Tag Archives: Stations of the Cross

2021-08-02 · 6:11 am

Mount Carmel Stations of the Cross acid attack & now videos hacked, cancelled

This is a remanant screen shot of a set of two videos I shot, edited and published about the Mount Carmel Discalced Carmelite Monastery (situated over the cave of Elijah) outdoor Stations of the Cross, which stretch along the top edge of the cliff-mountainside all along and high above the city of Haifa, Israel. I had thought of putting up the videos last Friday morning (it being Friday), but I got distracted by the idiocy that is going on in society and the Church. My guardian angel had been very insistent: “Check on those videos! Put them up now! Do it now! NOW!”

But I didn’t. I am ever the recalcitrant Styrofoam-brained non-listener to my Guardian Angel. Or is it that I hear him loud and clear, but blow off what he has to say to me? The latter.

Meanwhile, last Friday night, like clockwork, I got a distressed email alerting me to the fact that the videos have disappeared. My heart sank instantly and my stomach started churning, until now, actually. I knew it was true because of sinking feeling about those videos earlier in the day.

I then checked on my private – locked-down – YouTube upload-archive. Those videos are gone, cancelled. Those were the only videos that were disappeared, executed, acid-attacked. And there were much more controversial wonderful videos on that locked-down page. Only these two were erased.

Those were such beautiful, though heart-wrenching videos. They document the acid attack.

Already 12 years ago, I lived for a month atop the Cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel at the invitation of the Discalced Carmelites. I was told all hush hush who the culprits of the acid attacks on the Stations of the Cross were back in the day, the whole lot of it, eye-witness descriptions of them (unmistakable), how they entered the dangerously steep and fenced in areas.

As the years have gone by, the culprits are now very likely high up on the computer freakness scale, you know, with access to all-access computers, and wanted any evidence of their crimes of yesteryear to disappear, it now not being politically correct for them to have had such a past.

But by this very fact they leave a trail that can be followed. ;-)

But, I perhaps shouldn’t complain too much. They now have full access to everything Google of mine:

  • My YouTube private page
  • WordPress, this blog, hosted by now parent company Google and its server farms
  • Gmail
  • Google Maps (real-time)
  • Google Drive
  • Google Docs
  • Google Contacts
  • Google Search
  • Google Translate … et alii …

At any rate, my life is always the open book. I don’t care. But I dislike that religious videos are being discourteously cancelled by cowards who, if I met them in real life, would run away. But, whatever. I have a life outside of cyberspace.

And I want to go to heaven. I’m saddened for those who will no longer be able to view those videos.

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2021-04-02 · 4:43 pm

It’s Good Friday: Mount Carmel Via Crucis

Originally posted on a long defunct website. There were rumblings at the time that there was a new plan to replace these Stations as the original company that made them was found. I find that the message of the destruction, particularly of the faces, is rather profound. Those who did the destruction know who they are. It will work on them like acid. Will they repent? Perhaps they already have.

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2020-07-13 · 11:04 am

Saint Joseph, Baby Jesus, 9th Station of the Cross, Confessional, Adoration

wp-15945510001253794900076382624450.jpg

Seen from the Confessional seconds after entering to hear Confessions during early Sunday Adoration (6:00-7:00 AM) at Holy Redeemer Church in Andrews, NC. Between the stained glass windows we have pictures of the Stations of the Cross (which fit in our tiny church building). You’ll see Saint Joseph and baby Jesus being reflected in the 9th Station. That statue is up in the sanctuary of the church near the tabernacle. I guess this is my situational awareness coming into play. :-)

The 9th Station is Jesus falling under the weight of the cross for the third time. We put that burden on Jesus. Did we also trip Him up so that the cross would smash down upon Him on His way to Calvary for us? Did we do that? Yes, each one of us.

Here’s Station 9 on Mount Carmel, Israel, acid-damaged by vandals:

mount carmel stations of the cross station 9

In the reflection of Station 9 in the picture up top, baby Jesus has a face. Later, in Station 9 on Mount Carmel, Jesus’ face was removed… by our sin. His appearance was not that of a man…

We recall Saint Therese of Lisieux who took the religious name Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face…

At the judgment, I imagine that Saint Joseph will be with Jesus, and it is Saint Joseph who will ask us about Jesus falling the third time, about where the weight of that cross came from, and whether we had tripped Jesus.

Confession does wonders for the soul!

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2020-04-03 · 2:29 pm

Mount Carmel Stations of the Cross: They’re like acid poured on your face

I bet these have been replaced. When I made these videos some 13 years ago, the Discalced Carmelite Friars with whom I was staying told me that they had found some new ones identical to these from the original manufacturer up in – I think – Germany. They really are very well done – but – these particularly damaged stations, with the brunt of the malice being exponentially multiplied, brings home the meaning of the stations all the more, don’t you think. As I say, once you see them you can’t unsee them, but it all bears repeating none the less.

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2020-03-14 · 7:55 am

Coronavirus: Last night in our church

About those videos: Once you’ve seen these stations, you can’t un-see them. But, the intensity of them… Well, it all bears repeating. I made this set of videos (about 20 minutes all told) during my time living just over the cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel, Israel. The OCDs had invited me to stay there for an entire month during the years that I was a chaplain at Lourdes. I must say that these videos are very emotional for me to watch to this day. What a fright! But… Jesus, Mary’s Son, is just that good and kind! Even though in watching these you don’t move from station to station yourself, I’m sure your heart will be transported to be right next to Jesus, to be with Him in solidarity, and to be right next to His dear mother as she accompanies our Lord, again in all solidarity. These stations rip the heart right out of my chest. Dear Lord…

Meanwhile, during Coronavirus panic, the Stations of the Cross in our little parish church: We had a record number of people show up for the Adoration and the Stations of the Cross. We have:

  • Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament
  • Some minutes of Adoration
  • Stations of the Cross with, of course, the Stabat Mater
  • Some minutes of quiet Adoration
  • Then I go back into the Confessional and hear lots of Confessions (it goes overtime), and the rest of the those present are led in prayers
  • Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament (one of our young servers is being trained into ringing the bells thrice x 3 during the Benediction itself)

Meanwhile, while all that was going on, Charlotte Diocese, working into the night, sent out policies and guidelines. I haven’t been able to look over them yet, but, now it’s Saturday, and people are wondering about the weekend Masses.

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2020-03-06 · 10:06 am

God’s glory in the Face of Christ: What happened to Jesus’ Face on Mt Carmel

Jesus’ Face is our face. Are we in solidarity with Jesus while He is in solidarity with us, He, standing in our place, the Innocent for the guilty? Here’s Saint Paul:

  • “For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-12 rsv)

Once you’ve seen these stations, you can’t un-see them. But, the intensity of them… Well, it all bears repeating.

  • Being reminded of how far our dear Lord had to reach to get us in the hell of this world isn’t a bad thing, a hurtful thing, that which is meant to make us have bad feelings of despairing self-condemnation because we are all tender snowflakes absolutely entitled to spit on His face. No.
  • Being reminded of how far our dear Lord had to reach to get us in the hell of this world is a good thing. It should elicit an assent to the love which He gives to us.

I made this set of videos (about 20 minutes all told) during my time living just over the cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel, Israel. The OCDs had invited me to stay there for an entire month during the years that I was a chaplain at Lourdes. The chanting was recorded at the cave of Elijah, sung by pilgrims from around the world.

I must say that these videos are very emotional for me to watch to this day. What a fright! But… Jesus, Mary’s Son, is just that good and kind! Even though in watching these you don’t move from station to station yourself, I’m sure your heart will be transported to be right next to Jesus, to be with Him in solidarity, and to be right next to His dear mother as she accompanies our Lord, again in all solidarity. These stations rip the heart right out of my chest. Dear Lord…

Our Stations of the Cross here at Holy Redeemer in Andrews are “normal”, with pictures being used. The church is so small that any use of sculpted stations no matter how minimal in relief would block use of the side aisles. Everything is doubled over in both English and Spanish, except the Stabat Mater, which so far we’ve just sung in English. No one minds both languages as the common language is humble thanksgiving in witnessing our Lord’s great love for us. In fact, because of this, it goes the other way, with comments being about how wonderful it is that everyone comes together for the Stations.

