Mary, Our Mother and Protector

Mary, Virgin and Mother,

Make me obedient like you.

Caring and loving each other,

Pleading, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Maiden, daughter of the Father,

You treasured His Word in Your Heart.

We want to live as brother and sister,

Then teach us how to play our part.

As you stood by the Cross so dear,

He made you a mother of us all.

Pilgrims flock to you from far and near,

You comfort them and hear them when they call.

Hail Holy Queen of Carmel,

Holding your Scapular so high.

Watch ov’r your children of Carmel,

Protecting us when danger is nigh.

Thus with you near us Mother,

Nothing shall we fear below.

When we do the will of the Father,

Heaven’s own blessings we shall know

-          Sr. Rose of Infant Jesus (novice)

                                                                                                                                                     Pune Carmel

THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE

There is no greater love

than the love of JESUS.

There is no love that's wiser, that's stronger, that lasts longer,

that's more willing or thrilling than the love of JESUS.

There is no love more beautiful, more bountiful, more bold,

more basic and unbiased than the love of JESUS

There is no love more caring, more sharing,

more daring to risk all danger for sinner and stranger,

than the love of JESUS

There is no love more gracious, more giving, more living,

more sacred, more selfless, more soul-satisfying,

more pure and undying, than the love of JESUS.

There is no love more verifiable, more valuable, more validating,

more victorious, more glorious than the love of JESUS.

There is no love more precious, more costly, more kingly

than the love of JESUS.

There is no love that is greater, that's more wonderful, more wild,

more passionate, more powerful

THAN THE  LOVE OF JESUS!

                                                                                     Sr. Camelia O.C.D

  

Heart of Jesus

Heart of Jesus, meek and mild,

Guard and guide thy tender child.

Filled with compassion for love of me,

Draw a sinner close to thee.

If by chance I go astray,

Hold me gently in thy sway.

Pull me closer to your heart,

That from thee I’ll ne’er depart.

Bleeds profusely ov’r sinners lost,

Making peace, but what a cost!!

Your mother’s heart beats one with thee,

Setting sinners, captives free.

When the pain is hard to bear,

Mourners too find solace there.

Illness, cross what misery,

Help us Lord we cry to thee!!

Heart of Jesus, tender heart,

Pierced and Wounded lonely heart.

When I yield to temptations, sin,

I too pierce that wounded heart.

Let me fix my eyes on thee,

Love thee Jesus eternally.

Then my heart will beat with thee,

In Paradise eternity!!

-          Sr. Rose of Infant Jesus (novice)

Pune Carmel

Sharing in the life of the Holy Trinity

On the Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the central mystery of our Christian faith and life, the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. The Liturgical arrangement of this feast explains the inner logic of our faith. The inmost Being (of God) as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone …… before the Incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit (CCC 237). The feast, therefore, comes in succession after the celebration of the Incarnation of Christ (Christmas), the Paschal Mystery (Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ) and Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit). The Gospel readings (Jn: 14-17) in the last weeks of Eastertide have all been a prelude to this feast.

            Although revealed, the human intellect being limited and furthermore, tainted by sin in incapable of grasping the fullness of this mystery. We can, nevertheless, have some understanding of this mystery, which is the effort of all theological studies. This self-revelation of the Trinitarian nature of God, however, is not an end in itself. Along with theology, the Fathers of the Church identified the dimension of economy (oikonomia) which is the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life (CCC 236). God’s self-revelation is an invitation to enter into the fullness of this economy which is union with God (CCC 260). The greater purpose is not just to enlighten us but to draw us all into encountering the very mystery of God.

            Scripture reveals that the fullness of this union can only be experienced at the beatific vision when we will see God face to face (1 Jn3:2, I Cor 13:12). But Jesus has still promised that ‘”Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (Jn 14:23). In this present life we are all called to experience the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity. The mystics stand out as signs of the fulfillment of the experience of this divine economy. Reproduced below is a prayer of St Elizabeth of the Trinity called the Elevation to the Trinity.St. Elizabeth was a French Discalced Carmelite Nun who died at the young age of 26 and was canonized by Pope Francis in October last year.Msgr. Mariano Magrassi in a commentary on the prayer noted, “we find many publications with prayers that seem more of “literature”- i.e. written at the table. When these are placed before the Prayer of St. Elizabeth we have to admit: in the moment she was praying, in the moment she was writing, her heart was on fire. We cannot consider it a prayer composed by the mind at the desk, but we have to accept it as a prayer that was inspired, which speaks of her deep spiritual experience.”

