Letter of Pope Pius XII on the Scapular

To the Most Reverend Fathers
Prior General of the Order of the Brothers
of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (O.Carm.)
&
Prepositus General of the Order of the Discalced Brothers
of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (O.C.D.)


Christ is the way; Mary reflects the way; her Scapular is our keepsake on the way.

There is no one who is not aware how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which, more than others, are seen to enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practise of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favoured of those devotions, that of the Holy Carmelite Scapular must be placed — a devotion which, adapted to the minds of all by its very simplicity, has become so universally widespread among the faithful and has produced so many and such salutary fruits.

Therefore it has pleased Us greatly to learn of the decision of our Carmelite Brethren both Calced and Discalced; namely, to take all pains to pay homage to the Blessed Virgin Mary in as solemn a manner as possible on the occasion of the Seventh Centenary of the Institution of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Prompted therefore by Our constant love for the tender Mother of God and mindful also of Our own enrolment from boyhood in the Confraternity of this same Scapular, most willingly do We commend so pious an undertaking and We are certain that upon it will fall an abundance of divine blessings. For not with a light or passing matter are We here concerned, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself which is the substance of that Promise of the Most Blessed Virgin that has been handed down to us. We are concerned, namely, with that which is of supreme importance to all and with the manner of achieving it safely. For the Holy Scapular, which may be called the Habit or Garment of Mary, is a Sign and a Pledge of the protection of the Mother of God. But not for this reason, however, may they who wear the Scapular think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: “In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation.” —Phil. 2:12.

Therefore all Carmelites, whether they live in the cloisters of the First and Second Orders or are members of the Third Order Regular or Secular or of the Confraternities, belong to the same Family of Our Most Blessed Mother and are attached to it by a special bond of love. May they all see in this Keepsake of the Virgin herself a Mirror of humility and purity; may they read in the very simplicity of the Garment a concise lesson in modesty and simplicity; above all, may they behold in this same Garment, which they wear day and night, the eloquently expressive symbol of their prayers for the divine assistance; finally, may it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the Most Sacred heart of the Immaculate Virgin, a consecration which in recent times We have so strongly recommended.

And certainly this gentle Mother will not delay to open as soon as possible, through her intercession with God, the gates of Heaven for her children who are expiating their faults in Purgatory - a trust based on that Promise known as the Sabbatine Privilege.

Now, therefore, as a pledge of the divine protection and help, and as an assurance of Our own special predilection We most lovingly impart to you, Beloved Sons, and to the whole Carmelite Order, the Apostolic Benediction.

Given In Rome At The See Of Peter
On The Eleventh Day Of February,
On The Feast Of The Apparition Of The Immaculate Virgin Mary,
In The Year 1950,
And The Eleventh Of Our Pontificate.

Pius PP XII

Persevere and go along they way of humble submission to God's good pleasure

"The real test and end of prayer is union with God, and the real test of that is acceptance of His will. But there is no denying that this is not the inevitable result of prayer; there is a type which, practically speaking, appears to lead no one any farther. Our Mother begged me quite severely on no account to practise that sort; she said it was no good at all in the religious life. It may be a source of great pleasure to those practising it, but they keep it, as it were, in a separate compartment of their head, or their heard, or somewhere, and it never gets anywhere near the will, either God's or their own. She said that Christ did not teach us to pray like that: He taught us to pray, 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' and we poor mortals just could not imagine how perfectly it was done in heaven because it was so far above us. Still, we could struggle towards it, towards the perfection of surrender to the will of God that is, and that was the whole use and meaning of things like holy poverty, and mortification, and detachment.

Prayer itself and its effects must keep constantly in step, and where the prayer begins to leave the effects far behind, so that we are practising a prayer, not one or two, but four or five degrees beyond our display of practical virtue, it is time to do something about it or we run the danger of ending up in delusion. She pointed out that the proper way was not in the least to slow down or stop the prayer, but only to speed up the practice of virtue.

Then she became quite serious; she began to tell me about the people who have real difficulty praying, and real darkness in their souls. It sounded quite awful as she described it; awful and yet marvelous. Of course, one reads St John of the Cross, but that is a saint writing about wonderful experiences in the Middle Ages, and this was an old nun talking of that she seemed to think quite every day happenings... She  described how such people will sit in church or choir for an hour on end, trying to concentrate, trying to find their way to God through the dark, and everything remains completely blank. They can, of course, still pray vocally, but they do not want to pray vocally. They could, of course, meditate, but unfortunately they do not want to mediate. What they want - and want with their whole souls - is to find God: to find Him in heaven, or to find Him within themselves, they do not care where or how, so long as they find Him. And they cannot.

But if they persevere, one day, she said, they will. If they go on quietly stepping along they way of mortification, of patience, of humble submission to God's good pleasure; if they follow the star which is leading them, even though it is always unaccountably disappearing over the edge of their world; if they follow it, not only trying to pull it down to them but by climbing slowly and painfully towards it, towards the clearer skies above, it will lead them to that real communion with God for which their souls long. All paths in prayer lead to Him, provided that they are the up-paths of solid virtue, and not mere cul-de-sacs of pious fancy and the end of which we shall find nothing more exciting than ourselves."

--  A Nun's Answer by A Carmelite Nun

We give everything

"Religious life can easily be a heaven on earth, but only for the man who lives it perfectly. And although much has been written on the fine art of acquiring perfection, all spiritual writers seem to agree on one big point. If a religious can obey, he can find perfect happiness. If he cannot obey, then he only nails himself to his own cross (by his own hand) and hangs over forever on the left side of Christ. Religious life demands greatness; and a man is never greater than he he bows his head in submission to another.

Obedience is the big vow. Obedience is the problem. In our monasteries we are not free to do what we want, or have what we like. We are pledged to obedience and there is a solemn vow to remind us of it. It is a vow that makes us say 'yes' when we would like to say 'no.' But when we take this vow, we offer to God one of our most priceless possessions: our free will. It is a perfect gift, one that God would never force from us. It is the last word, the limit. When we give this, we give everything. But it is only too bad that its worth is lost to many young men who, possessing all the other needed talents and dispositions, find themselves balking at that they call, 'this business of taking orders.'

...

Actually, there is a probably not a single man on the face of this earth who is free from the obligations of taking orders. Every subject has a boss who in turn has a boss, who in turn has another boss. It is the same in both lay and clerical circles. So we men in a monastery figure that since we must take order from someone, we might just as well make a good thing of it. We might just as well gain merit for our troubles."

-- Men in Sandals by Fr Richard C Madden, ocd

Be guided by the hidden light of the Holy Ghost

"We have to remind ourselves, over and over again, that prayer is not an isolated thing, at thing to be sought by itself, a kind of pleasurable accomplishment like music, pr painting or literature, or anything of that kind. It is not something in which we lose ourselves for our own pleasure, though from the way most of us behave when we temporarily lose the pleasure, one might almost be tempted to think that we were no more than amateurs, enjoying and playing with the beauty of an art for the sake of the beauty and the happiness it gives, but without any real knowledge of it, without any genuine proficiency in it, without depth or meaning or understanding.

To pray means to be brought within the life of Christ: to suffer, to love, to win souls with Him. It means to be enmeshed for ever in the will of the Father, to be guided by the hidden light of the Holy Ghost. The suffering of Christ is a very real suffering; the will of God often runs counter to our own; and to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit will often mean to set aside all selfish considerations for the sake of an eternal principle and a divine charity."

-- The Nun's Answer by A Carmelite Nun

God's love has the power to make every burden light

"There is a strong element of surprise in chastity. A religious is surprised that he is able to take a vow of chastity; other people are surprised that he is able to keep it. But in spite of everything, chastity is possible. And it is entirely satisfying.

...

I suppose the first and most salient reason for our choice is that Christ Himself lived a celibate life. We love Christ. Because we love Him, we try to make ourselves like Him in every respect. He is our model, so we strive to imitate Him not only in the things He chose to do, but also in the things He chose not to do. Christ lived a celibate life - this is good enough for us. If there were no other reasons, this alone would be sufficient.

Getting along into the realm of practicality (and how the world loves that word 'practical' - it is so broad), we find many good, solid reasons to give the person who asks 'why?' First of all, saving souls is a full-time job. It occupies either directly or indirectly every waking moment (and our dreams at night). Every single one of us is most definitely aware that in our life no other system could work. We cannot afford to shoulder obligations which by their very nature would take us away from our apostolate. We have enough as it is. Why, the wife of almost any good physician would tell us that her husband is more consistently a doctor than he is a husband or a father.

...

Just suppose that we were not bound to live a life of celibacy. Suppose we were all married men. That would automatically bring thirty women under our roof. And presuming that we would lead good Catholic lives, suppose we all had a family of five or ten children! We laugh to think of the intrigue, the confusion, the heart-breaking chaos that would surely descend upon our haven of prayer and work. Maybe this seems silly. Maybe it is no reason at all. But it certainly is something to think about. Maybe that is why some non-Catholic clergymen are beginning to embrace the celibate state. They are beginning to see that in laboring for God, it is the only thing that works.

Yet, people who are forced to live in the fiery midst of a carnal world still look askance at us when we go by. Many question us and our motives, probably because they could not live like this themselves. And they harbor doubts because the have overlooked the battering but soothing dynamism that is the grace of God. They have forgotten that God's love has the power to make every burden light.

