October 15 2025 - St. Teresa of Avila - The pathway of prayer (school mass)

 Two weeks ago we celebrated the feast of the Carmelite nun, St. Therese of Lisieux. Recall how little Therese felt called by God to dedicate herself to a life of prayer and solitude—in the Carmelite monastery. Her day possessed a beautiful rhythm of prayer, meditation, quiet chores, meals, attendance at mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The order of her day, the rhythm of her day, the spirituality of her life can be traced back to the saint we celebrate on the calendar today, another Teresa, St. Teresa of Avila, Avila being here birthplace in Spain who lived about 350 years before.

Teresa of Avila had a profound impact on the Carmelite way of life, which continues to this day. But she didn’t just have an impact on the Carmelites. St. Teresa of Avila is so influential to how Catholics understand prayer, that she is known as a doctor of the Church.

You see, Catholics don’t just pray. We don’t just learn our prayers—memorizing prayers like the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the act of contrition. Catholics love prayer so much that we study it. We write books about it so that we can do it better. We study the great mystics to understand how they prayed, so we can pray better and draw nearer to God—so that we can hear God better, and speak to God better, and experience God better.

And one of the most influential teacher of prayer, is today’s saint. If you want to become a master prayer—study St. Teresa of Avila. 

As a young nun, St. Teresa of Avila was rather lukewarm about prayer—meaning, she was neither hot, nor cold about prayer, she did it, but it wasn’t really that important to her. And, she had difficulties praying for any real period of time—especially when she had other things to do. 

But St. Teresa learned to quiet her mind, and quiet her heart, she began to connect with God on a profound level. In fact, she would become so absorbed in divine contemplation, her body would begin to levitate—she would float. And at times, she would become so filled with love for God in her prayer—that she felt that she would become swept away in the ocean of God’s love.

You see, St. Teresa didn’t just pray for things, like many of us. And that’s not a bad thing, we need to pray for the health of our families, and peace in our world. We need to pray for our loved ones who have died, and to grow in virtue and wisdom and the strength to carry our crosses. God hears and answers all those prayers in his own way.

But St. Teresa teaches us that God wants us to seek him in prayer. Quiet prayer, patient prayer, in which we come to understand and experience, that when we possess that profound relationship with God, you possess everything you need. For the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

October 1 2025 (school mass) - St. Therese of Lisieux - The Little Way and the Mission of the Church

 The month of October begins with the feast day of a beloved saint of the Church, St. Therese.

Therese was born and raised in a profoundly religious home—where the Catholic faith was devoutly practiced and cherished. Therese’s parents, Louis and Zellie have also been declared saints due to the evidence of their profound holiness. All four of Therese’s older sisters became nuns. And from a young age, Therese also had a burning desire become a nun as well—to dedicate her life to prayer in the Carmelite Convent. 

And so at the age of fourteen, Therese traveled with her father to Rome to meet the Pope, to personally ask his permission for Therese to enter the Carmelite convent in the city of Lisieux. And it was granted.

The Carmelite convent that Therese entered had a very strict rule of life. The nuns lived a hidden life of prayer, silence, and sacrifice. the sisters ate simple meals, they wore a plain habit, like St. Clare is wearing in her statue. The nuns did not interact with people from the outside world, not even with members of their family, and they were not allowed to leave the convent grounds. Even their conversations were limited, because silence helped them to listen more closely to God’s voice.

Their days were carefully ordered, beginning very early in the morning with prayer, Mass, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. They prayed the Liturgy of the Hours together several times each day, lifting up the needs of the whole Church. When they weren’t in the chapel, they worked quietly at simple tasks like cooking, sewing, cleaning, and gardening.

But St. Thérèse didn’t see this way of life as gloomy or depressing. Therese and her sisters chose a simple, quiet life, in order to focus their minds and hearts on Jesus, and to do a very important work for the Church—praying. While we are engaged in working for Jesus and spreading the Gospel out in the world, Therese and Carmelites like her pray for us—that we can be faithful and have the strength and wisdom we need for our duties.

Therese prayed for the success of the mission of the Church—to go to all nations and make disciples of Jesus. That’s the mission of the Church. That’s why I’m here. That’s why Corpus Christi Academy exists. That why St. Clare parish exists. That’s why the diocese of Cleveland exists. We have a mission. To help people know, love, and follow Jesus Christ to the best of their ability.

This is why St. Therese took up this very strict way of life. Because she believed in the mission of the Church, and wanted to do everything she could to support it—which included praying many hours a day, fasting, doing penance, and doing small sacrificial things with great love. 

And this is another reason why St. Therese is so beloved by Catholics. She reminds us that often, the most powerful thing we can do for the mission of the Church—is to do small things with great love. Our conversations, teaching in the class room, learning in the class room, how you behave, how you treat people in the lunch room, on the playground, on the sports field, at work, the stranger, the person who annoys you, in everything we do, we are to pour into it, the love of God. May St. Therese help us to do all things with great love for the mission of the Church for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

July 16 2024 - Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - Reaching the mountain which is Christ

 

Throughout the scriptures, we read of a number of the mountains of the holy land. We read of Mount Sinai, also known as Mount Horeb—where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and formed a covenant with the Israelites. Jesus taught on the beatitudes on a mountain, and he sweat blood on a mountain—the mount of Olives. Mount Olivet was also the place where the Lord ascended into heaven. King David wept on the mount of olives after having to flee Jerusalem, which itself is situated upon a mountain—mount zion. On Mount Tabor, the Lord became transfigured before his disciples, showing his divine glory. And on Mount Moriah, Abraham proved his faith. 

Today, we honor Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Carmel is in Northern Israel on the coast. It is where Elijah famously challenged the prophets of Baal and proved that the Lord is the one true God.

In the late 12th century, a group of Christian hermits took up residence on Mt Carmel to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation. They dedicated their chapel to Our Lady. Hence, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. 

The Carmelite order has certainly left a lasting impression on the Church. The Carmelite scapular is worn as a special devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel—seeking her protection special favor especially in being preserved from the eternal fire.

That outward devotion to Our Lady is of course meant to be matched and surpassed by interior devotion—the cultivation of the interior life: a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted oblation to God, continual contact, and intimate union with him. And Mary of course is the model of the interior life: the life wholly dedicated to the quest for God, wholly orientated towards intimacy with God.

The opening prayer today asked God that Our Lady might come to our aid so that we may reach the mountain which is Christ. Mt. Carmel, and all of those mountains in scripture, are symbols for the mountain that each one of us must climb, they are a symbol of Christ—who himself climbed the mountain of Calvary and now sits at the right hand of the father on the mountain top of heaven.

Christ is a steep mountain. But on this mountain journey, God teaches us by his commandments, he comforts us in our sorrows, he tests us to prove our faith, and he gifts us with moments of profound intimacy and transfiguration.

May our Lady of Mt. Carmel assist us by her example and heavenly intercession, that we may have the strength and grace we need to become worthy of the promises of Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For all Christians, that we may be inspired by the Carmelite tradition to cultivate a rich interior life and seek intimate union with God, and for our world, that it may be transformed by the power of prayer and devotion to Our Lady, leading to peace and justice for all. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those struggling on their spiritual journey, that Our Lady may come to their aid as they strive to reach the mountain which is Christ, and for all people, that they may recognize God's presence in the "mountains" of their lives - in moments of revelation, testing, and transformation. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the Carmelite order and all religious communities, that their dedication to prayer and contemplation may continue to enrich the Church, and for all who wear the Carmelite scapular, that their outward devotion may be matched by an interior commitment to following Christ. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the impoverished, the lonely, those suffering from mental illness, those most in need, and those near death. And that the souls in purgatory may know the relief and assistance of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and for X, for whom this mass is offered. let us pray to the Lord. 

Loving Father, hear our prayers, through the intercession of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, grant us what we need, that we may reach the summit of holiness and dwell with You forever in the heavenly Jerusalem. Through Christ our Lord.

