Meditations on the woman that I love Mary the Blessed Virgin later, that tradition of prayers - contemplation to Mary continues to live and prevail in the Catholic Church. The Carmelite order is exactly founded by Mary herself. The Carmelites are hermits who live a life of contemplation. They escaped from the persecution of the Moslems when they arrived in Europe. They were not accepted by other religious orders who took their case to the Pope to disorganize them, when on July 16, 1251, Mary, our Mother appeared to St. Simon who was the general of the order. Our Lady on that day, July 16, gave him a Brown Scapular saying, "Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire." After Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel received the Pope's blessing. By the sixteenth century the Carmelites became very liberal and lax. St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross started to reform the Carmelites and called themselves "Discalced Carmelites," which means they wear no shoes. They were severely persecuted by the calced Carmelites. Calced means they wore shoes. But St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross wanted to live as the early fathers of the Carmelites lived, as true hermits. St. John of the Cross was arrested by the liberal Carmelites and they locked him in a little room in the attic and he was scourged once a week and was given only a piece of bread and water daily. They eventually wanted him to die there. He was put in there as a prisoner for nine months. The jailer gave him some paper and ink to write the dark night of the soul. St. John prayed, Lord if you want me to die here your will be done, but if you want me to escape show me the way. It was on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary that he was shown how he could escape. Years later with the permission of the Pope, the Discalced Carmelites received permission to start to reform the Carmelite order. St. Therese of the Child Jesus and St. Teresa of the Andes were both Discalced Carmelites. We have many saints in our order in fact more than any other order. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is dressed like a Discalced Carmelite. This is the order that I have belonged to since May (Our Lady's month) 1959. Second week - Act of Sorrow - invoke the Holy Spirit - one Our Father - three Hail Marys Song of Songs proclaims; "Whither has your beloved gone oh fairest among women? Whither has your beloved turned that we may seek Him with you?" (Sg. 6:1) The soul is asking the Blessed Virgin, whom she loves, to take her and to present her to Jesus. Pride and self-love keep us back from Mary and her Son. One of the easiest ways to find Jesus is by praying the Holy Rosary and to wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The devil hates the Scapular on account of the powerful promise attached to wearing it. Pope John XXII in 1317 had a vision of the Blessed Virgin. Mary promised him that she would take out of Purgatory on the first Saturday following their death the soul that practiced the Sabbatine Privilege. To gain this privilege you must be enrolled in the Scapular and observe chastity according to your state of life. Also wear always (until you die) your Brown Scapular as a sign of consecration to the Blessed Virgin and read the Little Office of Our Lady. If you cannot pray the Little Office, ask a priest who knows about the Sabbatine Privilege to substitute praying the Rosary daily or not to eat meat on Wednesday (O.L. of Mt. Carmel day.) With the utmost formality, the contents of this bull, the Sabbatine Privilege, was approved by other Popes. Scarcely any indulgence has received such frequent and solemn pontifical endorsement. Let us quote the Acts of Popes, Clement II (Bull Ex Clementis, August 12, 1530). Paul III (1530 and 1549), Pius IV (1561), St. Pius V( Bull Superna Dispositione, February 18, 1566) and more recently the approval of St. Pius X in 1910 and Benedict XV promoted the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as did Pius XII in 1950. That privilege "constitutes a sort of plenary indulgence," with effect from at the latest, the Saturday following your death. The Popes add that "the Church has power to grant such an indulgence on the basis of her normal requirements and traditions in the matter and for her part, Our Lady, has responded many times to those trusting her." Third week - Act of Sorrow - invoke the Holy Spirit - one Our Father - three Hail Marys In the Baltimore Catechism we read about the teaching of the Church on Hell and in the Gospels Jesus talks about Hell thirty-two times. The teaching of the Church affirms the eternal existence of Hell. Immediately after death a person who dies with a serious sin, that is mortal sin, on their soul descends into Hell, where they suffer the punishments of Hell. Once in Hell you can never get out; you are there for all eternity. Jesus calls us to conversion! He says, "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. But the narrow gate leads to life and those who find it are few." (Mt. 7:13-14) Jesus says, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul?" O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee! Mother and Ornament of Carmel, pray for us! Virgin, Flower of Carmel, pray for us! Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, pray for us! Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, pray for us! St. Joseph, Friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us! St. Joseph, Chaste Spouse of Mary, pray for us! St. Joseph, Our Patron, pray for us! O Sweet Heart of Mary, be our salvation. Amen. Fourth week - Act of Sorrow - invoke the Holy Spirit - one Our Father - three Hail Marys Teaching of Purgatory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, only those who love God perfectly can enter Heaven, but many good people die with only weak love of God. Even if you have one slight fault on your soul, you still go to Purgatory. In Purgatory, God's cleansing fire burns away the soul's selfishness until its love becomes perfect and it is ready to enter Heaven. The soul's suffering purifies love. The Scripture says, "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." (2 Maccabees 12:46) The Apocalypse says, "There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or marketh a lie, but only they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb." (Apoc. 21:27) "Whosoever shall die wearing this habit shall not suffer eternal fire." O.L.of Mt. Carmel Christian souls, you should be convinced that you are fortunate in being called to these holy exercises which are inspired by Mary. We must have no mind, no will, no eyes, no ears, and no voice of our own. We must think with the mind of God who lives in us. We will only do what God's will is to look at things through the eyes of God, to listen only to the voice of the Crucified, to talk only when the Holy Spirit inspires us to talk and to love God with all our mind, strength, will, and heart.
The Little Flower (Doctor of the Church) In our previous issue we described the first characteristic of the Little Way of St. Therese, Littleness or Humility. In this issue we will describe the second characteristic, Spiritual Poverty. St. Therese says we must become like a little child who is weak, poor and possesses nothing, having only what its parents give it. She says, "In order to remain a little child, we must expect everything from our good Lord, as a child expects everything from his/her father, without worrying about anything." Spiritual Poverty then requires us to be little and poor in spirit, leaning on God rather than ourselves for all things. St. Therese judged that she was incapable of developing in herself the life of grace and sanctity. While remaining little, humble and poor, she never let an opportunity pass to show her love of God and she neglected no act of virtue. But she never counted on her works to ensure her progress. She said, "I do not count on my own merits since I have none but I hope in Him who is virtue and sanctity itself. We must abandon ourselves and place our confidence in God, for it is He who being satisfied with my feeble works will raise me to Himself and sanctify my efforts." In practicing spiritual poverty we must love our littleness, our imperfections, and our poverty, place our total dependence on God and have complete trust in His mercy. This is what pleases God the most. The weaker and more humble we are, the more completely without desires, the more we will be receptive to the benefits of His consuming and transforming love working within us. We must have a distrust of self and place our total trust in God. Most souls refuse to accept their poverty and imperfections and moreover do not even realize how poor and weak they are. Therese said "The fact that people recognize your imperfection is as it should be, it is your gain. I experience great joy, not only when others recognize my imperfection, but above all, when I realize myself that I am imperfect." We must work hard to become humble-minded, avoiding all that is vain-glorious and believing that without God we can do nothing good. Therese said, "It is the good Lord who provides me from moment to moment with the help I need to practice virtue and do what He wants me to do at any particular time." Therese did not aim at gaining personal merits for the enrichment of her own soul. She offered to God, for the eternal salvation of other souls, every reward for the sacrifices and virtues she practiced. She said, "Do not hoard anything. Give away your spiritual goods as quickly as you earn them. Labor for the love of God without being concerned about receiving rewards for your efforts." Our desire of loving God above all things and doing His will is the only thing that we can perfectly correspond to His love for us. Finally, Therese said that there is no joy like that of being truly poor in spirit, for