Carmelite Staff

Saturday, 1st Week of Lent, February 27, 2021 Reading: Matthew 5:43-48 by Fr. Donald Buggert, O.Carm. “Love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you. Be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” says Jesus in today’s Gospel. We are to love all because our heavenly Father loves all. No one is to be excluded, not even those whom we do not naturally like, those who irk us, those who are different from us, who think, act, believe, ...

Friday, 1st Week of Lent, February 26, 2021 Readings: Ez. 18:21-28, Psalm 130:1-8 and Mt 5:20-26 by Fr. Thomas Schrader, O.Carm. In today’s first reading from Ezekiel we are reminded of the Lord’s deep desire for us to experience God’s forgiveness in all aspects of our lives.  Sometimes the Lord’s willingness to forgive could be perceived as too generous by those who are not familiar with God’s ways. Jesus challenges us in today’s Gospel to be willing to resolve difficulties with ...

Thursday, 1st Week of Lent, February 25, 2021 Reading: Matthew 7:7-12 by Fr. Donald Buggert. O.Carm. In our Gospel today Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock. He promises that our heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask. So be persistent in prayer. Yet how often we ask but do not receive, seek but do not find, knock and the door is not open to us. Note what Jesus promises we will receive. Good ...

Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent, February 24, 2021 Reading: Jonah 3:1-10 by Fr. Robert Traudt. O.Carm. Jonah was a pain in the neck. He wanted no part of God’s plan to save Assyria. The prophet felt they were too evil and cruel to be even offered a chance to repent and be saved. He ran away from God, but He caught up with Jonah. He began to preach repentance, believing it useless. Yet, only after one day, the unthinkable happens and ...

Tuesday, 1st Week of Lent, February 23, 2021 Reading: Matthew 6:7-15 by Fr. Donald Buggert. O.Carm. In our Gospel today Jesus says: “In your prayer do not rattle on like the pagans. They think they will win a hearing by the sheer multiplication of words. Do not imitate them.” And yet so often we do imitate them. We bombard God with words, as if God needed our words. Perhaps the prayer of mystics such as John of the Cross, a more ...

Monday, 1st Week of Lent, February 22, 2021 Reading: Matthew 25:31-46 by Fr. Donald Buggert. O.Carm. Today is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, which has its origins in 4th c. Rome, where an empty chair was used to recall the death of St. Peter in Rome.  As the feast developed, it celebrated the Papal ministry as the ministry of unity in the Church. The Gospel today speaks of Peter’s confessing Jesus to be the Christ, the Son ...

1st Sunday of Lent, February 21, 2021 Readings: Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 by Fr. Robert Colaresi, O.Carm. The God of rainbows wants us all to be one, at peace with Him, everyone and all creation.   Yet today we have been deluged with floods of wild beasts of narcissism, false selves, conspiracy theories, racism, violence, white supremacy and other evils that blur the reality of objective truth and God’s Presence.  We join Jesus in the desert as he ...

Saturday after Ash Wednesday, February 20, 2021 Reading: Luke 5:27-32 by Sr. Libby Dahlstrom, O.Carm. “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.  I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”    Centuries after these words were first spoken, Teresa of Avila expressed a related perspective: self-knowledge is essential to Carmelite life. I cannot truly receive God’s Love unless I am willing to let God reveal my deepest self with all the hidden ...

Friday after Ash Wednesday, February 19, 2021 Reading: Isaiah 58:1-9 by Rev. Gregory Houck, O.Carm. There is a great quote attributed to Lao Tzu (founder of Taoism): “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”  Keep this in mind as you listen to today’s  powerful first reading from the Prophet Isaiah (Is 58:1-9) ...

Thursday after Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2021 Readings: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6; Luke 9:22-25 by Rev. Jorge Monterroso, O.Carm. Reflecting on today’s readings, the following quote from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux came to mind: “Jesus wants to possess your heart completely. For that to happen, you must suffer a great deal… but also what joy will flood your soul when you have arrived at the happy moment of your entrance into heaven!” The purpose of ...