            In mysticism, elevation of the spiritor joining with heavenly love is a stage just short of union. St. Elizabeth’s prayer was thus composed prior to her experience of complete union with God. Each paragraph of the prayer begins with the exclamation “O” expressing the attitude of deep desire and petition of a mystic overwhelmed by the blazing light of the mystery experienced. It expresses her desire to lose herself completely in God andnever be separated from Him even for a moment.While the prayer is an outcome of an encounter with God, it still is an appeal; an earnest cry to be more conformed and more ready for union with God. It reveals an acquired knowledge of the infiniteness of God. Despite the intensity of the prayer, the words are a pale reflection of an ineffable experience.

            Although St. Elizabeth is not known to have had any formal education in theology, the prayer demonstrates a profound understanding of the Holy Trinity. It is Christological in nature and falls under the realm of Mystical Theology,i.eknowledge of God infused by God Himself. The plea to the Holy Spirit is to conform the soul more and more to Christ with the ardent desire that the Father may see the very image of His beloved Son in her because, as we pray in the Doxology at mass, it is only through Christ, and with Christ and in Christ that we have access to the Holy Trinity.

            Finally, a prayerful reflection and repetition of the prayer shows how truly mystical it is. St. Elizabeth was burning with an almost consuming love when she composed it and the prayer leaves a spark of that fire of love in any soul sincerely seeking the face of the Beloved.

Elevation to the Trinity composed by St Elizabeth of the Trinity

O my God, Trinity whom I adore; help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in You as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave You, O my Unchanging One, but may each minute carry me further into the depths of Your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it your heaven. Your beloved dwelling and Your resting place. May I never leave You there alone but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant, wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to Your creative action.

O my beloved Jesus, crucified by love; I wish to be a bride for Your heart; I wish to cover You with glory; I wish to love You...even unto death! But I feel my weakness, and I ask You to “clothe me with Yourself,” to identify my soul with all the movements of Your Soul, to overwhelm me, to possess me, to substitute yourself for me that my life may be but a radiance of Your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Restorer, as Saviour.

O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life in listening to You, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from You. Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on You always and remain in Your great light. O my beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may not withdraw from Your radiance.

O consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, “come upon me,” and create in my soul a kind of incarnation of the Word: that I may be another humanity for Him in which He can renew His whole Mystery.

And You, O Father, bend lovingly over Your poor little creature; “cover her with Your shadow,” seeing in her only the “Beloved in whom You are well pleased.”

O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself; I surrender myself to You as Your prey. Bury Yourself in me that I may bury myself in You until I depart to contemplate in Your light the abyss of Your greatness.

Sr. Benedicta of the Holy Face

                                                                                                     Cloistered Carmel of God the Father.

MORE ABOUT ST. TERESA MARGARET

“Habitual examination of conscience”

“I propose to have no other purpose in all my activities, either interior or ex­terior, than the motive of love alone, by constantly asking myself: ‘Now what am I doing in this action? Do I love God?’ If I should notice any obstacle to pure love, I shall take myself in hand and recall that I must seek to return my love for His love.”

“Since nature resists good, even though the spirit may be willing, I resolve to enter upon a continual warfare against self. The arms with which I shall do battle are prayer, the presence of God, silence; yet I am aware how little I am able to use these weapons. Nevertheless I shall arm myself with complete confidence in you, patience, humility and conformity with your divine will ... but who shall help me to fight a continual battle against enemies such as those which make war on me? You, my God, have declared yourself my captain; you have raised the standard of the Cross, saying: ‘Take up the cross and follow in my footsteps.’ To correspond with this invitation, I promise to resist your love no longer; rather, I will follow you to Calvary without hesitation.” 

On the Hidden Life

St. Teresa Margaret can almost be named "the saint of the hidden life," so thoroughly did she absorb its meaning and mystery. The life of Jesus and Mary at Nazareth is indeed the model par excellence for all religious, but this silent and self-effacing saint penetrated deeply into it, and gave its application such wide horizons that she can really be said to have proposed something essentially original.

