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Cecilia | Monastic Motherhood

@carmelite_homemaker

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🤎Bringing the beauty of monastic life to marriage and motherhood
🤎Inspired by my year in a monastery
🤎Secular 3rd Order Discalced Carmelite Aspirant

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When I began this page on the feast of St. Therese four years ago, I included “Carmelite” in my handle, out of my deep love for Carmelite and the home for my soul I have found in Carmelite spirituality, which influences my whole spiritual life.

But little did I know that God was going to call me to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites so soon in my future (I thought He was saving that for my retirement years 😅).

I am so incredibly grateful for the beautiful community I’ve found a home in, and beyond overjoyed to be once again a part of the Carmelite family.

Please pray for me as the date of reception of the scapular approaches!!

#catholiclife #catholicmom #catholicwoman #carmelite #ocds by @carmelite_homemaker

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16 days ago

This has been on my mind for awhile and I’m so excited to see it coming to be a reality!

Each tier will include all the benefits of the tier(s) below it!

Subscriptions will be offered through Patreon - link will be posted September 1!

#catholicwoman #catholicwoman #catholicwife #catholicyoungadults #catholiclifestyle #catholiclife #catholicmotherhood #monasticliving by @carmelite_homemaker

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a year ago

Hello, my friends, my name is Cecilia! I have been feeling drawn to begin a page where people can find community, inspiration, and encouragement as they strive to live a Catholic life and serve in the home.

A bit about me: from an early age, I loved the Carmelites, and always loved dressing up as a nun. That love grew into serious discernment of a religious vocation, and at 19 years old, I entered a Carmelite monastery. I was there only a few days short of a full year, when it became clear that I was being called elsewhere.

I loved everything about my time in Carmel...everything. Unfortunately, I struggled with the level of solitude because I felt drawn to give and share with others more than I was able to there.

Although I left the cloister walls behind, I continue to carry and treasure the little cloister I have in my heart, where I will always be a little Carmelite.

My sweet husband told me when we were dating to hold onto everything I had experienced and learned in Carmel, and to make it a part of our life together.

I guess that idea is the whole concept of this page: carrying Carmel's beauty and spirituality into daily life as a wife, homemaker, and someday mother. And what better day to do this than on the feast of St. Therese, the Carmelite saint who taught the beauty, importance, and holiness of the little things.

Please join me on this beautiful journey! by @carmelite_homemaker

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4 years ago

I wish I could remember the person who posted about this to take them and thank them for making me think twice every time I have my phone near me!!

#slowliving #catholicmother #catholicwoman #catholicwife #catholicyoungadults by @carmelite_homemaker

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We’ve teamed up with @carmelite_homemaker to give her community free access to our new book Catholic Saint Stories for Boys 🙌📖

Featuring 25 inspiring stories of saints and the virtues they lived by, giving boys real heroes to look up to.

Want a copy?

📱Scan the QR code
💬Comment BOOK and we’ll send you the link by DM
🔗Or grab it through the link in @biblicalteachingsbooks bio

We hope these stories inspire boys to grow in faith and live out these virtues in their own lives. by @carmelite_homemaker

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17 days ago

How easy it is to forget as mothers that our quiet work in the home is true ministry!

This beautiful quote from Saint Teresa of Avila reminds us that no matter how mundane the task, or how familiar the setting, it is still great in God’s eyes.

Never let the evil one deceive you that your daily routines at home, at work, and everywhere else you frequent, is too small to be offered to and done for God!

#catholiclife #catholicmom #catholicwoman #catholicwife #catholicmomthoughts by @carmelite_homemaker

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24 days ago

9/19 Evening Prayer

#divineoffice #christianprayer #liturgyofthehours by @carmelite_homemaker

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Loving religious habits
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God tugging me persistently to detachment and to actually live the poverty He calls us to in the Gospel

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deciding to get several of the same dress (brown for Carmelites of course), and wear them 98% of the time…even on a bike ride with my toddler in tow 🥰🤎

#catholicmom #catholicwoman #carmelite #ocds #catholiclife by @carmelite_homemaker

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a month ago

Blessed Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows 💙

#catholiclife #ourlady #mariandevotion #holymass #saintquotes by @carmelite_homemaker

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a month ago

For those who know… Celebrating this moment for all of us 😂🥰

For those who don’t know… A simple knit sweater that’s a little baggy (so as to put comfortably over the habit ) is what Sisters typically wear in colder months.

And if you know anything about me, you know that I love anything that makes me feel like a little nun lol 😆 🥰

Hope the beginning of this fall season is filled with many blessings for all of you, as we transition into routines for these upcoming months!

#catholiclife #catholicwoman #religiouslife #monasticmotherhood #carmelite by @carmelite_homemaker

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a month ago

My soul thrilled when I heard today’s Second Reading from Mass…wow.

So often when I feel God calling me to greater spiritual intensity, detachment, and mortification, my brain goes to worldly protests:

But I’m young, I should do x, y, z while I can.

I’m a lay person not a nun, it’s okay to enjoy x, y, z.

Life is short and I only get to live it once…if I give up x, y, z, I’ll never get to have that enjoyment.

Yet today’s Gospel challenges me to what I sensed deeply all along - this life was given to me to serve God and grow in union with Him for the sake of my eternal happiness…not so that I can seek my happiness in earthly things.

To enjoy God’s creation temperately is indeed His will, but to live indulging ourselves and our comfort with no efforts towards mortification is not His intent for us.

Let us be brave enough, my friends, to live for Him, and not for ourselves!

#catholiclife #catholicwoman #catholicyoungadults #lectiodivina #catholicinspiration by @carmelite_homemaker

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This was an idea that came to my heart that I have wrestled with, trying to find a valid reason why I shouldn’t do this little practice in remembrance of the Passion on Fridays.

But the truth was, all the protests my flesh raised against the spirit were vanity (and my husband said I look the same with or without makeup so his preferences didn’t tip the scale either haha).

And so, I will deal with the darkness around my eyes I’m so self conscious about; I’ll pass on the extra touch of mascara and blush that makes me feel more put together.

And I will remember the wounded face of the Beloved, Who endured so much for me.

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Disclaimers because I know how social media is 🙃:

1. I know everyone doesn’t wear makeup. This post is for those who prefer to wear it.

2. Our natural appearance is beautifully and wonderfully made by God, and I know that. This post deals more with our perception of ourselves and letting go of something that makes us feel more beautiful, as a form of mortification.

3. See above caption that I did consider my husband in the choice because I know I’m a wife not a nun 😉

#catholiclife #catholicwoman #catholicwife #catholicmom #catholicyoungadults by @carmelite_homemaker

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