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 whatone 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 ultimaterights; 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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The shrine to Our Lady of Amiens is a cathedral. The church was erected in the third century by Saint Firmin, the bishop of Amiens, who received the crown of martyrdom during the persecution of Diocletian. A part of the head of Saint John the Baptist was preserved here; it was brought hither by a traveler named Galo, or Wallon de Sarton, depending upon the legend, on his return to Constantinople in the year 1205. Read more...
(Don't forget to use your translate button) If you still have a problem, click on "Intentions de priere" on left side bar and then click on "Envoyer une intentions de prière"
THE SISTERS HAVE OPENED THEIR ARCHIVES!!!!
CLICK ON THE PHOTO
Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
Sunday, July 6, 2014
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
FEAST DAY: JULY 16
Photo: R. Massaro-St. Rose Church Girard, Ohio
The Ten Books on the Way of Life and Great Deeds of the Carmelites
A medieval history of the Carmelites written c. 1385 by Felip Ribot, O. Carm Why the members of this Order are called the brothers of the blessed virgin Mary and Why they serve this Virgin with especial zeal. The members of this Order were mindful, therefore, that God had especially revealed to their predecessors through the above vision that a certain baby girl would be born, who from her mothers' womb would be free from all stain of sin, who like them would embrace voluntary virginity, and from her, though a virgin, the God-man would be born... For, as vowing voluntary virginity to God was first inaugurated by the early members of this Order and thus introduced among men, so the same virginity for God was afterwards first introduced and inaugurated among women by the Mother of God, as we have noted above. Thus, as the Carmelites were the first among men to undertake voluntary virginity, so was the blessed Mary the first among women to vow virginity. This unique conformity from the beginning between the Mother of God and the Carmelites over voluntary virginity, prophesied long ago and afterwards fulfilled, was the reason why the Carmelites, already in the time of the apostles, called the Virgin Mary their sister, and following this unique conformity, they called themselves the brothers of the blessed virgin Mary.
Carmelite Monastery-Haifa, Israel
Carmelites in the Holy Land (click on photo to visit their website)
Mary, Mother of the « Yes »
Mary, Mother of the "Yes," you have listened to Jesus, And know the tone of his voice and the beating of his heart. Morning Star, speak to us of him, And tell us about your way following him on the path of faith.
Mary, who lived with Jesus in Nazareth, Etch your sentiments in our lives, Your docility, your listening silence, And make the Word flourish in genuinely free choices.
Mary, speak to us of Jesus, so that the freshness of our faith, Shines in our eyes and warms the heart of those who are with us, As you did on visiting Elizabeth, Who in old age rejoiced with you for the gift of life.
Mary, Virgin of the "Magnificat," Help us to take joy to the world and, as at Cana, Lead every youth, committed to the service of brothers, To do only what Jesus says.
Mary, look upon the agora [gathering] of youth, So that it will be fertile terrain of the Italian Church. Pray that Jesus, dead and risen, is reborn in us, And transforms us into a night full of light, full of him.
Mary, Virgin of Loreto, Gate of Heaven, Help us to raise our eyes. We want to see Jesus, to speak with him, And to proclaim his love to all.
(Holy Father’s prayer to Mary for the youth at the general Audience of St Valentine’s Day, 14 Feb 2007)
Peace be with you!
Rosemarie of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, ocds
Sunday, November 3, 2013
CARMELITE NUNS
DYSART, SCOTLAND
The Power of the Religious Habit: A True Story
Sister Mary Brendon Zajac, S.N.D., hails from a clan based in Ohio. I suppose that every Sister of Notre Dame deserves her personal Quasimodo, and for this one, I fit the bill.
Too many people are hesitant to relate to those enrolled in religious orders. True, nuns should be treated with reverence due to their special commitment and vows, and yet, like you and me, they are working out their salvation with fear and trembling. Unlike you and I, though, most of them are making great strides in sanctity because they usually keep Jesus Christ foremost in their minds—and rightly so, considering that eternity is forever, and this present life is short. Most of us are caught up in the distractions of the day.
We seem to be frightened of the idea of holiness. We get itchy and fidgety whenever we get close to it, as if suffering from an allergic reaction. We find it more comfortable to wallow in the muck of our fallen nature. This fright is silly when we stop to think about it, because we are invited by God, and to be as holy as he is. That’s why we call ourselves “Christians.” Read more...
Recently, we studied the Foundations of St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila). One of her foundations was at Valladolid, Spain in 1567 . The monastery is still active and on the web.
Carmelite Nuns of San Jose, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Don't forget to use your translate button: Portuguese to English
Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
Monday, June 3, 2013
A poem by Jessica Powers (Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD) 1905-1988
To Live with the Spirit
To live with the Spirit of God is to be a listener.
It is to keep the vigil of mystery,
earthless and still.
One leans to catch the stirring of the Spirit,
strange as the wind's will.
The soul that walks where the wind of the Spirit blows
turns like a wandering weather-vane toward love.
It may lament like Job or Jeremiah,
echo the wounded hart, the mateless dove.
It may rejoice in spaciousness of meadow
that emulates the freedom of the sky.
Always it walks in waylessness, unknowing;
it has cast down forever from its hand
the compass of the whither and the why.
To live with the Spirit of God is to be a lover.
It is becoming love, and like to Him
toward Whom we strain with metaphors of creatures:
fire-sweep and water-rush and the wind's whim.
The soul is all activity, all silence;
and though it surges Godward to its goal,
it holds, as moving earth holds sleeping noonday,
the peace that is the listening of the soul.
Peaceful was the night and deep the silence
When my boat set sail on the open sea,
Gliding over the boundless ocean on the loveliest
of journeys.
