Today, Friday 4th March 2022, at 10.30am, the Ordinary Public Consistory led by Pope Francis convened in the Consistory Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.

After the recitation of Terce, the Holy Father announced the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma, O. Carm. The canonization will take place on Sunday, May 15, 2022, in St Peter’s Square. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only the Postulator General of the Order was able to take part in the Consistory.

At last, Fr Titus, after 80 years from his death and 37 from his beatification, can be venerated as a Saint by the entire Catholic Church.

The Carmelite Order, the Church in Holland as well as the entire Carmelite Family joyfully welcome this much awaited announcement.

Download Press release here

Anno Brandsma was born to Tjitsje and Titus Brandsma on February 23rd 1881 at Wonseradeel in Friesland, a province in the very north of Holland.

Sisters and brothers in the Carmelite family,

I join with all of you in giving thanks to God today for the announcement of the date of the canonisation of Blessed Titus Brandsma. This is news we have been awaiting for a long time and it comes as the result of the Church’s recognition of the holiness and witness of Titus Brandsma, and the work of our present Postulator General, Dr. Giovanna Brizi, her predecessors and their many collaborators whom today I want to applaud and thank for their great work.

Although the time is short between now and the 15th of May, I believe we must use this this time to reflect together on the significance of this event for our lives and for the life and mission of our religious family, and to share the good news with as many people as possible. It is not without significance that we have this celebration at a time when truth and integrity is suffering seriously in the major conflicts that now threaten the peace of the world. Titus Brandsma stands before us as an example and model of a life lived in allegiance to Jesus Christ. We believe that he also intercedes for us in heaven. Thus, the importance of the miracle that restored the health of Fr. Michael Driscoll of the North American Province of St. Elias.

As an example and model, we see in Blessed Titus what it is to be a decent human being, a well-formed and committed religious and Carmelite, a saintly priest, a talented teacher who loves his students and a journalist who is dedicated to the primacy of the truth and all the best principles of good journalism. In addition, we are moved to the depth of our being by the story of his last months. Here we see a child of God who finds that his ultimate happiness lies in God and because of this he is at peace even in the most awful of circumstances.

Titus held no grudge against those who trampled upon his ideals or those who eventually took away his life. His wanting everyone to be saved is a very clear sign to us today of how we must dedicate ourselves always and everywhere to the work of the Gospel and use all the gifts of Carmel to produce in this world the kind of justice that respects the dignity of every child of God. Blessed Titus Brandsma, soon to be Saint Titus Brandsma, pray for us.

Fr. Míceál O’Neill, O. Carm.
Prior General

Watch the Video here

Download the text of the Comments here

The Indonesian Province, the largest province in the Order, held elections for their leadership on Friday, February 11, 2022, in Tanjung Pinggir, North Sumatera. As you can see in the videos of the Chapter, the elections were celebrated with the members and invited guests dancing in traditional dress of the Batak tribe. Many young lay people from the parish joined in the celebration. 

Also present for the opening of the Chapter was Bishop Kornelius Sipayung, OFM.Cap. 

Elections for the Commissariats of Sumatra and Flores will take place at later gatherings. 

Sadly, news was received that Carmelite Bishop Fransiscus Xaverius Sudartanta Hadisumarta, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Malang and of the Diocese of Manokwari-Sorong, had died early Saturday morning in Jakarta. He had been hospitalized for a few weeks. 

We congratulate the new leadership of the province and ask God’s continued blessings upon their lives and work. We also give thanks to God for the humble, gentle service of Bishop Hadisumarta to the Order and Church these many years.

The following were elected:

Prior Provincial | Prior Provincial | Priore Provinciale: 

P. F.X. Hariawan Adji, O. Carm.

Vice Provincial | Vice Provincial | Vice Provinciale: 

P. Barnabas Krispinus Ginting, O. Carm.

1er Consejero | 1st Councilor | 1° Consigliere: 

P. Dominikus Dinong, O. Carm.

2do Consejero | 2nd Councilor | 2° Consigliere: 

P. Ignasius Joko Purnomo, O. Carm.

3er Consejero | 3rd Councilor | 3° Consigliere:

P. Agustinus Irtikandik Darmawanto, O. Carm.

4to Consejero | 4th Councilor | 4° Consigliere:

P. Andreas Deddy Purnawan, O. Carm.

Hma. Ma Clara Tell Esqué (TAR)
27-12-21
Ortus: 25-02-36
P. Temp.: 09-06-58
P. Soll.: 15-08-61

P. Francisco López Sánchez (Baet)
10-01-22
Ortus: 06-01-33
P. Temp.: 17-07-53
P. Soll.: 20-07-56
Ord.: 29-06-59

P. Rogelio Mur Aguilar (ACV)
22-01-22
Ortus: 16-09-32
P. Temp.: 08-09-49
P. Soll.: 08-12-53
Ord.: 24-06-56

P. Antonio Ruiz Molina (Baet)
27-01-22
Ortus: 10-01-35
P. Temp.: 12-01-51
P. Soll.: 13-01-56
Ord.: 13-04-58

P. Jan Tangelder (Neer)
27-01-22
Ortus: 07-06-28
P. Temp.: 08-09-51
P. Soll.: 08-09-54
Ord.: 14-07-57

Blessings & Woes (Luke 6:17, 20-26)

Over the next three Sundays we will listen to almost the whole of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. Luke has used Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount but changed and shortened it significantly. It is important to realise that both Sermons are more than only the Beatitudes which begin them.

In Luke, Jesus’ words are addressed to the disciples, not to the gathered crowd, so we might think of the sermon as a teaching about discipleship.
The whole of the Sermon is quite confronting and challenging, especially those verses which form today’s Gospel reading. The Sermon begins with four blessings and four woes.

At first glance it is very odd to call people who are poor, hungry, weeping and hated blessed, fortunate or happy. But we have to hear the words of Jesus in the context of the religious teaching and general thinking which belonged to his time. Then, it was generally thought that those who suffered these things were experiencing the effects of either their own personal sinfulness or that of an ancestor.

Similarly, those with wealth, plenty of food and high status were considered blessed and rewarded by God.

In the beatitudes Jesus reverses this way of thinking and effectively says that the opposite is true: God is, in fact, on the side of the poor and suffering.

They experience suffering through no fault of their own (e.g., sin), it is simply the situation in which they find themselves. As the woes (‘Alas for you…’) make clear, the rich have a great deal to lose. The poor and suffering are fortunate in Jesus’ view because they have a need which the overflowing generosity of God can fill. They are in situations which attract God’s impulse to save. The Kingdom of God is already among them.

All things being equal, being wealthy, well-fed, happy and enjoying a good reputation are perfectly desirable. But in Jesus’ view all things are not equal. Often the poor are poor precisely because the rich are rich. The powerless suffer at the hands of those who have power and influence. ‘The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer’ is a saying that endures even to this day.

Throughout his Gospel, Luke has Jesus insist repeatedly on the need for his followers to embrace poverty and to be under no illusions about the danger of wealth. Those who remain possessed by their possessions and the privileges they bring are unable to receive the gift of salvation, but even they can join the blessed through their care of the poor.

• Celebrating At Home - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF] Download  pdf here (632 KB)
• Celebrating At Home - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub] Download  default here (2.82 MB)
• Celebrando en Familia - Sexto Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario Download  pdf here (230 KB)
• Celebrando in Casa - VI Domenica del Tempo Ordinario Download  pdf here (243 KB)
• Celebrando em Familia - Sexto Domingo do Tempo Comum [Português] Download  pdf here (229 KB)

Titus was a good student who understood from early on the value of education. As a child he read widely and had a particular liking for literature and history.

Fr Titus Brandsma did his doctorate in philosophy in Rome in 1909. In addition, he used his “Roman years” to study sociology and make contact with the new currents of Christian social thought and with the social doctrine of the Church.

Here I am, send me (Luke 5:1-11)

As if to balance the rejection Jesus experienced in last week’s Gospel, this week’s episode tells two stories of people who welcome his message.

Firstly, an enthusiastic crowd has gathered on the shore of the lake, eagerly pressing forward to hear Jesus’ teaching. Jesus seems to be in danger of being crushed or at least being pushed into the sea! He takes the unusual step of teaching from Simon’s boat.

Secondly, Luke tells us that Simon and his companions are washing their nets on the shore as Jesus teaches, no doubt listening to what he has to say at the same time.

When Jesus finishes his teaching he asks Simon to put out into deep water and prepare for a catch.

Simon protests: if they caught nothing all night, the best time for fishing, what hope was there of a good catch during the day? Anyway, what would a craftsman like Jesus know about the art of commercial fishing?

Nevertheless, Simon does as Jesus asks and an extraordinary abundance of fish is caught - enough to almost sink two boats.

Overwhelmed by the huge catch, Simon sense both the presence of the Divine and his own unworthiness and begs Jesus to leave him.

Jesus’ words to him are both a call and a commission. From now on it will not be fish destined to be killed, but living people that Simon and his companions will catch and draw into the community of disciples.

Amazingly, Simon Peter, James and John abandon their thriving business, leaving everything behind, nets, boats and employees, and follow Jesus.

These new disciples of Jesus will use the Word of God to lure men and women to bring about their transformation to new life in Christ. The miraculous catch of such a huge number of fish seems to indicate that a vast number of people will find the way of Life in the preaching of the apostles.

Our call as disciples is not only to personal holiness but also to partnership with Christ in transforming the world and its peoples with words and actions of justice, peace, integrity, forgiveness, mercy, tolerance, hope and love.

First we must allow ourselves to be caught and taught by Jesus. The response that is asked for, it seems, is to be prepared to give up everything in our quest to know Jesus. In spite of our sinfulness, sense of unworthiness and lack of faith in ourselves, it is a call to trust in God’s choice of us and in God’s faith in us. 

• Celebrating At Home - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF] Download  pdf here (1.63 MB)  
• Celebrating At Home - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub] Download  default here (3.32 MB)  
• Celebrando en Familia - Quinto Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario Download  pdf here (270 KB)
• Celebrando in Casa - V Domenica del Tempo Ordinario Download  pdf here (289 KB)
• Celebrando em Familia - Quinto Domingo do Tempo Comum [Português] Download  pdf here (269 KB)

Prayer

Father in heaven,
you gave the virgin Blessed Archangela Girlani
particular dedication to the mystery of the eternal Trinity.
Through her prayers
may we taste the delights of your glory
already here on earth,
and look upon you for ever in heaven.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.