Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
“O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His passion renewed, the mind filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory given to us, alleluia.”
– Corpus Christi, Vespers antiphon
Dear Family and Friends of Carmel,
Our newsletters to you are usually occasions for singing the praises of the holy liturgy of the Catholic Church. This letter will be no different!
Our June letter finds us in midst of the “Summer Feasts” – a full and busy season in Carmel. In midst of our many ordinary duties, we have the privilege of praying the Offices and chanting the Masses for one Feast Day after another – contemplating with wonder the Christian mysteries in their far-too-abundant beauty and truth for our small minds and hearts to encompass. Rather, all these wondrous things of God encompass us!
Some (non-Catholics, but also many Catholics!) may ask, “But where does all this liturgy come from? What is all the fuss about ‘feast days’? What is all this celebrating? Etc…”
The Liturgy of the Church has its source in God, of course – and in all that God has done for mankind He created. Its source is salvation history – Old Testament, New Testament, and all the centuries since the earthly life of Christ. Those centuries are the continuing of the Acts of the Apostles, since where St. Luke’s book leaves off, the life of the Church carries on. We are the continuation of that book – until “time is no more” and the work of the Church is completed at the Final Judgment of every soul of every age. The most important part of that work is the continued worship of God: the Liturgy. Each year, the Church’s worship follows the path of a complete circle – the “Liturgical Cycle”.
Since Advent we have lived through the life of Christ – its prophecy and its fulfillment in His life of 30 years, His Passion and Death, His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and His sending of the Holy Spirit upon the fledgling Church (Pentecost). The Divine Liturgy, day by day, season by season, has commemorated, re-lived, all of this marvelous life. Through our participation in these varied seasons and feast days, not excluding Saints’ feast days, we have learned the pattern our own lives must follow, and we have studied and understood our purpose in life and our great destiny.
As we see then, our liturgical feast days are both historical in nature, and doctrinal. Since “the law of belief is the law of prayer” – as we believe so we pray – many of these days of celebration and prayerful observance have essential doctrines at their heart and purpose. So for example, just recently we completed the Paschal season with the Feast of the Holy Trinity.
Without discussing the history and development of this beautiful feast, we can easily recognize that its purpose is to declare, proclaim, adore the extraordinary truth, revealed by God to men, of the Blessed Trinity and Undivided Unity – One God in three Divine Persons. This bedrock of our Faith – should it not have a day of special contemplation and joyous celebration? And though our God in Trinity is remembered constantly in the prayers of the Church and in our own personal prayers, the unerring instruction of the Holy Spirit to the Church inspires the institution of this Feast.
As we mentioned earlier, we presently find ourselves between two Feasts that are truly gems of the treasure of the Liturgical year: Corpus Christi and Sacred Heart. Unique in that Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself inspired and demanded their celebration, they, too, proclaim doctrinal truth and express the love and adoration of God’s children in the truth. And lest anyone doubt that Christ has the power and will, through His chosen ones on earth, to make such demands, and to intervene in human history directly for the His glory and for the good of souls, be not skeptical of God’s great goodness. Read about His loving concern and desire for souls in these brief historical accounts of the two Feasts.
History of the Feast Corpus Christi
The instrument in the hand of Divine Providence for Corpus Christi was St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon, in Belgium. Juliana, from her early youth, had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament, and always longed for a special feast in its honor. God revealed to her that it was He that inspired this desire by confirming it with a vision of the full moon, representing the Church, having one dark spot, which, she was given to understand, signified the absence of such a solemnity. Juliana dutifully labored through Church authorities for the accomplishment of what she knew was God’s will, but died in 1258, having made some progress and only locally with several bishops in Belgium.
The Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena, which occurred in 1263, played a significant role in inspiring the Feast of Corpus Christi. A German priest named Peter of Prague, while celebrating Mass, was struggling with doubts about the Real Presence. But when he offered Mass one day, he witnessed the consecrated Host begin to bleed, with the blood staining the corporal, a cloth used during Mass. The priest brought the stained corporal to Pope Urban IV, who happened to be in Orvieto. Pope Urban IV, already familiar with the visions of St. Juliana of Liège, was deeply moved by the Miracle of Bolsena.
