Gaze at Him tirelessly, gaze at Him in your little heaven and ask Him, when you are gazing there, to give you the virtues that will make you beautiful in His divine eyes.
St Teresa of the Andes
The Writings of St Teresa of Jesus of the Andes
to Carmel’s mountain height;
our Virgin Mother calls us there
to gather flowers of light.
The Marie du jour – May 27
And in Her Morning
The Virgin Mary cannot enter into
my soul for an indwelling. God alone
has sealed this land as secretly His own;
but being mother and implored, she comes
to stand along my eastern sky and be
a drift of sunrise over God and me.
God is a light and genitor of light.
Yet for our weakness and our punishment
He hides Himself in midnights that prevent
all save the least awarenesses of Him.
We strain with dimmed eyes inward and perceive
no stir of what we clamored to believe.
Yet I say: God (if one may jest with God),
Your hiding has not reckoned with Our Lady
who holds my east horizon and whose glow
lights up my inner landscape, high and low.
All my soul’s acres shine and shine with her!
You are discovered, God; awake, rise
out of the dark of Your Divine surprise!
Your own reflection has revealed Your place,
for she is utter light by Your own grace.
And in her light I find You hid within me,
and in her morning I can see Your Face.
Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD
Lindsay Grandison MacArthur (British, c.1866–1945)
Oil on canvas
City of Edinburgh Council
And in her light I find You hid within me,
and in her morning I can see Your Face
The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers (p. 64) ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
The Marie du jour – May 26
In the solitude of our little cell, which I call my “little paradise” because it is entirely filled with Him for whom all live in Heaven, I will look very often at this precious picture and will unite myself to the soul of the Virgin at the time when the Father was overshadowing her, while the Word was becoming incarnate within her, and the Holy Spirit was coming upon her to bring about the great mystery. It is the whole Trinity in action, surrendering themselves, giving themselves; and the life of the Carmelite must be lived within this divine embrace.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833–1898)
Oil on canvas, 1879
Lady Lever Art Gallery
It is the whole Trinity in action, surrendering themselves, giving themselves
Letter 232 to Abbé Chevignard (excerpt), around 25 June 1905 The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel (p. 226) ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
The Marie du jour – May 20
The Incarnation is likewise a work of love. The Holy Spirit knew the Virgin Mary in advance, for he taught her the rich lessons of prayer. Consider Mary’s long hours immersed in prayer concerning her community and the drama of divine love for all humanity; concerning the fall of the human race and the mighty power of God. In those silent hours of prayer, the Holy Spirit inflamed Mary’s heart and swept her up into the bosom of the triune God. There, Mary was immersed in the ocean of God’s being. Mary’s hours of prayer! Therein, God’s presence attains a new and unprecedented level. God is going to ask Mary to allow her body to bring about his Incarnation. He is going to embody himself in a mysterious way in the offspring to be born of her pure blood, divinely preserved from every stain of sin. The Holy Spirit is the author of this wondrous work of love. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” [Luke 1:35].
Père Jacques of Jesus, OCD
Léonard Gaultier (French, 1561 – 1641) Jean Leclerc (French, c. 1587 – 1633)
Engraving on laid paper, 1603
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Mary was immersed in the ocean of God’s being
Listen to the Silence - A Retreat with Père Jacques (p. 89) Translated and edited by Francis J. Murphy ICS Publications © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Soul of silence
A praise of glory is a soul of silence that remains like a lyre under the mysterious touch of the Holy Spirit so that He may draw from it divine harmonies; it knows that suffering is a string that produces still more beautiful sounds; so it loves to see this string on its instrument that it may more delightfully move the Heart of its God.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
William Bouguereau ((French, 1825 – 1905)
Oil on canvas, 1873
Private collection
Heaven in Faith, Day 10, Second Prayer (excerpt)
Elizabeth of the Trinity Complete Works, Volume I: I Have Found God
General Introduction and Major Spiritual Writings (p. 112)
Edition produced, presented, and annotated by Conrad De Meester, O.C.D.
Translated by Sr. Aletheia Kane, O.C.D.
ICS Publications Copyright © by Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc. 1984, 2014
The Marie du jour – May 6
Divine virginity has a characteristic aversion to sin as the contrary of divine holiness. However, this aversion to sin gives rise to an indomitable love for sinners. Christ has come to tear sinners away from sin and to restore the divine image in defiled souls. He comes as the child of sin—his genealogy and the entire history of the Old Covenant show this—and he seeks the company of sinners so as to take all the sins of the world upon himself and carry them away to the infamous wood of the cross, which thereby precisely becomes the sign of his victory. This is precisely why virginal souls do not repulse sinners. The strength of their supernatural purity knows no fear of being sullied. The love of Christ impels them to descend into the darkest night. And no earthly maternal joy resembles the bliss of a soul permitted to enkindle the light of grace in the night of sins. The way to this is the cross. Beneath the cross the Virgin of virgins becomes the Mother of Grace.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Beneath the cross the Virgin of virgins becomes the Mother of Grace.
Joos van Cleve (Netherlandish, ca. 1485–1540/41) and a collaborator
Oil on wood, ca. 1520
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Text The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 4, (pp. 113-114) ICS Publications, Washington DC © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
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