Church Talk by Teresa Quiroga

February 25, 2021

My name is Teresa Quiroga, and today I'm going to tell you a little bit about my testimony of lectio. Since I have been very young, I've felt God's presence in my life. I was born into a very Catholic family, where my parents and brothers and sisters have been a true testimony of faith and hope. Every Sunday night, my mom made a very well-prepared meal for the lectio group, called Santa Ana, that we all were in. I remember this from when I was five years old, and I think that it was important to develop of my faith and for my life in general.

I studied in one of the schools of Manquehue, the Colegio San Anselmo. This was a day school, quite typical in the eyes of the world, but something extraordinary was going on inside. Every morning we had a moment of lectio before we would start classes; a teacher or a classmate read the gospel of the day and left a moment of silence to discover in what way God spoke to each one through reading – and to share, if you wanted. In my class, we were thirty students, and because of lectio, thirty friends. I always shared the verse that caught my attention the most. Today, looking back, I can see that lectio, which was praying with the Bible, has made me what I am today: my relationship with God, with myself, and with others; my aspirations and my vocation. I can now realize that in all these years I have learned to live and rejoice because of knowing who the Lord is. Through lectio, God has revealed me that he is in charge of my life.

When I was fifteen years old I started searching for more answers.  At that time, I started my own lectio group, and it took on a very important role in my life. With it, I lived something mysterious. My soul began to need weekly lectio with my friends, but at the same time, because we were very young and silly, we weren’t very committed. We liked to go to the group just to chat and not to pray, and so the lectio leader got frustrated and resigned. I not only felt sorry for of her, but for myself, because I was very afraid to stop having this space to develop my relationship with God as well as the important relationships with my friends. So, I went to talk to the person in charge of the groups and we started again. When I was 16 years old, I responded to the invitation to be a lectio leader. That means to be in charge of a new group of younger students. I think this changed my life forever, especially to join the lectio leaders community, because with them we prayed and had a great mission in common, so we started to become very close and very good friends. During that time, I realized that my life had no turning back: my life could not go on without God's presence, my life could not go on without the Word of God. Gradually something was igniting in my heart that never went out again but, on the contrary, it has been burning inside.

In my time here at Portsmouth, I have found something very similar to my school. I have belonged to four communities here that have marked me so much. One has been the community of Chileans: Berni, Trini and Rosario. They've really been my life. We have been able to grow together, and gradually they have become my friends, my family, part of my homeland, my vocation. Deep down, by doing lectio together, our relationship has been transformed into a spiritual friendship. Another manifestation of the love of God for me was the opportunity to accompany the lectio leaders in their role as head of lectio groups at the school. These young people are the ones who prepare the lectio groups week by week, and because of them lectio is alive at PAS. They have found answers for their own lives in the Word of God. Further, the four faculty that are in charge of the lectio leaders (the Fishers and the McQuillans) have been a real testimony. They have shared, rejoiced and formed us and been with us through the common mission they had, and this clearly bore much fruit, fruit in the Spirit. And finally, I want to highlight something that has set me on fire in this experience. It is the great blessing of the monastic community here. Each one of the monks of this community has been a true testimony of their searching, of how ordinary men are extraordinary men, and build a human and holy community. They are men who, every day again, give their lives to Jesus Christ. Men who sustain the school with their prayers, with daily Mass, with the liturgy of the hours that they sing every day. To me, they are a true testimony of what is fundamental.

Today I would like to finish with three words of advice:

First:  you are freshmen and you are starting your time at the Abbey. In this very special and unique school, there is a community of teachers that wants to help you, there is the monastic community that prays for you, there is a lectio leaders community that wants to share with you the treasure of lectio divina, and there are your prefects that want to guide you and serve you. Look at them, learn from them. Truly choose life: choose to grow in love, value what you have. Don’t look for answers outside of yourself but within your hearts and inside the school. St Paul says; "I no longer live but Christ lives in you" – so seek God. Because Christ is Alive. And he lives in you.

Second:  Rejoice, the Lord is with you. I would like to ask you, have you felt lonely? Think for a moment... Well it is not true. Although you may have felt alone, the truth is that you have never been alone, you are never alone. Unfortunately, our thoughts and feelings sometimes make us think that we are alone, but do not believe this. God crosses our minds, feelings, thoughts and hearts to fulfil them with a deep sense of love. Let Him be life, light, love, salvation for you.

Third: I encourage you to really live the present moment. Today the Church gives us the season of Lent as a great opportunity to return our hearts to God. Join Christ in the desert, share with him the Last Supper, pray with him in Gethsemane, walk with Jesus on the way to the cross, with the certainty that He is Risen. I invite you not to keep death but with life, opt for the one that is life: Jesus Christ.

Do not tire of seeking to be satisfied with the infinite. A Chilean saint, Teresa of Los Andes, said: I AM THIRSTY FOR THE INFINITE. Go searching, so that your thirst is quenched by the infinite, so your soul, heart and life, will be in fullness.