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2020-02-26 · 5:00 am

Stations of the Cross on Mt Carmel

Once you’ve seen these stations, you can’t un-see them. But, the intensity of them… Well, it all bears repeating.

I made this set of videos (about 20 minutes all told) during my time living just over the cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel, Israel. That was in 2009. The Order of Discalced Carmelites had invited me to stay there for an entire month during the years that I was a chaplain at Lourdes.

It was here that I learned what happened, in detail, during the Conclave in which Benedict XVI was elected to be Bishop of Rome. I only mention that as it all brings us back to these particular Stations of the Cross.

I must say that these videos are very emotional for me to watch to this day. What a fright! But… Jesus, Mary’s Son, is just that good and kind. Even though in watching these you don’t move from station to station yourself, I’m sure your heart will be transported to be right next to Jesus, to be with Him in solidarity, and to be right next to His dear mother as she accompanies our Lord, again in all solidarity. These stations rip the heart right out of my chest. Dear Lord…

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2019-04-19 · 11:46 am

Mount Carmel Stations of the Cross

Once you’ve seen these stations, you can’t un-see them. But, the intensity of them… Well, it all bears repeating.

I made this set of videos (about 20 minutes all told) during my time living just over the cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel, Israel. The OCDs had invited me to stay there for an entire month during the years that I was a chaplain at Lourdes. I must say that these videos are very emotional for me to watch to this day. What a fright! But… Jesus, Mary’s Son, is just that good and kind! Even though in watching these you don’t move from station to station yourself, I’m sure your heart will be transported to be right next to Jesus, to be with Him in solidarity, and to be right next to His dear mother as she accompanies our Lord, again in all solidarity. These stations rip the heart right out of my chest. Dear Lord…

Our Stations of the Cross here at Holy Redeemer in Andrews are “normal”, with pictures being used. The church is so small that any use of sculpted stations no matter how minimal in relief would block use of the side aisles. Everything is doubled over in both English and Spanish, except the Stabat Mater, which so far we’ve just sung in English. No one minds both languages as the common language is humble thanksgiving in witnessing our Lord’s great love for us. In fact, because of this, it goes the other way, with comments being about how wonderful it is that everyone comes together for the Stations.

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2016-07-16 · 7:46 am

Flores for the Immaculate Conception (Flos Carmeli / Lourdes / CCW edition)

I made this set of videos (about 20 minutes all told) during my time living just over the cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel, Israel. The O.C.D.s had invited me to stay there for an entire month during the years that I was a chaplain at Lourdes. I must say that these videos are very emotional for me to watch to this day. What a fright! But… Jesus, Mary’s Son, is just that good and kind! Even though in watching these you don’t move from station to station yourself, I’m sure your heart will be transported to be right next to Jesus, to be with Him in solidarity, and to be right next to His dear Immaculate Mother as she accompanies our Lord, again in all solidarity.

If you’re wondering, what you saw is the work of acid attacks.

Then, of course, we have the great Flos Carmeli. We would sing this from Elijah’s cave after offering the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass:

Flos Carmeli,
vitis florigera,
splendor caeli,
virgo puerpera
singularis.
Mater mitis

sed viri nescia
Carmelitis
esto propitia
Stella Maris.

Radix Jesse
germinans flosculum
nos ad esse
tecum in saeculum
patiaris.

Inter spinas
quae crescis lilium
serva puras
mentes fragilium
tutelaris.

Armatura
fortis pugnantium
furunt bella
tende praesidium
scapularis.

Per incerta
prudens consilium
per adversa
iuge solatium
largiaris.

Mater dulcis
Carmeli domina,
plebem tuam
reple laetitia
qua bearis.

Paradisi
clavis et ianua,
fac nos duci
quo, Mater, gloria
coronaris.
Amen. (Alleluia.)
Flower of Carmel,
Tall vine blossom laden;
Splendour of heaven,
Childbearing yet maiden.
None equals thee.
Mother so tender,

Who no man didst know,
On Carmel’s children
Thy favours bestow.
Star of the Sea.

Strong stem of Jesse,
Who bore one bright flower,
Be ever near us
And guard us each hour,
who serve thee here.

Purest of lilies,
That flowers among thorns,
Bring help to the true heart
That in weakness turns
and trusts in thee.

Strongest of armour,
We trust in thy might:
Under thy mantle,
Hard press’d in the fight,
we call to thee.

Our way uncertain,
Surrounded by foes,
Unfailing counsel
You give to those
who turn to thee.

O gentle Mother
Who in Carmel reigns,
Share with your servants
That gladness you gained
and now enjoy.

Hail, Gate of Heaven,
With glory now crowned,
Bring us to safety
Where thy Son is found,
true joy to see.
Amen. (Alleluia.)

A picture of the wadi of Mount Carmel from the ruins of the Monastery of the Little Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Today’s monastery is above Elijah’s Cave, just a bit further to the North:

flores - mount carmel wadi

Note today’s mosque up on the hill to the right. Sigh. That’s the Mediterranean Sea in the distance. It is from this vantage point that the Islamicist guy living in the monastery saw the ship coming from Rome carrying the priests and brothers of the Discalced Carmelite Order which was returning for the umpteenth time to reclaim from the Islamicist slaughterers this part of the Holy Land, reestablishing some modicum of peace. The Islamicists slaughtering everyone was the reason for the provision of self-defense for the local population wrought by the Crusaders, some of whom, to the point, became the first Carmelites, fighting spiritually for the Immaculate Conception, that Flos Carmel without equal. They would be hermits (more or less) for six months, and then descend upon the land and preach ferociously, as only crusaders can, for another six months, then return.

My heart speeds up with memories! Also of Lourdes, where the Immaculate Conception appeared to Saint Bernadette also as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is the Carmelite Monastery on the far side of the river from the grotto in Lourdes as seen from my room in the Chaplains House in Lourdes (above the grotto). Look to the right of the donkey’s ears:

lourdes donkey carmelite monastery

  • Pray the Rosary!
  • Wear the Brown Scapular!

Maybe my interest in CCWs comes from my rather extensive Carmelite experiences, with the Carmelites having been ferocious soldiers, with Elijah, hailed as the founding father of the Carmelites, having been the greatest prophet and – most precisely – a warrior prophet. But, I’m still thinking about all that. Meanwhile, my neighbor, with his ineffable military background, is taking me to one of the the very many shooting ranges in the area to give me some pointers about how to hold a pistol so as to be able to repeatedly shoot in quick succession without aiming, and yet back up bullets in the same hole in the target. I don’t think I’ll get the hang of it that easily. (I ain’t that good, or bad, depending…)

I would like to ask readers a favor on this day: please say a Hail Mary for Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, O.C.D., who has offered up her prayers and sacrifices for yours truly for life. I am totally unworthy of this. Utterly. She is my great hero. Hail Mary…

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2016-03-07 · 11:32 pm

Video Stations of the Cross on Mount Carmel by Father Byers

I made this set of videos (about 20 minutes all told) during my time living just over the cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel, Israel. The O.C.D.s had invited me to stay there for an entire month during the years that I was a chaplain at Lourdes. I must say that these videos are very emotional for me to watch to this day. What a fright! But… Jesus, Mary’s Son, is just that good and kind! Even though in watching these you don’t move from station to station yourself, I’m sure your heart will be transported to be right next to Jesus, to be with Him in solidarity, and to be right next to His dear mother as she accompanies our Lord, again in all solidarity.

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