The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of Zaragoza, Spain, was held 3 May 2011. The following were elected:

• Prioress: Sr. Elena-Mª. Samper Samper, O.Carm.
• 1st Councilor:  Sr. M. Pilar Bort Rubert, O.Carm.
• 2nd Councilor: Sr. M. Cinta Sosa Camacho, O.Carm.
• 3rd Councilor: Sr. M. Esperanza Escolano, O.Carm.
• 4th Couniclor: Sr. M. Aurora Palacios Holgueras, O.Carm.
• Director of Novices: Sr. M. Ana Wairimu, O.Carm.
• Treasurer:  Sr. M. Elena Marco Rebollo, O.Carm.
• Sacristan:  Sr. M. Eva Alina, O.Carm.

During the Provincial Chapter of the Arago-Valentina Province held on 3-5 May 2011 were elected:

• Prior Provincial: Fr. Luis Gallardo Ganuza, O.Carm.
• First Councilor: Fr. Antonio Rodríguez Alcaraz, O.Carm.
• Second Councilor: Fr. Desiderio Garcia Martínez, O.Carm.
• Third Councilor: Fr. David Oliver Felipo, O.Carm.
• Fourth Councilor: Fr. Vicente Aranda Guillén, O.Carm.
• Commissary Provincial of the Antilles: Fr. Jorge Rafael Betancourt Ramírez, O.Carm.

for more info: http://noticiascarmelitas.blogspot.com/

On Friday, the 29th of April, the Polish cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, archbishop of Warsaw, took possession of the titular church of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti in Rome. The cardinal was welcomed to the Carmelite basilica by the Parish Priest, Fr. Adrian Ghiurca, O.Carm. for the traditional kissing of the cross. This was followed by the celebration of the Eucharist, led by Cardinal Nycz. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Cracow, and Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, former archbishop of Cracow, concelebrated. The Carmelite and parish community was there in strength along with the Prior Provincial, Fr. Giandomenico Meloni, O.Carm., the Vice Prior General, Fr. Christian Körner, O.Carm. and other members of the General Council. There was number of other bishops and priests present as well as a good number of Polish faithful who were in Rome for the beatification of John Paul II.

by admin

• Sunday, May 1, 2011
  Lectio: 2nd Sunday of Easter
• Monday, May 2, 2011
  Lectio: John 3,1-8
• Tuesday, May 3, 2011
  Lectio: Sts. Philip and James, Apostles - Jn 14,21-26
  
• Wednesday, May 4, 2011
  Lectio: John 3,16-21
• Thursday, May 5, 2011
  Lectio: John 3,31-36
• Friday, May 6, 2011
  Lectio: John 6,1-15
• Saturday, May 7, 2011
  Lectio: John 6,16-21
• Sunday, May 8, 2011
  Lectio: 3rd Sunday of Easter
• Monday, May 9, 2011
  Lectio: John 6,22-29
• Tuesday, May 10, 2011
  Lectio: John 6,30-35
• Wednesday, May 11, 2011
  Lectio: John 6,35-40
• Thursday, May 12, 2011
  Lectio: John 6,44-51
• Friday, May 13, 2011
  Lectio: John 6,52-59
• Saturday, May 14, 2011
  Lectio: St. Matthias, Apostle - Jn 15:9-17
• Sunday, May 15, 2011
  Lectio: 4th Sunday of Easter (A)
• Monday, May 16, 2011
  Lectio: John 10,1-10
• Tuesday, May 17, 2011
  Lectio: John 10,22-30
• Wednesday, May 18, 2011
  Lectio: John 12,44-50
• Thursday, May 19, 2011
  Lectio: John 13,16-20
• Friday, May 20, 2011
  Lectio: John 14,1-6
• Saturday, May 21, 2011
  Lectio: John 14,7-14
• Sunday, May 22, 2011
  Lectio: 5th Sunday of Easter (A)
• Monday, May 23, 2011
  Lectio: John 14,21-26
• Tuesday, May 24, 2011
  Lectio: John 14,27-31a
• Wednesday, May 25, 2011
  Lectio: John 15,1-8
• Thursday, May 26, 2011
  Lectio: John 15,9-11
• Friday, May 27, 2011
  Lectio: John 15,12-17
• Saturday, May 28, 2011
  Lectio: John 15,18-21
• Sunday, May 29, 2011
  Lectio: 6th Sunday of Easter (A)
• Monday, May 30, 2011
  Lectio: John 15,26 - 16,4a
• Tuesday, May 31, 2011
  Lectio: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

