O.Carm
Prior General Highlights Devotion to Our Lady
Diocese of Málaga Features Interview with Carmelite Prior General to Highlight Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel in July
The July issue of the magazine of the Diocese of Málaga (Spain) focused on Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As July 16 is the feast day, several of the articles focused on the devotion of the people and how they celebrate the feast marking the Christian summer calendar. The cover of the magazine showed the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel who is the patroness of Marbella.
One article featured an interview the Carmelite prior general, Fr. Míċeál O'Neill reflecting on the actuality of the Marian invocation that "unites us to her Son Jesus, unites us to the Church and unites us to heaven." Fr. Míċeál was in Málaga earlier to participate in the closing of the Jubilee of the centenary of the birth in Malaga of the Carmelite Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Malaga.
Speaking of the significance of the anniversary celebration, Fr. Míċeál said, “Today we recognize that a charism is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The family lives from a charism that we have in common, together with a variety of charisms arising in the different sectors of the family: brothers and sisters of apostolic life, nuns, friars and laity. To be able to recognize and celebrate this richness is always a reason for gratitude and also an impulse to continue responding day after day to the vocation we have received and to the mission that awaits us."
In the days prior to the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the prior general reflected on one of the most beloved Marian devotions throughout the Diocese of Málaga. He called the popularity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “a gift for the Church."
“More than 800 years [after our founding], the Carmelite Order continues to bring this water of life to the places where it is present. Our family is a Marian family as well as an Elijah family," says the prior general. “With these two great models we live as people who have a very deep experience of God, as Mary and Elijah have. In this spirit we approach God, revealed in Jesus Christ, alongside all the people who have found in their lives the importance of the search for God. We want to accompany this search with the love and wisdom that our vocation and our formation in the Church. We want to make present in the world that the dignity of the human person is found, in the first place, in his being created by God in his image and likeness; and in his capacity to live a profound friendship with God, in the person of Jesus, following the example of Mary. Carmel lives by the Word of God and helps those who come into contact with it to know and cultivate that word of salvation in their lives."
Father O'Neill has a deep knowledge of the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. “I have been able to get to know her both here in Spain and in Latin America, and she is a true gift that the Lord has given to the Church. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a devotion and a way for many people. It is not and cannot be "campanilismo" (competition, rivalry) of any kind. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not the “champion of the Virgins.”
“It is the Virgin of Mount Carmel who unites us with our tradition rom the beginning, unites us to her Son Jesus, unites us to the Church and unites us to heaven."
Regarding the popularity of the names Carmen or Maria del Carmen, which year after year tops the lists of the most popular Spanish names, Father O'Neill affirms that he feels "good with the people who are called Maria del Carmen, both on the part of Mary and on the part of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel part. The name speaks of goodness and beauty. It's hard for me to think that a person who bears this name can be anything but good and Christian. Because of the goodness and beauty of Mary, the Virgin of Carmel this name runs deep in many places and cultures. The biggest challenge today is that the Gospel penetrates the towns and cultures of today with its goodness, truth, and beauty.
Link the the full article in Spanish (pages 8-9)
Celebrating At Home - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Living Sacraments of God’s Love
(Mark 6:7-13)
The first reading today tells the story of Amos, an ordinary man who was called by God to be a prophet. Amos, who had been happily looking after his sheep and his sycamore trees when God called him, was sent to preach to people who had become so lost in their wealth, power and self-importance that they could no longer read the face of God in the poor, weak and sick, and despised them. Like Amos, the disciples in the Gospel are ordinary men. None, not even Jesus himself, is a formally commissioned or ordained rabbi, yet they are called and commissioned to preach and to heal.
The Gospel needs to be presented simply and truthfully and without affectation. The preaching disciples must make themselves like the brothers and sisters to whom they dare preach. Perhaps a reminder that he/she is not above those to/for whom he/she preaches.
Too much wealth and too many possessions can easily get in the way of proclaiming the Gospel, as can an exalted sense of self-importance. Pope Francis is constantly warning priests and seminarians against clericalism (thinking they are above everyone else) and careerism (thinking more about self-advancement in the Church than about mission).
Not everyone will be able to hear or accept the message of the disciples, just as the townsfolk of Nazareth couldn’t perceive the presence of God in Jesus. But there is no firestorm of punishment. Jesus, though hurt, amazed and dumbstruck, does not retaliate with violent retribution. Instead, he intensifies and multiplies his mission by sending out the disciples to other places. Where once there was only Jesus now there are 12 others spreading the Good News and healing. Disciples are called to proclaim God’s love, not God’s wrath.
