Carmelite Quote of the Day

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My God, I beg You, let it be Your will that Papa be cured.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

This was one of the personal intentions of St. Therese on the day of her profession, 8 September 1890. Martin family expert Maureen O’Riordan has carefully outlined every detail of that day on her blog. Don’t miss the photos and links she has curated from so many sources!

The religious profession of St. Therese of Lisieux, September 8, 1890

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He wants me to be another humanity for Him in which He can still suffer for the glory of His Father, to help the needs of His Church.

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

This quote comes from a letter that St. Elizabeth wrote to her mother around 9 September 1906, two months before her death from Huntington’s Disease in the Carmel of Dijon. You can read this quote in a larger context here.

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Oh! I would like to sing, Mary, why I love you,
Why your sweet name thrills my heart,
And why the thought of your supreme greatness
Could not bring fear to my soul.
If I gazed on you in your sublime glory,
Surpassing the splendor of all the blessed,
I could not believe that I am your child.
O Mary, before you I would lower my eyes!…

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus
PN 54, Why I Love You, O Mary!, Stanza 1

You can read the entire poem, considered to be Saint Thérèse’s masterpiece, on the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux. It seems to be most appropriate as we celebrate the Holy Name of Mary.

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How the Lord must esteem this love we have for one another! Indeed, Jesus could have put other virtues first and said: forgive us, Lord, because we do a great deal of penance or because we pray much and fast or because we have left all for You and love You very much. He didn’t say forgive us because we would give up our lives for You, or, as I say, because of other possible things. But He said only, "forgive us because we forgive."

St. Teresa of Avila
The Way of Perfection, Chap. 36

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You are to fast every day, except Sundays, from the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross until Easter Day, unless bodily sickness or feebleness, or some other good reason, demand a dispensation from the fast; for necessity overrides every law.

Saint Albert of Jerusalem
The Carmelite Rule, Chapter 16, the “Mitigated Rule”

De ieiunio
Ieiunium singulis diebus, exceptis Dominicis, observetis a festo Exaltationis Sanctae Crucis usque ad diem Dominicae Resurrectionis, nisi infirmitas vel debilitas corporis, aut alia iusta causa, ieiunium solvi suadeat, quia necessitas non habet legem.

Regula Sancti Alberti Chapter 13
Also known as the “Unmitigated Rule”

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Human freedom can be neither broken nor neutralized by divine freedom, but it may well be, so to speak, outwitted. The descent of grace to the human soul is a free act of divine love. And there are no limits to how far it may extend. Which particular means it chooses for effecting itself, why it strives to win one soul and lets another soul strive to win it, whether and how and when it is also active in places where our eyes perceive no effects - those are all questions that escape rational penetration.

This is one of my favorite quotes from a longer passage by Edith Stein, St. Benedicta of the Cross.
 
Any quote where Edith can use the term ‘outwitted’ is a great Carmelite quote! Thanks so much for sharing this with us! 🌹
 
I come to you by passing through the pierced Heart of the Mother of Sorrows.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Letter 312 to Madame Anthès

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The Patristic tradition has seen a model of monastic religious life in Elijah, courageous prophet and friend of God. He lived in God’s presence and contemplated his passing by in silence; he interceded for the people and boldly announced God’s will; he defended God’s sovereignty and came to the defense of the poor against the powerful of the world (cf. 1 Kg 18-19).

Saint John Paul II
Vita Consecrata, 84

St. John Paul II, steeped in Carmelite spirituality in his childhood in Wadowice, could be expected to include a section on the prophetic nature of consecrated life in his 1994 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Vita Consecrata. Teresianum professor, the theologian Jesús Castellano Cervera, O.C.D. was among the experts and auditors at the 1994 synod on consecrated life. A few months later, he shared his experiences and reflected on the synod with the Teresian Family of Saint Enrique de Ossó at their international Encuentro.

You can read the full text of Vita Consecrata, 84 and the remarks by Father Castellano here.

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I come to you by passing through the pierced Heart of the Mother of Sorrows.
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Yes, and there is also this one:

She is there at the foot of the Cross, and my Master says to me; “Behold your Mother.” He gives her to me as my Mother! She is still there to teach me to suffer as He did, to make known to me the last utterances of His soul, which she alone, His Mother, was able to catch.

– St. Elizabeth, Last Retreat #257

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zgraf2 said:
She is there at the foot of the Cross, and my Master says to me; “Behold your Mother.”
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Did you know? 🤔 John 19:27 is the Gospel for the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is a great quote!
 
Albert, called by God’s favor to be patriarch of the church of Jerusalem, bids health in the Lord and the blessing of the Holy Spirit to his beloved sons in Christ, B. and the other hermits under obedience to him, who live near the spring on Mount Carmel.
Many and varied are the ways in which our saintly forefathers laid down how everyone, whatever his station or the kind of religious observance he has chosen, should live a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ—how, pure in heart and stout in conscience, he must be unswerving in the service of his Master.

St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem
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Remembering the Reception of the Black Veil of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus
24 September 1890

Excerpts from the Yellow Notebook of Mother Agnès of Jesus (Pauline Martin)
24 September 1897

Mother Agnès of Jesus​

For the anniversary of her receiving the black veil [24 September 1890], I had the Mass offered for her.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus​

Thank you for the Mass!

Mother Agnès of Jesus​

Since I saw her suffering so much, I replied with sadness: Ah! you see, you don’t feel any more relief!

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus​

So that’s why you had the Mass offered, for me to feel some relief?

Mother Agnès of Jesus​

It’s for your own good.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus​

My own good is undoubtedly to suffer…

Carnet Jaune (Yellow Notebook), 24 September, n. 1

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Detail from Mother Agnès’ Yellow Notebook for 24 September
Translation from the French text is the work product of @carmelitequotes
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About the black and white photo: This featured image comes from the photographic collections of Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and its partners. On 26 March 1923 the mortal remains of St. Thérèse were transferred from the town cemetery to the Carmel of Lisieux. In the photo, the procession leaves the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Lisieux en route to the cemetery. You can read the complete account of that day and see additional photos at the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux [N.B. Not all pages have been translated into English]. (Public Domain)
 
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APOSTOLIC LETTER​

MULTIFORMIS SAPIENTIA DEI​

SAINT TERESA OF JESUS, VIRGIN OF AVILA,
IS PROCLAIMED DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

PAUL VI​

IN PERPETUAL MEMORY

The manifold Wisdom of God sometimes reveals itself more manifestly to certain beloved disciples of Christ and to them, by arcane design and singular liberality, it is granted to understand “the breadth and the length, and height and the depth… knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge” (Eph 3:18). In fact, “the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God and enriches it with virtues, but, “allotting his gifts to everyone according as He wills, (1 Cor 12:11) He distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and greater expansion of the Church” (LG 12).

Teresa of Jesus, great and noble virgin, and also reformer of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, was enriched by profusion of this divine abundance of sacred charisms. A woman of simple customs and ignorant of literary culture, she excelled so much in words and writings that these words can be referred to her: “in the full assembly she opened her mouth” (Sir 15:5), and she was rightly proclaimed a saint by holy men and also was venerated as a very sure guide and teacher by doctors of sacred sciences. […]

Therefore, since this servant of God always has been exalted, whether for the extraordinary facts of her life, the rare virtues of her soul, or for the acumen of her spirit, we consider with certainty this fact a just and noble reason wherefore, as our predecessor Gregory XV’s decree bestowed upon her the honours of the saints so that all the faithful of Christ might understand with what abundance God had filled his servant with the Holy Spirit (cf. Lett. Decr. Omnipotens sermo ), so should we proclaim her — we do not doubt — a Doctor of the Church, first among women, especially for her knowledge and doctrine of divine things. In fact, we have faith and trust that Teresa of Jesus, declared by solemn decree a teacher of Christian life, strongly will encourage the men of our time as well to cultivate above all that which favours the soul’s love towards contemplation and the attainment of heavenly things. […]

The Discalced Carmelite Order has published an English translation of Multiformis Sapientia Dei, the Apostolic Letter of Saint Paul VI concerning the proclamation of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin of Avila, Doctor of the Universal Church, published 27 September 1970.
 
The child must learn to know and to love the Father in heaven, the Child Jesus, the Mother of God, and the Guardian Angel.

Saint Edith Stein
The Church, Woman, and Youth
Augsburg, 25 July 1932

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Edith Stein, Vienna 1931
 
I received such strength of soul to prepare the body of the Saint for burial, that I did it with as much calmness as if her death had been a matter of indifference to me.

Blessed Anne of St Bartholomew

The autobiography of Blessed Anne of St Bartholomew provides fascinating insight into the events surrounding the death of St. Teresa of Avila on 4 October 1582. You can read about Saint Teresa’s last days in Alba de Tormes here, her holy death here, and her apparitions to Blessed Anne here.

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This quote comes from Letter 118, which Saint Teresa of the Andes wrote to her father on 27 July 1919. At that time, she was still a postulant, having entered the Carmel at Los Andes on 7 May 1919.

Here’s a larger excerpt from the letter, which you can read in Spanish on the official website in its entirety.
I am increasingly happy and I never grow tired of thanking God for having brought me to this little corner of heaven, without any kind of worry, surrounded with motherly care and affection by our Madrecita [the prioress] like you can’t imagine, and the same goes for the affection of my little Sisters [hermanitas], who are saints.

I’m praying a lot that it won’t rain because I understand that must be a ruin for you. Tell me—when you write me—everything in confidence. I’m your daughter who loves you the most. Entrust everything to the Blessed Virgin. Always pray the rosary so that She may guard not only your soul but also your affairs.
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Have habitual desire to imitate Christ in all your deeds by bringing your life into conformity with his. You must then study his life in order to know how to imitate him and behave in all events as he would.

Saint John of the Cross
Ascent of Mount Carmel: Book One, Chapter 13

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Whoever lives in the presence of so good a friend and excellent a leader, who went ahead of us to be the first to suffer, can endure all things . The Lord helps us, strengthens us, and never fails; He is a true friend .

And I see clearly, and I saw afterward, that God desires that if we are going to please Him and receive His great favors, we must do so through the most sacred humanity of Christ, in whom He takes His delight (Mt 3:17).

Many, many times have I perceived this truth through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate (Jn 10:9) if we desire His sovereign Majesty to show us great secrets.

Saint Teresa of Avila
The Book of Her Life, 22.6

Happy feast day!

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Saint Teresa
Printmaker: Antonio Baratti (Italian, 1724–87)
Engraver: Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682–1754)
Etching and engraving on paper, 1750–1780
© The Trustees of the British Museum (Some rights reserved)

Those who understand Spanish might find St Teresa’s phraseology amusing, especially her insistence on the fact that she is speaking from personal experience:
  • Con tan buen amigo presente, con tan buen capitán que se puso en lo primero en el padecer, todo se puede sufrir: es ayuda y da esfuerzo; nunca falta; es amigo verdadero. Y veo yo claro, y he visto después, que para contentar a Dios y que nos haga grandes mercedes, quiere sea por manos de esta Humanidad sacratísima, en quien dijo Su Majestad se deleita. Muy muy muchas veces lo he visto por experiencia. Hámelo dicho el Señor. He visto claro que por esta puerta hemos de entrar, si queremos nos muestre la soberana Majestad grandes secretos.
 
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