CARMELITE SAINT OF THE DAY

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

Feast Day: October 1

To be Your Spouse, to be a Carmelite, and by my union with You to be the Mother of souls, should not this suffice me? And yet it is not so. No doubt, these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, Spouse, Mother, and yet I feel within me other vocations. I feel the vocation of the WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR. Finally, I feel the need and the desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds for You, O Jesus. I feel within my soul the courage of the Crusader, the Papal Guard, and I would want to die on the field of battle in defense of the Church.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

CARMELITE SAINT OF THE DAY

Happy feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus 

SATURDAY OF OUR LADY

MARY, THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

Feast Day: January 1

Photo: R. Massaro, Little Flower Parish North Canton, Ohio

"MARY IS MORE MOTHER THAN QUEEN"

                                                                   

Do not be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You will never love her enough, and Jesus will be very happy, because the Blessed Virgin is His Mother.          

St. Therese

The solemnity of the Mother of God, which now coincides with the octave-day of Christmas and the beginning of the new year, was probably assigned this day because of the influence of the Byzantine Church, which celebrates the synapsis of the most holy Theotokos on December 26. Read more...

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

Spiritual Direction with St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Photo: (C) R. Massaro St. Peter Church North Ridgeville, Ohio

In the life of St. Therese, we learn about the ways in which she overcame herself by practicing virtue. She did this in a very ordinary way by accepting life as it was presented to her each day. As she matured in the spiritual life, her sister, Celine, noticed her virtue and said to her "Oh, when I think of how much I have to acquire." Therese responded, "Rather, how much you have to lose." Therese's few words of wisdom gets right to the heart of the call in Carmel and to all Christians who are seeking perfection: one must be detached from sin and from worldly pleasures and from one's own will, and from one's own desires... We could go on an on identifying and describing detachment.

Therese's deep detachment was a gradual process and the fruition of her cooperation with God's grace to give herself totally to God's merciful love. This desire of detachment so inflamed her that in her written prayer "Act of Oblation to the Merciful Love of God," she writes:

In the evening of life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works...

What an amazing, bold, and spiritually detached statement from this little Doctor!  By this statement we can read between the lines, if you will, and see that her motives must have been totally purified by the Holy Spirit, for she did not do works to be justified before God. She continues in her prayer:

All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved!

St. Therese is a true daughter of the Church, a true daughter of Carmel. She took to heart and let blossom the spiritual direction of her Father in Carmel, St. John of the Cross, who's teaching on detachment is a light and guide to those who wish to ascend the holy mountain and reach spiritual perfection.  St. John of the Cross uses the symbolism of a bird to explain detachment:

A bird caught in a birdlime has a twofold task: It must free itself and cleanse itself. And by satisfying their appetites, people suffer in a twofold way: They must detach themselves and, after being detached, clean themselves of what has clung to them. 
The Sayings of Light and Love #22

Sometimes, I think we forget the second part of detachment, the purifying of the effects of our attachments. We must let the Holy Spirit purify and cleanse us from our attachments and the effects. St. John of the Cross is simply describing Purgatory. Those seeking spiritual perfection have a desire to be purified beginning in this life. 

In this Year of Mercy, the Church offers a plenary indulgence to the faithful. One of the requirements to gain the indulgence is to be detached from sin, even venial sin. When we think of detachments, we usually think of something related to the senses. However, we must also consider what the Church requires, detachment from even venial sins. We must ask ourselves if we take pleasure in certain sins. For example, impatience. Perhaps we are attached to being impatient. If we are confessing the same sins over and over in confession, this may be a time to ask ourselves if we are seriously attached to a particular sin.  

St. John of the Cross also teaches that we can become attached to the manner of our prayer. He teaches us that we must be open to the Holy Spirit who may wish to speak to us and give us self-knowledge, perhaps about our attachments. We cannot hear the Lord speaking if we never listen in prayer. Perhaps we are attached to talking in prayer and not giving the Lord an opportunity to speak to us.

In our technologically advanced society, we can certainly be attached to many things and devices. How many of us can disconnect from our computers and cell phones?  It's not easy. 

My prayer is for the Lord to raise up more spiritual ascetics in the church. We need prophets! We need prayerful witnesses. We need to spend time with our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration! We need to go out into the desert for a half-hour or an hour, with no phone or headphones and be totally present to the Lord-standing at attention before him proclaiming: Here I am Lord, I come to do your will!

ASCETIC:

A person who practices severe self-discipline and abstention.

Photo: R. Massaro   The Prophet Elijah

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

Carmelite Feast Days

ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND 

OF THE HOLY FACE

VIRGIN AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

FEAST DAY: OCTOBER 1

To be Your Spouse, to be a Carmelite, and by my union with You to be the Mother of souls, should not this suffice me? And yet it is not so. No doubt, these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, Spouse, Mother, and yet I feel within me other vocations. I feel the vocation of the WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR. Finally, I feel the need and the desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds for You, O Jesus. I feel within my soul the courage of the Crusader, the Papal Guard, and I would want to die on the field of battle in defense of the Church.
St. Therese of Lisieux Her Last Conversations, John Clark, o.c.d.,Washington, D.C. ICS, 1997.






Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

THREE WORDS OF WISDOM

IT'S NOT COMPLICATED

There is a popular series of commercials for a phone company in which the theme is "It's not complicated."  As Secular Carmelites, we can keep this phrase in mind when discussing the spiritual life and the progress of the soul in prayer.  Although there are volumes upon volumes of books written about this very subject of prayer, (even our Carmelite Doctors of the Church have given us lengthy writings), it is the simple description of prayer from St. Therese of Lisieux, the "Little Flower," and our Holy Mother, St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila), that I would like to share:

Catechism of the Catholic Church (2558):
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.                        St. Therese of the Child Jesus



The life of St. Therese was not complicated. She lived a simple life in the monastery. She remained faithful to the daily schedule that included simple household tasks of washing, cleaning, cooking, praying, and sleeping. The same things we as Christians do each day.  St. Therese is considered one of the "Greatest Saints of Modern Times" because she cooperated with God's grace to turn these ordinary tasks into extraordinary acts of love for God and neighbor.

St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila) has given us a very simple description of prayer. In fact, this is the description of mystical prayer, or contemplation:




Prayer is a conversation with the One whom we know loves us.                                             St. Teresa of Jesus





In the writings of St. Teresa, especially in the Interior Castle, she describes the soul that progresses to union with God in the Seventh Mansion: the Spiritual Marriage.  She tells us that in these higher mansions, our prayer becomes more simple. If one has previously experienced visions, locutions, raptures, etc. these mystical favors usually cease.  The soul has reached that lofty stage of simple prayer, where one enjoys the peace and abiding presence of God dwelling in his soul.  

Beginners on the road of prayer like to make things complicated for themselves.  They like to write in journals, find numerous spiritual directors, and not pleased or satisfied with one, they roam around looking for another.  They analyze every spiritual movement and experience and dwell on it.  This type of behavior is a far-cry from the humble soul who is sincerely discerning God's action in their soul.  The truly humble soul seeks a wise spiritual director and remains faithful to his direction, even if they receive instruction which is not pleasing to them.  These souls abandon themselves to God in a trustful and childlike manner: a simple soul.

If our prayer is not becoming more simple, there is a problem.  If we are too attached to our novenas and our favorite prayer book, we may experience anxiety when the Lord begins to lead us  from meditation to contemplation.  These things are not needed when the Lord desires our full attention in the gift of contemplation.  In fact, one sign that the Lord is leading the soul from meditation to contemplation is a distaste for using a prayer book, even Lectio Divina may become painful. The soul finds it difficult to use the intellect and the imagination and no longer finds satisfaction in the way it prayed before.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit make us humble and simple before him.  It's not complicated. All it takes is a simple act of the will to abandon ourselves to his merciful love.

"...For St.Therese there are no barriers before God. At whatever stage of the spiritual life the soul may be, whether still struggling against sin or advancing in the practice of virtue, there is but one thing to do: "to surrender oneself more and more like a child to God's affectionate embrace" by repentance, confidence and love. To love without any thought for self, such is the wonderful simplicity of St. Therese. The soul which treads her "little way" has no other task than to seek that most precious simplicity of a little child, who has no other understanding than to love his Heavenly Father. "
St. Therese Doctor of the Little Way ( Waite Park, MN:Park Press,1997), 9



Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

THREE WORDS OF WISDOM

Happy Feast Day of St. Therese to all Carmelites!!

 

From Morning Prayer:

 

God our Father,

you have promised your kingdom to those who are willing to become like little children. Help us to follow the way of St. Therese with confidence so that by her prayers we may come to know your eternal glory. Grant this through our Lord. Amen.

CHILD OF GOD

Last Sunday we heard the words of the Gospel from St. Mark:

...They returned to Capernaum and Jesus, once inside the house, began to ask them, "What were you discussing on the way home?" At this they fell silent, for on the way they had been arguing about who was the most important.  So he sat down and called the Twelve around him and said, "If anyone wishes to rank first, he must remain the last one of all and the servant of all." Then he took a little child, stood him in their midst, and putting his arms around him, said to them, "Whoever welcomes a child such as this for my sake welcomes me...
(Mark 9:33-37-NAB)

This teaching for Carmelites should immediately  bring to mind St. Therese's teaching on spiritual childhood.  Her life in the monastery was not an effort to become the superior of the community. She wanted to remain hidden, even among her sisters.  This charism of doing small sacrifices with great love and hidden from the eyes of others is in stark contrast to those who are always trying to draw attention to themselves, even in community life.  They don't get it.  They don't get that we must be the lowly foot-washers in life, and be joyful about it!