Through a formal document, “Transiturus”, in 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi as a universal feast for the Church, officially commemorating the Eucharist. In the document, the Pope extolled the love of Our Savior as expressed in the Holy Eucharist and ordered the annual celebration of Corpus Christi for the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. This day hearkens back to Holy Thursday, the day Christ Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist on the night of the Last Supper. The night before Christ died was full of sorrow, but this new Feast would celebrate the glories of the Eucharist with joy and gladness. Pope Urban also commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to compose a Mass and Office for the Feast. This Office is one of the most beautiful in the Roman Breviary and has been admired even by Protestants. The chants to accompany the Angelic Doctor’s texts are exquisite, profound and unforgettable.
History of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The rich and long history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is, as we have written over the years, most simply stated, devotion to the love of Christ – and in particular, His Heart, the symbol associated with love. [See past newsletters about the Sacred Heart] The devotion is reciprocal and reparative: Let us therefore love God, for God has first loved us (1 John 4:19). The Catholic Encyclopedia states:
From the time of St. John and St. Paul there has always been in the Church something like devotion to the love of God, Who so loved the world as to give it His only-begotten Son, and to the love of Jesus, Who has so loved us as to deliver Himself up for us. But, accurately speaking, this is not the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as it pays no homage to the Heart of Jesus as the symbol of His love for us.
Not until the 11th and 12th centuries, in Benedictine Saints Mechtilde and Gertrude, do we find evidence of worship of the Heart of Jesus. From the 13th to the 16th centuries, the devotion found growth and clarity in the fervent atmosphere of prayer and scholarship of the Benedictines, Cistercians, Dominicans, Carthusians and Franciscans. But it remained a private devotion for the individual devout, contemplative and mystic souls. It was reserved to St. John Eudes (1602-1680) to make it public, to honor it with an Office, and to establish a feast for it. The first Mass of the Sacred Heart with Office was celebrated in 1670.
But, of course, it is another Saint that most of the faithful associate with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and that is St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. To her, the Lord Himself revealed His Heart and its desires for mankind in numerous apparitions. In what has come to be known as the Great Apparition, which took place during the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, He declared to her these words:
“Behold this Heart that has so loved men . . . And yet it has received in return from the majority of mankind only ingratitude, coldness and the neglect of Me in the Sacrament of My love… Because of this, I ask you to have the first Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi kept as a special Feast in honor of My Heart…”
Thus did Our Lord give His approval of the long-established Feast of Corpus Christi and His directive for this Feast a little over a week later in the Liturgical year. What “tranquil joy” to the all the children of the Church – not only the Church Militant, but also the Church Suffering and the Church Triumphant – to celebrate these closely connected Feasts!
The importance of the Liturgy, the Mass, cannot be understated! The gift of the Eucharist, the infinite Heart of Jesus, is the source of all life, the source of our eternal happiness, and the reason for the existence of the Church. It is our “manna in the desert,” our sustenance on the long journey of this life, leading us, drawing us, to the promised land of Heaven. It is a very foretaste of that final union, the beatific vision.
The litanies of the Church are ideal aids to prayer. The Sacred Heart Litany, which we have shared with you in the past, is one of the most beautiful. Each invocation can be a springboard for mental prayer! Another lesser known litany that is a fitting devotion for these days is the Litany of Reparation to the Blessed Sacrament. We are sharing it in .pdf form for your own personal devotion!
We close this section of the newsletter with a meditation from Blessed Claude La Colombiere, the confessor and spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary, who recognized in the Mass the greatest treasure in the life of any Catholic:
God is more honored in a single Mass than He could be by all of the other actions of both angels and men, however fervent and however heroic they could be, but who goes to Mass with the design to render God so extraordinary an honor? Who rejoices in the ability to so honor Him according to His merits and His grandeur? He has left us a Host that God cannot fail to accept, a Host proportioned to the benefits we have received from Him and, for those who can ask Him, a Host capable of effacing all the sins of men. Yes, my God, when I pray, when I fast, when I give alms, I do it with defiance, perhaps (I say within myself), for I dishonor God more by my bad intentions, than I honor Him through my actions. This repentance, far from effacing my crimes, perhaps itself has need of repentance. This almsgiving that I do in order to testify to my gratitude, it is, perhaps, an offense which I render for a thousand benefits.
But when I say the Mass, or when I hear it, when I offer the Adorable sacrifice it is then – my God! – that, full of confidence and courage, I dare to defy all of heaven, to do something that pleases You more; it is then that, without being frightened by the number nor by the enormity of my crimes, I dare to ask pardon from You, not even doubting that You will grant it to me in the most perfect manner that I would know how to hope for. However vast be my desires, however far my hopes, I have no difficulty in asking from You all that is capable of fulfilling them. I ask You for graces and for great graces, and all sorts of graces for myself, for my benefactors, for all my friends, for my most mortal enemies, and very far from blushing at my request, very far from being wary of obtaining so many things at the same time, I find that I ask little in comparison to what I offer. I believe I am doing harm to that living Host in asking infinitely less than it is worth; I fear nothing so much as not expecting, with a firm and constant assurance, both all I have asked and something even grander, if it is possible, than all I could ask. Ah! May it please God that we would well understand the value of the treasure that we have between our hands. Happy and a thousand times happy the nation of Christians if they know how to profit from their advantages. What source of all kinds of goods will you not find in the adorable Sacrifice.
Website News
Our gift website continues to hum along, each of the Sisters having her part in the chorus! The website also continues to challenge, surprise and even delight us. The delight comes from little things like an order from a distant country that has never ordered from us before, or an exquisitely-designed rosary from a new visitor to the site, etc. But quite honestly, for the most part, it is good, hard work for love of God and souls!
New Products
You know of our effort always to bring in new, refreshing ideas and products. Happily, we are always discovering and working with creative artisans, publishers, and manufacturers, who are just as passionate about bringing excellence to devotional items, many of which will be blessed as sacramentals for the faithful.
The very popular 100% beeswax candles have yet two more scented candle options (including a new pure rose scent) and a unique cross votive and tealight candle holder. We also have new additions to our incense selection. By popular request, we also combined all of our new incense scents into a second sampler pack, so you can try the beautiful new scents without buying an entire pack and discover which one is your favorite!
But also as a result of numerous requests, we are now offering another item new to our website: holy cards. Also called prayer cards, one of these has been our little extra gift in every order we send. It has been our way of introducing and promoting devotions, reminding the faithful of the liturgical seasons or Saints’ feast days. Our selection will be small, but we hope useful for images and prayers that encourage fidelity to the devout life each day.
Relic Badges
We have spoken in a past newsletter about the history of the Sacred Heart badge. This emblem of Faith was given to St. Margaret Mary by Our Lord Himself, and was promoted by Pope Pius IX. The Blessed Sacrament badge is also a beautiful reminder of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Seeing it during the day can be a beautiful reminder to make a spiritual communion.
Spiritual Reading
The Sacred Heart – By Father McGratty, first published in 1952. Father discusses the devotion in all its aspects and presents its quite riveting history. He tells of the opposition the devotion received, strange to us now; its quiet, steady growth and progress; and finally, its triumph: papal approvals and commendations in major Encyclicals. The quotes of Saints and Popes offer ready material for mediation and prayer.
Seeking the Heart of Christ – There is nothing like reading the thoughts and counsels of the Saints. Blessed Claude La Colombière is renowned as the first sharer in the revelations of the Sacred Heart given to St. Margaret Mary. With the sureness of one well-instructed by the Heart of the Savior, he offers spiritual counsels for a solid, devout interior life. It is important to note that this book is not explicitly about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but a collection of retreat notes and conferences for the spiritual life. The chapter on Holy Mass is a treasure all by itself – as we quoted above.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus – This book by St. John Eudes reflects the holiness of its author. Father McGratty in his book featured above gives wonderful testimony of the important work of this Saint for the promotion of Devotion to the Sacred Heart, so key to its spreading to souls across the world. It was almost as if St. John discovered the Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart – to Jesus through Mary! Our Lady truly teaches us better than anyone of the great Lover of souls and how to return His love. (See The Admirable Heart of Mary)
From the Eucharist to the Trinity – A fine book that brings clearly before us what our Faith teaches about and what our love for the Holy Eucharist ought to be. Father Bernadot provides most valuable counsels for maintaining a life of union with Christ in “the light of our reception of Holy Communion: The kind of work matters little – whether we study, do manual work, talk or eat, we need never cease loving God.”
The Sacred Heart and Mine in Holy Communion – The Litany of the Sacred Heart is a wonderful way of prayer to honor and contemplate the Heart of Our Savior. This little book, perfect for use at Mass, both before and after Holy Communion, as well as other times of prayer, consists of short chapters with thoughts on the invocations found in that beautiful litany. These thoughts, primarily drawn from the writings of St. Margaret Mary, also find their source in the counsels and prayers of other Saints (St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis Xavier, etc.).