We do not say it is easy. But when we pluck the cross from the little Calvarys within our hearts, there is method to it. We are not seeking comfort or personal satisfaction, because there is no room for that in God's plan for us. So we turn our heads forward and upward, comprehending full well the enormity of our task. We must live and work in the midst of others' suffering, so we do not wish to be without suffering ourselves. In our labors we must come face to face with the full-cupped loneliness of men. We do not want to be without loneliness ourselves. We want to walk unafraid and unashamed at the side of those who need us and to be able to say, 'You have suffering, so have we. You have loneliness, so have we. We we shall forget our problem; let us turn to yours. Let us heal yours, for ours can wait for eternity.'"

-- Men in Sandals by Fr Richard Madde, ocd

An empty pocket here might possibly assure us a full pocket up in heaven

"We do not worry about paying bills because the majority of us never even see them. We can eat at our frugal tables without knowing the price of an egg. Our simple needs are provided by many kind souls who slip little white envelopes under our front door and then scurry back to the grind of getting a little something for themselves. No, we never realized how rich we could be until we took upon ourselves the life of poverty.

-o-

As Carmelites we have received poverty as our heritage, from a foundress who was herself pre-eminently poor. St Teresa loved poverty, and when food and clothing began coming through the turn with stern regularity, when she became deprived of deprivation, she felt as if she had lost 'a great many golden trinkets.' And when things were not quite so miserably poor as usual, the nuns would say anxiously to Teresa, 'Mother, we do not seem to be poor any more.' They were not crazy; only different.

No, we are not rich. We never shall be, for we live by alms. It is a rather haphazard way of life, especially when a Loan Company asks for security, but it was always worked. And many times it is the poor old widow who in saying good-by palms a crumpled dollar bill in our hand. We know she needs it; we know she will feel its loss. But we also know that she needs far more than any dollar bill the tremendous blessings of God that will be hers because of her generosity.

So we friars don't worry if there's a hole in our pocket. What is wrong with a hole as long as there are no pennies to slip through? A hole in a pocket means the pocket is empty. And an empty pocket here on earth might possibly assure us a full pocket up in heaven."

-- Men in Sandals by Richard Madden, ocd

-o-

In the cloister it is not unusual to receive many treats for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, etc. People are so generous that they overwhelm us with many goodies: cakes, pastries, ice cream, cookies, candies... I call them Diabetic Holidays. While so many people in the world suffer and struggle for a piece of bread, God, in His infinite generosity, allows many souls devoted to His serving to not feel a pinch. What is a hard straw bed, some cold or (heat), a bare floor, a lack of menu to choose from, when day after day we see God's generous bounty in the sacrifice of His people?

Thank you for your spiritual and financial support of cloistered (and active) religious communities. May God reward you abundantly for your generosity!

Who could ever separate me from You?

"My Delight, who could ever separate me from You? Who could be capable of breaking these strong chains that keep my heart attached to yours? Perhaps the abandonment of creatures? It is precisely this that unites the soul to its Creator. Perhaps tribulations, suffering, crosses? It is in these thorns that the canticle of the soul that loves you is freest and lightest. Perhaps death? But this will be nothing other than the beginning of true happiness for the soul. Nothing, nothing can separate this soul from You, not even for a brief moment. It was created for You and is lost if it does not abandon itself to You."

-- Bl Elisha of St Clement, ocd

The Presence of the living God

"You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.

These words of St. Augustine echoed in the mind and heart of some pilgrims and hermits from Europe as they settled in the land of Jesus and Mary about the year 1200. These men, who were searching for a deeper awareness and understanding of the living God, became the first Carmelites. They imitated the prophet Elijah by living on Mount Carmel.

They deeply believed that God is always present among us. This was the basic insight that Jesus taught in His sharing among the people. God treasures every individual with a personal and everlasting love. In the words of St. John's Gospel 3: 16: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him might have eternal life."

God has first loved us and continues to share that love with us day by day in so many personal ways. God is always with us, caring for us, supporting, and providing for us in all our needs. As the first Carmelites strove to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and to follow His example, this fundamental message of the Gospel became paramount.

Carmelites have this ideal: to seek and search for God, to give and spend time with God (vacare Deo is the traditional Latin phrase), to be with God by their commitment to follow Jesus, and thus "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all you mind." (Luke 10:27)

This ideal excites and inspires us still. It opens a horizon that calls, provokes, and challenges us to try to empty ourselves so that we might be filled with the God who created us, guides us, and speaks to us today. (Psalm 94)"

-- Fr. John Malley, O.Carm.

Contemplation begins with desire

"Contemplation begins with desire – not our desire for God, but his desire for us. The first and greatest commandment may be to love God with every fibre of our being, but there is something still more fundamental: the realisation that we are loved first. Every contemplative makes this discovery, and in fact bases his/her life on it: that our God is a pursuing God. The whole Carmelite tradition is clear: our desire for God is first awakened by his desire for us. This is the message of our great saints and mystics. The Dark Night and The Spiritual Canticle of John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle – together with every other spiritual classic – celebrate this divine pursuit: the Lover and the beloved seeking each other in the light and the darkness of love’s turbulent ways.

