Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
On 15 March 1899 after a conference at her parish's Lenten mission, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote, “I met a confessor like I have never found before, and I thank God. The priest found all the signs of a true vocation in me.”
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Venerable María Antonia Pereira, foundress of the Carmel of Santiago de Compostela, died on 10 March 1760. Here we read her moving account of the Lord saying to her, “follow me.”
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On Thursday, 16 February 1882, Pauline Martin received her Carmelite vocation in a light-filled instant of grace at holy Mass. "I had never thought of the Carmel, and in one moment I found myself being impelled there with an irresistible attraction."
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On 15 February 1934 St. Edith Stein knelt before the nuns of the Carmel of Cologne-Lindenthal and formally requested to be clothed in the holy habit of Carmel. We trace a few details from her letters and the biography written by her novice mistress.
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St. Thérèse believed that she had an apostolic vocation, "to travel over the whole earth" to preach Jesus' name. On 14 February 1992, St. John Paul II referred to her special calling in his ad limina speech to French bishops.
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St Edith Stein's time of postulancy was moving quickly. In January 1934 she wrote: "As I stand in our peaceful choir I cannot thank God enough for having lifted me out of the whirlwind and set me in this profound peace, that I have done nothing to deserve."
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St. Teresa of the Andes had an emergency appendectomy on 28 December 1914. Here, she tells us about her mixed emotions and her preparation for death during the risky procedure.
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On the feast of St. Stephen, St. Edith Stein pauses to write to a former student; she explains the vocation “to suffer with Christ and thereby to cooperate with him in his work of salvation.”
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As Thomas Merton discerned his vocation in 1941, he wrote in his journal on 4 November, “Saint Therese of Lisieux, pray for me that I may refuse my God nothing…”
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In a letter to his parents written on this day in 1876 before entering the novitiate, St. Raphael Kalinowski says: “a year ago there came to me, like an echo, a voice from the grilles of Carmel.”
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St. Teresa of the Andes had an emergency appendectomy on 28 December 1914. Here we read the entry from her diary that describes her mother's December novena to St. Thérèse of Lisieux "because I'm very devoted to her."
Père Jacques de Jésus began his preached retreat for the Discalced Carmelite nuns at the Carmel of Pontoise on this date in 1943. He reminded the nuns, “Prayer is the reason why God has placed us on earth.”
In a tender letter to her mother, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity reassures her mother once again that her heroic sacrifice will be recorded "in the great book of life." But she also intimates that her health is failing: the prioress insists that Elizabeth should "spend time out in the fresh air."
Keenly aware of Europe's urgent situation, in 1939 God prompted St. Edith Stein to offer herself to "the Heart of Jesus as a sacrifice of propitiation for true peace." We examine her request in the light of Carmelite spirituality and the examples of Discalced Carmelite martyrs who made similar offerings in centuries past.
Commenting on the vocation of Madre Beatriz de la Madre de Dios "While reading a book on the life of St. Anne, the child became very devoted to the saints of Carmel"
St. Teresa of Avila counsels her daughters not to worry whether they are doing household chores or practicing mental prayer: "True humility consists very much in great readiness to be content with whatever the Lord may want to do with them and in always finding oneself unworthy to be called His servant."
"Mary, whom we invoke today under the title of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel... had the mission of engendering in time the eternal Son of God. In her, the maternal vocation reached the peak of its dignity and potential."
St. Teresa of the Andes meditates on the Carmelite call to a life of perfection: "Perfection of life consists in drawing close to God... What is the life of a Carmelite if not one of contemplating, adoring, and loving God incessantly?"
Discalced Carmelite historian Peter-Thomas Rohrbach shows us how our First Reading for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) fits within the Carmelite legend of Elijah and Elisha and the Carmelite tradition, which indicates that we have inherited their double spirit.
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.
!["I took for my advocate and lord the glorious St. Joseph and earnestly recommended myself to him. [...] I don’t recall up to this day ever having petitioned him for anything that he failed to grant."](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/336879821_1374507696727108_3000064146961560788_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8ae9d6&_nc_ohc=GeKBPoaKfMcAX-_BeK9&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfDLjX7DLHr3d9_tPc16M1Uqcwf4Fp44NiwS08lzR8G3GQ&oe=641F987B)
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Antonio Mas Arrondo
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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