Carmelites celebrate their feastday

Aug 02, 2019

By Paul Peter Fernandez
The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was celebrated on July 16 at the Carmelite Monastery of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

The 6.00pm Mass was celebrated by Fr Nicholas Hoh Jeng Kin, OCD.

Seated among the congregation was the Ambassador of Belgium to Malaysia, H.E. Pascal Gregoire. Also present was Bro George from Tawau, Sabah, who is in the seminary to become a Carmelite priest.

The Church of The Visitation’s Liturgy team, headed by Mary Rajoo, was present to provide assistance and support.
Fr Hoh, in his homily said, “Israel was experiencing a severe drought because of her people’s disobediance to God — they worshipped other gods. The long drought was only broken when Prophet Elijah ascended Mount Carmel and began to pray for rain. There is an ancient belief of the Carmelite friars — that when Prophet Elijah saw the little cloud rising from the ocean, he saw a vision of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

“Mary was chosen for a particular mission — to become a special instrument of God’s grace and mercy. The image of rain coming onto a land parched and dried symbolises Mary saying yes to God, bearing Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Scripturally speaking, our spiritual drought ended with the coming of Christ who offers blessings, graces, mercy and love which flows abundantly upon this world. We are here to honour Mother Mary, to contemplate her life, her faithfulness, her example and her fidelity to God. Look up to Mary, to follow in her footsteps as she points the way to Jesus Christ.”

At the end of the Mass, Fr Hoh invited Carmelo Ferlito, an expatriate from Italy who has been in Malaysia for the past eight years, to say a few words. Carmelo was educated in a Carmelite school in his hometown, Verona, and used to attend Masses and go for confession in a Carmelite monastery. Upon being diagnosed with colon and liver cancer in 2016 and learning of the Carmelite monastery in Seremban, he decided to come here with his friend Nick, a Buddhist, and pray.

After a relapse in 2018, the urge to come to the monastery became stronger. Carmelo would come every month with some of his friends to pray for physical and spiritual healing.

After Mass, the enthronement of the Brown scapular was conducted by Fr Hoh.

At the parlour, the faithful had the once-a-year opportunity to meet the Carmelite sisters, recognisable in their brown and white habits, who otherwise embrace a contemplative life of individual and communal prayer, penance and spiritual reading throughout the year. There were scenes of joy and delight on seeing these sisters who currently number seven (7) as they exchanged greetings. The faithful handed their petitions and Mass offerings to the Sisters.

As night fell and the faithful gradually left, the quiet and serene atmosphere returned to the monastery. As the Carmelite sisters pray for us and for the world, we pray for them too. Let us contemplate and ponder on these deep words of St Teresa of Avila who said, “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things pass away; God never changes. Patient endurance obtains all things. He who has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.”