Fr. Raúl Maraví, O.Carm.
The presence of Carmelite friars can be found in thirteen distinct countries in a very large territory that extends from Canada in the north to Argentina in the south where we have approximately 530 Carmelites.
The American continent is divided into two regions:
- The North American Region
- The Latin American and Caribbean region.
In this first triennium we visited the majority of the Carmelite places in this enormous continent. We tried to encourage greater interchange and mutual collaboration between both regions and between the existing entities. Likewise, we animated the friars to participate in various permanent formation programs, to continue studies in specialized areas after theology and to learn one of the official languages of the Order. These visits also included visits to monasteries of cloistered nuns and some convents of sisters affiliated with our Order when time and distance permitted us to do so.
During this time we had the opportunity to participate in four provincial chapters, four provincial commissariat assemblies and one general delegation meeting. Also, we were present at various celebrations, congresses and meetings among which we can highlight: the Beatification of Madre Candelaria de San José in Venezuela, the meeting of Superiors of the Americas in Brazil, the Golden (50th) Anniversary of Crespi Carmelite High School in the United States, The O.Carm-O.C.D. Latin American Congress (ALACAR) in Colombia, and three formation courses for Latin America in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
It should be noted that in the Meeting of Superiors of 2008, the group carefully studied the Global Plan of the General Council for the Order in distinct areas such as: formation, justice and peace and the integrity of creation, Carmelite schools and youth, Carmelite laity. The assistants, friars and some Carmelite sisters worked and analyzed the most viable ways to implement this plan in their communities.
On the other hand, it is also important to note that during the International Course for formators in August of 2010 in Brazil, the formators of the American continent met to discuss a plan to develop three single international novitiates in the continent (one in English, one in Spanish and one in Portuguese). The majority of the participants (around thirty formators) were in agreement to continue supporting this initiative in order to achieve a better interchange and to enrich the novices and students with a more international and diversified experience of our Carmelite Order.
This article is from the Citoc Magazine.
The Citoc Magazine is published twice a year by the Order of Carmelites. Submitted news, information, feature, articles, letters, photos, and other materials become the property of the Citoc Magazine.
Electoral Chapter of the Monastery of San Giovanni La Punta, Italy
Written byThe Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of San Giovanni La Punta, Italy, was held 10 December 2012. The following were elected:
- Prioress: Sr. M. Rosalia Mangiarotti, O.Carm.
- 1st Councilor: Sr. M. Simona Nicita, O.Carm.
- 2nd Councilor: Sr. M. Angelica Panebianco, O.Carm.
- 3rd Councilor: Sr. M .Celina Atzei, O.Carm.
- 4th Couniclor: Sr. M. Gesualda Morreale, O.Carm.
- Director of Novices: Sr. M. Rosalia Mangiarotti, O.Carm.
- Treasurer: Sr. M. Simona Nicita, O.Carm.
- Sacristan: Sr. M. Angelica Panebianco, O.Carm.
Carmelite NGO celebrates World Human Rights Day on December 10th
Written byThe Carmelite NGO invites people around the world to join with the Carmelite Family to celebrate World Human Rights Day on December 10 with a day of prayer and reflection on human rights and the Christian faith.
Materials for individuals, organizations, or groups to use to celebrate the day can be obtained from the office of the Carmelite NGO or downloaded from the organization's website www.carmelitengo.org The booklet contains a prayer service containing passages from Scripture, statements from documents of the Catholic Church and the Carmelite Order, as well as other resources.
The Beatification of two groups of Carmelite Martyrs of the 20th Century in Spain
Written byThe November 2012 plenary assembly of the Conference of Spanish Bishops set the date and the venue for the beatification of the next group of 20th century Spanish martyrs. It will take place at the end of the Year of Faith, on the 27th of October 2013 in Tarragona, in Spain. Among the group there is Fr. Carmel Maria Moyano, O.Carm., and nine of his companions from the Betica province, along with Fr. Alberto Marco Alemán, O.Carm., and eight companions from the Province of Castile.
