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No:
12/2016-27-02

On the Order's website a webpage has been opened that is dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the birth of St. Mary Magdalen de'Pazzi, at the following address:  http://ocarm.org/mmp450/en

The page will be updated throughout the year with information and material for formation, dealing not only with this saint, but also the events and celebrations organised by the General Curia and the various sectors of the Carmelite Family. To begin, readers can find already on the page the lastest news and check some recent publications concerning St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi.

Viernes, 04 Marzo 2016 11:21

Citoc Magazine VI-No.1 – 2016

Written by
No:
10/2016-24-02

In this issue of CITOC-magazine, we get a special sense of the internationality of our Order, on account of meetings held recently in various geographical areas. Here you will find an article on the present situation of the life of Carmelites in Latin America, especially the formation course for Carmelite students and young formators held in Peru, and on the 4th congress of ALACAR (the Association of American Carmelites) held in El Salvador, an important initiative for the colaboration between the members of the Carmelite Family in Latin America and its development.

Meanwhile in Europe, last Summer, a meeting of the Awakening project took place. Through a number of experiences and working sessions the young participants came to a greater awareness of their belonging to Carmel.

Still with young people, another article talks about the activities of young Carmelites in the countries of Asia-Australia-Oceania. They met in Indonesia for ongoing formation which allowed them to reflect on their first five years in ministry.

Moving around the geographical areas, there is an article on the Carmelite presence in Papua New Guinea. All of this is further enriched by the impressions offered by the respective Councillors General in relation to their work and the projects they are following, for example, those of the Councilor for Africa writing about the assembly of the superiors and directors of formation from the whole of Africa that took place in Tanzania.

This issue dedicates space also to the various celebrations going on in the Carmelite world, such as the Dedication of the city of Palestrina, Italy, to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and the celebration of the IV centenary of the foundation of the Carmelite monastery in Zaragoza, Spain.

It is obvious that without money none of these events could ever happen: it is appropriate then that this issue includes a report on the triennial meeting of the bursars of the Order, held in Fatima.

In addition to all of that, we offer a selection of main news items, some of which appeared in CITOC-online.

We wish all our readers an enjoyable reading of this latest issue of CITOC-magazine.

please click here to read in pdf format

Jueves, 03 Marzo 2016 17:51

Lenten Resolutions

Written by

Caryll Houselander

As to your Lent...I can only tell you my own experience. A mass of good resolutions, I think, are apt to end up in disappointment and to make one depressed. Also direct fault-uprooting: it makes one concentrate too much on self, and that can be so depressing. The only resolution I have ever found works is: "Whenever

want to think of myself, I will think of God." Now, this does not mean, "I will make a long meditation on God," but just some short sharp answer, so to speak, to my thought of self, in God. For example:

"I am lonely, misunderstood, etc."

'The loneliness of Christ at his trial; the misunderstanding even of his closest friends."

Or:

"I have made a fool of myself."

"Christ mocked—he felt it; he put the mocking first in foretelling his Passion—The Son of Man shall be mocked, etc.'—made a fool of, before all whom he loved."

Or:

"I can't go on, unhelped."

"Christ couldn't. He couldn't carry the cross without help; he was grateful for human sympathy—Mary Magdalene—his words on that occasion—other examples as they suggest themselves—just pictures that flash through the mind." This practice becomes a habit, and it is the habit which has saved me from despair!...

Different people have different approaches to Christ. He has become all things—infant, child, man—so that we all can approach him in the way easiest for us. The best is to use that way to our heart's content, and not to trouble about any other.

Caryll Houselander

Martes, 22 Marzo 2016 23:00

The Attitude in Which We Pray Our Father

Written by

We do not pray in order to improve our talents, to develop more clearly an intellectual synthesis, or widen our culture, religious or otherwise. We pray in order to tell God once again that we love him and know that he loves us, and to relate ourselves to the plan of mercy that is his.



We run still greater risks in the realm of sensibility, and in believing that our prayer has value only when we have "felt" something. The modern world takes special interest in "experiences," descriptions, states of the soul; there is a kind of cult for everything that can yield some kind of "interior witness." We delight in working out a projection of ourselves that arises from the senses.



Prayer is an extremely favorable opportunity for realizing such a projection. But this will always be the great difference between Christian and non-Christian prayer: the former does not contain its own end. A person does not pray primarily in order to find himself, but to give himself, to enter into a plan of salvation that goes beyond himself. In Christian prayer, what matters above all is not the quality of the interior experience, which can sometimes be very shallow, but the Person who is the "object" of this experience. Saint Paul speaks of "groanings" (Rom 8:26) or of a "cry" (Gal 4:6). What is important is not our experience but the gift we make of ourselves. We should enter into prayer, not to receive, but to give, to give ourselves and lose ourselves. And if friendship with God is to remain pre-eminent in our prayer, we must enter into prayer in order to give ourselves as a free gift, with the knowledge that we may not always really give what we are giving, and yet without being concerned about what we are giving.



Father Bernard Bro, o.p.


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Our Father
Viernes, 18 Marzo 2016 23:00

They repented

Written by

Dom Anscar Vonier, o.s.b.

The sins of Christians are offenses against a state, the state of the redeemed. By committing sin we walk unworthily of our calling, we prove ourselves to be bad children, people who are unmindful of their election. We sin against Christ, we hurt him in his brethren. Whether we be conscious or not of those implications, we cannot avoid having that kind of guilt on our souls every time we transgress. In his repentance the Christian has to think of many things which are exclusive to him. He has to remember his baptismal robe, he has to bear in mind his adoption as a child of God, the seal of the Spirit, the sweetness of the Bread of Life, the Blood of the Lamb, all of which mysteries he has more or less trampled under foot every time he has sinned grievously. He has saddened his brethren, he has brought shame on the Church, he has made the infidel blaspheme the name of the Lord, he has made the work of the Holy Spirit more difficult, he has been a dead weight on fervent men and women to whom nothing is dearer than the glory of Christ.



All these results and many more are infallibly associated with our sins. Therefore when we repent hosts of invisible powers are set in motion, all demanding to be satisfied and to be vindicated. Now it is the special merit of the Christianas poenitens that he is determined to make full amends for all past outrages, to give satisfaction to the whole hierarchy of the supernatural order, and to repair the gap he has made in the life of Christ's mystical Body. His repentance is more than a sorrow; it is a hunger and thirst after justice; it is an effort to fill up those things that are wanting to the Body of Christ through his guilty acts.



Dom Anscar Vonier, o.s.b.


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repented
Viernes, 05 Agosto 2016 23:00

The Grace of the Transfiguration

Written by

Sister Ruth Burrows, o.c.d.

We find it hard to accept how involved God is with us, how vital we are—by his free choice—to his complete happiness. Scripture encourages us to find our analogies in human images. We are adopted children. Consider a blissfully happy couple finding all they need in one another. For no other reason than generosity and the desire to share their happiness, they decide to adopt children as their own. From then on their life undergoes a profound change. Now they are vulnerable; their happiness is wrapped up in the welfare of the children; things can never be the same again. If the children choose to alienate themselves and start on the path to ruin, the couple are stricken. They will plead, humble themselves, make huge sacrifices, go out of themselves to get their loved ones to understand that the home is still their home, that the love they have been given is unchanging. This perhaps gives us some insight into redemption. In a mystery we cannot fathom, God "empties," "loses" himself, in bringing back to himself his estranged, lost children. And this is all the Father wants. This is the only remedy for his wound. God is no longer pure God, but always God-with-humanity- in-his heart.


Image:
The transfiguration
Viernes, 11 Marzo 2016 23:00

Compassion and Mercy

Written by

Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, o.c.d.

There is no limit to God's mercy. He never rejects us because of our sins, he never grows weary of our infidelities, he never refuses to forgive us, he is always ready to forget our offenses and to repay our ingratitude with graces. He never reproaches us for our offenses, even when we fall again immediately after being forgiven. He is never angered by our repeated failures or weakness in the practice of virtue, but always stretches out his hand to us, wanting to help us. Even when men condemn us, God shows mercy to us; he absolves us and sends us away justified....

How far does our mercy go? How much compassion do we have for the faults of others? The measure of our mercy toward our neighbor will be the measure of God's mercy toward us....

God does not require us to be sinless that he may shower upon us the fullness of his mercy, but he does require us to be merciful to our neighbor, and moreover, to be humble. In fact, to be sinners is not enough to attract divine mercy; we must also humbly acknowledge our sins and turn to God with complete confidence. "What pleases God," said Saint Therese of Lisieux, "is to see me love my littleness and poverty; it is the blind hope I have in his mercy. This is my sole treasure." This is the treasure which supplies for all our miseries, weaknesses, relapses, and infidelities, because by means of this humility and confidence we shall obtain the divine mercy. And with this at our disposal, how can our wretchedness discourage us?

Viernes, 04 Marzo 2016 23:00

How the Humble Are Exalted

Written by

Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur

It is not pride, is it, to call myself your friend, one you have called, your chosen friend? I see the traces of your love everywhere, the divine call everywhere, my vocation everywhere. You made use of trials, suffering, and illness to make me completely yours and to make me holy, first drawing me to you solely by your action within me. You have done everything. Now complete your work; make me holy according to your will; use me for others, for my beloved ones, for all your interests; use me for your greater glory, and let all be done in silence and in an intimate encounter between us alone. From the depths of my being and my misery I say, "Lord, what will you have me do? Speak, your servant listens; I am the handmaid of the Lord; I come, Father, ready to do your will" (Lk 1:38).

Patience, gentleness, humility, silence, kindness. To hide all that I can of my physical suffering, and all my moral suffering, my spiritual deprivations. To cover everything with serenity and smiles: all my discomfort, sadness, and renunciations. To try to reconcile the tastes, desires, and needs of each and to take no account of myself, not to think of what I might wish; to sacrifice even my greatest hopes, when, misunderstood, they might irritate or displease another. I shall have all eternity in which to contemplate him whom I adore, to unite myself to him, and to pray. Here, I must think of my neighbor, of others; I must sacrifice myself, and practice contemplation in action. There is plenty of material for renunciation and profound and constant self-denial in this unending abandonment of all that is my deepest longing.

Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur

Miércoles, 23 Marzo 2016 23:00

They will condemn him to death

Written by

Monsignor Romano Guardini

Christ on the cross! Inconceivable what he went through as he hung there. In the degree that we are Christian and have learned to love the Lord, we begin to sense something of that mystery of utter helplessness, hopelessness. This then the end of all effort and struggle! Everything, without reserve—body, heart, and spirit given over to the illimitable flame of omnipresent agony, to the terrible judgment of assumed world—sin that none can alleviate and whose horror only death can end. Such the depths from which omnipotent love calls new creation into being....



Ardent with suffering, he was to plunge to that ultimate depth, distance, center where the sacred power which formed the world from nothing could break into new creation.



Since the Lords death, this has become reality, in which all things have changed. It is from here that we live—as far as we are really alive in the sight of God.



If anyone should ask: What is certain in life and death— so certain that everything else may be anchored in it? The answer is: The love of Christ. Life teaches us that this is the only true reply. Not people—not even the best and dearest; not science, or philosophy, or art or any other product of human genius. Also not nature, which is so full of profound deception; neither time nor fate.... Not even simply "God"; for his wrath has been roused by sin, and how without Christ would we know what to expect from him? Only Christ's love is certain. We cannot even say God's love; for that God loves us we also know, ultimately, only through Christ. And even if we did know without Christ that God loved us—love can also be inexorable, and the more noble it is, the more demanding. Only through Christ do we know that God's love is forgiving. Certain is only that which manifested itself on the cross. What has been said so often and so inadequately is true: The heart of Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of all things.



Monsignor Romano Guardini


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condemntodeath
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