August 9 2023 - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Turn toward the Eternal

Today we celebrate Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  She was born—Edith Stein— the 11th child of a large family of orthodox jews in Germany in 1891.  Her life came to an end 50 years later in a gas chamber at Auschwitz.  By then she was a Carmelite nun who had converted to Catholicism.  Though the Jews were the principal victims of the Nazi’s in World War II, millions of Catholics, including bishops, priests, and nuns were murdered in the concentration camps.  

While attending university, young the young jewish girl, Edith Stein began to develop a strong interest in Catholic belief and thinkers. After reading the autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila, she asked to be baptized.

10 years later she imitated Theresa of Avila by entering the Carmelite convent and took the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  It was 1933, Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of Germany.

For 9 years, Sister Teresa cultivated holiness through the beautiful Carmelite way of life. She wrote, “In order to be an image of God, the spirit must turn to what is eternal, hold it in spirit, keep it in memory, and by loving it, embrace it in the will.”

As a young philosophy student her "turn to the eternal" led her deeply into the heart of God. So many of our young people and our contemporaries could learn from her. Instead of living for earthly things that will pass away, we must like her turn toward the eternal, love it, and embrace it. 

Her turn toward the eternal led her to the Carmelite Order. But for each of us who turn toward the eternal, and pursue it with seriousness, we will find the fulfillment God wants for us, and the fulfillment of our purpose.

But that means learning to saying no to the temporal, to detach from the earthly, to fast from the nonessentials in order to pursue what is most essential. “In order to be an image of God, the spirit must turn to what is eternal, hold it in spirit, keep it in memory, and by loving it, embrace it in the will.”

In 1942, the Nazi’s arrested Sister Teresa.  She and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, were transported to Auschwitz in Poland by boxcar.  One week later, Sister Teresa died in a gas chamber.

Those who seek happiness in life only by pursuing their own interests will never be fulfilled. Only by seeking God, the Eternal One, giving one’s self to God will we experience the lasting fulfillment God wants for us, only by embracing the cross will we find salvation, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For all those who wander in atheism, agnosticism, those who are cynical towards Catholicism, for moral relativists, and those who reject the Faith and all lapsed Catholics: may the Holy Spirit will help them discover the Truth of Christ. 

That the Holy Father, the Bishops and all Clergy and Religious will be shining examples of fidelity to the Truth.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

December 14 2021 - St. John of the Cross - "O night more loving than the rising sun"

 In the course of the Christian life, there are times when the brightness of God’s closeness sustains us and strengthens us—when it is easy to pray and a delight to pray—when God’s will is relatively easy to discern and follow, when God’s presence is unobscured by our anxieties. But there are also times in the spiritual life—in the Christian life—of inevitable dryness, where the God seems far away, distant, even absent.  

Today’s Saint St. John of the Cross understood darkness. After joining the Carmelites, it became clear that many of his brother monks were not all that interested in prayer, penance, and spiritual growth. They became so annoyed with John that they imprisoned him in a tiny cell.

John took advantage of the darkness and the quiet and the solitude of imprisonment to seek Christ, and composed some of the most beautiful mystical poetry in history. 

And though I suffer darknesses
in this mortal life,
that is not so hard a thing;
for even if I have no light
I have the life of heaven.
For the blinder love is
the more it gives such life,
holding the soul surrendered,
living without light in darkness.

For when once the will
is touched by God himself,
it cannot find contentment
except in the Divinity;
but since his Beauty is open
to faith alone, the will
tastes him…which is so gladly found.

What a wonderful saint to honor and imitate during Advent. For during Advent when practice a sort of spiritual solidarity with Ancient Israel, waiting and longing for Christ in the darkness. For centuries, many thought that God had abandoned his people. The faithful remnant, kept the hope allowed, continued to pray and meditate on the Scriptures and the promises of the Messiah.

St. John of the Cross helps us to look for God in our own experience of darkness and isolation. When God seems distant, when hardships grow great, when the brokenness of the world seems beyond repair, when so many seem to be falling away from the Church, instead of losing hope, we must recommit to seeking God in the darkness. God in fact allows us to undergo spiritual darkness, spiritual trial, that our faith, hope, and love may be grow. 