The hungers of the heart and the longings of the spirit are the result of God first desiring us and coming to us in love. This is what Iain Matthew, one of our most popular Carmelite writers, calls ‘the impact of God’: a God who is not a bystander waiting for us to find him but a restless God seeking to make space for himself in our lives. The challenge, of course, for all of us, is to let ourselves beloved, as the young French Carmelite, Elizabeth of the Trinity has said, and allow the reality of this love to change our hearts. It often comes as a surprise that Carmelite writers speak so little about ways and methods of prayer. Instead, they go straight to the heart of what prayer is all about: exposure to this selfsurrendering God. Their concern does not consist in the knowledge that we are saved, but in the assurance that we are loved. For them, the focus is clear and what they seek most of all is to awaken the heart to the presence within. ‘No matter how much you think you are searching for God’, John of the Cross reminds us, ‘he is searching for you much more.’

The one we are searching for is here in the very depths of our being, inviting and waiting for our response. This is why the key element of Carmelite prayer is silent, loving attentiveness to the one who dwells within.

The heart of contemplative prayer is love, and love is the only reality that will ultimately change us. Only when we have found a greater and a deeper love can we let go of the lesser loves that can ensnare the heart and hold it captive. Contemplation is the key to freedom of heart; it is a way of opening ourselves to the embrace of God’s love. John of the Cross may have a reputation for rugged asceticism but at the core of his teaching is the fact that love is the only reality that will ultimately change the heart from within. John is at pains to remind us that there is no setting out on the contemplative journey, unless the soul is, in the beautiful Spanish phrase, en amores inflamada, ‘enkindled with love and yearning’."

-- Contemplative Prayer in the Carmelite Tradition by Fr Eugene McCaffrey, ocd

The soul which advances in union with God is rendered more and more like God

"God is infinitely simple, and the soul, which advances in union with God, is rendered more and more like God in His simplicity. So we are not surprised that with a loving soul affective prayer becomes more and more simplified. In the beginning affective prayer may have much discursive prayer intermingled, 'My God, I love Thee because Thou hast given me the gift of faith, because Thou hast sent Thy Blessed Son to redeem me, because Thou art infinitely perfect in Thyself.' These prayers may be truly affective, springing from the heart more than from the intellect, and made with the most loving disposition. Yet the soul as she advances in love feels less and less the need for reasons and longs more and more to remain simply in love. The simple aspiration: 'My God, I love Thee,' suffices and the soul repeats it constantly, and is powerless at prayer to do anything else, or at least has no inclination to do so, or feels that she is profitably engaged only in praying thus.

Though the love of God is ordinarily the object of this prayer, it may be concerned with any truth of our holy faith or with any virtue. A person may have made long, deep reflections on all the truths connected with the beautiful character of our dear Saviour and may have so keen an appreciation of them that now he requires no more than the Holy Name of Jesus to hold him entranced, and he will repeat again and again that loving Name and make his whole prayer consist of It. We can speak in similar terms of the name of Mary.

We do not say that the whole time of prayer, the half-hour for example, can be thus spent, but an appreciable time can. Often there is an intermingling between his prayer and the prayer of obscure contemplation we describe later, and perhaps this may dispose of the difficulty of those who think that the simple prayer we have endeavoured to explain cannot be maintained without a more that ordinary help from God."

-- Way of Perfection for the Laity by Fr Kevin, ocd

A contemplative life means a life of close union with Him

"A contemplative life means a life of constant recollection of the presence of God and a life of close union with Him. The best way to foster this life is to acquire a habit of mental prayer. It is for this reason that Carmelites are commanded to live in retirement, 'meditating day and night on the law of the Lord and watching in prayers, unless otherwise suitably employed' (Primitive Rule).

In order, then, to live up to the Carmelite spirit, it is necessary to aim at the acquisition of the habit of mental prayer. It is, therefore, very necessary to consider in some detail the subject of mental prayer.

Mental prayer is usually called 'meditation' and it is thus named in the next number of the Rule. But meditation strictly is but the first stage of mental prayer.

It is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between vocal and mental prayer. For the present it is sufficient to say that vocal prayer is the union of our hearts with God by the use of formulae ordinarily ready-made which are recited with a pause not sufficient for more than a passing attention to the words. Mental prayer is the union of hearts with God brought about by making formulae, if they are used at all, the product of our own minds, or by a loving intercourse between God and the soul.

