ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS OF VIETNAM ON THEIR “AD LIMINA” VISIT
Tuesday, 17 June 1980
Last year in taking possession of his titular church, your dear Cardinal said that the Church in Vietnam has always found “a mother’s powerful hand” in Mary. I entrust to her protection your ecclesial mission and that of all the Christians in your country.
Just returning from my pilgrimage to Lisieux, permit me also to invoke the little Carmelite, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who is linked to Vietnam in many ways. Her Carmel is at the origins of Carmelite life in your homeland and, if her health had permitted it, she would have gladly gone to your country.
La Iglesia nos sumerge en tu misterio; te confesamos y te bendecimos, ¡Señor , Dios nuestro! (Himno litúrgico) Después de celebrar el misterio pascual de Cristo, que culminó el día de Pentecostés con el envío del Espíritu Santo, hoy lo dedicamos a…
O Jesus, what ingratitude and misjudgment, that the people, among whom you generously journeyed, reward your love with the demand:
“To the Cross with Him”.
But you must have felt even more oppressed that Pilate, under the pretense of administering the law as if without guilt and impotent to this demand, despite the statement of finding no guilt in You, condemns You to the most barbaric and scandalous Crucifixion. But You endure it and keep silent.
O Mary, how that savage cry of the people and that unjust judgment of Pilate, like a sword of affliction, must have pierced the heart. But You also endure it and remain silent like Jesus, Your Son.
How difficult it is for us to tolerate an unjust verdict.
Blessed Titus Brandsma Meditation on the Stations of the Cross, 1942
Christ before Pilate Reynier van Gherwen (Dutch, 1620-1662) Oil on canvas, mid 17th century Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest
Let us live with God as with a friend, let us make our faith a living faith in order to be in communion with Him through everything, for that is what makes saints.
We possess our Heaven within us
Since He who satisfies the hunger of the glorified in the light of vision gives Himself to us in faith and mystery, it is the Same One! It seems to me that I have found my Heaven on earth since Heaven is God and God is in my soul.
The day I understood that, everything became clear to me.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Letter 122 to Madame de Sourdon (excerpt) Shortly after 15 June 1902
Marguerite and Elisabeth Catez (c. 1899) | Photo: Discalced Carmelites
To contemplate with deep faith our Beloved in the Sacrament, to live with Him Who comes to us every day, to remain with Him in the depths of our hearts, this is our life!
The more intense this intimate life is, the more we will be Carmelites and make progress in perfection. This contact, this union with Jesus is everything: what fruits of virtue will come from it!
You must have this experience.
Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist From the Office of Readings, 14 June
Eucharistic Adoration in Costa Rica | Luis Rodríguez / Flickr
June 14 BLESSED MARIA CANDIDA OF THE EUCHARIST Virgin
Optional Memorial
Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist was born on 16 January 1884 in Catanzano. Her parents, Pietro Barba and Giovanna Florona, returned to Palermo, Sicily, where she received First Holy Communion 3rd April 1894. In 1919 she entered the Discalced Carmelite Monastery, Ragusa, making solemn profession 23rd April 1924. She was Prioress and Mistress of Novices many times, radiating a sense of Carmelite holiness both within and outside of the community, influencing others with her love for the Eucharist, as well as by her numerous writings. She died on 12th June 1949, the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, and was beatified 21st March 2004.
From the common of virgins; psalms from the current weekday
Office of Readings
Second Reading
From the writings of M. Maria Candida of the Eucharist (L’Eucharistia, Edizioni OCD-Feeria, 1999, pp. 105-108)
From contemplation of the presence to Eucharistic communion
To contemplate with deep faith our Beloved in the Sacrament, to live with Him Who comes to us every day, to remain with Him in the depths of our hearts, this is our life!
The more intense this intimate life is, the more we will be Carmelites and make progress in perfection. This contact, this union with Jesus is everything: what fruits of virtue will come from it! You must have this experience. To live with Jesus and to live by His virtues, is to listen to His beautiful voice, to His most loving wish and immediately obey it, to please quickly Him. Our eyes close, longing to find Him again, to contemplate Him in the depths of our hearts: is this not the reason why He gives us Holy Communion in the morning? Is it not the attraction for Him that remains in the Blessed Sacrament, where He lives? I do not know how to separate the ciborium in the sacred Tabernacle from the ciborium in our hearts! Oh, how many times, even though we are in the choir, before His sacred Presence, at times exposed, we experience the great need to go deeply into ourselves, and there rediscover and remain with our Jesus!
What mystery of love is this intimacy with our Beloved! I reflect on this, sometimes with emotion, and give praise to Him Who is Love! And with tears, I contemplate this intimacy. Everything here on this earth is nothing for us, withdrawn as we are, far from Him Who loved us so much; our eyes no longer see anything: and even though we close them again to lose ourselves from the same sacred environment, we close them anxious to find Him again, to see Jesus! The most delightful Mystery of Love! He allows Himself to be found by the heart that searches for Him, by the soul that knows how to do without many things for love of Him.
To be close to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, like the Saints in Heaven, who contemplate the supreme Good, is what we must do, according to our Holy Mother Teresa. Seven times a day, we come together around the throne (of our Good God), the sacred Tabernacle, reciting the divine praises: oh how much faith merits such lofty activity, what dying to self! May adoration and love accompany and beautify everything!
Responsory
R/. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world. * Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. R/. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them. * Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-living God,
who, by the breath of the Spirit,
inspired Blessed Maria Candida, virgin,
to contemplate the riches of the Eucharist,
by her intercession, grant we beseech you,
that gratefully offering the sacrifice
of the Body and Blood of Christ,
in union with the Blessed Virgin Mary,
we may always glorify You in this Sacrament,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.
Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist (1884-1949)
Juanita fue una joven que amaba mucho a su familia. Tuvo una gran experiencia de amor en su seno, y cuando hablaba de ella lo hacía con cariño y alegría. En su diario ella misma nos describió a su familia: «Nací en l900, el día 13 de julio. Mi […]
Where among you, tell me, are to be found preachers, well versed in the word of God, and fit to preach as it should be done?
Some there are, indeed, presumptuous enough, in their craving for vainglory, to attempt it, and to trot out to the people such scraps as they have been able to cull from books, in an effort to teach others what they themselves know neither by study nor by experience. They prate away before the common folk—without understanding a word of their own rigmarole—as bold-faced as though all theology lay digested in the stomach of their memory, and any tale will serve their turn if it can be given a mystical twist and made to redound to their own glory. Then, when they have done preaching—or rather tale telling—there they stand, ears all pricked up and itching to catch the slightest whisper of flattery. But not a vestige do they show of the endowments for which, in their appetite for vainglory, they long to be praised.
Nicholas the Frenchman Ignea Sagitta: The Flaming Arrow
Chapter 4, 36-37
The Flaming Arrow: Ignea Sagitta. Nicholas Prior General of the Carmelite Order (1266-1271); The complete text translated from the critical edition of Adrian Staring O. Carm.; by Bede Edwards O.C.D.
En el VIІI Congreso de Hispanistas de Ucrania, celebrado en 2017, se presentó una ponencia de tema teresiano-sanjuanista. Su autor fue Fernando Martín-Loeches, lector de la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID), en la Universidad Nacional Ivan Frankó de Lviv. Las Actas del Congreso están disponibles en Internet en este enlace.
El título de su conferencia fue “Las imágenes de santa Teresa de Jesús y san Juan de la Cruz en la iglesia de San Miguel de Lviv”.
Lviv (o Leópolis) es una ciudad del oeste de Ucrania donde hubo presencia del Carmelo Descalzo desde muy temprano. Así introduce el autor su trabajo, que os invitamos a leer.
«A principios del siglo XVII, carmelitas descalzos procedentes, posiblemente, de la actual Polonia compraron unos terrenos cercanos a la muralla de la ciudad de Lviv con el objetivo de edificar su propio convento. Poco después comenzó la construcción…
In a particular way, I wish to greet the Discalced Carmelite Fathers of Górka in Wadowice. We are meeting on an exceptional occasion: 27 August this year marks the centenary of the consecration of the Church of Saint Joseph, at the Convent founded by Saint Raphael Kalinowski. As I did as a young man, I now return in spirit to that place of particular devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which had such a great influence on the spirituality of the Wadowice area. I myself received many graces there, and today I wish to thank the Lord for them.
A statue of St. Raphael Kalinowski stands in front of St. Joseph Convent of the Discalced Carmelite Friars in Wadowice, Poland | Tulio Bertorini / Flickr
I am pleased that I was able to beatify, together with one hundred and eight martyrs, Blessed Father Alfons Maria Mazurek, a pupil and later a worthy teacher in the minor seminary attached to the Convent. I had the opportunity to meet personally this witness of Christwho in 1944, as prior of the convent of Czerna, confirmed his fidelity to God by a martyr’s death.
Detail of a portrait of Blessed Alphonsus Mary Mazurek displayed in the Basilica of St. Anne in Lubartów, Poland, where Blessed Alphonsus Mary was born. See the complete portrait here.
I kneel in veneration before his relics, which rest in the Church of Saint Joseph, and I give thanks to God for the gift of the life, martyrdom and holiness of this great Religious.
Saint John Paul II Wadowice, 16 June 1999 Homily excerpts
June 12 BLESSED ALPHONSUS MARY MAZUREK,
Priest of Our Order AND COMPANIONS, Martyrs
Optional Memorial
He was born in 1891 at Baranowka, near Lubartow, Poland. He entered the Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1908, taking the religious name Alphonsus Mary of the Holy Spirit. He was ordained a priest and appointed as a professor while dedicating himself to the education of youth. Afterward, he served in his Order as prior and bursar. In 1944, after having been arrested by the troops that had invaded his country, he was shot on 28 August at Nawojowa Gora, near Krzeszowice. He was beatified by John Paul II on 13 June 1999, together with many other Polish martyrs.
From the common of several martyrs; psalms from the current weekday
Office of Readings
Second Reading
From the addresses of Pope John Paul II (OR 7-8 June 1999 p. 11; 18/6/1999, p. 4)
Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness
Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. In a particular way, this beatitude places the events of Good Friday before our eyes. Christ was condemned to death as a criminal and then crucified. On Calvary, it seemed he had been abandoned by God and left at the mercy of people’s derision.
The Gospel proclaimed by Christ was put to a radical test: those who were present at the event cried out, He is the king of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. Christ does not descend from the cross since he is faithful to his Gospel. He suffers human injustice. Only in this way, in fact, is he able to accomplish the justification of mankind.
Above all, he wanted the words of the sermon on the mount to be verified in himself: Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you. To whom do these words still apply? To many, many people throughout humanity’s history, to whom it was given to suffer persecution for the sake of justice. We know that the first three centuries after Christ were marked by persecutions, at times terrible, particularly under some Roman emperors from Nero to Diocletian. Even though these ceased from the time of the Edict of Milan, nevertheless they broke out again in various historical eras, in numerous places throughout the world.
Even our century has written a great martyrology. I myself, over the twenty years of my pontificate, have elevated to the glory of the altar numerous groups of martyrs: Japanese, French, Vietnamese, Spanish, Mexican. How many there were during the period of the Second World War and under the communist totalitarian system! They suffered and gave their lives in the Hitlerian or Soviet extermination camps.
The time has now come to remember all these victims and to render due honor to them. These are often Nameless, “unknown soldiers” as it were, of God’s great cause, as I wrote in the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente. It is also good to speak of them on Polish land since here there was a particular sharing in this contemporary martyrology. They are an example for us to follow. From their blood, we should draw strength for the sacrifice of our life, which we ought to offer to God every day. They are an example for us to give a courageous witness of fidelity to the Cross of Christ, as they did.
I am happy that I was able to beatify, among the one hundred and eight martyrs, Blessed Father Alphonsus Mary Mazurek, a pupil, and much later, a well-deserving educator in the minor seminary connected to the Discalced Carmelite monastery. I had an occasion of meeting personally with this witness to Christ, who in 1944, as Prior of the Czerna monastery, sealed his faithfulness to God with death through martyrdom. I kneel in veneration before his relics which rest in the church of Saint Joseph and I thank God for the gift of the life, the martyrdom, and sanctity of this great religious.
Responsory Cf Mt 5:11-12; Jn 15:20
R/. Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. * Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven (alleluia). R/. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. * Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven (alleluia).
Prayer
May the prayers of your martyrs Blessed Alphonsus Mary and companions,
prevail with you, Lord, on our behalf: Let them strengthen us in our witness to your truth.
We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Blessed Alphonsus Mary Mazurek (1891-1944) | Photo credit: Discalced Carmelite Order
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (1600-1659) fue obispo de Puebla y Osma, virrey y primer editor de las Cartas de Teresa de Jesús. Palafox fue beatificado en la Catedral de El Burgo de Osma el 5 de junio de 2011. Coincidiendo con este aniversario, el P. Ildefonso Moriones nos ofrece este trabajo en el que establece […]
Yes, dear Sister, like that great passionate, illuminated Magdalene, let us pass through everything, lost in His Infinity! “Many sins will be forgiven her because she has loved much!” (Lk 7:47) That is what He asks of us: Love that no longer looks at self, but leaves itself and ascends higher than its own feelings, its own impressions; Love that gives itself, surrenders itself, Love “that establishes Unity.” Let us live like Mary Magdalene through everything, day [and] night, in light or darkness, always beneath the eyes of Unchanging Beauty that wishes to fascinate us, to captivate us, more than that, to deify us!