New Sacred Heart and Holy Eucharist lapel pins
Community News
Some months have passed since we have shared any community news. We have even received from a few of you some complaints along those lines! And so, we will take time in this newsletter to share some photos and stories from the past few busy – very busy months.
St. Therese Shrine
Nearly 8 years ago, a good friend and benefactor gave a donation to the Monastery, requesting that we use it to build an outdoor shrine in honor of St. Therese. We accepted the request and began our search for a fitting image of our dear Saint. We finally found one that we thought not only honored her, but encapsulated the entire Carmelite vocation. It was an image that included Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding the baby Jesus. St. Therese was receiving from them roses, symbols of the precious graces obtained by her prayers, that she was then scattering on the earth. Very pleased, we commissioned the statue to be made and began making plans for the shrine.
How disappointed we were when the order fell through, and the company (which we had worked with before on other projects), went bankrupt without a warning to us. Our dear benefactor, undeterred when we gave her the news, joyously insisted we continue our search for another statue. And so we did – a bit more cautiously this time – and as time would permit us.
Amazingly, it took 4 more years of hunting, when finally, late last summer, we found a reliable, reputable carving company and sent our various photos to match the original design. The project would take some back and forth communications and further photos – and would take approximately 6 months. In early December 2024, we received news that Our Lady and St. Therese were boarding their voyage to America on December 8th, with expected arrival on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. We thought, “How fitting for Little Jesus and His Mother with St. Therese of the Child Jesus to arrive on that 12th Day of Christmas!”
They spent the cold, snowy winter at the edge of our little forest, close to the area where the shrine would be. Then, at last Spring arrived, and we brought in the manpower to unpack our statues and landscape and build the beautiful shrine. The men who we engaged for the work were as meticulous and enthusiastic as we were to take our ideas and help design and construct this lovely prayer area for Our Lady and St. Therese. It actually exceeded our expectations! At one point during the construction a Sister remarked, “It looks like they are building her a castle.” And of course any shrine to St. Therese has to include rose bushes, which were carefully picked to be able to endure the sometimes harsh Colorado wind and weather. The shrine will serve as a quiet place of prayer, and will become an integral part of our community processions, but we are also delighted to discover that we can see the statue group from almost any part of our yard, even from the windows of our recreation room, our work building, and the cells of some of the Sisters.
Sadly, we must mention that the good friend who contributed with so much love for this addition to our enclosure never saw the completion of the work. She passed away four years ago, not long after that first disappointing start. But we feel sure that she is pleased, and we are also certain that St. Therese has blessed her for the special honor paid her by this devotee. Deo gratias for such a beautiful and prayerful reminder of Our Lady’s presence! And Deo gratias to all of you, our dear friends and benefactors, who support us with temporal aid and with your prayers. Through you, Our Lady gives us not only the ability to live out our Carmelite vocations, but even allows and directs us in making our enclosure beautiful. You all have a part in this, Our Lady’s garden!
Gardens
Spring has been particularly beautiful this year. The gradual development of our grounds over the past thirty-five years and the hard work of the Sisters is bearing fruit. The “stick like” small trees planted by hand many years ago now tower above the Monastery roof. The bushes are well established, and the garden contains a multitude of different flowers. It is a particularly “lush” couple of acres for this part of Colorado – a true oasis! The past few years we have had nesting falcons on the property which scared away many of the smaller birds. For whatever reason, the falcons are absent this year, and we have nests of magpies, robins, swallows, chickadees, and bluebirds. The dogs have been learning how to share their territory with the multitude of fledglings trying out their wings for the first time. Buddy in particular had to break the habit of sitting beneath the chickadee nest box and growling.
We are also learning to share, as the robins have been found now more than once stalking and foraging through our beds of lettuce, looking for the strawberry plants that we “companion-planted” there. And we thought the lettuce leaves would conceal the strawberries… Ha! Thus far, we have only managed to rescue one ripe strawberry from their hungry beaks – and one strawberry doesn’t go far split fourteen ways! But the rhubarb has been plentiful, and our new gopher-proof beds have thus far protected our potatoes, zucchinis, and other vegetables.
