CARMELITE QUOTE

 

Carmelite Quote

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Feast Day: November 8

I believe that the people who are the really happy ones in this world are those who have enough contempt and forgetfulness of self to choose the cross as their portion!

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, O.C.D.S.

Carmelite Quote

Photo Source: Wikipedia

St. Raphael Kalinowski

1835-1907

From a letter to his parents describing his call to Carmel:

A year ago there came to me, like an echo, a voice from the grilles of Carmel. This voice was clearly addressed to me and I have accepted it; it was a salvific voice from the infinite mercy of God commanding me. I can only exclaim, 'I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever.'

St. Raphael founded a Carmelite monastery in Wadowice, Poland the city where our late Holy Father, Pope St. John Paul II was born. To learn more about this little-known Carmelite saint, read Saint Raphael Kalinowski: An Introduction to His Life and Spirituality available from ICS Publications. 

Thought for today: Could you describe your conversion/call to Carmel in just a few short sentences as St. Raphael has done? What would you say if someone asked you?

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

 St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila):

 Knowing ourselves is something so important that I wouldn't want any relaxation ever in this regard, however high you may have climbed into the heavens. While we are on this earth nothing is more important to us than humility. So I repeat that it is good, indeed very good, to try to enter first into the room where self-knowledge is dealt with rather than fly off to other rooms. This is the right road.

Interior Castle I 2:9

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein):

A knowledge of the cross can be gained only when one comes to feel the Cross radically. I have been convinced of that from the first moment and have said, from my heart: Ave Crux, spes unica! (Hail Cross, our only hope!)

Only those who are saved, only children of grace, can in fact be bearers of Christ's cross. Only in union with the divine Head does human suffering take on expiatory power. To suffer and to be happy although suffering, to have one's feet on the earth, to walk on the dirty and rough paths of this earth and yet to be enthroned with Christ at the Father's right hand, to laugh and cry with the children of this world and ceaselessly sing the praises of God with the choirs of angels--this is the life of the Christian until the morning of eternity breaks forth.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

Carmelite Quote

Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and inspired by the words of St. Paul wished to become a "Praise of Glory" to the most Holy Trinity. This is an excerpt of her description of a soul who is a Praise of Glory:

A praise of glory is a soul that lives in God, that loves him with a pure and disinterested love, without seeking itself in the sweetness of this love; that loves him beyond all His gifts and even though it would not have received anything from Him, it desires the good of the Object thus loved...Thus the soul must surrender itself to this will completely, passionately, so as to will nothing else but what God wills.

A praise of glory is a soul of silence that remains like a lyre under the mysterious touch of the Holy Spirit so that He may draw from it divine harmonies: it knows that suffering is a string that produces still more beautiful sounds, so it loves to see this string on its instrument that it may more delightfully move the Heart of its God.

As Secular Carmelites we are striving to be a Praise of Glory in our own unique way by using the gifts God has given us. We are not holy of ourselves and our own efforts. We only reflect the light, and beauty, and holiness of the Trinity living within us. When we become Christlike and become the image of his Son by our charity, we become a true Praise of His Glory.

Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, pray for us.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

Carmelite Quote

St. Therese of the Child Jesus:

Ah! What peace floods the soul when she rises above natural feelings. No, there is no joy comparable to that which the truly poor in spirit experience. If such a one asks for something with detachment, and if this thing is not only refused but one tries to take away what one already has, the poor in spirit follow Jesus' counsel: "If anyone take away your coat, let go your cloak also."

To give up one's cloak is, it seems to me, renouncing one's ultimate rights; it is considering oneself as the servant and the slave of others. When one has left his cloak, it is much easier to walk, to run...

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
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CARMELITE QUOTE

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, O.C.D.S.

CARMELITE FEAST DAYS

Photo: R. Massaro-Carmelite Monastery-Cleveland, Ohio

Carmelite Feast Day: St. John of the Cross-Dec. 14
Happy Feast Day to all Carmelites!

Song of the Soul That Rejoices 
in Knowing God Through Faith.

