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Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2026-05-16 · 17:01 UTC

Quote of the day, 17 May: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

When He first came into the world what did He say? “You no longer delight in holocausts; so I have assumed a body and I come, O God, to do Your will” [Heb 10:5–7].

During the thirty-three years of His life this will became so completely His daily bread, that at the moment of handing over His soul into His Father’s hands, He could say to Him: “All is accomplished” [Jn 19:30]; yes, all Your desires, all have been realized, that is why “I have glorified You on earth” [Jn 17:4].

When Jesus Christ spoke to His apostles of this food which they did not know, He explained to them “that it was to do the will of Him who sent Me” [Jn 4:34]. Also He could say: “I am never alone. He who sent Me is always with Me because I do always the things that are pleasing to Him” [Jn 8:29].

Let us lovingly eat this bread of the will of God. If sometimes His will is more crucifying, we can doubtless say with our adored Master: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by,” but we will add immediately: “Yet not as I will, but as You will” [Mt 26:39]; and in strength and serenity, with the divine Crucified, we will also climb our calvary singing in the depths of our hearts and raising a hymn of thanksgiving to the Father. For those who march on this way of sorrows are those “whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His divine Son” [Rom 8:29], the One crucified by love!

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Heaven in Faith, Day 8, Second prayer

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: A detail from one of four photos taken by her brother-in-law Georges Chevignard on 22 December 1902, the day of her canonical examination; the exam took place days before her religious profession on Epiphany Sunday, 11 January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by permission)

#incarnation #JesusChrist #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #submission #willOfGod

#willofgod #submission #stelizabethofthetrinity #jesuschrist #incarnation

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2026-01-27 · 18:01 UTC

Quote of the day, 28 January: Venerable Mãezinha

Strive to live the perfection of love through daily fidelity. Forget what is past, and live generously in the will of God.
As long as your will is united to Jesus and you seek to please Him, all goes well—despite falls and failures.
It is worth making the effort. It is worth renouncing ourselves for the One who sacrificed everything for us. After a few brief moments of struggle, there awaits an eternity of joy and unending happiness.

Venerable Maria Immaculata of the Most Holy Trinity, “Mãezinha”

Pensamentos, Thoughts on the path of holiness

Venerable Maria Immaculata of the Most Holy Trinity

Born on January 12, 1909, in Maria da Fé, in the state of Minas Gerais, Maria Giselda Villela was marked from an early age by a deep and abiding faith and by a desire for total consecration to God. Upon professing her religious vows, she took the name Sister Maria Immaculata of the Most Holy Trinity (known as “Mãezinha,” meaning “Little Mother” in Portuguese) and distinguished herself by a spirituality centered on the mystery of the Trinity and by an intense life of prayer, lived with silent fidelity and persevering dedication.

Her vocation found full expression in the founding of the Carmel of the Holy Family in Pouso Alegre. There, she played a decisive role in establishing Carmelite life within the local Church and in fostering a contemplative witness attentive to the concrete realities and needs of the people.

Venerable Maria Immaculata of the Most Holy Trinity died on January 20, 1988, in Pouso Alegre, leaving as her spiritual legacy a community marked by fidelity to the Carmelite charism, the centrality of prayer, and filial trust in the action of God.

On Thursday, January 22, 2026, Pope Leo XIV approved the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Mãezinha.

Prayer

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
I adore You profoundly and, with all the affection of my heart,
I thank You for having chosen the Servant of God
Maria Immaculata of the Most Holy Trinity (Mãezinha)
to belong entirely to You in Carmel.

I ask You that, if it be Your will,
she may soon be canonized.
I also ask You, through the intercession of the Servant of God,
to grant me the following grace:

Here mention your intention

Pray the Ave Maria and the Gloria Patri three times

Those who receive graces through the intercession of the Servant of God Maria Immaculata of the Most Holy Trinity are asked to communicate them to:

Carmel of the Holy Family
Rua Comendador José Garcia, 1307
CEP 37553-101 – Pouso Alegre – MG
Brazil

Phone: +55 (35) 3421-1103
Email: [email protected]

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

Featured image: Venerable Mãezinha holds an image of the Infant Jesus. Image credits: Photograph of Mãezinha courtesy of the Discalced Carmelites (by permission); collage created in Adobe Express by Carmelite Quotes.

#holiness #MariaGiseldaVillela #MariaImmaculataOfTheMostHolyTrinity #VenerableMãezinha #willOfGod

#willofgod #venerablemaezinha #mariaimmaculataofthemostholytrinity #mariagiseldavillela #holiness

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2026-01-21 · 18:01 UTC

Quote of the day, 22 January: St. Teresa of the Andes

I’ve been in Carmel 6 months, Isabel, 6 months of heaven, undisturbed by anything on earth, 6 months of living hidden in my adored Word, listening to His Word of life, contemplating His infinite beauty.

If I could but explain to you the immense void in which I live as far as anything having to do with the world is concerned, you’d envy me.

It’s Jesus, my Isabel, who is the only attraction in my life. It’s He, with His charms and sweetness, who leads me to forget everything.

Still, there are times—believe me—when a person suffers. And don’t think that a Carmelite’s sufferings are of any ordinary type. And yet in her suffering it’s as though a Carmelite rejoices, isn’t that so, sister dear? Especially when it is Jesus Himself who crucifies us, who breaks us to pieces. We find ourselves happy to be His plaything.

You understand all too well the language of the cross; I don’t need to tell you to love the cross; for it is on the cross that our soul’s transformation in God is accomplished. But don’t think that because of this that I suffer, for believe me, I wish I could suffer much more.

The best thing of all is to love God’s will. It is there that we find the cross better than in any other place. It is there that this blessed tree grows correctly, without hindrance, for it is without our choice, without any personal satisfaction whatsoever.

Do you feel in your soul this love for God’s will?

Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes

Letter 149 to Elisa Valdes Ossa, November 1919 (excerpts)

Note: This lengthy, undated letter also reflects—especially in its later paragraphs—the spiritual influence of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity on Teresa, the young Carmelite. On this date in 1986, Saint John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroicity of her virtues, by which she received the title Venerable.

Griffin, M D & Teresa of the Andes, S 2023, The Letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Saint John Paul II waves farewell to the faithful at the conclusion of the Mass of Beatification of Teresa of Jesus of the Andes in Parque O’Higgins, Santiago, Chile, 3 April 1987. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by permission).

#cross #JesusChrist #StTeresaOfTheAndes #suffering #willOfGod

#willofgod #suffering #stteresaoftheandes #jesuschrist #cross

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2026-01-17 · 18:01 UTC

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

#willofgod #servantofgod #perejacquesdejesus #obedience #jews

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2025-06-25 · 17:01 UTC

Quote of the day, 26 June: Blessed Mary Josephine

It has always been my heart’s burning desire to fulfill the will of God; I have never wanted anything else. I have lived and am living the divine will. It is something I need more than the food I eat and the air I breathe.
— Blessed Mary Josephine of Jesus Crucified
Autobiography

Looking more closely at the history and message of Blessed Mary Josephine, we better understand the inescapable need for a contemplative dimension in every Christian life. Her example shows us a concrete path for cultivating it. Her very existence was a true school of charity—toward her fellow sisters and, through her cloistered life, toward a wide apostolic field she served only to help others love the Lord more deeply.

She, too, like Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, did not want to “become a saint by halves.”

With her own unique character and mystical gifts—marked by extraordinary spiritual experiences—she embodied a life entirely rooted in one guiding conviction: “I want to live by feeding on the will of God… I want my will to be made one with His.”

Again, in her Diary, she wrote: “I ardently desire to live in the will of God. I know that this is how saints are made, and I want to become a saint to give glory to God.”

This program of life should be the great aspiration of every Christian, in perfect harmony with the words of Christ, our only and supreme model: “My food is to do the will of the Father” (Jn 4:34), because “whoever does the will of God lives forever” (1 Jn 2:17).

Cardinal José Saraiva Martins

Message at the Beatification of Blessed Mary Josephine of Jesus Crucified
Naples, 1 June 2008

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

Featured image: A nun kneels before Blessed Mary Josephine in the cloister of the Carmel at Ponti Rossi. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (Used by permission).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What would it mean for you to feed on the will of God in your daily life?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#beatification #BlessedMaryJosephineOfJesusCrucified #gloryToGod #homily #willOfGod

#willofgod #homily #glorytogod #blessedmaryjosephineofjesuscrucified #beatification

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2025-05-03 · 17:01 UTC

Quote of the day, 4 May: St. Raphael Kalinowski

‘Do you love me? Do you love me?’ [Cf. Jn 21:15-17]. Love gives strength to do the will of God in every situation, to avoid everything that might displease Him, to work and to suffer for His glory.

St. Teresa wanted to suffer or to die; St. Magdalen de Pazzi did not want to die, but to suffer.

Love is strong as death [Sg 8:6]. And just as nothing can resist death, love gives strength to triumph over every challenge. Then you don’t feel pain, and if you do you welcome it. From this fire of God’s love the flame of love of neighbor arises.

Anyone who loves God with all his heart desires that God be loved by all and this desire pervades his whole life….

But who is able to achieve such a degree of perfect love, which will free our soul from attachment to any earthly goods and completely unite our will with God’s will?

