LoH Calendar 2018 now available

Looking for a handy calendar for the Liturgy of the Hours with the Carmelite as well as Philippine solemnities, feasts, memorials, and optional memorials integrated with the general Ordo? No need to look further. The Liturgy of the Hours Calendar for 2018 is now available for only 50 pesos each (10% discount for COD purchase of at least 20pcs). The booklet is about 4x6 inches—very handy and can easily fit in your bag, pocket, or breviary cover.  For orders, please call the OCDS House of Prayer at (02)7214252. Thanks!

Nada Te Turbe - A Virtual Choir of Carmelites

Do you want to be one of those 'people in brown'?

—Do you feel a call to deeper prayer life but do not know where to begin?

—Are you aching for a personal friendship with Jesus but are too shy to ask for help?

—Are you attracted to Mary and desire to be under the patronage of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel?

—Are you serious about expressing your love for the Lord more than through the Sunday Mass?

—Deep inside are you drawn to seek God’s face and to intimately converse with Him in prayer?

—Do you wish to be taught and inspired by the Masters of Prayer, St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross?

—Are you moved to serve in a way that may be new to you, for the sake of the Church and the world?

If you said “Yes” to some or all of the above, then perhaps you are called to be one of us—the "people" in brown who worship with you at the Shrine, the Seculars of the Order of Discalced Carmelites.  

1. What is the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order?  It is part of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD) which was established in 1593, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelite Order of the Ancient Observance by two Spanish saints, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. “Discalced” is derived from Latin, meaning “without shoes”.  Discalced Carmelites (or Barefoot Carmelites) are present in the modern world as friars, cloistered nuns, and seculars.  The friars and the nuns have “OCD” after their religious names; the seculars or the lay members of the OCD family, have “OCDS”.  Seculars have their religious names, too, but these are used only in Carmel. 

2.  Who are we?  Discalced Carmelite Seculars come from all walks of life, from every level of education and from every type of work. We are Catholic laypersons over the age of 18 (married or unmarried) or ordained diocesan priests or deacons. There are more than 45,000 Discalced Carmelite Seculars worldwide and more than 2,000 in the Philippines. We gather in canonically erected communities or recognized study groups under the guidance and leadership of the Order.

3.  What is the foundation of Carmelite life?  The following principles of the Rule of Saint Albert, written for the hermits on Mount Carmel in the 13th century, guide Carmelite life today:

* Living in allegiance to Jesus Christ

* Being diligent in meditating on the law of the Lord

* Giving time to spiritual reading

* Participating in the liturgy of the church, both the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours

* Arming themselves with the practice of the virtues

* Seeking interior silence and solitude

* Using prudent discretion in all that they do. (from “Constitutions of the Secular Order of the Teresian Carmel,” 2003)

4. What is required of Discalced Carmelite Seculars? The Secular’s obligations can be summarized by the “6 Ms”:

1)  Meditation: A suggestion is 30 minutes each day.

2) Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and, if possible, Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours.

3) Mass: daily, if possible.

4) Mary: every day, Seculars express devotion to Mary. Their primary devotion is to imitate Mary in “reflecting on [all these things] in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

5) Meetings: Seculars are called to communities whose members have made a commitment to one another. Meetings consist of formation, information and fellowship.

6) Mission: Seculars share in the Carmelite mission of knowing God so God can be known.

5.  What is the timetable for becoming a Discalced Carmelite Secular?  The entire period of formation commonly requires about six years. Aspirancy: Attendance at 12 monthly meetings of the community is required, so the Aspirant may be supported by its members as he or she learns more about Secular life and discerns whether he or she has a vocation to the order. Novitiate—First period of formation.  A minimum of two years is required for study and growth in prayer, the apostolate and community life. At the end of this time, the Council of the Community may invite the Novice to make a Temporary Promise of poverty, chastity and obedience to the Order, after which he or she

enters the Second period of formation, where candidates go through “TP1, TP2, and TP3”.  “TP” stands for “Temporary Promise”, at least three years preceding the Definitive Promise, which is binding for life.  Either period of formation may be extended if the Council and the individual in formation agree that doing so is in the best interest of the candidate.