A poem by St. John of the Cross

That eternal spring is hidden,

for I know well where it has its rise,

although it is night.

I do not know its origin, nor has it one,

but I know that every origin has come from it,

although it is night.

I know that nothing else is so beautiful,

and that the heavens and the earth drink there,

although it is night.

I know well that it is bottomless

and no one is able to cross it,

although it is night.

Its clarity is never darkened,

and I know that every light has come from it,

although it is night.

I know that its streams are so brimming

they water the lands of hell, the heavens, and earth,

although it is night.

I know well the stream that flows from this spring

is mighty in compass and power,

although it is night.

I know the stream proceeding from these two,

that neither of them in fact precedes it,

although it is  night.

This eternal spring is hidden 

in the living bread for our life's sake,

although it is night.

It is here calling out to creatures;

and they satisfy their thirst,

although in darkness,

although it is night.

This living spring that I long for,

I see in this bread of life,

although it is night.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, ocds

I have experienced this presence of the three Persons, which I mentioned at the beginning, up to this day which is the feast of the Commemoration of St. Paul. They are very habitually present in my soul. Since I was accustomed to experience only the presence of Jesus, it always seemed to me there was some obstacle to my
seeing three Persons, although I understand there is only one God. And the Lord told me today while I was reflecting upon this that I was mistaken in thinking of things of the soul through comparison with corporeal things, that I should know that these spiritual things are very different and that the soul is capable of great rejoicing. It seemed to me there came the thought of how a sponge absorbs and is saturated with water; so, I thought, was my soul which was overflowing with that divinity and in a certain way rejoicing within itself and possessing the three Persons.

I also heard the words: "Don't try to hold Me within yourself, but try to hold yourself within Me." It seemed to me that from within my soul--where I saw these three Persons present--these persons were communicating themselves to all creation without fail, nor did they fail to be with me.  
St. Teresa of Jesus, Spiritual Testimonies No. 14


Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

Carmelite Quote

HAPPY FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH, THE WORKER!

Photo: R. Massaro St. Joseph Church Circleville, Ohio

St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila):
One day after Communion, His Majesty earnestly commanded me to strive for this new monastery with all my powers, and He made great promises that it would be founded and that He would be highly served in it. He said it should be called St. Joseph and that this saint would keep watch over us at one door, and our Lady at the other, that Christ would remain with us, and that it would be a star shining with great splendor.






Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

 EASTER MEDITATION

St. Teresa of Jesus On the Mercy and Compassion of His Majesty

SOLILOQUIES #10

O God of my soul, how we hasten to offend You and how You hasten even more to pardon us! What reason is there, Lord, for such deranged boldness? Could it be that we have already understood your great mercy and have forgotten that Your justice is just?

The sorrows of death surround me. Oh, oh, oh, what a serious thing sin is, for it was enough to kill God with so many sorrows! And how surrounded you are by them, my God! Where can You go that they do not torment You? Everywhere mortals wound You.

O Christians, it's time to defend your King and to accompany Him in such great solitude. Few are the vassals remaining with Him, and great the multitude accompanying Lucifer. And what's worse is that these latter appear as His friends in public and sell Him in secret. He finds almost no one in whom to trust. O true Friend, how badly they pay You back who betray You! O true Christians, help your God weep, for those compassionate tears are not only for Lazarus but for those who were not going to want to rise, even though His Majesty calls them. O my God, how You bear in mind the faults I have committed against You! May they now come to an end, Lord, may they come to an end, and those of everyone. Raise up these dead; may Your cries be so powerful that even though they do not beg life of You, You give it to them so that afterward, my God, they might come forth from the depth of their own delights.

Lazarus did not ask You to raise him up. You did it for a woman sinner; behold one here, my God, and a much greater one; let Your mercy shine. I, although miserable, ask life for those who do not want to ask it of You. You already know, my King, what torment it is for me to see them so forgetful of the great endless torments they will suffer, if they don't return to You.

