Land of Carmel

"Those who wear the Scapular are thus brought into the land of Carmel, so that they may "eat of its fruits and its good things" (cf.Jer 2:7), and experience the loving and motherly presence of Mary in their daily commitment to be clothed in Jesus Christ and to manifest him in their life for the good of the Church and the whole of humanity (cf. "Formula of Enrollment in the Scapular",cit.)."

Excerpt from the book The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Catechesis and Ritual, Prepared under the direction of the North American Provincials of the Carmelite Orders. Printed by Community of Teresian Carmelites, Worcester, MA

Blessed Virgin Mary & St Joseph  Community, OCDS - Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, Concord, NH

Mirror of Humility and Purity

"The Scapular is a mirror of the humility and purity of Mary:  through her simplicity she invites us to live modestly and in purity.  By wearing the Scapular day and night, it becomes a sign of our constant prayer and of our special dedication to the love and service of the Virgin Mary."

- Excerpt from the book The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Catechesis and Ritual, Prepared under the direction of the North American Provincials of the Carmelite Orders. Printed by Community of Teresian Carmelites, Worcester, MA.

Blessed Virgin Mary & St Joseph  Community, OCDS - Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, Concord, NH

The Seven Penitential Psalms

Incorporating Lectio Divina and
Intentions Relating to the Seven Capital Sins

For centuries, the Seven Penitential Psalms have been a source of prayer and reflection for Christians.  They invite us to recognize our sin, express our sorrow to God, and seek forgiveness and mercy.  The Seven Psalms that were designated together as a group in the 6th century include Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143.

To learn how they were traditionally prayed and for ideas on how you could include them in your prayers this lent, click on the link below.  There you will find a great free download on incorporating lectio divina and how to relate the Penitential Psalms to the seven capital sins.

Free download from Come into the Word with Sarah Christmyer

to see Sarah Christmyer's wonderful blog:

  Come into the Word with Sarah Christmyer

Blessed Virgin Mary & St Joseph  Community, OCDS - Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, Concord, NH

The Morning Offering Anew

Pope Pius XII recommended the daily offering of the Apostleship of Prayer to the faithful and many are in the habit of making this offering daily. But like many things, sometimes we lose site of the meaning and risk beginning to say prayers without really meaning what we say. Not only saying this prayer daily, but renewing it throughout the day and embracing all that comes to you during the day is an excellent means of uniting yourself to Jesus and growing in love for Him. Fr Killian Healy, in an attempt to stress the importance of not just saying the prayer but meaning it and actually giving our thoughts and actions to God, wrote in his book, Awakening Your Soul to the Presence of God, that "... it is insincere to make the offering and then to complain about the weather, lack of sleep, or the hundred and one other inconveniences that plague our waking hours."

If you are not in the habit of saying the Morning Offering or, if you do but feel you don't fully understand all that is being said in the prayer, you might benefit from an excellent short video  entitled "The Meaning of the Daily Offering" which can be found by clicking the following link:

Meaning of the Morning Offering

There are a variety of versions of the Morning Offering. Perhaps reading a different version of the prayer will help you to renew your offering with greater depth and meaning. Below we share a Morning Offering prayer that St Therese of Lisieux composed 'for someone in the world.' It was actually composed at the request of St Therese's sister, Sr Marie of the Sacred Heart, who requested it for her friend, Edith. May it help you to embrace anew this most admirable practice of the Morning Offering.

Morning Offering Composed by

St Therese of Lisieux

My God, I offer you all that I do today for the intentions and the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I want to sanctify every beat of my heart, my thoughts and my simplest works by uniting them to His infinite merits. I want to repair for my faults by casting them into the furnace of His merciful love.

O my God! I ask you for myself and those dear to me the grace to fulfill perfectly Your Holy Will and to accept for love of you the joys and sorrows of this passing life so that one day we may be reunited in Heaven for all eternity.

Amen

Quote of Fr Healy taken from Awakening Your Soul to the Presence of God, How to Walk with Him Daily and Dwell in Friendship with Him Forever, Fr Kilian J.Healy, Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1999. Originally published in 1948 by the Declan X. McMullen Compay, New York, under the title Walking with God.

Blessed Virgin Mary & St Joseph Community, Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), Concord, NH

ConcordOCDS.org

Someone Has Prayed for Me

"From her little cell, as from a broadcasting station, wonderful waves escape night and day. The souls whom they reach are unaware of their origin. They merely murmur: 'Someone has prayed for me'."

- Abbe Thellier de Poncheville

     St Therese of Lisieux was a true daughter of Elijah. She had great apostolic zeal - A zeal for souls. She longed to go to the missions but could not. When she realized that "LOVE COMPRISED ALL VOCATIONS," she then understood her place in the church. In the Story of A Soul, she wrote, "... I have found my place in the Church and it is You, O my God, who have given me this place; in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be Love." Though she lived out her vocation within the bounds of her Cloister and never went to the missions, it was never the less a most fruitful apostolic life.

     The offering of her life and her prayers to God for the salvation of souls should inspire us with confidence in God's power to use our own prayers and offerings. Abbe Thellier de Poncheville, in speaking of the powerful effect of the intercessory life of St Therese wrote, "From her little cell, as from a broadcasting station, wonderful waves escape night and day. The souls whom they reach are unaware of their origin. They merely murmur: 'Someone has prayed for me'."

     Reflect on this when at prayer and have confidence that, through the action of God's grace, your prayer will be effective in saving souls.

Blessed Virgin Mary & St Joseph Community, OCDS - Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, Concord, NH
ConcordOCDS.org

The Lord of Hosts Lives, Before Whom I Stand

"Secular Carmelites are called to strive to make prayer penetrate their whole existence, in order to walk in the presence of the living God , through the constant exercise of faith, hope and love, in such a way that the whole of their life is a prayer, a search for union with God.  The goal will be to achieve the integration of experience of God with the experience of life:  to be contemplatives in prayer and the fulfillment of their own mission. - OCDS Constitutions #17

"‘ The Lord of Hosts Lives, before Whom I stand.’ ” 

- 1 Kings 18:15

For me, ‘The Lord of Hosts Lives, before Whom I stand’ evokes a rich and powerful image of Elijah that reminds me of my call to draw close to God in prayer so that my life will become a witness to the presence of God in the world. As Michael D. Griffin, OCD, wrote in his book ‘A Commentary on the Rule of Life,’ ...

“The Secular Carmelite has been sent by God to carry on the ‘distinctive witness of Carmel in the world.’ This simply means that you are not being sent by God to talk to the world, to use words and words and words about holiness and all sorts of good pious things. Rather, you are called to be a person who stands for the contemplative way of life and the apostolic fervor or zeal that the Order represents. The world will not be impressed so much by what you say as by what you are.”

May the things we share on this website help you to, as Michael Griffin writes, “...stand in the presence of the Lord of Hosts, and to be confident that He will aid and strengthen you as you labor for the good of His Church and humanity.”

Quotes taken from A Commentary on the Rule of Life by Michael D. Griffin, OCD, Theresian Carmel Press, Hubertus, WI., copyright 1981, Discalced Carmelites Washington Province.

Blessed Virgin Mary & St Joseph Community. Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, OCDS - Concord, NH
ConcordOCDS.org