A glimpse into the prayer of the three Carmelite sisters
St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi
She was born in 1566 in Florence, entered the convent of the Carmelites of Our Lady of Angels there in 1582, and died there on May 25, 1607, after 25 years of religious life. Throughout her life, she was accompanied by extraordinary spiritual manifestations and ecstasies, which were recorded by the sisters. She was declared a saint in 1669.
“Yes, you are marvelous, Word, in the Holy Spirit. For you make the Holy Spirit sow you into the soul, so that the soul unites with God, receives God, recognizes Him, and finds satisfaction in nothing except Him. And the Holy Spirit comes into the soul with the seal of the Word, with the seal of the blood of the sacrificed Lamb, indeed this blood even has it that He comes, even though the Spirit Himself blows and desires to come.
This blowing Spirit is in Himself the being of the Father and the being of the Word and proceeds from the essence of the Father and the love of the Word and enters into the soul like a gushing spring, and the soul immerses itself in Him. Just as when two rivers flow together, so that the smaller loses its name and receives the name of the larger, thus this divine Spirit acts by entering into the soul, to unite with it. The soul, being the lesser, must lose its name and cede it to the Spirit; it will do so if it opens up to Him enough that it merges into one with Him.
And this Spirit, the distributor of the riches stored in the heart of the Father and the guardian of the agreements created between the Father and the Son, penetrates the soul with such delicacy that He is hardly even noticed and that very few people discern His true greatness.
Powerfully and lightly, the Spirit flows into all the places that are ready and prepared to receive Him. He resonates in every ear with His returning word and with His deepest silence. Unmoving yet movement itself, He penetrates everything with the tide of love.
You do not remain still, Holy Spirit, in the stillness of the Father nor in the Word, and yet you are continually in the Father, in the Word, in Yourself, as well as in every good spirit and in all creation. Creation needs You for the blood that the only-begotten Son of God, the Word of God, poured out, which made itself indispensable to its creation out of immeasurable love. You rest upon every creation, which is governed so that through participating in Your gifts it may attain in purity true similarity to You. You rest upon those who have been sprinkled with the Lamb's blood, let the Word of God work within them, and prepare a worthy dwelling for You within themselves.”
(From the records of the saint's testimonies –
the Czech translation taken from the 2nd reading of the Church's daily prayer on the feast of St. Mary M. de’ Pazzi.)
St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
She came from the Italian noble family Redi. She was born on July 15, 1747. On September 1, 1764, she entered the convent of St. Teresa of the Discalced Carmelites in Florence and died there on March 7, 1770 (thus she was 22 years old). She was beatified in 1929 and canonized in 1934.
One Sunday after Pentecost in 1767, she received a great contemplative grace: she was given the understanding of the words of St. John: “God is love” (1 John 4:16), which were read during the morning prayer, and she was given to understand the richness of the Trinity dwelling in the soul and to experience it. Her spiritual director, Fr. Ildefons of St. Aloysius, noted: “She told me divine things; she revealed that this love is the love with which God has loved Himself eternally, and the Spirit of God, that is, God's life and breath, which is the Holy Spirit… and that when it is said: whoever is in love is in God and God is in him, it is said that this person lives from God's life and God, in a certain way, lives from his life” (Proc. Ord., 1184). She perceived the mystical penetration of the Holy Spirit into her soul, which fed her intense devotion to this Spirit, to whom she “fled with utter certainty and trust, asking Him that He never be inactive in her heart, but that He continually kindle and multiply her love” (ibid., 1409). This uncreated Love inspired and captivated her, awakening in her a burning desire to be an apostle, an intense need to contribute through prayer and sacrifice to the good of the Church and souls.
(From her biography. Compiled by Ennano Ancilli, in: Santi del Carmelo, Institutum Carmelitanum,
Rome 1972, p. 371n.)
Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified
She was born in 1846 in Galilee and is also known by her civil name Miriam Baouardy. She entered the order of the Discalced Carmelites in 1867 in France, and in 1875 she went to the newly established convent in Bethlehem. She died there on August 26, 1878. She fervently emphasized the importance of devotion to the Holy Spirit. She was declared blessed on November 13, 1983. The Carmelite publishing house published a book about her titled "Rainbow over the Holy Land" by Hans Rossi.
“Holy Spirit, enlighten me! What should I do and how can I find Jesus? The disciples were very ignorant; they were with Jesus, and yet they did not understand Him. I am also in the house of Jesus and I do not understand Him. – Even the smallest thing affects me and throws me into confusion. I am oversensitive; I am not generous enough to make sacrifices for Jesus.
Oh Holy Spirit, when you shone your light upon the disciples, they were transformed; they were no longer what they were before; they received new strength; sacrifices became easy for them; they recognized Jesus better than before, when He still dwelled among them. Fountain of peace, of light, come and enlighten me. I am hungry; come and satisfy me; I am thirsty; come and give me to drink; I am blind; come and enlighten me; I am poor; come and make me rich; I am ignorant; come and teach me!
Holy Spirit, I surrender myself to You.”
(From her prayers. Translated only from German.
Compiled by Fr. Gorazd O.Carm.)