The Gospel passage from last Sunday also brings to mind another teaching of Our Lord:
..."I assure you, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of God."
(Matthew 18:1-3)

In the life of Carmel, through our gift of contemplative prayer, we are seeking the purity of heart that belongs to the children of God, the children of the Kingdom.  The children of God do not have room in their heart for ambition, envy, jealousy, revenge, etc.  If we want to go straight to heaven when we die, we must be nothing less than saints-children with pure hearts.  Otherwise, we will live with the church suffering in Purgatory until we are purified.  Let us be open to being purified now-as Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity teaches us, heaven begins now, not when we die.

How can we obtain the purity of heart that St. Therese and all the saints possess? 


St. Therese of the Child Jesus

1.  We must first desire it and have a sincere desire for it. 
When opportunities arise that test our humility and patience, do we immediately fall into the same pattern of responding unkindly.  Or do we make a sincere effort to overcome our faults?

2.  We must protect the door of our heart.
We have a choice with our free will as to what we let enter into our interior castle--the dwelling place of God. We can murmur and criticize people from deep within if we do not guard ourselves well.

3.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit.
We cannot live a life of virtue and holiness without the help and gifts of the Holy Spirit. We need his help to strengthen us with courage and fortitude to do battle against our ego.

4.  We need the help and support of our brothers and sisters in Carmel.  It's not easy to travel the path of spirtuality alone, we need the help of others who are like-minded, people who have the same goal: heaven.

5. We need the help and prayers of Our Blessed Mother. Our Lady, Queen and Beauty of Mt. Carmel knows our needs and our desire for union with her Son. St. Louis de Montfort wrote that the quickest way to Jesus is through Mary. Truer words were never spoken.  If we want to be children in the Kingdom, let us love our Mother, who loves each member of the Body of Christ as her own.

6.  We need the help and prayers of our Carmelite Saints. The lives and teachings of the Carmelite Saints help us to climb the rocky and dangerous road of Mt. Carmel.  They have gone before us, they know the dangers and can help us to prepare for them.

7.  We must remain faithful to a life of prayer.  Prayer is the way that leads to virtue. Without prayer we become like the living dead that the Lord speaks about.  Prayer helps us to see who we really are before God. Prayer helps us to remain humble. Prayer gives us self-knowledge about our faults and failings. Prayer leads to purity of heart.

Let us pray for each other. Yes, sometimes the journey is easy, the Lord sends help and consolation and an occasional downpour of graces, to help us.  But let's face it.  Life on earth is sorrow but mixed with joy. We can be joyful as Catholic Christians because God remains with us! He remains with us in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar!  Let us run to him like children, eager to be with him for all eternity in the Kingdom of God.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us!

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

Carmelite Quote

From St. Therese's Act of Oblation

to the Merciful Love of God

I thank you, O my God! for all the graces you have granted me, especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. It is with joy I shall contemplate You on the Last Day carrying the scepter of Your Cross. Since you deigned to give me a share in this very precious Cross, I hope in heaven to resemble You and to see shining in my glorified body the sacred stigmata of Your Passion.

After earth's exile, I hope to go and enjoy You in the Fatherland,but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for Your Love alone with one purpose of pleasing You, consoling Your Sacred Heart, and saving souls who will love You eternally.

In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands,for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works, All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own justice and to receive from Your love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved!

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
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Novena to St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Novena to St. Therese

Eighth Day-Prayer

When St. Therese was a little girl she used to go fishing with her father. She states in her writings that she would go off on her own during these trips to sit alone amid the flowers in the field, and that she became absorbed in deep prayer. We can see that at this early age she is exhibiting the heart of a contemplative.

When forming those in Carmelite spirituality, I stress the point that our goal in prayer is to become simple. Many times people get caught up in studying St. Teresa's mansions, or St. John of the Cross's transforming union (spiritual marriage), wondering what level they are at and so forth. This can be a great obstacle to simple prayer. We must keep in mind, too, that simple (contemplative) prayer is a total gift from God.

In the writings of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross they teach us that in deep prayer there is usually no mystical phenomena that is sometimes associated in the prayer life of beginners. God uses these experiences sometimes to attract the soul.

The Great Command of Our Lord was for us to love God and our neighbor. St. Teresa of Jesus also teaches this. She said, "You know you are loving God if you are loving your neighbor."

St. Therese is a good example of a Saint who has reached the heights in prayer. It is not a life of obvious mystical phenomena but a condition of the heart: a pure heart that can see and adore God as his child.

Novena Prayer

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus,please pick for me a rose from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a message of love.

O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God today to grant the favors I now place with confidence in your hands (mention your request)

St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did, in God's great love for me, so that I might imitate your "Little Way" each day. Amen

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

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Novena to St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Novena to St. Therese

Seventh Day-Love of the Gospels

The Kingdom of God is within you. It is especially the Gospels which sustain me during my hours of prayer, for in them I find what is necessary for me. I am constantly discovering in them, new lights, hidden and mysterious meanings. St. Therese

It is well-known that St. Therese loved holy scripture and also the Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis. The saints heard the Word of God and like Mary treasured it in their hearts. The lives of the saints become an open book of the gospels in which we can read chapter after chapter their call to love God and neighbor and their heroic response.

Let us pray that as Lay Carmelites we strive to imitate the saints and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel who pondered the Word in her heart. May our light shine, the word of God, residing in our hearts, so that others may see it and give glory to God the Father.

Novena Prayer

Loving God, open our eyes to the light of faith and truth. May your light and love sustain us at all times. May St. Therese guide us on her Little Way and teach us to receive everything as a grace. We want to say with her: Each moment brings an opportunity to choose your will in love. In joy, in sorrow, in every circumstance oflife, may our hearts rest in Yours.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

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Novena to St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Novena to St. Therese

Sixth Day-Suffering

"For Love's sake I wish to suffer and to rejoice: so shall I strew my flowers. Not one that I see but, singing all the while, I will scatter its petals before thee. 
Should my roses be gathered from amid thorns, I will sing notwithstanding, and the longer and sharper the thorns, the sweeter will grow my song."

A common expression is used today when describing a person one looks up to with admiration, people say, "He's my hero." "She's my hero." The Catholic Church is full of saintly "heroes." The Church does not canonize people because of extra-ordinary mystical graces, or because they suffered, or because they had the gift of healing or prophecy. No, the Church canonizes members of the faithful who have lived a life of heroic virtue. Saint Therese is a perfect example of doing what St. Paul exhorts us to do: "do everything with love."
We know that St. Therese wanted to be love in the heart of the Church. And God gave her the grace to live, suffer and die with great love. The Church has proclaimed her, "Doctor of Love." A fitting title indeed for one who abandoned herself completely to the merciful love of God.
As lay Carmelites, let us pray to our sister and Saint, Therese, to obtain for us the grace to live, to suffer, and to die with God's holy love firmly rooted in our heart.

Novena Prayer
St Therese Flower of fervor and love, please intercede for me. Fill my heart with your pure love of God. Make me more aware of the goodness of God and how well He tends His garden. instill in me your "little way" or doing ordinary things with extra-ordinary love. Give me the heart of a child who wonders at life and embraces everything with loving enthusiasm. Teach me your delight in God's ways so that divine charity may blossom in my heart.
Little Flower of Jesus, bring my petitions (mention here) before God our Father. With your confidence, I come before Jesus as God's child, because you are my heavenly friend.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS
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Novena to St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Novena to St. Therese

Fifth Day-Humility

Answering one day the question of Mother Agnes of Jesus-her sister Pauline-: "What do you mean by remaining little before God? What is your Little Way?" She replied: It is to recognize our nothingness, to expect everything from God as a little child expects everything from its father; it is to be disquieted about nothing, and not to be set on gaining our living...To be little is not attributing to oneself the virtues that one practises, believing oneself capable of anything, but to recognise that God places this treasure in the hands of His little child to be used where necessary; but it remains always God's treasure. Finally, it means not to become discouraged over one's faults, for children fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much."

(From the Little Way Association)

Did you read between the lines of St. Therese's response? She is describing humility in her unique way, in light of a child of God. St. Teresa of Jesus teaches us that humility is truth, and St. Therese has spelled out for us this truth. We are God's children, and all the graces and virtue we receive are His through the Holy Spirit who gifts us with grace.

Pride is one of the greatest death sentences to the spiritual life. When we try to do our own will with our "own power" we run into obstacles and lose the precious gift of humility in which we see ourselves as mere creatures before the All Mighty God who created us.

St. Therese's Little Way is a fast-track if you will to holiness. It is simple and uncomplicated. You don't need to have the stigmata, perform healing, or read hearts, you simply choose to love in every circumstance of life.

Here are some qualities of spiritual childhood exhibited by St. Therese
(Again, courtesy of the Little Way Association):

*Total Confidence in the heavenly Father

*Abandonment and self-surrender to the Father

*Simplicity

*Love

*Joy

*Humility

*Value of little things

*Docility

*Weakness

*Simple prayer

*Openness

*Living in the moment

Novena Prayer

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a rose from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a message of love.

O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God today to grant the favors I now place with confidence in your hands...(mention your request)

St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did, in god's great love for me, so that I might imitate your "Little Way" each day. Amen.
Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS