Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Raphael (Kalinowski) of St. Joseph, O.C.D. He is the only other Discalced Carmelite friar that has been canonized after St. John of the Cross...

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity was a talented, passionate, and vivacious young woman who lived in France from 1880 to 1906. At age 21 she left behind a life of music, parties, and travel to enter the silence of a Carmelite convent...

Like the Samaritan woman at the well, Teresa knows by experience the liberation of having been loved by Christ. She knows the liberation of being freed of one’s enslavement to sin. She knows the liberation of being freed of licking one’s own wounds and repeatedly tearing them open again in the desire for justice. At the CORE of Teresa’s spirituality is the experience of ENCOUNTER with Christ...

The question Teresa asks all of us today Is: Do you feel wearied at times by the burdens of earthly relationships? Do you thirst for something greater? Is it possible that God might be calling you? Not simply to say some prayers each night and come to church on Sunday, but to be open to His healing love which he wants to pour out into your life; to let go of those things that you know are holding you back from him? Maybe Teresa’s relationship with God is for you too.

I heard a story once about a priest who had a terrible dream one night. He found himself in his parish tool shed when the devil appeared to him and began recounting his ways of misleading souls...

A few days ago, one of the elder friars in our community gave an excellent homily concerning the devastating sexual abuse crisis within the Catholic Church. Having been surrounded by the whirlwind of media coverage over the last couple of weeks, he pondered what the takeaway message should be for us as Christians and specifically as Carmelites...

The silence of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not one of emptiness. No, her silence is pregnant with meaning. At the Annunciation, her yes to God was so perfect and pure that it echoes continuously throughout the rest of her life and the rest of eternity. It's not that Mary has nothing to say, it's that she's already said it all: "Let it be done to me according to your Word."

What God wants from you and me—for the SAKE OF HIS GLORY—is that we come to greater faith in His IRREPRESSIBLE love for us. Christ despoils us of all accusations of injustice.

St. John lays his head against the breast of Jesus. He can feel Jesus’ chest as it rises and falls—the chest clothed in garments that became dazzling white at the transfiguration will soon be burdened beneath the weight of the cross...

We got the last chapter today in the scriptures. We know how the greatest story of all time ends. It ends with the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Do you notice the different contrasts in the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? There is a litany of conflict in the Passion, a tale of tensions in the Passion.

Brothers and sisters, our Lord is calling us to greatness and that is only achieved by your contrition and choice to receive the fullness of His Divine Mercy and to live a life of union with Jesus Christ.

It is always good to recommit ourselves during Lent; we are half way now and some people are already worn out with their prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and others have not done anything substantial yet. Whether you have done much or not done anything at all, today is a time for us to recommit ourselves for the preparation for Easter.

“Wake up the World!” Pope Francis’s now-famous rallying call for the Year of Consecrated Life has reverberated around the globe since he announced that 2015 would be a year of prayer and thanksgiving for women and men who live a vocation to the religious life. The question we can ask is how can religious “Wake Up the World?”