Teresa (first row, left) with her community

Mariola López Villanueva and Elvira Seret (ESS) and Teresa Gomà (ESN) in Joigny.

To nurture, to foster growth, to defend life

It is not easy to condense a life-story into a page and a half! Even less easy it is to put into words what defines apostolic religious life in our 21^st century. In many ways it is a totally ordinary life. And it is right that it should be so. As for other Christians, the ?ordinary? interacts with a clear choice for Jesus, who is anything but ?ordinary?.

My day begins at 6 a.m. each morning. I say that I rise at 6 a.m. Actually it is at 6:05 a.m. It is those 5 minutes that place me in front of the reality of life. From my father, I inherited an enthusiasm to listen to the radio, so as to keep up to date with what is going on. I cannot go ?down into the world? without being aware of what makes it throb, what is causing pain each morning. I am moved by a spirituality in which the world and the Gospel are inseparable. Each needs and complements the other. The Gospel is Good News indeed, and the world ? it has such need of Good News!  That is why each morning I need space ? lengthy, silent and peaceful ? to welcome all that I am going to live, to intercede for so many suffering people, to listen to the voice of God in the midst of so much noise. I can identify with the words of Edith Stein, when she wrote: ?Duties and preoccupations accumulate all around us in the very moment of waking up in the morning- if they have not already interrupted the stillness of our night. (?) But it is really important that we do not allow ourselves to be upset at this moment. My first hour of the day belongs to the Lord.?

At 8 o?clock I arrive at school: Colegio Sagrado Corazón in Godella, Valencia. I teach religion and Ethics in the ESO (Compulsory Secondary education cycle) and in 1^st year of ?Bachillerato?. This adventure of working in the school began for me only two years ago. Happy adventure, because the classroom has turned out to be a very natural habitat for me. It is there that I find meaning in my desire to work for justice. This is a task which I undertake with a certain passion: to help others to think, to have one?s own criteria, to open oneself to the world and to be committed to it. And the youngsters are open and receptive, when one knows how to reach them. No, I do not always succeed. These are difficult years, but you have an intuition of the seed which is growing, and you realize that the only possible way is to feed it with love and a lot of patience, without becoming discouraged when you do not see the fruits.

I am in the school most of the day. In addition to the classes there are other activities which fill me with life. Among them are the Confirmation groups. To extend an invitation to follow Jesus sets my heart on fire.  To accompany these first steps towards an adult faith is to place a bet on the side of human and Christian maturity. Even more so given that the majority of these students come so ?green? that one wonders what they are doing here,,,, but doesn?t this add even more merit to them? Without support from the family environment, they feel that Jesus Christ is saying something to them. Outrageous!

Today at 19h I have a meeting at Amnesty. I belong to the team which deals with the death penalty. For a long time this drama has struck at my conscience. Gradually I have studied it, worked at it, and now I can collaborate in the effort to suppress it. Our work is small, almost insignificant, but it holds within it the strength of union with other such groups throughout the world. Today the death penalty is no longer operative in most countries of the world. This is the first time this has been so in history, so it is worthwhile to continue one?s commitment to this effort.

Finally, I arrive home in the evening to my community. We live in Nazaret, a ?barrio? on the outskirts of Valencia. We are seven. We arrive one after the other?.from the parish, from the school, from other activities. It is supper time. We speak about our different ministries, about what we have been living. About ?difficult? students, about other sisters and friends, about the problems of the neighborhood. Our mutual interest in each other?s life sustains and unites us. We believe in the miracle of community and we also realize that there is a price to pay for it. It is not always easy, but we know that we are united in the name of Jesus. It is through this call, this ?summons? that we overcome our difficulties, and go beyond ourselves in order to empower each other. We believe that this can be a sign in a world where individualism is rife and in which what is different is seen with suspicion. There is no doubt about it ? community is really a miracle!

At the close of the day we meet in the chapel, which is small and simple. There in the presence of Jesus we are untied to the prayer of so many others who are not present with us. We give thanks, we intercede, and we simply remain in silence before the Mystery of life.

Then, one by one, we go to rest. I retire early. My room is small, and I try to live with few things. I don?t know whether the reason for this is austerity or the realism of a ?pilgrim? life. Once, again, I listen to the news on the radio. My God, how small is my collaboration in your kingdom!  It is so often I touch my own mediocrity that tonight I need to hear once more the faithfulness of your promise: ?I will be with you always?.

Teresa Gomà i Ribas rscj
Province of Spain North