O.Carm

Giovedì, 15 Dicembre 2022 07:44

Celebrating At Home - 4th Sunday of Advent

The promise fulfilled
(Matthew 1:18-24)

The great Christmas feast is almost here. As always in Advent, what is promised in the first reading is brought to fulfilment in the Gospel reading. We began Advent with the cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. We will end it with the joyful shout, ‘God is with us!’
Our Advent journey has called us to:

stay awake to the coming of God,
prepare ourselves to receive the Lord,
rejoice that he is not afraid to make his home with us, and to
receive him with faith and love.

At Christmas we will hear the call to give birth to him in word and action so that the saving power of God may be seen and experienced through our every thought, word and action.

The promise of the first reading from Isaiah that, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with us’,” is fulfilled in the Gospel which tells how Joseph received both Mary and Jesus into his home.

Following Joseph’s example, we joyfully welcome Jesus, and Mary, into our hearts.

The great gift of Jesus to the world cannot be confined only to one moment in history. Through us, the Body of Christ, the Gift is given again and again; born into every moment of human history. The presents we exchange at Christmas are meant to be symbols of our readiness to give and receive Christ, the eternal gift of God’s love.

As, year by year, we travel the liturgical journey of the Church’s feasts and seasons we touch ever more deeply the living presence of Christ in us that we may become ever more deeply the living presence of Christ in the world.

Published in Notizie (CITOC)

Tagged under

Celebrating At Home

Lunedì, 12 Dicembre 2022 15:32

Assembly of the Lay Carmelites of Pernambuco, Brazil

On the Sunday of the Solemnity of Christ the King (November 20, 2022), the Assembly of the Lay Carmelites of the Province of Pernambuco was held in "Camocin de São Félix", where a common project for the formation of the laity was elaborated and the new Council of the Carmelite Tertiaries of the Northeast was elected. This new Council will be the decision-making body, accompanied by the delegate of the laity of the Province of Pernambuco.

Published in Notizie (CITOC)

Tagged under

Lunedì, 12 Dicembre 2022 15:27

Retreat of the Carmelite Laity in Brazil

The secretary of the Carmelite Family for the Americas organized a retreat for the Carmelite laity with the theme: "The Lay Carmelite in search of holiness". This retreat was held from November 18-20 at the Convento do Carmo in Sao Paulo, with the presence of Carmelite Tertiaries belonging to the Province of Rio and the Commissariat of Parana.

It was a moment of grace, where the brothers and sisters of the Third Order learned more about the vocation of the lay Carmelite, committing themselves to continue with these meetings-retreats to learn more about the Carmelite charism.

Published in Notizie (CITOC)

Tagged under

Lunedì, 12 Dicembre 2022 15:14

Meeting of the Carmelite Family in Bolivia

On November 10 and 12, 2022, two meetings of the members of the Carmelite Family were held in the cities of Tarija and La Paz (Bolivia). In both events, there was a good participation both in the Eucharist and in the formation: "The lay Carmelite listens to the Word of God”. These moments of fraternity help us to increase the fraternal bonds between the different sectors of the Carmelite Family.

Published in Notizie (CITOC)

Tagged under

Lunedì, 12 Dicembre 2022 15:35

John of the Cross and His Eucharistic Spirituality

14 December Feast

With all that the Eucharist is for a Catholic Christian, does John of the Cross have a Eucharistic spirituality? His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament or the Mass is not immediately evident. But, if in fact the Eucharist holds central importance for him, why is this obscure in his writings?

Well, there is evidence of his Eucharistic spirituality in some of the testimonies given by those who knew him during the canonical processes for his beatification and canonization. There are approximately thirty published works addressing John’s Eucharistic spirituality. Interestingly two-thirds of these (19 out of 27) focus exclusively on John poem La Fonte: Que bien sé yo la fonte que mana y corre.

John of the Cross focuses on the interior life in his writings. His exposition of spiritual, passive purification and his illumination of Christian mysticism eventually earned him the accolade “Mystical Doctor.” John devoted most of his writings discussing the interior life. A combination of factors contributed to a kind of breakthrough in the ability to understand and articulate the psychological, interior experience of being united to God, above all, in love.

