CATECHISM QUOTE

Catechism #599

Jesus' violent death was not the result of chance in an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances, but is part of the mystery of God's plan, as St. peter explains to the Jews of Jerusalem in his first sermon on Pentecost: "This Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God." This Biblical language does not mean that those who handed him over were merely passive players in a scenario written in advance by God.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

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Catechism Quote

(Photo: R. Massaro)

#1731
Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude.

#1733
The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin."

#1738
Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect. The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignityof the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order.

(Photo: R.Massaro)Peace be with you!
Rosemarie,ocds
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Catechism Quote

...He went down with them then, and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. (Luke 51)

#2214
The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood; that is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. The respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their father and mother is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. It is required by  God's commandment.


#2217
...As they grow up, children should continue to respect their parents. They should anticipate their wishes, willingly seek their advice, and accept their just admonitions. Obedience toward parents ceases with the emancipation of the children; not so respect, which is always owed to them. This respect has its roots in the fear of God, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.


#2218
The fourth commandment reminds grown children of their responsibilities toward their parents. As much as they can, they must give them material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress...


As Secular Carmelites who are seeking the way of perfection, we must not only respect our biological parents, but we must respect our spiritual parents of the Carmelite Order: St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross. We must respect their teachings and their holy counsel through their writings.  We must make every effort to obey the points of the Rule they have laid out for us. 


We can have confidence that we are obeying our Heavenly Father, if we are respecting our parents, if we are obeying Church teaching, as set forth by our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, and if we are being faithful to our Carmelite promises of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience.


Let us pray for each other that we will follow the example of the one who said "Yes" in obedience to God's will: TheBlessed Virgin Mary.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Catechism Quote

Catechism #1030

All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of the eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

Fourteen Ways to Help the Holy Souls

NOVENA FOR THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Catechism Quote

Catechism #776

Pentecost-The Birthday of the Church

As sacrament, the Church is Christ's instrument. "She is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all," the universal sacrament of salvation," by which Christ is "at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God's love for men." 199 The Church

"is the visible plan of God's love for humanity," because God desires "that the whole human race may become one People of God, form one Body of Christ, and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit.200

199 LHG 9s2,48 s2;GS45 s 1.
200 Paul VI, June 22, 1973; AG 7s2; cf. LG 17.

...you are 'Rock,' and on this rock I will build my church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18

Secular Carmelites are called to pray on behalf of the church. We are called to "...bear witness to Christ by their life of prayer (Article 8 of the Secular Carmelite Rule)."  The catechism quote above states that the Church is the "visible plan of God's love for humanity."  As secular Carmelites, members of the body of Christ, our call to be a witness to Christ through the charism of contemplative prayer gives witness indeed, to the world, that Christ's love is alive in the Church. Since the Church is the universal sacrament of salvation, we, as members of the body of Christ, participate in his plan of salvation for all by our faithfulness to contemplatiave prayer.

The union with God that we desire in prayer is a reflection of the union that God desires with us, his Church, to form one Body of Christ, one people of God.

Let us pray that all may be one in Christ!

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Three Pillars of Lent

The Three Pillars of Lent:

Prayer

Fasting

Almsgiving

The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church's penitential practice. These items are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works).
Catechism #1439

Information about the season of Lent

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

(The Holy Father in Lourdes-Praying for the sick)

photo: property of Spirit Singing

One of the Cure of Ars' essential activities was his visitation of the sick, and we know how important he considered it. If anyone came to get him to hear a sick person's confession, he would set out at once without regard for time or distance. One day he happened to

be so ill himself that when he arrived at his penitent's home he was obliged to lie down on a bed and hear the dying man's confession in this position. He than had to be taken home in a carriage, which did not please him at all.

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michele de Saint Pierre

Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendant sign that "God has visited his people" and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins, he has come to heal the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of.
Catechism #1503


Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Saturday of Our Lady

 Mary, Mother of God

Among the saints in heaven the Virgin Mary, mother of God, is venerated in a special way...She became our mother also when the divine Redeemer offered the sacrifice of Himself; and hence by this title also, we are her children. She teaches us all the virtues; she gives us her Son and with Him all the help we need, for God "wished us to have everything through Mary.           Pope Pius XII

"All generations will call me blessed": The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship. The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs...This very special devotion...differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration. The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an epitome of the whole Gospel, express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Catechism #971

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, which integrates him into the episcopal college and makes him the visible head of the particular Church entrusted to him. As successors of the apostles and members of the college, the bishops share in the apostolic responsibility and mission of the whole Church under the authority of the Pope, successor of St. Peter.

Catechism #1594

(photo copyright-Spirit Singing)

Almighty God, look upon the face of Him who is the eternal High Priest, and have compassion on Your priests in today's world. Remember that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation. Keep them close to You lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.

Official website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
http://www.usccb.org/

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie

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Catechism Quote

Catechism #2214 & 2215

The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood; this is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. The respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their father and mother is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. It is required by God's commandment.

Respect for parents derives from gratitude toward those who, by the gift of life, their love and their work, have brought their children into the world and enabled them to grow in stature, wisdom, and grace. With all your heart honor your father,and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother. Remember that through your parents you were born; what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?" (Sirach 7:27-28)

As Secular Carmelites, we should also honor our holy parents in the spiritual life: St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross. We can ask ourselves:

* Am I obedient to their teachings?

* Do I ask for their prayerful assistance each day?

* Do I honor them by respecting their sons and daughters of the Order, my brothers and sisters in Carmel?

*Do I pray for my deceased brothers and sisters?

In this "Year for Priests" let us also remember in prayer all the priests who give us the Bread of Life: Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Let us be truly grateful for the gift of ordained Priesthood in which these holy men bring us sanctifying grace by means of the Sacraments.

Let us be faithful to our Holy Parents of Carmel and ask their constant intercession for us to be faithful to holy Mother Church.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church.

Catechism #1120

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

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Tabernacle of the Week

Poor Clare Monastery

Lourdes, France

1418 Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of adoration. "To visit the Blessed Sacrament is . . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord" (Paul VI, MF 66).

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

Catechism #1577

"Only a baptized man validly receives sacred ordination." The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the "Year for Priests"

All priests, who are constituted in the order of priesthood by the sacrament of Order, are bound together by an intimate sacramental brotherhood, but in a special way they form one priestly body in the diocese to which they are attached under their own bishop...

Catechism #1568

A Prayer for Priests

Almighty God, look upon the face of Him who is the eternal High Priest, and have compassion on Your priests in today's world. Remember that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation. Keep them close to You lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.

O Jesus, keep them all close to Your heart and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.

Excerpt from the Gold Book of Prayers

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

Sunday in the "Year for Priests"

Year for Priests official website

Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as head of the Church is made visible in the midst of the community of believers. In the beautiful expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop is typos tou Patros: he is like the living image of God the Father.
Catechism #1549



Peace be with you!
Rosemarie

Catechism Quote

"You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself"

Catechism #2199

The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother, because this relationship is the most universal. It likewise concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family. It requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it.

This commandment includes and presupposes the duties of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all who exercise authority over others or over a community of persons.

As Secular Carmelites this teaching on the fourth commandment helps us to understand our promise of obedience in light of the commandment. We are to be obedient to the Church through the Order, which includes our Provincial (in our locale-Fr. Grennon) and the Council of our community. This means we abide by the decisions the council has made after discussing matters with the entire community. The council should be given due respect. But as the Catechism states, this presupposes the respect on the part of the other party as well.

We cannot go wrong if we remember to treat everyone as Christ. If we play favorites we have a divided heart. Those with a divided heart are far from the reign of God.

