GOLDEN JUBILEE OF SISTER TERESA MARGARET OF JESUS AND MARY
CARMELITE MONASTERY, DYSART, FIFE
HOMILY PREACHED BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN
MONDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER 2011
INTRODUCTION:
It is indeed a joy for me being here with you to celebrate the golden jubilee of Sister Teresa Margaret’s profession as a Carmelite Sister. I know that in the congregation there are various priest friends of Sister Teresa Margaret, including of course her own Chaplain now hear in Dysart, Father Philip Jones CSsR and a ‘special guest from Lithuania’, Father Evaldas, the Administrator of the Cathedral at Kaunas in Lithuania. Unfortunately none of Sister Teresa Margaret’s closet relatives can be with her – quite simply as they live in Canada but I am sure they are united in prayer with her on this joyful occasion, as they were yesterday evening through the more modern means of communication!
SCRIPTURE READINGS:
I was very happy to receive a copy of the scripture readings for today’s Mass – two of them I might have expected; the reading from St Paul’s letter to the Romans is perhaps rather unusual for such an occasion – or at least it might seem to be so at first reading.
This reading begins: “With God on our side who can be against us?” And the reading continues: “Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked!! But the final words are words of great hope: “These are the trials through which we triumph by the power of him who loved us”.
I say that these words are particularly appropriate today – quite simply because Sister Teresa Margaret has experienced Carmelite life not only here in Scotland but also in Lithuania where contemplative life has burst out afresh thanks to Carmelite Sisters from various parts of the world and dedicated Carmelite Sisters like Teresa Margaret herself.
However perhaps I am jumping ahead too much!
CARMELITE LIFE OF SISTER TERESA MARGARET OF JESUS AND MARY:
Sister herself was born on Oban on 11th March 1927. She had one younger brother, Fred, who is now living in Canada. Her father was a Royal Navy Officer; and when Sister was nineteen they moved to Glasgow. Her mother was an invalid with Sclerosis and Sister looked after her until she died. As well as caring for her mother and the home, she worked as a dress designer.
It was in 1960 that Sister entered Carmel Langside and was professed on 25th September 1961. She fulfilled various offices in the Monastery and was Prioress for a time. In December 1995 Sister Teresa Margaret transferred to our Carmel here in Dysart. Then, in August of 1996, she went to the new foundation in Lithuania of which I have spoken namely in Pastuva. There she helped to train the young Sisters in the Carmelite way of life as well as in sewing skills particularly with regard to the making and designing of vestments. I myself am wearing examples of their apostolate this morning for this golden jubilee Mass – both with regard to this beautifully sewn Alb, which I am wearing. Following on some twelve years of apostolate in the Carmel in Pastuva in Lithuania Sister returned to Dysart permanently in 2008 – but she still goes back to Pastuva each year for two or three months to continue teaching sewing and vestment work to the novices of which there are at present four novices with two postulants.
One can appreciate the value of this “senior Carmelite Sister” continuing such a valued apostolate in Lithuania and helping in no small way in the flourishing of Carmelite life in what had been “behind the Iron Curtain”.
GROWTH OF CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE WHERE THERE IS PERSECUTION:
This brings me back to that second reading about the flourishing of the Church in times of persecution. Whatever the persecutions are St Paul reminds us: “These are the trials through which we triumph by the power of him who loved us”.
I will never forget the Synod of Bishops in Rome which I attended on “Europe” following on the freedom of many bishops, priests and lay faithful who had previously been imprisoned for their faith. One such Cardinal rose to his feet – Cardinal Swiatek from Belarus. In a quivering frail voice he simply quoted words from the psalms: “The snare has been broken and we have been set free”. He himself peacefully died some few weeks ago.
I know that our own Carmelite Sisters here in Dysart have helped also with regard to the establishment of a contemplative monastery of the Sisters of St Augustine in China. I recently heard about them and of the first profession in Communist China since 1949. The Bishop who conducted the first profession of Sister Teresa Benedita said as he began the Ceremony of Profession: “Chinese dishes are known for their many flavours!” And then he went on to say: “Today, in our Church of our Province, a new flavour is being definitively added – that of contemplative life!”
The Bishop was 88 years of age and had been ordained a Bishop at the age of 76. He was hardly able to walk having spent twenty years in prison and ten in solitary confinement yet was clear of mind and firm of voice. He delighted in the new development in his Diocese in which he played a significant role. At the beginning of the century, when approached by Sister Mary Niu, known to the Sisters here in Dysart, and who felt called to develop the contemplative vocation in China he agreed he said “without thinking”. However he made it clear it was not impulsively rather: “When Sister Mary told me her story and her dream of the contemplative vocation my years in solitary confinement flashed to my memory, painful as they were; but in a moment I saw the point of it all – it was a grace that allowed me to be open to recognise and understand her call to initiate a contemplative monastery, as that was the only thing left for me while in prison – contemplation!”
It was Sister Mary Niu’s dream that the Monastery would also be especially a place of rest, quite and reflection on the deepest and truest values of the Chinese and Christian tradition which are currently being bombarded by the glitter and dream of the good life ground on possessions! Sister Mary Niu has of course visited you here in Dysart as she has also visited me in my home in Edinburgh.
CONCLUSION:
I am sure that we all appreciate the value of the apostolate of Sister Teresa Margaret here in Dysart as also in Lithuania. I am sure those of us who are not contemplative Carmelites realise more and more the value of the contemplative vocation throughout the world particularly where there has been intense suffering in the Church.
If society in China is now currently being bombarded “by the glitter and dream of the good life grounded on possessions” what can we not say about life in our own society in Scotland at this present time.
As we pray in thanksgiving for those fifty years of dedicated service of Sister Teresa Margaret of Jesus and Mary let us pray that more and more young people who have recently shown their love of the Church and their love of Pope Benedict XVI at the World Youth Day in Madrid will find the answer to so many of their prayers not in worldly possessions but rather in the possession of the one true person namely Jesus Christ Himself.
May the words of the Song of Songs and those beautiful words of St John in his Gospel accompany us today in our thoughts and in our own words and deeds. We must always remember when we think of the example of the contemplative prayer of our Carmelite Sisters that they present a wonderful sign of the value of prayer throughout the world, particularly where there is most need.