#religiouslife — Public Fediverse posts

Chin-Chin Gutierrez resurfaces more than a decade after quitting showbiz – abs-cbn.com

Chin-Chin Gutierrez resurfaces more than a decade after quitting showbiz  abs-cbn.comJackie Gonzaga mourns the passing of mother: ‘I love…
#NewsBeep #News #Celebrities #AU #Australia #Chin-ChinGutierrez #Entertainment #Maryknoll #MiriamCollege #religiouslife #Spirituality
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/880298/

#Ressource | Call for papers to the journal Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Jewish Religious Life during the Holocaust | Details: https://www.jewishstudies.de/de/nachrichten/call-for-papers-eastern-european-holocaust-studies-jewish-religious-life-during-the-holocaust/

#Holocaus #ReligiousLife #EasternEurope

Deadline for proposals: June 30, 2026

#Ressource | Call for papers to the journal Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Jewish Religious Life during the Holocaust | Details: https://www.jewishstudies.de/de/nachrichten/call-for-papers-eastern-european-holocaust-studies-jewish-religious-life-during-the-holocaust/

#Holocaus #ReligiousLife #EasternEurope

Deadline for proposals: June 30, 2026

#Ressource | Call for papers to the journal Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Jewish Religious Life during the Holocaust | Details: https://www.jewishstudies.de/de/nachrichten/call-for-papers-eastern-european-holocaust-studies-jewish-religious-life-during-the-holocaust/

#Holocaus #ReligiousLife #EasternEurope

Deadline for proposals: June 30, 2026

#Ressource | Call for papers to the journal Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Jewish Religious Life during the Holocaust | Details: https://www.jewishstudies.de/de/nachrichten/call-for-papers-eastern-european-holocaust-studies-jewish-religious-life-during-the-holocaust/

#Holocaus #ReligiousLife #EasternEurope

Deadline for proposals: June 30, 2026

Quote of the day, 15 April: St. Edith Stein

The walls of our monasteries enclose a narrow space. To erect the structure of holiness in it, one must dig deep and build high, must descend into the depths of the dark night of one’s own nothingness in order to be raised up high into the sunlight of divine love and compassion.

No human eye can see what God does in the soul during hours of inner prayer. It is grace upon grace. And all of life’s other hours are our thanks for them. Carmelites can repay God’s love by their everyday lives in no other way than by carrying out their daily duties faithfully in every respect— all the little sacrifices that a regimen structured day after day in all its details demands of an active spirit; all the self-control that living in close proximity with different kinds of people continually requires and that is achieved with a loving smile; letting no opportunity go by for serving others in love.

Saint Edith Stein

On the History and Spirit of Carmel (31 March 1935)

Note: On 15 April 1934, St. Edith Stein was clothed in the Carmelite habit and gave herself lovingly to God in the Carmel of Cologne-Lindenthal. Her novice mistress, Sr. Teresa Renata Posselt, OCD, described that day: “it was a feast such as the Cologne Carmel has never seen.”

Stein, E 2014, The Hidden Life: hagiographic essays, meditations, spiritual texts, Stein, W (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Edith Stein on her clothing day, 15 April 1934. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

Quote of the day, 18 March: St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi

[Saint Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi] tried to render her disciples not only obedient with a tranquil submission, but also desirous and almost famishing for the yoke of obedience. To this end she imposed on them that they should never do even the least thing without her permission; and as she could not always be with them, she assigned to each of them a companion, of whom, in her absence, they were to ask permission; and when even this could not be done, they were then to ask permission of anyone present, and never to do anything without some submission to the will of others. By accustoming themselves to obey in small things, they facilitated obedience in things greater and of strict obligation, as the same disciples avowed that it had so happened to them.

“Until you give yourselves into the hands of obedience as if dead, you can never taste what serving God is. Offer your will in sacrifice to God, and you will derive therefrom a sovereign consolation. If you wish to comply with the Divine Will, beware lest by persuasions you draw the will of the superiors to your own; but try to execute, simply and entirely, their orders, and thus will you arrive at a great perfection. If you experience a repugnance to break your will for the sake of obedience, you show that you have very little love for God, as you do not wish to trouble yourself in the one thing by which you can give Him sovereign honor—namely, submitting to the will of others for His love.”

And she tried to render her disciples not only obedient with a tranquil submission, but also desirous and almost famishing for the yoke of obedience. To this end she imposed on them that they should never do even the least thing without her permission; and as she could not always be with them, she assigned to each of them a companion, of whom, in her absence, they were to ask permission; and when even this could not be done, they were then to ask permission of anyone present, and never to do anything without some submission to the will of others. By accustoming themselves to obey in small things, they facilitated obedience in things greater and of strict obligation, as the same disciples avowed that it had so happened to them.

