"I have found a very nurturing and joyful community at the Carmelite Centre with lots of opportunities for inquiry and growth."
Clare McArdleTuesday Prayer Meditation – a safe, nourishing and peaceful place
I first connected with this online gathering during one of the Covid lock-downs in 2020. I instantly found it to be a safe, nourishing and peaceful space to spend 30 to 40 minutes in once a week. I was delighted in 2023 to be offered an opportunity to facilitate...
Creating a Synodal Parish, Carmelite Conversation with Paul Cahill OCarm, June 2024
At June's Carmelite Conversation, Paul Cahil OCarm, explored the concept of Synodality - walking together. Vatican II emphasised the image of the Church as ‘The People of God’ who walk together, laity and hierarchy, in fulfilling their common Baptismal right and...
Courage, Centering Prayer Mediation, June 2024
We continue our reflections from Gerald May’s book, the Wisdom of the Wilderness, for this month – on the theme of courage. Gerald May says: Sometimes you just take your chances. There’s a sort of freedom when you’ve done what you can do and you just have to give up...
Contemplative Autumn Walk – mini pilgrimage – Saturday 11 May 2024
On a lovely mild Autumnal day a group of thirteen set out from Lilydale rail station on a sort of mini Pilgrimage to walk the 7km track to Mt Evelyn. We began with a short reflection from the booklet The Carmelite Way Pilgrimage, choosing for ourselves a memorable...
The Power of Slowing, Centering Prayer Meditation, May 2024
The theme for this month of May is a reflection on the Power of Slowing, using themes from Gerald May’s book, The Wisdom of the Wilderness, with epigraphs from Saint John of the Cross, a sixteenth-century Spanish Carmelite friar. Gerald May says: The call of...
The perennial human questions: a reflection on suffering and death, Carmelite Conversation, May 2024
At May's Carmelite Conversation, Bernadette Micallef led a reflection on our own response to the perennial human questions about suffering and death. The group of 18 engaged thoughtfully and prayerfully in the discussion sharing personal experiences in particular...
Provincial Assembly April 2024 ‘cast your net to the right side’
A group of thirty six, including Friars, Lay Carmelites and representatives of ministries in Australia and Timor-Leste gathered in Melbourne April 22-26. Along with friars from all Carmelite communities, delegates from Lay Carmelite communities, Damien and Irene...
Divine Beauty, Centering Prayer Meditation, April 2024
Over the last few months we have reflected on themes of Peace and Gratitude, Choosing Life, and this month Divine Beauty, using John O’Donohue’s book of that title. John O'Donohue tells us: ~ At birth we were awakened and emerged to become visible to the world. At...
First Tuesday – a day for me
On the first Tuesday of each month the Carmelite Centre offers opportunities for stillness and silence and also community. This begins at 9.30 with a Contemplative Walk around the streets of Middle Park. We begin with a reflection in front of the church and then a 30...
Easter Triduum – Good Friday
The Lord is here, present among us. We are gathered with the whole Church in this moment of prayer. What is the meaning of ‘good’ in Good Friday? Perhaps the title takes up a now lost sense of ‘holy’ found within the range of ancient usage of the word ‘good’. Indeed,...
Carmelite Spirituality in a secular world and insights from Ruth Burrows with Denis Andrew OCarm
In this "Carmelite Conversation" with Denis Andrew we considered modern Western society which has been described as being increasingly secular and looked at how we live our Carmelite life in this milieu. We take the opportunity to delve into the writings of...
Kissed by God into Life, Centering Prayer Meditation, March 2024
This month our meditation reflection is on being kissed by God into Life using words from Margaret Silf’s The Way of Wisdom and Landscapes of Prayer. Margaret quotes Ronald Rohlheiser: Ancient philosophers and mystics used to say that before being born,...
Eco-Spirituality Reading Circle: Ten Love Letters to the Earth
On Tuesday 20 February, our first meeting for the year, we had eleven participants. I think this is the largest group at a zoom meeting. We shared our thoughts about the "Ten Love Letters to the Earth" which are a series of meditations on Mother Earth written by the...
Living the Carmelite Charism: the personal journey of Matthew McPhee OCarm
In this "Carmelite Conversation" Fr Matthew shares his experience of living the Carmelite charism. He recently celebrated his Golden Jubilation of Ordination and 70 years of religious life with the Carmelite community. Fr Matthew has ministered in a variety of...
Peace and Gratitude, Centering Prayer Meditation, February 2024
The theme for February is a reflection on Peace and Gratitude for the little moments, using verse from Joyce Rupp, and from Wendell Berry. Allow any word or image that may stand out for you as your centering prayer. Joyce tells us: the little moments, / assumed and...
My experience of the Carmelite Centre community
I walk my dog every evening around the streets of Middle Park. On one of these walks, some years ago now, I noticed a flyer in the Carmelite Centre advertising poetry evenings. I heard Les Murray read his poems. What a fantastic night. Another time on the way back...
Who are the Lay Carmelites?
In this "Carmelite Conversation" on 1st November 2023, Gabrielle Fogarty, Moderator of the Lay Carmelites in Australia and New Zealand and several other Lay Carmelites situate the Lay Carmelites today within the history of the Order. They share what it means to be a...
Final session with Brendan Byrne on St Paul’s Letter to Romans
On Tuesday 19 September 2023 a group who have been meeting via zoom every month since February had our last session. Over these months we have been progressively reading St Paul's Letter to Romans and discussing and sharing our insight. A special thank you to Fr...
Season of Creation 2023 Let Justice and Peace Flow
SEASON OF CREATION ~ September 1 to October 4. 2023 Let Justice and Peace Flow.The season started on 1 September with a the Day of Prayer for Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian...
Lectio Divina “a warm inclusive welcome greeted me…”
I came to Lectio Divina in 2017. I hadn’t intended to ‘start’ Lectio Divina but as a post graduate student at the Catholic Theological College, I was studying Meditation, and wanted to experience first-hand what it was all about. I first rang The Carmelite Centre...
Lectio Divina “group of like-minded people”
Earlier this morning I participated in a session of Lectio Divina with friends from the Carmelite Centre in Middle Park. I’ve been participating in these weekly sessions for about two years, having started at a time on my journey when my own practice of Lectio had...
Lectio Divina “an oasis for the weary spirit”
I go to Lectio whenever I can. You are always made to feel welcome. Now it is online but you still feel the connection. It is a tall, cool glass of water when I thirst; a meeting of like minded souls; friendship found in the desert; an oasis for the weary spirit....
Tenth Carmelite Way Pilgrimage
The Tenth Carmelite Way Pilgrimage 2019 On 8-10 November 32 pilgrims, led by Paul Sireh O. Carm and Denis Andrew O. Carm, braved the cold and wet Melbourne weather to walk along the Yarra Valley Rail Trail for the tenth Annual Carmelite Way pilgrimage. In spite of the...
My Journey with the Carmelite Centre
I first attended the Carmelite Centre at the invitation of a friend. She was presenting a talk on the poet Denise Levertov at a monthly 'Spiritual Reading Group' held in the Carmelite Library. I am from Perth and welcomed an opportunity to experience something new in...
Soul Searching
In the early part of 2014 I became aware that I was dissatisfied with some aspects of my life especially the part that was outwardly focused on achieving material success. I yearned for something that would be more enriching for my interior life so I began to look for...
OUR LATEST BLOG
Carmelite Conversation, The Spiritual Drama of the Fourth Gospel with Hugh Brown, OCarm, 11 June 2025
The topic for this Conversation is The Mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple and their Roles in the Spiritual Drama of the Fourth Gospel. It will be facilitated by Hugh Brown OCarm. Mary and the Beloved Disciple appear at pivotal moments in the narrative of the...
Wisdom, Centering Prayer Meditation, May 2025
Our theme for this month – Wisdom, from Joan Chittister ‘s book, In a High Season, and the Wisdom Psalm 1 as expressed in the Carmelite rule: to develop a contemplative dimension to [our] lives, to “meditate day and night on the Word of the Lord.” Psalm 1 - Blessed is...
Carmelite Conversation, The Doorway to Mystical Hope with Bernadette Micallef, 9 April 2025
With Holy Week and the celebration of Easter approaching, this Carmelite Conversation incorporated the theme of the 2025 Jubilee Year “Pilgrims of Hope” and reflections on “Mystical Hope.” How do we ‘access’ and foster the hope that does not disappoint? It considered...
A Lenten Reflection on Wilderness, Centering Prayer Meditation, April 2025
Our theme for this month - A Lenten Reflection on Wilderness, as we take time to explore the theme, we look to meet God in our own unique wilderness…asking Him to interrupt my agenda with his own. We’ll listen to some words from Isaiah, and a prayer from Henri Nouwen....
A message to the Carmelite Centre Community, March 2025
The recent retirement of our inaugural staff members, Irene Hayes and Damien Peile, after sixteen years’ service has provided the Province with the opportunity to reflect on the work of the Centre, its significance to the Province as a deep expression of who the...
Carmelite Conversation, Experience in Vietnam and Prayer in the Carmelite Tradition with Daryl Moresco OCarm
Recently, Br Daryl was in Vietnam giving a series of talks on Prayer in the Carmelite Tradition to 25 friars in formation during their annual Carmelite Studies Week. This conversation will highlight some of the topics presented such as the Practice of the Presence of...
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