CARMELITE SAINTS

Feast of Saint Brocard - Confessor of the Order

Prayer

O Lord! Sanctify the servants who humbly beseech thee on the Feast of Blessed Brocard, hermit of Mount Carmel and Thy Confessor: that, by his salutary patronage, our life may be everywhere guided through adversities. Through our Lord.

Brocard was born in Jerusalem; and fired with the desire of giving himself to God, he entered the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Here he grew so famous for his holiness that upon the death of Saint Berthold, the first Latin General, Brocard was raised to his places with the unanimous consent of the Brethren. Anxious to further regular observance, he asked Blessed Albert, Patriach of Jerusalem, for a rule which should embrace every constitution of the Order in an abridged shape. it was wonderful to see how, under his government, the original Order grew in numbers and in excellence. The Blessed Patriarch Albert, seeing his prudence and his holiness, sent him to Damascus to arrange a truce with Saladin, King of Syria and Egypt. Brocard, in carrying out this mission, gained all that he wished; and being gifted with great sagacity, he quickly brought matters to a settlement. The Viceroy of the Sultan was then suffering from leprosy and from a contraction of the hands. Brocard led him to the waters of the Jordan, and there baptized him, whereby he cleansed his body together with his soul. Having made him a loyal defender of the name of Christ, Brocard carried him to Carmel, where he took the habit, and lived without reproach, according to the Rule of the Order, until he passed hence to Christ. Famous for these remarkable works and others of alike kind, yet did not the holy man lack the glory of miracles, for he raised a youth to life and gained him for the Order. When he entered into his agony, in the eightieth year of his age, he thus admonished the Brethren: "My sons, God, by His providence, has called us to the Order and number of hermits, and by His special favour we are named the friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Beware, lest you should falsely claim this title after my death. Be steadfast in good, abhor riches, despise the world, and model your lives rigidly after the example of Mary and Elias." Having spoken these words, he gave up the ghost.

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Optional Memorial of St Benedicta of the Cross - click to read

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Br Lawrence of the Resurrection, OCD - Spiritual maxims and prayers

Brother Lawrence was born Nicolas Herman in French Lorraine. He was not a learned man and served as a footman and a soldier before entering the Discalced Carmelites as a lay brother in 1666. The prayer of Br Lawrence was constant and simple. He found his converse with God as easily in his work among the pots and pans as in the chapel. He would console himself with some thoughts such as: "Let what may come of it, however many be the days remaining to me, i will do all things for the love of God." Thus in forgetting self he had in truth found God. He died in 1691 in Paris.

"O Lord, the sense of Thy love well-nigh overwhelms me. If it be Thy will.bestow these many tokens of Thy loving-kindness on those who know Thee not, to draw them to Thy service; for me it is enough to have the riches that faith brings in the knowledge of Thee. Yet forasmuch as I must not reject the favours of Thy bounteous Hand, accept my praises, Lord. And, I entreat, receive again these gifts, which Thou hast granted; for, O Lord, enlarge the chambers of my heart that I may find room for Thy love. Sustain me by Thy power, lest the fire of Thy love consume, me.
Lord, Thou knowest that it is not Thy gifts I seek, but Thee Thyself, and my heart will know no rest, till it has found Thee. O loving-Kindness so old and still so new, I have been too late of loving Thee."
"My God, I believe You are really present in my heart and see all that passes and will pass within me and in all creatures. What can I fear when I am with You? Do with me as You please, for I wish nothing but Yourself and to be all Yours."

"Your treasure, my God is like an infinite ocean, yet a little wave of feeling, passing with the moment, contents us. Blind as we are, we hinder you and stop the current of your graces. But when you find a soul permeated with a living faith, you pour your graces plenteously into it; they flow into the soul like a torrent, which after being forcibly stopped against its ordinary course, has found a passage, and spread its pent-up flood with great impetuosity. O Lord, grant that I may make it my only business to preserve always in your holy presence, keeping myself there in a simple attention and a most loving regard....in a silent and secret conversation of my soul with you. O Lord, I contemplate you as my Father, present in my heart; and there I adore you...keeping my mind in your holy presence and calling it back every time I surprise it wandering in distraction."

From Br Lawrence of the Resurrection: "Practice of the presence of God and Spiritual Maxims", selected from 'Drink of the Stream'

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Carmelite Saints and Devotion to Mary, Queen, Flower and Beauty of Carmel

St Teresa Margaret Redi
short biography

I venerate you a thousand times, O true Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ - Hail Mary.

I venerate you, O sovereign Queen of the Angels, Empress of the Universe - Hail Mary.

I venerate you, most kindly Virgin Mary, most worthy mother of my one Saviour Jesus - Hail Mary.

***





















The Martyrs of Compiegne.
story of the Martyrs

Fragment of the Prayer composed by Sister Julie Louise

...Holy Virgin, our Example
Of martyrs all the august Queen,
Do thou deign to sustain our great ardor
Cleanse our desires, make us all pure and clean!
Still protect sweet France, our dear country
From heaven's heights lend us all now thine aid
Let us all feel here in these places
The effects of all thy graces.
We, thine own, await thy power;
Submit, obey thee in this hour.
We'll die as did Jesus our God.
And our believing King.

