Quote of the day, 28 February: St. Mariam

Lord, keep me always in Your love, as a child is kept within the womb of its mother. There it needs nothing for food or drink; no drafts of air can harm it; it is sheltered from every danger; with its mother it has everything.

And so, Lord, if You keep me in Your love, nothing will be lacking to me. I desire nothing else but to belong to You. I never want to go out from You; and just as a child begins to be frail and miserable as soon as it leaves its mother’s womb, so I too would be unhappy if I were to leave You.

Keep me, Lord, in Your bosom; keep me in the womb of Your love.

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy)

Cahiers réservés, 5

Access to the unpublished Cahiers Réservés courtesy of the Carmels of Bethlehem and Haifa.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Brazilian photographer Mateus Campos Felipe captures a tender silhouette of his pregnant wife praying beside a lighted candle in the family’s icon corner. He took the photo just before the birth of their son. Image credit: Mateus Campos Felipe / Unsplash

#abandonment #love #mariamBaouardy #StMaryOfJesusCrucified #womb

Quote of the day, 19 January: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified

You who fly… little birds, good news!
At the foot of the altar I saw myself wholly naked.

At the feet of Mary, cast off everything!
O mountain so vast, hide us from the roaring lions…
Show me the path of the narrow way…
Wash me in the blood of the Innocent…

I see the Lamb, and the flock that follows the Beloved
and sings to the Most High.

Rise up, rise up!
You who sleep here below, awaken!
Time is passing—awaken!

The Lamb advances and knocks at the door—open to Him.
Prepare the incense of your heart to bring it to Him,
to be offered before the Lamb.

Awaken, you who sleep!

I delight in Jesus; I am about to delight in Him.
He has promised me four days of rest.

The bread destined for me—
it is the adorable Mother who has blessed it.

Praise, my soul, your Creator made a little Lamb—
it is out of love!

Cover yourself with your own dung.
Ah! the King offers Himself for you always, always.

Annihilate yourselves.
Your salvation is forever offered to His Father
for love of you.

Do you know from where this happiness comes?
The hardest Rock has become like wax.
At Your presence everything softens,
everything melts like wax consumed by fire.

O Power—who can understand You?
O hidden mystery my soul cannot grasp—

Come down to bless Your Creator.
Go, rest within Yourself the purest wheat.

The Most High will make His dwelling.
He comes to live everything with us,
O purest wheat.

The Lord does not love wheat mixed with impurities.
Choose it Yourself, O Most High.
Wash away the dust that covers it,
that dims its whiteness.

O Most High, enlighten it with Your light;
purify it with love.

The Most High is coming.

My soul—at every moment the Most High continually descends.
He has come to my soul; He has chosen it.
My soul delights and trembles
when the Lord makes His dwelling.

Your salvation has come to you.

Farewell, land of exile.
My soul can endure it no longer—
for a little while, I have rest.

Fly, my soul…

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy)

Cahiers Réservés, 6

Note: Mariam’s reference to her nakedness echoes the spiritual doctrine of Saint John of the Cross. In The Dark Night, II.9, he writes: “the spirit must be simple, pure, and naked as to all natural affections, actual and habitual, in order to be able to communicate freely in fullness of spirit with the divine wisdom in which, on account of the soul’s purity, the delights of all things are tasted to a certain eminent degree.”

Access to the unpublished Cahiers Réservés courtesy of the Carmels of Bethlehem and Haifa.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 180: Adoration of the Lamb. Illumination on parchment, anonymous Anglo-Norman artist, created ca. 1265-1270, England. Image credit: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford / Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

#awakening #Eucharist #LambOfGod #openness #StMaryOfJesusCrucified

Quote of the day, 14 November: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified

Glory and love to Jesus, to Mary, to Saint Joseph.
Glory to all the Saints…

Glory and love to Jesus, to Mary;
shame and contempt to Satan.

O Holy Virgin,
grant unto all humility, joy, and union with God,
all this for our Holy Order.
I hope that God will grant me these graces this very day.

By Thy Holy Cross, O Lord,
deliver us from the malice of Satan.

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy)

Cahiers Réservés, 1

Access to the unpublished Cahiers Réservés courtesy of the Carmels of Bethlehem and Haifa.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: La Virgen de los Carmelitas by Juan de Valdés Leal (17th century), oil on canvas, Iglesia del Carmen de Córdoba. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

#AllCarmeliteSaints #glory #OurLadyOfMountCarmel #prayer #StMaryOfJesusCrucified

Quote of the day, 13 November: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified

I was asking myself how to have perfect love of God. … How can I acquire, my God, your true love?

