Carmel in the firing line

Today I discovered a thriving Carmelite Congregation previously unknown to me – the Congregation of the Apostolic Carmel.  I read about them in the latest issue of the newsletter sent out from HQ in Rome (Communicationes).  They have a hostel for girls on the NorthWest coast of Syria, where massacres of supporters of former President Assad have been taking place.  Many of the girls have lost their families in the massacres.  The grief is unimaginable - and to add to the suffering the hostel is without water or electricity.  The seed of the Apostolic Carmel was actually sown in the heart of an English woman, Sophie Leeves, the daughter of an Anglican Minister, she was led first to the Catholic faith in 1850 and then to the religious life as a sister of St. Joseph of the Apparition in the following year, where she took the name of Sister Mary Veronica of the Passion. Having been sent to India in 1861, she then felt an interior call to Carmel, not understanding where it would lead her.  At this time, the Carmelite bishops of the West Coast of India were experiencing the need for a teaching Order of Carmelite Sisters to further the work of the missions.  After much struggle and many difficulties, Mother Veronica found admission into the novitiate of the Carmel of Pau where she imbibed the spirit of Carmel.  She went on to found The Apostolic Carmel at Bayonne in 1868 and it was established at Mangalore, India, in 1870, by Bishop Marie Ephrem OCD.

Intercessions:

Brian Davis – cancer

Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela) - cancer

Agnes Rees RIP.  A great prolife worker who died recently before she could be taken into formation.  Her funeral is today.

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David - housebound

Sophia – blind infant