The Vow of Poverty

Brothers, let us imitate the poverty of Saint Francis of Assisi, because of this " No religious is to call anything his own." but let everything be in common and the prior or the religious appointed by him, shall distribute to each one..."(Primitive Rule of Carmel)

My sons and brothers, remember, we have given up everything to Jesus therefore let us trust in His Divine providence, whatever we receive comes from Our Lord and He gave it through you for the community, For as the prior is the Vicar of Christ in the monastery you also represent the whole community. Let not the spirit of greed invade the community for it will cause the weakening of brotherhood in a community. Sharing is charity an act of love and true sign of holiness. For love itself is holiness because God is Holy He is also love.

Let us express radically imitating the poverty of the Lord by wearing simple habit made of sack cloth or catcha. Let our habit serves as a penitential garment. Let our habit have an inner tunic  made of catcha cloth or sack cloth and the proper habit the outer tunic with the scapular of ponjie cloth, with the color of earth.
Let this be for every religious the garment of grace along with the scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

We also have  working habit to be worn during manual work with apron. We must not remove the habit, we just protect it with our working habit, it depends upon the approval of the prior. the working habit must be in black color.

Saint Teresa of Jesus of Avila said: Wearing the Carmelite habit remind us that we must be in contemplation even when in work. Let us meditate on the life of our Lord and contemplate His Holy Face.

VOW OF OBEDIENCE

The Prior is the paternal image of God, just as the Pope is the Vicar of Christ in the Universal Church, in the monastery the prior is the vicar of Christ in the community, thus even if we are brothers we must address the Prior reverently  as "FATHER".
First Precept of the Rule state thus: " We ordain in the first place that once you be prior, who shall be elected to that office by unanimous consent of all or the greater and wiser part; to this prior all the others shall promise obedience; and having promised, endeavor to practice it faithfully, together with Chastity and Poverty.

The above statement of the rule stresses that the social unity of the order by centralizing it; and it places obedience as the center gravity of the religious life we must be mindful of the passages of the rule that says; " And everything shall be done according to his will and direction (of the prior)."

THE THIRD STAGE THE PROFESSION

In the Third stage which is the true solitary is to direct all your faculties towards the inmost recesses of dessert in your hearts, this  consist if the most interior exercises, the highest and the most spiritual performed up to perpetual vow. You are to begin now to strive for an intimate union with and transformation of your soul into God."
Brothers, the Holy Rule of Carmel helps us to discover a very intimate union with Jesus, a union that will captivate our soul and transfigure us to Himself.

My sons and brothers, please when you read these lessons do not think that I am perfect for I too will get along reading my notes as to keep me on the path and to make His Majesty happy. Here I tried to explain the Holy Rule and the way of life as I experienced it. I ask you to strive hard to follow every letter of the rule so that our path to perfection will culminate us all to become saints.

LET US ALWAYS LOOK AND CONTEMPLATE TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS

Though we are hermits we also have indeed the virtue of this cenobitic spirit, the rule units the subjects, not  only by offering us a common ideal and imposing on them the personal use of the same means. but above all grouping us in a living society, where an interior bond of brotherhood is manifested by obedience and the commin life, becomes the fundamental means of perfection."

THE NOVITIATE FORMATION

After the first period, similar in some respects to hermitic novitiate, follows.

Novitiate, in which mortification and self denial of the passions of the soul together with knowledge and love of Christ will work progressive purification of the heart, the end toward which all the exercises of this period is directed. In this stage we will do battle to ourselves. For me this is the moment when the soul is purified painfully with the fire of Divine Love. Be on guard brothers for the devil will try to put off the flame of God's love burning in you; this love burns with our vocation and not only that he will do all he can to test you, and even made you give up your calling and leave the monastery. Believe me in this for I too have experienced this kind of struggle, mostly in novitiate stage when we are almost in the climax of self battling many will not survive. Saint Therese of the Child has also experienced this before her profession, that she run to the Mother Prioress, asking her profession be cancelled for a while for she will extend her retreat or leave the monastery. (From the Story of the Soul, Saint Therese biography) That is why brothers as your union with our Lord in this mystical marriage approaches I ask you to deepen your prayer and allow the flame of the Sacred Heart to consume our souls, Always contemplate on the Holy Face of Jesus so that we will overcome all the attacks of the Devil. My brothers this is the reason that every Tuesday after our Divine office we pray the reparation prayer to the Holy Face of Jesus.

Let us look only in the eyes of Jesus, let us gaze His Holy face and we will be saved. As the psalmist once say: "SHOW US YOUR FACE LORD AND WE SHALL BE SAVED." Let us hold on to this devotion for by contemplating the Holy Face of Jesus Saint Therese of the Child Jesus becomes victorious and becomes the greatest Saint of the modern times and the youngest doctor of the Church.
The Bible teaches us to seek God first and everything will be added to us.

Jesus said: Be faithful to me and I will be faithful to you.

The Spiritual Obligation of the Hermits

First of all, we must know that the Carmelite in the dessert is not considered as a religious who has already aquired monastic perfection. Rather, the contrary, we must then under take the task of our perfection with thorough and incessant labor in order to achieve the fullness of our exalted vocation.

Blessed. Francisco Palau, founder of the 

Brothers and Sisters Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

Brothers as you step inside the monastery begins your journey of formation, you must know that Carmel is prophetic in the sence we become  witnesses of the Divine Life within us as the Prophet Elijah was aware of it  first and become a witness of the living God. Thus Brothers in the First Stage: That is POSTULANCY in the first two months more or less of hermit life, we should exercise with all diligence " in self-knowledge and also in conrinuous compuntcion, in meditation on sin and the passion of Christ, in Divine Psalmody; he is to endeavor  " to seclude himself in his own cell with great care, to occupy himself excessively absorbed, unless used as a means of relaxing the soul. Because of this we prepare ourselves  before the Divine encounter with God.

Our Holy Father the Prophet Elijah before his encounter with God has to first experience fully the depths of his weakness and helplessness as part of the purification process. In this two months of being alone with God as mentioned above, let our  weakness draws God to us just as a helpless infant draws attention of all adults around him, The parents run to the child most in need. All the practices and others, in which you are to occupy yourselves, will be protected and assured of success carried out as they are with fidelity and openness towards the superior.

How did the Devotion of the Holy Face reach the Philippines?

Victorina Laxamana Vicente, nicknamed Turing, was born on March 23, 1921 and was the 7^th child among the 11 siblings of Maximo Vicente Sr., a known sculptor, and Crispina Laxamana, a landed principalia in San Luis, Pampanga. Thirteen years and six infant deaths passed before she was born and being the eldest and an only girl, she was truly pampered from birth.  She was a frail child and cannot walk even at 2 years old and so her pious parents prayed hard for her health. At the Cradle of Colegio de Sta. Rosa “At the age of four, I had a very high fever which they said could have killed me.  A celadora of Lourdes Church gave me Lourdes water, and this saved my life. I was enrolled at Colegio de Sta. Rosa, and my yaya always brought a basketful of medicine – the Madres said – because I was so thin and pale, and never smiled…The sisters gave me extra merienda, and I was the pet of the kitchen Madre. The sisters at Sta. Rosa loved me and often joked: “What are you a statue?”  Then I answered silently by tapping on my lap to show that I am not a statue but a living creature.” (Memoirs of Mo. Therese on her childhood)

