God is with us! (Matthew 1:18-25)

We began Advent with the cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. Now we end it with the joyful shout, ‘God is with us!’

Reflecting on the historical birth of Jesus, the Church proclaims the truth that God is, and has always been, with his people. And if God is with us, then God is for us. God is on our side.

God has no desire to live in houses made of wood, stone or gold. God’s deepest desire is to live in human flesh. Just as God did that in the human flesh of Jesus Christ a long time ago, God continues to do so now in us.

Like Mary, we accept God’s invitation, allowing Jesus to become flesh in us, too; to be seen and experienced in good thoughts, good words and good actions, in deeds of loving kindness which bring life, not death, to God’s people.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - Christmas - Nativity Of The Lord [PDF](3.89 MB)
• default Celebrating At Home - Christmas - Nativity Of The Lord [ePub](206 KB)
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This resource is presented by the Carmelites of Australia & Timor-Leste at a time when many cannot gather together as we usually do to celebrate the Eucharist. We are conscious that Christ is present not only in the Blessed Sacrament but also in the Scriptures and in our hearts. Even when we are on our own we remain part of the Body of Christ.

In the room you decide to use for this prayer you could have a lighted candle, a crucifix and the Bible. During Advent it is particularly appropriate to have an Advent Wreath in the place where you pray. 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. 

This text is arranged with parts for a leader and for all to pray, but the leader’s parts can be shared among those present.

As you use this prayer know that the Carmelites will be remembering in our prayer all the members of our family at this time.

On December 8, the Philippine Province of Blessed Titus Brandsma celebrated an historic milestone with the ordination of the first member of the province from Papua New Guinea. Paul Kaptain Pakao, O. Carm., was ordained at the Iwai mission of the parish of Goma in the Archdiocese of Rabaul. Witnessing the ceremony were the ordinandi’s family, along with the different clans from his native village. The ordaining bishop was Archbishop Joseph Rochus Tatamai, MSC, the ordinary of the Archdiocese of Rabaul.

In his homily, Archbishop Tatamai expressed his gratitude for the Carmelite presence in in Papua New Guinea, which began in the Diocese of Bereina some 13 years ago.

The morning was filled with traditional festivities, singing, dancing, and sharing of gifts, which included crops and livestock which were later prepared into a sumptuous meal shared by everyone in attendance.

During his remarks, the Philippine Prior Provincial thanked the family of the newly ordained for allowing their son, Paul, to join the Carmelites, thus offering him to be of service to the Order and to the Church. He also thanked all the villagers and other friends of the Carmelite missionaries who graced the event, most especially the archbishop who stayed throughout the colorful celebration.

Fr. Paul Kaptain’s ordination marks the first ordination of the Philippine Carmelite foundation in Papua New Guinea. Another “Paul” from Papua New Guinea, Paul Sireh, was ordained priest but is a member of the Australian Province. 

Other young men from Papua New Guinea have answered the call of their Carmelite vocation. One student is currently undergoing his second year of theological studies in the Philippines. Three aspirants are preparing to arrive in the Philippines to begin their own formation.

Indeed, the interest and perseverance of these young men bear witness to the Filipino missionary friars’ positive contributions to the church in Papua New Guinea and the powerful impact they have made on the faithful, particularly on those who have been called to a life in Carmel -- echoing the lines of a familiar song: "Into the land of Carmel, I brought you to gather loads of charming fruits.”

Congratulations to Fr. Paul and the Philippine Province and to the Church in Papua New Guinea on this milestone!

This year, on December 29, is the 450th anniversary of the birth of Ven. John of St Samson. He was christened the following day in Sens. He had a very difficult childhood. He was blinded by an incompetent physician after contracting chicken pox and was orphaned at a young age.

He was introduced to the Parisian Carmelites in Place Maubert in 1603 and joined the Order at Dol-de-Bretagne three years later. When he was transferred to Rennes in 1612, he became the spiritual soul of the Touraine reform.

His deep mystical life made him a seasoned teacher of the spiritual life. His teachings, dictated to novices and disciples, have come down to us in over 4000 manuscript folios.

A lover of solitude made fruitful by his encounters with God, he was aflame with ardent love for humanity especially the poor and the sick to whom he ministered through his charism of healing.

He died in the odor of sanctity on September 14, 1636 at Rennes. His last words were: “With Christ, I am affixed to the cross.”

Of the Ineffable Incarnation of God made Man

But let us now, my Love and my Life, look at Your ineffable Love and Your ineffable Incarnation. It is from here on and in this vein that I am lost in an abyss within the innermost depths of all Your Deity. There I do not know where to start to reason about you, in all humility.

For, seeing Your resolution to save us, and your Love and its order to effect it, and the means which you hold fast to, that is what totally enraptures me in admiration outside of myself, where, being fixed in the enjoyment of this admirable mystery above admiration, I would not like to break into speech. And what can we say of a mystery so ineffable, which contains and comprehends contraries so opposite and so distant one from the other as are the all and the nothing, immensity and infinity and nothingness, Deity in itself and nothingness?

This is what has already detained us, occupied more in admiration of such an ineffable Mystery, than in speaking as a result of my ardent love. 

What is this? The Word is made flesh. Behold You whom all creatures cannot comprehend cut short in human nature, in the form and manner of an infant enclosed within the maternal prison of a mother made Mother of God, of the flesh with which you clothed Yourself, elevating it and uniting it to Your infinite Subject!

It is the perpetual subject of profound astonishment of all creatures. For to see You so much changed without change, so far off without distance, so much cut short and so great, so contained and so containing, so enclosed and so free, indeed so enclosed and so universal in all and by all, so high and so low, so wide and so narrow, so strong and so weak, so powerful and so powerless, so much more than all and above all and so next to nothing; all that, I say, my Love and my Life, is an eternal cause to creatures high and low, not only of eternal admiration and astonishment at the contemplation of this sight, but also of annihilating them by itself and reducing them to nothing in the action and act of their astonishment.

On November 13, 2021, at 6:00 p.m., in the church of San Domenico, Prato, in the presence of His Excellency Rev. Mgr. Giovani Nerbini, Bishop of Prato, the First Session of the Diocesan Inquiry into the life, virtues, reputation and signs of holiness of the Servant of God Amata Cerretelli, lay Carmelite Tertiary and co-founder of the lay movement "La Famiglia” (The Family) took place.

After the oath of the members of the Diocesan Tribunal, of the Postulator General, and of the Vice Postulator of the Cause, Fr. Nicola Sozzi, O. Carm., in the presence of a large representation of the Carmelite Third Order and of the members of the movement "La Famiglia", Msgr. Giovanni Nerbini presided over a solemn Eucharistic celebration.

In the morning, a large delegation of members of the movement, together with the Postulator General and the Vice Postulator of the Cause, prayed at the tomb of the Servant of God, who rests in the municipal cemetery of Prato.

Cerretelli, born in 1907 a Campi Bisenzio and died at Prato at the age of 56, dedicated herself to prayer and committed to others. In 1948 she met for the first time, in the Basilica of Carmine in Florence, Italy, Fr. Agostino Bartolini, a Carmelite priest, who became his spiritual director and with whom she brought into existence the lay movement “La Famiglia,” a group now present in Tuscany with more than a thousand brothers and sisters. A Prato the largest group, with more than 300 followers of the movement. They are divided into various groups present in almost all of the vicariates. Among their members are a large number of youth and a communities of families. 

On Dec 14, 2021, the feast of St. John of the Cross, the Most Rev Enrique Macaraeg, DD, presided at the Triennial Elections of Mater Carmeli Monastery, in the Philippines.

The results of the elective chapter were as follows:

Prioress:
Sr. Maria Teresa Margarita Medina, O. Carm.

1st Councilor:
Sr. Maria Victoria San Diego, O. Carm.

2nd Councilor:
Sr. Arlene Marie Reporte, O. Carm.

Formator:
Sr. Maria Victoria San Diego, O. Carm.

Treasurer:
Sr. Lourdes Maria Viernes, O. Carm.

Sacristan:
Sr. Mary Ann Inosanto, O. Carm.

The promise fulfilled (Luke 1:39-44)

The great Christmas feast is almost here. As always in Advent, what is promised in the first reading is brought to fulfilment in the Gospel reading. We began Advent with the cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. We will end it with the joyful shout, ‘God is with us!’

Beautiful words from the Prophet Micah form the first reading today which looks forward to the birth of a leader for Israel who, as a shepherd king gathers the people and feeds them with the power of the Lord and the majesty of God. His powerful reign will bring about an era of security and he himself will be peace.

What Micah looks forward to in words becomes flesh and blood in the person of Jesus.
Luke’s touching story of the meeting of the pregnant cousins, Mary and Elizabeth, is full of joy, warmth and love.

It’s not hard to imagine the joyful greetings and embrace at Mary’s surprise visit. Mary greets Elizabeth with the usual greeting, Shalom (‘Peace!’) which is exactly what she brings with her - the One Micah talks about in the first reading, the Messiah.

In his very first act of witness to the presence of the Messiah, John leaps in his mother’s womb which releases within her the power of prophecy. Filled with the Holy Spirit Elizabeth proclaims Mary as blessed, wonders at why she, herself, should have been found worthy to give hospitality to the mother of the Lord, and blesses Mary’s faith that the promises of the Lord would indeed find fulfilment in her.

Can we dare to imagine that we, too, carry within us the Peace of God? Can we welcome the presence of God within us and one another? Can we find the ways to nourish our awareness of that presence, let it grow stronger and deeper until our whole life is filled with God, immersed in God and overflows in every word, thought and action of ours?

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• default Celebrating At Home - 4th Sunday of Advent [ePub](7.72 MB)
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The Season of Advent

The word “advent” means appearing, arrival, to come. Advent is the Church’s time of preparation for celebrating God’s gift of his Son. Our liturgy will gather the great Advent themes of hope, expectation and preparation. During Advent we recall Christ’s coming at Bethlehem and we look forward to his second coming at the end of time.
Advent is a season of joyful expectation.

Advent has two parts. The first two Sundays focus on preparing for Jesus’ return at the end of time. The second two Sundays focus on preparing to celebrate the anniversary of Jesus’ birth.

The Gospels of the Sundays in Advent have four great movements 1. Stay Awake! 2. Prepare! 3. Rejoice! and 4. Receive!

Advent is a journey from
Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
to
Emmanuel. God-is-with-us!

...

This resource is presented by the Carmelites of Australia & Timor-Leste at a time when we cannot gather together as we usually do to celebrate the Eucharist. We are conscious that Christ is present not only in the Blessed Sacrament but also in the Scriptures and in our hearts. Even when we are on our own we remain part of the Body of Christ.

In the room you decide to use for this prayer you could have a lighted candle, a crucifix and the Bible. During Advent it is particularly appropriate to have an Advent Wreath in the place where you pray. 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.

This text is arranged with parts for a leader and for all to pray, but the leader’s parts can be shared among those present.

As you use this prayer know that the Carmelites will be remembering in our prayer all the members of our family at this time.

The International Formation Commission sponsored a two week course over Zoom exploring How to Engage Generation Z? Being Faithful Witnesses to the Carmelite Charism from One Generation to the Next. This comes from the 2019 General Chapter. The goal of the course was to first learn about Gen Z but then to discuss its impact upon our formation and, finally, to seek creative and relevant ways of engaging Generation Z. The meeting took place from November 15-19 and 22-26, 2021.

On one day of the first week, four Carmelite who are members of Generation Z from Europe, Africa, and the Americas presented pertinent issues affecting their generation.

In the end, the formators committed themselves to listen and dialogue with Gen Z, to better understand their world and to learn their language; to offer Gen Z our accompaniment and witness as their elder brothers and sisters, so they can appreciate the reality of life and seek it in the living face of God; and to use wisely the aid of information technology as a means to communicating, engaging, and bridging the intergenerational gap.

The full final statement of the meeting can be read pdf here(105 KB) .

St. John was born, probably in 1540, in Fontiveros, near Avila in Spain.

As Saint John says - in order to arrive at the All which is God, it is necessary that man should give all of himself, not like a slave but inspired by love.

Canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on 27th December 1726, he was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pius XI on 24th August 1926.

Read pdf here (67 KB) "Who is St. John of the Cross for Me?", by Sister Hernalyn U. Rebuton, INSC.

Watch here the Interview with Dr. John D. Love, S.T.D., on the relevance of St. John's today.

Read more here

The Carmelite Prior General, Míċeál O'Neill, O. Carm., was elected to the executive committee of the Union of Superiors General (USG). He will represent the Mendicant orders. Fr. Míċéal was also selected as one of the members of the so-called Commission of 16.

The Executive Committee is responsible for the ordinary decisions of the Union and for implementation of resolutions of the Assembly. The Commission of 16 is made up of eight male religious and eight female religious. They have the charge of engaging in formal dialogue with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Associations of Apostolic Life from time to time.

The members also elected Fr. Arturo Sosa S.J., for a second term as president of the USG. The newly elected serve for the period 2021-2024.

The USG was created "to promote the life and mission of the individual institutes at the service of the Church, for a more effective collaboration among them, and for a more fruitful contact with the Holy See and hierarchy. Its members are the superior generals of men’s Religious Institutes or Societies of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right. Practically it is a voluntary forum for the exchange information and accompaniment.

The organization’s 96th Assembly was held on November 24-26, 2021, at the Fraterna Domus, a facility of the Associazione Volontari del Servizio Sociale Cristiano.

H. Carmen Inmaculada Avellana Gilabert (HSM)
26-10-21
Ortus: 14-10-34
P. Temp.: 08-12-59
P. Soll.: 08-12-62
Ord.: 20-11-21

P. Cláudio (Jildert) Van Balen (Flum)
20-11-21
Ortus: 26-09-33
P. Temp.: 22-01-54
P. Soll.: 23-02-57
Ord.: 19-12-59