In our time, with the tremendous ability no matter where we are to know what is happening almost anywhere on earth, our minds are easily scattered in a thousand directions, and we have difficulty trying to concentrate on what ought to interest and attract us most.
In such a situation of inner confusion, those who truly wish to love God and neighbor, to his greater glory and their own spiritual advantage, have a clear source of support: devotion to the Most Holy Virgin.
Better and more than anyone else, we who are doubly the children of Mary should imitate her, to be enriched as faithful children with the fruits of her maternity; seeking the unum necessarium, the one thing necessary for salvation.
Saint Raphael Kalinowski
Mother of God, Hope of the World (excerpts)
Conference for the Discalced Carmelite friars, Wadowice Poland
3 October 1906
Praskiewicz OCD, S 2016, Saint Raphael Kalinowski: An Introduction to his Life and Spirituality, Translated from the Polish by Coonan, T, Griffin, M & Sullivan, L, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: At the Discalced Carmelite convent at Czerna, Poland, the friars gather with lighted candles to sing the Salve Regina before the image of the Mother of God.
Carmelite Quotes 
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