His audience may also be a reason John’s works contain a small number of Eucharistic passages. His letters and “Sayings” were given to his closest friends. The Canticle and The Living Flame were written “at the request” of two women very close to him. He concludes the prologues of The Ascent explaining he is addressing “only some of the persons of our holy Order of the Primitive Observance.” His poems are written for himself and his Beloved. The people he wrote to went to Mass daily and received Communion frequently. So, the Eucharist was one point upon which John’s readers did not need extended instruction.

The fact that John of the Cross held the Eucharist in great esteem colors, it seems, his doctrine of “nada,” and adds a new consideration in the debate about the kind of purgation John recommends. The documentation associated with the Church’s declaration of John as “Mystical Doctor” is focused on his four treatises—explanations of his poems—and almost none of John’s poetry. Systematically looking at John’s poetry will, perhaps, modify the frequent perception of his theology as narrow and of limited value and application.

Seventy-eight primary sources offered approximately one hundred seventy-five different testimonies, and twenty-six different passages from John’s works declaring that John of the Cross has a Eucharistic spirituality. It can be stated with confidence and irrefutable certainty, and in John’s own words: the Mystical Doctor found his Eternal Bridegroom “within this living bread.”

Edizioni Carmelitane is proud to offer a new book on John of the Cross’ Eucharistic Theology:

Dr. John D. Love’s Within This Living Bread: Exploring the Eucharistic Spirituality of St. John of the Cross. Dr. Love is a professor at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland (USA) since 2008. He received his doctorate from the Angelicum in Rome.

This book costs 22 euros and can be purchased at https://edizionicarmelitane.org/. To place your order, send an e-mail to: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

Giovedì, 08 Dicembre 2022 07:34

Seminar on Spirituality in Prison

Spirituality in Prison: Resisting the Logic of War
December 10 | 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Warren Borg Ebejer

In light of the fact that war and violence are increasingly on the rise in our world, on our own European doorstep, but not just, what is a Christian response to war and persecution? Specifically, what goes on in one’s mind when they have been unjustly imprisoned? Where lies the Christian hope in an otherwise bitter and anguished condemnation of war? In this seminar, we shall look at how three men of the 20th century faced imprisonment and the harshest conditions of war first-hand; three men who incarnate a spirituality in war, not comfortably from behind the safety of their desks, but hellishly from the darkness of prison.

By stepping into their shoes and walking their personal Via Crucis, we may understand (1) what is means to be trapped in war; (2) how they resisted the logic of war, and (3) how they transformed their suffering. While the three men were not impervious to despair, we will observe how they gave witness to their faith with great fortitude. Through prayer and righteous action, Br. Raphael Tijhuis, O. Carm. (1913-1981), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1904-1945), and Cardinal Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan (1928-2002) discerned the science of the cross and gave peace to a world that could not return their love.

Venue:
Zoom

How to Register:
Send an email to Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

Cost:

The seminar is free of charge. However, if you wish to make a donation, you can do so:

1. Via bank transfer to our account
  [IBAN. MT 28 VALL 2201 3000 0000 400 1797 9621
  [Beneficiary “Carmelite Institute”]
2. By cheque addressed to “Carmelite Institute” for amounts greater than €20 (as per directive n. 19 issued by the Central Bank of Malta)

Published in Notizie (CITOC)

Tagged under

Venerdì, 09 Dicembre 2022 06:59

Celebrating At Home - 3rd Sunday of Advent

Are you the one?
(Matthew 11:2-11)

This Sunday marks the turning point in the Advent Season. Traditionally called Gaudete Sunday it is a day of rejoicing that the Saviour is near. The focus shifts from the final coming of Christ at the end of time to the first coming of Christ at Bethlehem. The note of joy is symbolised by the inclusion of the colour rose among the purple of the Season.
The joyful first reading from the prophet Isaiah proclaims that God is on his way to save his people.
This coming brings healing and rejoicing and an end to sorrow and lament.
Using images of farmers and prophets, the letter of St James urges patience in our waiting for God. A kind of patient certainty is the attitude of the disciple.
Perhaps it is actually us who are slow in responding to God; slow in letting the message of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit transform our lives so that we too might have power to bring healing and joy. In the Gospel Jesus fulfils the prophecy of the first reading about the Messiah. John the Baptist asks, “Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?” The words of Jesus clarify his identity and that of John the Baptist. Jesus comes, not as the kind of warrior-messiah, slaughtering and slashing, but as ‘the kindness of God’, tending the sheep, healing and liberating the needy - the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor.
But is Jesus the ‘one’ for us, or are we really waiting for someone or something else to save us?
Our Christmas can’t simply be about Jesus’ birth a long time ago, celebrating an historical anniversary. It has to be more than that - the celebration of a fresh discovery of an ever-deepening presence of Christ in each of us.
Rejoice! God is not only ‘on his way’, he is already here!

