Quote of the day, 11 December: St. John Paul II

Saint Maravillas of Jesus was motivated by a heroic faith that shaped her response to an austere vocation, in which she made God the centre of her life. Having overcome the painful circumstances of the Spanish Civil War, she established new foundations for the Order of Carmel, imbued with the characteristic spirit of the Teresian reform. Her life of contemplation and monastic enclosure did not prevent her from responding to the needs of the persons she dealt with and promoting social and charitable works around her.

The new Saints have very concrete faces, and their history is well known. What is their message? Their works, which we admire and for which we thank God, are not due to their own efforts nor to human wisdom but to the mysterious action of the Holy Spirit who inspired in them an unshakeable adherence to the risen and crucified Christ and the decision to imitate him. Dear Catholic faithful of Spain:  let yourselves be influenced by these marvellous examples!

Saint John Paul II

Homily, Mass and Canonization (excerpt)
Plaza de Colón in Madrid, 4 May 2003

Note: Those canonized with Saint Maria Maravillas were Saints Pedro Poveda, José María Rubio, Genoveva Torres Morales, and Ángela of the Cross Guerrero González.

Featured image: This portrait of Saint Maria Maravillas of Jesus hangs in the Cathedral of Our Lady of La Almudena, Madrid. Image credit: © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro (Some rights reserved)

#canonization #foundress #homily #stJohnPaulIi #stMariaMaravillasDeJesus

Quote of the day, 25 August: St. Mary of Jesus Crucified

But I saw His Beatitude the Patriarch long ago. Our Lord showed him to me years ago, even during the lifetime of his predecessor. He told me then: “One day he will be your Father.” I recognized him as soon as I saw him.

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified

On the 8th of September 1875, feast of the Nativity of Mary, the group participated at Mass and received Communion at the church of Saint Anne, which according to Byzantine tradition, was built by the Crusaders on the birth home of the Virgin. Afterwards the Carmelites were warmly received by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In the evening they made a moving visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and participated in the Stations of the Cross to the sound of hymns and litanies.

They returned there the next day for the celebration of Mass. As can be imagined, there was great emotion during the visits to holy places: the Cenacle, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Pater Noster cave, and the place of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.

From the latter the Carmelites were able to see the wonderful panorama before their eyes: to the East the desert of Judah and the Dead Sea, to the West the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock with its golden and purple reflexes.

Father Francesco Zampini
Life and thoughts of Mariam Baouardy the ‘little nothing’, Chapter 18

Looking south west towards Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives
“Panorama of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives” (1866-1867)
Photo gravure print
The Palestine Exploration Fund / Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Zampini, F 2022, Life and Thoughts of Mariam Baouardy: ‘The Little Nothing’, Leontini, C (trans.), Little Red Apple Publishing, Haymarket, NSW.

Featured image: Outer cloister walkway at the Carmel du Pater Noster, Jerusalem. The walls of the monastery church are covered with panels carrying the Lord’s Prayer in different languages. The Swedish and Georgian versions are seen in the foreground. The Carmel is built on the spot where Jerusalem tradition says Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer to his disciples. Image credit: Alex-David Baldi / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#CarmelOfBethlehem #Carmelites #DiscalcedCarmelites #foundress #FrFrancescoZampini #FrancescoZampini #GardenOfGethsemane #Jerusalem #LifeAndThoughtsOfMariamBaouardy #mariamBaouardy #MariamOfBethlehem #PatriarchOfJerusalem #StMariam

7 June: Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew

June 7
BLESSED ANNE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW
Virgin

Optional Memorial
In the houses in Spain: Memorial

Ana Garcia was born at Almendral, Castille, in 1549. In 1572 she made her profession as a Carmelite in the hands of St Teresa at Saint Joseph’s, Avila. The Saint later chose her as her companion and nurse, and she subsequently brought the Teresian spirit to France and Belgium, where she proved herself, like Teresa, a daughter of the Church in her great zeal for the salvation of souls. She died at Antwerp in 1626.

From the common of virgins

Office of Readings

Second Reading
From the Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew
(Autog. MS monast. St. Teresa, Madrid)

Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart

According to Saint Bernard, it is the person who keeps silent and says nothing when things go wrong who is really humble. It is very virtuous, he says, to keep silent when people are talking about our true faults, but more perfect when we are slighted or accused without having committed any fault or sin. And though it is virtuous indeed to bear this in silence, it is more perfect still to want to be despised and thought mad and good-for-nothing, and to go on, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, wholeheartedly loving those who despise us.

