Carmelite Monastery of St Joseph, Kilmacud - Sisters' Reflections

Young St. Therese had a passion to return love for love. I wanted to love, to love Jesus with a passion giving him a thousand proofs of my love. Searching the scriptures both the old and the new Testaments she found her Little Way. Charity gave me the key to my vocation (1Cor. 13) ….. my Vocation is Love. We are coming up to her feast day on Oct. 1 st . Her boundless trust in God’s Merciful love for her and for each one of us never ceases to draw me. She knew her own weakness and fragility but she knew too God’s irresistible love for the little and poor ones. Like Our Lady she let the Almighty work marvels in her and for her.  It is recorded that during World War 1 many of the soldiers fighting in the trenches experienced Therese’s help and her consoling presence. When the war was over many of them made their way to the Lisieux Carmel to lay messages of thanks on her grave. Right now, we need her help to bring God’s love into the terrible war in Ukraine. But Therese would be calling

  On a wet Monday afternoon we had an unexpected surprise visitor to our monastery pond - a large grey heron! He stood so still and we too stood still. Just watching! Then one of the sisters very quietly went for the camera and was lucky to get a photo before this great bird spread his wings and flew off. He won’t return because we have no fish in our pond. Isn’t it amazing how we can be surprised with delight by such encounters? It lifted our hearts on a wet dreary Monday. Our visitor reminded us of nature and our world as we continue to celebrate the Season of Creation (1 st September to Feast of St Francis 4 th October) which is now an annual Christian event. It is a time to pray for the care of our common home and reflect on our actions personally and as a community. The theme for this year is ‘listen to our Common home’. The cry of the earth also echoes the cry of the poor. Because we can see very clearly the care of the earth or lack of it affects all our lives but especia

  This year we’ve had many sunflowers throughout our garden; wherever I looked, whatever corner I turned, there was another majestic golden head rising to greet me and fill my heart with something of the sunshine it had imbibed...and how grateful we are for the long sunny summer we’ve been blessed with this year.... Somehow the sunflowers were there, everywhere...a real presence...   I was reminded of the beautiful phrase in our Carmelite Constitutions describing the important role of Mary in our lives... It says:   ‘ Mary’s presence among her daughters and sisters pervades the entire Carmelite vocation.   It imparts a special Marian tone to their contemplation, sisterhood’ etc... Her presence PERVADES...   Doesn’t that give a real sense of her closeness to us, her inspiration and protection?     Yes, the history of Carmel overflows with the presence of the Virgin Mary.      I’d like to share with you the beautiful reflection on Mary by our recently canonised Carmelite Saint, Tit