Let us pray for each other.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

Catechism Quote

Catechism #1397

The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren:

You have tasted the Blood of the Lord, yet you do not recognize your brother...You dishonor this table when you do not judge worthy of sharing your food someone judged worthy to take part in this meal...God freed you from all your sins and invited you here, but you have not become more merciful. (St. John Chrysostom)

In the life of the saints we see a great devotion to the Holy Eucharist. For Secular Carmelites the life of our Holy Father, St. John of the Cross is no exception. Here is an excerpt from his biographical sketch from the Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., Pg. 27

His experience of God was always rooted in the life of the Church, nourished by the sacraments and the liturgy. Witnesses of his life spoke of the devotion with which he celebrated Mass. A center of his contemplation, Mass often proved to be an occasion for special graces. During the celebration he could become so lost in God that he had no consciousness of his surrounding. His greatest suffering during the imprisonment in Toledo was being deprived of the Eucharist. The Blessed Sacrament was "all his glory, all his happiness, and for him far surpassed all the things of the earth." The one privilege he accepted when major superior in Segovia was the cell closest to the Blessed Sacrament.


O Sacrament most holy
O Sacrament divine
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be every moment Thine!


Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

The Paraclete-The Living Flame of Love

Titles of the Holy Spirit

Catechism #692

When he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the "Paraclete," literally, "he who is called to one's side," ad-vocatus. "Paraclete" is commonly translated by "consoler," and Jesus is the first consoler. The Lord also called the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of truth."

Besides the proper name of the "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in St. Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit of God--and, in St. Peter, the Spirit of glory.

O living flame of love

that tenderly wounds my soul

in its deepest center! Since

now you are not oppressive,

now consummate! if it be your will:

tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

St. John of the Cross describes the Holy Spirit as the Flame of Love that ignites the spark of love that resides in our heart for God. This love, as he states, tenderly wounds the soul. St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila) describes this great wound of love in the form of a mystical arrow that pierced her heart and inflamed her soul with love for God, so much that she thought she would die. In the lives of the Saints, we can always find a point of reference to their heart being inflamed with love for God.

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Philip Neri. St. Philip describes many experiences of this flame or burning desire of love, so much so, that he opened his clothes to relieve the overwhelming sensation of heat in his heart.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus describes how she felt after having made the Oblation to Merciful Love:

I felt myself suddenly wounded by a dart of fire so ardent that I thought I should die. I know not how to describe that transport: there is no comparison which would make the vehemence of that flame understood. It seemed as though an invisible force plunged me wholly into fire. Oh, that fire! What sweetness! One minute, one second more, and my soul must have been set free...

The Catechism teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete. Paraclete also has a definition of one who consoles. Jesus promised us not to leave us orphans. He remains with us in the Blessed Sacrament and His Spirit is ever-present with us, His Church. Let us not take His Spirit for granted.

May he give us a burning desire for Him alone. A fire that will burn out all attachments to the passing things of this world.

Come, Holy Spirit

Fill the hearts of your faithful.

Enkindle in us the fire of your love!

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

Catechism Quote

Catechism #739

Because the Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ, it is Christ who, as the head of the Body, pours out the Spirit among his members to nourish, heal, and organize them in their mutual functions, to give them life, send them to bear witness, and associate them to his self-offering to the Father and to his intercession for the whole world. Through the Church's sacraments, Christ communicates his Holy and sanctifying Spirit to the members of his Body.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

Devotion to Our Lady Mother of the Church

Mother of the Church, pray for us!

The Virgin Mary ...is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer... She is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ'...since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head. Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church. Catechism #963

All the saints had a special love and devotion for our Holy Mother, Mary. One Carmelite in particular, St. Raphael Kalinowski, OCD had a beautiful motto: Mary always and in everything.

*His conversion took place through Mary

*He entered Mary's Order, Carmel, whose goal is allegiance to Jesus Christ

*His prayer life imitated Mary-she who pondered the Word in her heart

*As spiritual director he taught souls the way to Jesus is through Mary
*He propagated the scapular devotion-a sacramental of the church, that helps to sanctify every moment of life.

As Lay Carmelites we have a special devotion to our Mother Mary under the title of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and she has a special love for her children in Carmel. Let us be very, very grateful that Jesus has called us to Our Lady's holy Order. Let us as Catholic Christians be very. very grateful for the great gift of Mary, Mother of the Church.

May we ever thank her for all the prayers and tears she has shed on behalf of all of her children.

On this day, O beautiful Mother
On this day, we give Thee our love
Near Thee Madonna, fondly we hover
Trusting Thy gentle care to prove
(well-known Marian hymn)

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS