Epiphany for Carmelites

I found this lovely quote from St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross OCD about our experience of Epiphany in our lives as Carmelites.  ‘…the kings have a special meaning for us ... Even though we already belonged to the external Church, an interior impulse nevertheless drove us out of the circle of inherited viewpoints and conventions.  We knew God, but we felt that he desired to be sought and found by us in a new way. Therefore we wanted to open ourselves and sought for a star to show us the right way. And it arose for us in the grace of vocation.  We followed it and found the divine infant. He stretched out his hands for our gifts. He wanted the pure gold of a heart detached from all earthly goods; the myrrh of a renunciation of all the happiness of this world in exchange for participation in the life and suffering of Jesus; the frankincense of a will that surrenders itself and strains upward to love itself in the divine will. In return for these gifts, the divine child gave us himself.’

Intercessions:

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Theresa K, Fr Jon Bielowski (Plymouth Diocese), Catherine, Alex (43 with five children)

Illness: Roy Seymour, Katy Keeling

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Lucia – Overwhelmed by weariness

Mark – brain infection

Defence of the unborn and the elderly

RIP Richard Parker, Sue Burton, Wojtek, Joy Smith OCDS, Dr Alan Rodgers