If Jesus kept silent, it was not because he hated anyone. He was simply saying to his eternal Father what he said on the cross: Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What infinite love burned in that sacred heart of yours, Lord Jesus! Without uttering a single word you spoke to us; without a word you worked the mysteries you came to accomplish—teaching virtue to the ignorant and blind. What our Lord did was no small thing. Where should we get patience and humility and poverty and the other virtues, and how could we carry each other’s burdens and cross, if Christ had not taught us all this first, and given himself as a living model of all perfection?

Blessed silence! In it, you cry out and preach to the whole world by your example. Volumes could be written about your silence, Lord! There is more wisdom to be learned from it by those who love you than from books or study.

Our Lord became a spring of Living water for us so that we should not die of thirst among all the miseries that surround us. How truly he said in the Gospel that he came to serve and not to be served! What tremendous goodness! Can we fail to be shamed by your words and deeds, and the patience you show with us every day? How truly, again Lord, did you say: Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart. Where can we obtain this patience and humbleness of heart? Is there any way to achieve it except by taking it from Christ as he taught it to us with those other virtues we need—faith, hope, and charity? Without faith, we cannot follow that royal road of the divine mysteries. It is faith that opens our eyes and makes us see the truth; and where faith is wanting there is no light and no way leading to goodness.

Responsory
Proverbs 3:5, 6
R/. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own intelligence; * and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).
R/. Wherever you go be mindful of him, * and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).

Morning Prayer

Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Where humility is, there is wisdom; the wisdom of the humble will protect them from defeat (alleluia).

Prayer

Father,
rewarder of the humble,
you blessed your servant Anne of Saint Bartholomew
with outstanding charity and patience.
May her prayers help us, and her example inspire us,
to carry our cross
and be faithful in loving you,
and others for your sake.

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

Evening Prayer

Canticle of Mary
Ant. God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him (alleluia).

Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew
Frans de Wilde (Belgian, 1840–1918)
Oil on canvas, 1917
Private collection

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.

#Antwerp #BlessedAnneOfStBartholomew #DiscalcedCarmelite #foundress #LiturgyOfTheHours #optionalMemorial #virgin

22 May: St. Joachina de Vedruna

May 22
SAINT JOACHINA DE VEDRUNA
Religious

Optional Memorial

Joachina was born in Barcelona in 1783. She married Theodore de Mas in 1799 and bore him nine children before being widowed in 1816. Then in 1826, she was prompted by God’s Spirit to found the Congregation of Carmelite Sisters of Charity, which spread throughout Catalonia, establishing houses for the care of the sick and the education of children, especially the poor. She was greatly drawn to contemplating the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Her spiritual life was marked by prayer, mortification, detachment, humility, and love. She died at Vich in 1854.

From the Common of Holy Women (Religious)

Office of Readings

Second Reading

From the Letters of St. Joachina
Epist. pp. 275, 246, 260, 297, 254, 297, 31

Charity above all things

If only we were all on fire with love for God! If we were, we should preach love, proclaim love, and yet more love, until we had set the whole world on fire. We must have great desires: then God will give us whatever is best for us.

We must be careful to free our hearts from everything that might get in the way of the pure love of our beloved Jesus. He is love itself, and wants to give himself to us through love. Jesus is calling us all the time — how long are we going to remain deaf to His voice? No, let us keep our hearts ready, our wills completely for Jesus, our faculties and our senses for our Lord.

There must be no undue attachment in our hearts for created things: they must burn with love alone, love ever more fervent; for love never says ‘enough,’ never rests until it is completely on fire. When our hearts are completely on fire with pure love for Jesus, everything that might hinder love from taking complete possession will be cast out.

We must not give in to weariness: we must spend every minute in loving God.

God alone, the maker of heaven and earth, must be our rest and our consolation. The love of God is the only thing we can possess for ever: everything else will pass away.

Love, love, and yet more love—love that is never satisfied! The more we love God, the more we shall long to love him. And when we have Jesus in our hearts, we shall have everything else in him and with him.

Responsory

R/. Remain in my love. * Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him (alleluia).
V/. Follow the way of love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. * Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him (alleluia).

Morning Prayer

Canticle of Zechariah

Ant. By this all will know that you are my disciples: that you have love for one another (alleluia).

Prayer

Lord God,
you gave St. Joachina de Vedruna to your Church
for the Christian education of youth
and the care of the sick.
May we follow her example,
and lovingly devote our lives
to serving you in our brothers and sisters.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Evening Prayer

Canticle of Mary

Ant. Whatsoever you do for one of the least of my brethren, you do for me, says the Lord (alleluia).

