Coping with closed doors

Many individuals have knocked at the door of Carmel without gaining entrance, but in some cases they have excelled in another vocation.  I think of Pope St John Paul II, who twice asked to become a Carmelite - only to be refused twice.  Now we can see that he had quite another vocation and destiny, and we can also see that the refusals were entirely for the good of the Church and the world.  At the start of the twentieth century the most feted French actress of her generation, Eve la Valliere, gave up the stage and the world to enter Carmel only to be turned away; she became a Franciscan Tertiary instead.  The Italian saint Magdalene of Canossa (1774-1835 – her feast is today) was twice refused entry to Carmel but went on to found the Daughters of Charity of Canossa, an Order devoted to the education and care of the poor: it has spread all over the world.  Appropriately enough, St Magdalene was canonised in 1988 by Pope St John Paul II.  It is a challenge for us to learn to cope with rejected longings and let go of them so that we are free to see what doors the Good Lord is opening to us instead.    

Intercessions:

Brian Davis – cancer

Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela) - cancer

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David - housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Rosemarie – back in hospital