O.Carm
Celebrating At Home - Fourth Sunday of Easter
The Good Shepherd Calls His Own by Name,
and They Recognise His Voice (John 10:1-10)
This year, the Gospel reading talks about Jesus as the ‘gate of the sheepfold’, that is, Jesus is the one through whom we truly enter into the fold of God. The reading implies that those who get into the sheepfold some other way bring only disaster and destruction. Those who enter the fold through Christ, the Good Shepherd, will be safe, will be led to good pasture and have life in all its fullness.
Jesus acts towards us like a good shepherd: feeding, nurturing, defending and even laying down his life for us. Our Good Shepherd is deeply concerned about us, the flock and there is a deep sense of warmth and intimacy in the realisation that Jesus knows each one of us by name. Like a good shepherd Jesus is the source of life, nourishment, and safety for the sheep.
Any reflection about Jesus as the Good Shepherd also serves as a reminder that shepherding each other in Jesus’ name is part of the vocation of every disciple. We are very used to thinking about Jesus as the Good Shepherd, but we also need to think about being/becoming good shepherds to each other.
One of the very encouraging things about the pandemic was the number of people who became good shepherds to others, providing safety and security to vulnerable people, supporting health workers, providing meals and companionship. Yes, there were the ‘thieves and brigands’ too who preyed on others by hiking prices, selling goods which were never delivered and various other online scams.
But, like Jesus, we are called to bring life in all its fullness to one another.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - Fourth Sunday of Easter [PDF](2.90 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - Fourth Sunday of Easter [ePub](2.63 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - Cuarto Domingo de Pascua(754 KB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - IV Domenica di Pasqua(741 KB)
- pdf Celebrando em família - Quarto Domingo da Páscoa(753 KB)
British Province Holds Chapter at Aylesford, England
The British Province held its 20th Provincial Chapter since its restoration in September 1969. The gathering was held April 13-17, 2026. The elections took place at an assembly in February. All those election were confirmed by the prior general, Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., on the first afternoon of the Chapter proper.
In opening the Chapter, Desiderio García Martínez, O.Carm., the Prior General remined the participants that our identity, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, is free and that “each member of the Carmelite family must find their own place.” He continued saying,
“We are proud of the individuals and groups (friars, nuns, sisters, TOC, lay people, Carmelite lay people, Carmel youth, Congregations, OCD) who are inspired by the Rule of Carmel, its tradition and the values of its history and spirituality, which constitute the Carmelite Family. Nobody has a monopoly on charism.”
The members of the province together with other members of the Carmelite Family spent the Chapter reflecting together on the previous three years while planning for the next triennium. A great fraternal spirit was evident throughout the week, as the participants shared their common concerns both in the Chapter Room, the Chapel, and at table.
After considering the usual reports, the Chapter considered its ministries (especially regarding the shrines within the province) and how they might be Carmelite in the future. Time was spent looking at vocations and communications while also exploring the role of partnership and collaboration.
The participants received updates and reflected further on the province’s Youth Centre Project. At the centre of this project will be the “Simon Stock Community”: a residential community made up of young adults (aged 18 to 30 years) who will live together in a purpose built house on the grounds of The Friars (Aylesford). Construction is currently underway and it is hoped that it will be complete by January 2027. These young adults will live, pray and serve together, supporting retreats, programmes and events for children and young people. During the chapter, the participants had a tour of the works that are underway.
The participants spent time (both in personal reflection and together in conversation groups) considering the next three years under four themes: Me as a Carmelite; We are Carmelite Community; Our Carmelite Family; and, Carmelites on Mission.
The following leadership elected or confirmed:
Prior Provincial | Prior Provincial | Priore Provinciale
Brendan Grady, O. Carm.
1st Councilor | 1er Consejero | 1o Consigliere
Gerard Walsh, O. Carm.
2nd Councilor | 2do Consejero | 2o Consigliere
Paul de Groot, O. Carm.
