TheresaThoma Posted January 2, 2014 Posted January 2, 2014 Lovely pictures! Thank you so much for finding and sharing them!
graciandelamadrededios Posted January 2, 2014 Author Posted January 2, 2014 Lovely pictures! Thank you so much for finding and sharing them! You're welcome, TheresaThoma! :saint2:
Chiquitunga Posted January 2, 2014 Posted January 2, 2014 Photo of German Discalced Carmelite Nuns with the future Novice wearing a wedding dress: Without the Scapular - interesting toque: The Prioress and Novice Mistress putting on the leather cincture on her waist: Pinning her scapular so it wont move around - her smile is priceless: I hope Chiqui would love these photos, this is for you my dear friend.... To my dear friend, Chiqui: Oh my goodness, thank you so much for posting these Gracian!!! I'm just seeing this now! Somehow I missed it when you first posted it. Thank you so very much! I love it when Carmels use the wedding dress at the clothing! :heart: p.s. what beautiful paintings they have in their choir!!! :saint:
graciandelamadrededios Posted January 2, 2014 Author Posted January 2, 2014 Oh my goodness, thank you so much for posting these Gracian!!! I'm just seeing this now! Somehow I missed it when you first posted it. Thank you so very much! I love it when Carmels use the wedding dress at the clothing! :heart: p.s. what beautiful paintings they have in their choir!!! :saint: You're welcome, Chiqui! I am most sure you will love it hence, I posted it here. The painting must be old. They are lovely... Gracian
Chiquitunga Posted January 2, 2014 Posted January 2, 2014 They are copies of images I have seen before, I believe from Spain, but yes, they do look old. The first is Our Lord giving St. Teresa a nail when He said she was His true bride. The Prioress and Novice Mistress putting on the leather cincture on her waist: Pinning her scapular so it wont move around - her smile is priceless:
graciandelamadrededios Posted January 2, 2014 Author Posted January 2, 2014 Hi Chiqui! I just love these photos and I cant help but post them here! The painting is nice and very Teresian. Gracian
graciandelamadrededios Posted January 14, 2014 Author Posted January 14, 2014 Double Grille of the Discalced Carmelite Monastery of Nuns in Dys, Poland:
Indwelling Trinity Posted January 15, 2014 Posted January 15, 2014 (edited) "How Beautiful it is, how pleasant, where brethren dwell at one!" We are in agreement, Gracian! That is exactly my understanding as well, and it is OFTEN a huge surprise to people when they find out the substance of what we both discussed. BECAUSE it explains in a most charitable way to me why there were varying observances, and how each one could truly think THEY had it right! But the reality, of course, is that what needs to be right is your focus on Christ at the center of all things.... and if the lifestyle being lived isn't conducive to that, it just plain WILL create problems. Now, I MUST get some sleep (running on short rations of sleep last few days, and it has caught up with me! I, too, will be curious to know what Chiqui (and the rest of you!) has/have to say! ;) Good night, and we will pray for each other! Laughing, how i would love to throw a monkey wrench into all of this just for fun! In truth though whether one wears a cross outside the scapular or underneath it ,or still practices penances that may make some gasp in shock or maybe not; a custom is only as good as the interiority it helps one's soul to achieve towards loving union with God. True Carmelite customs then become then nothing more than a silent living expression of love between God and Man. They help to express and take us places that words alone cannot go. They aid in bringing the body into unity with the mind and heart so as to create a single continous act of praise renewed each and every day. Each act invites us to enter a little more deeply into that unspoken union of love.. Once having served their purpose, they ideally should fall into the background allowing the higher faculties then to respond to God's work in the soul. Every act in religious life leads to union with God. What took me forever to learn was how to distinguish the true order of importance of each act. But Most Important is wanting God's will no matter what it is, simply because it is His will. Therein lies the proof of love. Do I seek God because it pleases me and gives me comfort. Or do I love Him and his will so much that I am willing to step off the cliff blindfolded trusting He will catch me and bring me and many others to holiness no matter where that place may be. How frightening it is to fall into the hands of a living God! But an all loving one too. My life as a Carmelite Hermit does not even remotely resemble my life as a Discalced Carmelite nun. I did not ask for it nor did i plan it. But this is where God has Brought me. And yes... God will strip you of everything save his love even if at times you cannot perceive it. Faith tells you God is at work and so you try to hold still under his hand so he may fashion you into an image of his son offering himseldf to the Father for the ransom of many. Yes at times the pain is intense beyond words but your heart longs so deeply to jump into the purifying flames of God's Love. It is unbearable on one hand and on the other the soul thirsts so deeply to be identified with the beloved that it seems it can do no other than to offer itself to God in such a manner. When the trials do come, The body and soul begs relief but no sooner the soul has had some respite God gives it grace to begin the battle again. I dont know what other word to give it. I am off topic. How Blessed we are! May God be ever Praised by each of us in spirit and in truth! How I thank God for my beautiful vocation! Poor typing ..but I think you all understand. Edited January 15, 2014 by Indwelling Trinity
AnneLine Posted January 15, 2014 Posted January 15, 2014 Thank you, IT, and your pheedback is powerful and helpful. I know how ill you are, and how much your 'vision' of how you would live out your life for God may differ from the externals of Carmel ... yet they are the way your Beloved Lord wishes you to live out your Carmelite vocation. I have known SEVERAL other Carmelite nuns who have had the same experience. And in some ways, letting go of some of these beautiful externals may be a more radical gift of self. It's not the call of everyone.... many need and want these, but ultimately, the question has to be, but what does GOD want for me. Praying for you! Tried to send you an email and a PM but I don't think either went through..... You are in my prayers and my heart.
Pia Jesu Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 Profoundly beautiful posts (and photos!) here! May I ask your thoughts on whether one can draw upon--or choose--specific elements or externals of the Carmelite heritage which (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) can lead us closer to union with God? As a new Secular Carmelite aspirant, my inclination is to embrace them all! Your comment, AnneLine, that "ultimately, the question has to be, but what does God want for me" reminds me of how Gabriel Marceau describes St. Edith Stein's creative fidelity...how she tried to keep herself "interiorly open and transparent" and not attached to externals--being ready to give her experiences a type of mysterious reciprocity between what the writer deems "free action and ready allowing." Again, it fits with your understanding, AL, that "letting go of some of these beautiful externals may be a more radical gift of self."
brandelynmarie Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) Thank you all for such beautiful photos & posts :blush: Pia & Indwelling, many prayers for your respective journeys...may you both have His Peace... Edited January 17, 2014 by brandelynmarie
graciandelamadrededios Posted January 21, 2014 Author Posted January 21, 2014 (edited) Thank you all for such beautiful photos & posts :blush: Pia & Indwelling, many prayers for your respective journeys...may you both have His Peace... I am glad you liked them! Carmels in Poland and other cloistered communities is Poland are thriving! Edited January 21, 2014 by graciandelamadrededios
graciandelamadrededios Posted January 28, 2014 Author Posted January 28, 2014 My dear friend Chiqui I hope you like the photo below, knowing how much you love the Spanish Style Habit of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns and I think they are wearing wool too! Gracian
vee Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 those pins look like they could keep the scapular on in a hurricane...
IgnatiusofLoyola Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 those pins look like they could keep the scapular on in a hurricane... VEE!!!! I've missed you so much and I've tried to contact you. I think about you often and have been praying for you and all you are going through.
cmaD2006 Posted February 3, 2014 Posted February 3, 2014 :) Vee8 ... nice to see you on the phorum! :)
graciandelamadrededios Posted February 26, 2014 Author Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) I have recently received a 320 pages book published by OCD Friars of Warsaw Province to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Discalced Carmelite Nuns' Monastery in Poland, the title of which is: Zajęte wychwalaniem Boga 400 lat Karmelitanek Bosych w Polsce 1612-2012 Louvain, Brussels, and Mons Carmel helped with the foundation of Krakow Carmel in 1612 Liege Cornillon Carmel founded Poznan Carmel in 1867 These two Carmel became parents to daughter Carmels in Poland. In turn Polish Carmels gave birth to Carmels outside Poland. Elblag Carmel founded Hafnafjordur Carmel in Iceland in 1984 - this Carmel founded Tromso Carmel in Norway in 1990 Dys Carmel founded Charkow Carmel in 1995 and Kijow Carmel in 1991 - both in Ukraine Poznan Carmel founded Oziornoje Carmel in Kazachstan in 2007 Tryszczyn Carmel founded Karaganda Carmel in Kazachstan in 1998 Zakopane Carmel founded Koszyce Carmel in Slovakia in 1995 - this Carmel founded Detva Carmel in 2007, also in Slovakia Kalisz Carmel founded Usole Carmel in Russia in 2002 Krakow Wesola Carmel retained the Pre-Vatican II spikes attached to their Choir Grilles The youngest Carmel in Poland was founded in Sucha Huta in 2009, a daughterhouse of Gdynia Carmel. This is an amazing book, though, I cannot understand the language since its written in Polish. So far, USA, Poland, India and the Philippines are the only country that published books about the origin and history of all Carmelite Monasteries in their respective countries. The photos are amazing, one photo shows a white veiled nun wearing a very large and long white veil that reaches the floor! I have seen this custom in some (not all) Carmels during profession that Nuns wear a "special large veil." Edited February 26, 2014 by graciandelamadrededios
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