All Saints of Carmel
Photo courtesy of Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. 2018
“Come, let us adore the King of kings, the Lord
in venerating the Saints of our Order.”
-Matins Invitatory
Dear Friends of Carmel,
Happy All Saints Day….all Saints of Carmel! Just as the universal Church celebrates on November 1st the Feast of All Saints, so too does the Carmelite Order have its own All Saints Day to celebrate all of the unknown and un-canonized Saints of the Order, which Our Blessed Mother said would be more numerous than the stars. (You may wish to read in more detail about this in our November 2018 Newsletter.)
As the liturgical year comes to a close, this presentation of all of the victors in the Heavenly court not only honors God’s work in them, but is meant to spur us on and give us courage during this “last lap” of the Liturgical Year. Holy Mother Church directs our gaze to the end of time, to the end of our time at our death. But she also puts before us all of these holy examples of people just like ourselves – full of human weakness, besought by trouble and sorrows, tempted by the world and the devil – as a compelling lesson and encouragement. With God’s help, we can and will reach our goal and the ultimate purpose of our life: union with God and eternal life in Heaven. These final weeks of the liturgical year leading to Advent provide a time to reset our goals, redirect our compass, however far we have strayed, and look forward to all that has been promised to God’s faithful. These are sentiments that so aptly lead us into the spirit of Advent, the longing for Redemption and the coming of Christ at Christmas.
We share with you this meditation from the Divine Office of All Saints on November 1st, the words of St. Bede (7th century) commenting on this very Feast, words that breathe life into our humble efforts to sanctity and that we find so encouraging to continue the fight forward:
Today, beloved brethren, we celebrate in one joyful solemnity the feast day of all the Saints. In their society heaven exults, in their protection earth rejoices, in their triumphs the holy Church is crowned. The more endurance they showed in giving witness, the brighter the glory of that witness; for as the battle was fiercer, the glory of the fighters was greater….Our Mother the Catholic Church, spread far and wide over the whole earth, was taught in Jesus Christ her Head to fear neither insults, crosses, nor death. Grown stronger and stronger, not by resisting but by enduring, she has breathed the will to victory into all those whose containment in this early prison forms them into an imposing army, that they may be inspired to fight the good fight with no less ardent courage than these who have gone before…
For the unutterable and immense goodness of God has seen to it that the time of labor and struggle should not be prolonged nor long-drawn-out nor endless, but that it should rather be brief, and, as we might say, momentary. For the struggles and labors belong to this short and hard life, but the crowns and rewards of merit to that which is enternal. The labors, then, will be ended quickly, but the rewards of merit will continue without end. And after the darkness of this world, we are to see the most radiant light and to receive the blessedness greater than the bitterness of all sufferings, as the Apostle testifies when he says, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be reveled in us.”
In Christ, Exemplar of all the Saints, and in His holy Mother,
Your Carmelite Sisters
*A Few New Items for Advent and Christmas*
Spiritual Reading
We might here marvel at how quickly this year has passed, because Advent is right around the corner! And do we ever leave you without recommendations for spiritual reading during important seasons such as those that are approaching?
The days and weeks of Advent and Christmas can become one hectic whirlwind that threatens to leave the soul rather empty. Avoid this sad emptiness with daily spiritual reading. Many of these books we have recommended before – but salutary things bear repeating!
Two perfect books to carry you from the first Sunday of Advent through Christmas and Epiphany are Pattern Divine and The Prince of Peace. It is good to step out of our turbulent world for a while and step into the world that brought our Savior to us. These books provide for that daily shift and visit into God’s providential plan for the Coming of Christ. The opening words of Pattern Divine invite us to step into the world of the hidden life of Jesus with Mary and Joseph. Christmas – and all that came before and followed after – come alive for us as we read…
Never does God appear so lovable and so great as when He abases Himself. In His condescending lowering of self He gives us more abundant proofs of His infinite mercy; and nothing draws us to Him as much as this manifestation of His merciful love. Here is to be found the teaching of the hidden life of the Incarnate Word. The Word, the Son of God, becomes man. He becomes little in order to raise us up to His divinity, to bestow sonship on us by adoption, and to teach us by His example how to realize in ourselves the perfection of our Father who is in heaven.
