were present is that he joined the seminary when he was only 15!

He presented three main topics: St Teresa of Avila and the Youth, where he gave us a snapshot of who this Doctor of the Church was. Contribution of St Teresa to the Church and The Relevance of the Spirituality of Teresa of Avila, which included an introduction and explanation of St Teresa’s writings and teachings on prayer, the characteristics and methods of Teresian Prayer and the leadership style of the saint. In between sessions, there were a couple of group discussions about the level of faith and involvement of young people in the parish. This gave the group a glimpse of the experiences of youth in a few different parishes around the arcdiocese.

After the first session, the Carmelite sisters invited everyone to celebrate St Teresa’s birthday with a cake-cutting ceremony. One cannot help but notice the radiance and joy on the sisters’ faces. In between sessions and during lunch time, different groups of the youth took the opportunity to chat with the sisters. Despite the scorching heat, everyone stuck through. A video programme on the life of St. Teresa of Avila portrayed the lifestyle, travel, and culture of her time. The event ended with Mass, after which the angelic voices of the sisters led the group in a song written 100 years ago about St Teresa. As is apparent from their testimonies, the youth learnt and gained much from the sessions and the experience overall. The sisters can be assured that their desire to make St Teresa known among the youth did make its mark on those present, and by God’s grace, would spread to the youth all over the archdiocese and beyond.

Some of the things we learnt:
1. St Teresa was one of the few saints of the Church who teaches us to pray. Interior Castle is one of her biggest, most famous piece of work. In it she explains the different levels of prayer through describing her own experiences of prayer.

2. Little room for interior light

3. Dependent upon external means of remembering God

4. Understaking discipline of prayer, self reflection, and active charities

5. Moments of quiet begin to come during meditative prayer (divine experience).

6. Prayer of union with deep experiences of inner teaching from God or inner healing

7. Much interior exploration of inner prayer experiences – distractions would not disturb but personality is transformed.

8. Life lived in a sense of continual union between God and self

St Teresa saw prayer as a friendship with God; as sitting before a true friend:

- a literal analysis > a dialogue
- taking time to be with Him
- frequently spending time with Him
- solitude
- with Him who we know loves us

St Teresa was a good leader:
--a good listener
--responsive to the needs of the community
--authentic and committed despite challenges
--compassionate and encour aging
--forgiving
--creator of vision
--focused on the goal
--empowering
--a man/woman of integrity--By Fatima Anne

What some of the youths have to say...

“What an amazing discovery about her full dedication in surrendering her life fully to God. We learnt so much yet not all about her life and especially her prayer life! The deep and beautiful personal reflection on the Interior Castle, the seven mansions. She was a women of deep prayer who struggled to pray for over 20 years! Marvellous is the work of God! We are thankful to our lovely sisters in the Carmelite Monastery for making the event such a fruitful and beautiful day. We also appreciate the time spent with the two loving priests, Fr. Reegan, OCD all the way from India and also Fr. Gregory Chan. It is amazing how God provides when we have the heart and will to make things happen. At first the sisters were worried with the first response they had from the numbers of those who registered. Fr.Gregory was convinced that God would send more and indeed He did! From ten registered participants to over one hundred young men and women. Amazing God! Praise God!” -- Rebecca Bong, Lifeline SFX

“It was an insightful experience to learn about St Teresa’s life and her teachings on prayer. While the 7 mansions in the Interior Castle may seem daunting, I am inspired by the fact that we need only make and follow up on resolutions which are small and practical in mental prayer. I discovered that it is important to let our prayer be effective and come from our hearts, not just our minds and thoughts. Ultimately, as St Teresa taught, entry into the different mansions is a gift of God.” -- Petrina Tan, Lifeline SFX

“The day of talks in honour of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the foundress of the Carmelites, St. Teresa of Avila, was a good basic introduction to Carmelite Spirituality. Fr Reegan, OCD, was a dynamic speaker which suited the intention of reaching out to the youth and single adults. Fr Reegan entered the seminary at the tender age of 15 and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in History.

“What is the greatest contribution of St Teresa to the Catholic Church?” he asked us. It was that she founded cloistered convents — praying, cloistered convents worldwide. She had a great belief in the power of prayer to convert souls, and was concerned about the state of the Catholic Church at that time. He covered the life of St Teresa and Carmelite Spirituality in the three sessions.

“For me, meeting the Carmelite sisters was a definite high point. They looked happy! To us, visitors, I suppose it looks like they’ve been locked up — for we spoke to them through metal grills. But what we need to remember is that it is their choice to be in there. They are not locked in. They have chosen to be away from the distractions of our secular world to better pray for us. They hold the key to the doors.

“I wrote a line at the top of my notebook: “I have everything because I have God!” I’d paraphrased one of the posters hanging in the chapel with various quotes of St Teresa. In one of his sessions, Fr Reegan mentioned Teresian prayer as friendship with God. That is so true. My treasure is my relationship with God. By God’s grace, I’ve grown in spirituality, as well as in my relationship with family and friends. As I am more aware of His presence, I bring that awareness into my conversations with family and friends. At the same time, I feel the need to be quiet with Him alone to cultivate that constant awareness.

“I went to the Carmelite Monastery with friends and made new ones as well. It was a joyful experience!” -- Kathleen Sammy, SFX

“It was great to see so many Catholic youth from far away places at the event. The content of the talks was a bit heavy, but interesting nevertheless.” -- Arvind Lopez, Assumption Church

“It was an awesome experience to finally get the chance to meet Carmelite sisters and also to know in depth about St Teresa of Avila. Such an inspiring woman she is and her contributions toward Christianity is just amazing. Happy 500th birthday St.Teresa.” -- Sandra Y, Catholic Varsity Student, Church of the Divine Mercy

“We from the CVS family would like to thank the Carmelite Sisters, Fr Gregory, Fr Reegan and the facilitators, sisters and brothers for organizing the 500th Anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Jesus O.C.D. and for inviting us to be part of the beautiful and meaningful event. Although we could not spend more time with the Sisters, it was an honour and great privilege and would love to come again. May God Bless Us All.” -- Eileena Joing, VP of Catholic Varsity Student, Church of Divine Mercy