The 66th Week of Spirituality at the Teresianum, in Rome, held within the context of the Jubilee Year of Hope, reflected on the Virgin Mary, invoked as Stella Maris, the “Star of the Sea,” a symbol of hope amid the storms of life. From its very origins, Carmel has found in Mary this maternal presence who teaches us to trust and hope in God. The main goal of this week was to walk with Mary toward the hope we find in Christ and to rekindle Marian life within Carmel and the Church. The Prior General of the Order, Fr. Miguel Márquez Calle, opened the series of conferences by reflecting on Mary’s canticle, the Magnificat, which encapsulates Carmelite and Teresian spirituality. Throughout the week, in addition to the Prior General, the following speakers also contributed: Adrian Attard, Valéry Bitar, Daniela Del Gaudio, Yvonne Dohna Schlobitten, Pawel Gajewski, Iacopo Iadarola, Manuel Nin and Fabio Rosini. Four main themes were explored in detail in the publication now available to us, from which an excerpt is attached: hope in the liturgical-artistic, anthropological-Carmelite, ecumenical-patristic, and charismatic-pastoral contexts.
This publication deserves our special attention, as it clearly forms part of the movement to renew the Marian spirit of our Order and to respond to the present context of our world, marked by hopes but also by clouds of uncertainty on the horizon. Yet, even in the nights of faith, Christian hope remains a starry sky. We are therefore invited to look to Mary and to become, with her, “stars of the sea”, radiating hope and light in the world. This publication, in Italian, can be obtained from Edizioni OCD or at Teresianum.