Carmelite Monastery of St Joseph, Kilmacud - Sisters' Reflections

  "Only wonder knows...”   (St. Gregory of Nyssa) Naples is well known for its crib-statues. Among the others there is one particularly interesting.   It is called ‘Enchanted Shepherd’, or ‘Amazed’.   It represents an empty-handed child with open arms, while its countenance radiates wonder.   It recalls a legend: One day the little statues started scolding ‘Amazed’ because he was not bringing any gift to Baby Jesus. “Shame on you”, they said, “are you going to visit Jesus without offering him anything?” Amazed would not answer a word.   He was totally captured by little Jesus.   The rebukes grew louder and louder.   At that point Mary took his defence. “Amazed is not empty-handed.   Don’t you see, he is giving Jesus his wonder, his amazement?   God’s love, incarnate in the tiny little child, enchants him”. When all understood, Mary concluded: “the world will be marvellous when people will be capable of wonder, like ‘Amazed’. ...

  Do you like waiting? I am guessing that most of us do not! Whether it is waiting for a bus that is late, or waiting in the supermarket queue, it is usually difficult for us humans to wait. We constantly plan and anticipate the future and so the uncertainty of having to wait makes us uncomfortable. The rock band Queen have a song with the lyrics: “I want it all, and I want it now!” This epitomises our modern culture! We want an instant reply to our text messages, or when we ring a doorbell, we expect it to be answered immediately. We really do not like having to wait! In my life, I have learned some good lessons about the importance of waiting. Once I was in an international group who were participating in the Mass with Pope John Paul II in Toronto, Canada. Each of us would have a particular role in the liturgy, and the leaders would not tell us what our role was until the day before, so for a week of events we had to wait and wonder. They reminded us constantly: “participate, don...

This week we celebrate the Feast of St. John of the Cross. Among other things he was a great friend and helper of St. Teresa of Avila.    John first met Teresa at Medina del Campo shortly after she had made the foundation of St. Joseph’s, her first Discalced Carmelite Monastery.   She was in Medina del Campo trying to negotiate the foundation of another monastery for the discalced nuns but she had also obtained permission make two foundations for discalced friars. John was a newly ordained Carmelite and he had gone to Medina to celebrate his first Mass, but he was unsettled and thinking of transferring to the Carthusian Order so that he could have more solitude and silence.   Teresa was fifty-two and John was twenty-five when they first met, but they recognised an affinity between them and John shared his longing for a more contemplative life with her.   Teresa assured him that if he would join her reform he would be able to have more solitude and silence withou...

    On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food.   On this mountain the Lord will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples. He will destroy death forever. The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek:   He will take away His people’s shame everywhere on earth.   That day it will be said: see this is our God in whom we hoped for salvation. Isaiah 25.   In this passage don’t we catch a glimpse of God’s dream for the world. He dreams that we will be His family on earth, caring for each other, sharing with each other,   weeping for each other. Jesus came to show us   what this family of God would look like -   where no one would go hungry or thirsty or naked or sick or be in prison with no one to visit them. Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us and He will never leave us. Not only is He with us but He is in each of us so His kingdom of love and goodness can grow through you and me and e...