by admin - from La Madonna del Carmine Magazine

1. blessed are You, Our God! Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because You have chosen Mary long before the creation of the world, to be holy and immaculate before You for love. In foresee of the merit of Christ, You have redeemed her and You have made her Mother of the Savior. In virtue of the Holy Spirit You have made her the temple of your glory, a new creature, the first fruits of the new Eva. blessed be the The Lord forever!

 
2. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus! In thee, who art full of grace, it reflects the goodness of God and the destiny of the human creature, for the praise of his glory and grace with which it has enriched us in his beloved Son, who is our brother and your son , Jesus Christ. You, the humble servant of the Lord, the model of Christ's disciples who devote their lives to the realization of the will of the Father at the coming of his kingdom.

Friday, April 3, 1987, John Paul II utter this act of entrustment of Chili people  to Our lady of Mount Carmel in the National Shrine of Maipu (Santiago, Chile), during his apostolic visit to Uruguay, Chile and Argentina.

 
3. Holy Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of God and our Mother! We place ourselves under your protection, we rely on your maternal intercession. Like you that you totally consecrated to God, we, following your example and in communion with you, we devote ourselves to Christ the Lord, we also devote ourselves to you, our model, because we want to do in any way the will of the Father, and like you to be faithful to the inspirations of the Spirit.
 
 
4. Virgin of Carmel ... to your  heart of Mother I entrust to you the Church ... the pastors and the faithful   , all the children of this nation. Under your maternal protection, the Church is an united family in the common home,  a reconciled country of the lost and forgotten and the offenses. Peace and love of Christ. You who are the Mother of true life, teaches us to be witnesses of the living God, of love that is stronger than death, of the forgiveness of the offenses, of  hope that looks to build a future  with the power of the Gospel, the civilization of  love and a reconciled and peaceful country.
 
5. Holy Mary, mother of  hope, Our Lady of Mount Carmel ... Stretch your Scapular as a mantle of protection to the city, the country, the ocean, to all the men and women, young people and children, the elderly and the sick, the orphans and the afflicted, to all the faithful children and lost sheep. You ... that in very heart you have a living altar, receive the prayers of your people. ... Star of the Sea and a beacon of light, comfort the pilgrims, leads the world in the footsteps of your earthly pilgrimage, so they always seek paths of peace and harmony, the paths of the Gospel, progress, justice and freedom. Reconciles the brothers and sister in a fraternal love, that hatred and resentment will disappear, that divisions and barriers will overcome, that  conflicts are healed and leveled. 'Christ is our peace, that by your death has renewed our hearts, that by your word has brought us hope and ferment in the society.
 
6. mother of the Church and all the men! It inspires and it preserves the fidelity to Christ... you Maintain the unity of the Church lives under the cross of your Child. You do what the men of all the countries recognize her/it them same origin and their identical destiny, respects him and as children of the same Father are loved, in Christ Gesù, our savior, in the Spirit Saint that the face of the earth renews, to honor and glory of the Holy Trinità.  
Amen.  

6. Mother of the Church and of people! Inspires and preserves the fidelity to Christ ... Keep alive the unity of the Church under the cross of your Son. Make that all people of all countries recognize their same origin and their same destiny, respect and love one another as children of one Father, through Jesus Christ our Savior, the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth, to honor and glory of Most Holy Trinity .
Amen.

Br. Joel Laolao, Diocese of Butuan

Lent is always considered as the most important season for us faithful Christians. These are the days when we remember the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ and our preparation for His resurrection. As we bring to mind the essence of the Holy Week, we also look back at the times when Jesus Christ was tempted while he was all alone in the desert fasting for forty days.

Each one of us treads to our individual deserts. At times we may have people to journey with us but sadly, most of the times we journey alone in the desert. Along the way, the devil never departs from us the devil follows us, tempts us and leads us away from God. This is essentially the reason why commemoration of the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ becomes the central point of our Christian life. This season reminds us of our sinfulness which cause Jesus Christ to die on the cross and which death saved us.

