Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
Bishop Silvio José Báez says that in our lives, "everything can begin anew with renewed strength and new dreams" when "love is what drives us from within." Even St. Teresa of Avila agrees: "love alone is what gives value to all things."
On the evening of that unforgettable "first day of the week," the day of the Lord's resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples, full of mercy. He didn't reproach them; he didn't accuse or reject them. Instead, he offered them his peace.
Bishop Báez, preaching on the encounter of the Risen Christ with his disciples offers a timely commentary: "The Risen Christ always frees us and opens up horizons of mercy. Whoever believes in him and welcomes him always receives forgiveness as a gift..."
Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d. explores the theological depths of Christ's death on the cross: "The cross of Jesus is the cathedra of infinite love, limitless forgiveness, and mercy that can change the world."
Bishop Silvio José Báez leads us in a reflection on St. Teresa as a teacher of prayer, who told us that the Gospels helped her to pray, leading her to a personal meeting with Jesus the Teacher.
Bishop Silvio José Báez says that when we make room for God's love and trust him, the impossible begins to become a reality.
Jesus climbs a mountain to pray. Prayer is like climbing a mountain—not physically, but by entering into the depths of our being where we find God's heart filled with light.
Bishop Báez explores the two strong words that Simon uses to describe his failure on a fishing expedition: "night" and "nothing", words that are familiar to Carmelites. The bishop explains that "Jesus doesn't want us to be failures, victims of the Night and of the Nothing."
With the help of the book called the Bible, we read and understand the book of life, we listen to the Lord through life's events and we prepare ourselves to respond to Him.
Faith doesn't lead us to sacrifice our reason; on the contrary, the experience of God elevates it—making it noble, unconstrained, and worthy.
When we pray, the heavens always open above us like an embrace, the Spirit descends like a breath of life and fire into our hearts.
Mary kept everything in the treasure chest of her heart: everything she experienced — the easy and the difficult, the joyful and the painful, what she understood and that which was difficult to accept.
He loves each one of us as we are and he invites us to welcome him without fear—he only asks us to trust him. He came to be our brother and to fill our lives with happiness and meaning.
Mary was always "full of grace," the "all beautiful." What is the secret behind the beauty of Mary's life? The Virgin Mary was the transparency of God.
The season of Advent is a favorable time to go to the desert, and God always arrives where there is a heart willing to listen to him.
St. Teresa of Jesus said: “The Lord doesn't look so much at the greatness of our works as at the love with which they are done.”
What concrete results can the widow's two small coins produce?
As St. John of the Cross teaches: "After all, this love is the end for which we were created."
St. John of the Cross says that "faith lies beyond all this understanding, taste, feeling, and imagining." Bishop Báez explains that it's the loving and welcoming presence of Jesus that gives us the faith we need to live: not only faith in God but faith in life, in ourselves, and others.
St. John of the Cross reminds us that "God’s purpose is to exalt the soul". That is why he came down, "so profound is the humility and sweetness of God".
Carmelite Quotes 
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