Blessed Maria Pilar, Teresa, and Maria Angeles, Blessed Maria Mercedes Prat, Virgin and Martyrs, optional memoria

“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 form a garland for the head of Christ, the Bridegroom. The loving garlands can refer to what we call aureoles; these are also woven by Christ and the Church and are of three kinds: The first kind is made from the beautiful flowers of all the virgins. Each virgin possesses her own aureole of virginity, and all these aureoles together will be joined into one and placed on the head of Christ, the Bridegroom. The second aureole contains the resplendent flowers of the holy doctors. All these aureoles will be entwined into one and set upon the head of Christ over that of the virgins. The third is fashioned from the crimson carnations of the martyrs. Every martyr has an aureole of martyrdom, and these red aureoles woven together will add the final touch to the aureole of Christ the Bridegroom. So beautiful and fair will Christ the Bridegroom be with these three garlands when He is seen in heaven. Therefore, we shall weave these garlands, the soul says, flowering in your love. St John of the Cross, taken form the Spiritual Canticle, after Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices.

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Blessed John Soreth, optional memoria, click to read

Blessed John Soreth was elected the General of Carmelites unanimously in 1451

This great man was one of the most prominent Priests of the Church. During his generalship, he reformed the Order and organized the Carmelite Sisterhoods. The first Convent of Carmelite nuns was formally founded at Guelder, Holland, on October 14, 1453. It must be mentioned here, however, that long before this time, pious women were affiliated with the order of Carmel, as, for example, Blessed Angela of Bohemia, Blessed Jeanne of Tulouse, in 1268, and her companion, Anne of Tulouse. Bl John Soreth soon established another Convent of Carmelite nuns in Liege, in 1463, over which he placed Blessed Frances d'Amboise, former Duchess of Brittany, who shed new lustre on the Order of Carmel, by the holiness of her life. Another contemporary of Blessed Frances, was Blessed Joan Scopelli, who died in the odour of sanctity, on July 9, 1491, in Italy.
All in all, Blessed John Soreth founded five Carmels for nuns. He was a true servant of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, and when death approached, his last words were directed to his Heavenly Mother: "O Queen of my heart, I am going to see thee, to posess thee!"

"Not to be led astray by blandishments is to love 'with all your heart'; not to be seduced by falsehoods is to love 'with all your soul'; and not to let your spirit be broken by difficulties is to love 'with all your strength'." Fragment taken from the 'Exhortation on the Carmelite Rule' by Bl John Soreth, after Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices.

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Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace, Memoria

God of eternal wisdom, in your providence you willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should bring forth the Author of Grace and take part with Him in the mystery of man's redemption. May she obtain for us grace in abundance and bring us to the heaven of everlasting salvation. We ask this through our Lord. Concluding prayer, after Discalced Carmelite Proper Office.

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Feast of St Mary Magdalene

                          El Greco, St Mary Magdalene, The Barton Galleries reproductive work. 

The strength and vehemence of love has this trait: Everything seems possible to it, and it believes everyone is occupied as it is; it does not believe anyone could be employed in any other way or seek anyone other then him whom it seeks and loves; it believes there is nothing else to desire or to occupy it and that everyone is engaged in seeking and loving him When the bride went searching for her Beloved in the plazas and suburbs, she thought that others were doing the same and told them that if the found him they should tell him she was suffering for love of him (Sg. 3:2, 5:8). Mary’s love was so ardent that she thought she would go and take Jesus away, however great the impediment, if the gardener would tell where he was hidden. (After St John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night’ book 2 ch 13).

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Feast of St Elijah, Prophet, click to read more

 Guercino, Elijah fed by ravens, National Gallery, London

Scripture presents the prophet Elijah as a man of God, walking continually in God’s presence and fiercely defending the worship of the one true God. He stood up for God’s rights in a solemn contest on Mt Carmel. Later, on Mount Horeb he was granted an intimate experience of the living God. The hermits who instituted a form of monastic life in honour of Our Lady of Mt Carmel in the twelfth century followed monastic tradition in turning also to Elijah as their model. St Elijah is a patron of the Carmelite order. 

Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire

and his word burned like a torch. 

He brought a famine upon them, 

and by his zeal he made them few in number. 

By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens, 

and also three times brought down a fire. 

How glorious you were, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! 

And who has the right to boast which you have? 

You have raised a corpse from death 

and from Hades, by the word of the Most High; 

who brought kings down to destruction, 

and famous men from their beds; 

who heard rebuke at Sinai 

and judgement of vengeance at Horeb; 

who anointed kings to inflict retribution, 

and prophets to succeed you. 

You who were taken up by a whirlwind of fire, 

in a chariot with horses of fire; 

you who are ready at the appointed time, it is written, 

to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, 

to turn the heart of the father to the son, 

and to restore the tribes of Jacob. 

Blessed are those who saw you, 

and those who have been adorned in love; 

for we also shall surely live. (Sir 48:1-11). 

(Text after Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices).

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Bl Therese of St Augustine and Companions, memoria, click to read more

   

  These Discalced Carmelite nuns lived in a town of Compienge, France, in the Monastery of Incarnation, offering intercessory prayers for those in need. In 1789, their community numbered 20, with their prioress Therese of St Augustine. In the same year, in the midst of the French Revolution, the french National Assembly declared all religious vows null and void, assuming that most religious men and women were held in religious life against their will. The Assembly believed their act would "liberate" religious who would gratefully leave to enter the workforce. In August 1790, a government official visited the monastery of Compiegne and was surprised that each member of the community refused the "ridiculous freedom" that was being offered. The nuns were given a two-year ultimatum after which they would have to leave religious life. Under the leadership of Mother Therese the community prepared for the ordeal to come, praying and appealing to God for help and offering themselves as an instrument for the peace between France and their Church. They resolved to follow Jesus in his crucifixion and resurrection. Following their expulsion from the monastery, the community split into groups of four, living separately, adopting secular dress and continuing their simple and prayerful life. 

    Soon after, sixteen of the sisters were arrested for living religious life in violation of the constitution. They were taken to Paris, where they were all found guilty of being religious fanatics and supporters of King, they all were sentenced to death on the 17th July. On the night before their execution, the sisters arrived at the guillotine singing the Veni Creator Spiritus. Therese of St Augustine asked to be the last to die, so that she could encourage her sisters in their commitment, in the midst of the pointless violence. By the end of the same month the terror opf the French Revolution had come to an end. Text after Universalis 

   It all seems very hard work, this business of perfection - and so it is: we are waging war on ourselves! But as soon as we get down to it God becomes so active in our souls and showers so many mercies on them that whatever has got to be done in this life seems insignificant. And as we nuns do so much already, giving up our freedom for love of God and subjecting it to someone else, what excuse have we got for holding back when it comes to interior mortification? ....If you have started serving God seriously, the least you can offer him is, your life! If you have given him your will, what are you afraid of? If you are a real religious, a real 'pray-er', and want to enjoy God's favours, you obviously can't afford to shy away from wanting to die for him, and undergo martyrdom. Don't you realise, sisters, that the life of a good religious - a person who wants to be one of God's really close friends - is one long martyrdom? I say 'long' because in comparison with those whose heads have been chopped off in a trice one can call it long, but all our lives are short, very short in some cases. And we don't even know whether our own won't be so short that it will come to an end in an hour, or even a second, after we have made up our mind to serve God fully. That could happen. 
    We have just got to make no account of anything that will come to an end, least of all life, for we can't count on a single day. If we remember that every hour might be our last, is there a single one of us who will feel inclined to shirk? 
    Well, there is nothing you can be more certain of, believe me! So we must train ourselves to thwart our own wills in every way; then, if you try hard, as I have said, though you won't get there all of the sudden, you will gradually arrive, without realising it, at the peak of perfection. The fragments of the second reading from The Office of Readings, Discalced Carmelite Proper offices, after 'The Way of Perfection' by St Teresa of Avila

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St Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes

 

 

Juanita Fernandez Solar was born at Santiago, Chile, on July 13, 1900. From her adolescence she was devoted to Christ. She entered the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns at Los Andes on May 7, 1919 where she was given the name of Teresa of Jesus. She died on April 12 of the following year having made her profession. She was beatified by John Paul II on April 3, 1987 at Santiago, Chile, and proposed as a model for young people. She is the first Chilean and first member of the Teresian Carmel in Latin America to be canonized. 

 

“….Are you perhaps afraid that the abyss of greatness of God and that of your nothingness cannot be united? There is love in him. His passionate love made him take flesh in order that by seeing a Man-God we would not be afraid to draw near him. This passionate love made him become bread in order to assimilate our nothingness and make it disappear into his infinite being. This passionate love made him give his life by dying on the Cross. ….” Fragment taken of the spiritual writing of St Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes (Diario y cartas, Los Andes, 1983). After ‘Discalced Carmelite proper offices’.

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Bl Jane Scopelli, click to read

Giovanna Scopelli was born in 1439, in Reggio Emilia, Italy. She lived with her parents and cared for them into their old age, while leading a simple life of prayer. During this time she became a Carmelite 'mantellata' (member of a Carmelite lay confraternity, wearing the white cloak or mantella). After the death of her parents in 1480, she joined a group of like-minded women to form a community of prayer. Five years later, she aquired for the community a house and church of St Bernard of the Humiliati, which she transformed into monastery that became commonly known as the 'White Nuns'. Two years later, the community was affiliated to the Carmelite Manutan Congregation which had grown to 20 members with Jane serving as a prioress. She is remembered as living out an intense Marian piety and spirit of penance throughout her life as she cared for her parents and in her work establishing a Carmelite monastery. She died on 9th July 1491. (text after Universalis)

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Novena to Our Lady of Mt Carmel starts 7th July, click to pray

Efficacious Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Mt Carmel, long version

Novena prayer of St John of the Cross to Our Lady of Mt Carmel

EWTN Novena to Our Lady of Mt Carmel, short version

OCARM Novena version

"Those who wear the scapular, profess to belong to Our Lady." said Pius XII. Because we belong to Mary she takes special care of our souls. One who belongs to her cannot be lost or be touched by eternal fire. Her powerful maternal intercession gives her the right to repeat, for her children, the words of Jesus: "Holy Father...those whom Thou gavest Me have I kept; and none of them is lost" (Jn 17:12)

Devotion to our Lady of Mount Carmel indicates a strong call to the interior life, which, in a very special way, is Mary's life. The Blessed Virgin Mary wants us to resemble her in heart and mind much more than in externals....the grace produced in Mary's soul a very rich interior life; a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted giving of herself to God, and of constant contact and intimate union with Him. Mary's soul is a sanctuary reserved for God alone...here reign love and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of men.

Those who wish to live truly devoted to our Lady of Mount Carmel, must follow Mary into the depths of the interior life. Carmel is the symbol of the contemplative life, of life wholly consecrated to seeking God and tending wholly toward divine intimacy; and she who best realizes this very high ideal is Mary, Queen, Beauty of Carmel. "Judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and justice shall sit in Carmel. And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness and security forever. And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence" (Isa 32: 16-18)

"O Mary, flower of Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, who brought forth the Son of God yet remained a Virgin, sweet and Immaculate Mother, grant the favours your children implore, O Star of the sea" (St Simon Stock)

Text based on "Divine Intimacy" by Ven Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, OCD

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Bl Maria Crocifissa Curcio (1877-1957), Carmelite Tertiary, memorial, click to read

 

Rosa Curcio was born in Ispica, Sicily, she was seventh of ten children born to Salvatore and Concetta. When she was twelve she came across the book upon the Life of St Teresa of Jesus in the family library, and after she completed reading she was propelled into her Carmelite journey. She enrolled in the Carmelite Third Order at the age of thirteen in Ispica. As she grew in her understanding andpractice of Carmelite Spirituality she came to discern that her mission was to 'make Carmel flourish'. She joined later on the community of Carmelite seculars, she moved to Medica to join Carmela Polara, an institution that supported and educated orphaned and disadvantaged girsl. She attended canonisation of St Therese of the Child Jesus in Rome, 1925, and inspired by the experience she resolved to found a community of the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of St Therese of the Child Jesus and in 1930 her Congregation was granted official recognition. In 1947 Rosa (now Madre Maria Crocifissa) sent missionary sisters to Brasil to carry out their work to bring souls to God by feeding the poor, educating children and supporting families in Christiann living. She died on July 4th 1957 in Porto Santa Rufina, afte a life of contmeplative prayer, community and prophetic action. 

(text after Universalis and O.Carm Order of the Brothers of the Most Blessed Virgin of Mt Carmel).

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