Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
St Teresa encourages her nuns to praise God because they "truly belong to our Lady." Teresa urges the nuns to imitate the Virgin, trusting in the merits of Christ and "of the Virgin, His Mother."
Reading time: 1 minutes, 228 words
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During her years in the Carmel of Cologne, St. Edith Stein composed an additional strophe for the famous sequence hymn, "Flos Carmeli." Fr. John Sullivan, OCD describes the hymn and Edith's addition, which is still sung today by the Carmelite nuns in Cologne.
Reading time: 2 minutes, 381 words
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The year 1587 was decisive in the spiritual life of St Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi. On 17 September the Blessed Virgin appeared to the Saint and assured her that she had never offended God.
Reading time: 2 minutes, 414 words
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When the Discalced Carmelite friar Hyacinthe Loyson broke away from the Order in 1869, his friend Hermann Cohen wasted no time in writing to Loyson. The Servant of God pleaded for Loyson to return.
Reading time: 2 minutes, 334 words
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St. Raphael Kalinowski notes that as our culture rushes headlong to embrace technology, we can find a sure support in the midst of confusion: "devotion to the Most Holy Virgin" as we seek "the one thing necessary for salvation."
Reading time: 1 minute, 173 words
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St. Edith Stein says Mary is the example for “all women who want to be mothers” in a supernatural sense, helping those “who strive to unveil Christ in the heart of another. Woman's mission is to imitate Mary.”
Reading time: 2 minutes, 317 words
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Père Jacques, preaching to the nuns at the Carmel of Pontoise, exalts the virginity of the Mother of God: “This characteristic is one of the crown jewels of Mary’s divine motherhood.”
Reading time: 1 minute, 183 words
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St. Elizabeth of the Trinity is fascinated by the Virgin’s solitary contemplation: “In what silence, what recollection, what adoration she must have been wrapped in the depth of her soul.”
Reading time: 1 minute, 82 words
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St. John Paul II offered this prayer on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God in 1979: “Spare all mothers on this earth the death of their sons... keep for them the joy of birth... implore with us peace and justice in the world!"
Reading time: 2 minutes, 456 words
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In St. Edith Stein’s biography of St. Teresa, Edith recounts the death of Teresa’s mother, which inspired her love of the Virgin: “The young person certainly surmised that she needed special protection.”
Reading time: 1 minute, 182 words
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St. John of the Cross describes the birth of Christ and the amazement of his “gracious Mother” who “gazed in sheer wonder” to see “in God, man's weeping, and in man, gladness.”
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St. Raphael Kalinowski received the Discalced Carmelite habit on 26 November 1877 and made his religious vows on the same date in 1878. Here is an excerpt from his conference for the Discalced Carmelite friars in Wadowice: “Mother of God, Hope of the World.”
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Thanks for joining our novena! We close with St. Thérèse’s most famous poem, “Why I Love You, O Mary.” In the final stanzas she writes, “You who came to smile at me in the morning of my life, come smile at me again, Mother, it's evening now!”
We thank you for joining us in this year's Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As we conclude, St. Titus Brandsma leads us as we contemplate the Gospel for this Solemnity, the Virgin standing beneath the Cross of Jesus.
St. Titus Brandsma once again turns to St. John of the Cross and the Living Flame of Live to help explain the profound mystery of Mary's motherhood of God: "casting a shadow is similar to protecting, favoring, and granting graces."
"Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5), were the instructions from the Mother of the Lord to the servants at the wedding banquet. Bishop Silvio José Báez reminds us that if we put his gospel into practice, our lives will be transformed in unexpected ways...
St. Edith Stein sings a hymn of praise to the Blessed Virgin in her 1932 lectures to the Organization of Catholic Women in Zurich: "As Mother of God and mother of all God's children, she is exalted above all creatures on the throne of glory; maternity itself is glorified through her...."
Saint Edith Stein writes, "The legend of the Order tells us that the Mother of God would have liked to remain with the hermit brothers on Mount Carmel. We can certainly understand that she felt drawn to the place where she had been venerated through the ages..."
In December 1915 St. Teresa of the Andes took a pivotal step toward her Carmelite vocation when she received permission to profess a private vow of chastity.
St. John of the Cross exclaims: "the Mother of God and all things are mine, and God himself in mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me."
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Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices. ~ St. Teresa of Avila
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