14 December Feast

Saint John was born, probably in 1540, in Fontiveros, near Avila in Spain. His father died when he was very young and he had to move with his mother from one place to another, while he tried as best he could to continue his education and, at the same time, to earn a living. In Medina in 1563 he was clothed in the Carmelite habit and, after a year's novitiate, was given permission to follow the unmitigated Carmelite Rule. 

He was ordained priest in 1567, after studying philosophy and theology at Salamanca, and, in the same year, he met Saint Teresa of Jesus who, a little while before, had obtained permission from the Prior General Rossi to found two communities of contemplative Carmelite Friars (later called the Discalced) in order that they might help the communities of nuns that she had established. A year later - during which he travelled with Teresa - on the 28th November 1568, John became part of the first group of Reformed Carmelites at Duruelo, changing his name from John of St. Matthias to John of the Cross.

To read more on the life of St. John of the Cross ...

For more on John of the Cross and His Eucharistic Spirituality ...

To watch the interview from 2022 with Dr. John D. Love, S.T.D., on the relevance of St. John's today, click here ...

Publications by Edizioni Carmelitane available at the Webstore 

Are You the One?
(Matthew 11:2-11)

This Sunday marks the turning point in the Advent Season. Traditionally called Gaudete Sunday it is a day of rejoicing that the Saviour is near. The focus shifts from the final coming of Christ at the end of time to the first coming of Christ at Bethlehem. The note of joy is symbolised by the inclusion of the colour rose among the purple of the Season.
The joyful first reading from the prophet Isaiah proclaims that God is on his way to save his people. This coming brings healing and rejoicing and an end to sorrow and lament.
Using images of farmers and prophets, the letter of St James urges patience in our waiting for God. A kind of patient certainty is the attitude of the disciple.
Perhaps it is actually us who are slow in responding to God; slow in letting the message of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit transform our lives so that we too might have power to bring healing and joy. In the Gospel Jesus fulfils the prophecy of the first reading about the Messiah. John the Baptist asks, “Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?”
The words of Jesus clarify his identity and that of John the Baptist. Jesus comes, not as the kind of warrior-messiah, slaughtering and slashing, but as ‘the kindness of God’, tending the sheep, healing and liberating the needy - the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor.
But is Jesus the ‘one’ for us, or are we really waiting for someone or something else to save us?
Our Christmas can’t simply be about Jesus’ birth a long time ago, celebrating an historical anniversary. It has to be more than that - the celebration of a fresh discovery of an ever-deepening presence of Christ in each of us.
Rejoice! God is not only ‘on his way’, he is already here!

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 3rd Sunday of Advent [PDF] (1.11 MB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 3rd Sunday of Advent [ePub] (4.07 MB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - Tercer Domingo de Adviento (391 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - III Domenica di Avvento (383 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em família - Terceiro Domingo Do Advento (382 KB)

5 December Optional Memorial

A native of Mantua, Italy, he was a Carmelite in the Mantuan Congregation and already ordained priest by 1452. For 35 years in the Carmelite church of his city, he was the spiritual director and rector of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for whom he wrote a rule and a set of statutes.

Humble and gentle, he gave an example to everyone of a life of prayer, of generosity and of faithful service of the Lord. He was outstanding for his love of the Eucharist which was the centre of his apostolic life and for his devotion to Mary. He died in 1495.

Prepare A Way For The Lord
(Matthew 3:1-12)

