Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
"The soul must practice the following instructions if it wishes to attain in a short time holy recollection and spiritual silence, nakedness, and poverty of spirit, where one enjoys the peaceful comfort of the Holy Spirit," writes St John of the Cross in the introduction to The Precautions.
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity writes to a seminarian in the last days before his ordination: "With the Virgin, you can sing your “Magnificat” and leap with joy in God your Savior, for the Almighty is doing great things in you, and His mercy is eternal... Then, like Mary, “keep all that in your heart.”
"The Apostle would have us keep silence, for in silence he tells us to work. As the Prophet also makes known to us: Silence is the way to foster holiness. Elsewhere he says: Your strength will lie in silence and hope."
Especially during Lent try to have periods of solitude, silence, and recollection alone with Jesus in the desert. Minister to him with the angels, work for him after the example of St. Joseph in the home of Nazareth and live in the world as if not living there...
Oh, how sweet your presence will be to me, you who are the supreme good!... I will not rest until I rejoice in your arms.
We need hours for listening silently and allowing the Word of God to act on us until it moves us to bear fruit in an offering of praise and an offering of action.
To live with the Spirit of God is to be a listener. It is to keep the vigil of mystery, earthless and still. One leans to catch the stirring of the Spirit, strange as the wind's will.
I wish I were a painter so I could make you a sketch of the scene that surrounds me [...] the moonlight is flooding our cell through the frosted window panes, it's ravishing [...] All is calm and silent, and that makes me think of the night when the little Jesus was given to us.
The holy time of Advent is here; it seems to me that it is very especially the season of interior souls; in the silence of prayer, let us listen to Him.
I want to send you a little note from my soul for I am anxious for you to know that in the Father’s House I will pray especially for you.
Silence should penetrate deep within us and occupy every area of our inner home.
Have you ever wondered what Christ's prayer was like? Upon explanation, we realize that his prayer consisted essentially in the penetration of his very being by God.
The soul that still keeps something for self in its “inner kingdom”, whose powers are not “enclosed” in God, cannot be a perfect praise of glory
When God seems absent, it's because he's present beyond our comprehension...
A praise of glory is a soul of silence that remains like a lyre under the mysterious touch of the Holy Spirit
It is great wisdom to know how to be silent / Grande sabiduría es saber callar
I have also reflected on how the Blessed Virgin Mary was a perfect Carmelite
Contemplate the Incarnation; it was accomplished in the silence of the Virgin Mary’s chamber
...where souls stand before the face of God in solitude and silence in order to be quickening love in the heart of the church.
Christ experiences ecstatic moments on Mount Tabor, but even during those moments in the company of Moses and Elijah, he conversed about his Passion for the redemption of sinners
Carmelite Quotes 
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