The Theresa Club!

What is it...mystical?, miraculous? wonderful?...about that name Theresa (or alternately Teresa)? For starters:  any reasonable list of the best woman saints must include the four Great Theresas: Avila, Lisieux, Auschwitz, and Calcutta. The first three are close to each other as Carmelites; the last in class all of her own. But the four share: an extraordinary intelligence that is humble, wise,  practical, spiritual, intuitive and feminine; heroic strength of character and courage; and saintly holiness. Notice that each is strongly identified with a place which means specificity, particularity and concreteness of time and space. I am currently reading the biography of a fifth Theresa:  Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, from Bayonne NJ, who was likewise blessed with a fine intelligence and a quiet, humble but really mystical union with our Lord from her earliest childhood in quite ordinary circumstances. I am brother to a Theresa whose mind is bright, intuitive, empirical, practical and wise and whose heart is indescribably tender, kind, and generous. I am uncle to a Theresa who radiates quiet faith, warmth and intelligence as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, nutritionist and niece! Imagine my joy that my first grandchild Brigid has chosen for her confirmation name...Theresa! She is becoming familiar with all of these amazing women and is aware that she will find her own particular identity and mission even as she emulates their wisdom, interior strength, and holiness! All you Great Theresas, in heaven and on earth, pray for us!