Then this Almighty God lowered himself to me, who am only a little bit of dust. Here’s how he made me understand: a soul that wants to have true love of God desires that the good God be loved by all.

She would want all the crosses, sufferings, and trials for herself; she accepts everything out of love for God. She rejoices in the happiness of others. She would want to be cut into pieces to make souls go to God; she rejoices in the good that souls receive; she rejoices that they love the good God more than she does, and that they’re loved by the good God more than she herself is.

Then, if they have something good in them, these souls would want to give everything to others, they forget themselves, and they don’t think about heaven or hell anymore, only that souls love God more than they do.

Then I heard a voice say to me: “When a soul has this attitude, God is obliged by his love and his mercy to save it and to forgive it all its crimes, even if they were bigger than the sea.”

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy)

Letter 11 to Father Saint-Guily in Pau, about 1869 (excerpt)

Note: Mary of Jesus Crucified Baouardy was beatified by Saint John Paul II on 13 November 1983 in Saint Peter’s Basilica. This excerpt from Letter 11 is one of many quotes that will be featured in the 2025 Carmelite Online Advent Retreat. The retreat reflections are written by Father Didier Maury, OCD. Free registration is available now for “Mariam, or the Way of the Lord’s Poor”.

Baouardy, M 2011, Lettres de La Bienheureuse Marie de Jésus Crucifié, Editions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This photo of Mariam was taken in August 1875 before her departure from France for the Holy Land. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

#loveForNeighbor #loveOfGod #mariamBaouardy #salvation #StMaryOfJesusCrucified

Advent Online Retreat: “Mariam, or the Way of the Lord’s Poor”

This year, Saint Mariam (Baouardy) of Jesus Crucified, the “little Arab” born in Palestine, will guide us on our Advent journey toward Christmas. Saint Mariam (1846-1878), a humble Carmelite who learned to read and write as an adult, founded Carmelite monasteries in India and the Holy Land. Her simple and radiant life, led by the Holy Spirit, invites us to let ourselves be loved and transformed by Jesus…

This online retreat was written by Fr. Didier Maury, OCD (from the convent in Avon, France), aided by a Carmelite working group. Carmelite Quotes provided the English translation. The English distribution is organized by Discalced Carmelite friars in the United States in collaboration with ICS Publications in Washington, DC.

Each Friday in your email inbox you’ll receive:
● A meditation on the Gospel and quotes from the Saint
● Practical suggestions to enrich your prayer
● A brief video from our Carmelite friars on the weekly theme
● An Advent calendar with prayer starters for each day

You can also follow the retreat on our Facebook page: Carmelite Retreat Online

Free registration open now! Visit us at:

retreat-online.karmel.at

Please share this with your friends, family, and parish. Together, let’s prepare our hearts to meet Saint Mariam at the crib in Bethlehem.

Copyright © 2025 Carmelo Teresiano, all rights reserved. A collaboration of the Teresian Carmel in Austria, the Edith Stein Society Austria, and the Sisters of Mary of Mount Carmel. The texts for the Carmelite Online Retreat for Advent 2025 were written by the Paris Province of the Carmelites and translated by Carmelite Quotes.

Our address is:
Carmelo Teresiano
Corso d’Italia, 38
Rome 00152
Italy

#AdventRetreat #Bethlehem #DiscalcedCarmelites #MariamOfBethlehem #StMaryOfJesusCrucified

25 August: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified Baouardy

August 25
SAINT MARY OF JESUS CRUCIFIED BAOUARDY
Virgin

Memorial

Saint Mary (Mariam) of Jesus Crucified was born of the Baouardy family, Catholics of the Greek Melkite Rite, at Abellin in Galilee in 1846. In 1867 Mariam entered the Discalced Carmelites at Pau in France and was sent with the founding group to the Carmel of Mangalore in India where, in 1870, she made her profession. Mariam returned to France in 1872. In 1875 she went to the Holy Land where she built a monastery in Bethlehem and began planning for another at Nazareth. Noted for her supernatural gifts, especially for humility, for her devotion to the Holy Spirit, and her great love for the Church and the Pope, Mariam died at Bethlehem in 1878.