3rd Councilor | 3er Consejero | 3o Consigliere
Richard Green, O. Carm.
4th Councilor | 4to Consejero | 4o Consigliere
Pat O'Keefe, O. Carm.
VII Inter-Faith Youth Gathering in West Borneo
VII Inter-Faith Youth Gathering in Pontianak, West Borneo
On April 9-12, 2026, the Wahid Foundation, in collaboration with Temasek Foundation, Hamoni in Action, SADAP, Gusdurian, and SAKA (Yayasan Suar Asa Katulistiwa) held a program to promote interreligious harmony and cooperation among people with different religious backgrounds in Pontianak, the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan.
It is expected that this program may result in actions in common to save the earth as everyone’s common home.
The theme of the gathering was Environmental Ethics and Religion. There were 15 speakers from the different religion groups, including Borneo local religions. Sr. Magdalena Paula SKYB, a local Carmelite sister and part of the Indonesian Carmelite NGO, was one of the speakers representing the Catholic community. Her presentation focused on the Laudato Si' principles.
There were 36 young leaders from different youth groups in Borneo also participating in the three-day program. They remained enthusiastically engaged in the discussion. There were also five representatives of deaf-mute youth community who are active in promoting interreligious understanding in Pontianak.
Causa Nostrae Laetitiae
PROFESSIO SOLEMNIS
14-03-26 Randy Fernando Romero Morillo (Baet-Ven) La Victoria, Venezuela
19-03-26 Kacper Galiński (Pol) Krakow, Poland
19-03-26 Piotr Grudziński (Pol) Krakow, Poland
ORDINATIO DIACONALIS
21-03-26 Horacio Antonio Vargas Cáceres (Baet-Ven) La Concepción, Venezuela
ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS
07-03-26 Manuel Antonio Villarreal Franco (Baet-Ven) Mucunchies, Venezuela
25-03-26 Davi Maria Santos (Pern) Recife, Brasil
11-04-26 Daniele Di Filippo (Ita) Roma, Italia
11-04-26 Eduardo Antonio Díaz Esinoza (PCM-Perú) Miraflores, Lima, Perú
Whitefriars in Donvale, Australia Celebrates 65 Years
Whitefriars College celebrates 65 years since its foundation this year. The first group of students was welcomed to the College on February 14, 1961. Carmelite Frank Shortis was the founding principal. The school is located in Donvale, a suburb of Melbourne.
The College was founded by the Carmelite Order of Priests and Brothers as a Catholic secondary school for boys. This was in response to a strong demand from local Catholic families who wanted an educational institution grounded in their faith.
The Carmelite tradition has deep roots, stretching back to the late Twelfth Century in the Holy Land. There, a small group of Christian hermits settled on Mount Carmel, inspired by a spirit of prayer and reflection. Despite challenges that led them to leave Mount Carmel, they carried the essence of their way of life, spreading it across the world.
Today, the Carmelites continue to witness God’s presence in people, nature, the Word of God and within the human spirit. Their mission is to cultivate a spirit of prayer, reflection, justice and peace—values which are central to our educational approach. At Whitefriars, these values are embraced through service, respect for individuals and fostering a strong sense of community. We live in allegiance to Jesus Christ, drawing inspiration from Mary, the Prophet Elijah and other holy figures who have followed the Carmelite way.
The College is structured around a house-based, Vertical Pastoral Care system, with each house dedicated to a Carmelite saint or blessed figure. These figures serve as inspirations for our students as they pursue excellence in education based on deeply human and Christian values.
The College has produced a series of 6 short videos to tell something of the story of the last 65 years. These can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=whitefriars+college
Baptist Spagnoli: The Christian Virgil
17 April Memorial
Baptist Spagnoli was a literary genius. He devoted the fruitfulness of his extraordinary literary ability to the service of the Order and the Church. His Apologia pro Ordine Carmelitarum (Apology for the Order of Carmelites) stands as the principal testimony to his love for Carmel, while his total devotion to the Church is attested not only by his poems in honor of Innocent VIII, Julius II, and Leo X, but also by all those writings that reveal his active engagement with the issues most deeply felt by Christendom at the time, such as, for example, the Obiurgatio cum exhortatione ad capienda arma contra infideles, ad reges et principes christianos (Admonition and Exhortation to Christian Kings to Take Up Arms Against the Infidels).
The events that were then disrupting the life of the nation also caused him to write. His verses Pro pacata Italia post bellum ferrariense (To Italy at Peace After the War of Ferrara), those of In Romam bellis tumultuantem (Against Rome in Turmoil from Wars), the poem Debello veneto commentariolus (Brief Commentary on the Venetian War), the Trophaeum pro Gallis expulsis produce Mantuae (Victory Ode on the Expulsion of the Gauls by the Duke of Mantua), and above all the De calamitatibus temporum (The Calamities of the Times), reprinted nearly thirty times between 1489 and 1510 alone, demonstrate how deeply the Mantuan felt the drama that was tormenting Italy in those years.
The friendships that bound him to distinguished figures of the time is proof of his high prestige in the world of culture. He was one of the most celebrated figures of the humanist movement, especially for his work Bucolica: seu adolescentia in decem aeglogas divisa (Bucolica or Adolescence Divided into Ten Eclogues), of which there are nearly 150 editions, more than a hundred of them in the 16th century alone, which is why his contemporaries, including Erasmus of Rotterdam, proclaimed him the Christian Virgil.
His poetic work, whose fame reached as far as Shakespeare with some even included in his play Love’s Labour’s Lost—influenced English literature in particular: Alexander Barclay paraphrased his eclogues, Edmund Spenser imitated him in The Shepheardes Calender (twelve pastoral eclogues), and John Milton in the Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.
The work required by the various offices entrusted to him and his intense literary activity did not distract him from the Carmelite ideals of the interior life and a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
The practice of the virtues and renunciation of the world form the theme of his De vita beata (The Blessed Life), a dialogue he wrote when he was barely sixteen years old; the aspiration to solitude and the desire for the presence of God are constantly found in his works and in his correspondence. In honor of Mary, he composed several odes and a three-volume poem, the Parthenices Mariana (Songs to the Virgin), which spread rapidly throughout Europe, as some seventy editions were published, fifteen in the fifteenth century and nearly fifty in the sixteenth. He worked to have the custody of the sanctuary of Loreto entrusted to his Congregation, which he obtained, albeit for only a few years, in 1489.
The six Parthenices composed in honor of the martyrs Catherine, Margaret, Agatha, Lucy, Apollonia, and Cecilia, and the poems in honor of St. John the Baptist, St. George, and other saints, constitute, together with the twelve books of the De sacris diebus (The Sacred Days), another example of his religious piety.
Impressed by the growing corruption of the clergy and the people, he expressed his reformist aspirations not only through his insightful literary works, such as the IXth eclogue De moribus curiae romanae (On the Customs of the Roman Curia), but also through a passionate speech delivered in the Vatican Basilica in 1489, before Innocent VIII and the cardinals. Some of his particularly harsh statements led Luther himself to rely on the authority of Baptist to take a stand against Rome. And in an Anthologia... sententiosa collecta ex operibus Baptistae Mantuani (Anthology of Sentences Collected from the Works of B.V.M.), published in Nuremberg in 1571, the Protestants went so far as to point to the Carmelite as a precursor of the German reformer. But it is worth noting the essential difference between the reformist spirit of Blessed Mantuano, who sought to work within the Church, and that of Luther, which was to lead to schism.
Adapted from the entry for Baptist Spagnoli by Edmondo Coccia in Santi del Carmelo, a cura di Ludovico Saggi Ocarm, Institutum Carmelitanum, Roma, 1972.
To read more ...
