CARMELITE QUOTE

Carmel of the Holy Family-Cleveland, Ohio

From the writings of St. Therese of the Child Jesus:

My desires caused me a veritable martyrdom, and I opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find some kind of answer. Chapters Twelve and Thirteen of the First Epistle to the Corinthians fell under my eyes. I read there, in the first of these chapters, that all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, and so on, that the Church is composed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time. The answer was clear, but it did not fulfill my desires and gave me no peace. Without becoming discouraged, I continued my reading, and this sentence consoled me: "Yet strive after the better gifts, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way." And the Apostle explains how all the most perfect gifts are nothing without love. That charity is the excellent way that leads most surely to God.

I finally had rest. Considering the mystical body of the Church, I had not recognized myself in any of the members described by Saint Paul, or rather I desired to see myself in them all. Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that if the Church had a body composed of different members, the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a heart and that this heart was burning with love. I understood it was love alone that made the Church's members act, that if love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel and martyrs would not shed their blood. I understood that love comprised all vocations, that love was everything, that it embraced all times and places...in a word, that it was eternal...


Yes, I have found my place in the Church and it is you, O my God, who have given me this place: in the heart of the Church, my mother, I shall be love.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, ocds

CARMELITE QUOTE

St. Therese of the Child Jesus

From The Story of a Soul:

At this time I was enjoying such a living faith, such a clear faith, that the thought of heaven made up all my happiness, and I was unable to believe there were really impious people who had no faith. I believed they were actually speaking against their own inner convictions when they denied the existence of heaven, that beautiful heaven where God Himself wanted to be their Eternal Reward. During those very joyful days of the Easter season, Jesus made me feel that there were really souls who have no faith, and who, through the abuse of grace, lost this precious treasure, the source of the only real and pure joys. He permitted my soul to be invaded by the thickest darkness, and that the thought of heaven, until then so sweet to me, be no longer anything but the cause of struggle and torment. This trial was to last not a few days or a few weeks, it was not to be extinguished until the hour set by God Himself and this hour has not yet come. I would like to be able to express what I feel, but alas! I believe this is impossible. One would have to travel through this dark tunnel to understand its darkness...








Peace be with you!
Rosemarie of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, ocds

Photo: R. Massaro (c)2013 Spirit Singing
Shrine at Our Lady of Consolation Carey, Ohio

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face

Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Feast Day: October 1

How little known is the merciful love of the Heart of Jesus! It is true that to enjoy that treasure we must humble ourselves, must confess our nothingness...and here is where many a soul draws back.

It is possible to remain little even in the most responsible position, and besides is it not written that at the last day 'The Lord will arise and save the meek and lowly ones of the earth'? He does not say 'to judge' but 'to save'!

You do wrong to find fault, and to try to make everyone see things from your point of view. We desire to be as little children. Now, little children do not know what is best. Everything is right in their eyes. Let us imitate them.

When we keep little we recognise our own nothingness and expect everything from the goodness of God, exactly as a little child expects everything from its father. Nothing worries us, not even the amassing of spiritual riches.

Again, being as a little child with God means that we do not attribute to ourselves the virtues we may possess, in the belief that we are capable of something. It implies, on the contrary, our recognition of the fact that God places the treasure of virtue in the hand of his little child for him to use as he needs it, though all the while it is God's treasure.

Finally, to keep little means not to lose courage at the sight of our faults. Little children often tumble, but they are too small to suffer grievous injury.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

Relics of St. Therese in Belarus

June-2013 The Relics of St. Therese in Belarus

 Photo: Courtesy of: www.ocdsaragon-valencia.com


http://www.ocdaragon-valencia.com/noticias/teresa-de-lisieux-en-bielorrusia







Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

CARMELITE QUOTE

ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND OF THE HOLY FACE

DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

I suppose that I ought to be distressed that I so often fall asleep during meditation and thanksgiving after Holy Communion, but I reflect that little children, asleep or awake, are equally dear to their parents; that to perform operations doctors put their patients to sleep; and finally, that 'The Lord knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but dust.' (Psalm 102)

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

STAINED GLASS FLOWERS-LITTLE ACCOUNTS OF THE MIRACULOUS

Photo:R.Massaro(c)2013SpiritSinging

St. Peter Church N. Ridgeville, Ohio

From the life of St. Therese:

It was "Our Lady of the Smile" who miraculously healed her at the age of ten. She was so sick with a mysterious illness that there was little hope of recovery. In desperation three of her sisters, kneeling before the statue of Mary, pleaded for their sister, when "all of a sudden the Blessed Virgin appeared beautiful to me, so beautiful that never had I seen anything so attractive; her face was suffused with an ineffable benevolence and tenderness, but what penetrated to the very depths of my soul was the 'ravishing smile of the Blessed Virgin."

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE SMILE

Virgin of the Smile-Lisieux, France

HOMILETIC AND PASTORAL REVIEW

OUR LADY-THE EMBODIMENT OF ST. THERESE'S

 "LITTLE WAY"

SANCTUARY OF ST. THERESE-LISIEUX, FRANCE

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

Photo:R.Massaro(c)2013SpiritSinging

Carmelite Monastery Cleveland, Ohio

The day chosen for my entrance into Carmel was April 9, 1888, the same day the community was celebrating the feast of the Annunciation, transferred because of Lent. The evening before, the whole family gathered round the table where I was to sit for the last time. Ah! how heartrending these family reunions can really be! When you would like to see yourself forgotten, the most tender caresses and words are showered upon you, making the sacrifice of separation felt all the more.

Papa was not saying very much, but his gaze was fixed upon me lovingly. Aunt cried from time to time and Uncle paid me many affectionate compliments...

On the morning of the great day, casting a last look upon Les Buissonnets, that beautiful cradle of my childhood which I was never to see again, I left on my dear King's arm to climb Mount Carmel.
The Story of a Soul




Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE QUOTE

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.

CARMELITE NUNS IN DANVERS MASSACHUSETTS

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

CARMELITE QUOTE

ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS:

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

CARMELITE QUOTE

ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS:

I give thanks to Jesus for making me walk in darkness, and in the darkness I enjoy profound peace. Indeed, I consent to remain through all my religious life in the gloomy passage into which he has led me. I desire only that my darkness may obtain light for sinners. I am content, nay, full of joy, to be without all consolation. I should be ashamed if my lover were like that of earthly brides who are ever looking for gifts from their bridegrooms, or seeking to catch the smile which fills them with delight.
Therese, the little Spouse of Jesus, loves him for himself...





Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

RELICS OF ST. THERESE

SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES
2008

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds