St Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, memoria

 

St Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi Born in Florence in 1566, she entered the Carmelites there where she led a hidden life of prayer and self-denial. She prayed especially for the reform of the Church. She was endowed by God with many spiritual gifts and directed her fellow sisters along the road of perfection. She died in 1607 and was canonized in 1669 by Pope Clement X. According to ST Mary Magdalen, prayer is important because through it 'the soul detaches itself from created things and is united to God'.The picture represents eching print by Giovanni Fabbri, Wellcome Collection

   O Holy Spirit, you show us what we must do to please the Trinity, interiorly through your inspirations, and externally through preaching and warnings, and that all proceeds from you, since no one can say the sweet and holy name of Jesus unless he is moved by you. 

    You are the dispenser of the treasures hidden in the bosom of the Father and the treasurer of the counsels which pass between the Father and the Word. You are that rod that strikes the rock and makes it bring forth the water that satisfies every creature. The cataracts of heaven are always open to send down grace, but we do not have the mouth of our desire open to receive it. 

    Come, come, O most gentle Spirit! Spirit of goodness! I contemplate you as you leave the bosom of the Father, and enter the side of the Word, then leaving by the heart of the Word, come to us here on earth. From the bosom of the Father, bring us power, from the Heart of the Son burning love. After Complete Works of St Mary Magdalen.

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St Joachina de Vedruna memorial, the foundress of the Carmelite Sister of Charity

Joachina was born in Barcelona in 1783, in 1779 she married Theodore de Mas, by whom she had nine children. Her husband died in 1816 after he withdraw from the army he served during Napoleonic Wars to defend Spain. In 1826 she was moved by the Holy Spirit to found the Congregation of the Carmelite Sister of Charity, which soon spread throughout Catalonia, maintaining many houses for the care of the sick and the education of the children, especially the poor. She loved to contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and the devotion characterized her life of prayer, mortification, detachment, humility and charity. She died at Vich in 1854. 

“If only we were all on fire with love of God! If we were, we should preach love, proclaim love, and yet more love, until we had set the whole world on fire. We must have great desires: then God will give us whatever is best for us”. A fragment of the reading from the Letter of St Joachina de Vedruna, after Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices.

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Pentecost Novena starts on Friday after Ascension Day!

Pray Pentecost Novena short version here
Pentecost Novena prayer for the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, after Walsingham Shrine of Our Lady here

 

And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.Acts 2:1-4.

The grace of the Holy Spirit be with your paternity, mi padre. I hope that this Pentecost has brought you so many of his gifts and blessings that through them you may render His Majesty the service you owe him for having willed to come to the aid of his people, at so great a cost to yourself. May he be praised for everything. (On the vigil of the Pentecost Sunday, 7 June 1579, while praying in the hermitage of Nazareth, St Teresa received the four counsels for the discalced friars). From the letter 297 of St Teresa to Fr Jeronimo Gracian, written in Avila, 10th of June 1579.

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EASTER MONDAY

PRESENCE OF GOD
Do not leave me, O Jesus, gentle Pilgrim; I have need of You

MEDITATION
1. God has made us for Himself, and we cannot live without Him; we need Him, we hunger and thirst for Him; He is the only One who can satisfy our hearts. The Easter liturgy is impregnated with this longing for God, for Him who is from on high; it even makes it the distinctive sign of our participation in the Paschal mystery. "If you be risen with Christ, seek the things, that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth" (Col 3:1,2). The more the soul revives itself in the Resurrection of Christ, the more it feels the need of God and of heavenly truth; it detaches itself more and more from earthly things to turn toward those of heaven.
Just as physical hunger is an indication of a living, healthy organism, so spiritual hunger is a sign of a robust spirit, one that is active and continually developing. The soul which feels no hunger for God, no need to seek Him and to find Him, and which does not vibrate or suffer with anxiety in its search, does not bear within itself the signs of the Resurrection. It is a dead soul, or at least one which has been weakened and rendered insensible by lukewarmness. The Paschal alleluia is a cry of triumph at Christ's Resurrection, but at the same time it is an urgent invitation for us to rise also. Like the sound of reveille, it calls us to battles of spirit, and invites us to rouse and renew ourselves, to participate ever more profoundly in Christ's Resurrection....

2. We read in today's Gospel the very beautiful story of the disciples at Emmaus (Lk 24: 13-35). Here we find the earnest supplication: "Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent." Stay with us, Lord! It is the cry of the soul who has found God and never again wishes to be separated from Him. Let us too, as the disciples at Emmaus, go in search of the Lord. Our whole life is a continuous journey toward Him, and we are often sad, even as they were, because we do not succeed in finding Him, because not understanding His mysterious ways, it seems that He has abandoned us. "We hoped that it was He that should have redeemed Israel....but....," said the two disciples, frustrated by the death of Jesus, at the very moment when they were about to relinquish all hope, was there close to them, disguised as their fellow traveler. We have often shared this experience of Him. Hidden in the obscurity of faith, God draws near our soul, makes Himself our traveling companion, and still more, lives in us by grace. It is true that here below He does not reveal Himself in the clarity of the "face to face" vision which is reserved for eternity; we see Him only as through a glass in a dark manner (1 Cor 13:12); nevertheless, God knows how to make Himself known. To us as to the disciples at Emmaus, His presence is revealed in an obscure manner; yes, but unmistakably, because of the unique ardour which He alone can kindle in our hearts. The soul who has found the Lord.....cannot fail to direct Him the cry: "Stay with me!".....Let us, therefore, beg Him ardently: teach us, O Lord, to stay with You, to live with You.

QOLLOQUY
.....Remember my great misery, O Lord, and look upon my weakness, since You know all things (TJ Exc, 7 - Life).

credit: text from "Divine Intimacy" by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen OCD

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Coronavirus prayer

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Christmas Epiphany prayer

O Infant Jesus
(Prayer revealed to Venerable Cyril of the Mother of God, OCD, by Our Lady)

O Infant Jesus! I have recourse to You
O beg of You by Your holy Mother, deliver me
from (mention your petition here) for
I firmly believe Your Divinity will protect me
I hope with all confidence to obtain Your holy grace

I love You with all my heart and soul
I repent of my sins and I beseech You
O Jesus, to pardon them.
I firmly resolve to correct myself and never more to offend You.

Therefore I offer myself to You,
In order to suffer much and patiently
Moreover, I wish to serve You patiently
And to love myself for Your sake.

O holy Infant Jesus!
O adore You, O powerful Child.
I beg of You to deliver me from
(here mention your particular need)
In order that I may enjoy You
With angels eternlly. Amen

Ven Cyril of the Mother of God (1590-1675) was born Nicholas Schockwilerg in 1590 in Luxemburg. He entered the Carmelite Order at an early age and was ordained a priest in 1624 and was later elected a prior. In 1628 he left monastery to join the more austere Discalced Carmelites in Prague. Fr Cyril is known for his work in promoting devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague. It was he who rescued the statue of Infant Jesus from the rubble of a church, after it had been ransacked by Saxons. The statue had been damaged and the hands broken off. One day when Father Cyril was praying in the oratory he heard the words: "Have pity on Me and I will have pity on you. Give Me back my hands and I will give you peace. The more you honour Me, the more I will bless you." Father Cyril was able with much difficulty to have the statue repaired, and immediately the friars were blessed with relief from their financial difficulties. Many miracles have been received throughout the centuries through the intervention of the Divine Child. Father Cyril died in 1675 and is entombed in the catacombs beneath the church of Discalced Carmelites in Prague where the statue is enshrined.

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Feast of the Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

O Virgin most faithful, you remain night and day in profound silence, in ineffable peace, in a divine prayer that never ceases, your soul ever inundated with heavenly light. Your heart is like a crystal that reflects the divine One, the Guest who dwells in you, the Beauty that knows no setting. O Mary, you draw heaven down to you: see, the Father commits His Son to you that you may be His mother, and the Spirit of love overshadows you. The Blessed Three come to you, and all heaven is opened and abases itself before you...I adore the mystery of this God who made flesh in you, O Virgin Mary. Mother of the Word, show me your mystery after the Incarnation of the Lord; how you lived buried in adoration...Keep me ever in a divine embrace. Let me carry upon me the stamp of this God of love. (Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity, 1880-1906)

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NOVENA TO ST TERESA OF AVILA starts Oct 6 -Oct 14 - click to pray!

The pious Catholic devotion to saying Novenas has been attacked in the Church history in particular by Jansenists or rigorists. But Catholics know from their own experience that the novena (..) is the best means to obtain signal heavenly graces through the intercession of Our Lady and all the saints. The novena of prayer is the prayer of confidence and perseverance, with a pledge of being heard, the most important qualities of efficacious prayer. Moreover, from the Holy Scriptures we know Our Lady and the Apostles prayed in the Upper room for nine consecutive days before the descend of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Novenas - info

And now, words of St Teresa on prayer:

Prayer brings us here and now into God's kingdom

"Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come within us.» Now behold, daughters, how great the wisdom of our Master is... I am reflecting here on what we are asking for when we ask for this kingdom. But since His Majesty saw that we could neither hallow, nor praise, nor extol, nor glorify this holy name of the Eternal Father in a fitting way, because of the tiny amount we ourselves are capable of doing, He provided for us by giving us here on earth His kingdom. That is why Jesus put these two petitions next to each other...

   Now, then, the great good that it seems to me there will be in the kingdom of heaven, among many other blessings, is that one will no longer take any account of earthly things, but have a calmness and glory within, rejoice in the fact that all are rejoicing, experience perpetual peace and a wonderful inner satisfaction that comes from seeing that everyone hallows and praises the Lord and blesses His name and that no one offends Him. Everyone loves Him there, and the soul itself doesn't think about anything else than loving Him; nor can it cease loving Him, because it knows Him.

    And would that we could love Him in this way here below, even though we may not be able to do so with such perfection or stability. But if we knew Him we would love in a way very different from that in which we do love Him... The above would be possible, through the favor of God, for the soul placed in this exile, but not in perfection... for we are at sea and journeying along this way. But there are times when, tired from our travels, we experience that the Lord calms our faculties and quiets the soul. As though by signs, He gives us a clear foretaste of what will be given to those He brings into His kingdom. (St Teresa, Way of Perfection ch.30)

Previous posts Feast of St Teresa of Jesus

Recommended reading: 'The life and letters of St Teresa of Jesus' by Henry James Coleridge

'The life of St Teresa'translation from French original 'A Carmelite Nun' by Alice Lady Lovat with a preface by Robert Hugh Benson

St Teresa and her first English daughters

The life of St Teresa of Jesus of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel, written by herself"
St Teresa of Jesus of the Order of Our Lady of Mt Carmel written by the Saint also A History of St Teresa's journeys and Foundations with Maps and Illustrations with a preface an and introduction by Walter Elliot and edited by John J. Burke

The Wonders of the Heart of St Teresa of Jesus"by Simon of St Joseph and Teresa, priest of the 3rd Order of Discalced Carmelites

St Teresa book-mark - a Meditative Commentary Spanish translation by the Very reverend Luke of St Joseph, Assistant General of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites, Rome

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Novena to Our Lady of Mt Carmel starts today

Let us put our petitions in the hands of Our Lady of Mt Carmel with confidence and devotion of Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified:

...I dwell in the heart of my Mother

There I find my Beloved

Am I then an orphan? In the bossom 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. 

(Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified)

To pray Novena click here

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Ascension of Our Lord Jesus

For King of all the earth is God, 

Sing hymns of praise, 

God reigns over the nations, 

God sits upon His Holy Throne (Ps 47: 8-9)

The Lord gives us so much to do these days that we can hardly keep up with it all. The foundation for the friars in Cordoba was completed with greater applause and solemnity throughout the entire city than was ever given there to any other religious order. All the clergy and confraternities of Cordoba gathered, and the Most Blessed Sacrament was brought with great solemnity from the Cathedral. All streets were beautifully decorated, and the people acted as though it were the feast of Corpus Christi. This took place on the Sunday after Ascension Thursday. The Bishop came and preached, praising us highly. The house is situated in the best district of the city in the neighbourhood of the Cathedral. 

(St John of the Cross, Letter To Madre Ana de San Alberto, June 1586)

Picture represents 'Ascension of Jesus' - Rembrandt

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Easter Sunday

Oh! how good it would be…. to live by this life of the Trinity that Jesus Christ came to bring us. He said so often that He was the Life, and that He came to give it to us in abundance.” 

