Sunday with the Saints

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

Elizabeth Catez of the Trinity was born in 1880 in the diocese of Bourges. In 1901 she entered the Discalced Carmleite monastery of Dijon. There she made her profession of vows in 1903 and from there she was called "to light, to love and to life" by the Divine Spouse in 1906. A faithful adorer in spirit and in truth, her life was a "praise of glory" of the Most Blessed Trinity present in her soul and loved amidst interior darkness and exruciating illness. In the mystery of divine inhabitation she found her "heaven on earth," her special charism and her mission for the church.
(From the Carmelite Proper)

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity-Carmelite Blog

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, ocds

Saturday of Our Lady

Holy Mother of God and of the Church, our Lady of Guadalupe, you were chosen by the Father for the Son through the Holy Spirit. You are the Woman clothed with the sun who labors to give birth to Christ while Satan, the Red Dragon, waits to voraciously devour your child.

So too did Herod seek to destroy your Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and massacred many innocent children in the process. So today does abortion killing many innocent unborn children and exploiting many mothers in its attack upon human life and upon the Church, the Body of Christ.

Mother of the Innocents, we praise God in you for His gifts to you of your Immaculate Conception, your freedom from actual sin; your fullness of grace, your Motherhood of God and the Church, your Perpetual Virginity and your Assumption in body and soul into heaven.

O Help of Christians, we beg you to protect all mothers of the unborn and the children within their wombs. We plead with you for your help to end the holocaust of abortion. Melt hearts so that life may be revered!

Holy Mother, we pray to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for all mothers and all unborn children that they may have life here on earth and by the most Precious Blood shed by your Son that they may have eternal life with Him in heaven. We also pray to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for all abortionists and all abortion supporters that they may be converted and accept your Son, Jesus Christ, as their Lord and Savior. Defend all of your children in the battle against Satan and all of the evil spirits in this present darkness.

We desire that the innocent unborn children who die without Baptism should be baptized and saved. We ask that you obtain this grace for them and repentance, reconciliation and pardon from God for their parents and their killers.

Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite power of merciful love. May it put an end to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. May Christ the King reign over us, our families, cities, states, nations and the whole of humanity.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, hear our pleas and accept this cry from our hearts!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn, Pray for us!








Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

Carmelite Movie

After ten years of correspondence, filmmaker Michael Whyte was given unprecedented access to the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity, in London's Notting Hill. The monastery, founded in 1878, is home to the nuns of the Discalced Order of Carmelites, who lead a cloistered life dedicated to prayer, work and contemplation, rarely leaving the monastery except to visit a doctor or dentist. Silence is maintained throughout the day with the exception of two periods of recreation.


A highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning documentary, No Greater Love follows in the wake of the great success of a similar film, Into Great Silence, as it gives a unique insight into this closed world of these nuns where the modern world's materialism is rejected; they have no television, radio or newspapers. The film interweaves a year in the life of the monastery with the daily rhythms of Divine Office and work. Centered on Holy Week, it follows a year in which a novice is professed and one of the older nuns dies. Though mainly a meditational film, there are several interviews with the nuns, which offer insights into their lives, faith, moments of doubt and their belief in the power of prayer in the heart of the community. A beautifully filmed and deeply inspiring production.
(Description from You Tube Movie Trailer)




Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

Sunday with the Saints

St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, OCD

Virgin

This Carmelite virgin was born in Florence in 1566, she had a religious upbringing and entered the monastery of the Carmelite nuns there. She led a hidden life of prayer and self-denial, praying particularly for the renewal of the Church and encouraging the sisters in holiness. Her life was marked by many extraordinary graces. She died in 1607.

Her prayer:

...Come, Holy Spirit. May the union of the Father and the will of the Son come to us. You, Spirit of truth are the reward of the saints, the refreshment of souls, light in darkness, the riches of the poor, the treasure of lovers, the satisfaction of the hungry, the consolation of the pilgrim Church; you are he in whom all treasures are contained.

Come, you who, descending into Mary, caused the Word to take flesh: effect in us by grace what you accomplished in her by grace and nature.

Come, you who are the nourishment of all chaste thoughts, the fountain of all clemency, the summit of all purity.

Come, and take away from us all that hinders us from being absorbed in you.

The Twelve Letters of St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds



Saturday of Our lady

Prayer to Our Lady of La Salette

Remember, our Lady of La Salette, true Mother of sorrows, the tears which thou didst shed for me on Calvary; be mindful also of the unceasing care which thou dost exercise to screen me from the justice of God; and consider whether thou canst now abandon thy child, for whom thou hast done so much. Inspired by this consoling thought, I come to cast myself at thy feet, in spite of my infidelity and ingratitude. Reject not my prayer, O Virgin of reconciliation, convert me, obtain for me the grace to love Jesus Christ above all things and to console thee too by living a holy life, in order that one day I may be able to see thee in Heaven. Amen.

CARMELITE QUOTE

It is true that, however strong you may think yourselves, you cannot enter all the Mansions by your own efforts: the Lord of the Castle Himself must admit you to them. So, if you meet with any resistance, I advise you not to make any effort to get in, for if you do you will displease Him so much that He will never admit you.  He is a great Lover of humility. If you consider yourselves unworthy of entering even the third Mansions, He will more quickly give you the the will to reach the fifth, and thenceforward you may serve Him by going to these Mansions again and again.
(Interior Castle, Seventh Mansion)

Read the Interior Castle online

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, ocds

Saturday of Our Lady

Our Lady of the Scapular

For centuries, devotion to Mary through the wearing of the Brown Scapular has been the cornerstone of the Discalced Carmelite Order's dedication to Mary and to a life of prayer lived in imitation of Mary.

Tradition tells us that the Scapular was presented by Mary to the English Carmelite, Saint  Simon Stock, in the year 1251, as a sign of Mary's special love and protection for all Carmelites. Ever since that date, the Brown Scapular has come to symbolize Carmel's unlimited confidence in Mary's prayerful intercession with her Divine Son.

Dedication to Mary and to a life of prayer are the two distinctive characteristics of the Carmelite Order.

The Scapular, in its monastic apron form, is an integral part of the habit of Carmelites. The miniaturized version of this sacramental consists of two panels of cloth, joined by a cord and worn over the shoulders.

May the Scapular of Carmel be for all its wearers a constant and visible reminder of Our Lady's prayers and protection.

(Information taken from Discalced Carmelite Friars of HOLY HILL)

Read more about the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds