Dear Brothers and Sisters in Carmel,
Thank you to those of you who were able to be at our April meeting at Nazareth Community Centre on Easter Sunday. A good and successful “trial run” for when the building project is up and running at Carmel.
It was a particular joy to welcome dear Karen back with us! So pleased the health issues are resolved enough that we can enjoy your presence and wisdom again!
The beautiful month of May! Dedicated to our Blessed Mother Mary! Queen and Beauty of Carmel!
At our meeting this month, being the first after Easter, we renew our Promises:
I………desiring to follow the Crucified and Risen Christ, in the Secular Order of Carmel, renew my profession, and I promise to tend toward evangelical perfection in the spirit of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience, and of the Beatitudes, according to the Constitutions of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. I confidently entrust my promise to the Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Carmel.
It is a fruitful exercise to really think about these words and what we are promising – the graces and the freedoms they bring. Think often on each one and how it plays out in your own life. It can be so different for each one of us while being the same Promise to the Carmelite Order. For every temptation we may get, there is a part of our promise to free us from it: Poverty, Chastity, Obedience, the Beatitudes. Those wonderful Beatitudes! It can fill a whole day contemplating each one and where it fits in our own life. We are so blessed in our vocation as Carmelites. We thank God for calling us. We thank Him for giving us the grace and the courage to say ‘yes’ to His call. And we pray for the grace of perseverance.
May God bless your May in the company of our Holy Mother Mary, faithful guide and model for our life in Carmel.
Please note: OUR MEETING ON SUNDAY 3rd MAY WILL BE BACK AT THE CARMELITE MONASTERY.
God bless you all!
Christchurch's Peace of Christ Community President