Behold O divine Mary
The holy zeal of us, thine own.
Since it's God who us life had given
We accept this death as our own.
Reveal thyself as our tender mother,
And present us all to Jesus Christ
That, given life by His Spirit
We may, in taking leave of life;
With the fire of His great love
Join with all the saints above,
And sing, and sing, on heaven's shore,
All His goodness evermore!





















Bl Francis Palau y Quer
short biography

Model of the Church

Mary, Mother of God all pure,
Mary, Mother of Jesus
I am a perfect complete model
Of your loved
Holy Church
The communion of all the saints
the Virgin of Carmel

***

Mary

Mary, you are the standard, the model
The mirror, support, and firm strength
Of all virtues.















St Raphael Kalinowski
short biography

We entrust our task o our Most Holy Mother, theVirgin Mary, under her maternal care.
If there is anything to correct, let it be corrected once and for all; may the good that is done continue to increase. Toward this purpose, may God's love flood your souls along this earthly love, that is, to God Himself in eternity.

Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified
short biography

At the feet of Mary, my mother dear
I came back to life.
Of all you who suffer, come to Mary,
At the feet of Mary I came back to life.
O you who work in this monastery,
Mary counts your steps and your labours.
Tell yourselves:
At the feet of Mary, I came back to life
You who dwell in this monastery,
Detach yourself from things of earth.
Your salvation and your life are at the feet of Mary
I dwell in the heart of my mother,
There I find my Beloved.
Am I then an orphan? In the bosom of Mary
I have found life.
Do not say I am an orphan:
I have Mary for Mother and God for Father.
The serpent, the dragon wished to catch me
And take my life;
But at the feet of Mary, I recovered my life.
Mary called me, and, in this monastery,
Will I remain forever.
At the feet of Mary
I came to life again.

***

In a vision Blessed Mary saw Jesus holding a three-year-old girl dressed as a Carmelite. She said to Our Lord: "This little one is fortunate, You loved her so much!"And Jesus replied: "Yes, I love her, see how I hold her in my arms; but she does not know it! Ah, if I were like that, I promise You that I would feel it and I would be happy! O little one, pray me who am so sinful. You are pure and I am dung. (This little one did not see me; she was looking at Jesus, and Jesus was looking only at her all the time.)

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St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
short biography

O Mary, anyone who looks at you is comforted in any anxiety or tribulation, or pain, and is victorious over any temptation. Anyone who does not know something about God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who does not find mercy in God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone whose will is not in conformity, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who falters on account of weakness let him have recourse to you who are all strong and powerful. Anyone in constant struggle, let him have recourse to you who are a tranquil sea....Whoever is tempted,...let him have recourse to you, who are the mother of humility, and nothing drives away the devil more than humility. Let them, one and all, have recourse to you, O Mary!

***

Oh Mary, you have gone too high in telling me to love him as my Bridegroom loved him! And how did He love him? For them He left, so to speak in a certain way, the bosom of the Eternal Father, with His power, His wisdom and, in a way of speaking, His purity, in order to be able to dwell with the impurity of creatures. He left His substance and His faculties, and finally gave Himself and His own blood. And I too ought to leave myself and the love of all created things, and be prepared, should it be necessary for their salvation, to give my own blood.

***

O most pure Mary, I offer and give myself to you, not only with that purity and innocence that I received when I consecrated myself to you, but adorned beyond that, and then repurified, and then adorned you again. Receive me, therefore, O Mary, and keep me within yourself.

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Carmelite Saints and Our Lady

Bl Baptist Spagnoli of Mantua, O.Carm
short biography

MARY AND CARMEL

For a long time Carmel had been planning widespread honours for you, and in its happy caves it trains sons who in white cloaks will witness to perpetual chastity for you and will bind your name with the name of this Mount in everlasting covenant. You are purer than gold. You are whiter than snow. Your are brighter than the star of Venus. Your virginity was not vitiated by child-bearing, nor can your brightness be darkened by any stain. You certainly were not bound to this legitimate custom, and in all justice you could have renounced these gifts. Time will come when a future age will remember us and on this solemn day will offer you honour on the altars, and will carry candles in long procession of a well celebrated liturgy.
Then your priest, processing in golden vestments, will chant your hymns and will sent forth a sweet smelling cloud. Throughout the Church and the breeze will spread the pleasant scent far and wide, and because our path cross at his point, posterity will call this day Hypante*, in the Greek language, and it will be lit up with numberless torches.

