O.Carm
Lectio Divina November 2023
Opening Prayer
Lord, the meaning of our life is to seek your Word, which came to us in the person of Christ. Make me capable of welcoming what is new in the Gospel of the Beatitudes, so that I may change my life. I would know nothing about you were it not for the light of the words spoken by your Son Jesus, who came to tell us of your marvels. When I am weak, if I go to Him, the Word of God, then I become strong. When I act foolishly, the wisdom of His Gospel restores me to relish God and the kindness of His love. He guides me to the paths of life. When some deformity appears in me, I reflect on His Word and the image of my personality becomes beautiful. When solitude tries to make me dry, my spiritual marriage to Him makes my life fruitful. When I discover some sadness or unhappiness in myself, the thought of Him, my only good, opens the way to joy. Therese of the Child Jesus has a saying that sums up the desire for holiness as an intense search for God and a listening to others: "If you are nothing, remember that Jesus is all. You must therefore lose your little nothing into His infinite all and think of nothing else but this uniquely lovable all…" (Letters, 87, to Marie Guérin).- pdf Lectio Divina November 2023 [Pdf] Download here(721 KB)
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Lectio Divina November 2023 [Mobi] Download here(671 KB)
"Lectio divina," a Latin term, means "divine reading" and describes a way of reading the Scriptures whereby we gradually let go of our own agenda and open ourselves to what God wants to say to us. In the 12th century, a Carthusian monk called Guigo, described the stages which he saw as essential to the practice of Lectio divina. There are various ways of practicing Lectio divina either individually or in groups but Guigo's description remains fundamental.
Cover image: St. Nuno Alvares Pereira, Carmelite
Carmelite Nuns in Portugal Celebrate Elective Chapter
The nuns of the community of the Holy Family (Carmelo da Sagrada Família) Carmelite Monastery held their triennial elective Chapter on October 18, 2023. The Chapter was presided over by the bishop of the Diocese of Bragança-Miranda, Bishop Nuno Manuel dos Santos Almeida. The Carmelite General Commissary of Portugal, Agostinho Marques Castro, was also present.
Sérgioni Ancelmo da Silva, of the Province of Pernambuco, is the assistant at the monastery while he studies at the Universidad Católica Portuguesa.
The monastery was founded in 1947 by the Carmelite nuns from St. Ann's in Seville, Spain, headed by Sr. Maria of Fatima and of the Holy Face together with Sr. Maria Pilar. Moncorvo is the first enclosed monastery in Portugal after the laws of the 19th century.
The results of the elective chapter were as follows:
Prioress | Priora | Priora:
Irmã Maria Imaculada Conceição Nevado, O. Carm.
1st Councilor | 1ª Consejera | 1ª Consigliera:
Irmã Maria da Sagrada Familia Costa, O. Carm.
2nd Councilor | 2ª Consejera | 2ª Consigliera:
Irmã Maria Martina de Jesus Crucificado Dume, O. Carm.
3rd Councilor | 3ª Consejera | 3ª Consigliera:
Irmã Maria de Cristo Rei Valdigem, O. Carm.
4th Councilor | 4ª Consejera | 4ª Consigliera:
Irmã Maria da Natividade da SS. Virgem Gomes, O. Carm.
Treasurer | Ecónoma | Economa
Irmã Maria Martina de Jesus Crucificado Dume, O. Carm.
Formator | Formadora | Formatrice
Irmã Maria da Cruz Gloriosa Cunha, O. Carm.
Sacristan | Sacristana | Sacrestana
Irmã Maria da Natividade da SS. Virgem Gomes, O. Carm.
Pope Francis' Releases Laudate Deum
Pope Francis' Releases Laudate Deum "to All People of Good Will on the Climate Crisis"
Eight years after Pope Francis released his Encyclical Laudato Si' he has followed up with an Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum (Praise God) because he has realized that enough has not been done. In his letter he says the climate crisis is a global social issue and is intimately related to the dignity of human life. He calls climate change "one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community."
He continues by saying "It is no longer possible to doubt the human ... origin of climate change and then explains why. He then outlines the damages and risks for all creation, including humans.
The pope later highlights what he believes to be "the weakness of international politics" and the progress and failures of the various initiatives that have taken place around the world to address the situation. He conclused the exhortation with a number of points about the spiritual motivations for the fight against climate change.
Laudato Deum Text in English
(courtesy of the Province of Australia)
JPIC Commission Sponsoring Webinar in November
The second theme on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation in preparation for the 2024 JPIC Carmelite Family Congress will be held online on November 4, 2023. Registration is through the QR code found on the advertisement.
The theme of the meeting is The Work of Integral Ecology of a Grassroots Carmelite NGO: Karit Solidarios por la paz (Spain).
The main presented is Esther Martin Lozano, the General Secretary for Karit.
CISA and Edizioni Carmelitane Host Book Presentation
The Institutum Carmelitanum and Edizioni Carmelitane will be hosting a presentation of the book La demolita chiesa di S. Nicola dei Cesarini a Roma (The Demolished Church of S. Nicola dei Cesarini in Rome) at Centro Internazionale San’ Alberto on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 17:45.
See the latest publications of Edizioni Carmelitane at https://edizionicarmelitane.org/
Communications Commission Plans for Future
The International Communications Commission of the Order met by zoom on October 18, 2023 for 90 minutes to review progress in the program and to begin planning some future events. All the members except one were able to be online.
The report from William J. Harry, the director, updated members on the new webstore for Edizioni Carmelitane. Edizioni now fulfills all orders made through the webstore rather than sending them to a third part for fulfillment. This allows Edizioni to know who our customers are and what books they are buying. The webstore also allows better tracking of the inventory, sales received, and money paid. It also allows immediate payment with credit cards or through Paypal. The updated reported on progress in ongoing projects as well.
Our social media outreach continues to be stymied by lack of time. CITOC-online continues to hold pace with last year, although the updates now consolidate 3-4 news stories in one email. The weekly Celebrating at Home continues to be quite popular as does the Lectio divina. Generally positive feedback is received for these. Plans are in the works to develop a Lectio divina for the celebration of the Carmelite saints.
The Communications Office is arranging for additional support to facilitate the sending out of backlog books in a more timely basis than has been possible previously.
The office is experimenting with various forms of advertising of products. Efforts are continuing to reach markets beyond the provinces and lay Carmelites. Because of the expense involved, this will be done slowly and carefully to ensure the results are worth the time and expense.
A new catalogue has been printed and will be distributed to customers as well as to universities, archives, and libraries around the world. Some changes in the format were made to make the catalogue more accessible to the user. A different form of catalogue is being developed for the more popular books, as well as those from other publishing houses, which would be of more interest to the general reader of Carmelite spirituality.
Edizioni Carmelitane’s providing of its more popular books in the eBook format has proven quite encouraging. Over the coming months, more of the non-scientific books will become available in that format as well as the printed version.
An online meeting of the communications personnel from the various parts of the Order will be held in May 2024. Efforts will be continuing in the coming months to gather the names and addresses of people who work in this field. Although the communications office does have the names of some members already involved in communications in the Order, prior provincials, commissaries, and delegates for those areas we do not have anyone named will be contacted. The meeting will focus on what types of communications and resources are available in the Order currently and how we might effectively share those efforts. A second part of the meeting will be a discussion of what areas need to be developed. The goal will be to develop a way of sharing resources towards building a more effective communications program for the Order around the world.
The next meeting of the commission will be in March over Zoom. An in person meeting will be held in at the Curia in Rome May 27-29, 2024.
CISA Inaugurates the New Academic Year
After the Covid pandemic the community of Centro Internazionale di San’Alberto returned to a celebration of the new academic year with the two international communities in Rome participating. Every year at the beginning of the month of October, CISA there is opening of the academic year. Again this year, on October 12, with the prayer of vespers and an introduction by prior general Míċeál O'Neill on the importance of community and fraternal life, we met with members of the General Curia and entered into a new year of work and study.