When the Divine Savior again asks us for our hearts, let us ask Him to take them to Himself; only He can purify them and light the fire of holy love and an ardent desire to be detached from everything and to want only His holy will.

Saint Raphael Kalinowski

Tierney, chap. 8: Vicar Provincial for the Carmelite nuns (1901)

Tierney, T 2016, Saint Raphael Kalinowski: Apprenticed to Sainthood in Siberia, Balboa Press, Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This detailed view of The Denial of St. Peter by an anonymous follower of Gerard (Gerrit) van Honthorst (Dutch, 1592–1656) was painted in the 17th century and is now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The canvas, cut on all four sides, is believed to be based on an engraving after van Honthorst’s original, dated around 1620–25 and held in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Christian tradition has long seen Jesus’ threefold question to Peter in John 21 as a loving invitation to reaffirm his devotion, undoing his triple denial on the night of Christ’s Passion. Image credit: Copyright ©Museo Nacional del Prado (Public domain)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How is Jesus inviting me to respond more fully to His love, even in the face of weakness or failure?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#detachment #GodSLove #hearts #inspiration #love #perfection #StRaphaelKalinowski #strength #suffering #willOfGod

#willofgod #suffering #strength #straphaelkalinowski #perfection #love

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2025-04-27 · 17:01 UTC

Quote of the day, 28 April: Blessed Chiquitunga

During her postulancy at the Carmel of Asunción, Blessed Maria Felicia of the Blessed Sacrament (Chiquitunga) passed through a dark night that tested her vocation.

After a month of “heaven” in her new Carmelite life, during Lent of 1955, Sister Maria Felicia began to feel profound insecurity about her choice, made against the advice of almost everyone she knew. She thought: Wasn’t my decision to enter a cloistered monastery simply an act of self-will?—an opinion expressed strongly by the newly appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Asunción, Monsignor Ramón Bogarín.

From this insecurity came the fear that she had taken the wrong path; the fear produced deep spiritual dryness; and from all of this arose the obsessive temptation: I must leave the cloister… and if I don’t, it’s because I’m a coward.

The community confessor, the same one who had actively resisted her entrance into Carmel, pressured her to decide once and for all. Finally, on 9 August, Sister Maria Felicia made her decision—to leave. She recounts it herself:

Today, I was resolved to leave, but with the anguish of bearing the cross of my infidelity without any merit. The confessor flatly told me to say whether I was leaving or staying. I told him I would leave. A coldness of death came over me, an anguish so deep it even choked back my tears (Spiritual Diary, C, folio 15).

Before giving her final word, Sister Maria Felicia suggested they cast lots—and the confessor, eager to settle the matter once and for all, agreed. Accompanied by the Prioress at that supreme moment, they prayed before the Blessed Sacrament and placed two folded papers at the feet of a statue of Mary.

Sister Maria Felicia drew one. The confessor opened it. It read: I want to die in Carmel.

Immediately, she cried out, convinced and determined: Jesus, my Jesus! Yes, this is Your will.

At the same time, she experienced her weakness and poverty: You see my weaknesses, my cowardice, my fears, my miseries! Alone I can do nothing!

She entrusted everything to the Lord: Jesus, into Your hands I entrust my vocation!

She knew that only He could give her the strength needed to overcome herself, for at times: The weight of Your will is so heavy that I would rather die! I fear sacrifice, I fear the Cross. Help me, Blessed Virgin! Little Jesus of Prague, miracle worker of my vocation! (Spiritual Diary, C, folios 15–16).

Supported by this conviction, trust, and surrender, she renewed the offering she had made from her early youth:

Father! My Father, God of my life. My nothingness—so truly Yours—I offer it back to You today, not knowing how many times I will yet snatch it away again, desperately kicking and screaming to do my own will and not Yours.

In reality, she had never truly withdrawn her will from God. The anguish before the Cross is not a rebellion—just as it was not rebellion in Jesus at Gethsemane.

Still, she renewed her complete surrender:

Here I am, Lord! Your will! But aided by Your strength, Your love, and Your mercy, my God!

Thus, even in the midst of the “dark night,” without emerging from it, in faith, hope, and love, God’s will triumphed.

The Carmelite postulant had died to herself, united to the death of Christ.

Father Julio Félix Barco, o.c.d.

Enseñanzas desde el Carmelo (Lessons from Carmel)

Monte Carmelo 2018, Enseñanzas desde el Carmelo. De los escritos de María Felicia de Jesús Sacramentado-Chiquitunga, no. 1, vol. 126, Monte Carmelo, Burgos. Available at: https://bcd.digicarmel.com (Accessed: 26 April 2025). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.

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

Featured image: Blessed Maria Felicia of the Blessed Sacrament—Chiquitunga—on the day of her clothing in the Carmelite habit, 14 August 1955. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (Used by permission).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Where in my life is Christ asking me to entrust everything to Him, even when I cannot see the way forward?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#anguish #BlessedMariaFeliciaOfJesusInTheBlessedSacrament #Chiquitunga #darkNight #discernment #lottery #mercy #postulant #willOfGod

#willofgod #postulant #mercy #lottery #discernment #darknight

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2025-04-14 · 17:01 UTC

Quote of the day, 15 April: St. Teresa of the Andes

I want you to know that I’d give anything to preach to the whole world blind abandonment into God’s hands.

Believe me, I’ve felt Him within me as I work along, since I’ve asked Him for nothing but what He wants and nothing more.

I’ve told my Jesus that He’s the Captain. Let Him give the orders. His soldier will follow Him to death, as long as He helps me with His grace.

Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes

Letter 86 to Mother Angelica Teresa of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D. (excerpt)
20 April 1919

Note: Father Michael Griffin, O.C.D.—translator and editor of the Letters of St. Teresa of the Andes—comments on her correspondence with the prioress of the Carmel of the Holy Spirit at Los Andes, Mother Angelica Teresa:

At age seventeen, Juanita began corresponding with Mother Angelica Teresa in hopes of being admitted to the Carmel of Los Andes. All in all, she wrote Mother Angelica Teresa twenty letters. These letters shed great light on Juanita’s understanding of the Carmelite vocation and show how earnestly she wanted to become “the perfect friend and bride of the Lord’s heart” (L 51).

One is especially struck by the complete honesty and sincerity with which the aspirant allowed Mother Angelica “to read her soul” to the point that she can say, “Rev. Mother, you can’t complain that your little daughter doesn’t talk to you heart-to-heart” (L 30).

Assuring Mother Angelica of her great desire to enter the Order and to “be able to wear the habit of Carmel with honor” (L 36), she never hesitated to manifest her faults, some of which she felt could disqualify her from this beautiful vocation.

What were these possible impediments to her vocation? For one thing, Juanita did not feel she was holy enough. Furthermore, she was afraid she might not have the health required for such an austere vocation.

There is no doubt but that Mother Angelica was powerfully impressed with Juanita’s letters. In fact, she told Juanita she was a “born Carmelite.” Just how impressed she was can be garnered from a reading of the outstanding Circular Letter Mother Angelica wrote to the other Carmels immediately after Sister Teresa’s death. Mother Angelica was fully convinced “that her knowledge of the Carmelite vocation did not come from her intelligence and reflection alone. These thoughts came, she said, from an understanding which God put in her soul concerning the vocation to which He was calling her.”

Griffin, M D & Teresa of the Andes, S 2023, The Letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This striking image of Christ Pantocrator—inspired by the style of Viktor Vasnetsov—shows Jesus blessing with His right hand while holding the Gospel open in His left. The Slavonic text and iconographic details suggest it originates from a Russian or Serbian Orthodox church. Image credit: oleg_ru / Adobe Stock (Used under license).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What helps you trust Jesus as your Captain—even when you don’t know where He’s leading?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#abandonment #CarmeliteSpirituality #grace #SequelaChristi #soldier #StTeresaOfTheAndes #willOfGod

#willofgod #stteresaoftheandes #soldier #sequelachristi #grace #carmelitespirituality

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2025-01-19 · 00:07 UTC

Quote of the day, 19 January: St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi

Turning to an image of the Blessed Virgin, [Sister Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi] said:

“O Mary! I see after all the most pure and resplendent eyes of my Spouse, looking down upon me with a countenance no longer troubled but benign. But, pray! tell me, O my Jesus, what did I do in so short a space of time for which I may have deserved so sweet and smiling a look?”

And she was answered: “Conformity of will.”

In August of 1588, the wine in a keg in the monastery having become sour and the mother prioress having no means to provide good wine, she ordered Sister Mary Magdalen to pray to Jesus that He might be pleased to turn the spoiled wine again into good wine.

Then our Saint, strengthened by obedience, took a little framed picture which represented St. [James], and going with it to the wine cellar, after a short prayer, made the sign of the cross over the keg.

After this, the sister butler came to draw wine, and found it, in fact, restored to its former good taste. The nuns gave thanks to God, who had so miraculously provided for their needs.

A fellow sister, Mary Angiola Santucci, was then confined to her bed by a serious illness, and, on hearing of this miracle, asked for a drink of the wine. No sooner had she tasted it than she felt a notable relief from her illness, and, feeling her hope of ultimate recovery increase, she wanted to taste more of it on the following day. After this, she felt better; and on the third day, taking the same small quantity, she recovered her health entirely, to the inexpressible wonder of the sisters, who could not help being cognizant the double prodigy worked through the virtue of our humble and holy [Sister].

Father Placido Fabrini

Chapters 25 and 17 (excerpts)

The Marriage at Cana
Master of the Catholic Kings (Spanish, active c. 1485/1500)
Oil on panel, c. 1495/1497
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

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.

#beloved #BlessedVirgin #conformity #miracle #obedience #StMaryMagdalenDePazzi #willOfGod #wine

#wine #willofgod #stmarymagdalendepazzi #obedience #miracle #conformity

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2025-01-15 · 00:45 UTC

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

#willofgod #trust #suffering #servantofgod #prayer #politicalprisoner

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2025-01-12 · 22:09 UTC

Quote of the day, 13 January: St. Edith Stein

“By this I know that you love me, if you keep my commandments” [cf. Jn 14:15].

If we are children of God we shall be led by His hand, doing His will, not our own. We shall place every care and hope in Him and be no longer troubled about ourselves and our future. This is the reason why God’s children are free and happy.

But how few even of the truly pious, even of those ready for heroic sacriﬁces, possess this freedom. They all walk as if they were bent down by the heavy burden of their cares and duties. They all know the parable of the birds of the air and the lilies of the ﬁeld. But if they meet someone without capital or pension or insurance, and who yet lives without worrying about future, they shake their heads as if that were something extraordinary.

Indeed, if we expect from the Father in heaven that He will always provide for the income and station in life which we ourselves consider desirable, we may be very much mistaken. Only then can our trust in God remain unshaken, if it includes being prepared to accept absolutely everything from the hand of the Father, for He alone knows what is good for us.

And if one day want and the lack of even the necessities of life should be better for us than a comfortably secure income, or if we should need failure and humiliation rather than honour and reputation, we must be prepared also for this. If we do this, we can live for the present without being burdened by the future.

The words “Thy will be done” must be the rule of the Christian’s life in all their fullness. They must be the principle that regulates his day from morning to night, the course of the year, and his whole life. It then becomes the Christian’s only concern. For all other cares, the Lord will make Himself responsible; this alone will remain with us as long as we live.

From the objective point of view, it is not absolutely certain that we shall always remain in the ways of God. Just as the ﬁrst man and woman became estranged from God though they had been His children, so every one of us is always balancing, as it were, on the edge of the knife between nothingness and the fullness of the divine life. Sooner or later we shall be feeling this also subjectively.

In the infancy of the spiritual life, when we have just begun to surrender ourselves to the guidance of God, we feel His guiding hand very strongly; it is clear as daylight what we have to do and what to avoid.

But it will not remain like this. If we belong to Christ, we have to live the whole Christ-life. We must mature into His Manhood, we must one day begin the Way of the Cross to Gethsemani and to Golgotha. And all sufferings that come from without are as nothing compared with the dark night of the soul, when the divine light no longer shines, and the voice of the Lord no longer speaks.

God is there, but He is hidden and silent. Why is this so?

We are speaking of the mysteries of God, and these cannot be completely penetrated. But we may well look a little into them. God became Man in order once more to give us a share in His life. This is the beginning, and this is the last end.

But between these, there is something else. Christ is God and Man, and if we would share His life, we must share both in the divine and the human life. The human nature which He took enabled Him to suffer and to die. The divine nature which He possessed from eternity gave His suffering and death inﬁnite value and redemptive power.

Christ’s suffering and death are continued in His mystical Body and in each of His members. Every man must suffer and die. But if he is a living member of the Body of Christ, his suffering and death will receive redemptive power from the divinity of the Head.

This is the objective reason why all the saints have desired to suffer. This is not a pathological pleasure in suffering. It is true, to natural reason it appears as a perversion. But in the light of the mystery of salvation, it shows itself to be highly reasonable.

And thus, the man who is united to Christ will remain unmoved even in the dark night of feeling estranged from and abandoned by God. Perhaps divine providence is using his agony to deliver another, who is truly a prisoner cut off from God. Therefore we will say: “Thy will be done” even, and particularly so, in the darkest night.

Saint Edith Stein

The Mystery of Christmas, V. (“Thy Will Be Done”)
13 January 1931, Ludwigshafen, Germany

Stein, E 1931, The mystery of Christmas: incarnation and humanity, translated from the German by Rucker, J, Darlington Carmel, Darlington UK.