Suuplication to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary

Glory to the world, Queen of heaven, Mother of Almighty, harbour for mankind, soothing breeze in adversity. As in my memory I call my sins to mind,
I am ashamed to open my lips in your sight. For you lack any stain. You are brighter than gold, which the smith submitted to the crackling fire ten times. However I am sacrificed by the consuming waves of the nether world, and my members are besmirched by the mud of hell. But as often as I call to mind your heart of mercy that shame of mine haunts me just a little less.
Hope gives me a pledge that you will prove to be benign and gentle and it promises your help to us. Thus, do not be disgusted by my uncleanness, always grant me your favour before your Son. Subdue my senses which seek pleasure in earthly goods which poison the mind and rush to the wrong doing. Make me look down on the earth; make me conquer hell, while anger seizes the evil spirits. Be my guide at the critical moments of my life, nor let any hand attack me in body. Under your care, may I be allowed to return to the kingdom of heaven, and with shattered yoke to submit my vows to you. May your Child, at your intercession, govern me and my house in every adversity.

* Hypante - refers to the Presentation of Child Jesus in the Temple and the prophecy of Simeon

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Carmelite Saints and Our Lady

St Teresa of Jesus of the Andes
short biography

"Each day I feel worse. I have no courage for anything; but finally, it is the will of God. May this be done as He desires. My Mother, I place all this in your hands. Why have you abandoned me? Bring it about that I know my lessons very well and my compositions. Show that you are my Mother and give me everything, but above all humility. Dear Jesus, give me suffering. Suffering is no bother becasue thus You love me."

***

"My Mother, I know you are my mother. Remember that I gave myself to you in your Immaculate Heart, keep me pure, a virgin. May it be my refuge, my hope, my consolation, my solitude. I place myself in your maternal arms, so you may put me in the arms of Jesus. I abandon myself to Him. May His holy will be done. Thank you, my Mother. For having freed me from all dangers and for being made me spend my vacation well. Thanks, my Mother. My Mother, I would tell you may things. But my language is so poor that it trembles in just telling you that I love you. My Mother, at your virginal feet I would love to sing your praises, but my voice is so weak that I can only formulate a prayer. I have pain because, despite having asked and at the same time having mortified myself, I have not obtained my request that my father, Miquel and Luis make a retreat. But may God's will be done.

***

Oh, my Jesus and my Mother, may I belong to Him forever. May nothing on earth claim my attention but the tabernacle. Preserve me pure for Yourself so that when I die I can say: how happy I am now that at least I can lose myself in the infinite Ocean of the Heart of Jesus, my adored Spouse.

***

There are three things we will be judged on: Your blessings to us, our sins and our deeds, according to what our intention was. Oh, my God, I am not a saint even though You filled me with blessings! Pardon me so I may be a saint from now on. My Mother, make me become a saint!

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Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, St Thomas Aquinas and Carmelite Saints

Food sustains life. Without food, no living being can remain alive and active. Grace gives to man a divine life. Baptism gives man birth in the divine life. Confirmation gives man maturity in the divine life. But this life cannot continue to grow without food, spiritual food. Like every other life, the divine life of grace must be nourished. it must be fed. The food of the life of grace is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist . In this Sacrament, the life of grace feeds on the very Body and Blood of Christ Himself. If, in the natural order, bread were the only substance that men could eat, then all men would eat bread always. For a man needs food to live. In the supernatural order of grace, the Eucharist is the necessary food of the supernatural life of grace.

St Teresa of Jesus of the Andes: "Dear Jesus, may Your will be done and not mine. Tomorrow I will go to Communion. I obtained permission. Oh, what happiness: tomorrow I will have Heaven in my heart! Oh, I love, Jesus, I adore You! I thank You and my Mother for this favour. I am all Yours....only You....no other creature."

The Eucharist is not necessary in the same way that Baptism is necessary. Baptism is necessary as the beginning of the supernatural life of grace. But the Eucharist is necessary as the consummation of the life of grace. Baptism is necessary because it make a man like Christ, and so fits him for the reception of Christ in his soul. In the Eucharist, man is united to Christ Himself. In the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Christ become the spiritual food of man's soul, increasing grace in the soul and so increasing man's likeness to Christ.
The Eucharist is called by many names in Christian tradition. It is called "the Sacrifice", because it is a remembrance of Christ's Passion. it is called "Communion" because it is the cause of unity or union between Christ and the members of His Church. It is called "Viaticum", because it gives man the way to win the vision of God. To put it in another way, in the Eucharist we have a renewal of Christ's Passion, which saved men by meriting grace for men; in the Eucharist we have Christ Himself, Who gives grace to men; and in the Eucharist we have Christ Himself, Who enables the soul of men to pass through death to eternal life.

