Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
The Servant of God Sr. Maria Lucia, although born on Holy Thursday 28 March 1907, had a baptismal certificate that indicated she was born on 22 March; here is the story of her two birthdays.
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St. Teresa of Andes was canonized on 21 March 1993. St. John Paul II reminds us that Teresa “was predominantly a contemplative soul” who fervently practiced her apostolate as the “sister of the priest.”
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St. Teresa of Avila was profoundly devoted to St. Joseph. Early in her autobiography, she tells how she took Joseph as her "advocate and lord" when she was seriously ill: "I have experience that he helps in all our needs."
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“We know that the light of Jesus is always with us,” says Bishop Báez. “Like the man born blind, we allow ourselves continually to be enlightened by Jesus. We weren’t created to dwell in darkness.”
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Our growth in silent prayer leads us from “thinking much” to “loving much,” as St. Teresa of Avila says. Thus, the next stage of prayer “means focusing a loving gaze on Jesus,” writes Antoine-Marie Leduc, o.c.d.
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Blessed Elia of St. Clement was beatified on 18 March 2006 in her native Bari, Italy. She prayed: “Crucified with You, I want to love You until death; I fall asleep clasping the cross of my Jesus.”
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St. Thérèse writes, “This God of goodness and mercy will magnificently reward not only the striking things done for Him, but also the simple desires to serve Him and love Him, because He sees everything.”
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Carmelite poet Jessica Powers draws upon her Irish heritage in the poem, "The Far Island"; she writes, “Heaven to me a mystic Erin is / God’s sea-encircled dwelling, wholly lit / by its own inner and eternal day / and all my birds of longing nest in it.”
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Scripture says, “there were some who pleased God and were loved by him.” St. Thérèse places these words in the mouth of St. Joseph: if you knew how to grasp the truth that Mary reveals, “you would seek only what would make your soul pleasing to God.”
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St. Thérèse writes, "happiness does not consist in having wealth but in humbly submitting your will to that of God." Scripture affirms that for "the man who fears the Lord, whether rich or poor, his heart is content."
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St. John Paul II mentioned St. Teresa of the Andes in his Ad Limina address to the Chilean bishops almost two years to the day after he signed the decree for her beatification. "It is very edifying to read [...] the testimony of her 'mad' love for Jesus Christ."
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On 15 March 1899 after a conference at her parish's Lenten mission, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote, “I met a confessor like I have never found before, and I thank God. The priest found all the signs of a true vocation in me.”
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When Jacob awoke from his dream at Bethel, he said: “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” St. Joseph says to us as well, “If you knew the name!...”
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“Isn’t it fascinating, this promise of Jesus, the gift of living water, which he offers us?” Bishop Silvio Báez writes, “We are great only when we are rooted in God; we are strong only when we are sustained by his love.”
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"The Lord knows the days of the blameless," scripture says. St. Thérèse of Lisieux suggests that blameless and humble St. Joseph found it difficult to accept that he was "in charge of transmitting the orders of Heaven" to the Mother of his God.
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St. Thérèse indicates that Mary told Joseph to sleep: “Rest in peace under the gaze of Him whose heart is always watching.” Once asleep, he heard God’s message: “Flee to Egypt.”
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As the Church marks the tenth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, we read a brief, early homily that demonstrates St. Thérèse’s influence on the pontiff: “Jesus has this message for us: mercy.”
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When Jesus went to his hometown the people were amazed: “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” St. Thérèse says Joseph was amazed and humbled: “Must Jesus become a poor workman like me?”
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Scripture says, “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.” St. Joseph is rapt in amazement at the Infant's gaze, telling Mary, "He looks at me, His poor, unworthy servant." Let Jesus gaze at you!
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The right method for prayer is “one that will allow us not to miss the moment when the Lord passes by,” writes Antoine-Marie Leduc, ocd; our focus is to “welcome what is happening deep within.”
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!["I took for my advocate and lord the glorious St. Joseph and earnestly recommended myself to him. [...] I don’t recall up to this day ever having petitioned him for anything that he failed to grant."](https://scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/336879821_1374507696727108_3000064146961560788_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8ae9d6&_nc_ohc=GeKBPoaKfMcAX-2CJ_7&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfAOwDmzGbvKJed7AFCD1ChdYnt61Be4vkR02blVp3JCQA&oe=641F987B)
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