Carmelites Newsletter - August 2026
- 5 days ago
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J. M. † J. T.
Monastery of the Little Flower of Jesus
Discalced Carmelite Nuns
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Prayerful greetings from your Sisters in Carmel!
It is hard to believe that we are already well into the summer and halfway through our novena in preparation for the Assumption of our Blessed Lady into heaven!
Please know that all your needs are being fervently recommended to our glorious Mother and Queen, who will surely bless you for all your kindness to her Discalced Carmelite daughters.
On July 16, the great solemnity of Our Blessed Lady of Mount Carmel, we had the joy of welcoming one of the newly ordained priests for our diocese, Fr. Juan José Colón. Father chanted a beautiful High Mass and afterward gave each of us his first priestly blessing. We pray that our diocese will be blessed with many more such fervent and edifying priestly vocations!
Pope Pius XII, a Humble Servant
Recently during meals, we have been reading a delightful book on the life of Venerable Pope Pius XII, entitled His Humble Servant: Sister M. Pascalina Lehnert's Memoirs of Her Years of Service to Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII.
We enjoyed the book so much that we are now reading it a second time! Previously none of us knew too much about him as a person, and we are charmed by his noble, childlike spirit. We are also very much enjoying Sister Pascalina’s wonderful talent for relating anecdotes from the decades she was blessed to serve Venerable Pius XII both before and after his election as Pope. We now frequently ask the intercession of this Christlike Pontiff, confiding our special intentions to his generous paternal heart which, contrary to unfortunate modern historical inaccuracies, was ever occupied with coming to the aid of all those who were suffering and in need.
Dogma of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary
Among numerous noteworthy accomplishments during his reign, Pope Pius XII had the privilege of declaring the dogma of the Assumption, which had long been held by the faithful for many centuries. Souls from around the world were now humbly begging for this mystery to be declared a dogma, as had been the Immaculate Conception in 1854.
In his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus defining the dogma of the Assumption, Venerable Pius concludes:
"And so we may hope that those who meditate upon the glorious example Mary offers us may be more and more convinced of the value of a human life entirely devoted to carrying out the heavenly Father’s will and to bringing good to others. Thus, while the illusory teachings of materialism and the corruption of morals that follows from these teachings threaten to extinguish the light of virtue and to ruin the lives of men by exciting discord among them, in this magnificent way all may see clearly to what a lofty goal our bodies and souls are destined. Finally it is our hope that belief in Mary’s bodily Assumption into heaven will make our belief in our own resurrection stronger and render it more effective… We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”
Heaven itself confirmed this step taken by Venerable Pius XII, as he was granted the grace of seeing the miracle of the sun four times around the declaration of the Assumption, on October 30, October 31, November 1 (the day of the proclamation itself), and on the octave day of the proclamation, November 8, in the year that was the 33rd anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, which famously concluded with the miracle of the sun witnessed by thousands. The Pontiff was awestruck and took it as a heavenly endorsement of the dogma’s declaration.
From her glorious throne in heaven, Our Lady is preparing a special place for each one of us and will watch over us with tender care until we are safely Home.
May this sweetest Mother ever show herself to be your consolation and support in all the trials of life, blessing you abundantly for all your goodness to us.
God bless you!!!
Mother Teresa of Jesus, OCD and all the Sisters
Novena Prayer for the Feast of the Assumption
O Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven, we rejoice that after years of heroic martyrdom on earth, where thine Immaculate Heart was pierced by a sword of sorrow, thou wast at length assumed by the Most Holy Trinity to that throne prepared for thee in Heaven.
Lift my heart unto thee by the glory of thine Assumption, far above the dreadful touch of sin and impurity. Teach me how small this life becomes when viewed from Heaven. Make me realize that death is the triumphant gate through which I shall pass to thy Son, and that someday by the mercy of God, my body shall rejoin my soul in the never-ending bliss of Heaven.
Until then, upon this earth over which I tread as a pilgrim, I look to thee for aid, and I beseech thee this favor by the merits of thine Assumption:
(here mention your request)
When my hour of death has come, shield me from the terrible Judge, and lead me safely to the Eternal presence of God, where I may sing His praises with thee for all eternity, O Queen of Heaven.