For spiritual night can lead to an ever deeper experience of God; as John of the Cross wrote, “O night, that was more loving than the rising sun, o night, which joined the lover, to the beloved one” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That through self-denial and embrace of the cross the Christian people may experience ever-deeper union with Christ this Advent.

For the members of the Carmelite Order, that their life of prayer and penance will be for the Church a source of renewal and strength.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel. And in a special way we pray for all victims of natural disaster and adverse weather, especially the victims of the recent tornados in our country.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

July 16 2021 - Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - Contemplating the Eternal Word

 For a number of months I’ve been reading the beautiful book of daily meditations by the Carmelite priest Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, entitled “Divine Intimacy”. Father Gabriel, being a Carmelite has something to say concerning today’s feast.

He writes, “Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a special call to the interior life, which is preeminently a Marian life. Our Lady wants us to resemble her not only in our outward appearance but, far more, in heart and spirit. If we gaze into Mary’s soul, we shall see that grace in her has flowered into a spiritual life of incalculable wealth: a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted oblation to God, continual contact, and intimate union with him. Mary’s soul is a sanctuary reserved for God alone, where no human creature has ever left its trace, where love and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of humankind reign supreme. […] Those who want to live their devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel to the full must follow Mary into the depths of her interior life. Carmel is the symbol of the contemplative life, the life wholly dedicated to the quest for God, wholly orientated towards intimacy with God; and the one who has best realized this highest of ideals is Our Lady herself, ‘Queen and Beauty of Carmel’.” 

The first Carmelite monks looked to our Lady as a model of contemplative prayer. For, Scripture tells us that Mary through contemplation and prayerful listening to God, kept and pondered in her heart the words of God. 

In many paintings of the Annunciation, Mary is depicted with the scriptures open on her lap, to show that she had made her mind, her body, her heart a sanctuary for the Eternal Word to dwell even prior to Him becoming incarnate in her womb. St. Augustine put it this way, he said, "Mary, full of grace, first conceived Jesus in her heart before she conceived him in her womb."

So too every Christian is to follow Our Lady’s example, in making our hearts a sanctuary for God. There needs to be time, every day, where we can be found, like her, with the scriptures upon our lap, pondering the promises of God and the mysteries of God, a point every day where we become quiet enough to hear the tiny whisper of God’s voice in the silence of our hearts for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That all Christians may grow in prayerfulness and fidelity to the Divine Will through the intercession and example of Our Lady.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, and for blessings upon the Carmelite Order as it works and prays for the good of the Church.

That our young people on summer vacation may be protected from all physical and spiritual harm, shielded from the errors and perversions of the world, and kept in closeness to God through prayer and virtue.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, for all those recovering from or undergoing surgery today, and for the consolation of the dying.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

October 15 2019 - St. Teresa in Ecstasy

One of my favorite works of art is located in the corner chapel of the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. I remember walking miles through the rain the first time I visited Rome to see this sculpture of St. Teresa in Ecstasy in carved white marble by the famous Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The sculpture depicts Theresa, garbed in her flowing Carmelite habit, reclined on a cloud. Over her, a joy-filled angel holds a golden arrow ready to pierce her heart with Divine Love.

Bernini drew his inspiration for this sculpture from the amazing life of this saint.

For many years, Teresa had difficulty sitting through her prayers. It was after meditating deeply upon an image of the Passion of Jesus scourged, bound, and crowned with thorns standing before a hostile crowd that she resolved to dedicate herself seriously to the practice of prayer.

As she grew in prayer, her love for the Lord deepened. She would become absorbed in deep contemplation and would become so filled with divine love that her body would spontaneously levitate—hence Bernini depicting Teresa floating on a cloud. She would feel overwhelmed by love and the experience of the illuminating grace of God washing through her soul.

Her profound book, The Interior Castle, describes the Christian souls journey to union with God.

Forty years after her death, she was Canonized by Pope Gregory XV.  And, in 1970, Pope Paul VI bestowed upon her the title “Doctor of the Church” along with Saint Catherine of Siena making them the first women to receive this distinction. She well deserves the title the Doctor of Prayer, as she describes how the Lord invites each of us to abandonment to the Divine Will through prayer.