Father Placido Fabrini

The Life of St. Mary Magdalen De’ Pazzi, chap. XXIX

Fabrini, P. & De’ Pazzi, M.M. 1900, The life of St. Mary Magdalen De-Pazzi: Florentine noble, sacred Carmelite virgin, translated from the Italian by Isoleri A., [publisher not identified] Philadelphia.

Featured image: The Ecstasy of St Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi is an oil on canvas painting attributed to the Italian painter Alessandro Rosi (1627–1697). Its creation date is ca. 1650–1660 and it is part of the collection of the Musée des Beaux Arts in Chambéry, France. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

https://www.europesays.com/iran/14072/ Hidden Vocation of Sister Lea and Her 200 Million Bees| National Catholic Register #bees #CatholicChurchInLebanon #Lebanon #MaroniteCatholic #ReligiousLife

Quote of the day, 27 January: St. Henry de Ossó

The expansion of the women’s apostolate to new ministries that go beyond the tradition of youth education and health care gives a new value to women’s commitment within the Church.

Women’s congregations emerged by preaching the Word, catechesis, and leading spiritual exercises. Some women even founded men’s congregations, thus implying the spiritual magisterium over priests.

The promotion of women to the direct apostolate is a definitive acquisition of these congregations. Their new structure includes female forces in organizational and social commitments.

Saint Henry de Ossó y Cervelló

Letter to Saturnina Jassá (excerpt)
Barcelona, 16 February 1884

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

Featured image: On 27 January 2016, the parish of Our Lady of Our Lady of Henar in the Archdiocese of Valladolid hosted a celebration in honor of St. Henry de Ossó, who is the patron saint of Spanish catechists. Don Luis Argüello presided at the Mass, which took place a few weeks before he was named Auxiliary Bishop of Valladolid. Image credit: Ángel Cantero, Iglesia en Valladolid / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#catechists #healthcare #religiousLife #StHenryDeOssoYCervello #women

Quote of the day, 21 October: St. Titus Brandsma

On 3 October 1899, Frater Titus made his solemn profession, one more stage on his long ascent to the summit of Mount Carmel. It was a journey that would last all his life, a promise, taken under oath, to keep the religious vows as a Brother of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.

During the solemn community ceremony, the novices were once again asked to affirm their intentions. Then, one by one, they made their profession.  It is recalled that Titus pronounced every word clearly:

I, Frater Titus Brandsma, make my profession and promise obedience, poverty, and chastity to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, and to the Most Reverend Ludovico Galli, Prior General of the Order of the Brothers of the same Blessed Virgin Mary and to his successors, according to the Rule of the aforesaid Order, until death.

The Provincial, Fr. Joseph Kerstens, then proclaimed this admonition: “Render unto God a sacrifice of praise.” And the community responded: “And fulfill your vows to the Lord.” The newly professed concluded with the words:

I will offer my vows to God in the presence of all His people, in the courtyards of the House of the Lord. I, Frater Titus, promise moreover to profess literally these Constitutions of the strict observance, confirmed by Pope Innocent X and, with the grace of God, to observe them faithfully.

Each of the newly professed signed a written copy of his vows and placed it in the hands of his superior.

Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter 2, Formation

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: St. Titus Brandsma appears in this photo wearing the full habit of the Carmelite Order, including the white mantle. At this moment, he was a seminarian studying theology, aged 22. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut)

#religiousLife #religiousProfession #StTitusBrandsma #vocation #vows

🕯️ Hàng trăm tăng ni, phật tử khắp miền Nam hội tụ tại Tổ đình Vĩnh Nghiêm, TPHCM, để tưởng niệm Hòa thượng Thích Trí Tịnh – Phó Pháp Chủ Hội đồng Chứng minh Giáo hội Phật giáo Việt Nam. 🙏

#Phật #TăngNi #HòaThượngThichTriTinh #TônGiáo #Vietnam #Buddhism #ReligiousLife #VietnameseNews

https://vietnamnet.vn/tang-ni-phat-tu-thanh-kinh-tuong-niem-hoa-thuong-thich-tri-tinh-2450705.html

Quote of the day, 21 September: St. Titus Brandsma

Without poverty, a religious is a Pharisee, a gentleman of ease pretending to be a poor man. It is like someone who wants only the finer things of life disguising himself in the clothing of the poor. When religious are overly attached to unnecessary possessions or are always looking for luxuries, then we appear ridiculous before the Lord who received our vows.

Whenever someone comes seeking alms, give whatever you can. Giving alms is our way of life. It is the alms we receive that provide for our needs, and with our own alms, we must provide for those in need.  Whatever we give to the poor we give to God.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Chapter VI, Seeking God

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: The United States nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children visited Nicaragua in March 2011. To date, the Ortega regime has revoked the non-profit status of over 5000 non-governmental, non-profit organizations, including those funded by the Catholic Church who partnered with Feed My Starving Children. Since 2018, Catholic schools and universities have been seized, diocesan bank accounts have been frozen, religious congregations have been expelled, and their property confiscated. Yet the poor who relied on their assistance remain in Nicaragua. Image credit: Feed My Starving Children / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#almsgiving #attachment #needy #poverty #religiousLife #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 21 September: St. Titus Brandsma

Without poverty, a religious is a Pharisee, a gentleman of ease pretending to be a poor man. It is like someone who wants only the finer things of life disguising himself in the clothing of the poor. When religious are overly attached to unnecessary possessions or are always looking for luxuries, then we appear ridiculous before the Lord who received our vows.

Whenever someone comes seeking alms, give whatever you can. Giving alms is our way of life. It is the alms we receive that provide for our needs, and with our own alms, we must provide for those in need.  Whatever we give to the poor we give to God.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Chapter VI, Seeking God

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: The United States nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children visited Nicaragua in March 2011. To date, the Ortega regime has revoked the non-profit status of over 5000 non-governmental, non-profit organizations, including those funded by the Catholic Church who partnered with Feed My Starving Children. Since 2018, Catholic schools and universities have been seized, diocesan bank accounts have been frozen, religious congregations have been expelled, and their property confiscated. Yet the poor who relied on their assistance remain in Nicaragua. Image credit: Feed My Starving Children / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#almsgiving #attachment #needy #poverty #religiousLife #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 9 September: St. Raphael Kalinowski

The Visitation for 1901 was held on September 9 and was repeated every year at about the same time whenever [St. Raphael Kalinowski] was strong enough to undertake the journey. He wrote:

“They sent me to you in spite of my unworthiness. In order to carry out this visit well, I would have to have the spirit of our Father Elijah, our Mother Teresa and our Father John of the Cross, which I don’t have. So if anything good is to happen, it will be the work of God, but I will boast of my weaknesses.”

In the opinion of Kalinowski, the purpose of a canonical visit is found in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and he used this as a motto for the nuns.

“We are in Carmel,” he would say, “to submit to God in giving up the things of this world, and in that way drawing down on ourselves and others the help we need to attain eternal happiness. The best part of this sacrifice, which is also the most pleasing to God, is that we surrender our will to Him by the vow of obedience. Obedience is the death of one’s own will, but that’s not enough. We need to persevere until death…. Our obedience offers us the perfect opportunity for our will to disappear completely and the will of God to be the guide of our actions. So when is our obedience perfect? We can see it in the mirror which the canonical visitation holds up to us. This is a mirror of our sacred obligations. If you do not obey them perfectly, the visitor will point it out to you, and you should take that as if it came from the lips of God – with respect and joy.”

Timothy Tierney, O.C.D.

Chapter 8, “Vicar Provincial for the Carmelite Nuns”

Note: Saint Raphael Kalinowski was appointed Vicar Provincial for the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Galicia in 1901.

Tierney, T  2016,  Saint Raphael Kalinowski: Apprenticed to Sainthood in Siberia,  Balboa Press  Australia.

Featured image: Ruins of the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Zagórz, Poland. Image credit: uranos1980 / Adobe Stock.

#DiscalcedCarmelites #nuns #obedience #religiousLife #StRaphaelKalinowski

Quote of the day, 13 April: St. Louis Martin

My incomparable Father,

What Céline tells us is so like you! Ah, what a father we have! Truly, you are one of a kind… and so I’m not surprised that God is calling all your children to Himself, this father who cannot be matched! You are so precious to His heart that He cannot help but look upon you—and all who are yours—with a love beyond compare.

How our dear mother [St. Zélie] must be smiling down at you. How joyful she must be to see her little boat so well steered by you, guiding us all toward heaven.

O best of fathers, how great our responsibility will be if we do not become saints—if we do not follow in the path of your generosity. Ah, how Jesus will repay you a hundredfold for the lily you offer Him today—barely opened, yet full of freshness and purity.

Oh, your crown in heaven! My beloved Father, I see it already—radiant and beautiful. Ah, pray that your diamond not be too pale beside such glory.

I can say no more. You fill my heart—I am entirely yours.
Our Mother [Prioress Marie de Gonzague, O.C.D.] couldn’t help but weep as she read Céline’s account.
Ah! What a father you are!!

Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, O.C.D.
(Marie Martin)

Letter from Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart to her father, St. Louis Martin, 9 April 1888

Note: St. Thérèse entered the Carmel of Lisieux on the Feast of the Annunciation, which was deferred to Monday, April 9 in the year 1888 because March 25 was Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

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

Featured image: St. Thérèse outside the Lisieux Carmel. Image credit: Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What can you offer God this Holy Week with purity, generosity, and love?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#CarmelOfLisieux #familyLife #generosity #MarieMartin #MarieOfTheSacredHeart #postulant #religiousLife #StLouisMartin #StThérèseOfLisieux #vocations

Quote of the day, 5 February: St. Thérèse

You have hidden me forever in your Face!…
Divine Jesus, deign to hear my voice.
I have come to sing the inexpressible grace
Of having suffered…of having born the Cross…

For a long time I have drunk from the chalice of tears.
I have shared your cup of sorrows,
And I have understood that suffering has its charms,
That by the Cross we save sinners.

It is by the Cross that my ennobled soul
Has seen a new horizon revealed.
Under the rays of your Blessed Face,
My weak heart has been raised up very high.

My Beloved, your sweet voice calls me:
“Come,” you said to me, “already the winter has fled.
A new season is beginning for you.
At last day is taking the place of night.

Raise your eyes to your Holy Homeland,
And on thrones of honor you will see
A beloved Father…a dear Mother
To whom you owe your immense happiness!…

Your life will pass like an instant.
On Carmel we are very near Heaven.
My beloved, my love has chosen you.
I have reserved a glorious throne for you!….”

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

PN 16, Song of Gratitude of Jesus’s Fiancée

Note: On 5 February 1895, Céline Martin was clothed in the Carmelite habit and began her novitiate in the Carmel of Lisieux. St. Thérèse wrote the Song of Gratitude of Jesus’s Fiancée as a gift for her sister’s clothing.

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Kinney, D 1995, The Poetry of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: These are images of the note marking the day of Céline Martin’s clothing in the Carmelite habit, receiving the name “Geneviève of St. Teresa.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

#CarmelOfLisieux #CelineMartin #Clothing #monasticLife #novitiate #religiousLife #SrGenevièveOfTheHolyFace #StThereseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 27 January: St. Henry de Ossó

What a fat, ugly daughter of Eve you’ve become!

Sister Josefa, why did you come to the Society?
— To suffer and die for Jesus and His Teresa. —
What’s the life of a good religious?
A prolonged martyrdom.

Your trouble is that you don’t draw good from your trials.

Once, there was a dog people threw stones at, and in its fury, it bit the stones. Everyone laughed because the dog was breaking its teeth and solving nothing…

Look higher. Don’t you know that the Lord arranges all things for the good of those who love Him? Don’t you know that nothing comes to us or happens without our heavenly Father’s permission?

Foolish one, do you want to be humble without humiliations, virtuous without virtues, a saint without labor? Foolish one, when will you learn to live crucified with Jesus?

All this happens to you because of your little virtue. And these fits of anger don’t do any good for your soul or your body. Be sensible… all for Jesus. Be humble, and you’ll have peace.

Saint Henry de Ossó y Cervelló

Letter to Josefa Llatse (extract)
San Gervasio, 5 September 1888

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

Featured image: On 27 January 2016, the parish of Our Lady of Our Lady of Henar in the Archdiocese of Valladolid hosted a celebration in honor of St. Henry de Ossó, who is the patron saint of Spanish catechists. Don Luis Argüello presided at the Mass, which took place a few weeks before he was named Auxiliary Bishop of Valladolid. Image credit: Ángel Cantero, Iglesia en Valladolid / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#humility #peace #religiousLife #StHenryDeOssoYCervello #StTeresaOfAvila #suffering #trials #virtue

Quote of the day, 27 November: St. Edith Stein

My heart is stirred by a noble theme, I address my poem to the king, my tongue the pen of an expert scribe.

Psalm 45:1

The nun has bestowed herself and her whole life to Christ the King. By her vow of chastity, her heart and entire life are consecrated to Him and every human tie relinquished. By her vow of obedience, her own will is renounced: now she cannot do anything else but what the Lord commands her; she must be ready for every undertaking that He asks of her, executing everything in His service.

The man as well does all this freely as member of a religious order.

Is this a case where sex difference plays no role? Or is this a state for which the male or female species is more fitted? Can differentiation be seen in actual performance? The consummate surrender of the whole person is necessarily the same for both because it is the unique substance of the religious life.

The way to perfection of individual nature is loving devotion and surrender to God who is love. This surrender also represents the highest fulfillment of all feminine aspirations concerning their vocation. Correctly speaking, it is the highest fulfillment of our human vocation; but this is felt more vividly and sought more directly by the woman because it is in accordance with her specific nature.

Saint Edith Stein

Spirituality of the Christian Woman
Lectures given to the Organization of Catholic Women
Zurich, January 1932

Stein, E 2017, Essays On Woman, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 2, translated from the German by Oben, F, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

Featured image: Edith Stein on her clothing day, 15 April 1934. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

#love #spirituality #religiousLife #StEdithStein #surrender #nuns #friars #devotion #vocations #monks

Let us go on to other things that are also quite important, although they may seem small. Everything seems to be a heavy burden, and rightly so, because it involves a war against ourselves. But once we begin to work, God does so much in the soul and grants it so many favors that all that one can do in this life seems little….

Why should we, then, delay in practicing interior mortification? For interior mortification makes everything else more meritorious and perfect, and afterward enables us to do the other things with greater ease and repose. This interior mortification is acquired, as I have said by proceeding gradually, not giving in to our own will and appetites, even in little things, until the body is completely surrendered to the spirit [cf. Way, chap. 11, no. 5: “this determination is more important than we realize”].

The least that any of us who has truly begun to serve the Lord can offer Him is our own life. Since we have given the Lord our will, what do we fear? It is clear that if someone is a true religious or a true person of prayer and aims to enjoy the delights of God, he must not turn his back upon the desire to die for God and suffer martyrdom.

For don’t you know yet, Sisters, that the life of a good religious who desires to be one of God’s close friends is a long martyrdom? A long martyrdom because in comparison with the martyrdom of those who are quickly beheaded, it can be called long; but all life is short, and the life of some extremely short.

And how do we know if ours won’t be so short that at the very hour or moment we determine to serve God completely it will come to an end? This is possible.

In sum, there is no reason to give importance to anything that will come to an end. And who will not work hard if he thinks that each hour is the last? Well, believe me, thinking this is the safest course.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, Chap.12, nos. 1–2

Note: St. Teresa encouraged her nuns to actively prepare and practice for martyrdom, according to the accounts of 16th-century historian Belchior de Santa Ana, O.C.D. He indicates that Mother Maria de San José Salazar, O.C.D. carried the tradition of these pious recreations to the Carmel of Lisbon.

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: These metal stolperstein (“stumbling stones”) bear Edith and Rosa Stein’s names, marking the site of their arrest in front of the Carmel of Echt, Bovenstestraat 48. Image credit: Qwertzu111111 / Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/08/stj-longmartyrdom/

#desire #determination #DiscalcedCarmelites #martyrdom #martyrs #monasticLife #mortification #offering #religiousLife #selfDenial #StTeresaOfAvila

Let us go on to other things that are also quite important, although they may seem small. Everything seems to be a heavy burden, and rightly so, because it involves a war against ourselves. But once we begin to work, God does so much in the soul and grants it so many favors that all that one can do in this life seems little….

Why should we, then, delay in practicing interior mortification? For interior mortification makes everything else more meritorious and perfect, and afterward enables us to do the other things with greater ease and repose. This interior mortification is acquired, as I have said by proceeding gradually, not giving in to our own will and appetites, even in little things, until the body is completely surrendered to the spirit [cf. Way, chap. 11, no. 5: “this determination is more important than we realize”].

The least that any of us who has truly begun to serve the Lord can offer Him is our own life. Since we have given the Lord our will, what do we fear? It is clear that if someone is a true religious or a true person of prayer and aims to enjoy the delights of God, he must not turn his back upon the desire to die for God and suffer martyrdom.

For don’t you know yet, Sisters, that the life of a good religious who desires to be one of God’s close friends is a long martyrdom? A long martyrdom because in comparison with the martyrdom of those who are quickly beheaded, it can be called long; but all life is short, and the life of some extremely short.

And how do we know if ours won’t be so short that at the very hour or moment we determine to serve God completely it will come to an end? This is possible.

In sum, there is no reason to give importance to anything that will come to an end. And who will not work hard if he thinks that each hour is the last? Well, believe me, thinking this is the safest course.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, Chap.12, nos. 1–2

Note: St. Teresa encouraged her nuns to actively prepare and practice for martyrdom, according to the accounts of 16th-century historian Belchior de Santa Ana, O.C.D. He indicates that Mother Maria de San José Salazar, O.C.D. carried the tradition of these pious recreations to the Carmel of Lisbon.

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: These metal stolperstein (“stumbling stones”) bear Edith and Rosa Stein’s names, marking the site of their arrest in front of the Carmel of Echt, Bovenstestraat 48. Image credit: Qwertzu111111 / Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/08/stj-longmartyrdom/

#desire #determination #DiscalcedCarmelites #martyrdom #martyrs #monasticLife #mortification #offering #religiousLife #selfDenial #StTeresaOfAvila

Do you want to get to heaven? Embrace the baseness of poverty and it will be yours….

It is the love of the poor that establishes kings. Blessed are those who do not chase after those goods for which their possession is tiresome, whose love is defiling, and whose loss is torture…

The kingdom of God is given rather than promised to the poor… All those of good will… leaving all for Christ as He left all for them, follow Him wherever He goes.

Blessed John Soreth

Cited by François de Sainte-Marie, OCD
L’Esprit de la Règle du Carmel
Ephemerides Carmeliticae 02 (1948/1) 205-244

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

Featured image: This detail of a photo by Lili Almog shows a Discalced Carmelite nun revealing her profession cross. The photo was taken during Almog’s work on the Perfect Intimacy project, which highlighted the life of three Discalced Carmelite monasteries: Haifa, Bethlehem, and Port Tobacco (USA). Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/27/soreth-heaven/

#BlessedJohnSoreth #CarmeliteRule #followingJesus #FrançoisDeSainteMarie #heaven #JesusChrist #KingdomOfGod #love #poverty #religiousLife #renunciation

(…)  Now, in order that you may know what you ought to do at this time to fulfill the will of God, I tell you that you should be disposing the principal head of our city here, the Most Reverend Cardinal Archbishop. And if it may seem to Your Reverence that I should not intrude upon this work, I remind you of the words of the enamored Paul, that God chooses the weak things to do His great works [cf. 1 Cor 1:27].

Now I make known to you how you must act with the aforementioned Most Reverend Cardinal, in regard to the said work, every time that the opportunity is presented—and you much not fail to see for such opportunities. Take care to let him know of the ignorance in which his sheep find themselves, especially those men and women consecrated to God through the three vows made at the time of their profession, vows promised by many but observed only by a few.

Meanwhile, I beg you, together with all those who belong to your community, to offer yourselves promptly and willingly for this work. Nor should it appear to Your Reverence that you are doing a lesser work than that which the other Fathers and Brothers are going in the Indies, as they convert so many pagan souls to God by giving them, and adorning them with, the precious blood of Jesus—because, if one would look and consider well, recovering a jewel that was one lost is of no less price and value than finding one for the first time….

(…) Consider well and ponder the danger in which one stands who promises much and fulfills little. Resolve to be a true imitator of the apostles, who were not content with knowing and possessing God only for themselves, but desired and pressed on to make Him known to others!…

(…)  Excuse me a thousand times if my action should seem to you to be presumption—for I have not acted on my own account, but I have been forced by the slain and crucified Lamb—and put this work into execution!…

From our monastery of St. Mary of the Angels near Saint Fredian’s, 27 July 1586.

The humble handmaid of the Word Made Flesh
Sister Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

Letter 3 to the rector of the Jesuits in Florence
27 July 1586

Featured image: Statue of St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi in the exterior of Estrela Basilica, Lisbon. Image credit: KLMircea / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/24/pazzi-ltr3/

#apostles #encouragement #evangelization #Jesuits #religiousLife #StMaryMagdalenDePazzi #vows

« Howling is the noise of hell, singing the voice of heaven; sadness the damp of hell, rejoicing the serenity of heaven. »

― John Donne

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/718057318189875200/howling-is-the-noise-of-hell-singing-the-voice-of

#quotes #JohnDonne #religiouslife #heaven #hell

« Howling is the noise of hell, singing the voice of heaven; sadness the damp of hell, rejoicing the serenity of heaven. »

― John Donne

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/718057318189875200/howling-is-the-noise-of-hell-singing-the-voice-of

#quotes #JohnDonne #religiouslife #heaven #hell

« Howling is the noise of hell, singing the voice of heaven; sadness the damp of hell, rejoicing the serenity of heaven. »

― John Donne

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/718057318189875200/howling-is-the-noise-of-hell-singing-the-voice-of

#quotes #JohnDonne #religiouslife #heaven #hell

« Howling is the noise of hell, singing the voice of heaven; sadness the damp of hell, rejoicing the serenity of heaven. »

― John Donne

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/718057318189875200/howling-is-the-noise-of-hell-singing-the-voice-of

#quotes #JohnDonne #religiouslife #heaven #hell

« Heaven does not make holiness, but holiness makes heaven; because if you do not give yourself in sympathy to goodness, goodness cannot give itself in influence to you. »

― Phillips Brooks

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/717966759332872192/heaven-does-not-make-holiness-but-holiness-makes

#quotes #PhillipsBrooks #holiness #goodness #religiouslife

« Heaven does not make holiness, but holiness makes heaven; because if you do not give yourself in sympathy to goodness, goodness cannot give itself in influence to you. »

― Phillips Brooks

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/717966759332872192/heaven-does-not-make-holiness-but-holiness-makes

#quotes #PhillipsBrooks #holiness #goodness #religiouslife

« Heaven does not make holiness, but holiness makes heaven; because if you do not give yourself in sympathy to goodness, goodness cannot give itself in influence to you. »

― Phillips Brooks

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/717966759332872192/heaven-does-not-make-holiness-but-holiness-makes

#quotes #PhillipsBrooks #holiness #goodness #religiouslife

« Heaven does not make holiness, but holiness makes heaven; because if you do not give yourself in sympathy to goodness, goodness cannot give itself in influence to you. »

― Phillips Brooks

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/717966759332872192/heaven-does-not-make-holiness-but-holiness-makes

#quotes #PhillipsBrooks #holiness #goodness #religiouslife

From the beginning of his novitiate, he applied himself to the exercises of religious life with great fervor. He had singular affection for the Blessed Virgin Mary and was especially devoted to her. He had a filial trust in her protection. She was his refuge in all the problems of his life, in the troubles and anxieties that disturbed his soul, and therefore he would call her “his good mother.”

Father Joseph de Beaufort

Eulogy in Praise of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, No. 17

Lawrence of the Resurrection, B; De Meester, C 1994, Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God,  translated from the French by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Virgin and Child is an artwork from the workshop of Gerard David (Netherlandish, ca. 1455–1523). Painted in oil on oak panel between the years 1490 and 1523, this artwork is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/11/mdj2024-ep12/

#BlessedVirginMary #BrotherLawrenceOfTheResurrection #childlike #devotion #DiscalcedCarmelite #eulogy #filialAffection #JosephDeBeaufort #Paris #problem #protection #religiousLife #trust

We have surveyed the activity of woman in private and public life and have found it to be rich and fruitful. But in no way does this activity exhaust her potential.

Today as in all times since Christ’s Church first existed, the Lord calls from families and professional life whomever He has chosen for His holy service. Can the religious vocation claim to be a feminine vocation?

Certainly, the call is issued to men and women. And it is a supernatural vocation, for it comes from above, from the other world, summoning the human being to raise himself above the natural earthly level. And so it would seem that the natural differences between the sexes are irrelevant here.

Yet, on the other hand, the axiom still holds true: “Grace perfects nature—it does not destroy it.” Thus it may be expected that the masculine as well as the feminine nature is not abrogated in religious life but fitted into it in a particular way and thereby made fruitful.

Beyond this lies the possibility that the religious vocation, similar to worldly professions, has unique requirements and fits both the masculine and feminine nature each in its particular way.

The religious vocation is the total surrender of the whole person and his or her entire life to the service of God. The one called is obligated to use the means suitable for fulfilling his vocation: renunciation of every possession, of every vital human tie and relationship, and even of his own will.

This can be done in various ways; that is to say, the service which the Lord asks from His creatures can be of different kinds: quiet immersion in divine truth, solemn praises of God, propagation of the faith, works of mercy, intercession, and vicarious reparation.

“The deepest longing of woman’s heart is to give herself lovingly, to belong to another, and to possess this other being completely.” #StEdithStein

Tweet

Let us now examine how the essential elements of religious Orders relate to the feminine nature.

The motive, principle, and end of the religious life is to make an absolute gift of self to God in a self-forgetting love, to end one’s own life in order to make room for God’s life. The more perfectly this is realized, the more richly will God’s life fill the soul.

Then, God’s love is an overflowing love which wants nothing for itself but bestows itself freely; mercifully, it bends down to everyone who is in need, healing the sick and awakening the dead to life, protecting, cherishing, nourishing, teaching, and forming; it is a love which sorrows with the sorrowful and rejoices with the joyful; it serves each human being to attain the end destined for it by the Father.

In one word, it is the love of the divine Heart. The deepest longing of woman’s heart is to give herself lovingly, to belong to another, and to possess this other being completely. This longing is revealed in her outlook, personal and all-embracing, which appears to us as specifically feminine.

But this surrender becomes a perverted self-abandon and a form of slavery when it is given to another person and not to God; at the same time, it is an unjustified demand which no human being can fulfill.

Only God can welcome a person’s total surrender in such a way that one does not lose one’s soul in the process but wins it. And only God can bestow Himself upon a person so that He fulfills this being completely and loses nothing of Himself in so doing.

That is why total surrender which is the principle of the religious life is simultaneously the only adequate fulfillment possible for woman’s yearning.

Saint Edith Stein

The Ethos of Women’s Professions (excerpts)
Association of Catholic Academics, 1 September 1930

Note: On 15 April 1934, St. Edith Stein was clothed in the Carmelite habit and gave herself lovingly to God in the Carmel of Cologne-Lindenthal. Her novice mistress, Sr. Teresa Renata Posselt, OCD, described that day: “it was a feast such as the Cologne Carmel has never seen.”

Stein, E 2017, Essays On Woman, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 2, translated from the German by Oben, F, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

Featured image: Edith Stein on her clothing day, 15 April 1934. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/04/14/edith-essays1sep30/

#DivineHeart #feminine #God #heart #longing #religiousLife #selfGiving #service #StEdithStein #surrender #vocations #women

#SilentSunday #ReligiousLife #Eucharist

#SilentSunday #ReligiousLife #Eucharist

"Make those who will profess vows here learn through a long trial period not to think their life will amount to words alone, without deeds also."

(St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection 32:5, footnote 1, Kavanaugh translation)
#lent #StTeresaOfAvila #religiouslife #Catholic #Carmelite #quoteoftheday

"Make those who will profess vows here learn through a long trial period not to think their life will amount to words alone, without deeds also."

(St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection 32:5, footnote 1, Kavanaugh translation)
#lent #StTeresaOfAvila #religiouslife #Catholic #Carmelite #quoteoftheday

"Make those who will profess vows here learn through a long trial period not to think their life will amount to words alone, without deeds also."

(St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection 32:5, footnote 1, Kavanaugh translation)
#lent #StTeresaOfAvila #religiouslife #Catholic #Carmelite #quoteoftheday

"I know I will have to earn the holy habit with some severe #trials. They have already started in that my mother has begun with renewed vigor to oppose the forthcoming decision" to request to receive the #Carmelite habit in 1934

Read more!
http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/02/14/edith-15feb34/

#EdithStein #vocations #religiouslife #Catholic #saints #quotes

"I know I will have to earn the holy habit with some severe #trials. They have already started in that my mother has begun with renewed vigor to oppose the forthcoming decision" to request to receive the #Carmelite habit in 1934

Read more!
http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/02/14/edith-15feb34/

#EdithStein #vocations #religiouslife #Catholic #saints #quotes

"I hope to receive the veil on the 21st for the feast of Saint Agnes, but it hasn’t been decided yet for we don’t know if his Excellency will be free that day." St. Elizabeth of the Trinity explains the tentative plans for her to receive the black veil on 21 January 1903.

Learn more about her plans http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/01/20/sabeth-21jan1903/

#stelizabethofthetrinity #religiouslife #vocations #profession #veiling #discalcedcarmelite #nuns #carmel #dijon #veils #catholic

"I hope to receive the veil on the 21st for the feast of Saint Agnes, but it hasn’t been decided yet for we don’t know if his Excellency will be free that day." St. Elizabeth of the Trinity explains the tentative plans for her to receive the black veil on 21 January 1903.

Learn more about her plans http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/01/20/sabeth-21jan1903/

#stelizabethofthetrinity #religiouslife #vocations #profession #veiling #discalcedcarmelite #nuns #carmel #dijon #veils #catholic

Pauline Martin writes to her sister Thérèse on 7 January 1889: "You fill my heart with joy; I would really cry with joy when seeing that my little daughter, the dearest, holds nothing back in her holocaust… She is saying just like the Spouse in the Canticles: 'Come, my Beloved, let us go down into our garden'..." On 10 January, Thérèse was clothed in the holy habit of Carmel.

Read more:
http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/01/06/agnes-7jan89/

#stthereseoflisieux #paulinemartin #religiouslife #vocation #habit #carmelite

Pauline Martin writes to her sister Thérèse on 7 January 1889: "You fill my heart with joy; I would really cry with joy when seeing that my little daughter, the dearest, holds nothing back in her holocaust… She is saying just like the Spouse in the Canticles: 'Come, my Beloved, let us go down into our garden'..." On 10 January, Thérèse was clothed in the holy habit of Carmel.

Read more:
http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/01/06/agnes-7jan89/

#stthereseoflisieux #paulinemartin #religiouslife #vocation #habit #carmelite

With the beginning of the penitent season of Advent, I will be fasting from social media (including my tumblr, Discord, and this Mastodon account) every Friday and every Sunday.

We’ll see how it goes. It may even make a return during the Lenten season. 🤷🏻‍♀️

#Catholic #Advent #ReligiousLife