#servantofgod — Public Fediverse posts

Surrender

woe are we
birthed into adversity
blind to the realm of eternal possibility

the prophet spake
the servant did a double take
suddenly saw the surrounding angelic host awake

these battles are not your own
for you strive not against flesh and bone
sit back and watch as your deliverance is sown

July 2, 2015

Surrender

woe are we
birthed into adversity
blind to the realm of eternal possibility

the prophet spake
the servant did a double take
suddenly saw the surrounding angelic host awake

these battles are not your own
for you strive not against flesh and bone
sit back and watch as your deliverance is sown

July 2, 2015

Surrender

woe are we
birthed into adversity
blind to the realm of eternal possibility

the prophet spake
the servant did a double take
suddenly saw the surrounding angelic host awake

these battles are not your own
for you strive not against flesh and bone
sit back and watch as your deliverance is sown

July 2, 2015

Surrender

woe are we
birthed into adversity
blind to the realm of eternal possibility

the prophet spake
the servant did a double take
suddenly saw the surrounding angelic host awake

these battles are not your own
for you strive not against flesh and bone
sit back and watch as your deliverance is sown

July 2, 2015

Surrender

woe are we
birthed into adversity
blind to the realm of eternal possibility

the prophet spake
the servant did a double take
suddenly saw the surrounding angelic host awake

these battles are not your own
for you strive not against flesh and bone
sit back and watch as your deliverance is sown

July 2, 2015

Quote of the day, 2 June: Père Jacques de Jésus

Don’t forget to pray with the weight of your worries. Suffering is such a powerful prayer! Let your trial detach you from the earth, and, freed, rest in God without trouble or worry. Say over and over to God: “Fiat voluntas tua!”

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Letter to a friend, 29 September 1936

The Servant of God Jacques de Jésus, O.C.D., who was a professed friar of the Province of Paris-Avon, an ordained priest, and the headmaster of the Discalced Carmelite friars’ boys’ preparatory school at Avon, the Petit Collège Sainte-Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus, died on this date, 2 June 1945 in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Linz, Austria following 70 weeks in Nazi prison camps.

Père Jacques was weakened by a year of hard labor and harsh conditions at Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps in Austria; when the Allied Forces liberated the camps on 5 May 1945, he summoned the strength to help restore order and organize relief efforts. But 15 days later the Allied camp commanders transferred him to St. Elizabeth Hospital so that he could be close to the community of the Discalced Carmelite friars at Linz. It was there that he succumbed to illness and exhaustion at 45 years of age.

The diocesan process of his cause of beatification was opened in 1990. The English-language website for his cause includes the Prayer for Beatification and the address where you can send reports of favors received.

The World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem has a featured story dedicated to Père Jacques. It includes a description of his heroic acts to shelter Jewish students at the preparatory school, for which he was arrested. It also quotes the testimony of witnesses to his arrest and imprisonment and provides links to read full accounts of witnesses’ testimonies. On 17 January 1985 Yad Vashem recognized Père Jacques as Righteous Among the Nations. You can find an entire page devoted to Père Jacques (Lucien Bunel), which includes his featured story, testimonies, and photos.

Listen to the Silence – A Retreat with Père Jacques, is available for purchase from the publisher, ICS Publications.

Province de Paris des Carmes Déchaux (2024) ‘Carême 2024 – Semaine 5 : Apprendre l’obéissance’, Retraites spirituelles en ligne du Carmel, 13 March. Available at: https://retraites.carmes-paris.org/careme-2024/careme-2024-semaine-5-apprendre-lobeissance/ (Accessed: 31 May 2026).

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

Featured image: A student at the Petit Collège in Avon visits Père Jacques de Jésus in the headmaster’s office. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by kind permission).

Quote of the day, 20 January: Hermann Cohen

Holy Communion! That is my safeguard, and I ask only one thing of this great God, so full of love: that He grant me, at the hour of death, that inestimable grace of being able to receive Communion—the holy viaticum of the poor traveler!

Oh! it already seems to me that I see it, that delightful and ardently desired hour, when the chains that hold me captive far from my God will finally fall into dust.

Ah! it seems to me that I see it, that final hour, that hour of love! Yes—there, in my poor little cell, lying on the hard floor, surrounded by my Carmelite brothers, who will exhort me to weep for my faults and to lift up my heart to God, and who will sing the hymns of our homeland!…

And then I hear footsteps in the distance, and as it were plaintive voices chanting in cadence; it is a procession… it advances, it draws near to my narrow retreat. Oh my brothers, quickly, I beg you, scatter flowers along my path; it is my Beloved—it is Jesus, my Spouse, who is coming to fetch me!… He Himself!

Great God! You deign to descend into the hovel of this wretched and unworthy sinner! From where does this favor come to me? Unde hoc mihi? (Why has this happened to me? Lk 1:43). What! My God, You enter under my humble roof to visit me and to give me the kiss of peace—and I would fear Your justice?

But do You not Yourself come to reassure me by Your gentle embraces, and does not the priest, in showing You to me, say: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world… Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my wretched dwelling; but say only the word, and my soul shall be saved.”

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Death Before the Eucharist (1860)

Note: On January 9, 1871, Hermann Cohen contracted smallpox while anointing two prisoners of war in Spandau—likely through a small scratch on his finger—and his condition steadily worsened. By January 13, he was confined to bed, already entrusting the work he had begun to others and expressing a calm readiness to be taken by God. On January 15, after a seizure, he received the last rites with visible joy and peace, renewed his Carmelite vows, and joined in the Te Deum, Salve Regina, and De Profundis, before bidding farewell to his brothers and requesting burial at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin. As his strength failed further, he told the sister caring for him, “So I am going to die. May God’s holy will be done; besides, if I were cured, I would have to witness distressful things.” He gave his final blessing to those around him and died quietly on the morning of January 20, 1871, at the age of forty-nine—a true martyr of charity, having laid down his life in loving service, and yielding his generous soul into the arms of eternal love.

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Featured image: A Discalced Carmelite nun in Valladolid receives Holy Communion on Saint Teresa’s feast day in 2016. Image credit: Angel Cantero, Iglesia en Valladolid / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #death #Eucharist #HermannCohen #ServantOfGod

Quote of the day, 18 January: Père Jacques de Jésus

Mr. Zamansky, who was a prisoner with Père Jacques at the Royallieu camp, gave the following account of the moment when Père Jacques knew that he was leaving in one of the convoys heading east:

“We saw them off. Père Jacques was among them, his face imbued with the same peace we knew him for, but he was serious in his look and his walk. Surrendering oneself to God can only be done without any ulterior motive, and above all, without any hope of choice. And I think that’s what Père Jacques was saying the last minute I saw him: ‘Fiat voluntas tua.’ ”

In an interview given at the Carmelite convent in Avon, Mr. Michel de Bouard recounts how he was with Père Jacques in the quarantine block at the Mauthausen camp, when he told Père Jacques that he’d made a vow if he got out of that hellhole alive. Père Jacques thought about it for a moment, then said:

“No, you mustn’t tempt God; he’s the one who decides. Say ‘Fiat voluntas tua’ [Thy will be done (cf. Mt 26:42)].”

Fr. Didier-Marie Golay, ocd

Lent 2024 Carmelite Online Retreat, Week 5

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus—Discalced Carmelite priest and headmaster of the Carmelite boys school in Avon, France—endeavored to live the truth of his message, living a life of silence, obedience, and charity.

During the Nazi occupation of France, he enrolled three Jewish boys under false names and employed a fourth boy as a worker at the school and monastery of the friars. With the aid of a local villager, he was able to shelter the father of one of the students. Furthermore, he hired a noted Jewish botanist as a faculty member at the boarding school.

On 15 January 1944 between 10:00 and 10:30 in the morning, the German officers came for Père Jacques and the three students he had been sheltering at the boarding school; in a separate Gestapo raid in Fontainebleau, the botanist, his mother, and his sister were arrested at their home.

Although Père Jacques was sent to different concentration camps, the students, their botany teacher, and his family were incarcerated in the Melun detention center in Paris on 15 January. On 18 January they were transferred to the Drancy transit camp in the northeastern suburb of Paris.

On 3 February 1944 the students, their teacher, and his family were deported to Auschwitz in a transport of roughly 1200 persons. Upon their arrival in Auschwitz on 6 February, 985 persons were sent directly to the gas chambers. The Carmelite students from Avon, their botany teacher, his mother, and his sister all perished that day.

Only the fourth boy survived because he was working in the monastery on 15 January when the Gestapo arrived.

Prayer for the Beatification of Père Jacques de Jésus

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

Featured image: Père Jacques and some of the boys he cared for through the years. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by permission).

#Jews #obedience #PèreJacquesDeJésus #ServantOfGod #willOfGod

Quote of the day, 5 January: Brother Jean Thierry Ebogo

I know what you are thinking, Mama, but I can assure you that I am preserving my purity. I prayed to Jesus to give me the gift of chastity, and I have no doubt that I will be heard. I want to be a priest, and I want to remain pure until the priesthood.

Servant of God Brother Jean Thierry of the Child Jesus and of the Passion Ebogo

4 February 1982, Cameroon – 5 January 2006, Italy

Note: Born in Cameroon in 1982, Servant of God Brother Jean Thierry of the Child Jesus and of the Passion entered the Discalced Carmelites in Cameroon in 2003, but his formation was soon marked by severe illness. Diagnosed with a malignant bone tumor that led to the amputation of his right leg, he bore suffering with remarkable serenity and charity, encouraging others and abandoning himself wholly to the divine will. In 2005, he was brought to Italy for treatment, where a recurrence of cancer spread throughout his body. With special permission from Rome, he professed his solemn vows in his hospital room in Legnano on December 8, 2005, in the presence of his mother. Drawn to him were many—youth, religious, priests, and the sick—whom he consoled while quietly concealing his own pain. After receiving the Eucharist, he died peacefully on January 5, 2006; his final words, spoken while gazing at an image of divine mercy, were a simple exclamation of love: “How beautiful Jesus is.”

Featured image: Brother Jean Thierry is joined by his mother, Marie-Thérèse Ebogo at his bedside in Legnano on the day of his solemn profession in 2005. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission).

#chastity #FriarJeanThierryEbogo #prayerForTheBeatification #purity #ServantOfGod

Quote of the day, 10 November: Hermann Cohen

Yes, my God! Yes, my Jesus! I declare it: this life was mine, before I knew you; before I loved You. Yes, my brethren, I have experienced it; and may my bitter experience serve as a warning to you….

Never finding the happiness I sought, I was ever fleeing from that which pursued me, until, one day… I enter a church…

The priest at the altar raises in his hands a small white disc…

I gaze upon the Sacred Host, and I hear these words: Ego sum Via, Veritas et Vita—I am the Way, the Truth, the Life!

Great God, but can it be?…

Yes, Saul, on his way to Damascus, whither he was hastening as a rapacious wolf to ravage the Christian flock, fell to the ground on hearing this same voice: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!” [Acts 9:4]…

“Lord, what am I to do?”

Do you not see, my brethren? Order is restored. He stretches out his hands, his arms, his heart, his soul, his will, his whole being, towards this true and only end, the will of God. See how he’s converted! May we do likewise.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Homily on Repentance
From Life of the Reverend Father Hermann by Abbé Charles Sylvain

Note: Father Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD (Hermann Cohen) was born in a wealthy Jewish family in Hamburg on 10 November 1820. His life’s journey took him from Hamburg to Paris as a student of Franz Liszt and his career as a successful, internationally recognized concert pianist. In May 1847, he experienced a dramatic conversion when he substituted for a musician friend as music director for the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.  Two years later, Cohen entered the Discalced Carmelite friars in Le Broussey, France, took the name Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, and went on to exercise a rich and fruitful priestly ministry.

The Association of Hebrew Catholics offers a brief biographical article written by another Jewish convert and Discalced Carmelite, Father Elias Friedman.

We also recommend the official Discalced Carmelite biography of the Servant of God, published in Italian by the Postulator General.

Finally, we provide the official Prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God Father Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, Hermann Cohen.

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This drawing of Father Augustine-Mary (Hermann) Cohen, O.C.D. is based on a portrait of the Servant of God that appeared in Dr. Boissarie’s medical documentation, Les grandes guérisons de Lourdes (The Great Healings of Lourdes). Father Cohen’s story appears in the section devoted to “Diseases of the Eyes.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission)

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #birthday #conversion #HermannCohen #Jewish #ServantOfGod

Marie du jour, 9 May: Père Jacques

Consider those closest to Christ. Saint John the Apostle grasped what was indispensable for a clear understanding of his master.

John never tired of probing and querying Christ. We can see how John thus gained richer insights and fuller explanations, precisely because he went to the bother of approaching and asking Christ to clarify each day’s lesson.

I picture John walking close behind Christ as he made his way about the Holy Land.

Thus, John came to gain a wealth of intimate knowledge, which the other apostles did not acquire. Herein lies the explanation for the special character of the fourth Gospel.

While the other apostles traveled across the then-known world on their missionary journeys, John’s unique apostolate was to remain close to the Virgin Mary, whom Christ had entrusted to him. Thus were these two great souls conjoined in love and prayer.

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Conference 2, Christ, the Object of our Prayer
Monday 6 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How might I deepen my intimacy with Christ by remaining close to the Virgin Mary?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#BlessedVirginMary #Christ #discipleship #love #PèreJacquesDeJésus #prayer #ServantOfGod #StJohnTheApostle

Marie du jour, 5 May: Père Jacques

Let us likewise place ourselves in the presence of the Virgin Mary, our model of contemplation, who listened faithfully to God throughout her life. Let us ask her to teach us how to listen to God, to grasp his words, and to live them out.

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Retreat for the Carmel of Pontoise, Conference One 
Monday morning, 6 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How can I listen more faithfully to God in the quiet moments of my day?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#contemplation #faithfulness #God #listening #PèreJacquesDeJésus #prayer #presence #ServantOfGod #VirginMary

Marie du jour, 1 May: Père Jacques

God is eternal silence; God dwells in silence.

He is eternal silence because he is the One who has totally realized his own being because he says all and possesses all. He is infinite happiness and infinite life.

All God’s works are marked by this characteristic. Contemplate the Incarnation; it was accomplished in the silence of the Virgin Mary’s chamber at a time when she was in prolonged silence, her door closed.

Our Lord’s birth came during the night, while all things were enveloped in silence. That is how the Word of God appeared on earth, and only Mary and Joseph were silently with him. They did not overwhelm him with their questions, for they were accustomed to guarding their innermost thoughts.

Servant of God Père Jacques of Jesus

Retreat for the Carmel of Pontoise, Conference Eight 
Thursday evening, 9 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

 Featured image: Adoration of the Shepherds, unknown French active in Rome, ca. 1660. Pinacoteca Stuard, Parma. Image credit: mazanto / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What habits of interior silence might help me become more receptive to God’s presence?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#IncarnationOfChrist #MarieDuJour #nativity #PèreJacquesDeJésus #prayer #ServantOfGod #silence #StJoseph

Quote of the day, 1 April: Hermann Cohen

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me” (John 7:37).

Yesterday, my brothers, I begged alms of you in the name of Jesus Christ. Today I come in the name of Mary to ask for the bread of charity for these little orphans, whom devout women have so graciously welcomed.

I trust that you will not regret the appeal I make to you in the name of the Mother of orphans and the protector of the poor…

In Savoy, there is a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Waters. There, Mary shows herself the protector of all who come to seek healing from the waters of our thermal springs.

Ah! how many have found both life of the soul and life of the body in that blessed sanctuary!

… Would that in every place where people go in search of healing, there might also be a place of pilgrimage and a safeguard—a refuge to preserve the virtue of young girls and to draw them away from pleasures as harmful to the soul as they are to the body…

Yes, all of you, my brothers, who send your dear ones to seek health at the healing springs of our mountains, commend them to Our Lady of the Waters, that she may pour out upon them not only the medicinal waters but also the spiritual waters of grace.

Mary, Queen of the waters of nature and the spiritual waters of grace—this is the theme of my appeal.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

From his “Second appeal on behalf of an orphanage for young girls”

Note: The chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Eaux (Our Lady of the Waters), referenced by Father Cohen, was located approximately 20 km from Aix-les-Bains in Savoy. Founded in 1852 by Abbé Humbert Pillet, a canon of the cathedral of Chambéry, it became a sanctuary where many sought physical and spiritual healing. The shrine was officially inaugurated on 27 July 1856 by Bishop Étienne Marilley of Lausanne and Geneva.

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

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

Featured image: Warm and serene spring waters by 박정원 (Park Jung Won) via Flickr (Some rights reserved)

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Where do you go to seek healing? Share your story or intentions in the comments.

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #grace #healing #HermannCohen #ServantOfGod #VirginMary #water

Quote of the day, 13 February: Venerable Maria Lúcia

It was with affection that the Sisters [of the Carmel of Coimbra] traveled alongside Sister Lucia on the long journey of her life, which was illuminated by a profound love for Our Lady. This love always filled Sister Lucia’s soul and she was captured irresistibly in the Heart of God. There she found her treasure, the Precious Pearl in exchange for everything that was abandoned.

She felt the seductions of the world, the temptation of the devil, and the complaints of her nature. But she won everything with heroic fidelity to her ‘Yes’ on May 13, 1917.

The world was her only path to God, and although surrounded by many obstacles, she always took the path as a ray of light, as her intimate desire, purpose, and generous offering in favor of her brothers and sisters in Christ:

“I want my life to be a trail of light that shines on the path of my brothers and sisters showing them faith, hope, and charity.”

Venerable Maria Lúcia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart

Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Coimbra

Conclusion

of St. Teresa Coimbra Portugal, C 2015, A pathway under the gaze of Mary : biography of Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart O.C.D., translated from the Portuguese by Colson, J, World Apostolate of Fatima USA, Washington NJ.

Featured image: Lucia dos Santos in 1917. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

#anniversary #CarmelOfCoimbra #death #Fatima #LuciaOfFatima #OurLadyOfFatima #ServantOfGod #SrMariaLuciaOfTheImmaculateHeart

Quote of the day, 17 January: Père Jacques

And the Incarnate Word humbles himself by bending beneath God’s eternal desires. He becomes obedient.

Oh, world, stop and look! You are but ashes and dust, you are only a being of one day, and you dare to cry out in your excessive pride, ‘Neither God nor Master!’

See this man, Jesus of Nazareth, he is a visible man, but he is the invisible God, his human nature subsists, borne by a divine personality, he is the Son of God, he is the one who created you, and nothing that was made was made without him—and behold this all-powerful being, this God-man annihilates himself before his Father, lets himself be insulted, lets himself be mocked, lets himself be crucified, and all out of obedience. Christus factus est obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis (Christ became obedient unto death, and death on the cross, Phil 2:8)….

Ah, world, will you still say that obedience degrades and diminishes you, when Christ has sanctified this admirable virtue to such an extent? Will you be afraid to follow such a Master?

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Homily, Triduum of Perpetual Adoration
16 November 1928

Note: On 17 January 1985, the Israeli Holocaust museum Yad Vashem recognized Père Jacques de Jésus, under his baptismal name Lucien Bunel, as Righteous Among the Nations. You can learn more about the Servant of God from the official website dedicated to his cause; you can also pray for his beatification.

As the years pass and more Holocaust survivors die, it is important to remember that the mass extermination of Jews by the Germans is not fiction. It is not a myth. Carmelites such as Titus Brandsma, Edith Stein, Georg Häfner, and Père Jacques were all victims of Hitler’s “final solution.” Learn more of the facts about the Holocaust.

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

Featured image: From 1934 until his arrest in January 1944, Père Jacques de Jésus, OCD was the headmaster of the Petit Collège Sainte Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus, the Carmelite boarding school in Avon, France. Père Jacques is seen here at his desk, speaking with one of the students. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

#IncarnateWord #JesusChrist #LucienBunel #obedience #PèreJacquesDeJésus #RighteousAmongTheNations #ServantOfGod #spirituality #YadVashem

Quote of the day, 15 January: Père Jacques

In contemplating the life of Christ Jesus, Père Jacques sees him fulfilling the Father’s will. Often, he would quote the Gethsemane story: “Fiat voluntas tuas” (“Thy will be done,” Lk 22:42).

On 29 September 1936, he wrote to a friend:

“Don’t forget to pray with the weight of your worries. Suffering is such a powerful prayer! Let your trial detach you from the earth, and, freed, rest in God without trouble or worry. Say over and over to God: Fiat voluntas tua!”

He knew the cost of saying Fiat. In 1929, when he wished to enter Carmel, his bishop wrote to Rome and he was prevented from doing so. He confided in the prioress of the Carmel of Le Havre:

“For two days I struggled against a thousand feelings of sadness, despondency, discouragement and, above all, revolt. No matter how much my will repeated a sincere Fiat to the Good Lord, all sensitivity and pride shook and put wicked thoughts into my mind.”

With the breath of the Holy Spirit, Père Jacques would have the fortitude to repeat this Fiat in the deportation camps and to help his fellow prisoners say it. Several testimonies bear witness to this.

Mr. Zamansky, who was a prisoner with Père Jacques at the Royallieu camp, gave the following account of the moment when Père Jacques knew that he was leaving in one of the convoys heading east:

“We saw them off. Père Jacques was among them, his face imbued with the same peace we knew him for, but he was serious in his look and his walk. Surrendering oneself to God can only be done without any ulterior motive, and above all, without any hope of choice. And I think that’s what Père Jacques was saying the last minute I saw him: ‘Fiat voluntas tua.’ ”

In an interview given at the Carmelite convent in Avon, Mr. Michel de Bouard recounts how he was with Père Jacques in the quarantine block at the Mauthausen camp, when he told Père Jacques that he’d made a vow if he got out of that hellhole alive. Père Jacques thought about it for a moment, then said:

“No, you mustn’t tempt God; he’s the one who decides. Say ‘Fiat voluntas tua’ [Thy will be done (cf. Mt 26:42)].”

Mr. de Bouard continued:

“I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve realized that the true thought of faith, the deepest, the highest thought, is to say ‘Thy will be done’. Saying Fiat voluntas tua as we often did in the morning, on the roll-call square, in the smoke of the crematorium, was hard to say without reluctance. By giving me this instruction, Père Jacques, once again, showed me where the ridgeline was, where I had to try to place myself.”

Père Jacques didn’t just preach this abandonment to Divine Providence, he lived it to the end in his own flesh.

During the retreat that he preached at the Carmel of Pontoise, in a conference entitled: “Hope and abandonment,” he quoted from the Book of Job and concluded as follows:

“’Though he kill me, yet I will hope in him!’ [Job 13:15]. Here is a soul who knows what it is to hope—who knows what it is to trust in God—to say to God: ‘Our Father, Thy will be done!’”

Didier-Marie Golay, o.c.d.

Through the Cross Toward the Light
2024 Advent Online Retreat, Week 5

Prayer for the Beatification
of Père Jacques de Jésus

Learn more about Père Jacques

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

Featured image: Père Jacques with students from the Discalced Carmelite boarding school in Avon, France, Le Petit Collège Sainte Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus. Père Jacques served as headmaster from 1934 until his arrest. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

#concentrationCamp #faith #fiat #Mauthausen #PèreJacquesDeJésus #politicalPrisoner #prayer #ServantOfGod #suffering #trust #willOfGod

Quote of the day, 5 December: Père Jacques

We have also seen God’s remarkable preparation of the Virgin Mary for her role as Mother of the Word made flesh. God exempted her from original sin and its consequences.

She is pure creature; God is pure deity, totally independent. For the Virgin Mary, her virginity lies in being a pure creature of God, namely, a creature living in that total dependence on the will of God.

Indeed, when we examine the Virgin Mary’s life, when we gather the conclusions of the Fathers of the Church who dwelt on this Marian mystery, and when we study the works of theologians, we find that she was absolutely obedient to the will of God, even to the least indications of that will.

Servant of God Jacques de Jésus

Conference 6, Virginity in God and in Mary
Wednesday Evening, 8 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured Image: This detail from The Annunciation by the Italian artist Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1623 for Charles Emmanuel I, the Duke of Savoy. It is one of the masterpieces found in the collections of the Musei Reali di Torino. Image credit: Adobe Stock (stock photo)

#ImmaculateConception #MotherOfChrist #obedience #PèreJacquesDeJésus #ServantOfGod #VirginMary #virginity #willOfGod

Quote of the day, 22 November: Hermann Cohen

“I have finished with the world forever…”

Servant of God Hermann Cohen

At this stage in his story, Hermann Cohen, the recent convert, now intended to clear the debts he had incurred in his gambling days, and these were quite considerable. To achieve this aim, he resumed giving piano lessons.

At the same time, Cohen continued to join his friends in weekly nocturnal adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Since his conversion [May 1847] and even before his baptism [28 August 1847], Cohen had expressed to friends the desire to dedicate his life wholly to God as soon as he was free to do so. It would take him two years to reach that point. It was a difficult period for him.

Cohen became involved with helping the poor through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul founded by his contemporary Frédéric Ozanam. Cohen found this work a great source of inspiration while he prepared to enter a religious order. He subsequently supported the society by making appeals for them and using his musical talents to give fund-raising concerts for the poor.

At this point in his life, Cohen began to compose music for a collection of hymns that were written by a friend of his. These were called, “Praise of Mary.” and turned out to be a successful venture as the hymns proved very popular.

Cohen needed to give a final concert to pay off all his debts. It was a resounding success. Some of his earlier concerts had not been well prepared.

A Marist friend, Father Reculon, who accompanied him to this last concert, tells us that there was thunderous applause at the final curtain. He added that if the audience had known this was the last time they would hear Cohen’s glorious interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, and Chopin, their enthusiasm would have broken all bounds.

As for Cohen, he rejoined his friend in the dressing room of St. Cecilia’s Hall and threw out his arms in the dramatic gesture of the romantic.

“Ah,” he exclaimed, “I have finished with the world forever; with what joy, after my final note, I took my bow and bade it adieu.”

Timothy Tierney, O.C.D.

Chapter 6: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross

Note: Biographer Father Tierney provides details concerning Hermann Cohen’s transition from the concert stage to religious life. Although we don’t know the precise date, Cohen’s writings indicate that his famous conversion took place in May 1847 in the Church of St. Valère. His baptism followed on 28 August 1847 in the Paris chapel of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion.

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: Father Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D., the Servant of God Hermann Cohen seated at the double-manual keyboard. | Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #EucharisticAdoration #farewell #HermannCohen #inspiration #piano #selfDenial #ServantOfGod #vocation

The good Master, our lover, wants to possess my heart for himself alone; and not only my heart, but also my memory, my mind, my thoughts, and my attention. He does not want me to initiate anything, he does not want me to work in his service by preaching or other enterprises.

He wishes me to give myself and remain hidden, silent, forgotten, so that having been in some way a public figure with acclaim from a lot of people, I should now retire into obscurity through self-effacement and disappear as though I were dead so that my life may remain hidden in God with Jesus Christ.

I have never felt called as clearly as this. I enjoy great peace doing this though by nature I am expansive and given to continual activity.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

28 October 1869

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This drawing of Father Augustine-Mary (Hermann) Cohen, O.C.D. is based on a portrait of the Servant of God that appeared in Dr. Boissarie’s medical documentation, Les grandes guérisons de Lourdes (The Great Healings of Lourdes). Father Cohen’s story appears in the section devoted to “Diseases of the Eyes.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/27/cohen-28oc69/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #Call #GodAlone #heart #HermannCohen #hidden #mind #ServantOfGod #solitude

I would like you to live totally by the Eucharist. May he be the source of your thoughts, feelings, words and deeds. May he be the light that guides you, your inspiration, your model and your constant preoccupation.

As Magdalen shed tears and poured perfume over the feet of Jesus, may you never tire of offering your prayers, aspirations and gifts before the tabernacle.

I wish the Eucharist to be for you a fire of love, a burning fire, into which you can throw yourself so as to emerge as a flame with love and generosity.

May the altar where Jesus sacrifices himself, also receive your sacrifices, so that with him you may become a victim of love, whose odor of sweetness rises before the throne of the eternal.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Various spiritual counsels (excerpt)

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: First Mass, a photo by Jerome Stevenson, captures a solemn moment between two brothers. One has just been ordained and the other is still a seminarian who has just assisted at his brother’s first Mass. The photo was taken on 24 December 2006 in Rome. Image credit: Jerome Stevenson / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/21/cohen-vieeuch/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #Eucharist #fireOfLove #HermannCohen #Jesus #ServantOfGod #victimOfLove

Christ possessed the beatific vision precisely because no human “I” separated him from God. Thus Christ directly beheld God’s very being, as seen in heaven. Christ lived and moved about, bearing heaven within himself.

Conversely, the Blessed Virgin Mary did have a human “I.” As a totally human creature, she was a human person. As such, she would say, “I wish, I love or I do,” on the basis of her human personhood, which informed all her human actions.

However, the Virgin Mary was so closely conformed to God’s will, that her human “I” dissolved and became bathed in the divine will. Thus, both Christ and Mary attained the pinnacle of prayer.

Such prayer is the goal of the entire teaching of Saint John of the Cross. It is the “Living Flame of Love,” which blazes at the summit of the road and crowns the conclusion of the canticle. It is Mount Carmel itself. That flame burns with infinite intensity in Christ and with brilliant brightness in the Virgin Mary.

Like all others who have come to Carmel, we have come with that same goal in mind. “A[d] quid venisti?” (“Why have you come here?”). In response to the question: what is our life’s work, we have said: to be persons of prayer.

If we are not persons of prayer, our lives are meaningless. Even God can do nothing with us, if we are not persons of prayer. In the words of the Gospel: “You are the salt of the earth. But, if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot” [Mt 5:13].

In both the Church on earth and the Kingdom of Heaven, we are useless, unless we are persons of prayer. We live our life only once, not twice. Therefore, each day, which slips slowly through our fingers, hour by hour, is irretrievable. A life misspent is lost forever. Our life is a failure, if it is not a life of contemplation, love, and prayer.

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Conference 7, “Our Three Vows: Total Death”
Retreat for the Carmel of Pontoise
Thursday morning, 9 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: A moment of contemplation on the beach at La Rochelle (Charentes-Maritime) France. Photo credit: nicolas_oddo / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/08/jdj-conf7/

#BlessedVirginMary #contemplation #JesusChrist #livingFlameOfLove #love #MountCarmel #PèreJacquesDeJésus #prayer #ServantOfGod #StJohnOfTheCross

Our family was what is called a patriarchal family. Our parents, who in their youth had both considered entering religious life, kept a very fervent practice of the Christian life in their marriage.

My father absolutely made it a law to close his jewelry store on Sundays—despite the practice of other merchants in this specialty to the contrary and despite the urgings of his friends, who pointed out that he was losing the business of Sunday shoppers.

He was, moreover, quite devoted to religious practices and willingly sought the company of clergymen; and, out of respect for the priesthood, greeted all priests he met, even those he didn’t know.

Our mother was very pious and had affiliated herself with the Third Order of St. Francis. She applied herself to the education of her children to form them in practices of piety and thoughts of the faith.

Servant of God Léonie Martin
Sister Françoise-Thérèse, V.H.M.

Witness 7, Question 11
Ordinary Process for the Beatification of Thérèse of the Child Jesus

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

Featured image: This image of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin seated together is actually a composite image created from two different photographs of Louis and Zélie. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/11/leonie-witness7/

#causeOfBeatification #familyLife #LeonieMartin #memories #ServantOfGod #SrFrançoiseThérèseMartin #StLouisMartin #StZélieGuérin #testimonies

My dear friends in Jesus Christ,

I have just received a fresh token of Our Lady’s tender love for her children, and I am really happy to tell you about it.

Since last year, my sight was growing weaker due to fatigue. I spent the last six months in that lovely solitude of the desert in the Carmel at Tarasteix. There I had an unexpected attack of ophthalmia, and I was advised to go to Bordeaux to consult a specialist. About a month before that, I was banned from reading.

The specialist thoroughly examined my eyes and found them in a bad state—it was a complicated case. I was threatened with glaucoma and the loss of my sight. The doctor said inflammation was inevitable, and I would have to undergo an operation to excise the iris—an operation pioneered by Doctor Greafe of Berlin, the same man who treated my brother Louis.

When I left Bordeaux, I had to wear dark glasses with biconvex lenses, a green eyeshade, and take other precautions as well. Any light was unbearable, even that of a candle. It was very painful to try to read anything.

At this point, someone suggested that I make a novena to Our Lady of Lourdes, who had already cured several people of blindness. This suggestion appealed to me and all the more since I did not look forward to an operation, which in any event might not be successful.

I recalled that it was twenty-two years since Our Lady had obtained for me from the Lord of the Eucharist, a cure far more important than that of my bodily eyes.

The novena began on October 24, the feast of St. Raphael who had cured Tobit of his blindness. I bathed my eyes every day in water brought from the miraculous grotto, and I prayed to my Immaculate Mother as did a lot of other people.

On the sixth day of the novena, I walked from our house in Bagnères to Lourdes as I thought this was the best way to do the pilgrimage. In fact, already at Bagnères, I felt an improvement in my eyes each day of the novena as soon as the Lourdes water touched them. I even made a point of checking this improvement through the ophthalmoscope so that the doctor could see that the congestion of the visual organs was gradually diminishing—and I used nothing but Lourdes water.

Finally, the last day, which was the feast of All Saints, I arrived at the grotto itself close to the spring. My pain was gone as well as all the symptoms of the illness.

Since that day, I have been able to read and write as much as I like without glasses and without precautions, without effort and without fatigue. I can look at the sun or at gaslight or candlelight without feeling the slightest discomfort—and I have got my greatest wish—to continue my life as a hermit at our desert.

So, I am completely and totally cured! It is my inmost conviction that this cure is a miracle due to the intercession of Our Blessed Lady.

So for that reason, I need to proclaim in public as much as I can the goodness of the heart of Mary. I ask all of you who love our dear Mother to thank God for me, and I entreat all of you who are suffering to go to her with full confidence because no one has ever invoked her in vain.

Servant of God Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament
(Hermann Cohen)

6 November 1868
Bagnères-de-Bigorre

Note: Translator and editor Fr. Timothy Tierney, O.C.D. noted that medical science confirmed Cohen’s inmost conviction that he was miraculously cured at Lourdes. Here is what Dr. Gustave Boissarie said: “Among the events, which took place between 1868 and 1871, four have caught my attention particularly. One of the first cures to be published in the Annals of Lourdes is that of Father Hermann. Quite ill, he went to Bordeaux to consult a well-known specialist who formally diagnosed the presence of glaucoma and proposed the excision of the iris. On his return from Bordeaux, the illness deteriorated every day.” Dr. Boissarie repeats the train of events mentioned by Cohen himself and concludes, “We are not accustomed to cures as complete and instantaneous as this. They are quite outside the rules and traditions of our art. For my own part, I don’t know how to contest or interpret this happening.”

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This drawing of Father Augustine-Mary (Hermann) Cohen, O.C.D. is based on a portrait of the Servant of God that appeared in Dr. Boissarie’s medical documentation, Les grandes guérisons de Lourdes (The Great Healings of Lourdes). Father Cohen’s story appears in the section devoted to “Diseases of the Eyes.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/07/cohen-healing/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #Bordeaux #disease #eyes #healing #HermannCohen #light #Lourdes #OurLadyOfLourdes #reading #ServantOfGod #water

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Season 2 of the Carmelite Quotes podcast! This season, we’re dedicated to bringing you the inspiring stories of Carmelite saints and our powerful novenas.

Following the Discalced Carmelite liturgical calendar, we’ll present the biographies and stories of our Saints and Blesseds as their feast days are observed by the Order. From the dynamic reformer St. Teresa of Avila to the humble and loving St. Thérèse of Lisieux, our episodes will deepen your understanding of these remarkable figures who dedicated their lives to union with God.

In addition to the saints and blesseds, we’ll introduce you to our Discalced Carmelites who have been declared Venerable and those Servants of God proposed for veneration. These holy men and women continue to inspire us with their lives of prayer, sacrifice, and unwavering faith.

But that’s not all. We’ll also explore the richness and spiritual depth of Carmelite novenas, providing you with the prayers and reflections that can enrich your spiritual life. These powerful novenas are a means of seeking God’s grace and intercession, whether you’re praying for a special intention or seeking a deeper communion with God. They are a powerful way to draw closer to the heart of Jesus through Mary and the saints.

We invite you to join us on this journey of faith and reflection. Subscribe to the Carmelite Quotes podcast on your favorite platform, including Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, Audible, iHeart, and YouTube, and continue to visit carmelitequotes.blog to listen to episodes, find additional resources, reflections, and updates.

As we embark on this new season, let us be inspired by the lives of the Carmelite saints and their prayerful novenas. May their example and prayers lead us closer to God and deepen our spiritual journey.

Thank you for being a part of our Carmelite Quotes family. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Blessings from Carmel!

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/06/podcast-seas2/

#biography #blessed #DiscalcedCarmelite #inspiration #liturgicalCalendar #novena #Podcast #prayer #Saints #ServantOfGod #Venerable

Quote of the day, 2 June: Hermann Cohen

Faith shows us how to find happiness in God and in Jesus Christ God’s son. It is a mystery which pride cannot grasp. But to find Jesus Christ one must watch and pray. Scripture says, “Happy is the one who watches at the doors day and night” [cf. Prov 8:34] that is to say, who watches at the door of his heart to find Jesus Christ.

Faith shows us God’s goodness in Jesus Christ his Son. That’s a mystery which pride cannot penetrate. And the thing that proves that this truth comes from God is the fact that humankind does not invent something which it does not understand!

When I did not believe in Jesus Christ, a time when I was lost in the darkness of error, of night, of deep anguish, Jesus Christ sent peace and calm into my heart and the wisdom that replaced error on the horizon of my understanding. Whatever is not carried on in the world in the name of Jesus Christ cannot be wise for he is the source of wisdom.

The seraphic St. Teresa sought in prayer the eternal light which illumined her. So, pray, ask and you will receive this intoxicating wine of immortality which flows from the winepress of prayer. Raise yourselves to the summit of Carmel.

Take part in the sacred banquet of the poor to which the lowly are invited. Eat the bread, drink the wine which I have prepared for you.

By prayer we humble ourselves, we contemplate the distance which separates us from God. Prayer imparts faith. Look at the makeup of the person of prayer, there you will read peace and contentment. It is by prayer that we become engaged and captivated by the divine will which is true freedom.

Let us not confuse freedom with license. Freedom is the absence of all obstacles that can hamper the will in the accomplishment of good. Those obstacles are our passions. The divine will is directed to goodness and those who bend under the sacred yoke of that joyous will which is true freedom, fly to God in complete openness.

Faith is acquired through prayer which, united to faith, imparts peace, love, wisdom, light, freedom—all of which are contained in Jesus Christ.

Servant of God Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Sermon in Bordeaux Cathedral, 1852 (excerpts)

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This detail from the east window of Corpus Christi Church in Brixton, located in the Archdiocese of Southwark within the London Borough of Lambeth, was beautifully captured by photographer Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. The phrase Laudate Dominum omnes gentes is the opening line of Psalm 117 (or Psalm 116 in the Vulgate). Venerable Anne of Jesus intoned this psalm when founding the first Carmel in France. Similarly, Blessed Constance, the novice from Compiègne, intoned this same psalm as she led the procession of her sister martyrs to the guillotine. Image credit: Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

It is so awesome that it makes us weep with admiration and thanksgiving to think that a poor little human creature, our sister human being, had the tremendous honor of forming a body and bringing God into the world.

She received him, she guarded him, she enclosed him in the humble, narrow limits of her own body. What a privilege! The creator of the world called her “Mama.” She held him in her arms and cradled him at her breast.

You know very well that creation was not a passing gesture, as if God had withdrawn, leaving his work to continue according to determined laws. Creation is actually continuing while I speak to you. If God discontinued his creating action, all beings would instantly return to nothingness.

Creation is a work that continues unceasingly. This is a consoling thought, which puts us in the presence of God and into contact with the being of God.

Thus the little one who was there under Mary’s eyes was continuing the act of creating the world; he was creating and maintaining his mother in existence.

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jesus

Conference 5, “The Divine Preparation in Mary and in Us”
Retreat for the Carmel of Pontoise
Wednesday morning, 8 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/21/mdj2024-ep22/

#admiration #BlessedVirginMary #creator #creature #humanity #IncarnationOfChrist #MotherOfGod #motherhood #PèreJacquesOfJesus #ServantOfGod

You must try to maintain a deep peace in yourself and not allow yourself to become troubled. Ask Jesus to command the winds and the storms and bring about calm and tranquility in inner life. The world cannot give peace. Jesus the Lamb of God has come so that we may have it abundantly.

But of course we shall only have perfect peace in heaven. Here below where we are only in transit, we must keep aspiring to that peace which awaits us in the arms of God. One day we shall fall asleep and rest, as the Psalmist says, in Him who Himself is eternal peace.

Servant of God Hermann Cohen
(Augustine of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D.)

Various spiritual counsels

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: Latvian photographer Aleksejs Bergmanis captured this view of sunset above a sea of clouds in October 2017. Image credit: Aleksejs Bermanis / Pexels (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/09/cohen-peace/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #calm #heaven #HermannCohen #interiorLife #Jesus #LambOfGod #peace #rest #ServantOfGod #storm #world

Mary was a silent prayer; and it was in the silence of this silent, withdrawn prayer that Mary heard the Angel’s voice. She would not have heard it had she not been in silence.

Retreat for the Third Order (OCDS) of the Carmel of Chaville, 1936

And Mary? Her whole life slips into silence. Her soul is saturated with silence. The fullness of grace within her draws her soul into astonishing depths of silence.

Retreat for the Carmel of Gravigny, 1936

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Note: These two quotes were translated into English for the first time for the Carmelite Online Lenten Retreat in 2024.

Prayer for the Beatification of Père Jacques de Jésus

Father of Infinite Goodness,
You gave Père Jacques de Jésus
from childhood on the desire to love You
and to love all people
with an undivided heart.

You lavished him with talent
for the education of young people,
You chose him to become a priest,
You called him to enter the Order of Carmel.

Among the inhuman horrors of the concentration camps
You made him a fervent witness of faith and love,
until the perfect offering of his life.

Grant us the graces which we ask of You
by his intercession and,
if it is Your will,
glorify him in Your Church,
through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Reports of favors received can be sent to:

Vice-Postulation de la cause du Père Jacques
1, rue Père Jacques – 77215 AVON Cedex
FRANCE

Learn about Père Jacques de Jésus

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

Featured image: This is a detailed view of The Annunciation, an oil on copper painting by Flemish artist Frans Francken II (1581–1642). The painting dates to 1615–1625 and comes from the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago. Image credit: Art Institute of Chicago (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/05/mdj2024-ep05/

#archangelGabriel #God #listening #PèreJacquesDeJésus #prayer #presence #recollection #ServantOfGod #VirginMary

Silence was a hallmark of Père Jacques’ life, so deeply devoted to Our Lady. One of his fellow prisoners in the concentration camp testified to his contemplative spirit:

I can still see Père Jacques kneeling on the floor of that poor barrack, without a kneeler, without any support—his whole soul concentrated and united with God. This vision of Père Jacques alone was a great comfort to me. I see his eyes fixed on the altar, his eyes where a gentle flame shone, like the flame in a shrine.

Now, let’s hear Père Jacques’ inspiring words.

God is eternal silence; God dwells in silence. He is eternal silence because he is the One who has totally realized his own being because he says all and possesses all. He is infinite happiness and infinite life. All God’s works are marked by this characteristic. Contemplate the Incarnation; it was accomplished in the silence of the Virgin Mary’s chamber at a time when she was in prolonged silence, her door closed. Our Lord’s birth came during the night, while all things were enveloped in silence. That is how the Word of God appeared on earth, and only Mary and Joseph were silently with him. They did not overwhelm him with their questions, for they were accustomed to guarding their innermost thoughts.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Carmelite Quotes podcast for more inspiring quotes and reflections. We’re available on Spotify and will be appearing soon on other platforms.

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Mary at the Loom is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1895 by British artist William Henry Margetson (1861–1940). It comes from the collections of Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, England. Image credit: Victoria Art Gallery / ArtUK (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/01/mdj2024-ep001/

#God #incarnation #JesusChrist #nativity #night #PèreJacquesDeJésus #ServantOfGod #silence #StJoseph #VirginMary

Silence was a hallmark of Père Jacques’ life, so deeply devoted to Our Lady. One of his fellow prisoners in the concentration camp testified to his contemplative spirit:

I can still see Père Jacques kneeling on the floor of that poor barrack, without a kneeler, without any support—his whole soul concentrated and united with God. This vision of Père Jacques alone was a great comfort to me. I see his eyes fixed on the altar, his eyes where a gentle flame shone, like the flame in a shrine.

Now, let’s hear Père Jacques’ inspiring words.

God is eternal silence; God dwells in silence. He is eternal silence because he is the One who has totally realized his own being because he says all and possesses all. He is infinite happiness and infinite life. All God’s works are marked by this characteristic. Contemplate the Incarnation; it was accomplished in the silence of the Virgin Mary’s chamber at a time when she was in prolonged silence, her door closed. Our Lord’s birth came during the night, while all things were enveloped in silence. That is how the Word of God appeared on earth, and only Mary and Joseph were silently with him. They did not overwhelm him with their questions, for they were accustomed to guarding their innermost thoughts.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Carmelite Quotes podcast for more inspiring quotes and reflections. We’re available on Spotify and will be appearing soon on other platforms.

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Mary at the Loom is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1895 by British artist William Henry Margetson (1861–1940). It comes from the collections of Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, England. Image credit: Victoria Art Gallery / ArtUK (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/01/mdj2024-ep001/

#God #incarnation #JesusChrist #nativity #night #PèreJacquesDeJésus #ServantOfGod #silence #StJoseph #VirginMary

Silence was a hallmark of Père Jacques’ life, so deeply devoted to Our Lady. One of his fellow prisoners in the concentration camp testified to his contemplative spirit:

I can still see Père Jacques kneeling on the floor of that poor barrack, without a kneeler, without any support—his whole soul concentrated and united with God. This vision of Père Jacques alone was a great comfort to me. I see his eyes fixed on the altar, his eyes where a gentle flame shone, like the flame in a shrine.