Oh, my Sister, “to be Him,” that is my whole dream; then, do you believe that the Father, who contemplates His adored Word in us, can resist the powerful prayer that one glance, one desire can become? Oh yes, let us be Him, and “let us go to the Father” in the movement of His divine soul.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Letter 121 to Sister Agnès of Jésus-Marie 11 June 1902
Mary Magdalene Reading Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796 – 1875) Oil on canvas, 1854 Musée du Louvre
Uitstorting van de heilige Geest, Maerten de Vos, 1585 | Rijksmuseum.nl
Vi una paloma delante de mí y encima de ella, un cáliz desbordado, como si hubiera un manantial dentro de él; y el desbordamiento regó la paloma y la lavó.
Al mismo tiempo, escuché una voz que provenía de esta luz tan admirable, que decía:
“Si quieres buscarme, conocerme y seguirme, invoca la Luz, la del Espíritu Santo que ha iluminado a Mis discípulos e ilumina a todos los que lo invocan …”
“Te digo verdaderamente, que quien invoque al Espíritu Santo me buscará y encontrará, y es a través de Él que lo hará. Su conciencia será tan delicada como la flor en el campo. Si él es el padre o la madre de una familia, la paz estará en su familia y él tendrá paz en su corazón en este mundo y en el eterno; no morirá en la oscuridad, sino en paz.”
“Deseo ardientemente que digan que todos los sacerdotes que dicen la Misa del Espíritu Santo una vez al mes lo honrarán. Y quienquiera que lo honre y participe en esta Misa será honrado por el Espíritu Santo mismo, porque la luz en él; él encontrará paz en las profundidades de su alma. El Espíritu Santo vendrá y sanará a los enfermos y despertará a los que duermen…”
Leer más pensamientos de Santa María de Jesús Crucificado:
Con la fiesta de Pentecostés llegamos al culmen de la celebración del tiempo pascual, pero lejos de ser un término es un comienzo ya que en la liturgia de este día resuena fuerte el envío que nace de la boca del Resucitado a sus apóstoles…”Como el Padre me ha…
The third stage is… communion with the greatness of Jesus, the infinite greatness of his Divinity in the Trinity. It is the sense of the Offering to Merciful Love (9 June 1895), in the account of the final pages of Manuscript A (Ms A, 83v-84v), and in the Act of the Offering itself (Pri 6). Here the Christocentrism of Thérèse becomes explicitly Trinitarian: to the love of the Father who gave his Son to Thérèse as Savior and Spouse, and who looks upon her and always loves her through the Face of Jesus, and in his Heart burning with love in the Fire of the Holy Spirit, Thérèse responds through the total gift of herself as “victim of holocaust” for the salvation of all: she offers herself to the Father through Christ in the Spirit, through the hands of Mary. This Offering is central within the doctrine of Thérèse. It is her fundamental proposition of holiness for all the baptized. We also can say that it is at the heart of her theological methodology because this total gift of self to Jesus through Love is absolutely indispensable in order to know, in-depth, the Mystery of the Love of Jesus.
François-Marie Léthel, O.C.D. La Lumière du Christ dans le Coeur de l’Église
Thérèse and Céline in the cloister courtyard at the foot of the crucifix on 17 March 1896, the day that Céline received her black veil | See the complete photo at Archives du Carmel de Lisieux
The harmony,
That joins together the members to the Head,
In which each one
Finds the mysterious meaning of his being blessed
And joyously surges forth,
Freely dissolved in your surging:
Holy Spirit eternal jubilation!
First of all, let none of our subjects, in any case whatsoever, fail to object at least once or twice to that which obedience might demand of him or her. If they raise objections three or four or five times or even more, we will reward them when they appear before us.
Servant of God Father Jerome Gratian Constitutions of the Cerro, or Treatise on Melancholy
Translation of a Work of Jerome Gratian: An Example of Teresian Humor
Are you the sweet song of love
And of holy awe
That eternally resounds around the triune throne,
That weds in itself the clear chimes of each and every being?
comments on the breeze