It is ordinary people like you and me, not only those formally commissioned by the Church, who are called to read the face of God in ourselves, in others and in the world around us. We try not to get lost in our own power and wealth and self-importance which can easily blind us to the presence of God. We try to be people who become sacraments of God’s presence for one another, who allow God to anoint God’s people with acts of love, compassion, hope and healing.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF](3.27 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub](4.78 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - XV Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario(510 KB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - XV Domenica del Tempo Ordinario(520 KB)
- pdf Celebrando em família - Décimo Quinto Domingo do Tempo Comum(508 KB)
XXIX Meeting of the Carmelite Family of the Iberian Region
The XXIX Meeting of the Carmelite Family of the Iberian Region was held in Fatima from June 28 to 1. The theme of the Meeting was: "This way is holy and good: follow it. Figures of holiness in Carmel". With this theme we sought to continue the increasingly conscious and current reflection that the vocation to holiness is common to all Christians.
In this context, the reflections made and the conferences presented were inspired by Carmelite figures and documents that, from our spirituality, encourage us towards holiness. Thus:
- Friar Pedro Bravo spoke on the Rule of the Third Order of Carmel;
- Cardinal Emeritus of Lisbon, Don Manuel Clemente, spoke about St. Nuño de Santa Maria;
- Sr. Angela Coelho, vice postulator of the cause of the visionaries of Fatima, spoke about the Carmelite traits of the spirituality of Sr. Lucia de Jesus, one of the 3 visionaries of Fatima and who lived most of her life as a Carmelite nun;
- Mariana Frazão and Carmo Diniz, two people who were in the central organization of the World Youth Day in Lisbon in 2023, shared a reflection on the challenges of holiness launched by Pope Francis from his words and gestures during that Day.
In addition to the lectures, group work was divided into 7 workshops. Each one reflected on an inspiring figure of the Carmelite Order: St. Titus Brandsma, Friar Pablo Maria de La Cruz Hidalgo, Blessed Isidore Bakanja, St. Celia Guérin and Louis Martin, St. Nuño de Santa Maria, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus and Sister Lucia de Jesus.
In addition to the formative dimension, the meeting gave a central place to the prayerful dimension. The Organization provided a bilingual booklet that served as the basis for the liturgical moments. On Sunday, June 30, the participants joined the pilgrims from Fatima and participated in the celebration of the Eucharist at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima.
In the afternoon, the group celebrated the Way of the Cross in the space provided by the sanctuary for this exercise of popular devotion. In this Way of the Cross, the meditations for each station were written by the groups in the work previously presented and based on the life and spirituality of the respective inspirational figure.
On the evening of June 30, a fraternal meeting was held in which each participating group presented something about its place and entity. It was a very festive moment in which we gave thanks for the immense cultural richness present in the Order today.
About 150 participants from the following Carmelite entities, including friars, sisters and lay people, participated in this meeting: Carmelite Sisters of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Carmelite Nuns, Province of Aragon, Castile and Valencia, Province of Betica, Province of Catalonia, General Commissariat of Portugal.
The Meeting took place in an atmosphere of great fraternity, prayer, exchange and healthy coexistence.
The XXX Meeting of the Carmelite Family of the Iberian Region will be organized by the Province of Catalonia.
Blessed Jane Scopelli, Virgin
9 July Optional Memorial
Blessed Jane Scopelli was born in Reggio Emilia in 1428. Inclined to piety from a young age, she obtained permission from her parents to become a cloistered Carmelite while remaining living with the family. After the death of her parents, she joined other women and formed a community in 1480.
In the city of her birth, with the placet of Bishop Filippo Zoboli, she obtained in 1495 the house and church of the Umiliati, which she transformed into a monastery, vulgarly called "Le Bianche" and entrusted to the Congregation Mantovana. There she exercised the office of prioress. Extraordinary events are attributed to the blessed who was endowed by God with an extraordinary charism and rich in profound Marian piety.
She died on July 9, 1491. Her cult was approved by Clement XIV on August 24, 1771. When the monastery was closed in 1803 on account of the Napoleonic suppression, the Blessed's body was transferred to the city's cathedral, where it is still venerated today.
