Feast of the Candlemas and Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Dear Lay Carmelites,  

This February 7^th Year of our Lord 2026 we are celebrating with gratitude the  

Temporary Profession of Ruth Wentz! 

On February 2^nd we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord recalling our  

Carmelite Catholic tradition that contemplates through Our Lady this sacred Feast 

known as Candlemas and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As Carmelites we  

model our lives on the virtues of Blessed Virgin Mary, especially as Our Lady of Mount  

Carmel, one of Ruth’s special adorations. 

The newly-to-be Professed Ruth was baptized on the Feast of the Martyrs of  

Compiegne. Ruth has a devotion to these Saints and their manifested sacrifice of all. 

Indeed, their heroic sacrifice during the French reign of terror inspires Ruth as much as  

the poetry and writing of St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus and Holy Face: 

“So I fear nothing, neither sword nor flame. 

No, nothing can trouble my ineffable peace, 

And the fire of love which consumes my soul 

Shall never go out!”¹ [image²] 

In the heart of a Carmelite, Ruth is devoted to the  

wonderous, quiet, pure strength of St. Joseph.  

“St. Joseph, as the father, placed the Child in the  

arms of a priest…Our Savior submitted to this  

ceremony, though needing neither consecration nor sanctification. The  

union of His humanity with the Second Person of the Godhead had  

sanctified and united Him to God in such a manner as no sacrament or  

ceremony could do.  

Never during the time of the Old Testament had such a glorious sacrifice  

been offered in the Temple. Its majestic grandeur shed its radiance over  

the sacred edifice and throughout all the earth and all times, and caused  

the utter poverty and inadequacy of ancient worship to be revealed in a  

more brilliant light 

Another Abraham is here now offering his Son, but one incomparably  

more just and more pleasing to God than the first Abraham. It is St Joseph. Hence, God has chosen him to be  patriarch of the New Law. And if Mary, Simeon, and Anna were present with Saint Joseph at this ceremony and  together praised God with the words: 

“God is good and His mercy endures forever; we have received His mercy in the midst of His Temple.” [Ps. 117:1;  47:10]. This would have been the first Candlemas procession formed by the most venerable and  holy personages in all the history of the Church.”³ 

Let us pray: when Elijah prayed on the mountain, God sent saving rain from heaven; fill Ruth  and all of us who have been called to Carmel with a spirit of prayer, so that we may draw a  shower of grace to the world. 

Lord, make us witnesses of your love!⁴