Listen to the Silence: A Retreat with Père Jacques

Book excerpt: The Carmelite nuns at Pontoise invited Père Jacques to give conferences and to preach as retreat master. They received from him a seven-day retreat in the late summer of 1943. This book contains the talks he gave to the nuns: they are inspiring, but also warm-hearted reflections, on questions of key interest to his audience. Among the topics were love for Christ, for His Blessed Mother, the nuns’ Carmelite contemplative prayer life, and their religious observance, but all received deft treatment from this confrere who eventually became famous for his compassionate assistance to the persecuted in World War II. More Information As a diocesan priest Père Jacques Bunel was frequently in demand as a preacher in his home diocese of Rouen (Normandy). Along with his duties as educator in a prep school in Le Havre he spoke at important public occasions. He was chosen to give the sermon that marked the five hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Joan of Arc in the Cathedral of Rouen, the city where she was burned at the stake. Afterwards, when he became a Discalced Carmelite friar (the cover photo shows him on the day he professed his vows), he continued to exercise a preaching ministry. We owe the full texts of those talks (to the Carmelite Nuns of Pontoise), as well as helpful notes and an introduction, to Rev. Dr. Francis J. Murphy. Father Murphy, a diocesan priest who has become a good friend of the Carmelites through his interest in Père Jacques, collaborating with them as he collaborates with his historian colleagues, teaches at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. This collection of talks extends the knowledge Father Murphy has provided to the public in the biography volume he named and published at ICS Publications with the title: Père Jacques, Resplendent in Victory. Book includes 8 photos.