It is a commonplace to use the life at Nazareth as a type of the Hidden Life, because the enclosed religious is completely withdrawn from the world. But in this sense Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were not "hidden," at least not from their neighbors and the inhabitants of Nazareth and its environs. Probably, like small country towns the world over, everybody knew and discussed the least event around the village well, and anything that happened in Joseph's house would be common knowledge, as with everybody else. But where one can claim that their hiddenness was absolute was that while all their exterior activities were watched, and every visitor noted, so well was their interior life concealed from all eyes, that they passed for the most ordinary and unremarkable among a community that was in itself insignificant. The revelation of miraculous powers in Jesus was received with shocked disbelief. They had known him since childhood and could vouch for his likeableness, kindness, generosity, no doubt - but not sanctity, let alone divinity! This was Teresa Margaret's method of practicing the "hidden life." Everyone in the community saw all she did, talked with her, worked with her, and were warm in their praise of her goodness and charity. But the real depths of her interior life were completely hidden and were one day to prove a revelation and surprise to these intimate daily companions. She passed every minute under their very noses, so to speak, but managed to remain unnoticed, keeping her soul's secret for God alone. 

“Obedience,” said St. Gregory the Great, “is rightly placed before all other sacrifices, for in offering a victim as sacrifice, one offers a life that is not one’s own; but when one obeys one is immolating one’s own will.”... One may leave home, family, friends, renounce social position and material possessions, detach oneself from every created thing, but unless he dispossesses himself of his own will, the sacrifice is worthless … [and Teresa Margaret] developed what one biographer described as “the art of never doing her own will.” ... She had a strong character and a warm, ardent nature, and she seemed to sense that the conflict between her own rebellious temperament and her desire for sanctity would be resolved by the perfection of her submission. 

“At the foot of the Cross,” wrote Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D., “suffering becomes more a proof of love than a punish­ment. Teresa Margaret became a saint not through multiplying penitential exercise, but by having effected an uninterrupted adhesion of her will to the crucified Redeemer.” 

Lest the fact that sympathy might provide some consolation - for it is well-known that a trial shared loses much of its cutting edge - she endeavored to conceal from those around her any pain or sorrow she endured, or the discomfort of fatigue, the weather, minor indispositions, or the small misunderstandings and inevitable frictions of community life. She continued to practice the incessant mortification of consistently presenting a smiling and serene exterior no matter how harassed she might be by interior sufferings or trials. 

Quotes from and about Saint Teresa Margaret

                         “Lord,I shall be yours, whatever the cost, despite all repugnance.”

Preparing to enter Carmel

... the Prioress suggested that, for one intending to enter Carmel, she could think of no better practice than “to accustom herself to mortify her own will in all things, however trifling, and to yield willingly her own rights in order to convenience others, pleasantly agreeing with their opinions, treating all with a genuine kindness, thus making a continual and entire sacrifice of the self to God.” ... Anna Maria (St. Teresa Margaret) had now, from an authoritative source, the secret of the essential spirit of Carmel: the holocaust of one’s will, rather than the rigid adherence to exterior acts and mortifications.

 Rather than continually dwelling on her misery and worthlessness, she merely let all thought of self fall away before the infinite majesty of God; and truly the most profitable and genuine way of despising self is to forget oneself altogether.

However, self-knowledge unlike self-love does not depress with the sight of one’s imperfections. “I can do all things in Him who gives me strength,” she repeated with St. Paul, refusing to be downcast. God could and would supply all she lacked, and Father Ildefonse testified: “The effect of self-knowledge did not discourage her, but rather forced her to throw herself on the goodness and mercy of God. She said to me once, ‘From myself, nothing; from God, everything ... the smaller and weak­er I am in myself, the richer and stronger I shall be in Him ... He shall be the more glorious in His mercy as I am more despicable in my sins and nothingness.’’

On her practice of poverty and detachment, Teresa Margaret framed the following counsel: “Always receive with equal contentment from God’s hand either consolations or sufferings, peace or distress, health or illness. Ask nothing, refuse nothing, but always be ready to do and to suffer anything that comes from His Providence.”

She who does not know how to conform her will to that of others will never be perfect.

Let the nuns take great care not to excuse themselves for their faults except when absolutely necessary. By acting in this way they will make great progress in humility.

“Knowing that a bride cannot be pleasing to her spouse unless she endeavors to become what he wishes her to be ... I will always think of my neighbors as beings made in your likeness, produced by your divine love, redeemed at the price of your precious Blood, looking upon them with true Christian charity, which you command. I will sympathize with their troubles, excuse their faults, always speak well of them, and never willingly fail in charity towards them in thought, word, or deed.”

I am resolved to give complete obedience in everything without exception, not only to my superiors, but also to my equals and inferiors, so as to learn from you, my God, who made yourself obedient in far more difficult circumstances than those in which I find myself.”

HOLY WEEK

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,

no hands, no feet but yours.

Yours are the eyes with which  

Christ looks out His compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which 

He is to go about doing good. 

Yours are the handswith which 

He is to bless us now.

St. Teresa of Avila.