39th Provincial Chapter

Most Pure Heart of Mary Province

National Shrine of Saint Thérèse
Darien, Illinois

June 20–24, 2005

Jesus, you are the fire sent from Heaven. We, your brothers in Carmel, ask you to again breathe your fiery Spirit within and among us as we gather for our Provincial Chapter. InSpirit us to forge our future with hope, courage and wisdom. Give us the gifts we need to balance the tensions of letting go and embracing—of allowing ashes to simmer and fire to ignite anew. Be our light, Jesus! Be the fire of our soul, individually and as brothers! Your Carmelite brothers want to follow you into your future and fulfill God’s dreams. Be the forging fire in our gathering, as we choose leadership and direction. Gentle Jesus, be among us a purifying fire, enabling the warm glow of fraternity— be the lightning streaking across dark horizons, and the radiating hearth of our identity and center. Bless our thirty-ninth Chapter gathering of the Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary. Help us be one in prayer, brotherhood and hope—those who can physically gather and those who are united from afar in heart and prayer. We are all in you, Jesus, and you are fire in us!