Sr. Cheryl Clemons, OSU, will give a Lenten retreat on March 28 on the ‘Four Teresas’ – St. Teresa of Avila, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Calcutta. COURTESY OF MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH
Sr. Cheryl Clemons to lead a Lenten day of prayer with the ‘Four Teresas’
BY MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH STAFF
During her senior year at Brescia College, Sr. Cheryl Clemons, OSU, took a class on mysticism, in which she wrote a paper about the 16th century Spanish mystic St. Teresa of Avila.
“I’ve always loved Teresa of Avila,” Sr. Cheryl said. “She has always been an ideal of a relationship with God. I’ve always loved the Bernini statue ‘Ecstasy of Saint Teresa’ in Rome.”
It took much longer for Sr. Cheryl to warm to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the 19th century French Carmelite who captured the world’s imagination with her “Little Way” to holiness.
“When I read her ‘Story of a Soul’ I thought it was too saccharine,” Sr. Cheryl said. “But I learned later that was due to the editing by her sister, who was making her case for canonization. I did a retreat about St. Thérèse and her family. Her parents – Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin – are the only married couple to be canonized who weren’t martyrs.”
Sr. Cheryl knows less about St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross – perhaps better known as Edith Stein, who converted from Judaism and was murdered in a German concentration camp rather than turn her back on her faith.
“More of her writings are philosophical rather than spiritual. She wrote about suffering and hardship. But a great way to learn is to teach it,” Sr. Cheryl said.
All three of these saints were cloistered members of the Carmelite order. St. Teresa of Calcutta – “Mother Teresa” – took to the streets to preserve the dignity of the poor in India.
“Mother Teresa was actively engaged in spirituality. We can’t imitate her service, but she is a good model for active ministry,” Sr. Cheryl said.
Aside from their similar names, they all wrote about the importance of prayer, and they all dealt with distractions, Sr. Cheryl said: “Distractions are why most people stop praying.”
On March 28, 2026, at Maple Hall on the campus of Mount Saint Joseph, Sr. Cheryl will weave the stories of these amazing women into a Day of Prayer and Reflection titled “Deepening Our Prayer Life: Advice from the Four Saint Teresas.” The retreat day during the fifth week of Lent will last from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The cost is $60, which will include lunch.
Participants will leave that day with ideas about how to be more faithful to prayer, ways to improve their prayer life, and tools to handle dryness or distractions in prayer, Sr. Cheryl said.
“We will start with short bios on each of the saints,” Sr. Cheryl said. “Then we will talk about the necessity of prayer, the obstacles to prayer, and the helps to prayer – such as doing it at the same time and having a dedicated space.” There will also be time for small group sharing.
“We’re going to offer a 15-minute section on spiritual direction, just to give people a taste of what that is like,” Sr. Cheryl said. She is a trained spiritual director and has several more spiritual directors who will help with that section of the retreat.
Sr. Cheryl, an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph, has been offering retreats, parish missions and OCIA programs for more than 30 years. She has extensive training in theology, Scripture, spirituality and spiritual direction.
The deadline to register is March 25.