Featured image: Photographer Ian Chen captures this image of a person gazing at the Milky Way on a clear night amid the tufa spires of the Trona Pinnacles National Natural Landmark in the California Desert Conservation Area near Searles Lake, California. Image credit: ianchen0 / Unsplash (Stock photo)

#freedom #happiness #HeavenlyFather #Jesus #mystery #StEdithStein #suffering #trust #unionWithGod #willOfGod

#willofgod #unionwithgod #trust #suffering #stedithstein #mystery

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-12-09 · 22:31 UTC

Quote of the day, 10 December: Thomas Merton

O God, My God! Why am I so mute? I long to cry out and out to Thee, over and over, and Thou art nameless and infinite. All our names for Thee are not Thy name, infinite Trinity.

But Thy Word is Jesus, and I cry the name of Thy Son and live in the love of His heart and believe, if He wills, He will bring me the answer to my only prayer: that I may renounce everything and belong entirely to the Lord!

Saint Theresa, Little Flower, never cease praying for me!

J.M.J.T.

Thomas Merton

Part Three: St. Bonaventure’s, New York
5 December 1941

Note: Merton expert Fiona Gardner discusses Thomas Merton’s relationship with St. Thérèse of Lisieux in her 2012 article, “A Tremendous Experience”: The Influence of St. Thérèse of Lisieux on the Spirituality of Thomas Merton, which was published by the International Thomas Merton Society in its scholarly journal, The Merton Seasonal: A Quarterly Review. Thomas Merton was killed on 10 December 1968 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Merton T & Hart P 1995, Run to the mountain: the story of a vocation, 1st edn, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco.

Featured image: Father M. Louis (Thomas) Merton, O.C.S.O. is seen at his desk in the front room of his hermitage on the grounds of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Nelson County, Kentucky. In the background, a statue of St. Thérèse is illuminated by light streaming through a stained glass window of a French church. Image credits: Father Merton, Merton Center / Wikimedia Commons (fair use); St. Thérèse, Franck / Adobe Stock (Stock photo)

#discernment #HolyTrinity #infinite #intercession #prayer #sacrifice #StThereseOfLisieux #ThomasMerton #vocation #willOfGod

#discernment #holytrinity #infinite #intercession #prayer #sacrifice

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-12-09 · 22:31 UTC

Quote of the day, 10 December: Thomas Merton

O God, My God! Why am I so mute? I long to cry out and out to Thee, over and over, and Thou art nameless and infinite. All our names for Thee are not Thy name, infinite Trinity.

But Thy Word is Jesus, and I cry the name of Thy Son and live in the love of His heart and believe, if He wills, He will bring me the answer to my only prayer: that I may renounce everything and belong entirely to the Lord!

Saint Theresa, Little Flower, never cease praying for me!

J.M.J.T.

Thomas Merton

Part Three: St. Bonaventure’s, New York
5 December 1941

Note: Merton expert Fiona Gardner discusses Thomas Merton’s relationship with St. Thérèse of Lisieux in her 2012 article, “A Tremendous Experience”: The Influence of St. Thérèse of Lisieux on the Spirituality of Thomas Merton, which was published by the International Thomas Merton Society in its scholarly journal, The Merton Seasonal: A Quarterly Review. Thomas Merton was killed on 10 December 1968 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Merton T & Hart P 1995, Run to the mountain: the story of a vocation, 1st edn, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco.

Featured image: Father M. Louis (Thomas) Merton, O.C.S.O. is seen at his desk in the front room of his hermitage on the grounds of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Nelson County, Kentucky. In the background, a statue of St. Thérèse is illuminated by light streaming through a stained glass window of a French church. Image credits: Father Merton, Merton Center / Wikimedia Commons (fair use); St. Thérèse, Franck / Adobe Stock (Stock photo)

#discernment #HolyTrinity #infinite #intercession #prayer #sacrifice #StThereseOfLisieux #ThomasMerton #vocation #willOfGod

#willofgod #vocation #thomasmerton #stthereseoflisieux #sacrifice #prayer

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-12-09 · 22:31 UTC

Quote of the day, 10 December: Thomas Merton

O God, My God! Why am I so mute? I long to cry out and out to Thee, over and over, and Thou art nameless and infinite. All our names for Thee are not Thy name, infinite Trinity.

But Thy Word is Jesus, and I cry the name of Thy Son and live in the love of His heart and believe, if He wills, He will bring me the answer to my only prayer: that I may renounce everything and belong entirely to the Lord!

Saint Theresa, Little Flower, never cease praying for me!

J.M.J.T.

Thomas Merton

Part Three: St. Bonaventure’s, New York
5 December 1941

Note: Merton expert Fiona Gardner discusses Thomas Merton’s relationship with St. Thérèse of Lisieux in her 2012 article, “A Tremendous Experience”: The Influence of St. Thérèse of Lisieux on the Spirituality of Thomas Merton, which was published by the International Thomas Merton Society in its scholarly journal, The Merton Seasonal: A Quarterly Review. Thomas Merton was killed on 10 December 1968 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Merton T & Hart P 1995, Run to the mountain: the story of a vocation, 1st edn, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco.