Celebrating At Home - Third Sunday of Easter
Strangers Share a Journey, Hearts Begin to Burn
and They Recognised Him (Lk 24:13-35)
It is a heart-warming story and we can easily identify with the two disciples feeling crushed by the weight of their shattered dreams. They don’t believe the story of the women that Jesus is alive.
They don’t recognise the stranger when he walks beside them. Perhaps that’s because they are so
involved in their own hurt and disappointment, and doesn’t that sometimes happen to us, too?
What does Jesus do? First, he invites them to share with him their story, he lets them talk it out. Then he draws them into the bigger story of his life, death and resurrection by unfolding the scriptures for them. In other words, he gives them a sense of perspective. He puts their story in touch with the bigger story of God’s purpose.
Their hope is being rebuilt and their hearts are beginning ‘to burn’ as Jesus talks. They are beginning to ‘catch fire’ again. When they arrive at Emmaus, Jesus makes as if to go on, but the disciples beg him to stay.
At table Jesus takes the bread, says the traditional Jewish blessing (like Grace Before Meals) and breaks the loaf and the eyes of these faithful, yet blind, disciples are opened to recognise him.
The disciples can scarcely contain themselves and set out immediately to return to Jerusalem, eager to share their story. To travel at night in the ancient world was to risk robbery and death, but, they just can’t wait.
From being two sad, depressed, down-hearted, grieving men the disciples have been transformed into impatient, enthusiastic heralds of good news through their encounter with Jesus.
It is the same Jesus whom we encounter in our hearts and in the Eucharist.
Maybe we could spend a little time sharing with Jesus our story and listening more deeply to his.
Flowers for Easter Mass a Blessing from St. Titus
Flowers for Easter Mass a Blessing from St. Titus Brandsma to the Church
When Titus Brandsma was beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II on November 3, 1985, St Peter’s was alive with thousands of flowers from the martyr’s home country of the Netherlands. This set off a tradition of Dutch florists providing the flowers for the decoration of St. Peter’s Square and the basilica each Easter Sunday. The flowers are also part of the backdrop for the Urbi et Orbi blessing delivered by the pope from the balcony at the center entrance to St. Peters.
The NL Times reports that the tradition started following Pope John Paul II’s visit to Utrecht on May 12, 1985. The floral display during that visit is thought to have left such a powerful impression that the Dutch flower industry was asked to supply flowers for the beatification of Brandsma. They have been an annual Easter gift since 1986.
In 2026 there were 65,000 tulip bulbs, daffodils, hyacinths, and mini-daffodils; 220 white and orange violets; 7,800 flowers, including roses, delphiniums, anthuriums, chrysanthemums, gerberas, and mathiolas; 600 branches of plumosa; 80 azaleas and 600 long branches of willow catkins, long branches of eucalyptus, as well as various types of foliage,” according the Vatican.
Before leaving the Netherlands, all the plants were blessed by the president of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference.
Paul Deckers, in an online article in Thursd reminisced about his involvement in the floral decorations of St. Peter’s Square for Easter. He had been the “Head Arranger” for the Vatican donation for many years until 2021. His arrangements are noted for including branches, roots, leaves, mosses, and other natural materials, creating compositions that are symbolic, emotional, and often spiritual in character. His philosophy is “doing more by using less.” His efforts resulted in audiences with Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis.
For pictures of the flowers at the Vatican, go to: https://thursd.com/posts/thank-you-for-the-flowers-from-the-netherlands
On Easter Sunday afternoon, an article from the same NL Times pointed out the pope’s message on global conflict and his urging world leaders to “choose peace” as there is a growing public indifference to violence. But he failed to include a “Bedankt voor de bloemen (“Thank you for the flowers”) which ended a 40-year tradition in the papal address. The article also noted that his address included Arabic, Polish, and English among the 10 languages but not Dutch among the 10 languages he spoke.