Now, let’s hear Père Jacques’ inspiring words.

God is eternal silence; God dwells in silence. He is eternal silence because he is the One who has totally realized his own being because he says all and possesses all. He is infinite happiness and infinite life. All God’s works are marked by this characteristic. Contemplate the Incarnation; it was accomplished in the silence of the Virgin Mary’s chamber at a time when she was in prolonged silence, her door closed. Our Lord’s birth came during the night, while all things were enveloped in silence. That is how the Word of God appeared on earth, and only Mary and Joseph were silently with him. They did not overwhelm him with their questions, for they were accustomed to guarding their innermost thoughts.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Carmelite Quotes podcast for more inspiring quotes and reflections. We’re available on Spotify and will be appearing soon on other platforms.

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Mary at the Loom is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1895 by British artist William Henry Margetson (1861–1940). It comes from the collections of Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, England. Image credit: Victoria Art Gallery / ArtUK (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/01/mdj2024-ep001/

#God #incarnation #JesusChrist #nativity #night #PèreJacquesDeJésus #ServantOfGod #silence #StJoseph #VirginMary

Silence was a hallmark of Père Jacques’ life, so deeply devoted to Our Lady. One of his fellow prisoners in the concentration camp testified to his contemplative spirit:

I can still see Père Jacques kneeling on the floor of that poor barrack, without a kneeler, without any support—his whole soul concentrated and united with God. This vision of Père Jacques alone was a great comfort to me. I see his eyes fixed on the altar, his eyes where a gentle flame shone, like the flame in a shrine.

Now, let’s hear Père Jacques’ inspiring words.

God is eternal silence; God dwells in silence. He is eternal silence because he is the One who has totally realized his own being because he says all and possesses all. He is infinite happiness and infinite life. All God’s works are marked by this characteristic. Contemplate the Incarnation; it was accomplished in the silence of the Virgin Mary’s chamber at a time when she was in prolonged silence, her door closed. Our Lord’s birth came during the night, while all things were enveloped in silence. That is how the Word of God appeared on earth, and only Mary and Joseph were silently with him. They did not overwhelm him with their questions, for they were accustomed to guarding their innermost thoughts.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Carmelite Quotes podcast for more inspiring quotes and reflections. We’re available on Spotify and will be appearing soon on other platforms.

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Mary at the Loom is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1895 by British artist William Henry Margetson (1861–1940). It comes from the collections of Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, England. Image credit: Victoria Art Gallery / ArtUK (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/01/mdj2024-ep001/

#God #incarnation #JesusChrist #nativity #night #PèreJacquesDeJésus #ServantOfGod #silence #StJoseph #VirginMary

Servant of God Léonie Martin suffered from #eczema since childhood; in 1890, her condition was flaring badly, so a pilgrimage to Lourdes was planned. Read the letter from St. Thérèse describing Léonie's plans
🌊 https://carmelitequotes.blog

#stthereseoflisieux #leoniemartin #servantofgod #celinemartin #celine #leonie #pauline #pilgrimage #ourladyoflourdes #lourdes #feastday #catholic #carmelite #quotes

Servant of God Léonie Martin suffered from #eczema since childhood; in 1890, her condition was flaring badly, so a pilgrimage to Lourdes was planned. Read the letter from St. Thérèse describing Léonie's plans
🌊 https://carmelitequotes.blog

#stthereseoflisieux #leoniemartin #servantofgod #celinemartin #celine #leonie #pauline #pilgrimage #ourladyoflourdes #lourdes #feastday #catholic #carmelite #quotes

Servant of God Léonie Martin suffered from #eczema since childhood; in 1890, her condition was flaring badly, so a pilgrimage to Lourdes was planned. Read the letter from St. Thérèse describing Léonie's plans
🌊 https://carmelitequotes.blog

#stthereseoflisieux #leoniemartin #servantofgod #celinemartin #celine #leonie #pauline #pilgrimage #ourladyoflourdes #lourdes #feastday #catholic #carmelite #quotes

"I thrill with emotion when I think of it—at Benediction on the Feast of the Epiphany, He suffered Himself, in His measureless mercy, to be carried in my unworthy hands. Judge if I did not tremble, as I placed for Exposition on the Altar, the Creator of the Universe, held in my feeble hands… O, love of God!"
#ServantOfGod #HermannCohen

#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes

"I thrill with emotion when I think of it—at Benediction on the Feast of the Epiphany, He suffered Himself, in His measureless mercy, to be carried in my unworthy hands. Judge if I did not tremble, as I placed for Exposition on the Altar, the Creator of the Universe, held in my feeble hands… O, love of God!"
#ServantOfGod #HermannCohen

#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes

"I thrill with emotion when I think of it—at Benediction on the Feast of the Epiphany, He suffered Himself, in His measureless mercy, to be carried in my unworthy hands. Judge if I did not tremble, as I placed for Exposition on the Altar, the Creator of the Universe, held in my feeble hands… O, love of God!"
#ServantOfGod #HermannCohen

#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes

Père Jacques de Jésus reflections on the #Annunciation “When the angel Gabriel came to ask Mary's consent to the unique honor & extravagant joy of being the Mother of God, the Lord did not issue an order.”

Read his reflection👇🏾
💜 https://carmelitequotes.blog

📸 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes #VirginMary #angel #Gabriel #honor #joy #MotherOfGod #PereJacquesDeJesus #AuRevoirLesEnfants #ServantOfGod #inspiration #spirituality #theology

Père Jacques de Jésus reflections on the #Annunciation “When the angel Gabriel came to ask Mary's consent to the unique honor & extravagant joy of being the Mother of God, the Lord did not issue an order.”

Read his reflection👇🏾
💜 https://carmelitequotes.blog

📸 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes #VirginMary #angel #Gabriel #honor #joy #MotherOfGod #PereJacquesDeJesus #AuRevoirLesEnfants #ServantOfGod #inspiration #spirituality #theology

Père Jacques de Jésus reflections on the #Annunciation “When the angel Gabriel came to ask Mary's consent to the unique honor & extravagant joy of being the Mother of God, the Lord did not issue an order.”

Read his reflection👇🏾
💜 https://carmelitequotes.blog

📸 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes #VirginMary #angel #Gabriel #honor #joy #MotherOfGod #PereJacquesDeJesus #AuRevoirLesEnfants #ServantOfGod #inspiration #spirituality #theology