We have stated that meditation is the first stage of mental prayer. Meditation is a deep, loving consideration of the truths of our holy faith leading us to appreciate them as we ought, with a determination to regulate our lives accordingly. The word thus means more than it would seem to imply at first. Bare consideration would be study, not prayer, but in the statement just made the three essential elements of the prayer are contained. There are thus required an act of the intellect or intelligence in the deep consideration of these truths and two acts of the will by which we are urged to a love of them and to an earnest resolve to prove our appreciation of them. Those who wish to make a genuine start in the art of prayer must undertake this work. We shall deal later with those who are apparently incapable of doing this. We must do our best according to the powers or opportunities we have, to penetrate into the truths of our holy faith, to realize their import and significance and bring them home clearly and intimately to ourselves. That is, we must consider these truths as being our very own and realize what practical consequences result therefrom for us, and this consideration must lead us to the deep, earnest conviction that our faith is grand beyond all we can conceive or hope for, that in it and in the consolations it affords is the true happiness only to be found, that our greatest advantage is to live according to its highest maxims. This consideration must lead us to the fixed resolve that we will follow out these maxims whatever the cost. The truths to which we refer embrace also all the virtues as they are taught in sound asceticism.

Bare considerations will not do the work we have described. The discipline of our own will is the chief point, to bring it to the fixed determination to do in all things the Holy Will of God. The prayer, as far as it is prayer, consists in those acts of the will of love and resolution which are the result of our considerations. It will be of great advantage if even from the beginning these considerations are made in a loving manner. According to the  different mystery or truth or virtue we are considering the acts of the will vary, and embrace eventually acts of the love of God in all its forms or acts of all the virtues, theological and moral. To mention but a few, there are the acts of faith, hope, charity, praise, thanksgiving, reverence, honour, adoration, glorification, obedience, humility, contrition, compunction, satisfaction, sympathy, resignation, patience, prudence, fortitude, temperance, love of our neighbour, petition, forgiveness of injuries. We have purposely mentioned many between which there is but a shade of difference because every shade is of consequence.

We have indicated the work that has to be done. The next point is how to do it. Is method necessary? Has any method among the many proposed a special advantage over the others? These questions cannot be answered because it depends entirely on the individual. If method proves useful, it should be employed. If a special method serves the purpose better than others, it ought to be used. In most cases, especially when persons are beginning to acquire the art of prayer, system in making meditation in a manner suited to their dispositions is very necessary.

-o-

The work we have described cannot be neglected by anyone who has any anxiety for an interior life, but it need not necessarily be done through methodic meditation. Those who are capable of making meditation should not neglect it and should continue it as long as they can use it with profit."

-- Way of Perfection for the Laity by Fr Kevin, ocd

The Carmelite Rule

"The Carmelite Rule is among the briefest of the great rules. It is just over 1,500 words. The hermits living on Mount Carmel asked the local bishop, St. Albert of Avogadro (ca 1150-1214), then Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for a rule or way of life sometime after 1206. These hermits lived in separate cells but were gathered into a fraternity by the Rule of Albert.

The Carmelite Rule consists of twenty-four short paragraphs dealing with the basic structures of the settlement on Mount Carmel, with liturgical and personal prayer, and with regulations concerning fasting, silence, work and spiritual warfare (based on Eph 6:10-18). A remarkable feature of this Rule is the number of times that the legislator inserts moderating clauses that allow exceptions depending on circumstances. The prior is appointed “by common consent;” places are to be “suitable and convenient;” refectory reading is prescribed if it “can be done without difficulty;” there is constant prayer, “unless there is another duty;” goods are to be distributed “according to need;” daily Mass is enjoined if “there is no difficulty.” In the two paragraphs on fasting and abstinence there are eleven exclusions with the reminder, “necessity overrides every law.”

You are to fast every day except Sundays from the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross until Easter Sunday, unless illness or bodily weakness, or other just cause counsels a lifting of the fast, since necessity has no law. You are to abstain from meat, unless it is to be taken as a remedy for illness or bodily weakness. Since you must more frequently beg on journeys, in order not to burden your hosts you may eat food cooked with meat outside your own houses. At sea, however, meat may be eaten. (nn. 16, 17) But the main asceticism of the Carmelite Rule will be found in the chapter on spiritual armour, based largely on Eph 6:10-17.

Since human life on earth is a trial and all who want to live devotedly in Christ suffer persecution; your enemy the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour. You must then with all diligence put on the armour of God so that you may be able to stand up to the ambushes of the enemy.

Your loins are to be girded with the belt of chastity; your breast is to be protected by holy thoughts, for the Scripture says, holy thoughts will save you. Put on the breastplate of justice, so that you may love the Lord your God from your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole strength, and your neighbour as yourselves. In all things take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the darts of the evil one; without faith, indeed, it is impossible to please God. The helmet of salvation is to be placed on your head, so that you may hope for salvation from the one Saviour, who saves his people from their sins. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is to dwell abundantly in your mouths and hearts. So whatever you have to do, is to be done in the word of the Lord. (nn. 18, 19).

Other ascetical norms are about work and silence. The very last words of the Rule are “See that the bounds of common sense are not exceeded, however, for common sense is the guide of the virtues” (utatur tamen discretione, que virtutum est moderatrix). The author is strictest not on fasting or other practices, but about work, serious and continual work: “earn you bread by silent work; this is the way of holiness and goodness; see that you follow it.” The broad and compassionate tone of the Rule has in a profound way left its mark on Carmel."

-- The meaning of Lent with some Carmelite insights by Christopher O'Donnell, OCarm

We are all 'predestined to be made conformable to the image of His Son'

"Since contemplation is a gratuitous gift of God, is one justified in hoping for it?

Sometimes the question is asked whether it is not contrary to humility to hope for the gift of contemplation, and does not this open the door to illusions. Most Carmelite authors allow one to hope for it. Without excluding this hope, St Teresa thought it better to dispose oneself for it by humility and by the total gift of oneself to strive to realize the aim of their Institute, which is contemplation.

Can souls who thus dispose themselves to receive the gift of contemplation, merit this gift from God?

In the strict sense of the term merit, this is not possible, for contemplation is always a gratuitous gift. St Teresa and other Carmelite writers are quite firm on this point. But they are of the opinion that God rewards generous and faithful souls by giving it to them. This seems to lend authority to the opinion that one can merit contemplation in the wider meaning of the term."

Résumé

As will be evident from the foregoing, Carmelite life is especially directed towards contemplation. The soul seeks to meet God in solitude and silence. There it strives to detach itself from created things, to purify its faculties from everything that hinders its union with God, and to occupy itself with Him alone. The Carmelite concentrates all his thoughts on God. He seeks Him and contemplates Him in the light of faith, which alone enables him to attain God. He is drawn to God with all the ardor of his soul filled with love. Prayer is his principal occupation. The Carmelite devotes his whole day to this. Even while he works he strives to retain a spirit of prayer. In this recollection he glorifies God; gives himself to Him; and is full of zeal for His glory. He is not unconcerned for the welfare of other souls, but knows that he will save more souls, the more he is united with God.

Thus the Carmelite strives for this union in all his thoughts and actions. He knows that God invites him to do this. On the other hand, he is conscious of the fact that God gives Himself to souls only when they have left all for him. This is why, with his eyes fixed on Christ whom he strives to reproduce in himself, with his heart tending towards Him, he produces a void in himself to make room for God and gives himself to God in the hope of finally achieving union with Him in the measure that God deigns to communicate Himself here below.

Carmelite life is open to other souls

It has been our special purpose here to give an exposition of Carmelite ideals. But these teachings are not so completely the property of Carmel that they cannot be suitable to other souls as well. Indeed, grace makes us all 'partakers of the divine nature'; we are all 'predestined to be made conformable to the image of His Son'; we have all within us the Holy Spirit, who prays for us 'with unspeakable groanings.' All of us, if we have true charity, may hope that the Holy Trinity 'will make Their abode with us,' and that we will be united to Them.

However, we shall not attain to this union unless we carry out the necessary retrenchments, purifying our faculties, and tending towards God by the practice of the theological virtues and meditative prayer.

The Carmelite doctrine can be proposed as suited to every soul which seeks to unite itself with God. St John of the Cross is the Doctor of Mystical Theology for the universal Church. St Teresa has the title of 'mater spiritualium,' the mother of all things spiritual, 'whose heavenly teaching ought to nourish every soul.'"

-- The spirit and prayer of Carmel by François Jamart, ocd

** This is the last entry from this spiritual gem by Fr Jamart. For those of you who enjoyed the entries, you may use the Lijit search box and type "Jamart" to find all the posts from this book.

The Lord 'calls everyone' to drink at the fountain of living waters

"On several occasions St Teresa clearly showed that the Lord 'calls everyone' to drink at the fountain of living waters, which is synonymous for her with infused contemplation. 'He calls souls to his,' she writes, 'publicly, and in a loud voice.' She makes this clearer when she says: 'All of us who wear this holy habit of Carmel are called to prayer and contemplation. Such was the purpose of our Order from the beginning.' Yet, she adds: 'There are very few who have the dispositions needed if God is to grant them this contemplation.' For this she demands a life of self-abnegation, humility, generosity, and the total gift of oneself to God.

St Teresa hardly doubts that those who possess these virtues will attain to contemplation. 'God truly has but one desire: to find souls to whom He can give Himself.' She exhorts her daughters to 'make strenuous efforts and not to stop halfway.' 'Sometimes the Lord is late in coming, but then He rewards handsomely, and He gives as much in a single visit as He gave others in small amounts over several years.'

