The Presence of Carmel in Venezuela was initiated by the Catalonia Province in 1922. There are currently 8 friars who assiduously live the spirituality and charism of Carmel. If you want more information about the Carmelites or want to explore a possible religious vocation, contact the community nearest you.

CARACAS
Parroquia Monte Carmelo
Av. El Paseo, 96
Los Rosales
1040 CARACAS
Tel.+58 212-6901216 (parroquia y comunidad)

COLONIA TOVAR
Parroquia San Martin de Tours
Casa Paroquial
1030 COLONIA TOVAR
(Edo. Aragua)
Tel. +58 244-3551056/244-3551872

PORLAMAR
Padres Carmelitas
Paroquia San Nicolas
Calle Igualdad s/n
6301 PORLAMAR
(Edo. N. Esparta)
Tel. +58 295-2637381

Continuing the journey with Jesus

Following last week’s Gospel, Jesus has set out to preach and heal in the other towns of Galilee when a leper comes to him and pleads for healing.

In Biblical times people with any kind of shiny, scaly skin condition were usually considered to have leprosy. This is not Hansen’s Disease - the proper name for leprosy as we know it today.

Anyone suspected of being leprous had to live outside their town for fear of spreading the disease to others. They had to leave their home and family, their job, their community and their synagogue. They were dependent on others to bring them food and water.

This sense of fear and suspicion about lepers is a stark contrast to the welcome given by Jesus to the man in the Gospel.

He comes to Jesus and asks him to make him clean, to cure him. Jesus is deeply moved and touches the man (which must have required great compassion) and cures him. In healing the man, Jesus has done much more for him than simply relieving him of a distressing ailment. Jesus has literally given the man his life back. Now he can go home to his family, take up his job again and renew his religious practice in the synagogue.

In Jesus’ day many people took illness, disease and disability as a sign that people were also morally ill, that they had sinned, done something wrong. By healing the sick, Jesus removes the taint of evil from them as well.

Interestingly, there is a kind of ‘role-reversal’ in this Gospel. In the beginning it is the leper who is the outcast, the one who must live outside the town. Because the cured man tells the story everywhere, Jesus now becomes the one who has to stay outside the towns and villages. Never the less, the people, like the leper, still come to him for healing.

Aware of our need for healing, we, too, can take the initiative by approaching Jesus. We will be met with welcome, compassion and love. We can be restored to our rightful place as beloved sons and daughters. We, too, can tell the story of what God has done for us.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF] (245 KB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub] (754 KB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - 6 Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (206 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - 6 Domenica del Tempo Ordinario (204 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em Familia - 6 Domingo do Tempo Comum [Português] (204 KB)

...

Celebrating at Home is a Liturgy of the Word centred around the Gospel reading for each Sunday. It includes a reflection on the Gospel and prayers.

It can be used personally or with your family. Parts for all to pray are given in bold print and all the other parts can be shared among those present.

We hope that Celebrating at Home will be a source of nourishment and strength for all who use it.

In the room you decide to use for this prayer you could have a lighted candle, a crucifix and the Bible. These symbols help keep us mindful of the sacredness of our time of prayer and can help us feel connected with our local worshipping communities.

On the journey with Jesus

The story of Jesus’ first day of ministry in Capernaum continues in the Gospel for this Sunday. After leaving the synagogue where he has healed the possessed man Jesus goes to Simon’s house. He heals Simon’s mother-in-law and restores her to her rightful place as hospitality provider - a sacred ministry in Jewish households. No words are spoken. Jesus simply holds her hand and helps her up. In doing so he would have broken taboos about touching a sick person, and touching a woman to whom he was not related. But in Mark’s Gospel law and custom cannot stand in the way of God’s healing power.

That evening, after sunset, after the Sabbath day was over, people begin to bring the sick and possessed to Jesus for healing.

Notice how ‘local’ all these elements of Mark’s story are: a local man in the local synagogue, a local woman in her own house, local people crowd around the door, local people are brought for healing.

In all the healing stories, Mark presents Jesus in conversation with each individual. There are no ‘en masse’ healings – each person gets individual treatment – sometimes with words, sometimes by

touch, sometimes both. There is a sense of intimacy in Jesus’ healing ministry.

Interestingly, the devils seem to know exactly who Jesus is, but the human beings take much longer to recognise Jesus.

In the early morning Jesus goes off to pray by himself. Jesus prays both in public worship in the

Synagogue and in moments of quiet communion with God. Mark helps us understand that both are necessary for would-be disciples. Jesus begins and ends his day in prayer.