Saint Joachina de Vedruna de Mas

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.

#CarmeliteSistersOfCharity #foundress #LiturgyOfTheHours #optionalMemorial #religious #StJoachinaDeVedruna

23 April: Blessed Teresa Mary of the Cross Manetti (Not observed in 2025)

April 23
BLESSED TERESA MARY OF THE CROSS MANETTI
Virgin

Optional Memorial

She was born at Campi Bisenzio, Florence, where in 1874 she founded the Congregation of Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa, who she also sent to Lebanon and the Holy Land. She lived joyfully, body and soul, the mystery of the Cross in full conformity to the will of God and she was outstanding for her love for the Eucharist and her maternal care for children and for the poor. She died at Campi Bisenzio on April 23, 1910.

From the Common of Virgins or the Common of Holy Women (Religious)

Office of Readings

Second Reading
From the works of Saint Teresa of Avila
(Interior Castle VII, 4; 4, 5, 8. Way of Perfection 26, 7. Interior Castle II, 1; 11.)

Fix your gaze on the Crucified and everything becomes easy

His Majesty could not grant us a greater favor than to give us a life that would be an imitation of the life that His beloved Son lived. For this reason, I hold it certain that these favors are meant to fortify our weakness so that we may be able to imitate Him in his great sufferings.

Fix your eyes on the Crucified and everything will become easy for you. If His Majesty showed us His love by means of such works and frightful torments, how is it you want to please Him only with words?

Do you know what it means to be truly spiritual? It means becoming the slaves of God. Marked with His brand, which is that of the Cross, spiritual persons, because now they have given Him their liberty, can be sold by Him as slaves of everyone, as He was. In acting this way, He doesn’t do us any harm but rather He grants us a not insignificant grace.

We have always seen that those who were closest to Christ our Lord were those with the greatest trials. Let us look at what His glorious Mother suffered and the glorious apostles.

Take up the Cross of Jesus. Help your Spouse to carry the burden that weighs Him down and pay no attention to what they may say about you. If you should happen to stumble and fall like your Spouse, do not withdraw from the Cross or abandon it. No matter how great your trials may be, you will see that they are quite small in comparison to His.

If we never look at Him or reflect on what we owe Him and the death He suffered for us, I don’t know how we’ll be able to know Him or serve Him. And without these works in His service, what value will our faith have? And what value will our works have if they are separated from the inestimable merits of Jesus Christ, our Good? And then who will bring us to love this Lord?

Responsory

R/. I rejoice in the trials I bear and make up in my flesh that which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ * for the sake of His body which is the Church (alleluia).
V/. I have been crucified with Christ, and now no longer live but Christ lives in me: * for the sake of His body which is the Church (alleluia).

Prayer

O God,
you sustained the virgin,
Blessed Teresa Mary,
along the way of the cross
by a most ardent love of the Eucharist,
and you gave her a mother’s love
for your little ones and the poor.
Through her intercession, grant that,
strengthened by the bread of angels,
we may delight in sharing
the sufferings of Christ,
and hasten the coming of your kingdom
through our own works of mercy.

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

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.

#Bettina #BlessedTeresaMaryOfTheCrossManetti #CarmeliteSistersOfStTeresaInFlorence #foundress #Liturgy #optionalMemorial #virgin

Quote of the day, 17 March: Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa

During her retreat before final vows, Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory wrote nine heartfelt petitions to St. Thérèse, seeking holiness, love for God, and the grace to serve her sisters joyfully.

Please help me to become a Saint

Grace of a happy death for myself and all who are dear to me

To see you at least once before I die please if I am not too unworthy of your love dear Little Flower

Grace to make all my Sisters very happy in their holy Vocation

Grace to love God as you did

Grace to follow my Spouse in your little way

To see the will of God in everything

To always please God and my Superiors in God

Never to commit a deliberate venial sin and final Perseverance

Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa, O.Carm.
(Bridget McCrory)

From the Mother Angeline Society

Note: Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa, O.Carm. (1893–1984) was an Irish-born Carmelite known for her deep compassion and dedication to the elderly. Born Bridget Teresa McCrory in County Tyrone, Ireland, she entered religious life with the Little Sisters of the Poor in France. Sent to the United States, she felt called to serve the aged in a new way, emphasizing dignity, personal care, and a family-like environment. With the encouragement of Cardinal Patrick Hayes of New York, she founded the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm in 1929, bringing the Carmelite charism of prayer and service into elder care.

