Our Mission

Notre Dame de Vie (NDV) Institute strives to bear witness that God is alive and active in our times and that we can reach Him through prayer and contemplation. This is the profound conviction of Venerable Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus, O.C.D., founder of NDV  Institute.  He has synthesized  the  teachings  on prayer  of  the  Carmelite  masters St Teresa of Avila,  St. John of the Cross and St. Therese of the Child Jesus and would like to share them with anybody seeking to have a closer relationship with God.

The mission of NDV is based on a three-fold intuition which Venerable Marie Eugene had nurtured since 1920, while he was still a seminarian. This intuition refers to the importance of baptismal grace, silent prayer and witnessing. With the foundation of NDV Institute, this thought developed over time.

Venerable Marie Eugene recognized that baptismal grace is the basis of the life of the Christians, all of whom are called to holiness. Baptismal grace, in turn, needs to grow and one of the means for this growth is silent prayer.

Through it, we develop an intimate relationship with God, which is at the core of Christian life. In the thought of Venerable Marie-Eugene, this precious message needs witnesses who would live it and share it with the world. 

In a homily delivered for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1947, Venerable Marie-Eugene said:  

 

This thought of God was manifested in my soul as a desire to transmit the spirituality of Carmel. The spiritual treasure that we possess is to be realized in a living way. It is a doctrine that indicates the way towards supernatural realizations. It is the doctrine of our saints, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus. I had the impression that this treasure should be diffused humbly, widely, to all the souls; that it should not be reserved to a privileged group of people. This treasure, this love of God, wants to spread itself and search in all milieu for souls called to his intimacy, in order to unveil the secrets of his heart."