As time permits, we still find titles for our Rare and Out of Print books on the website – and have recently had success! But we’ve also added another: Living With God, a small volume on prayer and the life of prayer that one of the Sisters discovered this past summer. It is another treasure that instructs, guides and challenges us to the Christian ideal – to love God above all things. And prayer is the only way to do that. The chapter on “Listening to the Gospels” is especially beneficial; but the entire book is really a summary of our Catholic life lived well.
Advent Wreaths, Candles, and Calendars
There is still time to obtain your Advent wreath and/or candles. We have spoken much in the past about the Catholic family custom of the Advent wreath, a symbol that extends the prayers and meaning of the liturgy into the home. It is our own custom to have the Advent wreath in our choir lit during our daily hours of the Divine Office. If you are unfamiliar with the Advent wreath custom, you can read more here.
We also have several new Advent calendars to choose from, a delightful way for the kids to count down the days before Christmas.
New Christmas Ornaments
Christmas time is full of so many Catholic customs. So significant is the coming of our Redeemer, that the celebration over the centuries has trickled out of the Churches into every aspect of life – food, gatherings, decorations, etc. Most of the celebrations that we keep to this day are Christian in origin, though many people have forgotten their original meaning.
Starting with the Christmas tree! A symbol of the tree of life in the garden of paradise, as well as a symbol of the cross, the tree is evergreen, since with the coming of the Redeemer we have the promise of eternal life! The candles (which quite thankfully became Christmas lights with the advent of electricity) lit on the tree were the symbol of the Divine light coming into the world. Originally consisting of candies and sweets, ornaments were the sweetness of Redemption.
It has been our custom these past few years to design an ornament for the tree. Having now honored Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Teresa, and St. Therese, this year we decided to start a series around the “O Antiphons”. These antiphon prayers attached to the Magnificat at the Hour of Vespers, are beautiful meditations that encapsulate all of the Church’s longing and expectation in Advent. They are the climax of the Advent liturgy, prayed (usually chanted) the seven days before Christmas.
For our ornaments this year, we present the first three antiphons (O Sapientia, O Adonai, and O Radix Jesse), planning to add the rest in future years. See the description on the product page of each ornament to read the liturgical commentary/meditation for each Antiphon from Abbot Guéranger, author of the Liturgical Year.
New Incense Sticks
Our Three Kings incense is one of our favorite incense scents, and perfect for Christmas. But we now have two more “limited edition” incenses for Advent and Christmas. For practical purposes, many people these days do not use a real tree for their Christmas tree, but who does not miss that “Christmas tree” fragrance filling the home? Perhaps from their childhood days?
The Christmas Fir incense captures that wonderful scent. Christmas Spice has many of the same scents, adding the warm tones of clove, cinnamon, and oranges. Both of these scents are also available in red and green scented Christmas candles – all handcrafted by the same young local artisan.
Christmas Nativity Sets and Statues
The “Nativity set” was a custom started by St. Francis of Assisi (more can be read on our Doctrine & Devotions page). Customarily it was set at the base of the tree (hence the reason the star or angel is usually at the top of our trees), but in more recent years is placed in many different places around the home. This year we added some more resin designs, in addition the very popular wood-carved selections on our site.
Christmas Music
Two new additions to our Christmas selection are A Choral Christmas and Winter Songs. Taking a listen to these was pure and prayerful pleasure! We are pleased to share them with you.
Christmas Cards
Last but not least – be sure to see our new selection of Christmas cards! Please remember to order soon if you are ordering for a church, school or other organization. One of our favorites is the 3-D pop-up card that serves as a decoration as well as a greeting.
The first storm of the year came early with a couple of feet of heavy wet snow. Our “snow shoveling muscles,” which had been hibernating all summer, had a rude awakening as we tried to keep pathways between our buildings clear.