New Province in Spain Holds First Chapter
New Province of El Dulce Nombre de María in Spain Holds First Chapter in Salamanca, Spain
The first provincial chapter of the Province of “El Dulce Nombre de María” was held from April 7-9, 2026, in the Centro de Espiritualidad «San Ignacio» in Salamanca, Spain.
This new province was erected on the April 7, 2026, and is the result of a combination of the Province of Aragón Castille and Valencia of Saint John of the Cross and the Province of Bética of “El Dulce Nombre de María.” The new province will not to be called a Spanish Province as it goes beyond Spain, having presences in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Spain, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.
Over the last three years, much work had been done to prepare for this moment including, most especially, a joint assembly of the members of both combining provinces held in Madrid in 2025. As a result, there was already much consensus about the decisions that the first chapter had to formally take.
The prior general, Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., concluded his opening address with the words that Brother Pablo María de la Cruz, O. Carm., a young Carmelite who made his profession in articulo mortis and died at the age of 21, addressed to Pope Francis on the occasion of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon: “In Carmel, the Garden of God, the antechamber of Heaven, Mary grows, the Sunflower of God, whom I like to call and imagine as the Virgin of Spring. I ask her to transform the deserts of pain into gardens of consolation, and in her hands I place the evangelization of young people.”
During the chapter, the forty-four gremiales participating at the chapter spent time considering the reports of the outgoing provincials, provincial councilors, delegates for the nuns, and the commission for the schools. Time was also spent considering the statutes for the new province and especially the statutes for the two provincial commissariats (Las Antillas, Venezuela), and the provincial project for the next three years.
Bishop José Luis Retana Gozalo, the bishop of Salamanca, presided at the closing Eucharist of the Chapter which was held in the Carmelite convent, of “El Carmel de Abajo” which is also the international novitiate house for Europe. Following the Eucharist, Bishop José Luis blessed the newly finished Carmelite Spirituality Centre “John of the Cross.”
During the Chapter of the new province, the following leadership elected or confirmed:
Prior Provincial | Prior Provincial | Priore Provinciale
Salvador Villota Herrero, O. Carm.
1st Councilor | 1er Consejero | 1o Consigliere
Fernando Millán Romeral, O. Carm.
2nd Councilor | 2do Consejero | 2o Consigliere
David del Carpio Horcajo, O. Carm.
3rd Councilor | 3er Consejero | 3o Consigliere
Francisco Javier Beauvais de La Motte, O. Carm.
4th Councilor | 4to Consejero | 4o Consigliere
Vicente Aranda Guillén, O. Carm.
Confirmed / Confirmados / Confermati
Commissary Provincial of the Antilles | Comisario Provincial de las Antillas | Commissario provinciale delle Antille
Jorge Rafael Betancourt Ramírez, O. Carm.
Commissary Provincial of Venezuela | Comisario Provincial de las Antillas | Commissario provinciale delle Antille
Alexio Enrique Ordóñez, O. Carm
Pope Leo Calls for a Worldwide Prayer Vigil for Peace
International Prayer Vigil for Peace
Saturday, April 11, 2026 – St Peter’s Basilica
6 PM (Rome)
Pope Leo XIV has invited all people around the world to join him in praying for peace on Saturday, April 11, at 6pm (Rome time). The Prayer Vigil for Peace will be held in St. Peter’s Basilica, but everyone can participate via Vatican Communications (vatican.va)
The pope and various Catholic organizations as well as individuals have expressed grave concern that the war between the US/Israel and Iran is not only causing massive suffering and death but that the war is unjust.
In his Easter Sunday message, the pope highlighted that Jesus walked the path of dialogue and that the power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent— rejecting revenge, choosing compassion, praying for one another and seeking the common good rather than private interests.
“Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace. Not a peace imposed by force but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them! We are growing accustomed to violence . . . and becoming indifferent . . . The peace that Christ gives us is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each of us!” (Leo XIV)