Published in Notizie (CITOC)

Tagged under

Celebrating At Home

Venerdì, 02 Dicembre 2022 14:12

Blessed Bartolome Fanti

5 December Optional Memorial

His date of birth is unknown. Already a priest of the Mantuan Congregation of the Carmelites, which had been approved by the pope ten years earlier, Bartolome joined the confraternity of the Virgin that existed in the church of Carmel. On January 1, 1460, he assumed the office of spiritual father and restorer of the group. He took his assignment to the confraternity seriously. He wrote its rule and statutes. Until his death 35 years later, it is known that he dedicated himself almost entirely to this ministry.

In artwork he is usually shown with a group of novices to whom he speaks fervently of the Holy Eucharist. This was, in fact, his particular devotion along with devotion to the Blessed Virgin to whom he also professed a very tender devotion. The tradition that Bl. Bautista Spagnoli was Fanti's novice appears to have no basis in fact: Fanti appears to never have held the office of Master of Novices and Baptista Spagnoli made his novitiate year in Ferrara and not in Mantua.

The rule written by Fanti for the confraternity is in twelve short chapters. It is very simple and concise, and its style resembles the rule given by St. Albert to the first Carmelites on Mount Carmel. He also wrote the statutes of the Confraternity of Carmel and created a register of notable events. One can find these writings, along with an exhaustive introductory examination, in the 1957 Ephemerides Carmeliticae.

In 1516 the Blessed’s body was transferred from its tomb in the church to the Chapel of the Virgin, and in 1598 it was placed under the altar. When in 1783 the convent was suppressed, his remains were transferred to St. Mark's and from there, almost ten years later, to the cathedral where they are still preserved, in an incorrupt form, in the Chapel of the Crowned Virgin. The decree of confirmation of his cult was ratified by St. Pius X on March 18, 1909. His feast is celebrated on December 5.

Venerdì, 02 Dicembre 2022 13:53

Celebrating At Home - 2nd Sunday of Advent

Prepare a way for the Lord
(Matthew 3:1-12)

The magnificent first reading from the prophet Isaiah this weekend looks forward to the appearance of one ‘on whom the spirit of the Lord rests – a spirit of wisdom and insight, counsel and power and knowledge of the fear of the Lord’.
He gives judgement in favour of the poor. His judgement is not influenced by appearances or hearsay. He judges with integrity. His word strikes the ruthless and his sentences bring death to wickedness.
In his day extraordinary things happen: ‘the wolf lies with the lamb…’ All creation is at peace. Even natural enemies (symbolised by the animals) live together in peace. No hurt or harm is done because the whole country ‘is filled with the knowledge of the Lord’. John the Baptist sits at the centre of this week’s Gospel and next week’s. He is the ‘one who cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord; make his paths straight’.
John was preparing the people for the coming of Jesus.
Moved by his preaching many sought baptism in the river Jordan. This ancient water-rite symbolised dying to the old way of life and rising to a new way of life.
That’s what repentance is about: turning away from sin and turning towards God. It is about true conversion of heart. It’s about making straight the pathways of our hearts. The fruit of our repentance and true conversion shows itself in good works.
Our preparation for the coming ‘day of the Lord’ is a continual cycle of dying and rising; of turning away from sin and towards God; of remaking our minds and hearts after the mind and heart of Christ. The good works we do give Christ presence, form and shape in the concrete reality of human life. So, Christian life is a constant act of preparation through repentance and good works.
Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus long ago.
It’s also about giving birth to him in our lives every day.