top of page


SECULAR ORDER OF DISCALCED CARMELITES
England, Wales and Scotland
Teresa of Avila - a popular patroness
I googled ‘St John Bosco Carmelites’ to find any connections between the saint of today’s feast with Carmel, and I came up with the...
cpblamires
Jan 31, 20252 min read
Carmel and the Inklings?
The Boars Hill Carmelite friars have a plot in Wolvercote Cemetery, on the northern edge of the city of Oxford. This same cemetery...
cpblamires
Jan 30, 20251 min read
Carmel as a greenhouse
In recent years I have found myself – to my complete astonishment – involved in founding new OCDS groups. There are of course many...
cpblamires
Jan 29, 20251 min read
Carmel and Israel
In the Office of Readings, we have been looking recently at St Paul’s Letter to the Romans. I can’t help but be struck by the way that...
cpblamires
Jan 28, 20251 min read
A saint with the spirit of Carmel
I found this about St Angela Merici (1474-1540, today's feast) on an Ursuline website – it seems she was very close to us Carmelites in...
cpblamires
Jan 27, 20251 min read
A gentle saint and Carmel
Quite a few years ago in my Protestant days I discovered the Treatise on the Love of God by St Francis of Sales (1567-1622) - whose feast...
cpblamires
Jan 24, 20252 min read
A saint beloved in Carmel
Today’s saint offered to us by the Church - St Emerentiana - was a favourite of Blessed Marie-Eugène, founder of the Carmelite Institute...
cpblamires
Jan 23, 20251 min read
St Therese consoling Jesus
In a Carmelite prayer group last night, we were discussing the ‘Act of Self-Offering to Merciful Love’ (you can google it to see the...
cpblamires
Jan 22, 20251 min read
The divine intimacy
I was talking to a friend the other day about how in my youth I was always craving intimacy with a woman. When I married my late wife, I...
cpblamires
Jan 21, 20251 min read
'How was the meeting?'
‘How was it?’ – we sometimes get asked by others after one of our Carmelite meetings; or we ask someone else that question after such a...
cpblamires
Jan 20, 20251 min read
An ancestor of Carmel
The story of St Antony made a great impression on me when I first read about him as a young man. This call he had to a life of solitude...
cpblamires
Jan 17, 20252 min read
Boars Hill and the writers
After his funeral mass at Boars Hill Carmelite Priory today, Fr John Hughes OCD will be laid to rest in Wolvercote Cemetery. This is...
cpblamires
Jan 16, 20251 min read
The marvels of technology
This morning we shall be having an OCDS National Council meeting on Zoom. The National Council is composed of the Regional...
cpblamires
Jan 15, 20251 min read
Called to Hope
I have received notification of a big conference on S t Therese of Lisieux to be held at the Boars Hill Carmelite Priory in...
cpblamires
Jan 14, 20251 min read
Sisters in the Spirit
I have been reading a book about the influence of St Teresa of Avila on St Therese of Lisieux. We are so used to thinking of Therese as...
cpblamires
Jan 13, 20251 min read
A soldier of Christ passes
Philippa Hodges died at Christmas. A member of the St Elijah Secular Community in Oxford, she had been connected with the Carmelites...
cpblamires
Jan 10, 20251 min read
A convert from a dissolute life
Somebody I was with very recently told me ‘I was wild in my youth’, so I was intrigued to learn a little from Wikipedia about the Italian...
cpblamires
Jan 9, 20251 min read
Fr John Hughes OCD RIP
We heard recently of the death of Fr John Hughes OCD. He had been a presence in the Boars Hill Priory for several years. I had occasion...
cpblamires
Jan 8, 20251 min read
Talking to Therese
I treasure a story I heard some years ago from a Secular Carmelite named David. He was talking about how he came to be a Secular, and he...
cpblamires
Jan 7, 20251 min read
Starting the year with Therese
We have now received the first of our Therese portions for study in our meetings in 2025 from Rome. This will be the third and last year...
cpblamires
Jan 6, 20251 min read
bottom of page