SCRIPTURE
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”
II Kings 5:1–8
READING
“Do you know,” Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified said in ecstasy on April 25, 1878, “I forgot to tell you that last night I saw a young man like a traveler, with a staff in his hand: I don’t know if it was Jesus, I don’t know who it was… I think he was with St. Joseph. He told me that he wanted to endow Nazareth.
I said to him: “So you want to be like Sœurette [Miss Berthe Dartigaux, the foundress of the Carmel of Bethlehem]? And Jesus rewarded her!”
And He answered me: “I am greater, richer than Sœurette. I am more than Sœurette!”…
It struck me very much… I don’t know if it’s Jesus; he seems to be between eighteen and twenty years old.”
She seemed to see him and said:
“Didn’t I ask you anything? He promised to do everything for me. He doesn’t need anything for the house [the Carmelite monastery in Nazareth]. He made a document, I saw the writing: it is in all languages. I said to him: ‘Didn’t I ask you anything? It is you who were inspired!’ He gave the written document to St. Joseph.”
She cried out, or rather she sang with unspeakable transports,
“A founder!… my heart leaps with gladness. [The Carmel of Nazareth] is endowed!”
Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified
Chapter XV, In the Carmel of Pau
NOVENA PRAYER
Holy Joseph,
Man according to the Heart of God
you whose heart was afire with ardent charity
and whose life was a constant prayer and continual contemplation,
direct us in the way of perfection.
Obtain for us the grace of which we stand in need,
(mention your request)
in order to arrive at the sanctity to which we are called
particularly, a spirit of prayer, humility,
and surrender to God’s will, of which you were the model.
Amen.
NOVENA HYMN
Estrate, RP 1913, Vie de soeur Marie de Jésus crucifié (1846-1878): Religieuse carmélite converse, morte en odeur de sainteté au carmel de Bethléem, et enseignements, Librairie Victor Lecoffre J. Gabalda, Paris.
Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.
All scripture references in this novena are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.
Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Joseph, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Edith Stein.
Let us unite in prayer
Carmelite Quotes 