Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
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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"O feast and frolic of awakening spring!" writes the Carmelite poet, Jessica Powers. "It would beguile the world to be a garden with seeds of one refrain: 'My little children, love one another;' so my heart would sing."
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St. Teresa of Avila praises the Cross in one of her less famous but no less powerful poems: “Captive is he that loves you not, / No freedom does he know [...] You are the freedom / from our dread captivity.”
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"I am the light of the world," says the Lord. Jessica Powers writes, "I know love, not a vise. I see aright, set free in morning on this ledge of light." Join the poet as she sings of God, who is like "a thousand acres."
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"Christ is my utmost need," writes poet Jessica Powers. "I cling with all my strength unto a nail-investigated hand." This poem is a testament to the poetic genius of Powers, known in religion as Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD.
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On this day in 1577 St. Teresa writes to her brother, Lorenzo and thanks him for his kindness by sending Christmas carols that she composed for her nuns. She adds, “see if I'm not making good progress!” We include the Spanish text and English translation of one of those carols.
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With our thanks to all of our readers, friends, and followers, we wish you a beautiful and blessed Christmas!
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St. John of the Cross, using only four lines of poetry, fashions the Christmas story to become an appeal to welcome Mary, "the Virgin weighed down with the Word of God."
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Carmelite poet Jessica Powers writes, "O Wisdom, Adonai, Root of Jesse / and sign by which the mouths of kings are dumb, / O Key, O Orient, King and Cornerstone, / O our Emmanuel, come..."
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Well known Carmelite poet Jessica Powers explains how the image of Our Lady as a “ little light cloud rising / From Orient waters cleft by prophecy” inspires this prayer: “Cloud, encompass God and me.”
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The eloquent poetry of St John of the Cross sets the stage for our Advent reflection as we read his Romance II, “In that boundless love, proceeding from the Father and the Son, words to Him the Father utter'd comprehensible by none.”
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St. John of the Cross’s eleventh poem closes with a classic quote: “love works so in me that whether things go well or badly love turns them to one sweetness transforming the soul in itself.”
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“The soul is a terrible thing; it cannot die,” writes Carmelite poet Jessica Powers. Her masterful meditation on the soul’s “two destinies” is worth pondering as we commemorate All Carmelite Souls.
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“My dreams of you are like the fallen leaves,” writes poet Jessica Powers in 1924; some 16 years later, she would enter the Carmelites of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, becoming Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D.
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When Saint Teresa wrote a poem about the Song of Songs, she said, “my Beloved One is mine and I at last am surely His.” All our self-denial and humble sacrifice prepare us for union with God.
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!”
In her 1939 poem "The Valley of the Cat-tails" Jessica Powers writes: “My valley is a woman unconsoled. Her bluffs are amethyst, the tinge of grief; her tamarack swamps are sad. There is no dark tale that she was not told; there is no sorrow that she has not had.”
Many of Jessica Powers poems have been published in various anthologies and journals. But one poem was commissioned by the Carmel of Terre Haute to accompany a special image of St. Joseph that they desired to publish as a prayer card. We hope that you enjoy her captivating verse.
In her poem, "I Will Remain With You", St. Edith Stein writes, "You reign on the Almighty’s throne also in transfigured human form, ever since the completion of your work on earth."
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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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