Author: ocd web master

Saturday 20 November 2021

May this Synod be lived in the Spirit!  We are forever needful of God’s renewing breath that frees us from all shutdowns, restores life to what was dead, tears apart chains and dispenses joy.  It leads us towards what God wills, not towards what our own ideas and personal tastes would entice us.  We must invoke the Spirit more frequently and more intensely, listen to him in humility, walking together, as the Lord wishes, with docility and courage.  In this way we will not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by delusion in the synodal experience, with prophecy being minimized and everything reduced to sterile discussion.

Come, O Spirit of Love, open our hearts to listen.  Come, Spirit of holiness, Creator, renew the faithful people of God and, through them, renew the face of the earth.

 

The friars of our Belorussian Vicariate spent the 20 November, the feast day of St. Raphael Kalinowski, on a Spiritual Retreat at Miadziel.  Monsignor Aleh Butkevich, President of the Belorussian Episcopal Conference and Bishop of the Diocese of Vitebsk, conducted the Retreat.  He encouraged the friars to be dedicated pastors of the people of God in Belorussia during these difficult times and to live demanding and evangelical religious lives.

Our Carmelite Secular Order is developing wellk in the country.  After a short Retreat, on Saturday, 20 November, again in Miadziel, the OCDS community of Minsk joined in celebration as Mrs. Anna Lutskaya pronounced her promises during Mass.  Fr. Peter Frostega, Vicar of the Discalced Carmelites in Belorussia, presided at the celebration.

 

Dear Brothers and sisters!

It is the end of the  year, it is Advent time and soon it is Christmas!
If I was to play a “word association” game with each of you and asked you to choose just one word for this season, my guess is that “gratitude” would be the word that many would select.
The word gratitude may seem meaningless to those struggling for life…  And the COVID19 pandemic has worsened the situation… For what and to whom to pay gratitude then!

At the OCD Missionary Cooperation Office as well as at the Centre of the Discalced Carmelite Order, the strength  of our interventions to support social and pastoral actions of our missions in various parts of the world is precisely because of the goodness and the  backing from many of you. How lucky and thankful are many of our missionaries because God has put you on our way to support them! Thanks a million and may the Good Lord continue to grant all your hearts’ desires.

2021 was “one year-long Advent” for the  whole world in General, and for the OCD Missionary Cooperation Office in particular, as everyone awaits to see when the COVID19 pandemic will end.  If not all of us, many of us have been nervous, frustrated, impatient and worried … This end of the year, this Advent season and the forth coming Christmastide invite us all to look ahead with hope and thanks, and above all else with a deep sense of commitment to support each other in our efforts to cross over this dramatic time.

The generosity of each one of us is the concrete way in which the Emmanuel, the Greatest Gift of God to humanity, is born and reaches out to those who, during this time, cannot celebrate Christmas!

To all of you who carry our missionaries and their daily sorrows in your prayers; to all of you who promote missionary needs in your families,  to your friends and acquaintances; and to all of you who financially contribute to support our mission projects: we are very grateful . Without you we can do nothing but with you we can do everything. May the Lord bless you!

 

The OCD Missionary Cooperation Office

 

Dearest Sisters, I am happy to be here with you and with my confreres: this is my home, our home. We are walking along the path of communion in Carmel, in the ardent footsteps of Francis Palau and many others who have spent their lives in the service of Teresian Missionary Carmel and of the Church, and who have gone before us. But now they watch over us and encourage us. We are here to say THANK YOU, to say our Magnificat with Mary, Our Lady of Virtues, and with the Church: thank you for what is given to us today, in the midst of this difficult time, accepting the inheritance received (we have received so much) and facing the adventure that lies ahead of us. Everything about Francesco Palau is very familiar to me and a source of joy: Livron, Aitona, El Montsant, Perpignan, Ibiza, el Vedrá, Tarragona… I prayed and slept in some of his caves, to receive from them the strength that animated him and to thank him for the fire he carried within himself. I ask him to inflame us in this decisive and unprecedented time.

We live in difficult times: pandemics, volcanoes that awaken and carry everything away, climate change, ecological threats, uncertainty, mass exoduses and boats in search of promised lands where they do not always arrive, silenced wars, etc..

Francis Palau’s life unfolded in a land full of dangers and changes of direction, without a secure GPS, recalculating his path with every tiny spark of hope for a new beginning. And every time blocked roads, and every time new paths discovered outside the ways, discovered outside where he was forbidden to pass. «From the year 1843 to 1855 I traversed a pathless mountain in the dark night amidst the storms. I had to suffer and to endure the severest attacks and trials everywhere, and […] (hoping) that for one moment or another a light would come out from that darkness, and will show you the way» (letter of 1 June 1855). Each time, he shows with his life that one runs more and better when one is in the intimacy of the Body of Christ: the Beloved Thing. Francis Palau’s life is a precious combination of difficulties and possibilities, of opposition and enthusiasm, of failure and trust. It is an eventful and deep life, bare and rooted, contested and lucid, imprisoned and free. Francis Palau is a true master of recycling, of resilience.

He is also a brave explorer of the inner paths. He nourishes the fruitfulness of his Mission in the CAVE of contemplation. There, pastoral dynamism knows no limits, no fear, because it does not seek itself, it is not afraid of getting lost.  He seeks only what he loves, what he calls «my Beloved». He does not realize himself, but allows himself to be realized and transformed into an instrument. Francesco Palau is a tireless missionary. He seemed to have been silenced and isolated, yet rises from his ashes more lucid, more humble, more rebellious, more obedient, more ecclesial. He was in love with the Church, a personification of the Love of Jesus: she is his Mystical Body. His ecclesial experience is extraordinary. The Church is the Thing Loved. The very one who had wounded and suspected him was the object of his love. What admirable fidelity!

There are many things in us and in our time upon which Francesco Palau sheds light. He is very much a person for these times. In him there is for us a great wisdom of life. It does not stop us from becoming lost and running risks, but it lights up our night.

The 19th century is a land of opportunity for the better, even if it seems to be the worst: war (the French invasions); exclaustration (the ‘Confiscation‘); uprooting (exile in France); plague, contagion and death. These events mark the century in which Francisco Palau lived and made him the man and the saint he is: the fire of Elijah; love for the Church of Teresa of Jesus; transformation in exile; imprisonment in intimate caves; missionary creativity. He has a mysterious fecundity in the midst of failure and conflict.

In his CAVE, Francis found a decisive and crucial mission: not doing in order to be done; not worrying about your own destiny, but forgetting yourselves so that God may carry out his plan and his project; take on the challenge of the SOUL’S STRUGGLE WITH GOD and surrender to his plan. Here we hear the word of God, his voice, like Elijah, who obeyed the Angel, and let himself be led through the Desert, going back along the path, to Horeb. There, to listen again to the WHISPER of God’s silence.

Today the Word of God is beautiful and just, let us listen to it with the heart of Francesco Palau:

– ANNOINTED, sent to announce liberation and a year of grace to the poor;

– GUIDED in this mission, in dark valleys, you walk with me, my Shepherd;

– BUILT UP, UNITED in Christ, our Head, for the building up of the whole Body;

– SENT to the whole world: proclaim… Cast out the demons… Speak in a language that everyone understands, the language of genuine and free love, heal.

I ask Francesco Palau to enlighten us, to give us a little of his contemplative and missionary ardour, of his creativity and of his ability to get going. May he challenge us, cast out our demons and make us courageous and humble children of the Church.

I ask you, Francesco Palau, to help us rediscover our mission:

– There is a mission in the cave of contemplation, a struggle of the soul with God, either for life or for death. We must let God send us on a mission, let him win us back again. This seems to me to be a most beautiful plan, the best strategy: to fall in love with Jesus.

– There is a mission towards our less close neighbours, who are an unexplored land, and a mission also towards the more closer, of listening and understanding, of accompaniment.

There is a mission in failure, in emptiness and in the night, a new story of which God is the protagonist, a new book about My Relations with Jesus, the Church, the Loved Thing.

– There is a mission in decreasing, weakness and fragility of our humble army that has to face Goliath, and this is better than being many and strong.

– There is a mission in the heart of the elderly sister who moves with difficulty; in the one who is depressed; in the one who has to take care of her parents and devote all or part of her time to them; in the superior and in the one who is not, who feels tired or overwhelmed. Today there is a new mission to discover. And it is beautiful that we are brothers and sisters to discover it together and to help us serve united.

«I was at prayer in my cave, and I heard the loving voice of the Father who said: “Come, my Daughter, come.” And of the Son: “Come, my Spouse, come.” And the Daughter of the Eternal Father, who was at my side, went up to the clouds which were covering the mountain, and said to me: “Come with me,”and I went up to the peak of this mountain» (MY RELATIONS WITH THE CHURCH,’ evening of May 11, 1865).

March 20, 1872: Next year will be the 150th anniversary of his death, and we are beginning to celebrate it. At the end of his days, Francis Palau confirmed his life, his silences and his words, his catechesis and his work of foundation with the gift of his life. Infected, wounded, defeated by his neighbors in order to save them, without himself ever being safe. This is the seal of authenticity: giving life. But to give it, we must take care of it, take care of ourselves and allow ourselves to cure, in the cave of silence and in fraternity. Thank you all for taking care of so many people, for taking care of yourselves and for allowing yourselves be healed.

 

Miguel Márquez Calle, ocd

Feast of Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

7th November 2021

On October 21, Father Pedro de San José (Rafael Zubieta) celebrated his 75th anniversary of religious profession. It was on October 21, 1946, in the monastery of Larrea (Spain), that the young Pedro consecrated himself to the Lord, with the desire to follow Jesus by making religious vows in the Discalced Carmel.

He trained in Vitoria, Bilbao and Rome, and was ordained a priest in 1954. His long religious life can be summarized very simply: from 1956 to 1991 in Rome and from 1992 in Peru. In Rome, he worked first as a professor and then for almost 25 years as Secretary General, in the period of the post-conciliar revision of the Constitutions of our Order, in which he actively participated. In Peru, he worked mainly in the Pando and Cercado Training House, both of them in Lima. Here he feels at home and, as he himself says, it was precisely here that he learned to be a priest ─ during many years of administrative work, he had almost never exercised a pastoral ministry.

Let us join in the thanksgiving for the gift of religious life to Fr. Pedro, who with his simplicity, cordiality and tireless work, encourages us all to follow Jesus.

MALAWI:

On 15 October, Pope Francis has transferred Rev. George Desmond Tambala, OCD, to the country’s Lilongwe Archdiocese where he will serve as Archbishop. The Malawian Archdiocese has been vacant since December 14th 2020 following the passing on of Archbishop Tarcisius Gervazio Ziyaye.

The Archbishop-elect has been at the helm of Zomba Diocese since his Episcopal Ordination on January 30th 2016. Rev. George Desmond Tambala made his perpetual profession on 15 August 1995, was ordained a Priest on 13 April 1996. In 1998, he went to Spain for studies at the CITeS, and in 2000 he obtained a licentiate in theology at the Faculty of Northern Spain. He served in various ministries, including Parochial Vicar of Kapiri of Lilongwe Archdiocese, Postulants Master and a teacher of Spirituality, and Superior of the house of Spirituality in Malawi’s Blantyre Archdiocese. He was general Definitor for Africa and Madagascar before he was appointed Bishop on 15 October 2015.

 

 KOREA:

On 28 October, Pope Francis has appointed Rev. Peter Chung Soon-taek the new archbishop of Seoul and the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang.

Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taek, O.C.D., was born on August 5, 1961, in Daegu. He first studied chemical engineering at the University of Seoul (1983-1986). He later studied philosophy and theology at the Catholic University of Seoul (1986-1992). He made his perpetual profession on January 25th 1992 and was ordained priest on July 16th 1992.

During 1993-1997, he was master of novices and then for almost two years he was master of students. Between1999-2004 he studied Sacred Scriptures at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and became provincial Definitor of the Discalced Carmelites of Korea in 2005, for three years. In 2009, he became the general Definitor in Rome for the Far East and Oceania.

Prepare yourselves for the feast of Christmas with the Discalced Carmelites.

Since 2011, the Discalced Carmelites have been offering online retreats to help prepare for the two great liturgical solemnities of the year: Christmas and Easter. Today, more than 81,000 people follow these retreats in 11 languages: French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish, Romanian, Dutch, Czech and Indonesian.

After an introduction to the retreat, sent on Wednesday, November 24, you will receive an email every Friday. You will be able to download the content for the coming week in Word or PDF format (computer or mobile version).

The two people who inspire this retreat are St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897) and Maria Montessori (1870-1952). Both are doctors. The first guides the Church to spiritual childhood and the second guides children to the Church. Women, prophetesses, they were nourished from the same source: the Gospels. Through their voices, God lifts the mysterious veil of his Face resembling a child.

Every week you will receive:

■ a meditation based on the Gospel and texts from Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and Maria Montessori;

■ a short video to welcome the Gospel better;

■ Pratical advice on putting it into practice;

■ an Advent calendar for daily prayer.

If you have not already done so, we invite you to register for free (choosing your language): www.webretiro.karmel.at .

Have a good retreat!

 

Due to the noise and lack of space in our former monastery, we decided to leave the centre of the capital city of the Czech Republic and move our monastery to the suburbs, in the small village of Drasty, in East Prague, where we bought a former company in very poor condition. In the first phase of the reconstruction, we repaired two of the existing buildings: one, (to which we moved in February last year), will become the future guest house and the other, much smaller, has become a condominium (in which some tenants, friends of our community, now live).

Now we are making a start on building the monastery, dedicated to St. Joseph, with a chapel dedicated to St. Teresa. Due to the large increase in the prices of all building materials after the coronavirus crisis, we will be able to build only a rough structure and fully furnish just a part to which we should be able to move.

Due to the lack of resources, it will not be possible to complete the chapel, the reception area and the workrooms and therefore we will not, unfortunately, be able to close the cloister. We are happy that we have begun the construction of the monastery and the church this very year and we entrust all the work to the protection of St. Joseph. We would like to thank all the communities and benefactors who help us with the construction and we keep them in our prayers.

www.karmeldrasty.eu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AAmyI-Z2A4

 

After a first attempt in 1867 near Geneva, in August 1914, Mme. Delaître, a French widow, supported by a group of benefactors from the Paris region, bought the Little Castle of Lully (Switzerland) with the aim of establishing a prayer community for Christian unity. In 1921, the Carmelite nuns of Narbonne (France) moved to the Lully Little Castle. On September 29, 1921, a Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the Little Castle, near Fribourg, thus inaugurating the establishment of the Carmelite Order in Switzerland. In 1933, after an apostolic visit, the Sisters of Narbonne were sent back to their original monastery. The Order, in agreement with the bishop, appealed to Mother Mary Agnes of the Immaculate Conception, prioress of the Carmelites of Fontainebleau. She immediately realized that another place had to be found for the foundation. She found a meadow for sale higher up above the village of Pâquier. The monastery was built there, and on October 15, 1936, Bishop Besson blessed the place.

On September 26, 2021, the opening of the centenary celebrations began with a solemn Eucharist, at which presided Msgr. Charles Morerod, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg. Various events are planned until October 15, 2022: a pilgrimage for young people, a prayer vigil, a meeting with our families, a radio mass and a pilgrimage from Lully to Le Pâquier for the inhabitants of the region, etc. Two books will be published during 2022: a book of photographs for Christmas and a second book that traces the history of the foundation.

 

The bells of the Basilica of Lisieux announced good news: Thérèse of Lisieux has been inserted into the 2022/2023 calendar of anniversaries to which UNESCO will join on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Saint Thérèse (1873-2023).

May Saint Thérèse of Lisieux open paths to Christ through the values that UNESCO wants to highlight: culture, science and education. The General Definitory will evaluate “the possibility of proposing to the Order the reading of the saint’s manuscripts over the next six years and of enhancing these anniversaries at the ecclesial level”, according to the Determinations of the last General Chapter.

On 8 October2021 a special ceremony commemorating the 300th anniversary of “echten Karmelitengeist” of Ratisbon was held in the Diocesan Centre of Obermunster (Ratisbon).  Karmelitengeist has been produced since 1721 in the Carmelite convent of St. Joseph at Ratisbon.  Only two brothers of the community,, at a time know the secret formula (Arcanum) for the medicinal essence’s production and they are entrusted with handing it on to successive generations of friars.

Music for the festival was provided by RUBIO, the baroque orchestra of the University of Ratisbon.  In a key note lecture, Dr. Thomas Richter, pharmacist, traced the history of a distillation of Melissa in the late Middle Ages to the present day Karmelitengeist.  Personal greetings from the Bishop were read by Ms. Maria Luisa Ofele, while Councillor Dr. Thomas Burger conveyed the congratulations of the city itself.  At the conclusion of his own address, the Provincial, Fr. Dr.  Raoul Kiyangi OCD, nominated the Delegate Administrator of “Geistfabrink”, Mr. Albert Aufschlager, as an “Honorary Carmelite”.

The ceremony concluded with a projection of the film “Der Geist der Karmeliten”, shown by Fr. Matthaus Bochenski OCD.  This is a documentary about what is probably the most guarded secret of Ratisbon.  It also provided an opportunity to see behind the walls of the convent and observe some of the operations of the “Geistfabrik”.

 

On October 7, Fr. Patrizio Sciadini, OCD, was decorated as a Cavalier of the Order of the Star of Italy.  The Italian Ambassador (to Egypt) read the formula of conferring of the honour on Fr. Patrizio as follows:-

“In the exercise of ministry as a religious and priest, Fr. Patrizio is distinguished for his extraordinary dedication and depth of humanity.

In the quarter of Shoubra, in which the Carmelite convent of Cairo is situated, with generosity and self-sacrifice he works tirelessly for the poor and the sick. Many of these are assisted in the hospital quarters attached to the convent. These quarters were greatly enhanced by the same convent’s donation  “iside2019”.  Fr. Patrizio was responsible for innumerable preventative and beneficial initiatives for sufferers during the covid-19 pandemic.

Among the last Italian priests in Egypt, he represents a spiritual point of reference for the community of his co-nationals towards whose needs he has always been particularly attentive.  In his daily activities, Fr. Patrizio exemplifies, to the utmost, values of solidarity and generosity, while his conduct has been a credit to his nation.

For his services rendered in the promotion of friendship and solidarity between the Italian and Egyptian communities and, in particular, by means of the stimulation and spread of works of charity, at the instigation of the Italian Minister for External Affairs and International Cooperation, the Honourable Luigi di Maio, the President of the Italian Republic, Professor Sergio Mattarella, has decided to confer the distinction of Cavalier of the Order of the Star of Italy on Father Patrizio.”

 

 

During the solemnity of our Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus, we celebrated a thanksgiving Eucharist for Casa del Monte Carmelo at Lepaterique, Honduras.

We are overjoyed because today has been a very significant day: a first Mass celebrated in this House, on such an important occasion for Teresian Carmel, the feast day of St. Teresa. The  Mass was celebrated in what will be a dining hall, so, with all due reverence, we can say that the first banquet there was a Eucharistic one.  Teresa of Jesus, such an exceptional woman, Saint, Doctor of the Church…is a fount of inspiration for many young women who are commencing  a journey in Casa Monte Carmelo.  This house welcomes young adolescents, from some remote and impoverished villages in the region of Lepaterique, who have no access to education.  They now have the opportunity to begin studies in preparation for becoming protagonists in their family lives and in  the Church and society.

We thank God, that with the help of many people, parishioners and institutions, we have the facilities to welcome these young women who are a hope for humanity.  In a particular way, we thank the Order of Discalced Carmelites that through the Secretary for Missions, Fr. Jerome Paluku, has provided significant assistance.  We are also very grateful for the substantial financial help for our project supplied by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI).

 

The academic year 2020-2021 for the Master’s Degree in Mystic and Human Sciences was inaugurated on October 4 at the Teresiano-Sanjuanista International Centre, CITeS, Avila.  This particular degree is just one of the various academic programmes on offer at the ‘Universita della Mistica’.  The inaugural ceremony commenced at 9.45 a.m.  The Centre’s staff expressed their satisfaction at being able to undertake this new course despite the pandemic situation which has prevented many students from coming to Avila.  These particular students will have to follow the lectures of the initial trimester online.

10 students can attend physically while 30 others will be online.  12 different nations are represented this year.  The day’s celebration concluded with Mass at 19.00, led by Fr. Francisco Javier Sancho Fermin, OCD, Director of CITeS.  The General Secretary of the Centre, Fr. Jerzy Nawojowski, reported on the academic year 2020-2021 and the academic and cultural activities during the summer of 2020.

 

From the 11th to 15th October, the Superior General, Fr. Miguel Marquez Calle, paid a fraternal visit to the Permanent Community of the Teresianum.   He was interested in having first-hand information about the life of our religious there and their work in our Pontifical Faculty.  During these few days he was also able to have brief meetings with the International College and the Missionary Seminary, while he would hope to pay both these sectors longer visits soon.

During this first meeting with the religious of the Teresianum, after Vespers on Monday 11th,  Fr. General explained to the community that he wished to converse with each of them, simply to understand the situation of every individual and to share their community life for these few days.

The visit was solemnly concluded on the day of the opening of the academic year 2021-2022, the Feast of St. Teresa.  Fr. Miguel presided at the Eucharist and the official academic opening.  The President of the Faculty, Fr. Christof  Betschart, reported on the activities of the preceding  year.  Fr. Ciro Garcia, the out-going Librarian of the Faculty who returns to his own Province soon, delivered his personal “last” lecture, by way of an inaugural lecture for the new academic year.