The magnificent first reading from the prophet Isaiah this weekend looks forward to the appearance of one ‘on whom the spirit of the Lord rests – a spirit of wisdom and insight, counsel and power and knowledge of the fear of the Lord’.
He gives judgement in favour of the poor. His judgement is not influenced by appearances or hearsay. He judges with integrity. His word strikes the ruthless and his sentences bring death to wickedness. In his day extraordinary things happen: ‘the wolf lies with the lamb…’ All creation is at peace. Even natural enemies (symbolised by the animals) live together in peace. No hurt or harm is done because the whole country ‘is filled with the knowledge of the Lord’. John the Baptist sits at the centre of this week’s Gospel and next week’s. He is the ‘one who cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord; make his paths straight’.
John was preparing the people for the coming of Jesus.
Moved by his preaching many sought baptism in the river Jordan. This ancient water-rite symbolised dying to the old way of life and rising to a new way of life.
That’s what repentance is about: turning away from sin and turning towards God. It is about true conversion of heart. It’s about making straight the pathways of our hearts. The fruit of our repentance and true conversion shows itself in good works.
Our preparation for the coming ‘day of the Lord’ is a continual cycle of dying and rising; of turning away from sin and towards God; of remaking our minds and hearts after the mind and heart of Christ. The good works we do give Christ presence, form and shape in the concrete reality of human life. So, Christian life is a constant act of preparation through repentance and good works.
Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus long ago.
It’s also about giving birth to him in our lives every day.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 2nd Sunday of Advent [PDF] (1.38 MB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 2nd Sunday of Advent [ePub] (1.96 MB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - Segundo Domingo de Adviento (393 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - II Domenica di Avvento (388 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em família - Segundo Domingo Do Advento (409 KB)

From the Silence of Belém to the Hope of Santa Marta: Reconfiguring Climate Multilateralism

— Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm.
Director of the Department of Integral Ecology, Spanish Episcopal Conference

COP30, held in Belém do Pará, Brazil, left behind a bittersweet taste. The Brazilian presidency managed to imbue the final document with a humanist narrative that recognized the rights of indigenous peoples, the vital importance of the Amazon, and the ecological debt derived from historical emissions. However, the summit once again stumbled over the usual obstacle: the consensus rule.

The result was a text that, despite its symbolic gestures, failed on two points essential to integral ecology. In terms of mitigation, the explicit reference to the need to abandon fossil fuels disappeared, replaced by vaguer goals of achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century. In terms of financing, although the scientific urgency of mobilizing $1.3 trillion annually was recognized, the political goal was set at a mere $300 billion, thus institutionalizing a financial gap that perpetuates injustice.

Faced with this deadlock in global diplomacy, where a single oil-producing country can veto the ambition of the entire planet, an alternative has emerged: the Santa Marta Conference in Colombia, convened for April 2026 by a bloc of 80 countries led by Colombia, the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Its purpose is clear: to move towards a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and pave the way for a just transition, beyond the obstacles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Santa Marta could become the checkmate to the fossil fuel blockade. As Pope Francis reminds us in Laudate Deum, when global institutions fail, it is up to civil society and intermediate countries to act. If these 80 nations agree to halt new exploration and coordinate their exit from fossil fuels, they will cause a massive contraction in demand. Sooner or later, even the large producers that do not join will see their markets shrink. The financial signal will be irreversible: the future will be renewable, not because of ideology, but for pure economic survival.

The strength of this coalition lies in the fact that it does not need the permission of Saudi Arabia or Russia to move forward. By operating as an alliance of will, it breaks the paralysis of consensus and forges its own path. Furthermore, the leadership of Colombia, a coal and oil-producing country, alongside European powers, gives it a unique ethical legitimacy. It dismantles the idea that climate action is a luxury of the North and presents it as a shared, albeit differentiated, responsibility.

One challenge remains, however: financing courage. For the Santa Marta route to be sustainable and fair, it is not enough to sign the end of fossil fuels. It is essential to put resources on the table and ensure that countries like Colombia do not collapse economically when the tap is turned off.

If Belém was the COP of conscience, recognizing the crisis in the heart of the rainforest, Santa Marta promises to be the conference of coherence. It is an opportunity to demonstrate that, even if global diplomacy progresses slowly, the political will of an organized majority can accelerate history and bring us closer, at last, to the comprehensive ecological conversion that the world needs at this immanent level. The key lies in “reconfiguring multilateralism” so that it is born “from below” (cf. Laudate Deum 37-40).

29 November Optional Memorial

Peter Berthelot was born at Honfleur (Calvados, France) on Dec. 12, 1600, and as a young man went to sea, visiting Spain, England and America. In 1619 he went to India, where, as cosmographer and first pilot of the kings of France and of Portugal, he distinguished himself by his valor and genius. Proof of the latter are his Maritime Tables, sketched with great ability and preserved in the British Museum (Ms. Sloan 197). In 1635, while in Goa, he took counsel with his spiritual director, Father Philip of the Most Trinity, and consequently joined the Discalced Carmelites. He made his profession on Dec. 25, 1636, with the name of Dionysius of the Nativity. He was ordained a priest on Aug. 24, 1638. According to the testimony of the same Father Philip, he was an example of virtue to all the religious, both in the novitiate and after his profession. He was graced with the gift of contemplation; and more than once during prayer he appeared surrounded by heavenly splendors.

Read more ...

Fr. Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the end of November and December 2025:

November 25-28: Meeting of the Union of Superiors General (USG)
November 29: Closing of the Congress on Titus Brandsma
November 30: Online Day of Retreat for Advent for the Youth who participated in the Jubilee Year earlier.
December 3-19: First Plennary Meeting of the General Council | Programming for the Six Year Term
December (TBA): Meeting of the OCD-OCARM General Councils

Joshy Pottackal, O. Carm., of the Province of St. Thomas, Has Been Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Mainz

I am delighted to inform you that this morning, Wednesday, November 26, 2025, the Holy See has informed us that our brother, Fr. Joshy Pottackal, O. Carm., of the Province of St. Thomas in India, has been appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Mainz. This is the first time that a non-European bishop has been appointed in Germany. Fr. Joshy, 48, is a German national. 

The Bishop of Mainz, His Excellency Peter Kohlgraf, has stated that the new Auxiliary Bishop is a simple man with a big heart, hard-working, competent, and with good judgment. The fact that our brother Joshy is the first non-European bishop in Germany not only fills us with pride as Carmelites, but is also an important sign of the unity of the Church in diversity. Bishop Kohlgraft said: “We are called to live unity in diversity, with different paths of faith and cultural backgrounds. In this Church there are no foreigners.” 

"I am not a theorist with a doctorate. My sermons rarely last more than five minutes," Fr. Joshy said at his first press conference.

The official episcopal consecration is scheduled for March 15 in Mainz Cathedral. Bishop Pottackal succeeds the previous auxiliary bishop, SER Udo Markus Bentz, who was appointed Archbishop of Paderborn in 2023.
 
Dear brother Joshy, thank you for your dedication and generosity. We will pray for you in your new mission in the Church and in the world. May Our Lady of Mount Carmel, our Mother and Sister, always accompany you.

Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm.
Prior General

• pdf Lectio Divina December, 2025 [Pdf] (997 KB)
• default Lectio Divina December, 2025 [ePub] (1.03 MB)
• default Lectio Divina December, 2025 [Mobi] (379 KB)
  

Stay Awake!
(Matthew 24:37-44)

The great Advent journey begins. The Advent readings are a rich tapestry of images centered on the truth that God has come among us. We do not pretend that we are waiting for Jesus to be born in a stable. That happened once, a long time ago, and it will not happen again. We remember that birth as we remember our own birthdays.
The God who came among us is still among us. Advent’s invitation is to become aware of the all-pervading presence of the risen Jesus as Emmanuel – God among us.
In the first reading this Sunday Isaiah captures the sense of God’s presence among his people through the images of the high mountain and the Temple – the dwelling place of God among his people. The people’s response in the reading is to be drawn into God’s presence ‘that he may teach us his ways’ and ‘we may walk in his paths’, and be utterly transformed into a new way of living (making swords into ploughshares, etc). In the second reading St Paul reminds the Romans that they are already living in ‘the time’. They should ‘wake up now’ and ‘live decently as people do in the daytime’.
The early Christians believed that Jesus would return very soon as the Lord of Glory. As time passed, they had to re-think this belief and work out how to live in the meantime, the time in between the first and final comings of Christ. That’s our challenge, too.
This week’s Gospel calls us to “Stay awake”, to be vigilant and attentive to the signs of the times so that we do not miss the moment when God breaks into human history once again. The God who came among us is still among us. In Advent we train our eyes to see the reign of God more clearly so that we may be totally caught up in God’s action in the world as we wait for the final manifestation of God’s glory.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 1st Sunday of Advent [PDF] (3.11 MB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 1st Sunday of Advent [ePub] (3.93 MB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - Primer Domingo de Adviento (470 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - Prima Domenica di Avvento (442 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em família - Primeiro Domingo Do Advento (465 KB)