Fr. Thomas Dubay wrote a wonderful account of Teresa’s contributions to our understanding of prayer, called The Fire Within.  He writes, “Genuine prayer, does not happen without effort.  Depth of communion with the indwelling Trinity occurs only in a person intent on living the Gospel totally, one who is humble and patient, temperate and obedient, pure and kind, free of selfish clinging.  It is not accidental that our very best explanations of contemplative prayer have their origin in men and women of marvelous sanctity.”

Let us allow this great Doctor of the Church to teach us how to pray, how to open ourselves to the love God has for each of us, to contemplate the indwelling presence of the Trinity, that we may be united to God in all of our activities and relationships for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may seek to grow in holiness through prayer and penance.

For an increase in vocations, and for the spiritual welfare of the Carmelite Order.

For those who have fallen into error, for Catholics who have grown lukewarm in their faith, for those who have left the Church, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of October, “that the breath of the Holy Spirit may engender a new missionary ‘spring’ in the Church.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

October 1 2019 - St. Therese of the Child Jesus - Ardor for souls

Therese was the 9th child of very saintly parents, in fact, her parents were both beatified by Pope Benedict in 2008.  4 of their children died at a very young age and the other 5 all entered religious life: 1 to the Visitation order and the other 4 to the Carmelites. 

At the age of 15, having received the blessing of faith and virtue from her parents, Therese was given permission to enter the Carmelite convent where her two older sisters had already entered.  She lived only 11 years as a Carmelite nun before dying at the young age of 26 from tuberculosis. 

Before her death, because her holiness and humility was evident, her superior ordered Therese to write an autobiography detailing her spiritual life.  When St. Therese died there were only about 50 people in the world that knew of her.  Thanks to her autobiography, her sanctity and her spirituality are known to the entire world. 

This obscure little nun in the corner of France is now honored as a doctor of the Church and the Patron Saint of Missionary Work even though she never left the confines of the cloister.

As Doctor of the Church, she teaches us by her simple spirituality of the Little Way, that each Christian is to pour himself out in love in the little, everyday tasks of life.

In those short years in Carmel, Therese described a deepening ardor for the salvation of souls. She writes, “I experienced a great desire to work for the conversion of sinners, a desire I hadn’t experienced so intensely before.” She offered her life as a sacrifice for priests and other missionaries, offering constant penances and prayers for the sake of others. And this is why she is patron of missionaries, because of her prayers, certainly, and also her ardor and love of souls.

She wrote that her mission as a Carmelite, was to form “evangelical workers who would save millions of souls”. Well, every Christian is tasked, aren’t we, with the evangelical mission. The constant work, the daily work, of spreading the Gospel in order to save souls.

In order to be faithful to this task, we pour great love into the small tasks of life, that we may be faithful in the great tasks, of loving those who are often quite difficult to love, of seeing passed their faults, and seeing souls hungering for God, longing to know the love of God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For the success of all missionary activity, that through prayer and penance the Gospel may penetrate the most hardened of hearts,

For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of October, “that the breath of the Holy Spirit may engender a new missionary ‘spring’ in the Church.

During these 40 days for life, we pray for the safety of the unborn and for a change in laws, policies, and attitudes that discriminate against and marginalize unborn children.

That the sick and the suffering may know God’s healing and have the ability to know the love of God in their trials.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

August 9 2019 - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Chosen for the cross

Today we celebrate Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  She was born—Edith Stein— the 11th child of a large family of orthodox jews in Germany in 1891.  Her life came to an end 50 years later in a gas chamber at Auschwitz.  By then she was a Carmelite nun who had converted to Catholicism.  Though the Jews were the principle victims of the Nazi’s in World War II, millions of Catholics, including bishops, priests, and nuns were murdered in the concentration camps.

While attending university, the young jewish girl, Edith Stein began to develop a strong interest in Catholic belief and thinkers. After reading the autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila, she asked to be baptized.