The statement from the Spanish Bishop’s Conference says that the office for the causes of the saints will be in contact with the the various people who are responsible for the different causes. The statement also invites everyone to engage in a spiritual preparation in each province, order or diocese, through a catechesis that may be offered to young people and other groups, so that the “witness and intercession of all these martyrs may contribute to the growth and to the joy and faith of the entire people of God”
Liturgical Year C
The liturgical year begins with First Sunday of Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas (December 25). In this Liturgical year which begins on the 29th of November , 2015, Circle C, the Church meditates on the Gospel of Luke and uses it for most of Sunday readings (St. Matthew for Circle A and St. Mark for Circle B). St. John, who appears several times in the Liturgy of the Word of almost all three years, is offered in a special way during the time of the Lord's Passion.
The Gospel of Luke
Who is Luke?
Luke the Evangelist (Ancient Greek: Λουκᾶς, Loukás) is one of the four evangelists or authors of canonical Gospels of Jesus Christ. A native of the Hellenistic city of Antioch in Syria, He was ascribed, by early church fathers, the authorship of both, the Gospel according to Luke and the book of Acts of the Apostles, which originally conformed a single literary work. Such authorship was later reaffirmed by prominent figures in early Christianity such as Jerome and Eusebius, although within scholar circles, both secular and religious, discussions have been held due to the lack of evidence as to the real identity of the author of the works.
In the New Testament, Luke is mentioned briefly a few times, and referred to as a doctor in the Pauline epistle to the Colossians, thus He is thought to have been both, a physician and a disciple to Paul. Considered by early Christians as a Saint, He is believed to have died a martyr, although re-accounts of the events do vary.
Why did Luke write his account?
In his introduction to the gospel (see Luke 1:1-4) Luke speaks in the first person. This is a somewhat unique approach since the other gospels all speak in the third person. Luke addresses his friend, Theophilus, a name which means "beloved of God". In so many words he says, "I am writing to you the most incredible story humankind has known." And this story is utterly believable because it comes from many reliable firsthand witnesses of those who knew Jesus Christ personally, heard his teaching, and saw his miracles, death and resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father in heaven. Who were these many? Mark the evangelist was certainly one of them. Luke’s account contains over half of the verses in Mark’s account (some 350 verses out of a total 660 verses in Mark) . Some 325 verses of Luke are also common to Matthew’s gospel. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that Luke was in Israel for some time. This would have given him an opportunity to speak with many contemporaries of Jesus.
Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
For Luke, Jesus is our “Compassionate Savior.” Luke's image of Jesus is presented as the compassionate Savior of the world, with love and compassion for all people, whether rich or poor, Jew or Gentile. He reaches out especially to poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, the women and the poor and outcast of society. Luke emphasizes divine mercy, depicting God as the Father who forgives his prodigal children with unbounded love. Meeting Jesus as the compassionate Savior draws us to imitate the Lord by approaching the Father in confident prayer. The story of the widow of Nain teaches us about Jesus' mercy to a grieving mother (Luke 7:11-17).
The Gospel of Women
Luke gives a special place to women in his gospel account. More women appear in Luke than the other gospels. The events leading to Jesus’ birth are told from Mary’s point of view. We read of Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary, of Anna the prophetess, of the widow at Nain, and of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). Luke tells us of the special friendship Jesus had with Martha and Mary and how Jesus transformed the life of Mary Magdalene. Luke also mentions many women who traveled with Jesus and the apostles and who “ministered to their needs” (Luke 8:1-3).
The Gospel of Prayer and Praise
Luke gives special emphasis to prayer and to the power of intercession. He shows Jesus at prayer on many occasions (Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18; 9:29; 11:1; 23:46). Jesus prayed for Peter in his hour of testing (Luke 22:32). And Jesus told two parables about the power of prayer (Luke 11:5-13; 18:1-8). Jesus concludes the Lord’s Prayer with an exhortation to pray confidently knowing that “for every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10).
The Gospel of the Holy Spirit
Luke’s gospel emphasizes the role and work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is active in the initiation of the Incarnation (Luke 1:5, 35, 41, 67, 80), in the early witness to Jesus (Luke 2:25-27), and in the activity of Jesus himself (Luke 4:1, 17; 10:21). Luke’s gospel is infused with the joy of the Holy Spirit (see Luke 1:14, 47, 58; 2:10; 6:23; 10:17, 20; 19:37). The gift of the Holy Spirit is available to all who seek: “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).
THE MEANING OF THE LITURGICAL YEAR
• The Liturgical Year celebrates the Mystery of Christ
By preaching the Church “announces” “the whole mystery of Christ” (CD 12) and with the Liturgy it “celebrates it presenting the sacred memory (SC 102). In such a way it makes present today “the unfathomable treasure of Christ” (Eph 3, 8 ff; cf. 1, 18; 2, 7): his signs of salvation, with which the faithful come into contact in order to draw from it the grace of salvation. The Liturgical Year which has its “source” and its “summit” in the Paschal Mystery is articulated into five “periods of time” which have a special relationship with the diverse moments of the Mystery of Christ (SC 10; LG 11). Therefore, they follow a progressive order: Advent and Christmas; Lent and the Passover or Easter; Ordinary Time.
• Time of Advent and of Christmas
Advent is a time of preparation with a twofold characteristic: it recalls the first coming of the Son of God in humility and pre- announces the second coming in glory: it is a time of active waiting, of expectation, of desire, of prayer, of evangelization, of joy. Christmas is a time of joyful contemplation of the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God and of his first manifestations, who has come for our salvation “man among men”. During this time Mary is particularly celebrated as “Mother of God”.
• Time of Lent and of Passover or Easter
Lent is a time of preparation the purpose of which is to guide to a more intense and gradual participation in the Paschal Mystery. During this time the catechumens are accompanied through the various degrees of Christian initiation, and the faithful through the living memory of Baptism and Penance. The Passover or Easter is the summit of the Liturgical Year, from which all the other parts draw their efficacy of salvation, it is the fulfilment of the redemption of humanity and of perfect glorification of God: it is the destruction of sin and of death, communication of resurrection and of life.
• Ordinary Time
During this long period of time, which has a first stage between Christmas Time and Lent, and develops more extensively from Pentecost to the following Advent, is a global celebration of the mystery of Christ, which is taken up again and deepened in many of its particular aspects.
Already, we can say that Sundays – “The Day of the Lord” – are the “Weekly Passover or Easter” and therefore, a living grafting into the central nucleus of the mystery of Christ throughout the whole year; but then the Weeks (33 and 34) develop through an intense and continued recourse to the Bible the deepening of small cycles of the mystery of Christ, offering these to the meditation of the faithful in order that this may become a stimulus to the action in the Church and in the world.
LITURGICAL COLORS
Liturgies celebrated during the different seasons of the liturgical year have distinctive music and specific readings, prayers, and rituals. All of these work together to reflect the spirit of the particular season. The colors of the vestments that the priest wears during the liturgy also help express the character of the mysteries being celebrated.
 | White, the color of joy and victory, is used for the seasons of Easter and Christmas. It is also used for the feasts of Our Lord, for feasts of Mary, the angels, and for saints who are not martyrs. Gold may also be used on solemn occasions. |
 | Red (the color of blood) is used on days when we celebrate the passion of Jesus on Passion Sunday and Good Friday. It is also used for the birthday feasts of the apostles and evangelists and for the celebrations of martyrs. Red (the color of fire) recalls the Holy Spirit and is used on Pentecost and for the sacrament of Confirmation. |
 | Green, seen everywhere in plants and trees, symbolizes life and hope and is used during Ordinary Time.
|
 | The colors violet or purple in Advent help us to remember that we are preparing for the coming of Christ. Lent, the season of penance and renewal, also uses the colors violet or purple. |
 | Rose may be used on the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, and on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday. It expresses the joy of anticipation for Christmas and Easter, respectively. |
Liturgical Year C
General Intention: That migrants throughout the world may be welcomed with generosity and authentic love, especially by Christian communities.
Missionary Intention: Christ, light for all humanity. That Christ may reveal himself to all humanity with the light that shines forth from Bethlehem and is reflected in the face of his Church.
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- Saturday, December 1, 2012
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Mary and Joseph find Jesus
Among the doctors in the Temple in Jerusalem
Luke 2: 41-52
1. Opening prayer
Father in heaven, You are my creator. You welcome me through Jesus Christ Your Son. You guide me by Your Holy Spirit. Enlighten my mind so that I may understand the meaning of the life You have granted me, the plan You have for me and for those You have placed at my side. Enkindle fire in my heart so that I may follow Your revelation joyfully and enthusiastically. Strengthen my weak will, unite it to the will of others so that together we may do Your will and thus build the world as one family more and more in Your image. You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
2. Lectio: A reading of Lk 2:41-52
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
3. A time of silence
that the Word of God may enter our hearts and enlighten our lives.
4. Meditatio: A few questions
to direct our meditation and practice.
Why does Luke, the Evangelist, tell us this story in Jesus’ life? Where is the climax, the center of the passage? There are times when family (community) relationships become tense and difficult and misunderstandings take place. Do we seek autonomy and independence? Who or what becomes more important at a particular time in our life? Can we organize hierarchically our relationships, our self-affirmation, our values, our tasks, our morality? Today, we often find “extended” families (multi-ethnic communities) with re-married parents, partners, daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, grandparents, parents of one partner and not of the other. On whom can we rely? Can we submit to one person or just rebel?
5. A key to the reading
We find ourselves among the so-called infancy stories according to Luke (chap. 1-2). This is the final passage, a theological and Christological prologue rather that a historical one, where we are presented with motifs that recur later in Luke’s catechesis: the Temple, the journey towards Jerusalem, divine filiation, the poor, the merciful Father, etc. Reading back, in Jesus’ childhood there already appear signs of His future life. Mary and Joseph take Jesus to Jerusalem to take part in one of the three pilgrimages (the Passover, Pentecost and the feast of the Tabernacles) prescribed by the law (Deut 16:16). During the seven days of the feast, people took part in the cult and listened to the Rabbis, who discussed beneath the portico of the Temple. “The boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem”, the city the Lord chosen for His throne (2 Kings 21:4-7; Jer 3:17; Zech 3:2), and where the Temple is found (Ps 68:30; 76:3; 135:21), the only place of worship for the Jews (Jn 4:20). Jerusalem is the place where “all that was written by the prophets concerning the Son of man will be fulfilled” (Lk 18:21), the place of “His departure” (Lk 9:31,51; 24:18) and of His appearances after the resurrection (Lk 24:33,36-49). His parents “sought Him” anxiously and troubled (2:44,45,48,49). How is it possible to lose a son, not to realize that Jesus is not in the caravan? Is it Christ who has to follow others or vice versa? “Three days later” the “passion” ends, and they find Jesus in the Temple, among the doctors, teaching to the amazement of all. The characteristics of His mission begin to unfold and this mission is summarized in the first words that Jesus speaks in Luke’s Gospel “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be busy with My Father’s affairs?” But who is His father? Why seek Him? This is the same father mentioned in Jesus’ last words, in Luke, on the cross: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit” (23:46) and at the ascension into heaven “And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised” (24:49). Above all, we must seek to obey God, as Peter well understood after Pentecost (Acts 5:29), seek the Kingdom of God and His justice (Mt 6:33), seek the Father in prayer (Mt 7:7-8), seek Jesus (Jn 1:38) and follow Him. Jesus proclaims His dependence - “I must” – on His heavenly Father. He reveals the Father in His immense goodness (Lk 15), but He thus creates a distance, a break, with His family. Before all affective ties, all personal fulfillment, all affairs… comes God’s project. “Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, let Your will be done, not Mine” (Lk 22:42). Simeon’s prophecy (Lk 2:34) begins to happen for Mary, “but they did not understand”. His parents’ lack of understanding is also that of His disciples concerning the foretelling of the passion (18:34). Rebel? Submit? Walk away? Jesus “went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority”, says Luke, and Mary “stored up all these things in her heart”. Mary’s attitude expresses the development of faith in a person who grows and progresses in knowledge of the mystery. Jesus reveals that obedience to God is the essential condition for fulfilling one’s life, for a way of sharing in the family and in community. Obedience to the Father is what makes us brothers and sisters, teaches us to obey each other, to listen to each other and recognize God’s plan in each other. Such an atmosphere creates the conditions necessary to grow “in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and men” and to journey together.
6. Oratio: Psalm 83 (84)
The pilgrim’s hymn
How lovely is Thy dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young, at Thy altars,
O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Thy house,
ever singing Thy praise!
Blessed are the men whose strength is in Thee,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
the God of gods will be seen in Zion.
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear,
O God of Jacob!
7. Contemplatio: Closing prayer
I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have revealed to me Your goodness and Your love. You really are the only One who can give full meaning to my life. I love my father, but You are my Father; I love my mother, but You are my Mother. Even if I had not known the love of my parents, I know that You are love, You are with me and You are waiting for me in Your eternal dwelling place prepared for me from the beginning of creation. Grant that, together with me, the members of my family, sisters and brothers, all those who journey in community with me, may do Your will so as to foreshadow on earth and then enjoy in heaven the wonders of Your love. Amen
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The Prologue of John’s Gospel
John 1:1-18
1. OPENING PRAYER
In the darkness of a starless night,
a night of no sense,
you, the Word of life,
like lightning in the storm of forgetfulness,
entered within the bounds of doubt
under cover of the limits of precariousness
to hide the light.
Words made of silence and of the ordinary,
your human words, heralds of the secrets of the Most High:
like hooks cast into the waters of death
to find man once more, immersed in his anxious follies,
and reclaim him, plundered, through the attractive radiance of
forgiveness.
To you, Ocean of Peace and shadow of eternal Glory,
I render thanks:
Calm waters on my shore that awaits the wave, I wish to seek you!
And may the friendship of the brothers protect me
when night falls on my desire for you. Amen.
2. READING
a) The text:
1 In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. 4 What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men; 5 and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it. 6 A man came, sent by God. His name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, he was to bear witness to the light. 9 The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world that had come into being through him, and the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to his own and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in his name 13 who were born not from human stock or human desire or human will but from God himself. 14 The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John witnesses to him. He proclaims: 'This is the one of whom I said: He who comes after me has passed ahead of me because he existed before me.' 16 Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received -- one gift replacing another, 17 for the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
b) A moment of silence:
Allow the voice of the Word echo within us.
3. MEDITATION
a) Some question for reflection:
- God who is light has chosen to dispel the darkness of man by making himself darkness. Man is born blind (cfr Jn 9:1-41): blindness is his condition of creature. The symbolical gesture of Jesus in gathering mud to spread over the eyes of the man born blind in John, signifies the newness of the incarnation: it is a gesture of new creation. The blind man whose eyes are still covered with the mud of creation is asked to make not an act of faith but one of obedience: to go to the pool of Siloe, which means “sent”. The one “sent” is Jesus. Are we able to obey the Word, which comes to us every day?
- The blind man in the Gospel of John is poor: he has no pretence and asks for nothing. We often live in daily blindness, resigned that we do not deserve better horizons. Can we see ourselves as having nothing so that the gift of God may be ours too, a gift of the redemption of the flesh, but above all a gift of light and faith?
- «The law was given through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known» (Jn 1:17-18). The knowledge of what happens in the story of our lives leads us to get out of the blindness of presumption and to contemplate the light that shines on the face of the Son of God. Our eyes, flooded with light, become open to events. When shall we be able to see God in our midst?
b) A key to the reading:
John was someone who was able to see the light shining, who saw, heard and touched the light. In the beginning was the Word: constantly turned towards the love of the Father, the Word became the Father’s true explanation, his only exegesis (Jn 1:18), the revelation of his love. In the logos was life and life was light, but the darkness did not welcome the light. In the OT the revelation of the Word is the revelation of light: to this corresponds the fullness of grace, the grace of grace, given to us in Jesus, the revelation of God’s unlimited love (Jn 1:4-5, 16). The whole witness of the OT is a witness of light: from Abraham to John the Baptist, God sends witnesses to his light. John the Baptist is the last of these: he announces the light that is to come into the world and recognises in Jesus the long awaited light (Jn 1:6-8;15).
Dabar IHWH is God’s communication with man, which took place with all those whom God has called and to whom the word of the Lord came (cfr Is 55: 10-11). As Augustine says: The Word of God is the true light.
The word comes from the mouth of God, but it keeps its full force, and it is a person who creates and sustains the world. This word that creates and saves is identified with the Torah, which for Israel is the divine revelation in its totality, with Wisdom: The law will go out from Zion, and the oracle of Yahweh from Jerusalem (Is 2:3).
The memra (aramaic) is the concept used by John to go from the dabar to the logos: in the targum the memra has a creating function, but above all a revealing function that is expressed particularly through the image of light. In the Targum Neophiti, the famous poem of the four nights on Ex 12:42 it is written: «The first night was when IHWH revealed himself above the world to create it: the world was desert and empty and darkness covered the face of the abyss. And the memra of IHWH was the light that shone». In the Targum Jerushalaim manuscript 110 says: «With his word IHWH shone and shed light».
The midrash stresses that the law was before the world, it was life, it was light: «The words of the Torah are light for the world» (Midrash Dt Rabba 7.3). Only daughter of God, the Torah was written with black fire in the white flame and sits on God’s knees while God sits on his throne of glory (cfr Midrash on Psalm 90:3).
The logos-light becomes present in the world. All is life in him: the Word takes the place of the Torah. The signs are transcendent, and more than a substitution we see a fulfilment. If for the Jew the Torah is God’s daughter, John shows that she is the logos that from the beginning is with God, is God. This logos becomes flesh: man, frail, limited, finite, placing his glory in the flesh. He put down his tent, skené, among us, he became the shekinah of God among us, and he showed his glory, the overwhelming presence of God to men. The glory that dwelt in the tent of the exodus (Ex 40:34-38), that dwelt in the temple (1 Kings 8: 10), now dwells in the flesh of the Son of God. This is indeed an epiphany. The shekinah is made visible, because the shekinah is Christ, place of the presence and of the divine glory. There is one who has seen the glory of God: the only Son full of grace and truth; he comes to reveal to us the face of the Father, the only one who can do this because he has his existence in the bosom of the Father. From this fullness of life comes the new creation. Moses gave the law. Christ gives grace and truth, love and fidelity. In the Son we can contemplate God without dying because whoever sees the Son sees also the Father: Jesus is the exegesis, the narration of the divine life.
And the place of revelation is his flesh. This is why John says at the time of fulfilment: “We have seen his glory” (Jn 1: 14), when at the “time of glorification” there is only darkness. The light is hidden when it gives its life for love of men, love to the very end, without restriction, respecting the freedom of man to crucify the Author of life. God is glorified at the moment of the passion: a love completed, definitive, unlimited, a love shown even to its extremist consequences. This is the mystery of the light that becomes a way in the darkness, because love likes the darkness of the night when life becomes more intimate and one’s words die to live in the breath of the words of the person loved, the light is in the love that gives light to that hour of expropriation, the hour when one loses oneself to find oneself again in the embrace of life.
4. PRAYER
Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress,
put on the beauty of God's glory for evermore,
wrap the cloak of God's saving justice around you,
put the diadem of the Eternal One's glory on your head,
for God means to show your splendour
to every nation under heaven,
and the name God gives you for evermore will be,
'Peace-through-Justice, and Glory-through-Devotion'.
Arise, Jerusalem,
stand on the heights and turn your eyes to the east:
see your children reassembled from west
and east at the Holy One's command,
rejoicing because God has remembered.
Though they left you on foot driven by enemies,
now God brings them back to you,
carried gloriously, like a royal throne.
For God has decreed the flattening of each high mountain,
of the everlasting hills,
the filling of the valleys to make the ground level
so that Israel can walk safely in God's glory.
And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade for Israel,
at God's command;
for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory,
with the mercy and saving justice which come from him.
Baruc 5,1-9
5. CONTEMPLATION
Father of light, I come to you with my whole being. After going through times of goodness and times of slipping into evil I finally understand, because of my experience, that alone I only exist in shadow and darkness. Without your light I cannot see anything. Indeed, you are the source of life; you, Sun of justice, who opens my eyes, you the way that leads to the Father. Today you have come among us, eternal Word, as light that goes on crossing the pages of history to offer humankind the gifts of grace and joy in the desert of famine and emptiness: the bread and wine of your holy Name, which at the hour of the cross will become visible signs of consummated love, give us birth with you from that fertile side that is the Church, the cradle of your life for us. Like Mary, we wish to stay by your side to learn to be like her, full of grace from the Most High. And when our tents will welcome the cloud of the Spirit in the radiance of one more word, we shall understand the Glory of your Face and we shall bless in an adoring silence without any further hesitation the Beauty of being one with you, living Word of God.
The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of Ravenna, Italy, was held 21 November 2012. The following were elected:
- Prioress: Sr. M. Anastasia Cucca, O.Carm.
- 1st Councilor: Sr. M. Pia Malmesi, O.Carm.
- 2nd Councilor: Sr. M. Elena Pasca, O.Carm.
- 3rd Councilor: Sr. Hilda Maria Duràn, O.Carm.
- 4th Couniclor: Sr. M. Maddalena Ennas, O.Carm.
- Director of Novices: Sr. M. Elisabetta Mambelli, O.Carm.
- Treasurer: Sr. M. Pia Malmesi, O.Carm.
- Sacristan: Sr. M. Barbara Stella, O.Carm.
Appointment as bureau chief of the editorial office of the Vatican Publishing House
Written byOn the 24th November 2012 the Holy Father Benedict XVI appointed Fr. Edmondo Caruana, O. Carm. (Maltese Province), official of the Vatican Publishing House, as bureau chief of the editorial office of the same organisation. Fr. Edmondo is a member of the community of S. Albert's International Center (CISA) in Rome. To Fr. Edmondo we offer our most cordial good wishes and congratulations.
International Congress on Fr. Lorenzo van den Eerenbeemt, O.Carm.
Written byFrom the 29th of October to the 3rd of November, 2012, an International Congress was held at Sassone (Italy), on the theme, “Fr. Lorenzo van den Eerenbeemt, O.Carm., a gift of the Spirit for Carmel and for the Church”. The congress was organised by the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. A sizeable number of friars, sisters and lay people from a number of different countries (Brazil, Canada, Philippines, Tanzania, Malta, Rumania and Italy) took part, with great interest and attention.
Cardinal João Bras de Aviz, the Prefect of the Congregation for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life opened the congress. The other speakers included, Don Giorgio Rossi, Carmelite friars, Emanuele Boaga, Giovanni Grosso, Cosimo Pagliara and Carmelite sisters, sr. Marianerina de Simone and sr. M. Cecilia Tada. Each one illustrated different aspects of this very captivating figure. Two round-tables, Sr. Alice Rodrigues Costa, Mons. Amleto Alfoni, P. Nazareno Mauri, O.Carm. e Luciano Pranzetti on the panel, added further to the picture. The aim of the congress was to get to know the person, the work and the spirituality of Fr. Lorenzo who, along with Blessed Maria Crocifissa Curcio founded the Congregation of the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of the St. Therese of the Child Jesus. The congress was closed by the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm., who in his address highlighted the values of “carmeliteness”, ecclesiality, mission and formation in Fr. Lorenzo.
