St Teresa Homes

Our aim is to be as self-sufficient as possible in order to rely less on outside aid. Our home runs 100% on the generous donations of our supporters but every month we struggle to make ends meet. With this in mind we have plans to develop our Biblical Garden further in order to help us be more sustainable in the future.

- Environmental Education
The Biblical Garden will have many different species of plants and trees as described in our Biblical Garden Guide; rosebushes, olive trees, mustard tree, vineyards together with may medicinal and aromatic plants. We already grow a wide variety of vegetables and have orange, sweet lemon, grapefruit and mandarin trees providing fruit. Two years ago we began providing our own honey with seven bee hives. We hope to build a chapel or meeting hall on site where we can host talks and workshop to local community school and visitors who are keen to learn more about the botanical garden.

- Café / Shop on site
The café will be an area for visitors to relax and take in our beautiful garden and savour our locally made snacks. The shop will sell products made on site such as honey and jams. We hope as well that together the café´ and shop will help us raise further funds for the Homes as well as provide a space for our visitors to enjoy.

- Accommodation on site for visitors to the Gardens and Homes
We hope to attract more & more visitors as the Biblical Garden develops and we fully expect this after the local press attention and nationally we have had recently. With this is mind we want to ensure we have somewhere on site for our visitors to stay who would like to take in the Gardens and surrounding area for relaxation, personal reflection and / or study of the Scripture

We celebrated the official opening of our Biblical Garden 21st March 2010 with a Celebratory Mass and blessing of the Calvary and Resurrection Garden by our late Bishop Victor.

We had a beautiful blue sky and sunshine for the occasione and a great turn out with residents, staff, family and friends in the community coming to support.

Since then we have greatly enjoyed this additional outside space which is therapeutic for our residents and conducive to reflection and tranquility for our staff and visitors.

Our Bible Garden encloses five gardens

1. The Garden of the Song of Songs

Christian tradition sees in the book of the Song of Songs a representation of the love of Christ for his Church.  Ephesians 5:25.

This garden will have aromatic and medicinal plants.

2. The Vineyard

The grape, being one of the important fruits of the Holy Land recurs throughout the Bible. It is first found in the story of Noah (Gen 9:20); it was one of the fruits brought back to Moses to show the fertility of the Promised Land (Num 13:21-24); the prophets use it as a symbol of the people of Israel (Is 5:1-7); the psalmist praises the fruit of the vine which “gladdens the heart of man” (107) and Jesus speaks of himself as the Vine (Jn 15:1-6).

Our vine garden is near the garden of Calvary symbolizing Christ shedding his blood for humanity.  Our garden will also feature a pillared walkway with a vine awning and this will provide shade and fruit.

“I am the vine,

you are the branches.

Whoever remains in me, with me in him,

Bears fruit in plenty .”  John 15:5

3. The Garden of Olives and Gethsemane

The olive was cultivated extensively not only for its fruit but as oil for cooking and for medical and cosmetic purposes. Oil presses were sometimes located among the groves of olives and so gave the name to a place, such as the Garden of Gethsemane which means “The garden of the oil press”.

The Garden of Gethsemane “is one of the most venerable sites of Christianity, anyone who spends time here is confronted with one of the most dramatic moments in the mystery of our Saviour: it was here that Jesus experienced that final loneliness, the whole anguish of the human condition.  Here the abyss of sin and evil penetrated deep within his soul.  Here he was to quake with foreboding before his imminent death.  Here he was kissed by the betrayer.  Here he was abandoned by all his disciples.  Here he wrestled with his destiny for my sake.”  Pope Benedict XVI.

Christ went to the most neglected part of this garden, surrounded by thorn bushes, wild rose bushes, olives and rocks.  This section will feature all of these in our garden.  According to the visions of Blessed Anna Catherina Emerick, Christ prayed in the place where Adam and Eve found themselves when expelled from the Garden of Eden.

4. Garden of Calvary

The cross of Jesus Christ symbolizes the tree of life in the garden of paradise.  Thanks to the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, death has been overcome.  The gift of immortality which our first parents lost in the Garden of Eden is now restored to all humanity.

Click on image below to expand

Five different pathways led to the summit of Calvary Hill where Christ died.  By Divine Providence, according to Blessed Anna Catherina Emmerick, the five pathways symbolize the five wounds Jesus suffered on the cross.  And we have recreated these five pathways on the Calvary Hill in our garden.  Red flowers and shrubs on Calvary Hill signify the blood which Christ shed for all humanity.  And thorn bushes symbolize the crown of thorns placed on Christ’s head.

5. Resurrection Garden

The body of Christ is the seed of new life for humanity.  His body is placed in the tomb like the mustard seed was planted in the garden.  It grew and became a great tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches (Luke 13:9).  The gift of immortality planted in the garden has now become a great tree with branches in all parts of the world, allowing us to enter paradise once more.

The main feature, the tomb, has been copied from a 1^st century garden tomb and is typical of the burial places used at that time- a small entrance area leading into the main chamber containing a stone slab for the body.

“At the place where he had been crucified

there was a garden, and in the garden a

new tomb in which no one had yet been

buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of

Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they

laid Jesus there.” (Jn. 19:42)

Our Bible Garden will serve many purposes, it will be a place of recreation for our residents, staff and visitors.

The garden has an important role in the Bible.  It is the scene of the creation, the fall and redemption of the human race.  We find reference to the garden in the first book of the Bible Gen 2:8, 15 and in the final book of the Bible Apocalipsis or Revelation 2:7.  Between the first reference to the garden in the book of Genesis and the last in Apocalipsis or Revelation the entire story of the salvation history takes place.  The garden theme occurs throughout the Bible sometimes in the literal sense, at others in a figurative sense.  Reflection on both these approaches to the garden can enrich our appreciation of its significance and perhaps give us some insight into the role that the garden plays in God’s creation, and therefore in our own lives.

The first mention of a garden comes in the second chapter of Genesis and it is the place God chose for our first parents.

“Yahweh God took the man and settled him

in the garden of Eden to cultivate and

take care of it.” (Gen. 2:15)

This garden had everything to make it a place of beauty and perfect happiness. It was well irrigated with four streams and planted with trees and shrubs to give food and shade. For Adam, to care for it was a fulfilling and enriching experience. Most important of all it was the place of meeting with God. (Gen. 3:8). The ultimate punishment for them after their fall was banishment from this place of delight. Subsequently, the Garden of Eden became the symbol of the perfect place to settle and cultivate.

Great progress has been made so far with the the Tourist Theme Park – a beautiful garden behind the centre, where the residents and staff can relax.  We also hope that upon completion, this could be a visitor’s destination for local tourism, that can help raise awareness  and funds for our cause in the community