The CISA community is composed of the members of the Institutum Carmelitanum, the archivist and librarian, and the students pursuing higher studies and specializations. This year members come from the provinces, commissariats, delegations in the Congo, Indonesia, India, Italy, Kenya, Malta, Timor Este, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
Students are studying at different universities in Rome, e.g. the Gregorian University, the Biblicum, the Salesianum ,and others. CISA, although it is a house of studies and research, is striving to live religious community life. In the academic year, there are times planned on a regular basis for Lectio divina, community prayer, retreat days, community meetings, formation days, and all that we need to improve the life of the brothers.
During the previous year CISA successfully closed with three members receiving doctorates in various theological subjects (see CITOC #74 and #146). Also during the current year, considerable energy went into unifying the general library with the Carmelite library under Mario Alfarano, O. Carm.
CISA hosts many visitors during the normal year, providing hospitality for the various international meetings of the Carmelite Family, as well as member of the Order and others who come to Rome for various reasons. The so-called “permanent community” is composed of the 7 confreres from the different countries of the world under the leadership of the prior of CISA, Tadeusz Popiela, O. Carm.
Causa Nostrae Laetitiae
PROFESSIO TEMPORANEA
24-09-23 Yorgan José Montana Martinez (Bar) Barcelona, España
24-09-23 José José Barrios Kanzler (Bar) Barcelona, España
01-10-23 Celina de Santa Teresa del Niño Jesús Riera Dearmas (VAL) Valencia, ES
ORDINATIO DIACONALIS
14-10-23 Francisco Javier Giraldes (ACV) Lomas de Zamora, Argentina
JPIC Holds First Meeting Since Covid
October 14-15, 2023
Carmelite General Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Holds First Meeting Since Covid
The members of the General Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation met at the General Curia, Rome, from October 14-15, 2023. This meeting was the first in-person meeting for the members since the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2019. Our major task was to plan for the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation International Carmelite Family Congress set for Casa Sao Nuno, Fatima, Portugal from July 18-25, 2024. The theme of the Congress will be: Carmelite Journey Towards Individual and Collective Ecological Conversion: Social and Environmental Challenges and Responses Today.
At the end of our deliberations we put out a statement on the current and ongoing world conflicts. (See CITOC online n. 145) In that statement we deplore war and the carnage that comes with it in terms of loss of human lives, many of them innocent, as well as the wanton destruction of homes and infrastructure. We called for cessation of acts of war and violence and pray that dialogue is given a chance so that nations and communities can return to justice and peace.
Celebrating At Home - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Image of God
(Matthew 22:15-21)
What is on display in this story from Matthew’s Gospel is not Jesus’ clever reply, but the image of God he presents.
Even knowing the plot of the Pharisees and Herodians, Jesus does not refuse to enter into dialogue with them. He is the Word of God always willing to be in conversation with human beings, even those plotting against him.
In not directly answering the question put to him, Jesus leaves the response in the hands of those who ask. Jesus does not come with a list of ready-made solutions to every human difficulty. Deep attention to the word and discernment (the gift of the Spirit) help us to respond, in the tradition of Jesus, when we are trying to figure out what the right thing to do is.
God is not about taking power form us, but about empowering us to live in God’s own image and likeness.
Perhaps Jesus’ words that the coin which bears Caesar’s image belongs to Caesar means also that those things which bear the image of God belong to God – including human beings and creation.
Maybe that is why Jesus didn’t walk away from his questioners. He recognises them for what they are – the image and likeness of God.
Thinking about the three parables we have heard over recent weeks we can say that the idea of giving back to God what belongs to God can be understood as giving back the love, generosity, justice and goodness we have received from God. Just as God did not lose anything by giving us these gifts, we don’t lose anything by making them real in our lives, so that others may also share in God’s life through us.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF](2.78 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub](1.73 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - 29 Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario(544 KB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - 29 Domenica del Tempo Ordinario(538 KB)
- pdf Celebrando em familia - 29 Domingo do Tempo Comum(379 KB)
