God is all Joy The Life of St. Teresa of the Andes by Jennifer Moorcroft

Author:Jennifer Moorcroft
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

Notes

1. Letter 40

2. Cf. 1 Cor 12:12ff

3. Letter 40

4. Letter 45

5. Letter 46

Chapter 11

Preparing for Carmel

Juanita wrote to Mother Angelica the following day to express her joy and gratitude for their visit. By then she was busy with packing and seeing to the household as they prepared to travel, on 15 January, to a ranch in San Pablo their father had rented near Saint Javier de Loncomilla. Their father worked on the ranch, so they had the great joy of having him with them.

It was a long, nine-hour journey, and when they arrived they were keen to explore the neighborhood. Leaving some of the unpacking for later, they went for a walk along the Maule River with its spectacular view. They would have many outings among the picturesque scenery to enjoy the rustic surroundings and the quietness, which Juanita especially appreciated. As there weren’t many families there, they didn’t go horseback riding very much. With their sister Lucia now married, it was a smaller family group; and Juanita and Rebecca felt the strangeness of now being the elder daughters after being for so long the children of the family.

The only drawback was that there was no weekday Mass and sometimes no Mass on Sundays, and Juanita hungered for Holy Communion. She also found it difficult sometimes to have her times of prayer, as she had to join in with the family gatherings. Our Lord told her that she shouldn’t allow her sadness and discouragement to show, but to keep serene and in control of herself. That would be her prayer and her surrender to his will. After all, she acknowledged that her whole life now was a constant prayer.

She continued to write to Mother Angelica, but had to be careful, for her father was the one who took any letters to the post box, and she was not yet ready to tell him her plans. With her entry into Carmel drawing ever closer, there were now practical things to discuss—what clothing she would have to have made up and buying the things she would need. She was now reading the Carmelite Constitutions and the Rule, and also Saint John of the Cross.

Despite her lack of solitude, her prayer was deepening. In prayer, Our Lord confirmed that she would be entering Carmel in May, and at the end of January, while she was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, she received further intimations of her future life:

He told me then that He would like me to have a more intimate life with Him. He said I must suffer a lot, as well as other things that I don’t remember. Since that time I’ve been much more recollected, and I saw Our Lord very clearly praying as if I’d seen a picture of Him. But I didn’t see Him with my body’s eyes, but just as He showed Himself to me. It was very vivid, and even though at times I wanted to represent Him in this way, I’ve been unable to do so. I saw Him that way, for more than eight days, but later I didn’t see Him anymore.

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