10 years later she imitated Theresa of Avila by entering the Carmelite convent and took the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  It was 1933, Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of Germany.
In 1942, the Nazi’s arrested Sister Teresa.  She and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, were transported to Auschwitz in Poland by boxcar.  One week later, Sister Teresa died in a gas chamber.

Perhaps St. Teresa Benedicta had today’s Gospel in mind when she wrote, “One cannot desire freedom from the cross when one is especially chosen for the cross.” As Christians we have been chosen for the cross. Our Lord says, each of us must “take up his cross, and follow” him to the cross.

Jesus demands a commitment of faith that is ready to embrace the will of God wherever it leads, even unto death. We in 2019 Cleveland were chosen for the difficult task of spreading the Gospel in an increasingly secular culture. We were chosen to endure sufferings for the Gospel—for the difficult conversations, for speaking truth in the face of relativism.

Those who seek happiness in life only by pursuing their own interests will never be fulfilled. Only by giving one’s self to God and others do we experience the lasting fulfillment God wants for us, only by embracing the cross will we find salvation for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For all those who wander in atheism, agnosticism, those who are cynical towards Catholicism, for moral relativists, and those who reject the Faith, and all lapsed Catholics, that the Holy Spirit will help them discover the Truth of Christ.
That the Holy Father, the Bishops and all Clergy and Religious will be shining examples of fidelity to the Truth.
That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.
O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

July 16 2019 - Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - The Mountain of Divine Intimacy

The Carmelite order of the Roman Catholic Church dates back to 1155. The group originated in the Holy Land as a group of hermit monks who lived on Mt. Carmel, about 90 miles north of Jerusalem and 35 miles due west of the Sea of Galilee.

From their earliest days on Mt. Carmel, the Carmelites venerated Our Lady with a chapel dedicated to her honor, as members of the Order seek to imitate our Lady’s humility and her example of prayer.
The scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel has been recommended by the Magisterium throughout the centuries as a devotion for all those who wish to entrust themselves to Our Lady’s protection and seek her intercession especially in remaining mindful of the importance of the interior life and prayer.

The Collect prayer for today’s feast speaks of those two themes: Our Lady’s protection and her aid in reaching the mountain which is Christ. The scapular, in fact, was given to Our Lady to the Carmelite St. Simon Stock, when the Order was facing persecution from violent Muslim attacks in the 13th century.

Mt. Carmel is a symbol for the mountain which we must all climb throughout the Christian Life. For the Christian is called to undergo the arduous task, of conforming not simply his outward appearance, but his inner self to Christ. Growth in prayer and the spiritual life is like an upward battle, like the ascent of a steep mountain. There are no plateaus in the spiritual life, we are either climbing toward Christ or descending away from Him.

From the book “Divine Intimacy”, we read, “Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a special call to the interior life, which is preeminently a Marian life. Our Lady wants us to resemble her not only in our outward appearance but, far more, in heart and spirit. If we gaze into Mary’s soul, we shall see that grace in her has flowered into a spiritual life of incalcuable wealth: a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted oblation to God, continual contact, and intimate union with him. Mary’s soul is a sanctuary reserved for God alone, where no human creature has ever left its trace, where love and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of humankind reign supreme. […] Those who want to live their devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel to the full must follow Mary into the depths of her interior life. Carmel is the symbol of the contemplative life, the life wholly dedicated to the quest for God, wholly orientated towards intimacy with God; and the one who has best realized this highest of ideals is Our Lady herself, ‘Queen and Beauty of Carmel’.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may grow in prayerfulness and fidelity to the Divine Will through the intercession and example of Our Lady.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, for blessings upon the Carmelite Order as it works and prays for the good of the Church.

That our young people on summer vacation may be protected from all physical and spiritual harm, shielded from the errors and perversions of the world, and kept in closeness to God through prayer and virtue.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, for all those recovering from or undergoing surgery today, and for the consolation of the dying.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

December 14 2018 - St. John of the Cross - Advent self-denial

John was a reformer, mystic poet, and theologian priest. He was ordained a Carmelite priest in 1567 at the age of 25. John noticed that his brother Carmelites had strayed from the primitive Carmelite rule, which stressed poverty, austerity, and discipline. And so he resolved to bring reform to his order, calling his community back to its original intent. His efforts however were met with increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, and eventually imprisonment. His own religious brothers imprisoned him within the monastery in a cell 10 foot by 6 foot, barely big enough for his own body. He was also regularly flogged in front of his community.

