Today's Gospel

At that time Jesus exclaimed:

“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike."

Dear DLL Jesus,

How apt this gospel verse, taken from St. Matthew, is for me! 

All my life I have been considered childlike because I don't possess a college degree and not specialized in any creative course! Right from my childhood I have been ridiculed by relatives and friends for not having extraordinary talents and intellectual. The teachers in school, especially St. Michael's, Durgapur, would humiliate me because of the poor quality of my studies! I didn't have a great school life as I lagged behind in class because of so many changes in curriculum and syllabus due to relocations.

But Lord you raised me up by giving an understanding of the Bible - by revealing to me things that you withheld from the intellectuals! You handled me patiently unlike my school teachers - you gave understanding to this slow learner, this late bloomer!

I thank you Lord for this!🙏

I also understood yesterday's gospel verse - "I have come to bring fire and not peace and I have come to bring sword......"

While I was reading its commentary I read that there used to be discord in the family over following you! This rang a bell in the morning when I looked at my father's photo during the Mass - it dawned on me that how upset he was when he came to know that I would have to get converted to Christianity after marriage! Even my brother was wild and didn't attend my wedding! 

This verse further says that "if you prefer your family - father and mother and brother - over me, then you are not worthy of me". But then Lord I preferred you over everyone and decided to follow you! Though at that time I did it just to get married!

But you know everybody's heart! You must have found something special in my heart and that's why you showed special favour to me and slowly started revealing the hidden things!

Wow Lord, everything is so clear now! As clear as the morning!

The gospel passages of last few days are so very relatable to my life! And I have understood them so very well!😊

Word of God

The Eucharist and the Word of God are the two pillars of Carmelite Spirituality.

To read the word of God in the spirit of Carmel is to pray it with the heart of Mary. This means that as she, more than anyone, listened to and welcomed the word of God, we too should listen to and welcome the word of God in our life. As St. John of the Cross wrote so beautifully: “The Mother gazed in sheer wonder” (R 9).

Carmelite Spirituality is a spirituality of the Word of God.

Way of Perfection

THE WAY OF PERFECTION (Spanish: Camino de Perfección) is a handbook for the sisters of her reformed convent by St. Teresa of Ávila. She urged her nuns onto a deeper relationship with Our Lord.

It is a method for making progress in the contemplative life and was written in 1577. It was written during the height of controversy which raged over the reforms St. Teresa enacted within the Carmelite Order. In it, she sets out to lead others along the way to union with God through prayer, silence, and contemplation.

This book is a practical guide to prayer setting forth the Saint's counsels and directives for the attainment of spiritual perfection. Of all of St. Teresa of Avila's works, THE WAY OF PERFECTION is the most easily understood.

Although she designed her book for her fellow sisters of the Carmelite Order, there's plenty in there for those of us who don't live in convents.

Union with God

All of Carmelite spirituality is rooted in the human heart's deepest desire for intimate union with God. This union with God is through love – the Carmelite Rule places the final stage of discipleship through a way of following Jesus Christ.

The attaining of Union with God is primarily God's work, yet the soul can correspond with a joyful detachment from everything that is not God.

No other saint has explained the path to Union with God better than St. Teresa of Jesus, Carmelite Doctor of the Church on prayer.

From Christ, the Carmelite, henceforth, is not to look away; in dependence on Him the Carmelite intends to live. Carmel is all about searching for God and union with God.

The truth about Jesus which Carmelites are called to live out is Christ's prayerful union with His Father while in the midst of the world.

The friars seek to live a life of faithful prayer, seeking union with God through a "life of allegiance to Jesus Christ."

The Essence of the Carmelite Charism is Prayer and Contemplation leading to union with God.

“Carmelite spirituality enables God-seekers to discover new heights and depths of union with God,” says Father Michael Berry, O.C.D., a Discalced Carmelite.

Carmel is a journey that brings us to greater union with God, souls and Holy Mother Church! St. Teresa of Jesus called this journey "the royal road to Heaven”.

St Elizabeth of the Trinity once said describing our Carmelite life, “The life of a Carmelite is a life of communion with God from morning until night”.

Thus the goal of the Carmelite life is union with God.

Shield of Carmel

The Shield of Carmel or

The Carmelite Crest

 

There have been several explanations of the design and they are all connected with the Prophet Elijah of the Old Testament. The Carmelites trace their origin to the hermits who lived in the spirit of Elijah on Mount Carmel in the twelfth century.

 

The peak or point in the centre of the shield is taken to represent Mount Carmel, the scene of the Prophet’s greatest triumph over the false prophets of Baal, and the dwelling place of the followers of Elijah. The star in the lower part symbolises Elijah while the two stars above it represent Christ and Mary. Many saints and early writers have seen a symbol of Our Lady in the cloud which Elijah saw arising from the sea to bring rain to the parched land of Israel (see 1Kings 18:44). The early hermits built an oratory in honour of Our Lady on Mount Carmel and chose her as their patroness. Later they become known as the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Others have seen the lower star representing us and the upper stars representing Elijah and Mary, the two great models for the Order, guiding us up the Mount towards Christ. Another interpretation sees the lower star representing Elijah and the Prophetic Tradition while the two upper stars represent the Greek (Eastern) Tradition and the Latin (Western) Tradition.

 

The sword symbolises the power and zeal of Elijah. In the Scriptures Elijah appears again and again as God’s Prophet, speaking out boldly against abuses and reminding the Israelites of their special calling to live as God’s people. The sword is sometimes shown as flaming, to suggest the ardent and zealous spirit of the Prophet; moreover it recalls the fire which he called down from heaven upon the mountain of Carmel to confound the false prophets of Baal (see 1Kings 18:38). Elsewhere in the bible we are told, Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his sword flashing like a torch (see Ecclesiasticus 48:1).

 

Around the crest are grouped twelve stars. The number is meant to refer to the crown of the woman in the Book of Revelations (or the Apocalypse), who has always been taken as a figure of Our Lady, And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet and her head a crown of twelve stars (Revelations 12:1).

 

 

The motto or legend consists of the words of Elijah taken from the First Book of the Kings, 19:10: With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts. In Latin the phrase reads: Zelo zelatus sum pro Domino Deo exercituum. These words express the whole life of the prophet Elijah and the very spirit that moved him. The crest or coat of arms stands as an emblem of that tradition and is associated with Carmelite spirit which has been handed down to us.

 

 

source:

http://www.carmelites.ie/crest.html

Toledo

Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain; it is the capital of the province of Toledo in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Toledo is a historic city in Castilla La Mancha, sitting majestically above the Tagus River and denoted a UNESCO heritage site in 1986.

The history of Toledo dates back to Roman occupation (Toletum) circa 192BCE. The ruins of the Roman circus are still visible just outside the walls of the city.

Toledo was considered the holiest city in Spain in the Catholic faith.

Our holy father St. John of the Cross entered a Carmelite Monastery at the age of 21 in Toledo Spain. But after the anti-Reformist General Chapter of the Calced Carmelites in 1572 he was abducted and imprisoned at a Carmelite friary at Toledo. He was imprisoned in a dungeon here which was seven meters long and one meter sixty wide.

Confined in a dark cell in this monastery of the Toledo Carmelites, St John used to bleed from the wounds inflicted by their floggings, he was also starved. He was incarcerated  for nine months.

After six months in the Toledo Carmelite prison, a new warden brought St. John the writing material he requested, and he wrote down some of his earliest poetry. He knew, with a grim certainty, that he was going to die if he remained in his prison at Toledo much longer.

He escaped from the prison in August 1578.

Teresian Carmels

The definition of Teresian Carmels is a barefooted Carmelite of the reformed order established in the 16th century by St. Teresa of Ávila.

It was to become the first of a new Order: the Discalced Carmelites. [The term 'discalced' means 'barefoot' and comes from the practice of wearing sandals].

The Order was established in the 16th century, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelite Order by two Spanish saints, Saint Teresa of Ávila (foundress) and Saint John of the Cross (co-founder). Discalced is derived from Latin, meaning "without shoes".