A Sign of Contradiction
Let us celebrate the joy and victory of Easter, despite all outward circumstances. Know of our prayers for a share in the Paschal joy for all of you.
We also share pictures from our recent clothing ceremony. Read More….
Be Converted to Me with All Your Heart
During the weeks of February and March, as each day passed, more and more people from across the globe have been contacting us, asking for prayers in circumstances unprecedented in our lifetime. As ever, holy Church in Her liturgy instructs, comforts and guides us. Our duty as faithful members of Christ is to remain in peace. Read more…
Independence Through Submission
In recent newsletters, we have offered for your interest and devotion a discussion of the Vows of Religious Profession. We have spoken about Poverty and Chastity, both as virtue and vow; and we have tried to relate the important aspect of virtue to the Christian life of every one of us who belong to Christ – the vocation all Christians have to holiness, those who are not professed religious, as well as to Religious.
In this newsletter we consider the last vow of Obedience, the one that people find most difficult! The trouble is that it is hard to renounce what we all cling to most closely, what practically makes up the core of our personality: the independent use of our liberty. But in this is the gift that loving obedience is. Yes, the whole perfection of spiritual life – and the whole of true freedom – consists in the renouncement of self-will, as St. Bonaventure tells us.
We discuss the vow of Obedience as lived in religious life, the virtue as it leads to Faith, and how Obedience heals the very root of sin, and is therefore a good Lenten Penance.
In WEBSITE NEWS we give suggestions for Lenten reading and introduce several new children’s books and Missals.
In COMMUNITY NEWS we are working on sewing projects, including new habits for an upcoming clothing ceremony. We are keeping in our prayers all of those who have effected by the corona virus. Read more…
Thoughts for Advent
We share a few thoughts and meditations as we get ready to start the season of Advent and a new Liturgical year.
In WEBSITE NEWS many suggestions for spiritual reading and show samples of some of our new Christmas card designs.
In COMMUNITY NEWS thank God for the blessing of the new building and share some pictures from our daily work. Read more…
Poverty of Spirit
We are entering the last and most intense part of Lent, Passiontide. In this newsletter we continue the theme of detachment, only this time from the point of view of Poverty. We discuss both the vow taken by religious, our own practices and customs, as well as the virtue as it is meant to be practiced by all.
In WEBSITE NEWS we announce the launch of our new website and share some of the things that have changed.
In COMMUNITY NEWS we celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph with special thanksgiving – thanksgiving for the conclusion of both the website and new building projects. Read more…
The Divine Sculptor
Time passes and here we are at the beginning of the sacred season of Lent! Often we receive emails asking about Lent: "Dear Sisters, what should I do for Lent? But outside of the Penances we do, there is God’s plan for our souls: His Providential arrangement for each soul, in all that He sends in the way of pain, inconvenience, annoyance, misunderstanding, disappointment, frustration, regret - troubles and problems of all kinds. Rather than active suffering, these afflictions require more passive suffering. We discuss one of St. John’s lesser known writing “The Precautions,” and the detachment that he recommends.
In WEBSITE NEWS we give the history behind the St. Benedict Crucifix which has become known as the Happy Death Crucifix. We also give suggestions for good Lenten reading and an update on our new website.
In COMMUNITY NEWS we give an update on our new building project and share with you some stories and pictures. We hope to move in soon! Read more…
Carmelite All Saints Day
It has long been the custom of Catholic Religious Orders to have a separate day, usually in November, to honor their own particular saints. Today, November 14th, is Carmelite All Saints Day . Again, just as on November 1st, the emphasis is on those whose feast day is not on the regular liturgical calendar, and those "unknown" Saints. We would like to introduce you to a few of these Carmelites - holy, prayerful, apostolic, heroic, and in love with Christ Our Lord: St. Peter Thomas, Blessed John Soreth, Blessed Fances D’Amboise, Sister Marie of Saint Peter, Mother Elias, and many others.
In WEBSITE NEWS we discuss the importance of Patron Saints, and the practice of using or wearing patron Saint medals. Of course there are preparations to be made for the season of Advent, and we are still working on our new website.
The biggest announcement in COMMUNITY NEWS is the start of a new building project. Read More….
Lent, a Season of Healing
Fasting, the ancient practice of Lent, has a history importance and meaning that is underestimated and not known by many of us Catholics today. It was by breaking a type of “fast” appointed by God that Adam and Eve committed original sin, and it is by this practice that we strike that the very root of the evil in our souls. By looking more closely at this and other Lenten practices, we hope to diminish some of the proverbial "gloom and doom" of Lent, and help you to see this Season for what it is, a grace and a great gift - a much needed medicine which stings, but heals the soul. We also touch on devotion to the Holy Face, a devotion important to many Carmelites including Saint Therese.
In WEBSITE NEWS we have recommendations for spiritual reading (another important practice in Lent), including the “cross and crown” books (available for a limited time only since these books are out of print).
In COMMUNITY NEWS we touch on our latest building/home improvement project, a small mud room outside our kitchen door. Read More….
“All of Life is Advent”
All too often, November finds many of us racing into the celebratory mood of Christmas, without a thought of Advent, that preparatory season of light penance and prayer. Father Delp, who wrote from his WWII cell in Nazi Germany, had many beautiful reflections on this holy season that are applicable today: "Advent is a time of being deeply shaken, so that man will wake up to himself…. Perhaps what we modern people need most is to be genuinely shaken, so that where life is grounded, we would feel its stability; and where life is unstable and uncertain, immoral and unprincipled, we would know that, also, and endure it… erhaps that is the ultimate answer to the question of why God has sent us into this time, why He permits this whirlwind to go over the earth, and why He holds us in such a state of chaos and in hopelessness and in darkness… More, and on a deeper level than before, we really know this time that all of life is Advent."
We don’t forget, during this month of November, our brethren the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Briefly meditating on their sufferings reminds us of the need to pray for them: “Purgatory, in all truth, the workshop of infinite justice. Divine severity and rigor are exercised there with an intensity that, to us on earth, is unknown... On the other hand, purgatory is the masterpiece of the heart of God, the most marvelous artifice of His love.”
In WEBSITE NEWS we touch on the history and symbolism behind the Advent wreath, a beloved Catholic custom during these days before Christmas. We also introduce our new relic badge of Our Lady of Guadalupe, briefly remember the story of this great apparition and patron of the Americas, as well as studying the intricate symbolism contained in Her image.
COMMUNITY NEWS contains the completion of our new shrine to Our Lady of Fatima. Read more…
Lumen Christi
A very Blessed Easter from the Carmelite Sisters! Pictures from Holy Week in Carmel. Read More….