Discalced Carmelite Seculars are practising members of the Catholic Church who, under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and inspired by St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, make the commitment to the Order of Discalced Carmelites to seek the face of God for the sake of the Church and the world.

To know us better, visit or call, preferably on our gathering on the 2nd Sunday of every month

St. Teresa of Jesus Community of Manila

#4, 5^th Street, New Manila, QC

(OCDS House of Prayer behind the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Shrine)
Telephone:  721-4252

You may also call or text any of us:

Carmencita Abaquin, OCDS, President

– 0917 790 9994

Mariecor Maglaya, OCDS, Director of Formation

– 0918 927 7741

Teresa Tunay, OCDS, Councilor for Apostolate

– 0918 878 5683 and  664 5886

 For more information about our Community, please visit our website:

https://friendsofjesusforever.blogspot.com

Why her feast is on Oct. 15, not Oct. 4

Iconic image of St. Teresa of Avila, by Peter Paul Rubens

October 4 is the actual date of St. Teresa of Avila’s death. She died at 9PM, thus many Carmelite cloisters to this day hold a vigil on October 4, from 9PM, in memory of her passing into eternity. But why is St. Teresa’s feast celebrated by the Catholic Church on Oct. 15, confusing many? It’s because on the day this great woman died, the Gregorian Calendar was “born.”

Today, October 4, 2017 is actually the 435th anniversary of the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar. Here’s what research yields:

“From October 5–October 14, 1582, time was erased. Not literally, of course; just on the calendar. These ten days were declared non-existent by then-pope Gregory XIII as part of a realignment of the Julian calendar, implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. In the mid-1570s, it was discovered that the Julian calendar was actually 10 days behind the seasons of the year. For example, Easter began falling later in the spring than it should have and eventually would have drifted into summer. The calendar creep was the result of the solar year (the time it takes Earth to make one revolution around the sun) being around 11 minutes shy of the full Julian calendar. To be precise, the solar year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.

“Pope Gregory saved the day (and season) by appointing a commission to solve the problem. It took five years, but eventually the group, led by physician Aloysius Lilius and astronomer Christopher Clavius, proposed eliminating three leap years every 400 years to keep the calendar on track. To transition to the Gregorian calendar, ten days were declared officially non-existent, with the day after October 4, 1582 declared October 15th. First implemented by Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the Gregorian calendar is today’s most widely used system.”

And so, St. Teresa's Feast became October 15. I hope this piece of trivia helps clear the air. The painting is my favorite of her, by Peter Paul Rubens. (Sta. Teresa de Avila, pray for us!)

Making St. Teresa known and loved

St. Teresa of Avila at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican? Why not? Dreams and wishes are for free. We dream of seeing her billboard out there (like that one in our banner, created for this purpose), looming larger than life. We wish someone in the Vatican would get wind of our dream and do something about it, to make St. Teresa of Jesus known and loved throughout the world. Meanwhile, we continue to celebrate our journey with her, faithfully, as though she were still alive among us because, in fact, she is—in spirit.

For us members of the St. Teresa of Jesus Community of Manila—the first canonically erected OCDS chapter in the Philippines—Teresa de Avila is so alive, and we so love her not only because she is a “great” in Church history but more so because she has a heart that beats with Jesus’ own, empowering her to say with both tenderness and authority that “all must be loved”. And so we Secular Carmelites of Manila strive to follow her footsteps in service to the Church she loved so well.
"All must be loved"--four words that move us to make The Great Teresa known to all—north, south, east, west of the Philippines—but especially to those who have never heard of this marvelous woman. She may have lived 500 years ago, but how relevant her teachings are in contemporary times! You will meet her here, in this website, and see for yourself how easy it is to be her friend, while she, Master of Prayer, teaches us to be Jesus' friend.
Humbly we admit that this site largely reflects but our understanding of this great woman, a perception we articulate from the heart through the lovingly chosen articles that make up the Teresa mosaic. We have but one goal in mind and at heart: to make St. Teresa of Jesus known and loved, for we believe that knowing her, one cannot but love her; and loving her, how can one not follow her way.