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As Lay Carmelites we are grateful for this 2025 Jubilee Year! We will enter the Lent of 2025 next week. During Lent on March 19th, we will commemorate the Solemnity of our Principal Protector of our Community, Saint Joseph. This celebration has profound Biblical roots; Joseph is the last Patriarch who receives the communications of the Lord through the humble way of dreams [cf. Gn 28, 12-14; Mt 1, 20-24]. Like the ancient Joseph, he is an upright and faithful man [Mt 1, 19] whom God had placed as guardian of his household. He connects Jesus, the Messianic King, to the descent of David [Mt 1, 1-16; Lk 3, 23-38]. Joseph, Spouse of Mary and foster father, guide of the Holy Family in their flight to and return from Egypt, retracing the way of the Exodus [Gn 37; 50, 22-26; Mt 2, 13-21]. The liturgical feast of the Saint Patriarch already appeared in the Carmelite Order in the second half of the XV century. In 1680 the General Chapter unanimously elected Saint Joseph as the principal protector of the Order. In 1847 Pius IX declared him as Patron of the Universal Church and John XXIII inserted his name in the Roman Canon. 1 1 https://ocarm.org/en/item/100-st-joseph-principal-protector-of-the-order

This February 8th during the proclaimed Jubilee Year of our Lord 2025 we are celebrating with gratitude the Temporary Profession of Tia Meyer! On February 2nd we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord recalling our Carmelite Catholic tradition that contemplates through Our Lady this sacred Feast known as Candlemas and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As Carmelites we model our lives on the virtues of Blessed Virgin Mary. The newly-to-be Professed Tia [1] was baptized with the name Joseph. The Carmelite Blessed Mother Candlemas of Saint Joseph Feast Day is February 1st. [2]  The Feast of Josephine Bakita is on February 8th also. [3]    In our gratitude prayer for Tia, let us meditate on Candlemas/Presentation of the Lord and the role of Saint Joseph, our Community’s patron. “Saint Joseph, as the father, placed the Child in the arms of a priest, who, raising Him aloft and holding Him toward the Holy of Holies, offered Him to the Lord, and after the payment of the five shekels returned Him to His father while pronouncing the words of benediction. Our Savior submitted to this ceremony, though needing neither consecration nor sanctification. The union of His hu­manity with the Second Person of the Godhead had sanctified and united Him to God in such a manner as no sacrament or ceremony could do. Never during the time of the Old Tes­tament had such a glorious sacrifice been offered in the Temple. Its majestic grandeur shed its radiance over the sacred edifice and throughout all the earth and all times, and caused the utter poverty and inadequacy of the ancient worship to be revealed in a more brilliant light Another Abraham is here now offering his Son, but one in­comparably more just and more pleasing to God than the first Abraham. It is Saint Joseph. Hence, he has been chosen by God to be patriarch of the New Law. And if Mary and Simeon and Anna were present with Saint Joseph at this ceremony and to­gether praised God with the words:              “God is good and His mercy endures forever; we have received His mercy in the midst of His     Temple.” [Ps. 117:1; 47:10] This would have been the first Candlemas procession, and it was formed by the most venerable and holy personages in all the history of the Church.” [4] [1]  Tia: “It was St. Therese of Lisieux who led me to Carmel. On her birthday I asked her to ‘lead me with roses’ – and I promised I would follow.  I told no one about my prayer or promise. Later that year (Nov.) when Terre reached out to inquire about how my interview went for discernment into the Carmelites – I originally said ‘no’.  I felt like the time commitment (not option) and the 2X daily prayer on top of everything else was more than I wanted to commit to at the time.  Terre’s response was “Carmel is always there and always open… {she inserted a ‘Rose emoji’}.  As soon as I saw the rose, I remembered my promise to St. Therese and immediately circled back to Terre to let her know that I changed my mind. Or should I say, St. Therese spoke up and changed my mind for me. The rest is history. Carmel has been a true blessing.  I’m so grateful.” [2]   Bl. Candelaria of St Joseph (1863-1940)- Biography [3]   Mother Josephine Bakhita [4]   catholicexchange.com/st-joseph-the-presentation-of-the-child-jesus/

St. John of the Cross, whose feast we celebrate in the middle of our cold and dark Advent season, is often looked to for what he can teach us about suffering. However, in his tremendous suffering, he managed to write so profoundly of the joy brought to us by Christ. It’s a paradox we find in the lives of many great saints. Imprisoned during Advent in 1577, St. John began to write a beautiful poem about the depths of God’s love and the human journey towards union with Him. He recounts salvation history, and the mutual, selfless love of the Trinity. In the darkness of his own life, he sought the face of God and found that God was in fact seeking him, too. This poem, entitled  Romances,  is a dialogue between God the Father and God the Son, in which the Father reveals His plan to give a bride to the Son, a bride who will rejoice in His grace and fullness. [1] Here’s an excerpt, from a translation by Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD:   “Now you see, Son, that your bride was made in your image, and so far as she is like you she will suit you well; yet she is different, in her flesh, which your simple being does not have. In perfect love this law holds: that the lover become like the one he loves; for the greater their likeness the greater their delight. Surely your bride’s delight would greatly increase were she to see you like her, in her own flesh.” ( The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross,  p. 66.)   [1]   https://slmedia.org/blog/like-the-one-he-loves

Dear Lay Carmelites, As we remember that November is our month to celebrate all the Carmelite Saints on the 14th, we also recall All Carmelite souls on the 15th. Let us continue to ardently pray for peace through the intercession of all Carmelite souls. On September 28th, we celebrated a Service of the Word with Deacon Randy along with the Sisters of St. Mary of Carmel. After our Morning Prayer in their beautiful Chapel, we served the Sisters through helping to “put to safe rest for winter” the Sisters’ teardrop garden. Serving the Sisters as they live as hermits in this sacred part of God’s creation is a true privilege; really who is serving who? Let us pray and serve as Carmelites through the intercession of St Elizabeth of the Trinity on her Feast Day November 8th, for the true peace we encounter in the places where peace is lived such as the Hermits of St. Mary: O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.