Featured image: Father M. Louis (Thomas) Merton, O.C.S.O. is seen at his desk in the front room of his hermitage on the grounds of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Nelson County, Kentucky. In the background, a statue of St. Thérèse is illuminated by light streaming through a stained glass window of a French church. Image credits: Father Merton, Merton Center / Wikimedia Commons (fair use); St. Thérèse, Franck / Adobe Stock (Stock photo)

#discernment #HolyTrinity #infinite #intercession #prayer #sacrifice #StThereseOfLisieux #ThomasMerton #vocation #willOfGod

#discernment #holytrinity #infinite #intercession #prayer #sacrifice

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-12-05 · 02:12 UTC

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

#willofgod #virginity #virginmary #servantofgod #perejacquesdejesus #obedience

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-09-24 · 19:30 UTC

READING

When the blue Sky becomes somber
And begins to abandon me,
My joy is to stay in the shadow
To hide and humble myself.
My joy is the Holy Will
Of Jesus, my only love,
So I live without any fear.
I love the night as much as the day.

PN 45, Stanza 3

REFLECTION

What do you do when life feels dark or uncertain? St. Thérèse teaches us that true joy is not dependent on circumstances. Even when the sky becomes somber, she found joy in staying humble and trusting the Holy Will of Jesus. Her love for Him gave her the courage to live without fear, embracing both the night and the day. Today, reflect on how you respond when life feels uncertain or dark. Ask St. Thérèse to help you trust God’s will, finding peace and joy even in the shadows.

NOVENA PRAYER

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus,
remember your promise to do good on earth;
send your shower of roses in abundance
on those who call upon you,
and obtain for us from God the graces
we are waiting to receive from His infinite goodness.

mention your intentions here

God our Father,
you have promised your kingdom
to those who are willing to become like little children.
Help us to follow the way of Saint Thérèse with confidence
so that by her prayers
we may come to know your eternal glory.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever. Amen.

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.

Thérèse of Lisieux, S 1995, The Poetry of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, translated from the French by Kinney, D, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/24/tejnovena24-4/

#darkness #fearless #hidden #humility #Jesus #joy #love #night #novena #shadows #StThereseOfLisieux #TheLittleFlower #willOfGod

#willofgod #thelittleflower #stthereseoflisieux #shadows #novena #night

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-08-23 · 21:55 UTC

A small group of nuns and visitors present for worship on the feast of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel on July 16, 1560, were discussing the obstacles to a life of prayer presented by the large number of nuns living in the monastery [of the Incarnation] and the visitors.

María de Ocampo, a young relative of the saint and a celebrated beauty, suggested that someone should establish a monastery in which the life of the ancient hermits could be revived. In all seriousness, she offered her dowry for this. The next day Teresa told her trusted friend Doña Guiomar de Ulloa (a young widow who like her led a life of prayer under the strict direction of Fr. Baltasar Alvarez) of this conversation. Doña Guiomar enthusiastically took up the idea.

But what was decisive was that the Lord himself was calling for the project.

“He assured me that he would be very well-served in a monastery I might found, that this house would become a star shedding the brightest light. God added that, even thought they had lost some of their earlier enthusiasm, the orders were nevertheless of great service to him. What would the world be if there were no more monasteries?”
[Cf. The Book of Her Life, ch. 32, no. 11]

According to the will of the Lord, the new house was to be consecrated to St. Joseph.

Saint Edith Stein

Love for Love: The life and works of St. Teresa of Jesus
12. St. Joseph’s of Avila, the First Monastery of the Reform

“I wanted to rest a little since I had hardly slept the whole night… and all the days had been truly tiring” (St. Teresa, recalling 24 August 1562).
Tweet

Stein, E. 2014, The Hidden Life: hagiographic essays, meditations, spiritual texts, translated from the German by Stein, W, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

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: Professor José Luis Pajares Gómez shares this historic postcard showing the main entrance of St. Teresa’s first reformed monastery from his private collection. It was published in Avila around 1925 by Edición A. Medrano. Image credit: José Luis Pajares Gómez, avilas.es / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/23/edith-24aug1562/

#DiscalcedCarmelite #foundation #history #inspiration #reform #StEdithStein #StJosephSMonastery #StTeresaOfAvila #willOfGod

#discalcedcarmelite #foundation #history #inspiration #reform #stedithstein

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-08-23 · 21:55 UTC

A small group of nuns and visitors present for worship on the feast of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel on July 16, 1560, were discussing the obstacles to a life of prayer presented by the large number of nuns living in the monastery [of the Incarnation] and the visitors.

