Asceticism is a necessary part of the spiritual life. Saints John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila espouse an absolute asceticism of complete detachment and relentless mortification. This zealous ideal can seem daunting if removed from the ultimate goal of their ascetical practices: love of God and neighbor. In this episode, we discuss the practice of asceticism and its important place in the Carmelite tradition.

Anyone committed to a life of prayer will face the difficulties of distractions and aridity at different times. These experiences can be extremely frustrating and disheartening. However, even the greatest saints faced these same trials in prayer, and they show us that they are actually opportunities for growth in our relationship with God. In this episode, we examine the experiences of distraction and aridity in our times of prayer based on the teachings of the Carmelite masters.

As we grow in the spiritual life, we may find that our prayer becomes less focused on what we are doing and more about what God is doing in us. Saint John of the Cross defines this type of prayer as "an inpouring of God into the soul" and offers three signs to help discern if God is inviting a soul to receive His grace in this way. In this episode, we explore the teachings of Saints John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila on passive prayer within the Carmelite tradition.

Saint Teresa of Avila proposes one particular method of prayer that she found to be most helpful in her own life: the prayer of recollection. In this episode, we discuss this practice of prayer as it is understood in the Carmelite Tradition. We also look briefly at Saint Teresa's famous analogy of the degrees of prayer: The Four Waters.

Most of us are familiar with various ways of praying, some of these methods taught to us from our youth. These types of prayer are not only for beginners but continue to be helpful aids as we grow in our relationship with God. In this episode, we will look more closely at four different methods, or modes, of prayer which are highly revered in the Carmelite tradition: vocal prayer, liturgical prayer, meditative reading, and discursive meditation.

Whether you’ve been praying for many years, or if you are just beginning, we all have one thing in common: the need for conversion. Lent is a season specifically set aside by the Church to focus on repentance and conversion. In this episode we explore what the Carmelite tradition has to teach us about living lives of continual conversion from the teachings of Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross.

This is the essence of Carmel. This is the purpose of the entire spiritual life. This is the reason why the whole world was created. And this is the very reason why you were made...

Thomas Morgan Kavanaugh was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 19 February 1928. After attending Archbishop Messmer High School in Milwaukee, he entered the novitiate of the Discalced Carmelite friars in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1946...

Today, February 4, is the memorial of our newest beatified friar, Bl. Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus. As a diocesan priest who entered Carmel five years after my ordination, I received much guidance from the writings and example of this great man who shared with me a common path...

Speak of strange and unexpected fulfillment of prophetic pronouncements. Edith Stein wrote that "what did not lie in [her] plan lay in God's plan." Years later as a contemplative nun living in a cloister in Cologne Germany she helped her Jewish sister Rosa prepare to follow her into the Catholic Church by receiving the sacrament of Baptism just as Edith did back on the first day of the year 1922.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the exchanging of Christmas cards. There’s a joy-filled wonder in checking the mailbox and seeing a colored card-sized envelope. No matter who it’s from, we love receiving personal notes of affection, awkward family photos, and assurances of prayers and love in the coming New Year...

Saint John of the Cross is widely known for his spiritual writing. He is a Doctor of the Church, master of prayer, and expert of the spiritual life. His writings cover a wide range of subjects and themes, but John is seldom acknowledged for his teachings on the Blessed Virgin Mary. How is it that a man known for his spiritual wisdom, who devoted his entire life to achieving union with God in a religious order dedicated to living in imitation of Mary, is rarely recalled in relation to Our Lady?

“Let us understand most clearly the real fact: God gives [gifts] to us without any merit on our part. And let us thank His Majesty for them, because, if we do not acknowledge we are receiving them, we will not awaken ourselves to love."

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Raphael (Kalinowski) of St. Joseph, O.C.D. He is the only other Discalced Carmelite friar that has been canonized after St. John of the Cross...

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity was a talented, passionate, and vivacious young woman who lived in France from 1880 to 1906. At age 21 she left behind a life of music, parties, and travel to enter the silence of a Carmelite convent...

Like the Samaritan woman at the well, Teresa knows by experience the liberation of having been loved by Christ. She knows the liberation of being freed of one’s enslavement to sin. She knows the liberation of being freed of licking one’s own wounds and repeatedly tearing them open again in the desire for justice. At the CORE of Teresa’s spirituality is the experience of ENCOUNTER with Christ...

The question Teresa asks all of us today Is: Do you feel wearied at times by the burdens of earthly relationships? Do you thirst for something greater? Is it possible that God might be calling you? Not simply to say some prayers each night and come to church on Sunday, but to be open to His healing love which he wants to pour out into your life; to let go of those things that you know are holding you back from him? Maybe Teresa’s relationship with God is for you too.

I heard a story once about a priest who had a terrible dream one night. He found himself in his parish tool shed when the devil appeared to him and began recounting his ways of misleading souls...

A few days ago, one of the elder friars in our community gave an excellent homily concerning the devastating sexual abuse crisis within the Catholic Church. Having been surrounded by the whirlwind of media coverage over the last couple of weeks, he pondered what the takeaway message should be for us as Christians and specifically as Carmelites...

The silence of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not one of emptiness. No, her silence is pregnant with meaning. At the Annunciation, her yes to God was so perfect and pure that it echoes continuously throughout the rest of her life and the rest of eternity. It's not that Mary has nothing to say, it's that she's already said it all: "Let it be done to me according to your Word."