Maria Theresa Nuzzo : her spirituality and social commitment

Abstract

Many people today treasure the gifts of life, and yet they seem to thirst also for a fulfilment more profound than the limited satisfaction that work, relationships, or material possessions provide. One hundred years ago, Maria Theresa Nuzzo identified this human hunger as a mystical yearning, a thirst for God. She expresses this truth with particular boldness. In common with other human beings she was a woman of feeling, always vulnerable, at times perhaps insecure and uncertain of the way ahead. Yet, her writings also show a person shining with a special divine likeness and human radiance. This image comes alive especially in her ordinary everyday life. Hopefully, the following writing will prove to be in its own way, an inspired work of art, something carefully and lovingly fashioned out of genuine material. Her main focus, nevertheless, is on the way in which each writing mediates the Christian Gospel, and so gives us a deeper, richer, clearer vision of the Christian mystery. This kind of exposition demands the reader's full and prayerful attention. As I set out to write about the spirituality of Mother Maria Theresa Nuzzo, I realized that the task was made all the more difficult because of the very few writings that are available. However, this should not impede us from exploring her great personality in relation to God and her mission through which she gave herself to a life of union with God. It was actually the totality of her aspirations, her heart, her strength, and her whole life that she willed to make subject to God. So, it is not only the understanding of her religious life but also of her spiritual life that was enriched and continually renewed by a deep union with God. This union with God is reflected very clearly throughout her writings. [...]