COVADONGA, Asturias, Spain.
Like every year, on Sunday May 25, representatives of the Teresian Association from around the world renewed their commitment in Covadonga to ask for light and help in the same place where the Association was born, before the image of Our Lady “la Santina.” The pilgrims arrived at the Cave of our Lady the day before.
Eighty years after that Assembly of 1934, when Pedro Poveda requested that the Teresian Association undertake a pilgrimage each year to Covadonga, known as “el Voto,” about a hundred and eighty people accompanied the representatives that made the offering this year. Pedro Poveda said that we go there “to seek light and help in the very place where the Association had its origins and to find consolation and protection for every moment of our lives.” “It was in the presence of la Santina that the unfolding of the Work was prayed over, projected and, you could say, visualized.”
Maite Uribe, President of the Teresian Association (TA), has followed the pilgrimage from Bolivia. In her letter to convene this event, she had written, "We are going there in this year of 2014 carrying in our hands and hearts the petition that Jesus taught us: Our Father, your Kingdom come!” referring to the motto that this year guides the life and mission of the Association. This year is especially dedicated to deepening into prayer. "We know from experience what prayer means for an Association like ours that ‘only intends to evangelize’ as Poveda would say in 1920, and what it means in a world like ours today, so loved by God and so in need of men and women who are ‘God’s friends’, witnessing to God’s tenderness, grace and mercy."
Therefore, the representatives to make the Voto de Covadonga this year 2014 represent experiences, spaces, places and groups that guide and facilitate experiences of prayer, study, and fellowship.
With a prayerful attitude
Maite Uribe, in her letter to convene this special appointment, reminded us: “It is attentive prayer that listens to God who communicates: Shemá Israel. It is prayer learned in the school of Jesus, master of prayer that has the courage and trust to call God “Abba.” It is prayer with a Teresian style and the style of the early Church. It is prayer that opens our eyes to see the seeds of the Word in history. It is prayer that seeks unity and that opens us up to forgiveness and mercy. We give thanks for all of this, and we pray: Prayer and study, prayer and action, prayer and witness, prayer and fellowship, prayer and mission, prayer and presence in a world that seeks and wants to meet the God of life.”
The pilgrims arrived in Covadonga on the evening of Saturday, May 24. They watched a video that provided an atmosphere of prayer and reflection. It was made with different parts of the paintings of Maria Teresa Martinez Ugalde, music, sounds from nature, and some brief thoughts of St. Pedro Poveda.
Later, the representatives for the Voto, members of the Teresian Association’s Central Government and of the Government Spain, plus the team of the Casina, shared in fellowship and prepared for the experience, always exceptional, to fulfill the Voto de Covadonga.
At dusk the meeting continued in the cave before the image of la Santina, which was dressed in white with the emblem of the Teresian Association. People gathered to pray, to remember, and give thanks. It was a peaceful moment in which texts and silence alternated with the background sound of the waterfall by the cave.
Testimony of the representatives making the Voto
At 10 am on Sunday, in the hall of the Museum, the representatives shared their testimony of the experience they presented to la Santina. M ª Felicidad García Camino acted as master of ceremonies for the panel. Immaculate Pache, on behalf of the President, Maite Uribe, was the presider and spoke some words. She said: "Let us look at the world with tenderness and affection, let us get out of our comfort zones to assist those in need, let us establish in our lives and in our beloved Association dynamics of ‘justice and kindness’ that take us out of our small selves and impel us to come out and be witnesses of Jesus."
As in the past, the testimonials convey emotion and truth, which is communicated from the depth of living a vocation and a charism, with, faces, geographies, languages and cultures, all born of the same inspiration. (At the end of the page you may find a photo gallery).
Blanca Mª López, member of the Primary Association and member of the team of Santa Maria de Los Negrales (Spain) represented those in Europe who create, facilitate, serve and direct places for prayer and encounter. She said: "Our dream is to make Santa Maria de los Negrales a new Bethany as is expressed in a song, as home to the friend from the heart of God, home where wounds are healed, shelter where one watches and awaits the brightness of day, an inn where life is cared for, a meeting place that invites to go out with a renewed love that summons and liberates. It is a place to welcome the dreams of so many people who have come and continue to come with hearts full of desires, needs, cares, joys, and sorrows, weaknesses and endeavors, hope in you and in your Son. All come needing something, asking for something, and always wanting something. All and everyone are looked at, listened to, and welcome." She participated with the other team members of Los Negrales Center, who later gave lavender sachets to the Voto representatives.