Celebrating At Home - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
True Faith - Seeing the Sacred Everywhere
(Mark 6:1-6)
Traditionally, the prophets in the Bible had a pretty tough time. Many experienced rejection and persecution and even death. The first reading tells part of the story of Ezekiel’s call to be a prophet.
Common to all the prophets is the conviction that the Word of the Lord must be spoken to the people ‘whether they listen or not’ - the prophet must remain faithful to his vocation even if it costs him his life.
In the Gospels Jesus is presented as the prophet par excellence. In this Sunday’s Gospel we find Jesus in his home town, Nazareth, teaching in the synagogue - faithfully fulfilling his mission to proclaim the Good News. As for many other prophets, that proclamation will eventually cost him his life. Like the other prophets, Jesus, too, experiences rejection. At first the people marvel at Jesus’ teaching and the miracles he has worked elsewhere, but soon they decide that he is just ‘a carpenter (craftsman)’ whose family they know well. Nothing special to be seen here, they seem to think. The old saying, familiarity breeds contempt, seems to sum up their attitude, especially when they refer to Jesus as the son of his mother. Jews were customarily known by their father’s name even if the father had died. Jesus is astonished at their lack of faith.
Faith, in this context, implies an openness to perceive the presence and action of God (the Kingdom).
Clearly, the people don’t perceive the action of God in Jesus in spite of the impressive words he spoke and the miracles he performed. Were Jesus’ family circumstances just too ordinary for them? They couldn’t look beyond what was familiar to them in order to see God at work in him. Without that essential openness Jesus finds he can’t work any great miracle among them even though he can cure a few sick people.
Faith is about being in relationship with Jesus (and therefore, with God). Relationships grow as people come to know and understand each other. In a faith relationship, we change as we begin to get to know Jesus and we come to see with his eyes, feel with his heart and act with his intention in the world.
Only when we begin to see with the eyes of Jesus can we perceive the otherwise ‘hidden’ presence of God in human beings and events. We begin to see the sacred ‘hidden’ in the secular and the ordinary.
Only with faith can we see the action of God enfolded in the ordinary and familiar, the presence of the divine in the human, the sacred in the secular. So, to us, the division between sacred and secular almost disappears and almost everything appears ‘sacred’, and not just ‘merely’ human or secular.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF](3.00 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub](4.69 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - XIV Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario(543 KB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - XIV Domenica del Tempo Ordinario(538 KB)
- pdf Celebrando em família - Décimo Quarto Domingo do Tempo Comum(554 KB)
Founders of the Missionary Sisters Letter Exchange
4 July Optional Memorial in the Italian provinces
Centenary of the first exchange of letters between the Founders of the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus
In the early afternoon of Sunday, June 23, 2024, a meeting was held to commemorate the first exchange of letters between the founders of the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Blessed M. Maria Crocifissa Curcio and Father Lorenzo van den Eerenbeemt, O. Carm.
Their fruitful human and spiritual relationship, in fact, began with a letter that Father Lorenzo sent on June 23, 1924, writing from St. Albert's International College, where he was a professor, at the suggestion of Fr. Alberto Grammatico, a confrere and colleague: it was a proposal to start together a female Institute of "active, religious, Carmelite life" for the missions. Within a few days, on the following June 28, Mother M. Crocifissa responded with great joy from Modica (Ragusa), adhering with enthusiasm to the proposal after many years of suffering fidelity to the vocation of Carmelite religious of active life. Their purpose, which over time became clearer and more refined, was realized about a year later, on July 3, 1925, with the founding of the Congregation in Santa Marinella (Rome).
From what is now CISA and beginning with a short pilgrimage on foot from the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina, not far away, the event re-enacted what happened now a century ago, retracing the places from where the two letters started and delving into their words and contents.
Everything was shared online with the Congregation's communities and lay friends from all parts of the world, while the gathering in the "St. Titus Brandsma" hall of CISA was attended by numerous sisters of the Congregation of various nationalities, a representation of the Sisters of the Institute of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, some friars of the CISA community and a large representation of members of the Third Carmelite Order of Rome. We cordially thank the brothers from the communities of CISA and Santa Maria in Traspontina for their welcome.
This celebration stands as a key moment within the path of the "Year of the Founders" with which the Congregation is continuing the journey undertaken now for a year with the celebration of a year dedicated to St. Therese of the Child Jesus and which will conclude with the celebration of a Jubilee Year on the occasion of the first centenary of the birth of the Congregation.
