Today, February 5, is the memorial of Saint Agatha. Patron saint of breast cancer patients. Agatha was born in Sicily in 231. According to the account, Agatha was young, beautiful, and rich. Instead of wasting her time on worldly pleasures, Agatha chose to consecrate her life to God. When Emperor Decius decided to persecute …
The Apostles gathered together with Jesusand reported all they had done and taught.He said to them,“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”People were coming and going in great numbers,and they had no opportunity even to eat.So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.People saw them …
“Very characteristic of Carmelite spirituality is its conception of spiritual life as a growing thing; and here the life of the Prophet gives another remarkable lesson. Like the natural, our spiritual life demands food. Holy Scripture tells us how Elias, on the strength of the mystical food ministered to him by the Angel, walked forty …
Today, February 4, is the memorial of Saint Jane of Valois. Also known as Jane of France, she was born a princess, the daughter of King Louis XI of France and Charlotte of Savoy, in 1464. Jane was the cousin of Blessed Louise of Savoy. She was deformed at birth, with a hump on her …
King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread,and people were saying,“John the Baptist has been raised from the dead;that is why mighty powers are at work in him.”Others were saying, “He is Elijah”;still others, “He is a prophet like any of the prophets.”But when Herod learned of it, he said,“It is John …
“St. Teresa, in her love for liturgical prayer, would so impregnate it with holy thoughts, that it, too, in a sense, would become contemplative prayer, prayer of active contemplation. the influence and attraction of simple and devout Carmelite liturgical life has always been great. More than one Carmel on the continent has been founded because …
Today, February 3, is the memorial of Saint Blaise.Patron saint of people with throat and respiratory problems.Blaise was said to have been born in what is now Turkey. His Acts narrate that he lived in a cave on Mount Argeus. He became popular as a physician of both men and animals. It was said that …
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by twoand gave them authority over unclean spirits.He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.He said to them,“Wherever you enter a …
“So we may say that liturgical prayer comes to us from a very ancient tradition, even though it is secondary to the deeper prayer of meditation and contemplation. Our Order is not an Order of liturgical prayer, like the old Eastern Order of the Basilians or the Western Order of the Benedictines, but liturgical prayer …
When the days were completed for their purificationaccording to the law of Moses,Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalemto present him to the Lord,just as it is written in the law of the Lord,Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,and to offer the sacrifice ofa pair of turtledoves or …