Hunger and Carmel

A person who is just embarking on the adventure of Secular Carmel in her forties was telling me just the other day that she had had a sense of connection to the brown scapular ever since she had first heard about it as a youngster.  This put me in mind of a saying of Fr Matt Blake OCD, our Delegate from the Friars.  I heard him once observe ‘You are born a Carmelite!’  In other words the aptitude for Carmel and attraction to Carmel is something that lies deep within a person; it is brought into awareness at a time chosen by the Good Lord – and often much later in our lives than we would have wanted in retrospect.  I suspect that in many cases this innate hunger for Carmel is awakened by suffering, though in my own case it was awakened by a desire to go deeper into my faith and prayer life, to get to know God better.  I sometimes speculate that these are the two main motivations that draw people into Carmel – to find help coping with suffering and to learn how to know God through prayer.  And of course they may co-exist, because suffering may draw us closer to God – although sadly it drives some away from God.  That reminds me of the parable of the Sower, which tells us that the growth of the plant is determined by the quality of the soil.

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:  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

Michael – youngster with occult influences

Defence of the unborn and the elderly

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