María de Ocampo, a young relative of the saint and a celebrated beauty, suggested that someone should establish a monastery in which the life of the ancient hermits could be revived. In all seriousness, she offered her dowry for this. The next day Teresa told her trusted friend Doña Guiomar de Ulloa (a young widow who like her led a life of prayer under the strict direction of Fr. Baltasar Alvarez) of this conversation. Doña Guiomar enthusiastically took up the idea.

But what was decisive was that the Lord himself was calling for the project.

“He assured me that he would be very well-served in a monastery I might found, that this house would become a star shedding the brightest light. God added that, even thought they had lost some of their earlier enthusiasm, the orders were nevertheless of great service to him. What would the world be if there were no more monasteries?”
[Cf. The Book of Her Life, ch. 32, no. 11]

According to the will of the Lord, the new house was to be consecrated to St. Joseph.

Saint Edith Stein

Love for Love: The life and works of St. Teresa of Jesus
12. St. Joseph’s of Avila, the First Monastery of the Reform

“I wanted to rest a little since I had hardly slept the whole night… and all the days had been truly tiring” (St. Teresa, recalling 24 August 1562).
Tweet

Stein, E. 2014, The Hidden Life: hagiographic essays, meditations, spiritual texts, translated from the German by Stein, W, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

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: Professor José Luis Pajares Gómez shares this historic postcard showing the main entrance of St. Teresa’s first reformed monastery from his private collection. It was published in Avila around 1925 by Edición A. Medrano. Image credit: José Luis Pajares Gómez, avilas.es / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/23/edith-24aug1562/

#DiscalcedCarmelite #foundation #history #inspiration #reform #StEdithStein #StJosephSMonastery #StTeresaOfAvila #willOfGod

#willofgod #stteresaofavila #stjosephsmonastery #stedithstein #reform #inspiration

Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] · 2024-08-23 · 02:32 UTC

A bird caught in birdlime has a twofold task: It must free itself and cleanse itself. And by satisfying their appetites, people suffer in a twofold way: They must detach themselves and, after being detached, clean themselves of what has clung to them.

Those who do not allow their appetites to carry them away will soar in their spirit as swiftly as the bird that lacks no feathers.

Sayings of Light and Love, nos. 22–23

Here we have the reason for stating that two wills become one. And this one will is God’s will, which also becomes the soul’s. If a person were to desire an imperfection unwanted by God, this one will of God would be undone because of the desire for what God does not will.

Clearly, for a soul to reach union with God through its will and love, it must first be freed from every appetite, however slight. That is, one must not give consent of the will advertently and knowingly to an imperfection, and one must have the power and freedom to be able, upon advertence, to refuse this consent.

Some examples of these habitual imperfections are: the common habit of being very talkative; a small attachment one never really desires to conquer, for example, to a person, to clothing, to a book or a cell, or to the way food is prepared, and to other trifling conversations and little satisfactions in tasting, knowing, and hearing things, and so on.

Any of these habitual imperfections to which there is attachment is as harmful to progress in virtue as the daily commission of many other imperfections and sporadic venial sins that do not result from a bad habit. These latter will not hinder a person as much as will the attachment to something. As long as this attachment remains, it is impossible to make progress in perfection, even though the imperfection may be very small.

It makes little difference whether a bird is tied by a thin thread or by a cord. Even if it is tied by thread, the bird will be held bound just as surely as if it were tied by cord; that is, it will be impeded from flying as long as it does not break the thread. Admittedly the thread is easier to break, but no matter how easily this may be done, the bird will not fly away without first doing so.

This is the lot of those who are attached to something: No matter how much virtue they have they will not reach the freedom of the divine union.

An individual’s appetite and attachment resemble the remora, which, if successful in clinging to a ship, will hold it back and prevent it from reaching port, or even from sailing, even though this fish is exceptionally small.

It is regrettable, then, to behold some souls, laden as rich vessels with wealth, deeds, spiritual exercises, virtues, and favors from God, who never advance because they lack the courage to make a complete break with some little satisfaction, attachment, or affection (which are all about the same) and thereby never reach the port of perfection.

This requires no more than a sudden flap of one’s wings in order to tear the thread of attachment, or to get rid of the clinging remora.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, I, chap. 11, nos. 3–4

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Djalma Paiva Armelin captured this image of a glittering-throated emerald hummingbird (Chionomesa fimbriata) feeding in Brazil in 2017. Image credit: Djalma Paiva Armelin / pexels.com (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/22/juan-birdlime/

#attachment #bird #freedom #love #perfection #power #sin #StJohnOfTheCross #unionWithGod #willOfGod

#attachment #bird #freedom #love #perfection #power