Who we are...
The Hermits of Mercy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, (or The Carmelites of Mercy) is a community of hermit-monks, who live in the modern world, living a life of prayer in the Carmelite tradition and being of service to others through work and praying. We live in our own homes / domiciles / hermitages and are self-supporting. We can choose to live in community when the number allows and there is a desire to do so from the hermit-monks. We dedicate our lives in the service of our Christian brothers and sisters by performing both corporal and spiritual works of mercy in addition to many hours of prayer.
As Carmelites, our main purpose is living a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ by witness and prayer, we have a ministry of intercessory prayer. We do take prayer requests. These requests /intentions are entered in the "Intentions Book" which stays on the altar in our chapel. It is included in our daily prayers and also at Masses.
The Hermits of Mercy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is an ecumenical order of religious men and women that will admit persons who are Baptized Christians from other churches / traditions with apostolic succession.
We have been in existence since March 2000. After numerous appeals to the Roman Church for establishment, it was felt that Rome was not quite ready or open to embrace this newer form of the religious life. We were welcomed into the Independent Catholic Christian Church, and officially renewed our vows in 2009. We are a canonical community under the protection of Bishop Timothy Cravens, Presiding Bishop of the Independent Catholic Christian Church.
We are a community that embraces, not excludes, diversity.
What our apostolate entails...
Our vocation, attached to some form of service of Mercy, either corporal or spiritual, is enriched and enhanced through daily living of the Gospel message of Christ and the Carmelite Life in prayer and periods of silence for meditative prayer and reflection.
Our main hermitage is dedicated to the Most Merciful Savior. The chapel within is dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Liturgy of the Hours along with frequent Mass is celebrated there. Although Carmelites have a special relationship to Our Lady, Jesus is and always will be the core of our daily lives. Our main ministry that we offer to others (besides service) is prayer - intercessory prayer- praying for those who ask us to remember them in our prayers, for those who are unable to ask for prayers and for those who don't pray. Our world, our country to be more specific, is in great need of prayers- not just on Sundays, but everyday of the week. God never ceases to hear our prayers, just as he never ceases to bless us.
Our secular work is service oriented, that comes in contact with God's people. Any method of work or witness spreads the Good News of God's Kingdom to all those we initeract with.
"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard of what God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
Mary always points us to her son Jesus-let us never confuse prayerful devotion with worship that belongs to God alone.
There is an Evening of Contemplative Prayer which includes Vespers, a period of silence, and Eucharist every 3rd Friday of each month. It is open to anyone who wishes to attend. For those who are unable to attend, feel free to e-mail your intentions to the address below. Our hermitage and chapel are located in University City - in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If interested in joining us e-mail for directions at the address below.
There is a register of Prayer Intentions that is permanently kept on the altar in the chapel. If you would like another person to pray for your intentions (besides yourself) send me your intentions. Send them to phillbob1@aol.com.
What is Carmel?
Jesus Christ
The Center of our lives
Our relationship with Our Lord is primarily an intimate union of friendship with HIM, whom we know loves us.
The whole life of Carmel is to live in Christ. Then all our sacrifices, all our immolations become divine, for through everything we see Him whom we love and everything leads to Him; it is a continual heart to heart communion.
Day in and day out we seek Jesus as our companion, our friend, the One with whom we live. His love and friendship fills our days and nights.
There is so much to fathom in Christ, for He is like an abundant mine with many recesses of treasures, so that however deep a person goes they can never reach the end but rather in every recess find new veins with new riches everywhere.
Carmel is radical option for Jesus as the center of one's existence….
As the most important person in one's life…. without exception.
Carmel belongs to Mary!
Choosing the Blessed Virgin Mary as our Mother and Patroness places us under her protection.
When the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel gives her holy Habit to a person, it is to communicate her own spirit to them as well as a sign of fidelity between the newly invested Carmelite and Mary.
Under Mary's maternal protection and guidance and with her sisterly companionship and example, we journey up the mountain of Carmel.
We find ourselves called to follow Jesus to the foot of the Cross, where we stand with Mary in prayer and hope.
The Carmelite views Mary not only as Mother, but Sister as well. The official title of Carmelites is "Brothers" or "Sisters" of The Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.
Mary is with us in prayer as:
*our Mother as in our advocate and protector, as a mother protects and cares for her children, we are her children. After all Jesus GAVE us Mary as our Mother from the Cross when he told his disciple, "Behold thy Mother". Jesus also told His mother Mary, "Woman, behold your son."
* our sister, supporting us in our prayers and efforts in living out our vocation.
How lucky we are to have such a loving Mother who guides and cares for us from heaven.
Carmel is a Life of Prayer and Contemplation
We come to Carmel for one single reason: to pray, to be persons of prayer; that is to say, souls of love, who spend their lives loving God!
We are in Carmel only for this; to love! To love, of course, requires that we give proof of our love. This love expresses itself in continual prayer. Continual, because this state of prayer must be our life not only for two half hour periods a day, but all day long. Contemplation is (according to our Holy Mother St Teresa of Jesus) talking to God as with a friend.
A person comes here because they thirst for God, because they desire to find God and to reveal God to the whole world. Our very life is a witness to the reality of God.
At prayer, we are fed with the spiritual food that will strengthen us throughout the day. And our "main meal" is found in the Holy Eucharist. In the heat and haste of our modern journey through life, Jesus invites us: "Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you." And he promises us that: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, lives in me and I in him." Jesus abides with us Emmanuel--God with us.
Silence and Solitude create the material and spiritual atmosphere which is most apt for intimacy with God, Who gives Himself only in the sanctuary of our hearts. We take our hermitage with us in our daily lives. Even though we work in the world, we always keep in our thoughts and prayers, Jesus, who is the central focus of our lives, even as we serve His people.
Recollection is looking at Jesus more and more. It is our occupation throughout the day. This prayer is intensified during the hours of mental prayer.
Because of our title, Hermits of Mercy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we have a mission to offer spiritual and corporal works of mercy to Jesus for the denial and unbelief of his great love for us. We also reach out to the marginalized of society and the mainline churches, to those who hunger and thirst for holiness, who want to become closer in union with our Lord. We do this especially through our weekly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, our physical work and our intercessory prayers for all those who request it of us and for the world in general.
In addition to Holy Mass, we also have two half hours of meditation, chant the Divine Office together, pray the rosary and the Chaplet of Mercy daily, have spiritual reading and adore the Exposed Blessed Sacrament. And why pray so much? Because without Christ we can do nothing. Prayer brings heaven to earth. In heaven we will be caught in the loving presence of the God who created us--the God who is Love. In the end there are three things, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love!
Our day begins, flows and ends with prayer and work. As a stream flows down the mountain to refresh the ground and make the grass and flowers live, so does our prayer give life to all our apostolic works. Through our prayer, we are able to bring God's presence to the People whom we serve.
We have many excellent guides to assist us in our mission, those who in the Carmelite family showed by their example of living a life of service and virtue. These guides are the saints of the Carmelite Order. All of them are with us as we climb the Mount of Carmel, offering to God their prayers on our behalf, along with our own prayers and good works. All of God's people have many friends already in heaven - the saints. The saints are very willing to help us when we ask their intercession.
As Carmelites, our main purpose is living a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ by witness and prayer, we have a ministry of intercessory prayer. We do take prayer requests. These requests /intentions are entered in the "Intentions Book" which stays on the altar in our chapel. It is included in our daily prayers and also at Masses.
The Hermits of Mercy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is an ecumenical order of religious men and women that will admit persons who are Baptized Christians from other churches / traditions with apostolic succession.
We have been in existence since March 2000. After numerous appeals to the Roman Church for establishment, it was felt that Rome was not quite ready or open to embrace this newer form of the religious life. We were welcomed into the Independent Catholic Christian Church, and officially renewed our vows in 2009. We are a canonical community under the protection of Bishop Timothy Cravens, Presiding Bishop of the Independent Catholic Christian Church.
We are a community that embraces, not excludes, diversity.
What our apostolate entails...
Our vocation, attached to some form of service of Mercy, either corporal or spiritual, is enriched and enhanced through daily living of the Gospel message of Christ and the Carmelite Life in prayer and periods of silence for meditative prayer and reflection.
Our main hermitage is dedicated to the Most Merciful Savior. The chapel within is dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Liturgy of the Hours along with frequent Mass is celebrated there. Although Carmelites have a special relationship to Our Lady, Jesus is and always will be the core of our daily lives. Our main ministry that we offer to others (besides service) is prayer - intercessory prayer- praying for those who ask us to remember them in our prayers, for those who are unable to ask for prayers and for those who don't pray. Our world, our country to be more specific, is in great need of prayers- not just on Sundays, but everyday of the week. God never ceases to hear our prayers, just as he never ceases to bless us.
Our secular work is service oriented, that comes in contact with God's people. Any method of work or witness spreads the Good News of God's Kingdom to all those we initeract with.
"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard of what God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
Mary always points us to her son Jesus-let us never confuse prayerful devotion with worship that belongs to God alone.
There is an Evening of Contemplative Prayer which includes Vespers, a period of silence, and Eucharist every 3rd Friday of each month. It is open to anyone who wishes to attend. For those who are unable to attend, feel free to e-mail your intentions to the address below. Our hermitage and chapel are located in University City - in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If interested in joining us e-mail for directions at the address below.
There is a register of Prayer Intentions that is permanently kept on the altar in the chapel. If you would like another person to pray for your intentions (besides yourself) send me your intentions. Send them to phillbob1@aol.com.
What is Carmel?
Jesus Christ
The Center of our lives
Our relationship with Our Lord is primarily an intimate union of friendship with HIM, whom we know loves us.
The whole life of Carmel is to live in Christ. Then all our sacrifices, all our immolations become divine, for through everything we see Him whom we love and everything leads to Him; it is a continual heart to heart communion.
Day in and day out we seek Jesus as our companion, our friend, the One with whom we live. His love and friendship fills our days and nights.
There is so much to fathom in Christ, for He is like an abundant mine with many recesses of treasures, so that however deep a person goes they can never reach the end but rather in every recess find new veins with new riches everywhere.
Carmel is radical option for Jesus as the center of one's existence….
As the most important person in one's life…. without exception.
Carmel belongs to Mary!
Choosing the Blessed Virgin Mary as our Mother and Patroness places us under her protection.
When the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel gives her holy Habit to a person, it is to communicate her own spirit to them as well as a sign of fidelity between the newly invested Carmelite and Mary.
Under Mary's maternal protection and guidance and with her sisterly companionship and example, we journey up the mountain of Carmel.
We find ourselves called to follow Jesus to the foot of the Cross, where we stand with Mary in prayer and hope.
The Carmelite views Mary not only as Mother, but Sister as well. The official title of Carmelites is "Brothers" or "Sisters" of The Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.
Mary is with us in prayer as:
*our Mother as in our advocate and protector, as a mother protects and cares for her children, we are her children. After all Jesus GAVE us Mary as our Mother from the Cross when he told his disciple, "Behold thy Mother". Jesus also told His mother Mary, "Woman, behold your son."
* our sister, supporting us in our prayers and efforts in living out our vocation.
How lucky we are to have such a loving Mother who guides and cares for us from heaven.
Carmel is a Life of Prayer and Contemplation
We come to Carmel for one single reason: to pray, to be persons of prayer; that is to say, souls of love, who spend their lives loving God!
We are in Carmel only for this; to love! To love, of course, requires that we give proof of our love. This love expresses itself in continual prayer. Continual, because this state of prayer must be our life not only for two half hour periods a day, but all day long. Contemplation is (according to our Holy Mother St Teresa of Jesus) talking to God as with a friend.
A person comes here because they thirst for God, because they desire to find God and to reveal God to the whole world. Our very life is a witness to the reality of God.
At prayer, we are fed with the spiritual food that will strengthen us throughout the day. And our "main meal" is found in the Holy Eucharist. In the heat and haste of our modern journey through life, Jesus invites us: "Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you." And he promises us that: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, lives in me and I in him." Jesus abides with us Emmanuel--God with us.
Silence and Solitude create the material and spiritual atmosphere which is most apt for intimacy with God, Who gives Himself only in the sanctuary of our hearts. We take our hermitage with us in our daily lives. Even though we work in the world, we always keep in our thoughts and prayers, Jesus, who is the central focus of our lives, even as we serve His people.
Recollection is looking at Jesus more and more. It is our occupation throughout the day. This prayer is intensified during the hours of mental prayer.
Because of our title, Hermits of Mercy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we have a mission to offer spiritual and corporal works of mercy to Jesus for the denial and unbelief of his great love for us. We also reach out to the marginalized of society and the mainline churches, to those who hunger and thirst for holiness, who want to become closer in union with our Lord. We do this especially through our weekly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, our physical work and our intercessory prayers for all those who request it of us and for the world in general.
In addition to Holy Mass, we also have two half hours of meditation, chant the Divine Office together, pray the rosary and the Chaplet of Mercy daily, have spiritual reading and adore the Exposed Blessed Sacrament. And why pray so much? Because without Christ we can do nothing. Prayer brings heaven to earth. In heaven we will be caught in the loving presence of the God who created us--the God who is Love. In the end there are three things, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love!
Our day begins, flows and ends with prayer and work. As a stream flows down the mountain to refresh the ground and make the grass and flowers live, so does our prayer give life to all our apostolic works. Through our prayer, we are able to bring God's presence to the People whom we serve.
We have many excellent guides to assist us in our mission, those who in the Carmelite family showed by their example of living a life of service and virtue. These guides are the saints of the Carmelite Order. All of them are with us as we climb the Mount of Carmel, offering to God their prayers on our behalf, along with our own prayers and good works. All of God's people have many friends already in heaven - the saints. The saints are very willing to help us when we ask their intercession.
