Obedience

We Carmelites seek the presence of God and call others to a deep connection with our Lord through our evangelical vows of chastity, poverty and OBEDIENCE.

The Rule consisted of sixteen articles, which enjoined strict obedience to their prior, residence in individual cells, constancy in prayer, and the hearing of Mass.

In keeping with the Carmelite tradition, the Carmelite monks profess the evangelical counsels by making vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty to God.

For the Carmelite Community, obedience corrects and purifies the relationship with God.

We exercise evangelical obedience “by being open to will of God”, in whom we imitate Jesus, Mary, and Joseph who were obedient to Father in everything.

The Carmelite reform of the nuns and the friars are due to St. Teresa's initiative under the impulse of the Holy Spirit and in obedience to the Magisterium of the Church.

This community of Carmelite hermits live a hidden life of silence and prayer and obedience to their Superior and their place within the Religious Community.

Carmelites take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to help them grow in their freedom to serve God and their neighbour.

The vow of obedience leads the nun to imitate the obedience of Jesus Christ. Carmelite Seculars, together with the Friars and Nuns, take the promise of obedience to live open to the will of God.

July 2018

Though I have finished writing about all the plants and trees I could recall since my childhood, I am uploading this pic because of its beauty!

This pic was clicked in July 2018 - the day these three plants were bought!

As one can make out, there's the variegated spider lily and the lemongrass, accompanied by the peace lily (as I was told by the local nursery).

But I still don't know the exact name of the third plant! If anyone is aware, please make me aware too!

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Mary, the Mother of God, has a multitude of titles under which she is invoked.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is Mary, mother of Jesus. Carmel is a mountain in Northern Israel, where the Carmelite order was founded in the twelfth century. Our Lady of Mount Carmel personifies the “enclosed garden” created solely for God and watered by Him, containing all beauty, grace, and virtues.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel means Mary as she is honoured in the Carmelite Order. Mary is first seen as patron. This is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The brown scapular and the rosary are given by her. Blessed Virgin Mary said to St. Dominic: "One day through the rosary and the scapular I will save the world." The scapular is an external sign of the filial relationship established between the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and queen of Mount Carmel.

The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated each year on July 16. At Lourdes in 1858, the Virgin chose to make her last apparition on July 16. The feast was assigned to 16 July, because on that date in 1251, according to Carmelite traditions, the scapular was given by the Blessed Virgin to St. Simon Stock.  

Pothos Plants

Today's plant is the pothos!

I had saved the best for the last - this means today's plant post is the last plant to be written about!

And I write about the pothos plants that I have.

Basic pothos care is very easy. These plants enjoy a wide range of environments. They do well in bright indirect light as well as low light.

A pothos is arguably the easiest of all houseplants to grow, even if you are a person who forgets to water your plants. But my problem is that I always overwater my plants.

These plants have a multitude of common names including golden pothos, Ceylon creeper, hunter's robe, ivy arum, money plant, silver vine, Solomon Islands ivy, etc.

Also called devil's ivy, pothos can be grown in hanging baskets or as a potted plant on a desk. They are excellent at helping to purify the air.

Pothos or the money plant, as famously known in India is one of the easiest to grow plant in India.

Epipremnum aureum, or Pothos, is a tropical aroid vine in the family Araceae and native to French Polynesia.

Golden pothos, also known as devil's ivy, is the easiest indoor plant to care for because it can withstand infrequent watering and low light.

These plants have shiny, heart-shaped leaves that often have gold, white, or yellow variegation. 

These plants have added a lovely and gracious appearance to my window garden!

 I have two of mine pothos plants in  ceramic pots.

 

Carmelite Saints on Prayer

“Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me. What do you ask, then, and seek, my soul? Yours is all of this, and all is for you. Do not engage yourself in anything less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father’s table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart.” – Saint John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love, 27

“Vocal prayer must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to; what he is asking; who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don’t call prayer – however much the lips may move.” – Saint Teresa of Avila, from The Interior Castle

“Prayer does not necessarily mean talking to God; it more often means listening to him.” — Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, Practice of the Presence of God

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned towards heaven; it is a cry of recognition and love; embracing both trial and joy.” – Saint Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul

“Consuming Fire! Spirit of Love! Descend within me and reproduce in me, as it were, another incarnation of the Word that I may be to Him another humanity wherein He may renew His mystery.” – Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, Prayer to the Trinity

“True pupils of the school of Carmel should be in a high degree wrapped up in themselves, to find and meet God in the innermost recesses of their souls.” – Blessed Titus Brandsma, Carmelite Mystical Historical Sketches

“Make prayer your business.” – Nicholas of Narbonne, Ignea Sagitta (The Flaming Arrow)

Dieffenbachia or Peace Lily?

So, which plant is this?

Dieffenbachia or Peace Lily?

Many plant identifying apps declared it as the Dieffenbachia. But the local nursery sold it to me as the peace lily. Still in a daze as to which plant is it?

Anyway, it has lost its charm!

This pic is from July 2018 as to when I bought it!

Now it is growing again after shedding all its leaves.

Mary, Mother of the church!

 Mother of the Church (in Latin Mater Ecclesiae) is a title officially given to Mary by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1964, at the close of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Blessed Pope Paul VI formally declared Mary as the “Mother of the Church”. The title was first used in the 4th century by Saint Ambrose of Milan.

 

“There is no Church without Pentecost. And there is no Pentecost without the Virgin Mary.” — Pope Benedict XVI

 

Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. The term Pentecost comes from the Greek word Pentēkostē which means "fiftieth". It is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter. In the Christian tradition, this feast officially ends the Easter season and also represents the birth of the early church.

 

In the New Testament, Pentecost is the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary and the apostles of Jesus Christ. But much before this, Pentecost existed as a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. The apostles, along with Mary, had assembled together in the Upper Room. They were celebrating this Jewish harvest festival when the Holy Spirit descended on them. As we are aware, it sounded like a very strong wind, and it looked like tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit descended on all of them. The apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:4)

 

Along with them, at Pentecost even Mary received the Holy Spirit. It was the same Holy Spirit that had overshadowed her at the Annunciation. The angel Gabriel had said to her: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called the Son of God" (Lk 1:35).

Mary had been chosen to be the Mother of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Blessed Mother Mary, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, became Theotokos, the Mother of God. At Pentecost, Holy Spirit again came upon her, giving birth to the early church, and the church became the body of Christ in history.

 

Back in the fourth century, Saint Ambrose of Milan proposed Mary as Mother of the Church due to her faith in bringing forth Christ our Lord. Since then Mary was understood by many early theologians as both the mother of the Head of the Church, Jesus, and also the symbol of the Church par excellence.

 

Mary is called the Mother of the Church, because she's the Mother of Christ, and the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. It is one of the most recently-awarded titles for her, only being proclaimed officially by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

 

In 2018, Pope Francis decided to create the new memorial of Mary, Mater Ecclesiae, on Pentecost Monday. On March 3, 2018, Pope Francis announced that the Church will celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, on the Monday after Pentecost. This year it is being celebrated today.

 

This new memorial of Mary continues to foster devotion to Our Lady, especially in her role as our mother. In addition, it will remind us that from the beginning of the Church at Pentecost, Christ’s followers have turned to Mary to guide them back to Her Son.

 

The eighth chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (Vatican II), is titled “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the Mystery of Christ and the Church.” The Council Fathers taught that Mary’s role in the plan of salvation is connected to both Christ and the Church.