When they find Jesus the disciples beg him to return to the town, but Jesus has other ideas. His preaching and healing is not only for the people of Capernaum, but for the whole people of Galilee.

No doubt, the disciples enjoyed being in the presence of such a wonder-worker as Jesus! But Jesus’ focus is not himself; it is his mission of proclaiming the Good News of God’s love through healing words and actions. The healing stories underline the idea that contact with God through the person of Jesus brings healing and wholeness, not death and destruction.

The preaching of Jesus together with the healing/ wholeness stories is fundamentally about the transformation of real, living human beings into the new People of God.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF] (246 KB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub] (752 KB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - 5 Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (207 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - 5 Domenica del Tempo Ordinario (205 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em Familia - 5 Domingo do Tempo Comum [Português] (205 KB)

...

Celebrating at Home is a Liturgy of the Word centred around the Gospel reading for each Sunday. It includes a reflection on the Gospel and prayers.

It can be used personally or with your family. Parts for all to pray are given in bold print and all the other parts can be shared among those present.

We hope that Celebrating at Home will be a source of nourishment and strength for all who use it.

In the room you decide to use for this prayer you could have a lighted candle, a crucifix and the Bible. These symbols help keep us mindful of the sacredness of our time of prayer and can help us feel connected with our local worshipping communities.

‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ This affirmation of Qohelet 1:9 may seem excessive, but in reality it is of considerable actuality. Wanting to dwell a little on prophecy and on the theme entrusted to me, ‘prophetic witness for today's generation,’ we can immediately realize that the appeal and testimony of biblical prophets are still necessary and urgent nowadays, in a situation that presents aspects and problems similar to those that the biblical prophets have had to face.

Elijah, a prophet close to God and to his people, has great relevance for us. We feel that what is happening in our times can be compared to the experience of this great prophet of God as it is related in the Books of the Kings (cf. 1 Kg 17: 19-21; 2 Kg 1-2).

After his stunning success on Mount Carmel, he was threatened by Jezebel. Overcome by fear and entered a deep personal crisis. He felt so low and alone that he wanted to die.

Mary of Nazareth, whom we cherish as our sister and mother, by her life and example, bids us open our hearts to God, in the midst of the complexities and contradictions which surround us. She was greeted at the Annunciation as the one who is full of grace (Lk 1:28). This expresses God’s plan for her as well as her own purity of heart and her deep sense of God as the Absolute in her life.

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Initium Novitiatus

• 01-01-21 Mary Elijah Guingon (CHR), Christoval, USA
• 04-01-21 Bertoliny Alexander Montes Ramos Age (PCM-Per), Lurín, Peru
• 04-01-21 Geovanni de Jesús Velázquez Ramos (PCM-Mex), Lurín, Peru
• 04-01-21 Héctor Tavárez Mendoza (PCM-Mex), Lurín, Peru
• 04-01-21 Natanael Torres Núñez (PCM-Mex), Lurín, Peru
• 04-01-21 Pedro Antonio Mira Padilla (PCM-ElSal), Lurín, Peru
• 04-01-21 Christian Orlando García Hernández (PCM-ElSal), Lurín, Peru
• 04-01-21 Ángel Saúl Hernández Martínez (PCM-ElSal), Lurín, Peru
• 10-01-21 Catherine Rose Bier (HUD), Hudson, USA
• 16-01-21 Ederson Augusto Garcia Croti (Flum), Belo Horizonte, Brasil
• 16-01-21 Juracy Pereira dos Santos Júnior (Flum), Belo Horizonte, Brasil
• 16-01-21 Vinícius Elias Rodrigues (Flum), Belo Horizonte, Brasil
• 16-01-21 Roberto Isidro Tejerina Valdez (Mel-Bol), Belo Horizonte, Brasil

Professio Temporanea

• 09-01-21 Juliana Kamene Muia (BIE), Biella, Italia
• 10-01-21 Luis Felipe Aldana Hernández (Baet-Ven), Merida, Venezuela
• 10-01-21 Alejandro José Castejón Gonzalez (Baet-Ven), Mogi das Cruzes, Brasil
• 10-01-21 Alberto Henrique Ferreira Marini (Par), Mogi das Cruzes, Brasil
• 10-01-21 Christiam de Faria Rosas (Flum), Mogi das Cruzes, Brasil
• 10-01-21 Gabriel Job Rodrigues da Silva (Flum), Mogi das Cruzes, Brasil
• 10-01-21 Paulo Alves de Oliveira (Flum), Mogi das Cruzes, Brasil
• 15-01-21 Gretchen Marie Cabalquinto (SIG) Santa Ignacia, Tarlac, Pilipinas

