Hello Everyone:
I am happy to say that one can now pray the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary from this website! I finally downloaded the prayers under Devotions/Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I will post a link at the bottom of this article but you can navigate to it from the headings above. Please pray that someday I can manage to have the entire Office prayed on  You Tube presentations so that it will be audible! It will be an undertaking but with God all things are possible.

​The beauty of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is that it is one of the major parts of the Carmelite Order. Sad to say, that when the Rule was updated in the 60's, this devotion, as well as many of the Traditions that belong to Mary, were banished from Her Order. The Carmelite Order belongs to Mary in a special way and therefore, we should make every effort to preserve the devotions that give her the honor due Her name.  Therefore, to follow the Old Rule, for this reason alone, is worth considering over choosing to live the new Third Order of Carmel. We need a restoration in Carmel more today than in the day of St. Teresa of Avila! May we seek to love and honor our Queen and Mother who deserves our love.

Below is a little info on the use of The Little Office of the BVM. Again, I will put the links at the bottom of this article.

Because this is a devotion in honor of Our Lady, it is traditional (although optional) to pray a Hail Mary slowly in silence before praying the Little Office thus we focus upon whom we are addressing. It is also customary to pick up the Little Office and kiss the book, while slowly making the sign of the Cross, mindful of whom we are about to give our love and hearts to.

The Traditional Lay Carmelite of Fatima is asked to do Morning and Evening Prayer which comprises of Matins and Lauds for Morning Prayer, (about 30 mins) and Vespers and Compline for Evening Prayer (about 30 min). If there is a desire and time to do more, then, of course, this is encouraged.  It is better to pray with all one's heart the times required rather than attempting all 8 hours every day in haste and anxiety.
 
It is easy to fall away from this daily practice because Satan will throw every excuse at us for not doing it – leading us away from doing all things that are good! To do this in imitation of Mary and to beg Her intercession for ourselves, our family, the Church and the world are great reasons to make this our daily habit. It was asked of us by the Church to pray this Little Office while wearing the Brown Scapular. This has since been replaced with the Rosary but we can do both in reparation for the sins we see all around us – especially for the priest crisis. Below is some more info.

INFORMATION ON MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER
 
Matins: (from the Latin, matutinas vigilias, or “morning watches”) The hour of Matins was a nocturnal hour, it was celebrated at midnight onwards and often joined with Lauds as a continuing vigil of prayer. Within this is a great consolation, the realization that even now, in many parts of the world, midnight is the advent of the expectant new day... and "we do not know the hour when the Lord will come!"
 
Lauds: (pronounced: lawds) The word Lauds is derived from the Latin word laus meaning, praise. This is always an hour of praise, as is clear from the Psalms chosen within the text, which recall the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and the gift of new life that comes to us in this new God- given day.
 
Vespers: (Latin, Vespers Espera ) was a name given to the evening star of Venus, which rising in the evening was a call to prayer, a light in the Heavens announcing the drawing on of the day, Vespers is prayed before Compline.
 
Compline: (pronounced: complin) From the Latin word (Latin, complere, or to complete) so named because it is the last hour of the day to be prayed. Compline is a beautiful way to complete our day, to pray with Mary and to Mary for the dying and for all those upon whom during the night either of the spirit or in fact will soon fall. We pray for God’s protection for the night, conscious of the many evils perpetrated in the nocturnal hours. It is an hour in which we commend everything and surrender everything to God.

A big difference in using the Little Office vs. the Liturgy of the Hours is that one does not have to go to different sections or pages in the book each day. This is part of the beauty and simplicity of the Little Office. You repeat the same prayers each day. This allows you to familiarize yourself with the Readings until they come to you naturally, even by memory! This is not "rote". It is immersion in prayer. If we find that we have to rush then maybe it would be better to choose to do morning OR evening prayer so that it is done with the heart. We should take the time to read and learn the Latin, side by side as well, and in this way praying as the Carmelites did for 100 generations in a beautiful and unbroken continuity. Latin has always been the unique and distinctive language of the Catholic Church. Everything written from the Seat of Peter in Rome is written in Latin. Its beauty is ever ancient and ever new.
 
I have finally updated my website to contain the actual Little Office for Morning and Evening. You can find it under Devotions/Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary but I will put the link below this article. 

This was achieved in part with the help of another website which I will give a link to underneath mine. I did receive the owner's permission to use this from that website and she was happy to let me use it. If you desire to do more than Morning and Evening – she has the other parts on her website. She is not 100% Traditional but there is a lot of good on this website.

Please note: Each of the Morning and Evening Prayers on this website are word documents - this makes it easy for you to print if you want. The other website might be easier to navigate on since they are not word documents.

Take care and God bless all of you. May we make a resolution to fit these beautiful prayers in our day and especially the beautiful hymns of Our Lady which are linked under Evening Prayer.

PS - For those who read "I Want to See God" under Formation. There is finally a new chapter posted! 

Hello Everyone:
I hope your new year is going well. I wanted to touch on the greatest thing this side of Heaven - The Mass. Many of us have friends and relatives who do not understand why we go out of our way to find a Latin Mass. What is wrong with the Novus Ordo?

I just had to go to a Novus Ordo Mass to be a witness to a Sacrament in the family. It was obvious to me that with the clapping, guitars, altar girls, extraordinary ministers for Holy Communion, Communion in the hand manifested in these "Catholics" proved to me that these people do not know the true teachings of the Church nor what is allowed and restricted even in a Novus Ordo Mass. The Mass is the unbloody sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary. If this is true, then it makes no sense to make this a celebration with guitars but to give great reverence and awe. We have gone from being participants at the foot of the cross - looking for a means of grace to repair the sins of the world to going to a "celebration" that gives us good feelings.  Good feelings and lasting joy come from going to a solemn Latin Mass of great reverence and love for God and souls - we just don't have to jump up and down and clap to get those feelings.

Below is a link to OLRL.org which has a number of articles to help anyone understand what went wrong with the New Mass and why the Latin Mass is so important today. Please share!  God bless you and your family and may Our Lady lead our family and friends back to the Latin Mass.

LATIN MASS -- not a matter of preference - it is a matter of Truth.

Hello Everyone:
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There is so much happening in the world and in the Church. Dr. Taylor Marshall, a convert to Catholicism, does his own You Tube  presentations and this is a lengthy talk about the similarities and the timeline of what has happened in the Church since Our Lady of Fatima. Very enlightening. Pay attention to the chart shown in the video regarding Mass attendance. Loads of info in this and it looks like he will give us more in the future.
Again - the message of Fatima is alive and needs to be lived TODAY!
Go to your Latin Mass.
Pray the Daily Rosary.
Offer your daily sacrifices.
Offer Reparation.
Live your consecration to the Immaculate Heart and consecrate your families!

Can't say it enough! Time is ticking away!
Enjoy the following video - God bless!!

Hello Everyone:

I have never done this before on this site but after listening to this - I felt I needed to put this here because we all need to wake up and try to come out of our comfort zone. I have a talk by Steve Quayle below to listen to which I have been listening to for quite awhile. He makes good sense in trying to understand what is going on in this crazy world. This may need to be listened to more than once - or take notes and prepare the best we can and especially spiritually. He is a Protestant and promotes a seminar and book - I DO NOT RECOMMEND EITHER - listen to all and plug in our Catholic Faith - WHY? Because we have the greatest weapons - the Holy Mass and the Rosary (Our Lady's help)  - Do the following:

1: Read your Bible
2. Go to Latin Mass
3. Pray your Daily Rosary and place yourself under Our Lady's Mantle
4. Consecrate yourself and your family to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
5! Know your enemy. Satan is a deceiver - a liar!
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I wanted to share this because if many do not know what is to come - they may not only be unprepared but go into shock when it all happens.

May we hold on to Our Lady of Fatima and pray our rosary DAILY !

God bless everyone - Remember - God is God and He is in charge but we are about to enter into a chastisement like we have never seen before.

​Please share with those you love and have ears to hear! God bless!

Hello Everyone:
Happy Feast of the Epiphany! I hope all of you received your epiphany water yesterday on the vigil or will get some today. A great resolution is to use holy water more often and share it with family and friends. WE NEED IT!.

Today we reflect on the journey of the wise men—the magi—as they journey to the newborn king in Bethlehem.  We can learn from the journey of the Magi, the Wise Men, that all of us must make a similar journey to come to know Christ. The wise men still seek Him!

What is the definition of a wise person, the one who seeks truth and conforms his life to that truth.  The measure of our wisdom is the extent that we conform our life—our minds, hearts, and actions, to Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life.
 
The three kings, conscious of the prophecies of Isaiah, and observing this unique celestial event of the star, sought the king, whose coming was foretold. 
 
In scripture, the opposite of the wise man is the fool.  The wise man seeks God and His Holy Will.  The fool seeks his own way.  Psalm 14 says, “the fool says in his heart, there is no God”.  The fool acts as if God doesn’t exist. 
 
Sin is foolishness because when we sin we ignore God and his commandments.  Foolish people choose not to faithfully go to Sunday Mass, because they think that whatever they are doing is more important than being faithful to the commandment of God.
 
In Matthew’s Gospel we see these Magi were actively seeking the Truth.  The Magi in Matthew’s Gospel do not sit around waiting for the truth to come to them.  They set out on a quest for truth!  They saw the sign of the newborn king, and made a firm decision to find Him.
 
The wise men, knowing that this was the most important journey of their lives, decided to undertake this journey even if it encountered bad consequences such as going over very bad roads, exposing themselves to extreme and unpredictable weather— rain, snow, or even a sand storm. They’d have to sleep outdoors, and there is the constant danger of robbers, brigands, and wild animals.   But they were willing to endure anything to see this Newborn King!
 
  A lesson we can learn is that when we see a sign from God in our own lives, we should seek it, with every ounce of our being.  The quest for Christ is the most important journey.  The wise man realizes that all things are secondary to the search for God!
 
In the history of the Church we see the saints doing just this: seeking not riches, comfort, or positions of power, but God above all! The saints show us that the wise seek him, with their whole hearts.
 
Saint Matthew tells us the Magi returned to their home country by a different route.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “of course they go back a different route, you never come to Christ and go back the same way you came.”  The encounter with Christ changes us.
 
Coming to Mass, offering God the best we have in worship, encountering Him and receiving Him in Holy Communion, should change us.  We are to leave from each Mass differently than when we came in.  Do we come to Mass expecting to be changed, hoping to be changed?  To talk differently, to choose differently, to act differently?
 
The Lord invites us to seek Him, to find Him, to encounter Him, and to be changed by Him. 
 
Today, as He comes to us at Mass, let's promise Jesus through Mary Our Mother, that we, like the Magi, will gladly follow wherever He wants to lead us ---- for the glory of God and salvation of souls. May we trust that He will give us all that we need through the prayers and intercession of Our Mother Mary who desires that all of us come to Her Son and give Him the gift of our hearts.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

Blessed New Year Everyone::
 
Today is the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ – January 1st. Happy and Blessed New Year! The year begins with the shedding of the Blood of Jesus. And in the Middle of the year we also have July 1 commemorating the Precious Blood of Jesus. It is through the Blood of the Lamb that we will be saved!
 
I will focus on the words found in "The City of God – The Incarnation" by Mother Mary Agreda because they are so beautiful and help us to see the details of love during this precious time in history.

First, Our Lady knew Her Scripture and knew the destiny of Jesus. It is theologically correct to say so. She could not have given Her Fiat if She did not know what the Fiat was for. She knew He was to shed His blood for the Redemption of mankind - but this Son of God was now a sweet baby and She had a small hope that the Eternal Father would will that this procedure be taken away from Her Divine Son since He was a sinless God. She only wanted this because She wanted to spare Him the pain. Then She offered to suffer the pain instead of Her Son but the Eternal Father revealed to Her that Jesus came into the world to suffer and be an example for us to be obedient to the Laws of God. She fully accepted and even held Her Beloved Son during this procedure to comfort Him the best She could. This was not customary but the Priest allowed Her to do so.

According to these writings, Mary sent Joseph into Bethlehem to summon the priest to come to the cave of the Nativity. He brought the priest with two assistants. It is written that the priest was astonished at the rudeness of the cave as he entered into it but was quickly drawn away from these thoughts when he set eyes on the Mother and Child. He was then filled with devotion and tenderness. Joseph lit two candles. Mary held Her Precious baby. She had a cloth that was warmed against her skin because the day was cold. This cloth was held under the knife in order to catch the Precious Blood and Relics and then they were kept in this cloth after the procedure. It is written in these writings that St. Joseph kept this cloth.

As Mary held Baby Jesus during the performance of the ritual, She had asked that it be done with as much tenderness as possible on account of the delicacy of the Child. The priest promised and allowed her to hold Her Infant. She therefore became the first altar on which this sacrifice was being made and She herself offered up this new morning’s sacrifice on Her own arms in order that it might be acceptable to the Eternal Father in all particulars. At the same time, the Son of God, with immeasurable love, offered up to the Eternal Father three sacrifices of so great value that each one would have been sufficient for the Redemption of a thousand worlds…

1. He, being innocent and the Son of the true God, assumed the condition of a sinner (Phil. 2,7) by subjecting Himself to a rite instituted as a remedy for original sin and to a law not binding on Him (II Cor 5,21)
2. His willingness to suffer the pains of circumcision which He felt as a true and perfect man.
3. The most ardent love with which He began to shed His blood for the human race, giving thanks to the Eternal Father for having given Him a human nature capable of suffering for His exaltation and glory.

The Incarnate Word offered these first fruits of His blood as pledges that He would give it all in order to consummate the Redemption and extinguish the debt of the sons of Adam. Mary knew and understood all of this and offered all in union with Her Divine Son.
 
 Jesus shed human tears and not so much because of the physical pain but because of Jesus’ supernatural sorrow caused by His knowledge of the hard-heartedness of mortals. This was more rude and unyielding than the sharpness of the blade – the resistance of His sweet love and the divine fire that He came to enkindle in the world and in the hearts of all faithful (Luke 12, 49)

Mary wept and the Infant Jesus clung to His Mother. She sweetly caressed Him and then She handed the cloth with relics to St. Joseph while she tended to His wound and wrapped Him back in swaddling clothes.

The “Name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9) was given to this Divine Child. The priest asked the parents what name they wished to give to the Child. Our Blessed Mother, attentive to Her spouse, looked to St. Joseph. St. Joseph turned to Her and looked at Her as though the name should come from Her lips and it happened that they both said: “JESUS is His name” together.

The priest wrote the name and shed copious tears, saying: “I am convinced that this Child is to be a great prophet of the Lord. Have great care in raising Him; and tell me in what I can relieve your needs.”
​
After the priest received some candles and articles from St. Joseph for his service, he left and Mary and St. Joseph were filled with love and reverence for the Christ Child and together they sang canticles and shed tears of joy together.

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF JESUS NOW AND FOREVER. BLESSED BE HIS MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD!!