our sole good while we are in this world consists in loving God with all our heart and being truly little and poor in spirit. Between now and the next issue, let us do our best to practice Spiritual Poverty in our daily lives. In our next issue we will discuss the third characteristic of the Little Way of St. Therese, Confidence. Thomas R. Oswald, M.I. Blessed Catherine Emmerich said, "Forty years before the year 2000, all Hell will be empty as the devil and all Hell will be set loose to tempt everyone, especially priests." Blessed Catherine said, "Souls will refuse to listen to the voice of the Spouse, Jesus Christ, calling them to the truth yet it is kept away from the people because the Free Masons and free thinkers entered the Church." People are hungry for the truth because in most churches they don't receive the truth or these evil men have entered the seminaries and brain-washed other people, and the same with the religious. People who speak the truth are insulted and made fun of for speaking the truth since many want to hear only what they like to hear and priests go along with this. There are priests and bishops who follow the beast (Satan) instead of the truth. This is the reason that Christ had to endure so much suffering in the Garden of Olives according to Blessed Catherine Emmerich. The people refuse to come to the nuptial feast. They do not hear the Word of God. Apocalypse says, "And they adored the dragon which gives power to the beast. And they adored the beast, saying, who is like the beast? And who shall be able to fight with him." (Apoc. 13:4) This describes those people who find satisfaction in things of the world only. They are hearing too many sermons with no mention of Hell or Purgatory. If this were so, then Christ died for nothing. The Blessed Virgin Mary said at Fatima, many are lost for sins of the flesh such as abortion, contraception, gay marriage, premarital sex and abusing alcohol and drugs. This is the kind of world we are living in. "Now the feast of unleavened bread was at hand, and Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve, and went and discoursed with the chief priest and the magistrates, how he might betray Him to them and they offered thirty pieces of silver." (Lk. 22:1-3-4, Matt. 26:15) There are many betrayals today, i.e., in the world, in our churches and in families. If we are true followers of the Crucified Jesus and the Blessed Virgin we would see it as our duty to pray for all these people. St. Teresa of Avila said, "We can condemn the action but not the person," for only God reads the heart. Blessed Catherine Emmerich said, "It was about nine o'clock when Jesus reached Gethsemane with His disciples, the moon had risen, and already gave light in the sky, although the earth was still dark. Jesus was most sorrowful and felt uneasy. He took Peter, James and John, and going on a little further, entered the Garden of Olives." No word can describe the pain which He endured. "My soul is sorrowful even to death." (Matt. 26:38) Blessed Emmerich goes on to say, "Jesus beheld suffering and temptations surrounding Him on all sides, and drawing nearer and nearer, under forms of frightful figures borne to give birth on clouds." Isaiah said, "Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem, loose the bonds from of your neck, O captive daughter of Sion, for thus said the Lord: You were sold without change, and you shall be redeemed without money." (Is. 52:2-3) Dust is the life of sin, arise, sit up and you will see the Savior is coming to set you free from the bondage of sin. Jerusalem is the Church loosing the bonds from your neck that have you tied in sin by Satan. We are the captive daughter of Sion. You were sold to sin for a little pleasure which does not last. Our Lord will save us as He took upon Himself our sin. Our redemption is God paid for your sins and my sins. He died for us as a Personal God. How many of us are answering the call of Christ to repent - the Blessed Virgin Mary comes to every part of the earth telling us to repent and "to do what Jesus tells you to do." (Jn. 2:5) In many churches you do not hear about "Jesus Crucified," you only hear about the Resurrection of Christ. If only we would get up and speak out, we would have a different church, a different world. We would have peace in the Church where the truth would be spoken, and peace in our families, and peace in the world. How long is Mary going to hold back His Hand from striking us as we truly deserve. Listen! It will not be very long. On the Passion, St. Teresa of the Andes (a Carmelite nun who lived for 19 years and 9 months) said, "This evening I meditated on the Prayer in the Garden. Our Lord drew me close to Himself. I saw His dying face. I felt He was cold. He prayed for me to His Father so that at least I wouldn't abandon Him and that I would remain faithful. I felt fervor but pain for having offended Him."
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