![]() Hello Everyone: With so much scandal filling the news for many years now on what is going on in the Catholic Church -- it can be very depressing. For those that are weak in their faith, this is very difficult. What do you say to family and friends who are very distraught? It is very difficult to say the right thing and keep them faithful. For some reason God has allowed this Freemasonic infiltration into the Church and it started probably as early as the late 1800's. The Popes began at that time to write about it warning us. This is not so today. There are many who look at you as though you are a conspiracy theorist if you mention Freemasonic Infiltration in the Church. We have encyclicals to show that it is fact! Somehow we either dropped the ball in warning the faithful or the infiltration became so GREAT that they kept it from the faithful. It seems to be the latter -- unfortunately. For those of us who are reading this website, we should already have a spirit of reparation. This can be shared with those whom we love. God calls all of us to make reparation. Teach those you love the Reparation Prayers of Fatima. This will give them a sense of closeness to God that would otherwise not be there --- otherwise Satan uses these scandals to augment the problem among the faithful. We must put love where there is no love. Daily praying these prayers of Reparation will help win grace and favor with God for ourselves and the world. We must pray to Our Lady for Her Love. If we can love with Her - we will be faithful. If we love on our own - we will be defeated! We must never let go of Her hand. She was given to us by God for this reason. Only those who were in the company of Mary were standing under the cross. The rest ran in fear. We must be like those who wish to be in the company of Mary. She will guide us and pray for the necessary graces to strengthen us. We must not lose hope because with God all things are possible. Pray to Our Lady when those you love come to you asking for answers to the problems in the Church. Only God has the answers - we must pray and make Reparation for the sins of the world as She had asked for at Fatima. Lead others to Her for guidance and strength. Teach them the Fatima prayers and the Rosary. I hope this is helpful. May we stay close to Our Lady and make Reparation as She had asked. May God bless all of you and may we all persevere during these stormy days in the Church. May we find each other at the foot of the Cross in the company of Mary! PS - The Reparation Prayers are found on this website under Fatima - Thank you and God bless! St. Ignatius of Loyola pray for us and all priests.
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![]() Hello Everyone: Today is the feast of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. How we need to honor them! As we learn from the writings of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich and Church history, her parents came from a lineage of prophets and holy contemplatives. This could only be. Anna's great-grandfather was a prophet. Eliud, her father, was of the tribe of Levi; her mother Ismeria was of the tribe of Benjamin. Anna was born at Bethlehem, but afterwards her parents moved to Sephoris, four hours from Nazareth where they had a house and land. In her fifth year, Anna was, like Our Lady, taken to the school in the Temple, where she remained twelve years. She was brought back home at the age of 17. After her mother died, her father moved to Zabulon where Anna married Joachim. Joachim's father was called Matthat and was the step-brother of Jacob (father of St. Joseph) and of Joses. Anna was about 19 when married to Joachim. Anna and Joachim lived very frugally - and gave to all that was asked of them. They lived with her father for a time but they soon moved out on their own and lived holy lives of sacrifice and offering for many years without conceiving a child until God sent to them Our Queen and Mother - Mary. Both went through many trials and humiliations before this great blessing to them which proves to us that great graces are not met without many prayers and tears. Anna was about 43 when God answered their prayers and she conceived. During this barren time, Joachim offered many sacrifices in the temple which seemed to prove unfruitful so he went into solitude and prayer with his herds in the pastures. Anna was very distraught and while home alone, she too prayed to God. Both prayed night and day for God to hear their prayers. Soon, an angel appeared to both separately since they were not together during these months of prayer. They were both told that God has heard their prayers and sighs and has answered their prayer. Anna saw the word MARY written on the wall by the angels for her to give to her child. Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich explains that it was shown to her that the Blessed Virgin was begotten by her parents in holy obedience and complete purity of heart, and that thereafter they lived together in continence in the greatest devoutness and fear of God. She was at the same time clearly instructed how immeasurably the holiness of children was encouraged by the purity, chastity and continence of their parents and by their resistance to all unclean temptations; and how continence after conception preserves the fruit of the womb from many sinful impulses. In general, she was given an overflowing abundance of knowledge about the roots of deformity and sin which in today's world is very difficult to understand but makes sense. We see so much sin in the world today and do not know how to fight it. It was made known to her that both Anna and Joachim were full of joy, fervor and gratitude to God when they thought of His compassion towards them. Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich saw them praying together with tears. May we live by their example and do all that we can to imitate these dear holy parents who were greatly blessed by God! St. Anne and St. Joachim, pray for us! Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us! ![]() Hello Everyone: Yesterday was the feast of St. Elijah - July 20th - a patron of the Carmelite Order. Please read the article below this one. I thought I would write on the "New Baal". This image is a cover of a 1933 magazine. Yes, 1933, with big dreams to rule the world with technology. What is consuming our time and soon to rule the world? I bet you may not have heard the word "Technocracy"! What the heck is that? Well, are you or your family members addicted to social media, Facebook, smart phones? Do you rely on GPS and have On-Star in your car? Do you have chips in your credit cards and ID cards? Do you have smart meters on your houses? Well - it is about to get worse. Yes, we are all connected to the world of technology and yes all enjoy it - to a certain extent. BUT - it may be something that we wish did not exist in the very near future. One of my favorite movies is "Scarlet and the Black" about a real hero named Fr. Flanagan, an Irish priest who helped thousands of Jews during WWII through the use of the Vatican City. Well - that will never happen again. It can not happen again. What is Technocracy? - Technocracy was originally designed as a replacement economic system for Capitalism and Free Enterprise, masterminded by prominent engineers and scientists at Columbia University in 1932. It was to be a resource-based economic system that used energy credits as its accounting system, rather than currency as we know it today. The Technocracy ideology turned into a movement when Technocracy, Inc. was founded in 1934 by Howard Scott and M. King Hubbert. Together, they wrote the Technocracy Study Course that became their go-to bible for all the meetings they held throughout the U.S. and Canada. At the peak, this membership organization had over 500,000 dues-paying members. All of this began to decline during WWII. In 1970, Zbigniew Brzezinski was a young political science professor at Columbia University, the same place where Technocracy was born in 1932. He authored a book, Between Two Ages: America’s Role In The Technetronic Era, that caught the eye of the global banker, David Rockefeller. Together, they subsequently co-founded the Trilateral Commission in order to create a “New International Economic Order.” In 1987, Trilateral Commission member Gro Harlem Brundtland ended a United Nations-sponsored task force with the publication of Our Common Future. This book popularized the term Sustainable Development for world consumption. In 1992, when the UN convened the first Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Agenda 21 was born as the “Agenda for the 21st century.” Brundtland’s book received praise and accolades from the UN for providing the framework for Agenda 21 and its related documents. Today, Agenda 21 is still in force, but has been significantly expanded through the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More recently, the New Urban Agenda was adopted at the UN’s Habitat III conference. Synonyms for Sustainable Development include Green Economy and Natural Capitalism. Collectively, they describe a new economic paradigm that is highly correlated with the original specification for Technocracy, namely, that it is is a resource-based economic system that uses energy as accounting. Cities are to be converted into ‘Smart Cities’ as the world is transformed into a borderless Utopia, and rural dwellers are to be forced into these cities. All areas of UN publications stress the doctrine of ‘No one left behind.” This is not an idle speculation. In 2015, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, clearly stated, “This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the industrial revolution.” Thus, the saga of the Trilateral Commission’s New International Economic Order (NIEO) has come full circle, and yet it continues on a global basis at breakneck speed. This new resource-based economic system demands that 100 percent of the means of production and consumption be placed into the hands of Technocrats who will make all decisions for manufacturers and consumers. The Technocrats said the same thing in 1938: “Technocracy is the science of social engineering, the scientific operation of the entire social mechanism to produce and distribute goods and services to the entire population…” – The Technocrat Magazine, 1938 (Communism) The intended global Technocracy will be thus operated by Technocrats (not politicians or representatives of the people) according to their narrow view of science, and it will simultaneously remove the need for elected officials. In short, a Technocracy is operated as a Scientific Dictatorship.(New World Order with no need for God - only Science! Below are some links to look further. ) May Our Lady of Peace, pray for us! ![]() Hello Everyone: I am repeating this talk from last year because we need to know who Elijah is and his Feast Day is July 20th. St. Elijah is an important Feast in Carmel, July 20th – a Prophet used by God to steer people clear of false gods. How we need this Prophet today! Elijah stood up boldly for God in a time when idolatry had swept his land. In fact, his name means "My God is Yah(weh)." The false god Elijah opposed was Baal, the favorite deity of Jezebel, wife of King Ahab of Israel. To please Jezebel, Ahab had altars erected to Baal, and the queen murdered God's prophets. Elijah appeared before King Ahab to announce God's curse: "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." (1 Kings 17:1) Then Elijah fled to the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan River, where ravens brought him bread and meat. When the brook dried up, God sent Elijah to live with a widow in Zarephath. God performed another miracle there, blessing the woman's oil and flour so it did not run out. Unexpectedly, the widow's son died. Elijah stretched himself on the boy's body three times, and God restored the child's life. Confident of the power of God, Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the false god Asherah to a showdown on Mount Carmel for it to once again rain. The idolaters sacrificed a bull and cried out to Baal from morning until nightfall, even slashing their skin until blood flowed, but nothing happened. Elijah then rebuilt the altar of the Lord, sacrificing a bull there. He put the burnt offering on it, along with wood. He had a servant douse the sacrifice and wood with four jars of water, three times, until all was thoroughly soaked. Elijah called on the Lord, and God's fire fell from heaven, consuming the offering, the wood, the altar, the water, and even the dust around it. The people fell on their faces, shouting, "The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God." (1 Kings 18:39, ) Elijah ordered the people to slay the 850 false prophets. Elijah prayed, and rain fell on Israel. Jezebel was furious at the loss of her prophets, however, and swore to kill Elijah. This brought on a dark night for him despite all of this success. When Queen Jezebel sent her men to hunt him down for slaughtering most of her false prophets, at the showdown in Mount Carmel, Elijah went into hiding and despair and begged God to take his life (1 King 19:1-4). Instead, the prophet slept, and an angel brought him food. Strengthened, Elijah went 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb, where God appeared to him in a whisper. Elijah was both a man of prayer and action. He lived in Mount Carmel to savor the delights of deep contemplation and left it only when sent by God to do His bidding. He was a man of no compromise, a man who spoke the truth when it wasn’t popular, a man who allowed himself to be guided by his zeal for the Lord God of Hosts. He was also a man of deep compassion and sensitivities. God ordered Elijah to anoint his successor, Elisha, whom he found plowing with 12 yoke of oxen. Elisha killed the animals for a sacrifice and followed his master. Elijah went on to prophesy the deaths of Ahab, King Ahaziah, and Jezebel. Like Enoch, Elijah did not die. God sent chariots and horses of fire and took Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, while Elisha stood watching. (2Kings 2: 9-12), The story of Elijah is always an inspiring one. He is very relevant to us in our modern age. The basic needs of the human heart never really change. The ways of expressing these needs may vary because of culture and time, but the realities of thirst for the supernatural, search for truth, dissatisfaction with the false gods of power, wealth, ambitions and prestige, longing for a deeper respect for human life, the need to call on a power greater than our own, experiences of fear and despair when faced with forces greater than our own, remain the same. Faced as we are in this modern era with materialism, secularism and intellectual atheism, we most often straddle important issues of our day and adopt a “politically correct” and overly simplistic approach to life’s most important questions. Elijah did not find solutions to his problems by himself but always had recourse to God through prayer. He allowed himself to be filled and guided by God in moments when he sought Him in prayer. He did not weigh the consequences of his actions in the sense of acting only when there was assured victory. He was totally abandoned, docile and trusting that God would finish what he had begun. Even in his dark night of spirit he was docile and humble. He was not afraid to lend a voice to his despair and to acknowledge the fact that he was afraid and inadequate. He desired death because the fight became wearisome. He felt abandoned thinking he was the only one left among the followers of Yahweh. He was ready to give up. Yet, it was through this fear that true courage was born. It was through this emptiness that the cup was filled. It was in this nothingness of man that God was manifested as God. As a Carmelite, we pray that the spirit of our holy father Saint Elijah be given to us. His double spirit of prayer and action is the hallmark of true Carmelite spirituality. In our age of intellectual rationalizations, the voice of this great prophet is once again heard: How long will we straddle the issue? If we believe in God then we must follow him unreservedly, with docility and courage, and trust. What does this mean? It means not counting the cost, not acting only because of assured success, not worrying too much about the good opinions of others. We accept the fact that we will never understand everything that happens to us despite our greatest and honest efforts. We must trust in God – He alone matters. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel pray for us! ![]() Hello Everyone: Many in America believe that Communism died. We actually have Communism Lite (socialism) in America at the moment - soon to be the real thing! It is spreading in the rest of the world - as we speak. Nicaragua is experiencing a Socialist Dictator - Ortega. He has been attacking those who are against him since April. I have copied an email from a friend of mine who has family in Nicaragua. Below is her latest email. May we pray our daily Rosary so that there will be peace in the world as Our Lady has asked. Sr. Lucia said that Communism would spread throughout the world including America. We need to wake up and be diligent prayer warriors. Here is her email. - God bless!! "Let us pray for the people of Monimbo in Nicaragua who are being massacred. They are artisans, humble people. -For all Nicaraguan bishops and priests who are being directly attacked by the Ortega's government paramilitaries -The priest of a parish in Monimbo, Fr. Augusto who is hiding. the government wants to kill him. He started sobbing in the midst of an interview from a radio station in Spain. He said the paramilitaries are profaning churches. It is horrible! My family is safe so far. Now we cannot communicate freely on the phone. If they hear you talk bad about the government, there is an absurd, recently approved law that imprisons and sanctions anyone who is against the government. Let us not take for granted our freedom in the States right now. We must pray the Rosary against the advancement of Communism in the USA. I am not being an alarmist. It is the fulfillment of the prophecies made at Fatima by Our Lady herself, a hundred years ago. Let us keep praying the Rosary and offering sacrifices so that the errors of Russia are not spread any further. -Let us pray for the wounded in Nicaragua, some are having serious complications and for their families. -For the repose of the souls of 400 people killed in a period of 90 days and for their families who are devastated. It is not a civil war. It is the government attacking the unarmed protesters. There was an attack at the Divine Mercy Parish this past Friday in Managua. The Divine Mercy Image received several gunshots on his side and from the rays. It is a reminder that his mercy is still alive and flowing from his merciful heart. The priest was not wounded. There were 2 people dead and 8 wounded. They attacked the church for hours because the students had sought shelter at the Church of Divine Mercy located near the barricade the students were at. They were being massacred and sought refuge in the church. Catholic churches have opened their doors to the wounded because the state hospitals refuse to treat them. It has begun to be covered in the media in the USA after 90 days of these recurring events throughout the country. I apologize for my persistent request for prayers, but it is really serious. These are my family, friends, fellow citizens and your American neighbors. We are also part of the Americas. Thank you for your time reading this and mainly for your prayers. -That the people in different governments will be moved to intervene and help somehow. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for making others aware of this dire situation." The Go Fund Me below is for the makeshift clinics to help the wounded because the hospitals are closed to the wounded. Please be generous. Thank you! ![]() Hello Everyone: Happy Feast of Our Lady! This is a glorious feast and one which we greatly need today! At a time when we have rampant evils on all sides. At a time when Satan is unleashed with his demons seeking to ruin souls! At a time when our families are falling apart and distancing themselves from each other and even committing suicide. At a time when we have Americans fighting against other Americans because they no longer believe in the Constitution and there is no such thing as the word treason! At a time when the Carmelite friars will not hand down the Brown Scapular to God's people for a life line to Our Lady. At a time when priests tell you the Rosary is not needed anymore! At a time when men and women do not know they are men or women! At a time when we have literally abandoned God! THIS IS THE TIME FOR MARY - OUR MOTHER! THIS IS THE TIME FOR RENEWAL IN THE CHURCH! THIS IS THE TIME FOR HER TO CRUSH SATAN'S HEAD! THIS IS THE TIME FOR ALL TO CONSECRATE THEMSELVES TO HER SO THAT SHE MAY LEAD THEM BACK TO HER SON! HOLY MOTHER MARY -- PRAY FOR US! I have copied a talk from the website "Tradition in Action" written by Father Paul Stretenovic. This is filled with wisdom for us to see the need of the Rosary and the Scapular. Sr. Lucia said that the Rosary and the Scapular have equal need for us - that they are inseparable. Here is his article written in 2005 --- " Mary appeared to St. Dominic and St. Simon Stock within a century of each other. Considering the time frame, this certainly is not a coincidence. For those of you who are familiar with the writings of Plinio Correa de Oliveira, I would like to briefly direct you to something that he wrote in his work Revolution and Counter-Revolution. In Chapter III, Correa de Oliveira traces the root of the rise of the Revolution against Christ and His Church to two factors, both originating in the Fall, namely, pride and sensuality. Considering that these two wounds in human nature became increasingly externalized in the 13th and especially during the 14th century, is it any wonder that Our Lady gave us two weapons to combat specifically these two enemies of the soul, the Rosary as a cure for pride and the Brown Scapular as a remedy for sensuality (i.e. lust), during a period of time directly preceding what could be termed the "conquest of concupiscence?" I would say that the Rosary was a cure for pride for three reasons. First, Our Lady conquered heresies through the praying of the Rosary, such as the Albigensian heresy, rampant at the time when Mary appeared to St. Dominic. This is not to mention the humiliation of the Muslims at Lepanto in 1571 in the greatest naval battle of history to date, the odds of the Catholic side winning resembling those of Old Testament wars between the Elect People and their enemies. Second, praying the Rosary forces us to humbly acknowledge that God continues to use His lowly Handmaid to destroy the forces of the devil, and yes, the evil one himself. It is no wonder that Mary said to Lucy at Fatima, "Only Our Lady of the Rosary can help you." Third, it is a cure for the pride of theologians who like to spend long hours pondering over questions of God and write extensive treatises about Him, but who, nevertheless, have need of such a "little" instrument as the Rosary lest they become dry and callous men. I refer to the Brown Scapular as the remedy for sensuality also for three reasons. First, wearing the scapular has always been associated with Consecration to Our Lady, which involved an undying commitment to spiritual and physical chastity. The Carmelite Scapular, it could be said, was the pledge of a pure conscience in the service of the Queen of Heaven, and a reminder of one's bodily commitment to purity whenever he or she should be "tested" Second, the wearing of the Brown Scapular could be compared, in some way, to the priest wearing his cassock. The cassock is a reminder to the priest of his state in life and it serves as a natural, if not supernatural barrier to sinful thoughts and glances, and beyond. Although the scapular is not as visible as the cassock, it is there and when we undergo temptation, whether or not we give in, it is there as a reminder of our duty to keep us from failing in the expectations of Our Lord and Our Lady for us. If per chance we fail, it helps us to get up immediately, make an act of contrition, say a few Hail Marys, and re-consecrate ourselves to Jesus and Mary. Third, the wearing of the Brown Scapular, especially on hot and sticky days, can also be penitential, thereby serving as a remedy for concupiscence. There are times when we can think of the scapular as a "mini-hair shirt." So, the Rosary and the Brown Scapular, viewed through these lenses, can be seen as complementary gifts from Our Mother to combat two fierce enemies of the soul. The third, following the teaching of St. Ignatius of Loyola, is vanity, a sin deplored by Our Lady at Fatima, when she said that God was already much offended by the fashions of the time. Of course, the fashions of the day were also a result of pride and sensuality, but vanity played a big part as well, especially in the well-to-do people of the day. As I have already mentioned, these weapons of Our Lady did not come a moment too soon and we will only one day know how many souls were saved from the fires of Hell because persons humbly accepted Mary's gifts and made use of them. Now, if only the Holy Father and the Bishops would consecrate Russia to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Our Lady, how many more millions of souls would be saved as the effects of pride and sensuality, which are raging in the modern world at an unprecedented level, much more than in the days of Noah, as alluded to by Mary to the visionary at Akita, Japan in 1973. These things could be reversed simply by one act of obedience to Our Lady, who always has in mind our best interests, not to mention the Glory of God. " Our Lady of Mt. Carmel pray for us - We thank you for your love and for your protection - please keep us far from the snares of the devil and lead us to your Son and Our Lord Jesus Christ - now and forever! ![]() Hello Everyone: We are two days away from the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. This nine day novena has been filled with information on Our Lady and Her Scapular. I found a great talk on the site - "Sensus Fidelium" titled: The Brown Scapular Habit of Our Lady. It not only helps encourage us in wearing it but also it gives a good history. Beautifully done and I have put the link below so that you can enjoy as well. Have a blessed weekend! ![]() Hello Everyone: I am writing each day on the Scapular during this Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. I missed yesterday because I care for my Dad twice a week in between Visiting Angels to be sure all is taken care of. He is 87 - please say a prayer for him (Bernard)! Thanks! This post is under talks because I feel it is frequented by more viewers than the other. I feel this is important - If the modernists do away with St. Simon - then it is easy to do away with the vision and the Scapular all together. Nice plot of Satan! The sad part is that he has wormed his way into the Order and this dictate is from the Carmelite friars themselves - Very very sad! Today, we are going to touch on a touchy subject - St. Simon Stock. He was revered for centuries by the Church as the one who received the Scapular and its Promise at the hands of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. According to what is written - he was an amazing saint with incredible mystical gifts. According to the modern skeptical, well learned, updated, smarter than the last 700 year Carmelite friars - he could be a fraud and was taken from the calendar (even though we have history and his remains). How Satan has weaseled his way into the most incredible places of the Church - I think at this moment there is no stone that can be picked up where you will not see his worms. VERY VERY SAD! We need a renewal and for the most part, we are seeing it. The Roman Catholic Church will not die! Satan may have been given "his hour" to destroy it but his hour is coming to a close and we will see a renewal - thanks be to God! I have been taking informative talks given by Carmelite priests in the book "Take This Scapular". Today we will quote Father Jo Pacquin, T.O. Carm. from pages 8-15. This is all about St. Simon and as you can see from the number of pages - very lengthy. We will not cover all of it but some of it. Fr. Pacquin begins by comparing St. Simon and his past to that of St. Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary. Very significant persons but very obscure in the writings of the Church. This is a good comparison although no one compares to St. Joseph. The common elements are: Our Lady, the holiness of these men and how Satan wants to keep them from us! He begins: "The date of his birth is about the year 1165 (no specific). His parents belonged to the English nobility of Hartford, in the County of Kent. The saint's father was Lord of Kent. As a boy.. he felt the call to do God's work (and like St. Francis of Assisi) left his nobility to seek a life of solitude with God. He withdrew into a deserted spot where he hid himself in the hollow of an oak tree. (Note: this sounds crazy but it was common in those days as the trees were large and it was a simple easy hermitage to live in - He lived a rigorous life like St. John the Baptist and all those who chose to be hermits - living very meagerly) At the age of 47, he entered Carmel which came to Kent in 1212 and he was sent to Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land where he was instructed in the tradition of the Order and continued his life of penance and prayer near the summit of the Holy Mountain. In the year 1244, the Muslim Saracens from the Caspian See, together with the Sultan of Egypt, defeated the army of the Crusaders at Gaza. They captured Jerusalem and marched through Samaria and Galilee destroying all the villages. Blessed Alan the Breton, Prior General at Mount Carmel, sailed for Europe with those that wanted to sail with him and started a General Chapter in Aylesford, England in 1245. St. Simon soon was elected to replace him in time. England was now the ruling center of the Order. St. Simon began to establish priories near the great universities so that all the Brethren could attend. Before his death, houses were established at Cambridge, Oxford, Cologne, Paris, Bologna, Montpellier, Toulouse, Louvain, besides the establishments in Hulne, Norfold, London, York, Norwich, Brussels, Malines, Bruges, Ypres, Haarlem Liege, Bopard, Venice, Pisa, Genoa, and Frankford-on-the Main. (Note: places of great learning were all Catholic - mainly to educated the priests who in turn would educated the people) Undoubtedly, his success was due to his holiness and the overpowering devotion he had for Our Blessed Lady, and to her corresponding help. Even in those days, the bishops and clergy thought that Carmel should be suppressed because of its growth and influence. His companion and secretary, Father Peter Swanyngton wrote: "Blessed Simon, weighted down with old age, enfeebled by rigorous penance, and bearing in his heart the troubles of all the brethren, used to pray without ceasing throughout the night even to the dawn. While he was praying, consolation came to him from Heaven, which he related to us at our assembly as follows: "Dearest brethren: Blessed be God Who does not abandon those who trust in Him and does not spurn the prayers of His servants; Blessed be also the most Holy Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ who, mindful of ancient days and the tribulations which have befallen many of you; sends you a message which you will receive with joy in the Holy Spirit. May He guide me that I may make it known as it behooves me to speak... While I was pouring out my soul in the sight of the Lord though I am but dust and ashes, and while I was beseeching with all confidence my Lady, the Virgin Mary, that as she willed to call us her Brothers, so she would show herself a Mother, snatch us from temptation, and by some sign of grace, recommend us to those who are persecuting us: while saying to her with sighs: "Flower of Carmel, blossoming vine, splendor of Heaven, Child-bearing Virgin none like to Thee; Mother mild, whom no man dist know, upon thy Carmelites privileges bestow, Star of the Sea: She appeared to me with a great company, and holding the Habit of the Order, said, THIS WILL BE FOR YOU AND FOR ALL CARMELITES A PRIVILEGE; HE WHO DIES IN THIS WILL NOT SUFFER ETERNAL FIRE. And because her glorious presence delighted me beyond measure and I, miserable one, could not withstand her majesty, she disappeared, saying that I should send to the Lord Innocent, the Vicar of Her Blessed Son, who would grant us a remedy for our troubles. "Brethren, store up this message in your hearts, strive to make your election sure by good works and never be found wanting; watch in thanksgiving for so great a mercy, pray without ceasing that the word made known to me may redound to the praise of the Most Holy Trinity, the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the ever Blessed Virgin Mary." The Breviary recounts how; "To the burden of his dignity, he added more frequent vigils, more abundant tears, and rougher hair shirts. He was kindly towards others; but, more severe than ever toward himself, he chastised his body by ever new forms of punishment." Further, we learn that public testimony was given to his holiness of life, when "in the spirit of prophecy, he foretold many future events and cured hitherto incurable diseases. When his brother, to tempt him to break the fast, offered him some cooked fishes, he raised his eyes to heaven and restored the fishes to life. By the sign of the Cross he turned water into wine, thus overcoming the trickery of the demon who, while the Saint was saying Mass, had cunningly carried off the wine which had been prepared in the cruets..." Around the 100th year of his life, Simon left the Motherhouse at Aylesford, England, for the General Chapter to be held at Toulouse in France. When he and his companions arrived at Bordeaux, the Saint could not continue the journey. Hearing of his sickness, Carmelites from all over Europe were attracted to Bordeaux. St. Simon died, surrounded by his family in the Order of Carmel, on the sixteenth of May, 1265. He was buried in France but it was a blessing because of the persecutions in England - who knows what may have happened to his body - had it been sent back. It has since been returned to Aylesford, England where pilgrimages occur. FOR CENTURIES - Satan has made attacks on this Scapular and this saint -- all for good reason - Our Lady has blessed them with Her favor! It is God's Will that the humility of Our Lady will crush the head of the proud serpent - until he is crushed - He will launch every attack on Her. May we be aware of this and defeat him and defend Her - Our Queen and Mother! May we promote Her Scapular and pray to St. Simon Stock - especially today!! ![]() Hello Everyone: July 8th, which is today, through July 16th is nine days devoted to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. May we pray to Her for all the graces needed for our Order, for priests, for our families, our children, grand children and our own holiness. Mary has a big enough Heart for all of us! I have also added a link for information on the history of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel just below the novena. Every day of the Novena - I will post a talk by a 1940's Carmelite priest on the greatness of the Scapular taken from the book "Take This Scapular" under "Consecration to Jesus through Mary". Please look for this. For all those who use the book "I Want to See God". There is a new post on Chapter 6 - Solitude and Contemplation. Thank you and God bless you - please include me in your Novena and I promise to pray for all of you! Thank you again! Here is a link to the Novena: ![]() Hello Everyone: Being July, we will touch on a few Carmelite topics. This one is more on information than formation. Did you know that when St. Teresa reformed the Carmelite Order -the Constitutions were a return to Tradition? This was done at the request of Our Lord Jesus, Himself. In the late 1980's, during the reign of Pope John Paul II, there was a request from Rome to all the Orders to "update" or modernize their Constitutions. This sat well with the Carmelite friars since they were already well on the road to modernizing and are still bearing much fruit because of it; namely, lost vocations and closed monasteries. But some of the cloistered nuns knew that St. Teresa gave a strict command to keep their Constitutions. We have St. Teresa's following words - "Let them beware, for the devil through very small things, drills holes through which very large things enter. May it not happen that those who are to come say: 'These things are not important; don't go to extremes.' Oh, my daughters, everything that helps us advance is important!" St. Teresa of Jesus [i]Foundations[/i], ch.29, 32 And on her deathbed, St. Teresa exhorted her sisters thus (these were her last words to them): "My daughters and my ladies, for the love of God I beg that you will take great care with the keeping of the Rule and Constitutions, for if you keep them as faithfully as you ought to, no other miracle will be needed for your canonization." John Paul II approved the work of the minority of Carmelite nuns which desired to keep the old Constitutions by renewing them according to the directives of Vatican II. On December 8, 1990, the updated 1581 Constitutions were approved and promulgated by John Paul II. The following year, the new Constitutions for the nuns written by the Discalced Carmelite Order were also approved promulgated by John Paul II. Thus two sets of Constitutions for the Discalced Carmelite Nuns were approved, and the individual Carmels were given a choice on which ones they would follow. (note: Carmels still have a choice, and can request to change over) Under the 1990 Constitutions, the nuns are directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. Under the 1991 Constitutions, the nuns are under the jurisdiction of the modernized Discalced Carmelite Father General, and associated with the modernized friars. St. Teresa had wanted the Order to be united. But she also wanted a strict rule and enclosure for her nuns set out in the Constitutions of 1581. The majority of Carmels chose the 1991 Constitutions, and a few were given permission to follow the 1990's in all ways, except that they would be under the jurisdiction of the OCD Father General. I believe it's 16 out of the 60 something OCD Carmels in the US that are under the 1990 Constitution currently. There may be more if they switched just in the last few years since the below article was written. (link below). As written a month or so ago, there are Traditional Carmelite Friars springing up! Thanks be to God!! We have Traditional Carmelite nuns as well! These will flourish and those who are lax are dying out. A renewal is on the way! May we pray for its steady growth and grace to be brought back to the world!! May we pray for the Carmelite Order - First, Second and Third Orders. May Our Lady of Mount Carmel bring us back to Tradition and to holiness. Below are the links to more information: |
AuthorBernadette Porter is a Traditional Catholic, a wife of 44 years with 6 adult home-schooled children and 8 grandchildren. A sincere devotion to Mary, the Mother of God leads me to want to share "The Church's best kept secret" - Mary! Archives
February 2025
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