Hence, equally important to our faith is our hope for the resurrection of our Lord and we prepare ourselves for this moment. Shouldn't we wonder why there are almost non-stop sufferings in our society today? If you still remember late lastyear, the Philippines suffered from floods where plenty of properties and lives vanished. Early part of this year Haiti was rocked with more than a 7 magnitude of earthquake which rubble buildings and lives to death. In the beginning also of February the provinces of Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, South Luzon, Visayas and other provinces in the entire archipelago were terribly afflicted causing more than 620,000 hectares of paddy rice valuing at around P40 billion pesos due to the El Niño phenomenon. Aside from this, there is also an outbreak of diseases. Now we are suffering the extreme of climate change.

This unimaginable destruction and human suffering has left everyone who would think about it with great pain. No words we can ever describe these natural and man-made destructions and the suffering these good people have experienced. Not to mention horrible man-made calamities of killings and all forms of injustices happened in between.

Our Lord Jesus Christ resurrection is an event which gives hope for us who believe in Him.

Resurrection is a moment for deep reflection. This is the moment for us to reflect on what happened around us, on what we have done which were good or not and raise them up to God with the hope in our hearts that as He is resurrected we too are raised from all these desolations.

If we reflect on the Gospel of Luke 4:1-13, The Temptations of Jesus, there are three major instances where the devil tempted Him. Looking back to it, the devil asks Jesus to turn stone to bread. On the second time the devil leads him up to a high place and shows him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world telling

Him to give all their authority and splendor to Him. And on the third time the devil leads Him to Jerusalem and has Him stand on the highest point of the temple asking Him to throw Himself down. However the devil failed to tempt Jesus and left him until an opportune time. The temptations of Jesus Christ are focused on the three major aspects of our lives: glory, kingdom and power. We consciously seek for these three aspects in our lives. We never rest until we get them sometimes at the expense of others: their lives, our environment, and our country. We oftentimes unmindful of the consequences of our actions which may, in so many ways, affect everything and everyone around us.
Resurrection is about conversion and total transformation in the love of God. in the process of conversion and transformation we turn our lives more completely over to Jesus Christ and His way of life giving up our sinful acts and desires. Resurrection is telling us that it is "spring" which means "renewal". It means new life here on earth, new life in Jesus Christ. He died on a cross so that we do not have to. God sent His Son to take our place because He loves us. There is no other reason than this. Jesus Christ does it purely because He loves us, with the same tender love that we experienced from our parents comforting or even cradling us when we were hurt. Jesus has destroyed the power of sin to keep us away from God. He has shattered Satan's hold on us and set us free. All we need to do is accept it and submit to Christ and be free!

Resurrection is conversion and transformation, leaving behind our old way of living and acting in order to embrace new life in Jesus Christ.

from the Province of Italy

Blessed Pope John Paul II was a great devotee of Our Lady of Carmel. To know better his Marian Spirituality some important texts taken from his Magisterium "Universal Pastor of the Church" are re-proposed.

Today is the liturgical memory of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. This memory is especially dear to all those who are devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Even I, from my youngest days, have worn around my neck the Scapular of Our Lady and I take refuge with trust under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus. I hope the Scapular will be for everyone, especially the faithful who wear it, a help and defense in times of danger, a seal of peace and a sign of Mary's care. (GENERAL AUDIENCE, Castelgandolfo July 16, 2003)

...In Carmel therefore and in every soul moved by tender affection for the Blessed Virgin and Mother, there has thrived a contemplation of her, who from the beginning knew how to open herself to hearing God's Word and to obeying his will (Lk 2: 19, 51). For Mary, taught and formed by the Spirit (cf. Lk 2: 44-50), was able by faith to understand her own history (cf. Lk 1: 46-55) and, docile to the divine promptings, "advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan (cf. Jn 19: 25), enduring with her Only-begotten Son the intensity of his suffering and associating herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart" (Lumen gentium, n. 58).

Contemplation of the Virgin presents her to us as a loving Mother who sees her Son growing up in Nazareth (cf. Lk2: 40, 52), follows him on the roads of Palestine, helps him at the wedding at Cana (cf. Jn 2: 5) and, at the foot of the Cross, becomes the Mother associated with his offering and given to all people when Jesus himself entrusts her to his beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19: 26). As Mother of the Church, the Blessed Virgin is one with the disciples in "constant prayer" (Acts 1: 14); as the new Woman who anticipates in herself what will one day come to pass for us all in the full enjoyment of Trinitarian life, she is taken up into heaven from where she spreads the protective mantle of her mercy over her children on their pilgrimage to the holy mountain of glory.

For the members of the Carmelite Family, Mary, the Virgin Mother of God and mankind, is not only a model to imitate but also the sweet presence of a Mother and Sister in whom to confide. St Teresa of Jesus rightly urged her sisters: "Imitate Our Lady and consider how great she must be and what a good thing it is that we have her for our Patroness" (Interior Castle, III, 1, 3).

Over time this rich Marian heritage of Carmel has become, through the spread of the Holy Scapular devotion, a treasure for the whole Church. By its simplicity, its anthropological value and its relationship to Mary's role in regard to the Church and humanity, this devotion was so deeply and widely accepted by the People of God that it came to be expressed in the memorial of 16 July on the liturgical calendar of the universal Church.

The sign of the Scapular points to an effective synthesis of Marian spirituality, which nourishes the devotion of believers and makes them sensitive to the Virgin Mother's loving presence in their lives. The Scapular is essentially a "habit". Those who receive it are associated more or less closely with the Order of Carmel and dedicate themselves to the service of Our Lady for the good of the whole Church (cf. "Formula of Enrolment in the Scapular", in the Rite of Blessing of and Enrolment in the Scapular, approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 5 January 1996). Those who wear the Scapular are thus brought into the land of Carmel, so that they may "eat 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 Enrolment in the Scapular", cit.).

Therefore two truths are evoked by the sign of the Scapular: on the one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only on life's journey, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other, the awareness that devotion to her cannot be limited to
prayers and tributes in her honour on certain occasions, but must become a "habit", that is, a permanent orientation of one's own Christian conduct, woven of prayer and interior life, through frequent reception of the sacraments and the concrete practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. In this way the Scapular becomes a sign of the "covenant" and reciprocal communion between Mary and the faithful: indeed, it concretely translates the gift of his Mother, which Jesus gave on the Cross to John and, through him, to all of us, and the entrustment of the beloved Apostle and of us to her, who became our spiritual Mother.

I too have worn the Scapular of Carmel over my heart for a long time! Out of my love for our common heavenly Mother, whose protection I constantly experience, I hope that this Marian year will help all the men and women religious of Carmel and the devout faithful who venerate her with filial affection to grow in her love and to radiate to the world the presence of this Woman of silence and prayer, invoked as Mother of Mercy, Mother of Hope and Grace.


With these wishes, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing to all the friars, nuns, sisters and lay people of the Carmelite Family, who work so hard to spread among the people of God true devotion to Mary, Star of the Sea and Flower of Carmel! (MESSAGE TO THE CARMELITE FAMILY, from the Vatican, March 25, 2001)

During the Provincial Chapter of the British Province held on 22-25 February and 26-29 April 2011 were elected:

• Prior Provincial: Fr. Wilfrid McGreal, O.Carm.
• First Councilor: Fr. Joseph Chalmers, O.Carm.
• Second Councilor: Fr. Brendan Grady, O.Carm.
• Third Councilor: Fr. Kevin Melody, O.Carm.
• Fourth Councilor: Fr. Damian Cassidy, O.Carm.

for more info about the chapter of British Province click here

During the World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain (16-21 Agust), our Order will celebrate the  Carmelite World Youth Day on the 17 of August as part of that worldwide youth gathering.

The Carmelite event will enable young people from Carmelite parishes, communities, schools, etc. to meet and share together the internationality and diversity of the Carmelite Order and its spirituality. It is open to all O.Carm. young people associated with our friars, nuns, affiliated congregations and lay Carmelite members.

for more info or registration, please visit our website www.ocarm.org/madrid2011/