Sr M. Nerina de Simone cmstgb
Lectio Divina July 2024
Opening Prayer
Father, guide and protector of Your people, grant us an unfailing respect for Your name, and keep us always in Your love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Pope Outlines Next Steps for Vatican to be a Solar State
Pope Outlines Next Steps for Vatican to be a Solar State in Apostolic Letter “Fratello sole”
On June 21, 2024, Pope Francis continued to outline the Vatican’s plan to become a solar nation issuing the Apostolic Letter “Fratello sole” (Brother Sun). The motu proprio is available on the Vatican website in English, Italian, and Spanish at this time.
In the document of less than 500 words, Pope Francis provides for the construction of an agrivoltaic plant in the extraterritorial zone of Santa Maria in Galeria, where Vatican Radio has maintained antennas for broadcasting since 1957. The site, located approximately 35 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Vatican, consists of 430 hectare (1,063 acres).
Highlighting the need “to make a transition to a sustainable development model that reduces greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, setting the goal of climate neutrality,” In a decree, he says that the solar energy generated by this initiative would be sufficient to fuel not only the Vatican’s radio operations at Santa Maria but the Vatican City State itself.
Agrivoltaics, also known as “dual-use” solar, involves the use of land for both solar energy and agricultural production. For example, crops can be grown, or livestock grazed, or pollinator habitats maintained underneath or adjacent to solar panels.
The pope restates his belief that “mankind has the technological means to deal with this environmental transformation and its pernicious ethical, social, economic and political consequences; and among these, solar energy plays a key role.”
Under Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican installed a solar panel roof on its main audience hall and accepted a donated “climate forest” in Hungary to offset its emissions. The Vatican has begun replacing its car fleet with electric vehicles as part of an overarching plan. In 2023, the Governatorate of the Vatican City State announced “Ecological Conversion 2030.” In harmony with Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si and the Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, this plan aims to pursue various sustainable, carbon-neutral projects and technologies in the 44-hectare (109-acre) Vatican city state.
Carmelites Return to the Foundress’ Hometown
Carmelite Sisters of the Aged and Infirm Return to the Foundress’ Hometown in Scotland
Six Carmelite Sisters and Father Mario Esposito, O. Carm., the vice-postulator for the Cause of Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa, traveled to Mossend, Scotland to attend an unveiling of the Venerable's statue. The event was hosted by the Holy Family Parish in Mossend, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, the home parish of Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa.
Although Mother Angeline was born in Northern Ireland in 1893, her family immigrated to Carfin, Scotland when she was seven years old. She became a Little Sister of the Poor, caring for the aged poor. After profession, she was sent to the United States of America and soon began adopting a more American way of serving the elderly of various backgrounds. With the blessing of the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, Mother Angeline and six other sisters withdrew from the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor and on September 3, 1929, began a new Congregation. Two years later the new Congregation became affiliated with the Carmelite Order and became known as “Carmelite Sisters of the Aged and Infirm.” Her work for the Church was recognized by Pope John XXII when she received the Pro Ecclesiae Award and the Benemerenti Award by Pope Paul VI. Mother Angeline died in January 1984.
Unfortunately, the statue was delayed in customs and the other planned ceremonies went ahead as planned. These included celebrating Mass at the Venerable’s home parish of Holy Family with the local bishop, Joseph Toal as celebrant, a visit the house where Venerable Mother Angeline lived, and to explore the areas— “to walk in the footsteps of their Foundress”— is a quote from the Congregation’s homepage, proclaiming the days in Scotland were “a great grace and gift to the Congregation.”
The celebration of the Mass on June 23 was a gathering of many. Besides Bishop Toal and the sisters from the USA including Mother General Mary Rose Heery, members of the Mother Angeline Society Pilgrims came from Ireland, and relatives of the Venerable.
The sister humorously expressed the hope that “there might just be another opportunity in the future to visit Mossend again and to see that much awaited statue!
Today the sisters have 18 residences in the United States and Ireland. There are 122 professed sisters. The headquarters is in Germantown, New York.
You Tube Interview with the Carmelites who traveled to Ven. Mother Angeline’s hometown (Sancta Familia Media).
Story of Mother Angeline (EWTN).
July 2024 Schedule of the Prior General
Fr. Míċeál O'Neill, the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the month of July 2024:
July 1-12: Holidays
July 14-17: Jerez de la Frontera, Spain in the centenary of the crowning of the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
July 20-31: USA, fraternal visitation
July 28-31: Lay Carmelite Symposium in Washington, DC.