Bl Teresa of Jesus of the Andes: "Tomorrow I will go to Communion. How I long for this, my Jesus. I am so bad. I need You to be good. Come, Love, come quickly and I will give You my heart, my soul and all I possess. My Mother, prepare my heart to receive my Jesus." (after "God, the Joy of my Life: Blessed Teresa of the Andes")


Dieric Bouts "The Last Supper"

Christ Himself instituted this great Sacrament at the Last Supper. He knew that He was shortly to leave this earth. He knew that He would not remain in this world much longer in His bodily presence. But He did not wish to leave His faithful disciples entirely. He wished to remain with His followers in some way. And so He gave us His presence in the Sacrament of the Eucharist to take the place of His historical bodily presence. Besides, He wished to leave men a remembrance of His Passion. Faith in His Passion is necessary for salvation. But in the course of time men might forget His Passion and death on the Cross. In the Eucharist he has given men a perpetual remembrance of His Passion and death on the Cross. He instituted this Sacrament at the Last Supper, because He knew that the last words and actions of men who are about to leave this world are more likely to be remembered with love and devotion than any other words and actions. The Eucharist was, as it were, His last will and testament to the human race. Shortly before His Death, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven, he left men His Body and Blood as the food of their souls. It was the most precios gift He had to leave us, because the Eucharist is Christ Himself, the Author and Dispenser of God's grace.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, fragment of the poem "I shall Stay with You":
..."This is the heart of Trinity divine,
The center also of all human hearts.
Source of our life from God.

It draws us close with its mysterious might,
It keeps us safe within the Father's lap
And flood us with the Holy Spirit.

This heart beats in a tiny tabernacle
Where it remains in hidden mystery.
Within that orbit, silent, white.

That is Your royal throne, O Lord, on earth,
Which You have built for us, plainly to see.
It pleases You when I draw near....

In the mind of Christ, the Eucharist is to be the food of souls. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world...Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me: and I in him. (John 6: 51-55). Becasue the Eucharist is the food of souls, Christ chose bread and wine for the matter of this Sacrament. Bread is the staple food of all mankind, and wheaten bread is the bread most commonly used among men. For this reason, Christ chose bread to be the sacramental sign of His Body. But man not only needs solid food, he also needs liquid refreshment. Wine is a liquid nourishment universal to mankind. Wine made from grapes
is the only true wine. Hence Christ chose wine to be the sacramental sign of His Blood. When He instituted this Sacrament at Last Supper, Christ, according to the custom of His country, mixed a little bit of water with the wine. In the Mass, a little bit of water is mixed with the wine which is to be changed into Christ's Blood. This water represents the Christian people, the members of the Church. This represents the union of the faithful with Christ. Christ wanted to give men His own Body and Blood, as the food of their souls. Hence, as the sacramental sign of His Body and Blood, He chose elements that would be recognized as food by men.

...Your eyes look deeply into mine with love,
And to my whispered words You bend Your ear.
You fill my heart with deepest peace.

And yet Your love cannot be satisfied
By this exchange, for there remains a gap,
Your heart still asks for more.

each morn You come to me at early Mass
Your flesh and blood become my food and drink;
And wonders are accomplished.

Your body permeates mine mysteriously,
I feel Your soul becoming one with mine:
I am no longer what I used to be.

You come and go, but still the seed remains
Which You have sown for future splendour,
Hid in the body made from dust.

A heavenly radiance lingers in the soul,
And deeply shines a light within the eye,
A vibrant music in the voice...


In the Eucharist, at words of consecration uttered by Christ at the Last Supper, or now by the priest at Mass, bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Bread and wine are no longer present. Instead the Body and Blood of Christ are present sacramentally. We can never hope to understand in this life how this change takes place. This is a mystery beyond comprehension. But we can so state the mystery that it is no longer absurd or ridiculous or contradictory. Let us examine the mystery more closely. Before the Consecration of the Mass, bread and wine are present on the altar. When the priest says, speaking in the name of Christ, "This is My Body," and "This is the chalice of my Blood of the New and Eternal Testament, the Mystery of Faith, which shall be shed for you and for many unto the forgiveness of sins," the bread and wine cease to be present. How does this take place? Christ, in His Body and Blood, is present in heaven. He does not leave heaven and come to the altar to displace the bread and wine. Rather, the bread and the wine are changed into His Body and Blood. The bread and the wine cannot remain. If this happened, then the words of Christ, pronounced in the Mass by His priest, would not be true. Instead of saying, "This is My Body," the priest should say "This is bread and the Body of Christ." At the moment of Consecration, then, the bread must become the Body of Christ and the wine must become his Blood. The change must be instantaneous, for Christ did not say, "This bread is about to become My Body;" He said, "This is My Body." Naturally, the whole of the bread must be changed into the Body of Christ, and the whole of the wine must be changed into His Blood. If this did not happen, then once again the words of Christ would not be true. He should have said something like this: "This is partly bread and partly My Body." But He did not say anything like this. He said simply, "This" - all this that you see - "is my Body".

Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity:
Oh, how good it is in silence
To listen to Him over and over,
To enjoy the peace of His presence,
And then to surrender wholly to His love.

O Lamb, so pure and so meek,
You and All, my only One;
How well You know that Your fiancee,
Your little one, hungers greatly for You.

She hungers to feed upon her Master,
Above all to be consumed by Him,
To surrounder fully to Him her whole being
So she may be totally taken.

Oh, that I may be possessed by You;
One who lives by You alone,
Yours, Your living host,
Consumed by You on the Cross.

