Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Feast of St Therese of Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor of the Church
Sunday, September 27, 2020
St Teresa of Avila was declared Doctor of the Church 50 years ago
Fifty years ago today, St Teresa of Avila was elevated to Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI, the first woman to be so honoured. To commemorate this day I would recommend a movie viewing the pace of life at the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Nothing Hill, home to a cloistered order of Discalced Carmelite Nuns in the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill, London.
To watch movie trailer click here
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
St Pio of Petrelcina (Padre Pio)
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Feast of Saint Albert of Jerusalem
Albert Avogadro was born about 1150 AD at Castel Gualtieri, Italy. He became Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and of Vorcelli the following year, and in 1205 was made Patriarch of Jerusalem. During his patriarchate (1205-1214) he formed the hermit brothers of Mount Carmel into a collegium and wrote a rule for them. He was murdered in September 14, 1214 by the master of Hospital of the Holy Spirit, whom he rebuked and deposed for immorality.
Since ‘man’s’ ‘life on earth is a time of trial’, and ‘all who would live devoutly in Christ must undergo persecution’, and ‘the devil, your foe, is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for prey to devour’, you must use every care to ‘clothe yourself in God’s armour, so that you may be ready to withstand the enemy ambush’. ‘Your loins are to be girt’ with chastity, your breast fortified by holy meditations, for as Scripture has it, ‘holy meditations will save you’. ‘Put on holiness as your breastplate’, and it will enable you to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and your neighbor as yourself’. ‘Faith must be your shield on all occasions, and with it you will be able to quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one’; ‘There can be no pleasing God without faith’. ‘On your head set the helmet of salvation’ and so be sure of deliverance by our only Saviour ‘who sets his own free from all sins’. ‘The sword of the spirit, the word of God’, ‘must abound in your mouths and hearts’. ‘Let all you do have the Lord’s word for accompaniment.’ A fragment from the Rule delivered by Saint Albert to the Brothers of Mount Carmel.
All text based on Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices. The image after The British Province of Carmelites webpage. Read whole post......
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
THE SEVEN SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY WITH PREPARATION
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Bl Mary of Jesus, memoria
Born in Tartanedo (Spain) in 1560, Maria Lopez de Rivas took the Discalced Carmelite habit at Toledo in 1577 and made her profession the following year. She spent the rest of her life in Toledo Carmel and only left her convent for a period of time in 1585 to help with a foundation at Cuerva. She died at Toledo on September 13, 1640. She was a great contemplative, intensely devoted to our Lord, and often drawing inspiration from the liturgy. Saint Teresa of Jesus thought extremely highly of her and kept her in high esteem.
Prayer
Lord,
you enabled Blessed Mary of Jesus
to contemplate the mysteries of your Son
and become a living image of his love.
Give us through her prayers
the burning faith to seek Jesus in all things
and the love to prove by our actions
the presence within us of him
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
All text after Discalced Carmelites Proper Offices
Monday, September 07, 2020
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Carmel devotion
St Benedicta of the Cross on her Carmelite vocation: 'I need Carmel . . . with its perfection and way of perfection, Carmel with its purity, its apostolate, its martyrdom; Carmel with its special love for the sacred humanity of our Lord and its veneration of the Blessed Virgin without being restricted to one of her states or mysteries.' After Edith Stein, Collected Works.
Little Flower's consecration to the Blessed Virgin: During the afternoon I read the act of consecration to Our Lady, for myself and my companions. I was chosen probably because I had been deprived of my earthly Mother while still so young. With all my heart I consecrated myself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and asked her to watch over me. She seemed to look lovingly on her Little Flower and to smile at her again, and I thought of the visible smile which had once cured me, and of all I owed her. St Theres of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul
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