O you who are accustomed to delights, satisfactions, and consolations, and to always doing your own will, take pity on yourselves! Recall that you will have to be subject forever and ever, without end, to the infernal furies. Behold, behold that the Judge who will condemn you now ask you; and that your lives are not safe for one moment. Why don't you want to live forever? Oh, hardness of human hearts! May Your boundless compassion, my God, soften these hearts.


Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

From the life of St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila)

One night, being so ill that I wanted to excuse myself from mental prayer, I took my rosary in order to occupy myself in vocal prayer. I tried not to recollect my intellect, even though externally I was recollected in the oratory. When the Lord desires, these devices are of little avail. I was doing this for only a short while when a spiritual rapture came upon me so forcefully that I had no power to resist it. It seemed to me I was brought into heaven, and the first persons I saw there were my father and mother. I saw things so marvelous--in as short a time as it takes to recite a Hail Mary--that I indeed remained outside myself; the experience seemed to me too great a favor. I say it lasted a short time, but perhaps it took a little longer; the impression is that the time was very short. I feared lest the experience be some illusion, although it didn't seem so to me. I didn't know what to do, because I was very ashamed to go to my confessor about this. I don't think the shame was from humility, but I thought he would make fun of me and say: Oh, what a St. Paul you are, or a St. Jerome, that you see heavenly things! And that these glorious saints experienced similar things made me more afraid. I did nothing but weep a great deal, for I didn't think there was any basis for my having such an experience. Finally, however much I disliked doing so, I went to my confessor; I never dared to remain silent about such things--however much I regretted having to speak of them--on account of the great fear I had of being deceived. Since he saw I was so anxious, he consoled me from my troubled feelings.

As time went on, it happened--and continues to happen sometimes--that the Lord showed me greater secrets.
The Book of Her Life Chap. 38, No. 1


St. Teresa, pray for us!

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE FEAST DAYS

SOLEMNITY OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

DECEMBER 14

Happy Feast Day to all Carmelites!

Photo: R. Massaro Carmelite Monastery Cleveland, Ohio

From the life of St. John of the Cross:

Once during Holy Week he suffered so intensely from the Passion of Christ that he found it impossible to leave the monastery to hear the nuns' confessions. Among his favorite feasts, besides those of the Blessed Trinity and Corpus Christi, were the feasts of the Blessed Virgin. In his prison cell, on the Vigil of the Assumption, after nine months of severe privation, he was asked what he was thinking of. He replied, "I was thinking that tomorrow is the feast of our Lady and that it would give me great joy to say Mass. The sight of an image of the Mother of God brought love and brightness to his soul. Once, on seeing an image of our Lady while he was preaching to the nuns in Caravaca, he could not conceal his love for her and exclaimed: "How happy I would be to live alone in a desert with that image."

St. John of the Cross, pray for us!







Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE SAINT OF THE DAY

St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes

Photo: R. Massaro  Lourdes, France

Feast Day: July 13


Jesus alone is beautiful; he is my only joy. I call for him, I cry after him, I search for him within my heart. I long for Jesus to grind me interiorly so that I may become a pure host where he can find his rest. I want to be athirst with love so that other souls may possess this love. I would die to creatures and to myself, so that he may live in me.

Learn more about this saint:

http://www.teresadelosandes.org/anglais/a_accueil.php





Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Feast Day: August 9

Since the Mother of God is among women the most intimately bound to Christ, she is the heart of the Church of which Christ is the head. Mary helps those who strive to unveil Christ in the heart of another. Thus, woman's mission is to imitate Mary. She must further the life of faith by providing secure and enduring foundation. As teacher, she must be the maternal, loving educator for Christ. She must nourish a rich life of faith in young persons through their intellectuality and voluntariness. By so consecrating herself to supernatural maternity, the Catholic woman becomes an organ of the Church.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us!

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

Photo: R. Massaro Regina Health Center, Richfield, Ohio

From the Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila):

(Speaking of her great illness)

...only the Lord can know the unbearable torments I suffered within myself: my tongue, bitten to pieces, my throat unable to let even water pass down--from not having swallowed anything and from the great weakness that oppressed me; everything seeming to be disjointed; the greatest confusion in my head; all shrivelled and drawn together in a ball. The result of the torments of those four days was that I was unable to stir, not an arm or a foot, neither hand nor head, unable to move as though I were dead; only one finger on my right hand it seemed I was able to move. Since there was no way of touching me, because I was so bruised that I couldn't endure it, they moved me about in a sheet...This lasted until Easter...the pains often stopped, and I considered myself already well...although the quartan fevers that remained with their accompanying severe chills were so harsh that I found them unbearable; the lack of appetite was very great.

Right away I was in a hurry to return to the convent...the state of my weakness was indescribable, for I was then only bones. I may add that the above condition lasted more than eight months. The paralysis, although it gradually got better, lasted almost three years. When I began to go about on hands and knees, I praised God...It seems to me that all my longing to be cured was that I might remain alone in prayer as was my custom, for in the infirmary the suitable means for this was lacking. I went to confession very often. I spoke much about God in such a way that I was edifying to everyone, and they were amazed at the patience the Lord gave me. For if this patience had not come from the hand of His Majesty, it seemed it would have been impossible to suffer so much with so great contentment.

The Book of her Life, Chap. 6, No. 1-2.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

Advent Meditation

ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS
By St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

When the days grow shorter and shorter, when --in a normal winter--the first snowflakes fall, then quietly and softly thoughts of Christmas begin to surface, and from the mere word a certain magic exudes that affects every heart. Even those of other faiths, or of no faith at all, to whom the story of the Child of Bethlehem has no meaning, prepare for the feast and even make plans to convey its joy here or there. Months and weeks in advance, there flows a warmth like a stream of love over the whole world. A festival of love and joy--that is the star which beckons all mankind in the first winter months.

Photo: R. Massaro

For the Christian, and especially for the Catholic Christian, it is yet something else. Him the star leads to the manger with the little Child who brings peace to earth. In countless endearing pictures, artists have created the scene for our eyes; ancient legends, replete with all the magic of childhood, sing to us about it. Whoever lives along with the Church hears the ancient chants and feels the longing of the spirit in the Advent hymns; and whoever is familiar with the inexhaustible fount of sacred liturgy is daily confronted by the great prophet of the Incarnation with his powerful words of warning and promise.

             Drop down dew from above and let the clouds rain
             the Just One! The Lord is near! Let us adore Him!
             Come, Lord, and do not delay! Jerusalem, rejoice
             with great joy, for your Savior comes to you!

From 17 to 24 December, the great O Antiphons to the Magnificat call out with ever greater longing and fervor their 'Come, to set us free.' And with still more promise (on the last Advent Sunday), 'Behold, all is fulfilled:' then, finally, 'Today you shall know that the Lord is coming and tomorrow you shall see His splendor.'

Photo: R. Massaro-St. Augustine Church Barberton, Ohio

Yes, on that evening when the lights on the tree are lit and the gifts are being exchanged, that unfulfilled longing is still there groping for another ray of Light until the bells for Midnight Mass ring out, and the miracle of that Holy Night is renewed upon altars bedecked with lights and flowers: 'And the Word was made flesh.' Now the moment of the blessed fulfillment has arrived.



Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

CARMELITE QUOTE

Photo: R. Massaro St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church Akron, Ohio

HIS MAJESTY: CHRIST THE KING

From the Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila):

As often as the Lord commanded something of me in prayer and my confessor told me to do otherwise, the Lord returned and told me to obey my confessor; afterward His Majesty would change the confessor's mind, and he would agree with the Lord's command. When they forbade the reading of many books in the vernacular, I felt that prohibition very much because reading some of them was an enjoyment for me, and I could no longer do so since only the Latin editions were allowed. the Lord said to me: "Don't be sad, for I shall give you a living book." I was unable to understand why this was said to me, since I had not yet experienced any visions. Afterward, within only a few days, I understood very clearly, because I received so much to think about and such recollection in the presence of what I saw, and the Lord showed so much love for me by teaching me in many ways, that I had very little or almost no need for books.His Majesty had become the true book in which I saw the truth.

The Book of Her Life, Chap. 26, No. 5

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS