Tabernacle of the Week

Queen of Heaven Church

Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio

Established:1965

Pastor: Rev. David R. Durkee

I visited this church on November 21 and found the tabernacle beautifully decorated for the feast of Our Lady's Presentation.  There is also a new adoration chapel located in a separate dwelling on the church grounds.  See pictures below.  In this "Year for Priests," please remember to pray for the pastor of this parish, the Rev. David Durkee.

Click here for their parish website 

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Spiritual Life Dictionary

Today's Term: Pilgrimage

A journey to a sacred place undertaken as an act of religious devotion, either simply in order to venerate it or to ask the fulfillment of some need or as an act of penance or thanksgiving, or a combination of these.

A Catholic Dictionary by Donald Attwater

Speaking of the favors God may bestow on those venerating certain images, St. John of the Cross states:

Our Lord frequently bestows these favors by means of images situated in remote and solitary places. The reason for this is that the effort required in journeying to these places makes the affection increase and the act of prayer more intense. Another motive is that a person may withdraw from people and noise in order to pray, as our Lord did.

Whoever makes a pilgrimage, therefore, does well to make it alone, even is this must be done at an unusual time. I would never advise going along with a large crowd, because one ordinarily returns more distracted than before. Many who go on pilgrimage do so more for the sake of recreation than devotion.

Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Book Three, Chapter 36, No. 3
Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.

The spiritual journey we make as Secular Carmelites is a solitary one. It is a journey of the heart that requires dying to self on a daily basis.  Although we make this journey alone, in a sense, we have the prayerful support of our brothers and sisters in Carmel, we have the spiritual direction of our holy Father and Mother, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Jesus, we have the prayerful consolation of the Sacraments of the Church.

Secular Carmelites are on a daily holy pilgrimage up to the summit of Mt. Carmel-mystical symbolism for the spiritual union we seek with God. Let us pray for and encourage one another in our spiritual quest for God. 

Carmelites are called to quiet prayer-to solitude of heart where we gaze on the One whom we know loves us.  Let us allow Our Lady of Mount Carmel to lead us gently by the hand to her Divine Son who longs for union with us.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

At Mass on the first Sunday after Father Vianney's arrival, practically the entire parish came to church. A few persons had already caught a glimpse of the new pastor, but that morning everybody examined him with curiosity.

The first thing they noticed about him was that he was not very tall, that he wore peasant shoes, and that his cassock was of coarse cloth. Then they saw him at the altar. There his awkward gestures were transformed into a sort of unexpected majesty, and already a few of the parishioners sensed that here was a man of unprecedented fervor and zeal...People began to say: "Have you noticed our new pastor? How fervently he prays! How devout he is! He is not an ordinary man. There is something extraordinary about him..."

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michele de Saint Pierre

How beautiful it is, how great it is to know, love and serve God! That is all we have to do in this world. Beyond that, eveything we do is just a waste of time.
St. John Vianney

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Saturday of Our Lady

Chaplet of Our Mother of Sorrows

Our Lady of Fatima asked the children of Fatima to pray, make sacrifices and do penance to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary who are greatly offended. Praying the Chaplet of Our Lady of Sorrows is one way in which we can console the Heart of Our Lady.

Peace be with you~
Rosemarie, ocds
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Stained Glass Flowers-Little Accounts of the Miraculous

From the life of St. Theresa Margaret Redi of the Sacred Heart
Carmelite Saint-Feast Day: September 1

On Sunday after Pentecost, 1767, when she had heard read Saint John's words, "God is love," in choir as part of the chapter of tierce, she was seized by so violent and vivid an onrush of love for God that, for a short time, she fell into a sort of trance. Thereafter, she enjoyed one of St. Teresa's own privileges, for she kept within her heart a trace of that Divine Flame or, rather, a secret wound from it which, day by day, and little by little, consumed her and drew her slowly to her death. Furthermore, after that event she remained for several days thoughtful and withdrawn in mind from the community, frequently repeating the words "God is love": the nuns concluded, from observation, that every time she said these words she experienced within her soul a flaming-up of overwhelming love for God.

Learn more about the mystical phenomenon of the Transverberation of the Heart




Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS
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Tabernacle of the Week

St. Martin of Tours Parish

Valley City, Ohio

Established in 1840

Diocese of Cleveland

Fr. Thomas Dunphy, pastor

St. Martin's is absolutely breathtaking in its beauty. The church is actually used as a chapel for daily Mass. A new church addition has been added to the property. Photos of the new church are included below.

A special "Thank you" to Patty, Rose and the members of the Intercessory Prayer Group for their kind hospitality during my visit.

Here is the parish website: http://www.stmartinvc.org/

Click here to learn more about St. Martin of Tours

The new church

The tabernacle in the adoration room.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

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Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross