The joy of Carmel

I am still on a high from our Romsey meeting last Saturday.  One of our members made her First Promise and two others were received into formation in St Joseph’s Church.  Proceedings took place during the morning.  The First Promise was made by E during mass at 10am and then we said Mid-day Prayer (Sext) after Adoration, Benediction, and Confessions.  M and A were received into formation during the Mid-day Prayer.  We were blessed with the presence of Fr Jufel from Southampton, an Oblate of the Virgin Mary (OVM), who celebrated mass and received E’s Promise and received M and A into formation.  I had not heard of the OVM Order before so I looked them up.  They were founded by Fr Bruno Lanteri (1759-1830), from the Kingdom of Sardinia (later divided between Italy (Piedmont) and France (Savoy)).  The Order is currently running the parish of St Boniface, Southampton.  Although their founder Fr Lanteri himself was very much an Ignatian, it turned out that Fr Jufel has a long history with Carmel since he received the Scapular aged 16 years old, and he delighted us with a very Carmelite sermon.  We welcomed several friends of those involved in the day, and we all sat down together to a delightful lunch after the ceremonies.  One thing that has remained in my mind from the day was the sheer happiness on the faces of those involved.

Intercessions:

Cancer: Brian Davis, Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Sue B, Theresa K, Fr Jon

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David OCDS - housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Joy Smith OCDS – seriously ill

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