Professio Solemnis

• 09-01-21 John Viet Nguyen (SEL-Viet), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• 09-01-21 Joseph Long Bui (SEL-Viet), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• 23-01-21 Étienne Roudelin (ACV-Ant), Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
• 23-01-21 Julien Étienne (ACV-Ant), Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
• 23-01-21 Robert Batista Ferreras (ACV-Ant), Santo Domingo, República Dominicana

Ordinatio Diaconalis

• 09-01-21 Marlon Beharry (SEL), Washington D.C., USA

Living in allegiance to Jesus Christ
Christ at the centre of our lives

Our life and work are centred on Christ (cf Jn 14:16; Heb 10:19-20; Eph 4:7. 12-13; Col 1:28). God calls us to the consecrated life so that we may follow Christ, live in him and “serve him with a pure heart and stout conscience” (Carmelite Rule). We respond to this calling by listening to the Word and by imitating Jesus who was obedient, poor and chaste. We try to become more like Christ whom the Father chose and sent as our model and teacher. In Christ we see the face of God and come to know the plan of salvation.

Our whole Rule, which is founded on the Gospel, leads us to Christ. From the earliest years of our history, we have been aware that “no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:11). Our tradition has tried to remain faithful to this, as we learn from the writings of our own masters of the spiritual life. Michael of St. Augustine for example wrote that our life is to become more and more “Christiform” (cf. Introductio ad Vitam Internam, Tract I, chap. 2; Tract III, chap. 27).

Down through the centuries the Carmelite family has produced men and women noted for their holiness and wisdom in the things of the Spirit. We remember them with admiration and gratitude. We have received a precious legacy which we never want to lose but indeed want to continue and even add to as we go into the future. In trying to perceive the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel we find new strength and energy as we search for new ways to preach the Word and to serve others.

Only in the encounter with Christ and with a vivid awareness of what his coming into the world has accomplished, can we fully understand what history is all about and in what direction it is going. The following of Christ is still and will always be the basic law for us (Carmelite Rule), marking out the path we have to follow on the way to an ever deeper experience of the love of God. This “propositum vitae” is both lofty and arduous. Elijah and Mary are our models and they will help us arrive at our end.

General Chapter 1995, Carmel: a Place and a Journey into the Third Millenium.

Beginning the journey

Following directly from the call of the first four disciples in last week’s Gospel, this week we are plunged into the ministry of Jesus. The gospels of the 4th, 5th and 6th Sundays detail Jesus’ ministry in Capernaum.

Last Sunday the Gospel highlighted the disciples’ call to live and work in active partnership with Jesus. To become ‘fishers of people’ they left behind all that was known and familiar to them, including their thriving fishing businesses and families.

They took ‘a leap of faith’, not knowing where their journey with Jesus would take them.

Over the next three Sundays we get some insight into who Jesus is and what that journey is about.

Today’s gospel finds Jesus and the disciples arriving in Capernaum, a small town on the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee, which will be Jesus’ base for his ministry in Galilee.

On the Sabbath Jesus and the disciples attend the Sabbath service during which Jesus gives a teaching. His words strike the people as authentic and having the ‘ring of truth’ about them. Jesus’ words not only move the people but also release a man from an unclean spirit. Jesus’ action is in response to the question the man poses, ‘Have you come to destroy us?’ Rather than destroy, Jesus liberates the man from the unclean spirit, restoring him to health and wholeness.

Jesus’ way is not about crushing people with the power and authority of God, but about bringing freedom and liberation from the evil which holds them bound.

Many people are afraid of God, but Jesus keeps saying and showing that we don’t need to be afraid of God. God is about doing good for his people, not about punishing them. God’s power heals, restores and frees so that we can grow into the people God has always dreamed we might become.

The disciples are learning something new about who God is through the words and actions of Jesus. There is a call here to greater faith and trust in the goodness of God.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time [PDF] (245 KB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time [ePub] (750 KB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - 4 Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (207 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - 4 Domenica del Tempo Ordinario (202 KB)

...

Celebrating at Home is a Liturgy of the Word centred around the Gospel reading for each Sunday. It includes a reflection on the Gospel and prayers.

It can be used personally or with your family. Parts for all to pray are given in bold print and all the other parts can be shared among those present.

We hope that Celebrating at Home will be a source of nourishment and strength for all who use it.

In the room you decide to use for this prayer you could have a lighted candle, a crucifix and the Bible. These symbols help keep us mindful of the sacredness of our time of prayer and can help us feel connected with our local worshipping communities.