The work of the Teresian Nun is the Life of Prayer. In fact we take part in the celebration of the daily Eucharist which is the source and summit of the life of the Church, we celebrate in common all the hours of the Liturgy of the Hours in accord with the norm of the church and spend two hours daily, one hour in the morning and the other in the evening, in silent personal prayer. Our Holy Mother Teresa defines prayer in her Book of Life 8:7: “Mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.” But as stated in our Constitutions Our Holy Mother Teresa wanted a horarium to keep a faithful balance among the hours of prayer, manual work, rest, as well as harmony between times of solitude and community acts. The daily life of a Teresian Nun is made up of times of prayer, spiritual reading, manual work, meals, recreation and rest.
Our community, like in a natural family, there is the Office of the Mother Prioress who governs and animates the community. “By serving in the nuns the design of love of the Father the Prioress is a bond of union and of charity among them; and she leads them, guides them, and accompanies them in the path of their vocation, and ensures that the Rule and Constitutions are faithfully observed.” Constitutions No 210. Other offices in Carmel allow nuns to submit themselves willingly to the common law of work in the duties within the common life of the monastery and consequently transformed into the likeness of Christ who came to serve. Work in Carmel takes on many forms including housework, cooking, gardening, sewing, laundry, the infirm sister, the turn sister, the sacristan, the dispensary sister and the bursar. But since we are presently an aging and sick community we had to introduce outside help to accomplish our work including a government home helper, government and private carers and kitchen helper. With the introduction of outside help we were relieved from our work load and consequently eased our Life of Prayer.