Our Lord became a spring of Living water for us so that we should not die of thirst among all the miseries that surround us.
Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew
Quote of the day: 7 June
Pentecost Novena: Edith Stein — Day 7
Are you the one who created the unclouded mirror
Next to the Almighty’s throne,
Like a crystal sea,
In which Divinity lovingly looks at itself?
You bend over the fairest work of your creation,
And radiantly your own gaze
Is illumined in return.
And of all creatures the pure beauty
Is joined in one in the dear form
Of the Virgin, your immaculate bride:
Holy Spirit Creator of all!
Saint Edith Stein
And I Remain With You:
From a Pentecost Novena
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 4 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
El Espíritu Santo en Teresa de Jesús
En el blog Cultura-Espiritualidad-Carmelo aparece este texto tomado de un escritomecanografiado inédito de dos páginas del P. Jesús Castellano Cervera. El tema es el Espíritu Santo en Teresa de Jesús. El P. Jesús Castellano fue un carmelita descalzo valenciano (Villar del arzobispo, 1941-Roma, 2006), profesor de Teología de la Facultad Teresianum de Roma y consultor de siete dicasterios de la Curia Romana.
El Espíritu Santo
Espíritu Santo está hoy presente en la Iglesia. Hablan de él los teólogos como quizá no lo han hecho en otros tiempos; lo invocan los fieles con una convicción inusitada. Ya no es el “gran desconocido”, como se ha podido afirmar en otros tiempos. Y a este conocimiento e invocación responde el Espíritu con una abundante presencia de sus carismas y sus frutos.
Para Teresa de Jesús, el Espíritu Santo no fue un Dios desconocido. En el Congreso de Pneumatología celebrado en Roma en…
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7 June: Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew
June 7
BLESSED ANNE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW
Virgin
Memorial
Ana Garcia was born at Almendral, Castille, in 1549. In 1572 she made her profession as a Carmelite in the hands of St Teresa at Saint Joseph’s, Avila. The Saint later chose her as her companion and nurse, and she subsequently brought the Teresian spirit to France and Belgium, where she proved herself, like Teresa, a daughter of the Church in her great zeal for the salvation of souls. She died at Antwerp in 1626.
From the common of virgins
Office of Readings
Second Reading
From the Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew
(Autog. MS monast. St. Teresa, Madrid)
Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart
According to Saint Bernard, it is the person who keeps silent and says nothing when things go wrong who is really humble. It is very virtuous, he says, to keep silent when people are talking about our true faults, but more perfect when we are slighted or accused without having committed any fault or sin. And though it is virtuous indeed to bear this in silence, it is more perfect still to want to be despised and thought mad and good-for-nothing, and to go on, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, wholeheartedly loving those who despise us.
If Jesus kept silent, it was not because he hated anyone. He was simply saying to his eternal Father what he said on the cross: Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What infinite love burned in that sacred heart of yours, Lord Jesus! Without uttering a single word you spoke to us; without a word you worked the mysteries you came to accomplish—teaching virtue to the ignorant and blind. What our Lord did was no small thing. Where should we get patience and humility and poverty and the other virtues, and how could we carry each other’s burdens and cross, if Christ had not taught us all this first, and given himself as a living model of all perfection?
Blessed silence! In it, you cry out and preach to the whole world by your example. Volumes could be written about your silence, Lord! There is more wisdom to be learned from it by those who love you than from books or study.
Our Lord became a spring of Living water for us so that we should not die of thirst among all the miseries that surround us. How truly he said in the Gospel that he came to serve and not to be served! What tremendous goodness! Can we fail to be shamed by your words and deeds, and the patience you show with us every day? How truly, again Lord, did you say: Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart. Where can we obtain this patience and humbleness of heart? Is there any way to achieve it except by taking it from Christ as he taught it to us with those other virtues we need—faith, hope, and charity? Without faith, we cannot follow that royal road of the divine mysteries. It is faith that opens our eyes and makes us see the truth; and where faith is wanting there is no light and no way leading to goodness.
Responsory
Proverbs 3:5, 6
R/. Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and do not rely on your own intelligence;
* and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).
R/. Wherever you go be mindful of him,
* and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).
Morning Prayer
Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Where humility is, there is wisdom; the wisdom of the humble will protect them from defeat (alleluia).
Prayer
Father,
rewarder of the humble,
you blessed your servant Anne of Saint Bartholomew
with outstanding charity and patience.
May her prayers help us, and her example inspire us,
to carry our cross
and be faithful in loving you,
and others for your sake.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Evening Prayer
Canticle of Mary
Ant. God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him (alleluia).
Lisieux, 6 June 1944
Memories of June 1944
As I could do nothing about it, I did not get upset. If our whole monastery disappeared, its spirit would remain.
Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face, OCD
Céline Martin
I give it to You, do as You will with it … My God, I even sacrifice my nuns to You if You wish it … I must cry when I see our little Carmel; I love it so much.
Mother Agnès of Jesus, OCD
Pauline Martin
Immense gratitude to Martin family expert Maureen O’Riordan for her tireless efforts to research the events of June, July, and August 1944 as they affected the sisters of St. Thérèse and the Carmel of Lisieux. You can see the articles she has written concerning the battle for control of Lisieux here. We particularly recommend her blog post, The Carmelites of Lisieux in the Summer of 1944: 80 Days and 80 Nights in the Basilica of St. Therese. Written for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Lisieux on 23 August 1944, it chronicles the events in great detail.
Martin family historian Father Stéphane-Joseph Piat, OFM notes in his book A Family of Saints: The Martins of Lisieux — Saints Thérèse, Louis, and Zélie:
The dozens of bombardments that, between June 6 and August 22, 1944, rained down a hurricane of iron and fire over the Normandy town have demolished 2100 houses out of 2800, beaten to the ground two parish churches out of three, razed likewise the majority of the religious houses, and caused to perish, together with sixty religious, more than a tenth of the population. Historic Lisieux was nearly annihilated. Spiritual Lisieux remains standing.
May the powerhouse that is Spiritual Lisieux always remain a beacon of hope for peace: that God’s merciful love and the message of St. Thérèse’s infinite trust in his love may prevail in our hearts, in our homes, and in our world.
A Family of Saints: The Martins of Lisieux — Saints Thérèse, Louis, and Zélie Piat, Stéphane-Joseph. Translated by a Benedictine of Stanbrook Abbey. © 2016 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco
Quote of the day: 6 June
Lisieux 7th June 94.
Dear little Jeanne
I have come to bring you news of our sick, and it is quite satisfactory. Uncle is having great difficulty recovering from his last attack. His breathing is very heavy at times like someone out of breath, then there are two minutes when he has no air to breath at all. He has been looking very exhausted and despondent since his last attack, so his condition is still very precarious….
Your little sister
Marie
Marie Guérin
Sister Marie of the Eucharist (1870-1905)
On 5 June 1894, St. Louis Martin suffered the first of two serious heart attacks that ultimately led to his death on 29 July 1894 at 70 years of age. Read the account of his heart attack here and the rest of Marie’s letter here.
Pentecost Novena: Edith Stein — Day 6
Are you the master who builds the eternal cathedral,
Which towers from the earth through the heavens?
Animated by you, the columns are raised high
And stand immovably firm.
Marked with the eternal name of God,
They stretch up to the light,
Bearing the dome,
Which crowns the holy cathedral,
Your work that encircles the world:
Holy Spirit God’s molding hand!
Saint Edith Stein
And I Remain With You:
From a Pentecost Novena
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 4 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Quote of the day: 5 June
They could not sufficiently admire the genius of Madame Acarie
The people came in crowds to Notre Dame des Champs to see the Carmelites take possession of their monastery; distinguished persons also assisted in great numbers at this touching ceremony. All praised God for the new Order of religious that had been established, returned thanks to Spain for the present she had made to France in giving Saints for foundresses. After the Spanish religious had taken possession of the [priory], they examined the interior arrangements. They could not sufficiently admire the genius of Mme. Acarie, who had known how, in so small a space, to make all the proper arrangements, together with all that was necessary for a community. They then visited the new buildings which were on the other side of the church, and the way in which this intelligent woman had grouped them seemed to them equally admirable.
Marcel Bouix, S.J., editor (1806-1889)
Autobiography of the Blessed Mother Anne of Saint Bartholomew
Jean Marot (1619-1679)
Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art
Pentecost Novena: Edith Stein — Day 5
Are you the spirit’s fullness and the power
By which the Lamb releases the seal
Of God’s eternal decree?
Driven by you
The messengers of judgment ride through the world
And separate with a sharp sword
The kingdom of light from the kingdom of night.
Then heaven becomes new and new the earth,
And all finds its proper place
Through your breath:
Holy Spirit victorious power!
Saint Edith Stein
And I Remain With You:
From a Pentecost Novena
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 4 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
‘Andar en verdad’ en santa Teresa — Teresa, de la rueca a la pluma
Buscadora de la verdad Santa Teresa de Jesús nos cuenta que, desde la infancia, le quedó imprimido el camino de la verdad, lo relata así: “Juntábamonos (con su hermano Rodrigo) entrambos a leer vidas de Santos […]. Como veía los martirios que por Dios las santas pasaban, parecíame compraban muy barato el […]
via ‘Andar en verdad’ en santa Teresa — Teresa, de la rueca a la pluma
Por Anna Seguí, ocd
Quote of the day: 4 June
Our question now is:
what makes the prophet certain
that he is standing before God?
Seeing with the eyes or in the imagination does not necessarily have anything to do with this. When both are absent there may still be an inner certainty that it is God who is speaking.
This certainty can rest on the feeling that God is present; one feels touched in his innermost being by him, by the One present. We call this the experience of God in the most proper sense. It is the core of all mystical living experience: the person-to-person encounter with God. A sensible vision, like that of Isaiah, may accompany it as an extraordinary attendant phenomenon.
On the other hand,
is a vision like this conceivable
without a personal, inner experience of God?
Saint Edith Stein
Ways to Know God: Experience
4c1) Revelation, Inspiration, and Supernatural Experience of God
Nota Bene: Translator Walter Redmond rendered Erfahrung as experience of God and Erlebnis as mystical living experience.
Knowledge and Faith: The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 8 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc
Pentecost Novena: Edith Stein — Day 4
Are you the ray
That flashes down from the eternal Judge’s throne
And breaks into the night of the soul
That had never known itself?
Mercifully relentlessly
It penetrates hidden folds.
Alarmed at seeing itself,
The self makes space for holy fear,
The beginning of that wisdom
That comes from on high
And anchors us firmly in the heights,
Your action,
That creates us anew:
Holy Spirit ray that penetrates everything!
Saint Edith Stein
And I Remain With You:
From a Pentecost Novena
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 4 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Quote of the day: 3 June
Nicholas Pocock (British, 1740–1821)
Oil on canvas, 1797
National Maritime Museum, London
Photo credit: National Maritime Museum / ArtUK
we had the happiness of going to com[muni]on, the Same hour as before. mr neale receiv’d it from mr P. after having given it to us. the weather fine wind fair, some part of the day was almost a calm. I was dressed in a fine Silk petticoat and a chince jacket th[a]t had been given me in alms — w[hi]ch was So becoming & made me look So Extraordinarily fine th[a]t all my companions were jealous of me.
Mother Clare Joseph of the Sacred Heart, O.C.D.
(Frances Dickinson, 1755-1830)
Journal of a Trip to America, 3rd June 1790
(Frances Dickinson, 1755-1830)
Mother Clare Joseph of the Sacred Heart, O.C.D. was one of four foundresses of the Teresian Carmel in the United States of America in the summer of 1790. To her fell the task of keeping a daily journal of their ocean voyage aboard the three-masted, square-sailed, merchant frigate Brothers from Texel, Netherlands — departing 25 April — to New York, where they arrived on “friday Morning the 2d of July”. Although she makes no mention of it in her diary entry on the third of June, Mother Clare Joseph was quietly celebrating the anniversary of her profession in the Carmel of Antwerp on 3 June 1773. As for the mention of the petticoat and jacket: the nuns traveled in civilian attire.
The Carmelite Adventure: Clare Joseph Dickinson's Journal of a Trip to America and Other Documents Edited by Constance FitzGerald, O.C.D. © 1990 Constance FitzGerald and the Carmelite Sisters of Baltimore
Una mirada llena de Esperanza — carmelitasdescalzasdeleon
Hoy celebramos la Ascensión del Señor…Es una invitación para nuestros ojos y nuestros corazones a mirar al cielo, a colmar la invitación de “buscar los bienes de arriba y no los de la tierra”(Col 3,1), a caminar cada día en la esperanza, porque, Jesucristo ha sido exaltado por…
via Una mirada llena de Esperanza — carmelitasdescalzasdeleon
Por Hna. Mª Candelaria de Cristo Resucitado
Pentecost Novena: Edith Stein — Day 3
Are you not the sweet manna
That from the Son’s heart
Overflows into my heart,
The food of angels and the blessed?
He who raised himself from death to life,
He has also awakened me to new life
From the sleep of death.
And he gives me new life from day to day,
And at some time his fullness is to stream through me,
Life of your life indeed, you yourself:
Holy Spirit eternal life!
Saint Edith Stein
And I Remain With You:
From a Pentecost Novena
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 4 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Quote of the day: 2 June
God is eternal silence
God dwells in silence
Père Jacques of Jesus, O.C.D.
Silence
Retreat for the Carmel of Pontoise, Conference Eight
Thursday evening, 9 September 1943
The Servant of God Jacques de Jésus, O.C.D., who was a professed friar of the Province of Paris-Avon, an ordained priest, and the headmaster of the Discalced Carmelite friars’ boys’ preparatory school at Avon, the Petit Collège Sainte-Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus, died on this date, 2 June 1945 in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Linz, Austria following 70 weeks in Nazi prison camps. Père Jacques was weakened by a year of hard labor and harsh conditions at Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps in Austria; when the Allied Forces liberated the camps on 5 May 1945, he summoned the strength to help restore order and organize relief efforts. But 15 days later the Allied camp commanders transferred him to St. Elizabeth Hospital so that he could be close to the community of the Discalced Carmelite friars at Linz. It was there that he succumbed to illness and exhaustion at 45 years of age.
The diocesan process of his cause for beatification was opened in 1990. You can find the prayer for his beatification here and the website for his cause here.
The World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem has a featured story dedicated to Père Jacques. It includes a description of his heroic acts to shelter Jewish students at the preparatory school, for which he was arrested. It also quotes the testimony of witnesses to his arrest and imprisonment and provides links to read full accounts of witnesses’ testimonies. On 17 January 1985 Yad Vashem recognized Père Jacques as Righteous Among the Nations. You can read the Yad Vashem featured story, find the links, and see the Yad Vashem photos here.
Listen to the Silence – A Retreat with Père Jacques, is available for purchase from the publisher, ICS Publications.
Listen to the Silence - A Retreat with Père Jacques Translated and edited by Francis J. Murphy ICS Publications © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Quote of the day: 1 June
I ardently desire to live in God’s will, I know that this is this way saints are made, and I want to become a saint to give glory to God.
Blessed Maria Giuseppina of Jesus Crucified (Giuseppina Catanea)
From her diary
Maria Giuseppina of Jesus Crucified, a professed nun of the Discalced Carmelite monastery of Saints Teresa and Joseph at Ponti Rossi in Naples, Italy, was beatified 1 June 2008 in the Cathedral of Naples, Italy. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe presided at the Eucharist and Rite of Beatification, to whom Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Causes of the Saints, sent a message as the representative of Pope Benedict XVI.
Pentecost Novena: Edith Stein — Day 2
You are the space
That embraces my being and buries it in yourself.
Away from you it sinks into the abyss
Of nothingness, from which you raised it to the light.
You, nearer to me than I to myself
And more interior than my most interior
And still impalpable and intangible
And beyond any name:
Holy Spirit eternal love!
Saint Edith Stein
And I Remain With You:
From a Pentecost Novena
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 4 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Pentecost Novena: St. Edith Stein — Day 1
Who are you, sweet light, that fills me
And illumines the darkness of my heart?
You lead me like a mother’s hand,
And should you let go of me,
I would not know how to take another step.
Saint Edith Stein
And I Remain With You:
From a Pentecost Novena
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Vol. 4 ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Marie du jour: 31 May
Why I Love You, O Mary!
You make me feel that it’s not impossible
To follow in your footsteps, O Queen of the elect.
You made visible the narrow road to Heaven
While always practicing the humblest virtues.
Near you, Mary, I like to stay little.
I see the vanity of greatness here below.
At the home of Saint Elizabeth, receiving your visit,
I learn how to practice ardent charity.
~ ~ ~
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Why I Love You, O Mary (PN54, Stanza 6)
Saint Thérèse’s first draft of the poem is featured in the image above. Stanza 6 is the second stanza on the right side of the page. Lines 5-6 and 7-8 of the stanza appear in brackets.
Robert Anning Bell (British, 1863–1933)
Tempera on linen, 1910
Manchester Art Gallery
This is a biblical scene of Saint Elizabeth receiving the visit of the Virgin Mary. Elizabeth is dressed in gray and red robes and is kneeling and clutching at the waist of Mary, who is dressed in blue and white robes. Mary is bending over to take Elizabeth’s face in her hands. It is set in a flat landscape with a low horizon. The two women are framed by the wall of a building immediately behind them to their right, and some shrubbery further away in the center and left.
View the complete image of St. Thérèse’s first draft of the poem, an image of her second draft, details of her corrections, and images of the finished poem and its full text in English or French at the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.
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