Francesc Tous, represented many young people who seek God and are learning to pray in the Teresian school of ACIT Joven (Barcelona). His words were the result of his family and group experience of faith: "Writings on the years that Poveda spent in Covadonga stress that it was a time marked by a rigorous asceticism, by study and prayer before la Santina. On the other hand, the letters he wrote in those years are impressive, particularly those addressed to the people he accompanied. Pardon the expression, but a couple of years ago some of the young people who participated in the last Assembly of ACIT Joven "flipped" with a couple of these letters where Poveda instructs its recipients to "be holy." There is revealed directly and openly the character and also the way that Poveda, and therefore the Association, offers young people: A way that does not accept "mediocrity," that cannot "settle for the minimum." This way is for life and should be undertaken with humility and perseverance, and it aims at revealing what everyone "should and can be,” that which "God wants me to be."
Consuelo Vélez, Primary Association (Bogota, Colombia), represented those in America who seek and direct the spirituality of incarnation of the TA, particularly a group of theologians in America. She reported on the actions taken from a theological reflection, made from the perspective of the American continent. She concluded with a prayer: "Holy Mary of Covadonga: we put in your hands the fruits of our theological work, especially through the lives of TA members that were motivated to find creative ways to live the charism in America. We pray for the entire Teresian Association, that our faith may have a strong foundation manifested in the spirituality of incarnation that Father Poveda invited us to live from the beginning. You have always encouraged all those who came before us and all of us who today continue on the same path. May your presence renew us and gives us the courage to engage in the challenges of our history, according to the charism of the Teresian Association."
Annie Josse, member of the Primary Association (Yaoundé, Cameroon) represented those who join our prayers from Africa, a continent of life and hope. "In Africa I learned to pray in a more embodied manner; I learned to recognize the face of the Lord in so many wounded by life and by others, the many people who do not count, those who are despised, and those who do not exist." At the end she said: "I invite you to join the prayer of the Church of Cameroon for the release of the hostages - two Italian priests and a Canadian nun who have been kidnapped since nearly two months ago and we are without news about their whereabouts. I invite you to join the prayer of those Nigerian families whose children have been abducted for being Christian."
Ángela Alonso, member of the Primary Association, member of the team of the International Headquarters of Príncipe de Vergara (Madrid) represented those who express their prayer in service to welcome others. "It is true that for many people who have gone through this house this place has been as a port to refuel and embark on new paths,” she said. “But my experience confirms that for us, the members of the different teams, this place has been a window of the heart that looks out to the international Association. This helps us to discover the richness and relevance of the mission through the witness of the people in leadership in their short stays, of people coming and going in their commitment to the Kingdom of God in places near and far, of people returning in poor health because they have given of themselves without limits." Several people accompanied Angela from the teams of the International Headquarters in Madrid as well as some of the employees with their families.
Elisa Estrada, member of the Primary Association, (Amman, Jordan) gave her testimony in representation of those in Asia who pray daily for the Teresian Association in the Holy Land. In the text shared by Elisa she linked the significance of Covadonga, as the origin of TA, and the Holy Land, the land of redemption. She concluded by asking, "When I was describing this reality the following question came to mind: How could so few and far between can carry out such an engaging mission? The response came immediately ` the only strength available to the Teresian Work is prayer and in it and through it, in these holy places, we find strength.
Rufino Gregorio Puado y Elena Crespo, from the Association ACIT of Madrid-La Mancha (Spain) represented all those engaged in facilitating and guiding prayer and the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. They shared their experience as a marriage and as a family. For years they have been involved, together with their three children, in the Easter Experience in Los Negrales. They described their experience and invited the audience to do an imaginary exercise to grasp what children, parents, and young people live in each Paschal Triduum. "Easter is a space for families to live as domestic communities the Paschal novelty of the Christian community. In that experience parents receive the testimony of the children and children receive the testimony of faith of the parents," they concluded.
The Voto at the mass for pilgrims
As is customary for several years, the chosen representatives expressed the Voto publicly at the time of Thanksgiving after Communion on the last Sunday of May. The Mass was presided by the Auxiliary Bishop of Oviedo, Juan Antonio Menendez. It was concelebrated by Fr. Ignacio Martín, the Abbot of Covadonga, Fr. Vicente Pañeda (priest of Asturias) and another canon. The choir, with its director and organist of the Basilica, gave solemnity to the celebration.
At the beginning the Abbot of the Basilica, Fr. Juan José Tuñón, recalled the will of Saint Pedro Poveda that a group of Teresians fulfill every year the promise to return to the place where the TA was born, before la Santina.
In his homily the Bishop spoke of the joy born of the spirit, which is a theme of his pastoral plan that is unfolding in the Archdiocese of Oviedo. "Joy comes from the inner depth. In order to be joyful one must live what Jesus says in the Gospel, abide in me," he said.
"As Teresian Association you can contribute a lot to get Europe going," said Fr. Juan Antonio Menendez to the TA pilgrims, recalling that the European Parliamentary elections were held that day. "You should continue contributing to education, especially to what Pope Benedict XVI has defined as an educational emergency”.
Later the participants shared a meal in a family atmosphere.
Laura Moreno Marrocos, from Covadonga.