Sunday, November 01, 2015

All Saints Day


I am He who made all the saints; I gave them grace; I have brought them to glory. I know the first and the last; I embrace them all with an inestimable love.  I am to be praise in all my Saints; I am to be blessed above all things, and to be honoured in every one of them, whom I have thus gloriously magnified and eternally chosen, without any foregoing merits of their own. The Imitation of Christ, 3, 58.

Today is the vigil of All Saints. All Souls Day is the anniversary of my receiving the habit. Ask God to make me a genuine Carmelite nun, for better late than never. Your unworthy servant and loyal subject. Blessed be God, for I will always be so, come what may. Teresa of Jesus. Collected Letters, vol 1.


Previous posts HERE
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Friday, October 16, 2015

THE TERESIAN JUBILEE YEAR WITH INDULGENCES GRANTED BY POPE FRANCIS TO ALL DIOCESES IN SPAIN, COMMENCING OCTOBER 25TH 2014 UNTIL OCTOBER 15TH 2015 - click for link

To read more click here
Audiobooks of St Teresa by LibriVox:
The Life of St Teresa HERE
Book of Foundations HERE
Conception of Divine Love HERE
The Way of Perfection HERE
Interior Castle HERE
Map of Teresian foundation in Spain HERE 
Map after BLOG

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Sunday, October 04, 2015

St Francis of Assisi

Bartolomeo Della Gatta 'Stigmata of St Francis' 

This Lord of ours is the one through whom all blessings come to us. He will teach us these things. In beholding His life we find that He is the best example. What more do we desire than to have such a good friend at our side, who will not abandon us in our labors and tribulations, as friends in the world do? Blessed are they who truly love Him and always keep Him at their side!....Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they hadn't taken any other path: St. Francis demonstrates this through the stigmata. St Teresa of Avila. The Book of Her Life, Ch.22 
Let us return to the work of that seraph, for he truly inflicts a sore, and wounds inwardly in the spirit. Thus, if God sometimes permits an effect to extend to the bodily senses in the fashion in which it existed interiorly, the wound and sore appear outwardly, as happened when the seraph wounded St. Francis. When his soul was wounded with love by the five wounds, their effect extended to the body, and these wounds were impressed on the body, which was wounded just as his soul was wounded with love.[ St. Francis of Assisi received the marks of the wounds on his hands, feet, and side on Mount La Verna in October 1224]. St. John of the Cross 'Collected Works'

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

In the presence of the angels, come, let us adore the Lord.


Filippino Lippi, Archabgels and Tobias 


I thank you, Lord, with all my heart: you have heard the words of my mouth. In the presence of the angels I will bless you. I will adore before your holy temple. Psalm 137:1 

The third kind of place comprises those in which God chooses to be invoked and worshipped. Examples [include] Mount Garganus, the place St. Michael dedicated to God's worship by appearing to the Bishop of Siponto and telling him how he guarded that place so a chapel might be dedicated to God there in memory of the angels;… God alone knows why he chooses one place in which to receive praise more than another. What we should know is that he does all for our own benefit and so he may hear our prayers in these places - or anywhere we beseech him with integral faith. Yet those places consecrated to his worship are more appropriate as places for our prayers to be heard since the Church has so marked and dedicated them. St John of the Cross, 'The Ascent of Mt Carmel' ch 42  

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Sunday, September 13, 2015

Bl Mary of Jesus (Mary Lopez Rivas Martinez)


This is the authorization for Sister María de Jesús to make her profession. I grant it with great pleasure. May the blessing of the Lord "of the dew of heaven and the fatness of earth (Gn. 27:28)” be granted her. From the letter of St Teresa of Avila permitting the profession for Sister Maria of Jesus on 8th September 1578.
More about the life of Bl Mary of Jesus here


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Monday, July 20, 2015

Feast of St Elijah the Prophet, spiritual father and leader of Carmelites




Holy Prophet of God Elijah, Leader and Father of Carmelites, intercede for us and for the salvation of all. 

V: Pray for us, O holy Father Elijah.
R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. Grant, we beseech You, O Almighty God, that we who believe that the Blessed Elijah Your Prophet and our Father was wonderfully carried up in a fiery chariot, may by his intercession be raised to the desire of heavenly things and rejoice in the society of Your saints. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Elijah the prophet originated from Tishbe in Transjordania. He lived in the ninth century before Christ. Elijah heard to voice of the Lord telling him to go and hide himself and drink of the stream and that ravens would feed him there. He did as he was told, and thus he was chosen by God to lead the people back to Him. Some had been worshipping the god Baal, while the rest followed Yahweh. The Kingdom was divided. In  the accomplishment of his mission, there was a test on Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal cried out from morning until evening invoking him, but to no avail. The prophet of Yahweh, Elijah, rebuilt the altar of the Lord with twelve stones (representing the twelve tribes of Israel). Elijah prepared the holocaust and surrounded it with water (in the midst of a drought), and the Lord consumed it with fire. The truth had been shown in a dramatic way. The drought ended, and Elijah was recognized as a prophet of the true God. The cult of Baal survived, and Elijah faced many challenges and humiliations but remained steadfast in his faith. The prophet listened for the Lord to pass by and found Him, not in an earthquake or fire, but in gentle breeze. Elijah's prayers are direct and clear. He is confident in the power of the one true God.

Lord God of Abraham, Issac, and Israel, let it be known this day 
that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things by your command. Answer me Lord! Answer me, that this people may know that you Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to their senses (1 Kings 18:30-37)


Siah brook on west site of Mt Carmel, where, according to Carmelite tradition, prophet ELijah lived 'And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there' (1Kings 19:9). More about Elijah in pictures on Bibile walks


Every year on the feast of St Elijah, July 20, Mount Carmel in Palestine is filled with pilgrims who come by the thousands to celebrate the Feast of the Prophet. East and West combine to do him homage. Elijah is invoked in time of drought or flood for his prayers both opened and closed the heavens. He is also invoked against pestilence, to avert public calamities, to restore peace of soul, and to draw the blessings of God on those aspiring to perfection. In Holy Scriptures we read that Elijah was taken up from the earth in a fiery chariot, and that he will return at the end of the world to fight against anti-Christ and to convert Jews. After preaching in sackcloth for 'one thousand and two hundred and sixty days' he will be overcome by anti-Christ and slain in Jerusalem. For three days and a half day his body will lie unburied in the street, then the spirit of life from God will enter into him, and he will be taken up to heaven in a cloud.
Devotion to Elijah is proper to our times when crimes and wars abound, and every day brings us nearer to the time when he will 'come and restore all things'.

Post on the Carmelite devotion to St Elijah HERE

After: "Carmel, Its History, Spirit, and Saints", "Drink of the Stream" and "Carmelite Devotions"

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Sunday, July 19, 2015

Bill to legalise assisted suicide soon in the House of Commons, again

On 11th September, 2015, the House of Commons will vote on a Bill to legalise assisted suicide - the local MPs may be contacted via the Catholic Bishops' Conference website and everyone can contact their local MP to urge them to attend the debate and vote against the Bill HERE
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Monday, June 29, 2015

Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul

Peter Paul Rubens, St Peter and St Paul


After Jesus had shown himself to his disciples and eaten with them, he said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?’ He answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Look after my sheep.’ Then he said to him a third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” and said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep’(John 21:15-19)

The Saints - they can do everything in Christ, as St Paul said (St Teresa, Collected works, vol 2 p201)

O college of Christ, where St Peter, being a fisherman, had more authority - and the Lord wanted it - than St Bartholomew, who was a king's son (St Teresa, Collected works, vol 2 p139).

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Saturday, May 23, 2015

Feast of the Pentecost


                  St Teresa of Avila's Vision of the Holy Spirit by Peter Paul Rubens


I desire nothing but to love You...In this love - besides everything else - there is greater security than with earthly loves; in loving God we are certain that he loves us. Remember here, my daughters, the gain there is in this love, and the loss in not having it.  
(St Teresa, Collected works, vol.2) 






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Monday, May 18, 2015

Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified, OCD



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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified canonized today by Pope Francis.

Today, Pope Francis canonized Bl Miriam Baouardy, Little Arab, also known for her religious name as Mary of Jesus Crucified. She was a Discalced Carmelite nun, professed at Carmel of Pau, France, in 1867. To read more about her life click here and here



"Lord, I adore your word. The earth will pass away, but Your word will never pass away. Mary, my mother, come to my help! Everyone cry out with me: Jesus, wake up! Lord, I accept all that You will. Love, O love, You are not known!" 

"I unite myself to Jesus when He was carrying His cross in the streets Of Jerusalem. May You be blessed my God. I unite my voice with that of Jesus in the garden of olives. May You be blessed, my God. I unite sufferings to those of Jesus betrayed by Judas. May You be blessed, my God. I unite myself to Jesus falling under the weight of the cross. May You be blessed, my God" 

"Holy Spirit inspire me. Love of God, consume me. Along the true road, lead me. Mary, my mother, look upon me. With Jesus bless me. From all evil, from all illusion, From all danger, preserve me."

After "Drink of the Stream, Prayers of Carmelites"


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