From the common of virgins, or of holy women (religious)

Second Reading

(Cat. 16, 1, 12:16 (PG 33, 936, 939-942)

From the Catechesis of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good

The Holy Spirit, although he is one and of one nature and indivisible, apportions his grace as he wills to each one. When the dry tree is watered it brings forth shoots. So too the soul in sin: when through penance it is made worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit, it bears the fruit of justice. Though the Spirit is one in nature, yet by the will of God and in the name of Christ he brings about multiple effects of virtue.

He uses the tongue of one man for wisdom, he illumines the soul of another by prophecy, to another he imparts the power of driving out devils, to another the gift of interpreting the sacred scriptures; he strengthens the self-control of one man, teaches another the nature of almsgiving, another to fast and mortify himself, another to despise the things of the body; he prepares another man for martyrdom.

He acts differently in different men while himself remaining unchanged, as it is written: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

His approach is gentle, his presence fragrant, his yoke very light; rays of light and knowledge shine forth before him as he comes. He comes with the heart of a true protector; he comes to save, to heal, to teach, to admonish, to strengthen, to console, to enlighten the mind, first of the man who receives him, then through him the minds of others also.

As a man previously in darkness, suddenly seeing the sun, receives his sight and sees clearly what he did not see before, so the man deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit is enlightened in soul and sees beyond the power of human sight what he did not know before. Although his body remains on the earth, his soul already contemplates heaven as in a mirror.

Responsory

℣ We contemplate your beauty, O Virgin of Christ: * You have received from the Lord a gleaming crown.
℟ Nothing could bring you to surrender virginity; nothing could separate you from the love of the Son of God. * You have received from the Lord a gleaming crown.

Prayer

God of mercy and all consolation,
you raised Saint Mary,
the humble daughter of the Holy Land,
to contemplation of the mysteries of your Son
and made her a witness to the love and joy of the Holy Spirit.
Grant us, through her intercession,
so to share in the sufferings of Christ
that we may rejoice in the revelation of your glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

One of the earliest and best-known icons of Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified | Photo credit: Discalced Carmelites

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

#DiscalcedCarmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #mariamBaouardy #optionalMemorial #StMaryOfJesusCrucified #virgin

Quote of the day, 7 July: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified

If, while eating bread and drinking water, a person could say: “Lord, this bread, this water, this fruit, the moon, etc…. cannot praise you, so I will praise you for them.” When a person is faithful to this, everything they eat praises the good God in them.

When I am in Heaven and I see Jesus busy talking with someone, I will quickly go and turn on the faucets so that the whole earth will have water, and as soon as Jesus turns around, I will quickly close them and slip away, and he won’t know that anyone opened them…

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy)

Prières et Cantiques: Cahiers Réservés, 4, 10

Note: Writing from the Carmel of Bethlehem, Mariam was likely assigned to garden work as part of her duties as a lay sister. Her playful image of secretly turning on Heaven’s water taps takes on deeper meaning when considered alongside a prophetic vision she described to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in December 1876. In that vision, she saw a town with a precious water source that was deliberately blocked with stones, leaving people to die of thirst. Despite her own thirst, she sought water “for the others,” even contemplating clever schemes to obtain it. The vision concluded with a promise that the source could be opened “on the other side” — perhaps anticipating her heavenly role as secret water-giver to the whole earth. For a Palestinian woman living in an arid climate where water meant the difference between flourishing crops and famine, the image of abundant, freely flowing water represented God’s ultimate provision and her own deep desire to serve others, even in the smallest, most hidden ways.

Access to the unpublished Cahiers Réservés courtesy of the Carmels of Bethlehem and Haifa.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: A Discalced Carmelite nun works in the garden at the Maryton Carmel near Liverpool, England. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (Used by permission).

#CahiersRéservés #Jesus #mariamBaouardy #StMaryOfJesusCrucified #water

Quote of the day, 19 June: St. John Paul II

As we read in the canonical decree of beatification, “the humble servant of Christ, Mary of Jesus Crucified—belonging by lineage, rite, vocation, and pilgrimage to the peoples of the East and in some way representing them—is like a gift offered to the universal Church by those who, amid the wretched conditions of struggle and bloodshed in which they are immersed, especially now turn with great trust of heart to her fraternal intercession, in the hope that also through the prayers of the Servant of God, peace and harmony may finally be restored to those lands where ‘the Word became flesh’ (Jn 1:14), He who is himself our peace.”

Blessed Mariam was born in Galilee. For this reason, today our prayerful thoughts turn in a special way to the land where Jesus taught love and died so that humanity might be reconciled.

