A Model Of The Perennial Youth Of The Gospel

Today the Church celebrates St. Teresa de los Andes, the first Saint of Chile. After living a short life here on earth, from 1900 to 1920, Teresa is a saint for the young and one of the primary intercessors for the upcoming World Youth Day in Brazil.

At her canonization, Blessed John Paul II said:

Sr. Teresa “de los Andes,” Teresa of Jesus, is the light of Christ for the whole Chilean Church; the Discalced Carmelite, the first fruit of holiness of the Teresian Carmel of Latin America, today is enrolled among the saints of the Universal Church…God made shine forth in her in an admirable way the light of his Son, Jesus Christ, so that she could be a beacon and guide to a world which seems to be blind of the splendor of the divine. In a secularized society which turns its back on God, this Chilean Carmelite, whom to my great joy I present as a model of the perennial youth of the Gospel, gives the shining witness of a life which proclaims to the men and the women of our day that it is in the loving, adoring, and serving God that the human creature finds greatness and joy, freedom, and fulfillment. The life of Blessed Teresa cries out continually from within her cloister: “God alone suffices!” She shouts it out particularly to the young people who hunger for truth and seek a light which will give direction to their lives. To young people who are being allured by the continuous messages and stimuli of an erotic culture, a society which mistakes the hedonistic exploitation of another for genuine love which is self-giving, this young virgin of the Andes today proclaims the beauty and happiness that come from a pure heart.

St. Teresa de los Andes, pray for our young, that they may proclaim true joy through purity of heart.

Information from Matthew and Margaret Bunson’s John Paul II’s Book of Saints.

A Young Woman in Search of the Truth

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, or Edith Stein, who was canonized by Blessed John Paul II in 1998. “A young woman in search of the truth,” Edith serves as a model for young thinkers seeking what is good and right, and what is truly free. Although she was brought up by a Jewish mother, Edith turned from prayer to philosophy and self-reliance as she grew. Her heart yearned for hope as she searched for truth, and this open-hearted seeking eventually led to a surprising answer: “only those who commit themselves to the love of Christ become truly free.”

And commit to Christ she did. Once St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross found the Truth, she gave herself to Him through entering the Carmelite Order and eventually, through her martyrdom. In his homily for her canonization Mass, Blessed John Paul II said:

Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholic Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: “Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed”.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, the “martyr for love” who told us not to “accept anything as the truth if it lacks love” or “accept anything as love which lacks truth,” Pray for Us!

Your tag is sticking out

Earlier this week, the Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. One might recognize Mt. Carmel from Sacred Scripture—it is where the prophet Elijah defended Israel and her faith in the living God. This natural beauty was also home to hermits in the twelfth century, who “lived as God's bees, gathering the divine honey of spiritual consolation." These contemplatives later founded the Carmelite Order, and they constantly looked to Mary, the Mother of God, for guidance and inspiration.

Blessed John Paul II was very fond of the Carmelite Order and its Saints, like Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and St. John of the Cross. He also fostered a devotion to the Scapular of Carmel, which he wore over his “heart for a very long time.” In his 2001 message to the Carmelite family, Blessed John Paul II wrote:

The sign of the Scapular points to an effective synthesis of Marian spirituality, which nourishes the devotion of believers and makes them sensitive to the Virgin Mother's loving presence in their lives…

…two truths are evoked by the sign of the Scapular:  on the one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only on life's journey, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other, the awareness that devotion to her cannot be limited to prayers and tributes in her honour on certain occasions, but must become a "habit", that is, a permanent orientation of one's own Christian conduct, woven of prayer and interior life, through frequent reception of the sacraments and the concrete practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy… indeed, it concretely translates the gift of his Mother, which Jesus gave on the Cross to John and, through him, to all of us, and the entrustment of the beloved Apostle and of us to her, who became our spiritual Mother.

Much like the monastic scapular, which many religious wear with their habits, the devotional scapular of Carmel is worn over the shoulders. It is smaller and typically made of two pieces of cloth connected by a band—one piece of cloth lays near the chest, one drops down the back (which is why many scapular wearers are warned that their “tags are sticking out”).  By committing to a life of holiness, those who wear the scapular open themselves up to many graces and protections.