Our Amazing Story

Sr Jacinta

The Carmelite Family world-wide is celebrating the 5th. centenary of the birth of St. Teresa in 2015. The past four years we have been reading and studying one of Teresa’s books. This year it is the turn of her masterpiece,- The Interior Castle or the Seven Mansions.This classic describes the various stages of prayer through the image of a castle. Starting at the outer court one progresses to the centre room to Union with God. Full of St. Teresa’s images, one day I looked at a small field of ours that was no longer used for much and had gone quite wild.I wondered could it be transformed into something beautiful and useful and most importantly without much expense. Suddenly it came to me make a model of the Interior Castle by means of a maze. I turned to Sr. Jacinta our engineer and yes she could and would do it. She marked out the path – seven circles that eventually by a circuitous route led one to the centre,- the Dwelling place of the Blessed Trinity. Here she built a shrine where the pilgrim could pause and rest in the Beloved.Having experienced union with God one then goes back transformed to live at a deeper level.

Having walked the journey it is easier to realize that there is a flowing movement from one stage to the next. It is all part of the one pilgrimage. While we may be at a particular circle we carry in our body the journey already made.

So yes, a poor piece of land can be transformed as we too can be transformed

 by taking the first step of our inner journey.