“That Land,” as I recalled on another occasion, “for decades has seen two peoples opposed in a hitherto irreducible antagonism. Each of them has a history, a tradition, a story of their own, which seem to make it difficult to reach an agreement” (John Paul II, Angelus Address, 4 April 1982).

Today more than ever, the threats hanging over us urge us to make love and brotherhood the fundamental law of social and international relations, in a spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness—taking inspiration from the way of life exemplified by Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified, not only for her people but for the entire world.

May this new way of life give us peace based not on terror, but on mutual trust.

With the Psalmist, let us pray through the intercession of the new Blessed, that the Lord may grant peace to her land:

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.’ For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good” (Ps 122:6–9).

Saint John Paul II

Homily, Beatification of St. Mary of Jesus Crucified
13 November 1983, St. Peter’s Basilica

Translation from the Italian text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: A canonization banner of Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy) hangs from St. Peter’s Basilica, framed by a Palestinian pilgrim’s flag at the 2015 canonization Mass. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (Used by permission).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What’s one concrete way you can help promote peace in the Holy Land, following the vision of St. John Paul II and St. Mary of Jesus Crucified?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#HolyLand #peace #StJohnPaulII #StMaryOfJesusCrucified #terror #trust

Quote of the day, 8 June: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified

If you want to seek me, to know me, and to follow me, call upon the light, that is to say, the Holy Spirit who has enlightened my disciples, and who enlightens all those who call upon him.

I tell you the truth, the truth, the truth: Whoever calls upon the Holy Spirit will seek me and find me, and through him he will find me.

His conscience will be delicate as the flower of the field, and if he is a father or a mother of a family, peace will be in his family, and peace will be in his heart in this world and in the next; he will not die in darkness, but in peace.

I ardently desire that you should say (but it is not yet the time) that all the priests who will celebrate once a month the Mass of the Holy Spirit, who will honor Him, and whoever will honor Him and hear this Mass, he will be honored by the Holy Spirit Himself because he will have light within him; peace will be in his soul. It is He who will come to heal the sick and awaken those who are sleeping.

As a proof of this: All those who will say this Mass or hear it, and who will invoke the Holy Spirit will not leave it without experiencing this peace in the depths of their souls. They will not die in darkness.

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy)

Message in ecstasy from Our Lord
Cahiers Réservés, 5

PRAYER OF ST. MARY OF JESUS CRUCIFIED

Holy Spirit, inspire me;
Love of God, consume me;
On the true path, lead me;
Mary my mother, look upon me;
With Jesus, bless me;
From all evil, from all illusion,
from all danger, preserve me.

Access to the unpublished Cahiers Réservés courtesy of the Carmels of Bethlehem and Haifa.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Retable of the Pentecost by Alvise Vivarini (Italian, c. 1444–c. 1504) was executed in oil paint on poplar wood c. 1478 in Venice. It is part of the Solly collection in the Bode Museum, Berlin, Germany. Photographer Jean Louis Mazieres captures this image for us. The Yale University Library and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries also have information about this artwork. Image credit: mazanto / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Does your parish priest ever offer a monthly Mass of the Holy Spirit? How might you encourage this beautiful devotion in your community?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#DiscalcedCarmelite #HolySpirit #intercession #mariamBaouardy #Pentecost #prayer #StMaryOfJesusCrucified

Marie du jour, 24 May: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified

Oh! But the Blessed Virgin, she was the strong woman, the pure Virgin. Jesus filled her whole heart. Fire and flame overflowed from it. She carried heaven within her.

She was the strong woman par excellence, and she kept all of it hidden in her heart. Nothing appeared on the outside.

As for me, I am weak.

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified

Prières et Cantiques: Cahiers Réservés, 5

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: The entrance to the Carmel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Haifa, with its lancet or ogival arch, is topped by a Gothic medallion, which was carved in situ by the award-winning sculptor Roger de Villiers, one of the finest masters of French Art Deco religious statuary. The medallion depicts Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the “Domina,” the Patron Saint, Queen and Beauty of Carmel, who is the focal point of the building. Its pointed, elliptical shape evokes the beautiful tympanum of the royal portal of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres, which has Christ at its center. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites nuns of Haifa (Used by permission).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Do I turn to the Blessed Virgin as my strong woman, trusting her to shelter me in my weakness?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#BlessedVirginMary #heaven #hidden #ImmaculateHeartOfMary #mariamBaouardy #StMaryOfJesusCrucified