According to St Teresa, all generous souls and all who give themselves completely to God are called to contemplation. Not that they will all be led by 'the way' of contemplation. There are two ways. But all will at least drink a little at the fountain of living waters, that is, they will occasionally receive some mystical grace. 'To those who want to follow Him,' she writes, 'God grants a great number of ways of drinking the living water, so that no one need be deprived of its consolations or die of thirst. From this source spring up streams, some large, others small.'

Although St John of the Cross stated that 'the way' of contemplation was not for all souls, he also recognized that those who resolutely make efforts to practise virtue participate in the passive nights and enjoy the favors of contemplation. Other Carmelite writers on mysticism repeat the same teaching. For them, as for their founders, infused contemplation is granted to all generous souls.

From these passages we can see clearly enough that infused contemplation is the ordinary and natural development of the spiritual life and is to be expected as a result of a life of generosity towards God. It is not an extraordinary grace. However, the way of contemplation is not the only way which leads to perfection. God leads some souls by another path, which will arrive at sanctity as well as the others."

-- The spirit and prayer of Carmel by François Jamart, ocd

We belong to Mary

"Carmel is Marian. We belong to Mary. But if you notice, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is always depicted as holding the Child Jesus. Carmelites love Mary and honour her as the one who introduces us to Jesus. Strangely Mary is never mentioned in The Rule of St. Albert, the document that initially defines Carmel and its spirituality. In fact, Mary is mentioned relatively rarely in the ancient documents of the Order until the Book of the Institution of the First Monks which was composed in the final quarter of the fourteenth century. Furthermore, Mary is mentioned surprisingly rarely in the writings of St. Teresa or St. John of the Cross. Even St. Thérèse of Lisieux or Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity or St. Edith Stein mention her but rarely. Yet she is always present in the Carmelite tradition and her presence, though somewhat inconspicuous, is fundamental. When Mary is present in the Carmelite writings she is almost invariably eclipsed by her Son. It is a reminder that even though we cannot see the moon when the sun is shinning, the moon is always there, and it draws its light from the sun. In the same way, Carmelites remember that while our sight is focused on Jesus, Mary is still there. Like the moon she sheds not light of her own, but reflects the Light from her Divine Son."


-- Nine themes in carmelite spirituality by Patrick Thomas McMahon, OCarm


** Picture by Cofradía Pescadores

The Carmelite way of life is first and foremost about prayer

"The Carmelite way of life is first and foremost about prayer. Albert’s Way, as the Rule is sometimes called, is eminently a way of prayer. It does not simply ask us to pray, but rather it leads our lives to become prayer. In The Way of Perfection, St. Teresa does not just teach us how to pray, but shows us how to live a life of friendship and intimacy with the Lord that is far more than saying prayers. In the same way, the writings of St. John of the Cross are centred on how to arrive at union with God, not through prayer in the more narrow senses, but through various phases of life – “ascent” and “the experience of the nights”, “climbing the mountain of the Lord.” As the Carmelite matures in the spiritual life, prayer becomes not merely an activity in life, but the essence of who he or she is.

The Rule’s demand of the separate cell, the injunction to stay in one’s cell in solitude, its insistence on silence, the common life and the counsels, the law of work, the ascetical practices and liturgical worship, and the incessant pondering of the law of the Lord: all provide the basic framework for a life that is maturing into prayer. Availing oneself of these basic structures outlined in the Rule one finds that ultimately prayer becomes spontaneous; it continues; it encounters and liberates the deepest impulses of our nature and the hidden glorification of objects. It puts an end of Glory’s exile from the soul. This is because when the Spirit dwells in a person, from the moment in which that person not longer simply prays but has become prayer, the Spirit never leaves him/her, for the Spirit himself never ceases to pray in him/her. Whether the person is asleep or awake, prayer never from then on departs from his soul. Whether he is eating or drinking or sleeping or whatever else he is doing, even in deepest sleep, the fragrance of prayer rises without effort in his heart. Prayer never again deserts him. At every moment of his life, even when it appears to stop, it is secretly at work in him continuously."

-- Carmelite heritage speaks across cultures by Insun Joanne Lee

We are called to live a life of service

" Service is an integral part of our charism. As baptized people, we are called to live a life of service. Based on the value of the Gospel, our Rule mentions that the prior is the one who best serves of the needs of his brothers and so our leaders today serve the needs of the brothers and sisters — but we are all called, in turn, to serve others. Our lifestyle and our spirituality must be translatable into attitudes and actions capable of communicating our Carmelite spirit through an ongoing effort to inculturate our charism and the gospel message. We are open to every kind of service, apostolate or profession. As we bring Christ to people, we encounter Christ present in them by obedience to Christ’s command to “go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe my commands” (Mt 28:19-20). Our Order promotes the continuation of a long missionary tradition which reached its high point when St. Therese of the Child Jesus was made patron saint of the missions. We are confident that missionary work today will reveal in a new way the heart of the Carmelite charism as the Carmelite family goes into new cultures and nations. The Carmelites can cooperate with the Church in this most sacred duty because we participate with all Christians in the Church’s one channel of grace. But we have a unique vocation in the service of the people. The Carmelite, by virtue of our contemplative prayer, can help the Church to listen to the cry of the poor, the oppressed, the outcast, and the marginalized. We are willing to learn to work with others in the service of the Kingdom, to develop a special love for and interest in the Church and her mission. Thus, in whatever work we do, we focus more on the spiritual journey of those around us."