This is a very special kind of change, in fact the only change of its kind we know. We are accustomed to many chages in the world of matter. Water and wheaten flour can be mixed together and baked. In the baking they are changed into bread. In the course of time, through the process of nature wine can change into vinegar. But there are three things of which we are sure in all changes of this kind. First, the new substance - bread or wine in the examples given - did not previously exist. It came into being with the change. Secondly, something of the first substance - of the wheat or of the wine -went into the making of the last substance, the bread or the vinegar. And thirdly, the sensible qualities of the first and the last substances were not the same. Wheat looks differently and tastes differently from bread. Wine tastes differently from vinegar. Now in the Eucharist, the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ are in existence before the substance of the wine are changed into them. Secondly, and consequently, nothing of the bread and nothing of the wine are used in making the Body or the Blood of Christ. Thirdly, although the sensible qualities of the Body and Blood of Christ are different from the sensible qualities of bread and wine, nevertheless, the sensible qualities of bread and wine still exist in the Eucharist. The consecrated Host still looks like bread, feels like bread, and tasted like bread. The wine that has been consecrated still looks like wine, tastes like wine. On the other hand, neither the Host nor the Previous looks like the Body and the Blood of Christ. We can only say that the whole substance of the bread has been changed into the substance of the Body of Christ, and the whole substance of the wine has been changed into the Blood of Christ, but that the appearance of bread and wine still remain. What was bread has been changed, though the appearance of bread remain. What was wine has been changed, though the appearance of wine remain. Theologians call a change of this kind 'Transubstantiation'. The word means that one whole substance changed into another whole substance, even though the appearances - philosophers would say "accidents" - of the first substance still remain. In the Eucharist neither the bread nor the wine is annihilated. They are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ.

St Therese of the Child Jesus: "Living Bread"
Living Bread, Bread of Heaven, Divine Eucharist,
O touching Mystery produced by Love,
Come dwell within my heart, Jesus, my white Host...

Deign to unite me unto Thee, O Holy and Sacred Vine,
That my feeble branch may yield its fruits to Thee;
And I will offer Thee a gilded cluster....
This cluster of love of which the grapes are souls.

"My Heaven Is Hidden"
My Heaven is hidden in the little Host
Where Jesus, my Spouse, hides Himself through love.

Thou, the great God Whom the universe adores,
In me Thou liv'st, a prisoner night and day,
Thou liv'st, for me, hidden in a Host.
For Thee I wish to hide myself, O Jesus,
Lovers need solitude,
A heart-to-heart which lasts night and day.

I am Thy cherished spouse,
Come, my beloved, live in me.
O come, thy beauty has ravished me,
Deign to transform me into Thee.

to be continued...

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Most Holy Trinity

O Trinity, O Father, O Word, O Spirit, give your light to your creatures, one by one, so that they may understand their malice; and give me the grace to be able to satisfy for them, even by giving my life when this might be necessary. Oh, why can I not give this light to all? Would that we all together could make reparation for the offenses you receive, even though we could not satisfy for them except by your own goodness...O immeasurable goodness, diffuse yourself in the hearts of your elect!

O eternal Word, when you were nailed to the most hard wood of the Cross, you did not aim at anything else but bringing creatures to you....You said: "I thirst", and you showed that you thirsted not only for those souls then present, but also for those that were yet to come. You suffered thirst, O sweet God, you suffered thirst, O good and all-loving God...O how can it be that One Who relieves His thirst with the very blood of the eternal Word does not relieve Him also of the thirst that He has for His creatures.

Looking at myself, O God of Love, I would never raise my mind and my will to ask for this Comforter. But looking again at Your Being, which is goodness and love, and mercy, I cannot but long for the coming of Your Holy Spirit. I know, though not as I should, that I am not in any way a vessel suitable to receive You. But considering that you are He Who makes suitable every heart that desires this grace, I yearn for you in my inmost heart; and with the offering of the Blood of the Word....which offering I pray the saints to make for me to the Most Holy Trinity....I take courage to ask and beg for this Holy Spirit.



Wherefore I pray you, all you angelic spirits and saintly souls in heaven, in your act of love and through that same continued act of love that is yours, pray for the Holy Ghost that He may come to dwell in my and all other daughters of Mary. Moreover, in asking for this Holy Spirit, I intend to receive the entire Holy Trinity.

St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

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Most Holy Trinity

Belief in God's word is a necessary preliminary to the vision of God. As St Paul says this belief must be at least an explicit or conscious belief in the existence of God and in the fact that God rewards those who seek Him. St Thomas adds that the object of faith also includes the means to happiness which is Incarnation. Therefore, an explicit belief in Incarnation is also necessary. Since the Incarnation cannot be believed in explicitly without believing in the Trinity - for how can a man believe the Second Person of the Trinity became man unless he believes in the mystery of the Trinity - it follows that the belief in the Trinity is also required for the attainment of the vision of God. By accepting these truth in faith man begins to learn to know God as He really is.

after "My Way of Life - The Summa Simplified"

Canticle of Love
Come, kings of the earth, to Love; come and adore my Love
I sing of our Creator's power and glory; come let us adore Him.
For we are the work of His hands, the price of His Blood.
There is no one like to God; come let us adore Him.
Stop not at the things of the earth, for they are nothing; pass to their Maker's praise.
Come, all dwellers on the earth, for they are nothing; pass by the passing things on earth.
And remembering we are only pilgrims, come in adoration to our Father and King.
Fall down before the Creator of all and offer Him your hearts.
praise and bless Him, sing with lips and heart! There is no one like You, Lord.
Let us adore the Trinity, One God, mystery unfathomable;
Three immensities making only one power; come and adore.
His anger is terrible; come, let us adore Him.
The fiercest of wild beast tremble before Him; come, sinners, let us adore Him.
His tenderest goodness is for souls who seek after Him; come , you upright, and adore Him.
All creation bows down with rejoicing before Him; come, all, and adore Him.


O my God, my God! If my eye is going to offend You, pluck it out, or I shall pluck it out myself. If my hands, my feet, my tongue are going to offend you, cut them off. Break my body with pains the most intolerable rather than allow any of my members to offend you.

after "The Thoughts of Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified"

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St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, Virgin, Carmelite (1566-1607)

Spiritual Bouquet:
Blessed are those servants whom the master, on his return, shall find watching. St. Luke 12:37

Saint Mary Magdalene of Pazzi was the only daughter of the illustrious Camille de Pazzi, related to the Medicis of Florence. She was born in the year 1566, and was baptized with the name of Catherine. As a child she loved to go into solitary places to enter into prayer with God, who revealed Himself to her from her tender years without the aid of teachers, as her Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. She made a crown of thorns one day, and wore it for an entire night, enduring great pain. She received her First Communion at ten years of age; at twelve years, she made a vow of virginity and took great pleasure in teaching Christian doctrine to poor children.
Her father, not knowing of her vow, wished to give her in marriage, but she persuaded him to allow her to become a religious, and chose the Carmelites, because there the nuns received Communion frequently. She entered in the year of the death of Saint Teresa of Avila, 1582, at the age of sixteen. It had been more difficult to obtain her mother’s consent; while she was a novice, her mother sent a portrait artist to the convent, with instructions that her daughter be portrayed in lay clothing. The Sisters complied with her request, and the portrait can still be seen in the Convent. She became professed at eighteen years of age in the Carmelite monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence, May 17, 1584, Feast of the Holy Trinity. She changed her name of Catherine to that of Mary Magdalene on becoming a nun, and took as her motto, “Either suffer or die.”

Her life thereafter was one of penance for sins not her own, and of love for Our Lord, who tried her in ways fearful and strange. She was obedient, observant of the Rule, humble and mortified, and had great reverence for the religious life. One day, when she seemed to be at the last hour of her life, she rose from her sickbed and hastened everywhere throughout the convent, saying during her ecstasy, “O Love! O Love! No one knows You, no one knows You, no one loves You!” For five years she was tormented by demons with fearful temptations of pride, sensuality, gluttony, despair, blasphemy; they became so violent that she said, “I do not know whether I am a reasonable creature or one without reason; I see nothing in myself but a little good will never to offend the divine Majesty.”

God raised her to elevated states of prayer and gave her rare gifts, enabling her to read the thoughts of her novices, and filling her with wisdom to direct them. She was twice chosen mistress of novices, and then made Superior. On her deathbed she asked her Sisters to love only Our Lord Jesus Christ, to place all hope in Him, and be perpetually ardent with desire to suffer for love of Him. God took her to Himself on May 15, 1607. Her body remains incorrupt.

Reflection.
Saint Mary Magdalene of Pazzi was so filled with the love of God that her Sisters saw it in her love for them, and called her “Mother of Charity,” and “the Charity of the Monastery.”

Her incorruptible body lies in a beautiful glass casket in the Carmelite Monastery of St Maria degli Angeli, Florence

credit: www.magnificat.ca

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St Angelus, Carmelite Friar and Martyr

St. Angelus was one of the first Carmelite to come to Sicily form Mount Carmel about the year 1217. He preached at Palermo and Messina. He was martyred by a certain Count Berenger, a powerful lord of that country, who for several years had lived openly in unhallowed union with his own sister. St. Angelus rebuked him severely, as St John the Baptist had formerly rebuked Herod, and found the same recompence. By command of Berenger he was hung upon a tree and shot with arrows. Only in 1632 were his relics transferred to the Carmelite Church. Veneration of St. Angelus spread throughout the Carmelite Order as well as among the Universal Church. He has been named patron of many places in Sicily and up to this day many Catholics invoke his intercession faithfully in their needs.

Hymn in honour of St Angelus
(fragments from Thaditional Carmelite Propers of Divine Office)

Hail, happy Angelus of blest renown!
Hail, in the beauty of thy martyr's crown!
Rejoice, O Carmel, at his heavenly birth,
Rejoice to greet thy favoured child, O Earth!

This chosen son, as presage of his fame,
Hears from the Virgin's lips his angel name,
Sweet pledge and token Heaven doth bestow,
his kinship with the Blessed to foreshow.

Sing glory to the Father and the Son
And to the Holy Spirit, Three in one!
Then haste to join the glad angelic lay,
And praise our glorious Mother on this day.

Prayer
O Lord, let Thy people glorify Thee by honouring the Blessed Angelus, Thy Priest and Martyr, and through his intercession, may they deserve to be led by Thee. Through our Lord.

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Canonization of the Blessed Nuno Alvarez Pereira O.Carm today!

More about new Saint HERE

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St Teresa of Los Andes OCD - click to read

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Sexagesima - Thoughts on the Parable of the Sower -click to read part 1

Good opportunity to examine ourselves and honestly admit to what "soil" category do we fit the most. Thoughts on the Parable of the Sower may be the eye opener for truthful soul.

In Luke 8:4-15 are mentioned four categories of people who receive the seed of the divine word in different ways. It compares them to the hard ground, to the stony soil, to the earth choked with thorns, and lastly, to the good fertile field.

The hard grounds: souls that are frivolous, dissipated, open to all distractions, rumours, and curiosity; admitting all kinds of creatures and earthly affections. The word of God hardly reaches their heart when the enemy, having free access, carries it off, thus preventing it from taking root.

The stony ground: superficial souls with only a shallow layer of good earth, which will be rapidly blown away, along with the good seed, by the winds of passion. These souls easily grow enthusiastic, but do not persevere and "in time of temptation fall away". They are unstable, because they have not the courage to embrace renunciation and to make the sacrifices which are necessary if one wishes to remain faithful to the word of God and to put it into practice in all circumstances. Their fervour is a straw fire which dies down and goes out in the face of the slightest difficulty.

The ground covered with thorns: souls that are preoccupied with worldly things, pleasures, material interests and affairs. The seed takes root, but the thorns, but the thorns soon choke it by depriving it of air and light. Excessive solicitude for temporal things eventually stifles the rights of the spirit.
Lastly, the good ground is compared by Jesus to those "who, with a good and upright heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience." The good and upright heart is the one which always gives first place to God, which seeks before everything else the kingdom of God and His justice. The seed of the divine word will bear abundant fruit in proportion to the good dispositions it finds in us: recollection, a serious and profound interior life, detachment, sincere seeking for the things of God above and beyond all earthly things, and finally, perseverance, without which the word of God cannot bear its fruit in us.

Today is memorial of Blessed Archangela Girlani, Virgin of the Carmelite Order. She came from noble family, since her childhood she was showing the unusual piety towards God and charity towards her neighbour. She was determined to live consecrated life and her example was followed by her two cousins. She entered Of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt Carmel in Parma. She excelled in the practice of virtue and soon was elected the Mother Superior.

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Sometimes when I am in such a state of spiritual dryness that not a single good thought occurs to me, I say very slowly the "Our Father," or the "Hail Mary," and these prayers suffice to take me out of myself. St Therese of Lisieux

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Week of St John of the Cross

Vain cares and necessary solicitudes - continued

It is especially on the subject of vain cares and desires, that we may profitably remember the sublime maxims of St John of the Cross on renouncement of one's self and temporal goods; for as one of the holy Fathers has said, the desire of earthly things is still more hurtful to the soul than their enjoyment.
1. To enjoy all, take emjoyment in nothing.
2. To attain to know all, desire to know nothing.
3. To obtain possession of all, wish to possess nothing.
4. To attain to being all, desire to be nothing.
5. To arrive at that which you do not relish, proceed by that which displeases you.
6. To acquire that which you do not know, go by the way do not know.
7. To attain that which you do not possess, traverse that which you do not possess.
8. To become that which you are not, pass by that which you are not.

Means by which not to impede the All.

1. When you stop at something, you cease to give yourself up to the All.
2. For to proceed from all to the All, you must renounce yourself wholly in all.
3. And when you attain the possession of All, you must possess it without desiring anything;
4. For if you desire to have anything at all, you have not purely your treasure in God.
Endeavour to arrive at this state where all creatures shall be of no importance whatever to you, nor you to them; in order that, in the forgetfulness of all things, you may be alone with your God, in the secret of your retreat.
He who does not allow himself to be carried away by his desires, will take his flight as lightly as the bird, who has not lost a single feather.

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Week of St John of the Cross

For the coming Feast of St John let me present his thoughts about distractions in prayer. It is the most common problem and reading the Saint explanations and advice may help us to overcome difficulties and become more focused in prayer (St John's text in italics).

Distractions and dryness in prayer can come from several causes; we must carefully seek them that we may be able to apply a remedy, especially if they are culpable. These causes may be reduced to seven:
Distractions that come from faults and tepidity.Those caused by the mobile nature of the imagination, and unstability of mind.
Temporal cares and solicitude arising from our state of life.
Corporal indispositions.
The aridity which happens by the will of God, to try us, or to draw us on to a higher state of prayer.
Distractions which come from several of these causes united.

