THESE Carmelites have in common that they are all inspired and driven by God’s mercy.
St. Mary Magdalena de Pazzi is less known but she has as religious the surname de Pazzi. For her God’s mercy flows together in Christ, who in the Garden of Gethsemane struggled about his terrible death on the Cross and saw that his disciples had fallen asleep and did not assist Him with their prayers.
According to the Gospel of St. John (19:30) Jesus has extended his forgiveness to the whole of mankind, when He was hanging on the Cross.
After his death He ascended into heaven, He sat at the right hand of the Father, and from that time on, day after day, He will show this mercy until the day of judgment when He will forgive so many sinners from their offenses that they have inflicted on Him.
Another saint is St. John of the Cross who said: “In the evening of our life we will be judged on love alone. On that happy night – in secret; no one saw me through the dark – and I saw nothing then, no other light to mark the way but fire pounding my heart. If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark”.
Yet another saint is Theresa of the Child Jesus. She said: “One word or a pleasing smile is often enough to raise up a saddened and wounded soul”.
Again, another saint is Teresa of Avila. She said: “Remember that you have only one soul, that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life… If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing. Let nothing disturb thee, let nothing dismay thee; all this pass; God never changes. God alone suffices”.
Another Carmelite is Titus Brandsma. He is not yet a saint, but he will soon be canonized as a saint. Titus Brandsma lived in Holland during the Second World War under Adolf Hitler. He was asked by the Dutch Bishops in Holland to visit the press bureaus and tell them that they should not publish the Nazi propaganda of anti-semitism of Hitler.
He was arrested by the German soldiers and put in a prison in Scheveningen and from there he was deported to the concentration camp in Dachau together with thousands of Jewish people where they all died in the gas chambers.
In the prison in Scheveningen, he wrote a poem that says: “Leave me here freely alone, in a cell where never sunlight shone, should no one ever speak to me: this golden silence makes me free!”
At one time he said: “All of us are called to enjoy the community and the intimate relationship with the Merciful God. He gives Himself without limit and He wants only to be received by the human heart. He adjusts Himself to our concrete circumstances in our life, without rejecting any part of our nature.
Even our sins He takes upon Himself in order to save us and elevate us as He has shown in his Incarnation. It is necessary to grow every day in this mystery to be able to adore Him, not only in our inner self but in everything that exists but especially towards our neighbors in whose service we must put ourselves in the concrete situations of our life”.
Titus Brandsma was a real hero. He must be declared a Saint.
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