--  The carmelite charism at the service of the church today by Peter Hoang Nguyen, OCarm

Carmelites are the signs of hope

"The common Carmelite Charism makes us one religious family even as our various personal charisms enrich it and express its multifaceted beauty. Community life is in itself both a proclamation and a challenge. A community that is full of life is both attractive and prophetic. Christ is present in the heart of our community as well as in the heart of the Church and in the hearts of so many people. We, as Carmelites, experience the beauty of community life, in which we share our common goods, and our gathering for the Eucharist nourishes our spiritual life as well as our relationships. Coming together with one another and finding communion with Christ provide the central moment of Carmelite spiritual life. The fact that we are living in community and celebrating the Eucharist together helps to nurture the spiritual life of the Church at the level of religious community. We can expand our prayer for those who, for some reason, cannot go to church themselves. Saint Therese, the Little Flower, spoke of this deep Communion with the Church and all its members as she wrote “in the heart of the Church I am love”. As a spiritual family within the Church, we Carmelites are the signs of hope, of the potential which we humans can reach with God’s grace. We respond to God’s call and to the Church’s teachings with humility. By our community lifestyle, we can inspire the world to live in peace with one another, and to share their concerns, their anxieties, and their resources with one another. Our lifestyle must be open and welcoming, inviting us to share with others the communion of hearts and the experience of God, which we are living in the community. When we live in the midst of the people, we help them to grow in their relationship with God and the Church. In the midst of the people, we bring them into the love of God, we do not shut them out."


--  The carmelite charism at the service of the church today by Peter Hoang Nguyen, OCarm

The third order of the discalced carmel

"Ideal: the union of the soul and God, a union more intimate than that of the window and the ray, of the coal and the fire. Wondrous means: surrender of the soul to the action of God by prayer, 'holy meditations and contemplations,' in a word, Love and its pursuit, those are the spiritual arms of the Order of Carmel. Its motto is that of Saint Paul, 'Ambulate in dilectione' (walk in love). The child of Carmel 'knows only one means to reach perfection... Love'; nothing troubles him, nothing affrights him - nothing is wanting to him. God alone is sufficient for him. Following the beautiful programme of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, his life must be a continual communion, 'he awakes in Love - the whole day is lived in Love in doing the will of the Good God - then, when evening comes after a dialogue of love which has never ceased in his heart, surrendering to the fire of love which consumes all his faults and infidelities, he sleeps again in love' under the gaze of Our Lady, the sweetness and glory of Carmel' -- Rev Father Eliseus of the Nativity, ocd

-- Way of Perfection for the Laity by Fr Kevin, ocd

** Picture from Digital Catholic

Through prayer, Carmelites can help the Church and God’s people

"Our Rule calls us to contemplate the Word of God day and night (Rule 10). We let the Word of God abound in our mouth and hearts (Rule 19). The Word of God becomes comfort and strength for us, burning with passion for God, defeating the depression and temptations of surrender within us. Through contemplation, we can help the Church to discern the signs of the times and how the Spirit of God is leading us into an unknown future, our future, where the Holy Spirit will surprise and challenge our love and service. It is important for us today to experience the Word of God, to live with the Word of God, and to witness to the Word of God. The good news is that we proclaim God’s love and mercy to all creatures because God so loved the world that he offered his Son (I Jn 3:16). We proclaim Jesus Christ is our Lord, our God, and our Saviour because through his life, death, and resurrection, He desires to bring all people to God’s hands. Following the footsteps of Jesus Christ, we experience the grace of God even as we experience the disgrace of the world. We challenge the world with its sinful structures that cause injustice and which oppresses human dignity. Like Elijah, the Carmelites try to be faithful to God and to point out the injustice of the world. Through prayer, the Carmelites can help the Church and God’s people in the way of prayer, to feed their spiritual hunger for God. We can help the Church and the world to pray for God’s love and mercy and the conversion of the world in these times threatened by terrorism, and undermined by moral relativism. Our prayer, joined to the prayer of the Church, praises God, converts the sinners, and prophetically challenges the existing sinful structures of the world around us."


--  The carmelite charism at the service of the church today by Peter Hoang Nguyen, OCarm