Not quite as welcome was the baby snake that made its way into our refectory during meal time! It chose to sleep under the bench of the Sister who just happens to have had past experience with snakes. She removed it quickly and efficiently without even disturbing the reading.
The bees have also flourished! Our beehive made it through its second winter, and we even started a second one. We were happy to have Father come and bless the new bees and hive. Believe it or not, there is a special blessing in the ritual just for beehives! We thought you would enjoy reading the blessing, which acknowledges the special symbolism of beeswax and the important part they play in the Liturgy by supplying candles.
“O Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth! Thou didst create all living things for man’s use. Moreover, thou didst order by the ministry of thy Holy Church that candles made from the industry of bees shall burn during the Sacred Mystery in which we consecrate and consume the most holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, Thy Son. Send Thy holy blessing upon these bees and this beehive to make them numerous and productive, and to preserve them from harm, so that their yield of wax can be turned to Thy honor, and to the honor of Thy Son and Holy Spirit, and to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.”
Queen Clotilde and Queen Mechtilde (as our two queen bees have been nicknamed by the Sisters) have been hard at work. Every bush and tree full of blossoms on the property gives off an audible buzz.
May 31st, Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Mother, Our Mother Prioress scheduled a May Crowning for the time of our usual Saturday evening rosary. One of the Sisters “gathered fresh, bright flowers to crown our fair Queen’s brow,” as the old hymn goes. We did lovingly sing several hymns in her honor before and after the rosary.
The Sewing Room
Indoors, sewing projects and other tasks for the altar and Liturgy are always a part of our daily life. Albs for seminarians about to be ordained, new altar cloths, new altar linens, vestment repairs, and other secret vestment projects (which we can’t wait to share with you at a later date) – our needles are never idle!
Sewing the manutergins for the upcoming Ordination ceremony. A manatergin is a piece of linen cloth that is used to bind the newly ordained priest’s anointed hands during the ceremony – Priest forever!
One special project was a preaching stole, a special priestly anniversary gift. This stole, especially the small coat of arms, contains some of the smallest and detailed embroidery we have ever attempted.
Not all of Carmel’s adventures are “picture worthy.” A broken septic pump flooded our crawl space at the same time that our main community washing machine decided to break down. Within the same couple of days the faucet on the main kitchen sink (where we do hundreds of dishes every day) broke off, and started spraying a 6 foot stream of water up to the ceiling every time it was bumped in slightly the wrong way! These and other mishaps, mishaps we know you also experience every day in your busy lives, and which seem at first glance to be obstacles, are actually our means of sanctity. They are precious graces given to us by God as opportunities to practice patience, charity, holy detachment and to grow in holiness and merit. It is in these and all of our daily tasks, accomplished with love, small and as insignificant as they may seem, that we find our sanctification and union with God.
Many years ago our Priest gave in a sermon the meditation below from an unknown author. Our Mother Prioress recently printed small copies of it as a reminder for each of the Sisters. We wish to share it with you, wise council and encouragement for your own striving for Heaven:
Fidelity the Means of Perseverance
Fidelity in the daily routine of life, as well as on great occasions, is the secret of attaining to sanctity. Our sanctification through Jesus Christ is an edifice formed of grains of sand and drops of water – a glance mortified, a word, an ill-timed smile suppressed; a sentence interrupted; a recollection stifled; a cherished letter read rapidly, and not read again; a little impulse of nature courageously checked; an importunity, an annoyance gently endured; sarcasm, a feeling of peevishness immediately suppressed; a useless expense curtailed; a shade of sadness quietly dispelled; a too natural joy moderated, by a thought of the God Who dwells in our heart; a repugnance surmounted; in a word, nothings, trifles imperceptible to human eyes, but admirably visible to the penetrating eye of Jesus. Behold what we must attend to! These are the very little and very great fidelities which bring down into the soul torrents of graces, supernatural lights, sweetness, a lasting and profound peace, a heavenly serenity of soul and what we may term the familiar caresses of our divine Lord. Lord Jesus! Give me this fidelity which alone can unite me most intimately with Thee, and make me holy even as Thou art holy. Amen.
“O that men were wise, and would consider their latter end!” (Duet. XXXii, 29.)
May God give to us all the grace to remain faithful to our daily duty. And may He lead our souls and all nations in the way of peace! Please know of our prayers for all of you, especially on the upcoming Feast of the Sacred Heart!
In His Sacred Heart,
The Carmelite Sisters
