Friar Ehimen Okaka Prayers and Inspirations

16/07/2025

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. Mount Carmel is a mountain range along the northern coast of Israel. It’s here that God publicly answered the prophet Elijah’s prayer, consumed the offering, and confirmed He was a living God. Centuries later, in the 12th century after Christ, a group of hermits gathered on the mountain and committed their lives to prayer and penance, forming the Carmelite Order. The Carmelite Order encouraged devotion to the Blessed Mother as a model of ‘complete fidelity to the Lord.

Let us Pray.
Lord,
as daylight fills the sky,
fill us with your holy light.
May our lives mirror our love for you
whose wisdom has brought us into being,
and whose care guides us on our way.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

15/07/2025

Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Memorial

St. Bonaventure was born near Orvieto in 1221, entered the Franciscan Order in his early twenties, and studied in Paris, where, in 1248, he received a doctorate in theology. In 1257, he was elected Minister General of the Order. In 1273, he became Cardinal of Albano and played a prominent role at the Council of Lyons, which aimed to unite the Latin and Greek Churches.

As a theologian, Bonaventure stressed the “mystical illumination which God sheds on the faithful Christian” [2] and sought to unite reason and faith. Classic works of his include the definitive Life of St. Francis, The Mind’s Road to God, and a commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sentences. He was canonized in 1482 and proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1588 by Sixtus.

Concluding Prayer

Grant, we pray,
almighty God, that,
just as we celebrate the heavenly birthday
of the Bishop Saint Bonaventure,
we may benefit from his great learning
and constantly imitate the ardor of his charity.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

06/03/2025