Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Feast Day Homily by Father Robert Elias Barcelos, OCD – Mount Saint Josephs Carmelite Monastery, San Jose, CA (2018)
NOTE: Click on the triangle to play.
A PRAYER
Abba, Father. We exalt you, through Yeshua, your awesome Son, our beloved Savior, who promised that we who believe in You through Him, that supernatural wellsprings would open up inside of our souls, springing up Your infinite presence.
We exalt You, Lord. We magnify You. In allowing our hearts to be exposed to Your light, and coming before Your Face in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, may the impact of Your profound mercy embrace us, Lord, for You are Emmanuel, God with us. The same yesterday, right here, right now, as You are in eternity.
Lord, overwhelm us with Your love and Your truth that we may be consumed and taken ever more deeply, and closer to You. Father, I pray in Jesus, that all our guardian angels may intercede and stand watch at our side, that all the entities that are opposed to our alliance with You may be bound, diminished, and expelled.
May the Holy Spirit saturate us in all the areas we need to be instructed and loved, to find freedom and hope. I ask Saint Gabriel, the first to announce the gospel to give us His blessing, that we may experience new birth in the Word, that Jesus may be made flesh in our humanity.
With Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we magnify you. Lord God, we come before You as our King. We ask You to come in triumph and reign. Rain down the triumph of Your Spirit. Overshadow us with the power of the Most High that we may understand how truly awesome and real, how ravishingly great you are.
Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end, AMEN.
May almighty God, bless us, protect us from evil and bring us to everlasting life.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.
(SOURCE: Opening Prayer, Young Adult Retreat 2011. “The True Rebellion of Saints”)
Copyright Fr. Robert Barcelos, OCD, 2016. All Rights Reserved.
Click the image below for the Novena prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, followed by: Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mt. Saint Joseph Carmelite Monastery, San Jose, CA, Feast Day July 16
Fr. Matthew,
Thank you for your inspiring homily. Why am I a Carmelite? Yes, you reminded me of the answer, both why and how!!! It is so simple and so challenging! Yes, Jesus through Mary is the answer. May God bless you and all the Carmelite friars. I am making a daily prayer for an increase in Carmelite nuns and friars based on the promise given by Mary that if we daily pray the entire rosary for her intentions, she will pray for our intentions, (mine being for an increase of Carmelites).
Blessings,
Susanna Maria Ax, ocds
💒 O Mama Mary, Our Lady of Carmel, how truly beautiful and loving you are to thy children. How attentive to our needs. May your holy mantel always embrace us, your children and may your brown scapular protect us always from those who wish us harm. Pray for us always Dear Mother, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen 🙏🏼
Applying LECTIO DIVINA
in the spirit of ST. BENEDICT
It is strongly recommended to lay and religious alike that one prayerfully read a section from Holy Scripture daily, applying the Lectio Divina method of prayer as taught by Saint Benedict.
Here’s a link to a “how to book” that can get one started, beginning with the Hebrew Bible, which we so often avoid:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/luke-amato/a-catholic-layman-prays-hebrew-scripture/paperback/product-23605594.html
LECTIO DIVINA:
A TIME-PROVEN WAY
TO PRAY SCRIPTURE
This effective method of prayer dates back to the earliest days of Christianity, as extolled and practiced by the Fathers of the Church; St. John Cassian, Origen, St Augustine and St. Benedict were but a few of the great proponents of this approach to prayer. But it is St. Benedict and his followers who bring us to this timeless but higher degree of prayer development.
Our own Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, in the Synod Constitution, Verbum Dei, strongly urged us to return to this ancient form of prayer. Committed as we are as religious and laity to observing the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, must we not heed the call of the Vicars of Christ as well as that of the Fathers of the Church and our own St. Benedict?
The four steps may be described very briefly as follows:
1. Read (Lectio) slowly a passage from Scripture, no matter how short, until you come to a word, phrase or section that strikes a chord in you;
2. Reflect (Meditatio) on that section, word or phrase and consider what it’s saying to you in your personal life. What does it mean to you where you’re at?
3. Respond (Oratio) to God in prayer from your heart; just talk to God about it;
4. Receive (Contemplatio) gratefully whatever spiritual gifts the Lord may choose to give you. Because that gift may well lead you to make a specific resolve, some more recent commentators seek to expand this step to include Resolution (Resolutio).
In any case, when you reflect and respond to your scripture passage, consider the different meanings in which it can be interpreted: First and foremost, reflect on the literal sense of scripture, i.e. the obvious meaning of the facts or incident related. But don’t stop there! Then proceed to consider the three possible spiritual meanings of the passage.
1. Moral: what is the passage asking me to do or how should I act?
2. Faith: what is this section telling me to believe and trust?
3. Eternal: how does this relate to my destiny in the after life?