Throughout her life, Mother Angeline fostered a profound devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux and the “Little Way.” Before her final vows, she entrusted her vocation to St. Thérèse, writing nine petitions that reflected her longing for holiness and her desire to love and serve as the Little Flower did.

Recognized for her heroic virtue, she was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Her legacy lives on through the Carmelite Sisters and their mission of compassionate care for the elderly.

Learn more about Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa and her cause for canonization. Visit the Mother Angeline Society to explore her life, spirituality, and ongoing legacy: https://motherangeline.org/

Featured image: Collage created in Adobe Express featuring Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa against a background photo of a group of happy senior citizens playing chess. Stock photo of happy seniors: Drazen / Adobe Stock (Asset ID#: 307190621). Image of Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa: Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

🌹 Which of Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa’s petitions to St. Thérèse resonates most with you? Her longing for holiness, her desire to see God’s will in everything, or her deep love for her sisters? Let’s reflect together—share your thoughts in the comments below!

#CarmeliteSistersForTheAgedAndInfirm #foundress #grace #LittleFlower #LittleWay #MotherAngelineSociety #petitions #StThérèseOfLisieux #VenerableMaryAngelineTeresa

June 7
BLESSED ANNE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW
Virgin

Optional Memorial
In the houses in Spain: Memorial

Pastoral note: In the year 2024, this Optional Memorial gives way to the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Ana Garcia was born at Almendral, Castille, in 1549. In 1572 she made her profession as a Carmelite in the hands of St Teresa at Saint Joseph’s, Avila. The Saint later chose her as her companion and nurse, and she subsequently brought the Teresian spirit to France and Belgium, where she proved herself, like Teresa, a daughter of the Church in her great zeal for the salvation of souls. She died at Antwerp in 1626.

From the common of virgins

Office of Readings

Second Reading
From the Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew
(Autog. MS monast. St. Teresa, Madrid)

Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart

According to Saint Bernard, it is the person who keeps silent and says nothing when things go wrong who is really humble. It is very virtuous, he says, to keep silent when people are talking about our true faults, but more perfect when we are slighted or accused without having committed any fault or sin. And though it is virtuous indeed to bear this in silence, it is more perfect still to want to be despised and thought mad and good-for-nothing, and to go on, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, wholeheartedly loving those who despise us.

If Jesus kept silent, it was not because he hated anyone. He was simply saying to his eternal Father what he said on the cross: Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What infinite love burned in that sacred heart of yours, Lord Jesus! Without uttering a single word you spoke to us; without a word you worked the mysteries you came to accomplish—teaching virtue to the ignorant and blind. What our Lord did was no small thing. Where should we get patience and humility and poverty and the other virtues, and how could we carry each other’s burdens and cross, if Christ had not taught us all this first, and given himself as a living model of all perfection?

Blessed silence! In it, you cry out and preach to the whole world by your example. Volumes could be written about your silence, Lord! There is more wisdom to be learned from it by those who love you than from books or study.

Our Lord became a spring of Living water for us so that we should not die of thirst among all the miseries that surround us. How truly he said in the Gospel that he came to serve and not to be served! What tremendous goodness! Can we fail to be shamed by your words and deeds, and the patience you show with us every day? How truly, again Lord, did you say: Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart. Where can we obtain this patience and humbleness of heart? Is there any way to achieve it except by taking it from Christ as he taught it to us with those other virtues we need—faith, hope, and charity? Without faith, we cannot follow that royal road of the divine mysteries. It is faith that opens our eyes and makes us see the truth; and where faith is wanting there is no light and no way leading to goodness.

Responsory
Proverbs 3:5, 6
R/. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own intelligence; * and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).
R/. Wherever you go be mindful of him, * and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).

Morning Prayer

Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Where humility is, there is wisdom; the wisdom of the humble will protect them from defeat (alleluia).

Prayer

Father,
rewarder of the humble,
you blessed your servant Anne of Saint Bartholomew
with outstanding charity and patience.
May her prayers help us, and her example inspire us,
to carry our cross
and be faithful in loving you,
and others for your sake.

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

Evening Prayer

Canticle of Mary
Ant. God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him (alleluia).

Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew
Frans de Wilde (Belgian, 1840–1918)
Oil on canvas, 1917
Private collection

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.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/03/annebartlit24/

#Antwerp #BlessedAnneOfStBartholomew #DiscalcedCarmelite #foundress #LiturgyOfTheHours #optionalMemorial #virgin