(St Elizabeth of the Trinity, Letter 199)

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Our Lady of Lourdes

"Man's merits are not to be estimated by his having many visions or consolations, nor by his knowledge of Scriptures, nor by his being placed in a more elevated station; but by his being grounded in true humility, and replenished with divine charity". (Imitation of Christ Bk 3)

No sudden splendour broke the grey

And even tenor of your days,

No ecstasy made you forget

Your poverty in its bright rays

Mary, the lowliest can tread

With confidence the path you trod,

Your life the bright and shining star

That leads the wayfarer to God.

(St Therese, Poems)

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Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes starts on 2nd February - click for link

"My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely" - Song of Songs 2:14.

Credit for a beautiful photo and perfect Scripture citation to Fr Lawrence from Godz Godz blog. I may honestly say the photo of Our Lady of Lourdes is the best one I have ever seen.

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St John of the Cross Feast Day

Where there is no love, bring love.

John accepted all this without complaint. In July of that year, he had written to Mother Mary of the Incarnation, Prioress of the Segovia convent, who was distressed at the treatment he was receiving: '....do not let what is happening to me, my daughter, cause you any grief, for it does not cause me any....Men do not do these things, but God, who knows what is suitable for us and arranges things for our good. Think nothing else but that God ordains all, and where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love...' Even more now, when he was being treated with such little love, he responded only with love and forgiveness. 'At the evening of life' , said John of the Cross, 'we will be judged by love.' John was approaching the evening of his life. Love was his response to everything. He refused to say an ill word of those who hated him. He received letters telling him of Fr Diego's campaign against him, which were kept in a bag at the bottom of his bed. He ordered them to be burnt, so that they would not damage the Order after his death. He had no word of complaint of his treatment, seeing everything as a permitted by God for his good. Perhaps alluding to the nun's concerns about Doria's governance, but surely applicable to his own situation, he wrote to Mother Anne of St Albert, 'you already know, daughter, the trials they are now suffering. God permits it to try his elect. In silence and in hope shall our strength be.'
'Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you,' he wrote to another nun, 'for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love. God so acts with us, for He loves us that we might love by means of the very love He bears toward us.' It worked, because at John's deathbed, the Prior knelt in tears and asked his forgiveness.

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Happy Feast of St Teresa of Jesus to all who care and visit this blog sometimes! - click for link

Quote for this wonderful day: Teresa knew well the continued presence and value of suffering (physical illness, opposition to reform, difficulties in prayer), but she grew to be able to embrace suffering, even desire it: "Lord, either to suffer or to die." Toward the end of her life she exclaimed: "Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value."

(after Saint of the Day)

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St Albert Trapani, Carmelite and Confessor

He shone in his days as the morning sun in the midst of a cloud, and as the moon at the full. And as the sun when he shineth, so did he shine in the temple of God. (Ecclus 50)

Albert, the Carmelite, was born of noble parents in Sicily, of Benedict Adaltibo and Joanna of Mt Trapani. His parents has been married for twenty-six years and were childless. Therefore, they made a vow to the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, binding themselves, in case she would obtain for them a son, to consecrate him to her in the Carmelite monastery which stood near to Mt Trapani. Their prayer was heard, and in their sleep they saw a torch which came forth from the mother's womb. On account of this vision the latter foretold to her husband that the boy would be great before God, and this hath been proven by the event. For while, as a boy, he was being trained in liberal sciences, the blessing of God fell upon him, and he entered the monastery of Trapani at the age of eight years. Rejoicing in the rudeness of the life, as well as in the strict discipline of the Rule, his progress was such that he soon showed himself an example of virtue to the rest.

Prayer of St Albert [composed during a famine in Messina]
O my God! Was it not said that by You and Your ineffable power You have created mankind? Is it not as a result of Your clemency that You call us to partake of Your glory and the happiness of eternal life? When original sin condemned us to suffer death, did it not please your goodness to repurchase us through the blood of Your Son, to unite us to You through our faith and Your great mercy? You have repurchased us from the shame of original sin; You have covered our dishonour with a fragment of Your glory. And now here is this difficult work built by You, this work with which You soften the limbs and joints, with which You have ennobled the destiny of the immortal soul with sublime beauty, and Satan's attacks! the father of hatred, pride, with the introduction of his jealousy, in order to wound this body which You have created. Deign therefore, Lord, to rebuilt Your work! Deign to cure this blindness, so that Your power may be glorified and that the malice of the enemy may be confounded. [repeated three times by St Albert while praying over a sick child]

Text adopted from "Saints of Carmel" and "Drink of the Stream". The painting "Mary Presenting the Child Jesus to St. Albert" from Carmelite Monastery - Straubing, Germany.

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Blessed Titus Brandsma, Priest and Martyr

Bl Titus Brandsma - for more CLICK HERE

   You hear it said that we live in a wonderful time, a time of great mem and women. It would probably be better to say that we live in an era of decadence in which many, however, feel the need to react and to defend what is most precious and sacred. The desire for the emergence of a strong, capable leader is understandable. But we want such a leader to fight for a holy cause, for and ideal based on divine design and not merely on human might.
   Neo-paganism cosiders the whole of nature as an emanation of the divine: this is what it holds about various races and peoples of the earth. But as star differs from star by reason of its light and brightness, so it considers one race more noble and pure than another, to the extent that this one race is held to embody more light within itself, it has a duty of making that life shine and enlighten the world.....From this nation derives the cult of race ad blood, the cult of the heroes of one's own people.
    From such erroenous starting-point, this view can lead to fatal errors! It is said to see how much enthusiasm and effort are placed at the service of such an erroneous and baseless idea! However, we can learn from our enemy; from his erroneous philosophy we can learn how to purify and better oue own ideal; we can learn how to foster a great love for it; how to arouse great enthusiasm. even willingness to live and die for it; how to build up the courage to incarnate it in ourselves and in others.
   We too profess our descendence form God.
   We too want what he wants.
   But we do not accept the idea of emanation from the divine; we do not DIVINISE ourselves. We admit descdendence in dependence. When we speak of and pray for the coming of the kingdom, it is not a prayer for a kingdom based on differences of race and blood but on universal brotherhood. In union with him who makes the sun rise on the good and on the evil, all men are our brothers - even those who hate us and fight us....From Discalced Carmelites Proper Offices, Fragments from the Sermon of Titus Brandsma, October 1936.

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Bl Maria Pilar and Companions, Virign Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, who offered their lives for the Church when they were martyred in Guadalajara on July 24th, 1936.

We shall weave these garlands flowering in your love and bound with one hair of mine.
This verse most appropriately refers to Christ and the Church, for in it, the Church, the Bride of Christ, addresses him saying: let us weave garlands (understanding by garlands all the holy souls engendered by Christ in the Church). Each holy soul is like a garland adorned with the flowers of virtues and gifts, and all of them together forms a garland for the head of Christ, the Bridegroom....And bound with one hair of mine - this hair is her will and the love sha has for the Beloved. This love assumes the task od the thread in a garland.
From 'Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices', the Office of Reading, Spiritual Canticle (Strophe 30, 7-8)
To read more CLICK HERE

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Corpus Christi Solemnity and Reflections

 "The eternal tide flows hid in living bread. That with its heavenly life to be fed" (St John of the Cross 'Poems'). 

"O eternal Father, I ask to be permitted to receive the heavenly Bread with such dispositions that, if I have not the happiness of contemplating Jesus with the eyes of my body. I may at least contemplate Him with the eyes of my soul. This is Bread which contains all sweetness and delight, and sustains our life." 

(St Teresa 'Way of Perfection') 

"All graces are contained in You, O Jesus in the Eucharist, our celestial Food! What more can a soul wish when it has within itself the One who contains everything? If I wish for charity, then I have within me Him who is perfect charity, I possess the perfection of charity. The same is true of faith, hope, purity, patience, humility and meekness, for You form all virtues in our soul, o Christ, when You give us the grace of this Food. What more can I want or desire, if all the virtues, graces, and gifts for which I long, are found in You, O Lord, who are as truly present under the sacramental spieces as You are in heaven, at the right hand of the Father? Because I have and possess this great wonder, I do not long for, or desire, any other!" (St Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi)

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The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Novena starts today, May 30th

To pray Novena CLICK HERE

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