All was hushed beneath the vault of heaven
As if listening to the voice of the Eternal.
Suddenly the waves arose, engulfing my light
barque--
It was the Trinity opening out to me:
In that divine abyss I found my deepest center.
No more will you find me at the water's edge;
I have plunged into infinity, where I belong.
With my Three I live at peace, in the wide freedom of eternity
ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND OF
THE HOLY FACE
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH-DOCTOR OF LOVE
Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that since the Church is a body composed of different members, she could not lack the most necessary and most nobly endowed of all the bodily organs. I understood, therefore, that the Church has a heart-and a heart on fire with love. I saw, too, that love alone imparts life to all the members, so that should love ever fail, apostles would no longer preach the Gospel and martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Finally, I realized that love includes every vocation, that love is all things, that love is eternal, reaching down through the ages and stretching to the uttermost limits of the earth.
Eleanor Girlani, from Trino in Monferrato, Italy, was given the name Archangela when, with her sisters Maria and Frances, she took the Carmelite habit in the monastery of Parma in 1477. Later, she was to become prioress of the monastery and then prioress of the new foundation at Mantua from 1492 until her death in 1495. It is written in an old manuscript that Blessed Archangela lived her religious life so intensely that, just as the monastery was entitled "Saint Mary in Paradise", she and the other nuns, even though still here on earth, lived as if already absorbed into heaven. She was distinguished by a special devotion to the Holy Trinity. Her liturgical cult was approved by Pius IX in 1864.
One Sunday, looking at a picture of Our Lord of the Cross, I was struck by the blood flowing from one of the divine hands. I felt a pang of great sorrow when thinking this blood was falling to the ground without any one's hastening to gather it up. I was resolved to remain in spirit at the foot of the Cross and to receive the divine dew. I understood I was then to pour it out upon souls. The cry of Jesus on the Cross sounded continually in my heart: " I thirst!" (John 19:28). These words ignited within me an unknown and very living fire. I wanted to give my Beloved to drink and I felt myself consumed with a thirst for souls.
Born in Aytona, Lerida, on December 29, 1811, Blessed Francis Palau y Quer entered the Carmelite Order in 1832 and was ordained priest in 1836. Civil turmoil forced him to live in exile and outside his community. On his return to Spain in 1851, he founded his "School of Virtue" -- which was a model of catechetical teaching -- at Barcelona. The school was suppressed and he was unjustly exiled to Ibiza (1854-1860) where he lived at El Vedra in solitude and experienced mystically the vicissitudes of the Church. While in the Balearic Islands he founded the Congregations of Carmelite Brothers and Carmelite Sisters (1860-1861). He preached popular missions and spread love of Our Lady wherever he went. He died at Tarragona on March, 1872, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1980.
Visit the Carmelite Monastery in Little Rock, Arkansas
Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
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In these trying times, it may difficult for one to find joy in life. As Christians, this gift is the hallmark of our response of accepting God's gift of our salvation: Jesus Christ. Do you find your joy in God alone? Or does it depend on the circumstances of the day-if things are going well?
As Secular Carmelites, we can ask ourselves, am I a joyful person? Do I find a positive outlook on challenging situations? Or, do I always find the negative in people and situations? If our prayer life is authentic, the grace of God changes us into peaceful and happy and joyful people, despite the problems we are facing.
St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila) had a famous saying. She stated, "I would run a hundred miles from a sour-facedsaint." Wow! Maybe we should be more observant in our daily life. Do people want to run the other way when they see us? Or, do we welcome loved ones and strangers with a smile? I know when I am having a difficult day, sometimes just a smile from a stranger lifts my spirit. Sometimes, that little gift from God is all it takes to "balance our affliction."
Detachment from worldly pleasures can also bring us joy. St. John of the Cross teaches us that beginners find it hard to wean themselves from the pleasure of the senses. This, as we know, can be a life-long battle. But we may ask ourselves if we have been following a life of prayer for a number of years, have we truly begun to detach ourselves from the pleasure of the senses? Do we become irritable when we fast and pray?
St. Therese was not a sour-faced saint
We know that the saints gave up sleep and fasted. When was the last time we gave up a little sleep in order to pray? When was the last time (outside of Lent) that we gave up a favorite food or pastime? We want to become saints, but the time is now, not tomorrow. The saints became saints, not because they were faithful to disciplines of the flesh, but because they were faithful to prayer. Prayer leads to the life of virtue. It makes us holy people. Who are holy people? The people who respond in love to their neighbor and who remain joyful about it!
The saints were great evangelizers, maybe not in giving sermons publicly, but their lives were an open book of the Gospels. We can't evangelize if we are unhappy people, for people will not be spiritually attracted to us. Let us pray, that through our life of prayer and service, God transforms us into living charity and joy, a reflection of the kingdom.
God certainly does give us joy to balance the afflictions of daily life. We only need to look around us. The gift of life and the beauty of nature is all around us. The joy and consolation we receive in the Holy Eucharist and the Sacraments is overwhelming when we think about it. We can experience great joy in remembering that God has given us the angels and the saints to help us on our journey, and, most importantly, he has given us his blessed Mother to be our Mother! What great joy to know that she loves us and prays for us!
Our Lady: Mother of the Church
cares for each member
Where do you find your joy that God has given you to balance your purification in this life? Look for this joy. Some days it may be harder to see than others, but if we have the gift of faith, we know that God has not left us orphans. He remains with us.
Let us be instruments of God's joy. Let us bring joy to others to balance their affliction, especially to those who are sad and lonely and find life burdensome.
...You changed my mourning into dancing; you took off my sackloth and clothed me with gladness.
Psalm 30
The joy in giving oneself to God alone: Carmelite Nuns in Italy
