Meditations from Carmel

Short meditations for your soul from the mystical writings of the great saints of Carmel. These prayerful inspirations come directly from the treasury of writings of the great Carmelite Saints including: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Teresa of the Andes, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, St. Teresa Benedicta and many more! We hope these short reflections will inspire you to take up the practice of prayer in your life! The OCDS Carmelite Community at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis have produced these meditations and are updated regularly with new inspirations.

Short meditations for your soul from the mystical writings of the great saints of Carmel. These prayerful inspirations come directly from the treasury of writings of the great Carmelite Saints including: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Teresa of the Andes, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, St. Teresa Benedicta and many more! We hope these short reflections will inspire you to take up the practice of prayer in your life! The OCDS Carmelite Community at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis have produced these meditations and are updated regularly with new inspirations.

Short meditations for your soul from the mystical writings of the great saints of Carmel. These prayerful inspirations come directly from the treasury of writings of the great Carmelite Saints including: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Teresa of the Andes, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, St. Teresa Benedicta and many more! We hope these short reflections will inspire you to take up the practice of prayer in your life! The OCDS Carmelite Community at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis have produced these meditations and are updated regularly with new inspirations.

Interior Acts of Virtue and Affections… “Ah, how great it your goodness my Jesus! Although I have so deeply offended You, You still wish to clothe Yourself with human flesh, and to take on Yourself all my sins, in order to obtain their pardon for me. I deserved to see You sitting in the tribunal of Divine Justice, as a judge angered against one capable of so many failings; and behold! I find You, instead, in the bosom of Mary, a Savior full of indulgence for my sins. O Lamb of God! How efficacious the sweetness of Your love should be in softening the hardness of my heart! I am more sorry for my sins than for any other evil. I detest them with all my strength, because they are opposed to Your infinite bounty. You deserve to be loved above any other good, O Divine Infant. I wish to be inflamed with a supreme love for You, that I may have a true sorrow for my sins. Deign to imprint on my heart such repentance that I may prefer to die rather than ever to offend You again. Holy Spirit, to You I have recourse; with the help of Your grace I firmly resolve never again to offend my Savior.” Blessed Mary of the Angels was born in Turin, Italy, in 1661, she died, after spending her whole life there, in 1717. In 1675 she entered the Discalced Carmelite Convent of St Christina, and several times filled the offices of Prioress and Novice Mistress. She underwent continual spiritual trials, but was constant in her ardent love of God. She was outstandingly faithful to prayer and particularly devoted to St Joseph, in whose honour a convent was founded through her good offices at Moncalieri. Blesssed Mary of the Angels Discalced Carmelite (1661-1717) A Biography. Rev. G.O’Neill, S.J., M.A. R&T Washbourne, LTD. 1,2 & 4 Paternoster Row, London 1909

It is always sad when you come to the end of a Novena like this one to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The beautiful habit of making your pilgrimage to the Carmel of St. Joseph with the prayerful intention of love and devotion to Our Lady is just so awesome and wonderful that it is a habit you don't want to break! It is a good and generous thing that the Sister's daily invite all to their chapel for Eucharistic Adoration of Our Blessed Lord -- and may the faithful know that the Holy Rosary is prayed EACH night of the year at 7:45 p.m. in the chapel so you can keep your Novena going! Tonight Mt. Carmel was especially blessed to have celebrating the final night of Novena Masses the new Archbishop of St. Louis, his Excellency Robert Carlson. The Archbishop told a story of his recent adventure 3,000 miles away in the mountains of Columbia where on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel he celebrated another Novena. The novena was celebrated with a Carmelite Community of Nuns which have been established there since 1584! The Carmel is in a little village some 3 1/2 hours from Bogota. "And so from South America to St. Louis we bridge two cultures and two different ways of honoring our Blessed Mother. And so tonight as we celebrate this mass we ask that Our Lady of Mt. Carmel would place the Archdiocese of St. Louis under her protective care," said the Archbishop. Wow! That certainly is a most wonderful blessing for our city of St. Louis. We are so very thankful for the Archbishop to call upon our Mother and her maternal care under the most beautiful title of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. It is her beautiful and loving mantle which wrap us in safekeeping and as we wear the garment of her brown scapular, we pledge our devotion to her. Surely it is known that a most important mission of Carmelites to pray especially for Priests. And so we will continue to do so for the Archdiocese and the world. The Bishop was assisted tonight by Deacon Anthony Yates and the Rosary was led by Kenrick Glennon Seminarian, Peter Fonseca. The choir was from St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Brentwood. You can pray along to the Most Holy Rosary and Benediction here. You may listen to Archbishop Carlson's Homily here.

Father Daniel Chowning, OCD from the Discalced Carmelite Hermit Community in Hinton, West Virginia was the celebrant again tonight for the fifth night of masses celebrated in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at the Carmel of St. Joseph. He spoke tonight on the topic of the Mary, the Immaculate Conception. He told the story of St. Bernadette in Lourdes and explained In 1854 the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated by Pope Pius IX but Father spoke of the Carmelites celebrating this tradition as far back as 1306! Father explained how our vocation is to imitate Mary and to become transformed into the mystery of God through prayer. "To pray is to open ourselves up to God's transformation." "For in the very depths of our being is woven an image of God of Love." You may listen to Father's homily here. You are invited to pray along the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary and Benediction here.

St. Louis was a busy town tonight with two big events. Downtown, Busch Stadium was hosting Major League baseball's All Star game. Certainly many televisions were tuned into the action, however, more wonderful than baseball, the Carmelite Nuns continued their hosting the Annual Outdoor Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel at their Monastery grounds a few miles west of the game. The faithful gathered in chapel to pray the Rosary and then spread out to the front lawns for another beautiful evening of prayer. Tonight we were blessed to have Father Daniel Chowning, OCD from the Discalced Carmelite Hermit Community in Hinton, West Virginia celebrating the mass. We are most thankful that Father will be with us until the Feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel! His homily on Mary of Nazareth was so inspiring as he demonstrated how the Blessed Virgin lived out an ordinary life of faith in Nazareth. Mary, in great example to us, lived this "ordinariness" with "extraordinary holiness" - something we are all called to do! His homily is inspiring and you can listen here. Father was assisted at Mass by Deacon Norman Werner and the choir was from St. Mark's parish. The Most Holy Rosary (Sorrowful Mysteries) and Benediction Father Chowning's Homily

Short meditations for your soul from the mystical writings of the great saints of Carmel. These prayerful inspirations come directly from the treasury of writings of the great Carmelite Saints including: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Teresa of the Andes, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, St. Teresa Benedicta and many more! We hope these short reflections will inspire you to take up the practice of prayer in your life! The OCDS Carmelite Community at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis have produced these meditations and are updated regularly with new inspirations.

Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary and Benediction from the Annual Novena

Last night we began the Annual Outdoor novena in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at the Carmel of St. Joseph here in St. Louis. In an effort to let you pray this novena with us we will be sharing photos and audio from each night of the Novena. You may listen and pray along with us in the Rosary and Benediction services which are held in the chapel before the Novena begins on the front lawns of the Monastery. Then you may listen to the homilist from each mass. The theme of Saturday evening's mass was Mary, Disciple of the Lord. Mass was celebrated by Father Michael Houser the Associate Pastor, Holy Trinity Parish. Father Houser was assisted in mass by Transitionary Deacon Anthony Ochoa. The choir was a selection of beautiful voices from the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus who also reside in St. Louis. Rosary and Benediction listen to the homilist

Nobody lives in this shining house but God, though shadowy figures tremble to and fro. Over these cool grey stones that suffering made only the pierced feet of the Master go. Afire went through this place and gutted it; a living flame of love over the ruins a fog of silence spread. Nobody comes here but the pale young Christ Who loves a shelter uninhabited – Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers Edited by Regina Siegfried and Robert Morneau. ICS Publications 2131 Lincoln Road, NE Washington, DC 20002-1199 Reprint of the most extensive anthology of this noted Carmelite poet, which she approved five weeks before her death. Includes introduction by Bishop Morneau.

The saints and mystics Had a name For that deep Inwardness of flame, The height or depth Or ground or goal Which is God’s dwelling in the soul. Heaven Because God is there All day and when You wake at night Think of that place Of living light, Yours and within you And aglow Where only God And you can go. None can assail you In that place Save your own evil, Routing grace. Not even angels See or hear, Nor the dark spirits Prowling near. But there are days when watching eyes could guess that you hold Paradise. Sometimes the shining Overflows And everyone Around you knows. Child has no one ever told you God is in your soul. The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers Edited by Regina Siegfried and Robert Morneau. ICS Publications 2131 Lincoln Road, NE Washington, DC 20002-1199 Reprint of the most extensive anthology of this noted Carmelite poet, which she approved five weeks before her death. Includes introduction by Bishop Morneau. time – 4:00