Tepidity and Faults.
These are the ordinary causes of the distractions of persons who, before beginning mental prayer, through the duty of their state, neglect to employ the means for acquitting themselves well in it and deriving from it great fruit. Such are also the distractions of those who are accustomed to neglect preparation for prayer, and do not take pains to keep habitually recollected and in the presence of God during their ordinary actions.
Those who do not restrain the liberty of the eyes or the tongue, who give themselves too much freedom in their looks and conversations, fall necessarily and by their own fault, into dissipation and a multitude of distractions during prayer. Those who seek
after or joyfully permit themselves luxuries, who satisfy their greed, plunge their mind into torpor and make themselves incapable of desiring or relishing spiritual things.
For distractions of this kind, the remedy is easy to find: these faults must be repented and corrected.

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All Saints of Carmelite Order

On this day the Order celebrates the memory of all its saints, those known and those unknown.
Let us pray
Lord, may the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, and the prayers of all the saints of Carmel help us to walk steadfastly in their footsteps, and by our prayers and good works to further the cause of your Church. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

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Carmelite Mysticism Historical Sketches - The Brothers of Our Lady

Cloud seen by Elias, Symbol of the Mother of God

We have already mentioned the pious tradition in the Order of Carmel that the Prophet Elias saw in the little cloud bearing the redeeming rain for the parched land of Israel a prototype of Our Lady, the Mother of the Redeemer, a revelation of the mystery of the Incarnation.

Long before the order became definitely established under St Berthold, there was a sanctuary in honour of Our Lady on Mt Carmel. This sanctuary became the centre of the Order in its new form and the first members of the Order were called after it "the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel".

Name, "Broters of Mary", Inspires to Devotion.
This gave ample scope to their piety and while they daily hurried to Our Lady's Chapel and before her altar performed their divine Office and meditation; while they led their lives of prayer under the very eye of their heavenly Mother, so to say, their devotion to Mary became more and more fervent and earnest. It was a wonderful dispensation of Providence that the first monastery of the Order should be built round a little chapel which had long been a centre of devotion to Mary. That dispensation of Providence enjoined on the Brothers the devotion to Mary as something intimately allied to their institution, and the name with which the neighbouring population called them after this sanctuary, stamped the former crusaders, who had laid down their swords on the altar of Mary, as Knights of Our Lady.

When the second General of the Order, St. Brocard, lay on his death-bed, he gathered the hermits about him to address them with some parting words of farewell and exhortation. The words he spoke to them excited the Brothers to honour Mary by deeds tried in virtue, "You are called," he said, "Brothers of Our Lady. Take care that after my death you prove worthy of that name." Evidently he had during his life, more especially during the twenty-five years of his office as General, always insisted on this. He had even looked to it that they should remain worthy of that name. His generalship, therefore, must have especially fortified and confirmed that devotion in the hearts of his brethren.

Devotion to Mary Confirmed in Europe.

When Pope Innocent IV admits the Order to the West and adapts its Rule to fit the changed circumstances, he retains the name, Order of the Brothers of Our Lady, and confirms it officially. With the expansion of the Order in Europe this special devotion to Mary will be its beloved characteristic, a title of which the Brothers are proud and which they put forward time and time again when they have to defend their rights. Pope and Bishops, even in that first century, affix indulgences to the use of that name and moreover endeavor to grant to the Order a distinction by which it may more easily be recognised. In Northern Europe, we see this being done by the Bishop of Cologne in 1271.
The tradition of the first Generals was splendidly maintained by the man of divine election, St. Simon Stock, who figured so largely in the Order's removal to Europe. The Order has preserved two fine prayers of his which he is said to have recited many times each day. Our Order still recites them daily in imitation of the Saint. The first is the Ave stella Matutina; the second is the beautiful Flos Carmeli. This latter was his favourite prayer. He realised that devotion to Mary was a feature of highest value to the Order, that the title must render the Order loved by the people, and that if Our Lady should confirm the title by special privileges the future of the Order would be assured. The Pope had already favoured the Order, but their authority had not succeeded in breaking entirely the resistance the Order experienced when settling in Europe. However much the Saint appreciated the privileges of the Popes, having recourse again and again to the Holy See, he nevertheless appealed incessantly to the Holy Virgin with unswerving faith, convinced that she would not withhold her special help and protection from the Order which, with the Pope's approval, was called the Order of her Brothers and which tried to live in accordance with this title. Times were hard. We are told so not only in the life of St. Simon Stock, but also an account of William de Sanvico written at the end of the 13th century emphatically confirms this. Not only the local clergy, but even the bishops did not realise the necessity of a new Mendicant Order and did not see in what respects this Order was distinguished from the Orders already approved. The foundation of new monasteries in the various countries was everywhere attended with serious difficulties. Not only was the Order threatened from within by the loss of her vital, original power through the difficulty of attuning itself to new circumstances and through the increasing demands of the active life, but from the outside also there were enemies who had to be taken into account and whose resistance was not so easily broken, even though the Brothers presented commendations of the Pope and of Bishops and Prelates who were kindly disposed towards them.

To be continued...

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