There, in the darkness, John prayed, uniting his own suffering with that of our savior. He would spend his hours reciting scripture and composing poetry for God. Though he suffered physically, his interior life began to bloom, and he laid the foundation what would become some of the most beautiful mystical poetry in our Church’s tradition, his books and poems with titles like “The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul, the Spiritual Canticle, and the Living Flame of Love.”

His poems contain timeless lessons for discipleship, and highlight the great Gospel paradox: the cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial of self to union with God.

During the last years of his life, after escaping imprisonment, John traveled throughout Spain, establishing new houses of prayer, many which endure to this day.

Another wonderful Advent saint. Who teaches us to practice penance, prayer, solitude and reflection, as the way to perfection, to open our hearts to the joy, communion, light, and peace God desires for each of us.

We are challenged by the mystics to examine our prayer lives.  Do we willingly go into the dark cell to encounter God? Do we put away all attachments that we may come to possess Him? Do we embrace the cross or shy away from it?  For as John writes in his Spiritual Canticle: “the gate that gives entrance to the riches of God’s wisdom is the cross.”

May this Advent help us to love the cross and thereby come to love and imitate more closely the One who suffered and died upon it out of love for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.
That through self-denial and embrace of the cross the Christian people may experience ever-deeper union with Christ and a more faithful proclamation of the Gospel.

For the members of the Carmelite Order, that their life of prayer and penance will be for the Church a source of renewal and strength.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

July 16 2018 - Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - Model of the Interior Life

Today we have the joy of celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel.

Our Lady is venerated under this title by the Carmelite Order who looks to her as their special patroness and protector.

The Scapular of the Carmelite Order, the Brown Scapular, is a devotion that reminds us of Our Lady’s protection of the Church. Today would be a wonderful day to wear your brown scapular if you’ve fallen out of the habit.

Our Lady is venerated by this title not only for her role as protector, but as a model of the interior life, which has a long history on Mt. Carmel.

It is said that after his victory over the false prophets of Baal, the prophet Elijah withdrew to Mt. Carmel to prayerfully await the fulfillment of God’s promises. In that tradition, Mt Carmel became home to hermits and contemplatives who sought to deepen their connection with God through a life of quiet prayer.

The first Carmelite monks looked to our Lady as a model for this life of quiet and prayer. For, Scripture tells us that Mary through contemplation and prayerful listening to God, kept and pondered in her heart the words of God.

In many paintings of the Annunciation, Mary is depicted with the scriptures open on her lap, to show that she had made her mind, her body, her heart a sanctuary for the Eternal Word to dwell, prior to him becoming incarnate in her womb. St. Augustine put it this way, he said, "Mary, full of grace, first conceived Jesus in her heart before she conceived him in her womb."

So too every Christian is to follow Our Lady’s example, in making our hearts a sanctuary for God. There she be a point every day, where we could be found with the scriptures upon our lap, pondering the promises of God and the mysteries of God, a point every day where we become quiet enough to hear the tiny whisper of God’s voice in the silence of our hearts.

Our Lady’s example certainly serves as a remedy to the noise and distractions of our modern era, and protects us from its errors and seductions. As we prayed in the Collect, “fortified by her protection, may we reach the mountain which is Christ” by following her example of prayer, contemplation, purity, and the perfection of charity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may grow in prayerfulness and fidelity to the Divine Will through the intercession and example of Our Lady.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, for blessings upon the Carmelite Order as it works and prays for the good of the Church.

That our young people on summer vacation may be protected from all physical and spiritual harm, shielded from the errors and perversions of the world, and kept in closeness to God through prayer and virtue.

For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of July: That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, for all those recovering from or undergoing surgery today, and for the consolation of the dying.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord