Mariam - The Little Arab Girl1
"Lord, grant us the spirit of prayer, that we may gain souls who will serve You, as the earth serves You in the desert. Lord, we are bare seedlings, clothe us with Your love. Let us bear flowers and fruits for the Church."
(Blessed Marie of Jesus Crucified).
Blessed Marie of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Baouardy),
barefoot Carmelite (1846–1878)
Mariam Baouardy is a wonderful flower, originating from the Holy Land. She was born on January 5, 1846, in Abellin, located between Nazareth and the city of Acre (also known as Akko in the past), in a Greek Melkite Catholic family, and died in the convent of barefoot Carmelites in Bethlehem on August 26, 1878. Her life, taking place between these two Evangelical sites, was one of the most extraordinary mystical adventures in the history of the Church. Having become an orphan at a young age, at twelve she miraculously remained faithful to her virginity and almost died a martyr's death. She was subsequently forced to work as a servant in Alexandria, Jerusalem, Beirut, and finally Marseille.
Drawn to cloister, she entered the convent of barefoot Carmelites in Pau, France (1867), where her way of life, childlike simplicity and innocence, as well as her language, which retained all the fragrance of the Palestinian land, earned her appreciation, hidden in the name “Little One.” She herself liked to call herself “little nothing.” Otherwise, she was known both in the convent and outside as “the little Arab.” At Carmel, a magnificent flower of charisms and virtues bloomed in her. Her religious name was Sister Marie of Jesus Crucified.
In 1870, she boarded with a group of Carmelites heading to Mangalore to establish the first Indian Carmel, where she made her religious vows (the first vows of barefoot Carmelites in India) on November 21, 1871. Great difficulties forced her to return to Pau at the end of 1872, but in 1875, with another group of nuns, she traveled to her homeland to establish Carmel in Bethlehem, the city of David and Jesus. During this bold establishment, she chose the location, becoming both the architect and the supervisor of the construction works. She was also the inspirer and founder of a new convent of barefoot Carmelites in Nazareth.
Three years of life in Carmel in Bethlehem were for her a long and painful Calvary: illness, heroic work, managing construction, mystical nights, voluntary acts of atonement. A long martyrdom of love. Until the last moment, she wanted to remain “little nothing.” At a time when the Holy Spirit was “The Great Unknown,” she was a spreader of devotion to Him, and the Holy Spirit surrounded her with His gifts, so that she became a living synthesis of mystical phenomena, such as stigmata, cardiognosis (the gift of seeing into the hearts of others), prophecy, levitation, bilocation, a pierced heart.
She died on August 26, 1878, and her body rests at Carmel in Bethlehem. She was formally beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 13, 1983. God chose that this humble daughter of Galilee, a compatriot of Jesus and Mary, should shine in heaven over the Middle East like a rainbow, a sign of reconciliation and peace between the Church and nations.
Introduction
Marie of Jesus Crucified, for much of her life, could neither read nor write. She spoke Arabic, which was her native language. From interaction with some French families in Beirut and Marseille and later - until her death - from living together with her fellow sisters, barefoot Carmelites, in Pau, Mangalore, and Bethlehem, all of whom were French, she learned to express herself in this language - in a sympathetic and characteristic manner, which remained very childlike. This is how she also wrote short sentences or greetings on slips of paper or on the backs of holy pictures. The rest of all her Thoughts or Spiritual Elevations are words recorded by her faithful "secretaries" either during her conversations with God or with people, or during her very frequent ecstasies, or taken from her oral narratives in which Blessed Marie revealed her conscience to the novice mistress, prioress, or her spiritual director. Or they are words preserved in various human or spiritual advice that she simply gave to those who asked for it.
All this interesting autobiographical-spiritual material was first gathered, sorted, and published by Fr. Dionisio Buzy, S.C.J. (Pensées, Paris 1922, with translations into other languages including Italian: Pensieri, Torino-Roma 1928) and is nothing more than a tiny part of what is preserved in Carmel in Bethlehem, Nazareth, and elsewhere. To the devotees of the new blessed, we now offer in one of the volumes of the "Il Passero solitario" edition the most beautiful and characteristic elements of her spirituality, sorted from this perspective: the flowers of her deep thoughts, her burning love for God and for neighbor, and her wonderful simplicity and humility, cloaked in fascinating images of her Oriental psychology and permeated with a strong biblical fragrance of the Holy Land to which she belonged.
The words of Blessed Marie of Jesus Crucified bring to Carmelite friars and nuns the essence of the ascetic-mystical teachings of their holy Mother Teresa of Jesus and to all people a sweet echo of biblical poetry and songs, an inner longing for the preaching of Jesus and the parables of the Gospel. Both are born and die in the same land, admire the same seas, gaze upon the same mountains and deserts, and breathe in the fragrance of the same flowers.
Rome, on the day of the beatification, November 13, 1983
Fr. Simeon of the Holy Family, general postulator OCD
Spiritual Elevations
1. God - Everything. - Seek only God, do not stop at anything created. If you speak, be as if you did not speak; if you look, as if you did not see; if you listen, as if you did not hear. Only God is everything; creation is nothing but nothingness and sin. Everything in the world is vanity, for all that passes is nothing. How we will mourn at the moment of death that we did not make use of time! ...
2. The Greatness of God. - To what shall I liken my God? To the ocean? That is not enough. If the whole earth became a single drop of water for refreshment, it would not suffice. So the love of all hearts is not enough for You, my God. I am a drop of water and You are the ocean. I long to have a heart capable of holding the whole earth and sea so that I may love You!
3. God's Mercy. - Lord, I am black, blacker than coal; but Your mercy, which is greater than the sea, will wash me. Even if everyone came to drink and wash themselves in the sea, the sea would not dry up nor be soiled. Lord, You are that sea. Many long for You, but we are blind; we cannot seek You, nor see You, nor find You; darkness blinds us. I too, Lord, belong to this number.
4. Safety in God. - Lord, always protect me in Your love, like a child is protected in the womb of its mother. There it needs nothing, neither to eat nor drink; it is hidden from every danger; with its mother, it has everything… And I will lack nothing either, Lord, when You protect me in Your love. I desire nothing but to be Yours; I never want to leave You… And as a child becomes fragile and pitiable the moment it leaves the womb of its mother, I too will be unhappy if I leave You. Protect me, Lord, in Your womb; guard me in the depths of Your love…
5. Chick under Mother's Wings. - Since yesterday I have been singing and I sing a song to the Lord. I said: Lord, I am like a chick pursued by a hawk, pecked on the head, almost captured; but the poor little one hid under the wings of its mother to be safe. So too, when I stand in distress, sadness, pain. My bones are dislocated; the marrow of my bones has soured; my muscles are crushed. I turned my gaze to my Father, and He saw me, and His gaze healed me. The soured marrow of my bones became sweet as sugar; my bones were strengthened as if I were fifteen years old; my muscles leaped for joy just as my whole being did. I ran towards my Father and my King, and my King came to me, and I was like a chick under the wings of my mother. And I looked at my enemies through the feathers on the wings of my Father and my King, and I was not afraid at all; I was safe. I came with the King and left with the King. My enemies, when they saw me, amazed, said: No, that is not her; that is another… Indeed, yes, it was I, for the Most High took me under the wings of His protection, and I entered with the King and left with the King. And my enemies, when they saw me, were astonished, their knees gave way, and they fell, and I walked over their heads… Oh! It is impossible for me to express how I felt...
Translated from Italian by Fr. Jindřich Zdík Charouz, O.Praem