Ligion of Mary
Despite the perils (war) she zealously promoted the Legion in both Quiapo and San Miguel.  “She had no qualms entering squatter and shanties—even if she was the daughter of the Don Maximo Vicente.” “I was made the next Curia President (in 1942)… This made me travel all the way walking from Quiapo, Binondo, Sta. Cruz – in spite of Japanese. Several times we felt the hand of God saving us from them, especially when I organized the Inter Parish Catechetical Convention, I was called to Fort Santiago to report… Another special incident was my extending the Legion in Pampanga.  I rode the truck with Huks but they never molested me as I spoke Pampango.  The first Praesidia in the land of the Huks was established thanks to Mama Mary.” (Memoirs, March 10, 1980)
At the same time that Victorina was involved in these apostolic endeavors during the war, she was discerning her calling.  She sensed that she was meant to follow St. Therese, her favorite saint, as a Carmelite nun but  in 1937, however, Fr. Francis Cosgrave, CSsR (Redemptorist SD) counseled her to enter the Canonesses of St. Augustine (ICM sisters now) who was running St. Theresa’s College because of her active disposition.  It was not realized though due to war and tragedy that befell Fr. Cosgrave in 1945.  Several months after the war, her new SD, Fr. Artemio Casas changed the future of her vocation. Mo. Theresa of Jesus, OCD (1882-1958), affectionately called Ma Mere, Foundress of the discalced Carmelite nuns in the Philippines.  It was to her that Victorina frequented at the Carmelite Monastery at Gilmore Avenue, San Juan and to her that she revealed her desire to follow St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Carmel.  She entered Carmel of St. Therese in Quezon City (Gilmore) on May 30, 1946 and received her religious habit. But on the following day, she, along with 4 others, were flown by an army plane to Batangas to establish the Carmel in Lipa. She received the name Sr. Mary Therese of the Sacred Heart during her clothing day. (In the picture, conspicuously absent from those who accompanied her was her mother who could not accept her daughter’s decision to enter the Monastery).

In 1965 Sr. Therese began to discern a powerful “interior urge to make Mary known as Mother and to preserve the pristine beauty of religious life.”  It was during the holy retreat, on January 1966, that she opened this interior urge to Bishop Xavier Labayen, OCD, who in turn attested that there was nothing against the spirit and she could pray for God’s will.  “I am now between two roads, not knowing which she (our Blessed Mother) truly prefers – CARMEL OR THE LAND OF THE UNKNOWN.”  After much prayer, reflection and consultation with the community confessor, Fr. John Mary Chin, OCD, Bishop Labayen and Msgr. Casas, Sr. Therese became thoroughly convinced that it was the will of God for her. They told about it to Archbishop Emilio Cinense of San Fernando; and she was asked to write Rome for a three-year period of exclaustration to try this mission. Her superior consented and assured her that in the event that she failed, she could come back to Carmel. Recognizing an insatiable call to proclaim Mary as “Mother,” Sr. Mary Therese consulted Bishops Casas and Julio Xavier Labayen, and her confessor Fr. John Mary Chin, OCD, who unanimously agreed that she was being called to found a congregation of her own.  After receiving the permission of the Father General of the Discalced Carmelites in Rome and of the Archbishop of San Fernando, Sr. Mary Therese left the cloisters on July 1966. Foundation of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of the Church  “I arrived Naga on August 5 with my brother and his wife…I was brought to Colegio de Sta. Isabel where I was immediately given shelter by a former teacher of mine in Sta. Rosa College…I consulted Archbishop Alberto as to the name of the congregation, telling him what I have in mind was “Daughters of Mary, Mother of God and Mother of Men.”  He said that he finds it too long a title.  He instructed me to see him after a week…I returned to him on August 15 and he said: “You will be called Daughters of Mary, Mother of the Church.”  Thus was born a new congregation of religious women…We were formally established on October 11, 1966.”

It was in 1963 when the Archbishop had the idea of putting up a congregation that would teach religion particularly in public schools and Providence sent him Sr. Mary Therese.  As his Excellency reiterated, “I was the one who conceived the congregation with the help of Sr. Therese. This is how the Daughters of Mary came to be.”  

The Daughters of Mary as a congregation of women felt the motherly role of Mary and lived it out through the catechetical works and formation of Basic Ecclesial Communities wherever they may be. 

Sr. Therese was appointed the first superior general on October 11, 1966 which she occupied until May 1977.

While assigned at Quiapo, Manila, Mo. Therese encountered the Zaragozas who introduced her to the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.  She was just asked to help in spreading the devotion but it led her to be attracted to it herself because many people were led to conversion.  She studied about the devotion and consulted Fr. Solh Saez whom she met in Naga.  She learned a lot from him since, providentially, he had been already making a research on the Holy Face for almost ten years then. As they met again in January 1977 in Naga City, Mo. Therese revealed again the interior happenings in her life. They both agreed to put all things in God’s hands as it might just be a temptation.  The conversation with Fr. Solh made possible the following:  in thinking of a name for the foundation, Sr. Mary Therese was choosing between the Veronicas of the Holy Face, and Crusaders or Missionaries of the Holy Face. Fr. Solh had another book from Philadelphia – “Devotion to the Holy Face” which mentioned Mo. Pierina de Micheli as Missionary of the Holy Face and sponsor of the Holy Face medal.  So the name of the new foundation would be MISSIONARIES OF THE HOLY FACE. It became clear to Mo. Therese that there would be three groups to be put up for the association of reparation which were interiorly revealed to her, and these were:

1. A contemplative group
2. Active sisters to be called Missionary Sisters of the Holy Face of Jesus
3. Lay group auxiliaries to be called Crusaders of the Holy Face of  Jesus (auxiliaries to the religious group); or anyone who wishes to wear the medal would be one of the Devotees of the Holy Face of Jesus

She died a Holy  death sharing the passion of the Lords wound around her body the scourging of the pillar, she suffered from diabetes which complicate her heart and this leads her home to the Eternal Father. she bore every pain in silent and in love to Jesus.

The Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli

The Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli, a holy nun who died in 1945, was urged in many visions by the Blessed Mother and Jesus Himself to spread the devotion to the Holy Face, in reparation for the many insults Jesus suffered in His Passion, such as to be slapped, spit upon and kissed by Judas, as well as now being dishonoured in many ways in the Blessed Sacrament by neglect, sacrileges and profanations.

She was given a medal, which on one side bore a replica of the Holy Shroud and the inscription: “Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos”. - Ps. 4:6 “May, O Lord, the light of Thy countenance shine upon us”.) On the reverse side was a radiant Host, with the words, “Mane nobiscum, Domine”. – “Stay with us, O Lord” Luke 24:29.

After great difficulties, Sister Pierina obtained permission to the have the medal cast.  Even the expenses for the casting were miraculously met when she found on her desk an envelope with the exact amount of the bill – 11,2000 lire. The evil spirit showed his chagrin and rage at the medals by flinging them down and burning the pictures of the Sacred Face, and beating Sister Pierina savagely.

In 1940, when the Second World War had the world in turmoil, Italy saw a wide distribution of this medal. Relatives and friends saw that their soldiers, sailors and aviators were provided with the replica of the Holy Face of Jesus since the medal was already famous for its miracles and countless spiritual and temporal favours. 

In the words of Our Lord to Sister Pierina:

“By My Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of numberless sinners. Nothing that you ask in making this offering will be refused you. According to the care you take in making reparation To My Face, disfigured by blasphemers, I will take care of yours, which has been disfigured by sin. I will reprint on it My Image, and render it as beautiful as it was on leaving the Baptismal Font. I promise personal and spiritual protection to all who venerate this medal.”

Sister Pierina was beatified on Sunday, May 30, 2010 at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome - the first beatification ever held within its walls. Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, celebrated the ceremony, in representation of Pope Benedict XVI.

Prayer of Mother Maria Pierina

O Blessed Face of my kind Savior, by the tender love and piercing sorrow of Our Lady as she beheld you in your cruel Passion, grant us to share in this intense sorrow and love so as to fulfill the holy will of God to the utmost of our ability. Amen.