The Holy Spirit: Lord and Giver of Life: Carmel and Renewal.

The subject that I would like to present for your consideration is taken from the Congress of the Secular Order celebrated in Rome in October of 1996. It is expressed in this quote: “The future of the Secular Carmel depends precisely on the active, mature and responsible collaboration (with the Holy Spirit) in the apostolate of the Order on all levels.”

There is a supposition in this subject as it is worded that is fundamental, but which must be stated explicitly. That supposition is that the future of the Order depends precisely on the Order’s ability to work in a united way on all levels. You, as men and women have a vocation to live out your baptismal call to sanctity in allegiance to Jesus Christ, as the rule of Saint Albert says, following the way indicated by Teresa of Jesus. You are not additions to the Order of Discalced Carmelites, or auxiliary members of the Order. You are an integral part of the Order.

The Church celebrated a synod in 1995, the subject of which was the religious life. The Holy Father wrote an Apostolic Exhortation, dated March 25th of 1996 which was addressed to the whole church. In that Apostolic Exhortation, entitled Vita Consacrata, he spoke about the secular orders associated with religious communities of men and women. He said in number 54 “The laity are therefore invited to share more intensely in the spirituality and mission of these institutes. We may say that, in the light of certain historical experiences such as those of the secular or third orders, a new chapter, rich in hope, has begun in the history of relations between consecrated persons and the laity.”

An earlier synod, the Synod on the Laity in 1987, studied the role of the laity in the Church. The document that came from that synod, entitled Christifideles Laici said this (15) about the relationship between religious and laity:

“Among the lay faithful this one baptismal dignity takes on a manner of life which sets a person apart without, however, bringing about a separation from the ministerial priesthood or from men and women religious. The Second Vatican Council has described this manner of life as the ‘secular character’, the secular character is properly and particularly that of the lay faithful” (LG, 32)

To understand properly the lay faithful’s position in the Church is a complete, adequate and specific manner it is necessary to come to a deeper theological understanding of their secular character in the light of God’s plan of salvation and in the context of the mystery of the Church. Pope Paul VI said the Church >has an authentic secular dimension, inherent to her inner nature and mission, which is deeply rooted in the mystery of the Word Incarnate and which is realized in different forms through her members.” (Address to Members of Secular Institutes 2 Feb 72)

“The new chapter” to which the Pope refers in the above-cited VC is the new chapter in the history of the Church begun at the Second Vatican Council. It is the chapter that, as we believers recognize in faith, is the direct result of the Holy Spirit’s impulse and inspiration in the workings of the Church. The most apparent changes which the Council mandated are perhaps those in the celebration of the liturgy. They were rapid in coming. And they were perhaps the easiest to organize. But the real changes are yet to be seen in some senses. The church’s self-understanding and self-definition is what is most radical. And we only have a glimpse of what those changes are. When the Council used the expression “The people of God” to identify its structure something new began in our history. It is not incidental that we in the Order stopped using the expressions ‘first’, ‘second’ and ‘third Orders’ to identify ourselves. We are Carmelite friars, Carmelite nuns, and Carmelite seculars. You are not shadows of the religious who form the real Carmelites. You are real Carmelites. Therefore, the elements of your Carmelite identity ought not to be those elements that are the identifying elements of the religious. The hierarchical structure is essential to the nature of the church precisely because it identifies the responsibility and area of competence of each of the members of the Order.

In the quote from VC it says that the invitation is to “share more intensely in the spirituality and mission” of the Order. That word mission is an extremely important word. We are only beginning to see how it is that the role of the laity in the church, and therefore the Order will take shape in the future which it is our responsibility to build. Up until the Council we were much clearer on the ways in which we shared in the spirituality of the order than in the mission of the Order. What is becoming more and more obvious in the Church and the Order is the responsibility you have in the area of the apostolate and mission of the Church and the Order.

With this understanding as the background I want to look at the person of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, the Divine Person who has, and always will be the one to give life and renew constantly the life we receive. To the degree that we follow the “impulses of the Holy Spirit” we are always new. If any of us does just what we want to do, because we want to do it and the Spirit wants us to do something else, we may continue to do it, but it will be fruitless for oneself as well as for others.

Jesus says in the 16th chapter of the gospel of John “and yet I can say truly that it is better for you I should go away; he who is to befriend you will not come to you unless I do go, but if only I make my way there, I will send him to you. He will come, and it will be for him to prove the world wrong, about sin, and about righteousness of heart, and about judging. About sin; they have not found belief in me. About righteousness of heart; I am going back to my Father, and you are not to see me any more. About judging; he who rules this world has had sentence passed on him already. I have still much to say to you, but it is beyond your reach as yet. It will be for him, the truth giving Spirit, when he comes, to guide you in all truth. He will not utter a message on his own; he will utter the message that has been given to him; and he will make plain to you what is still to come. And he will bring honour to me, because it is from me that he will derive what he makes plain to you. I say that he will derive from me what he makes plain to you to you, because all that belongs to the Father belongs to me.” (Jn. 16, 7-15)

1. The coming of the Holy Spirit depends directly on the mystery of the incarnate Lord.
2. We do not know all that is to be known.
3. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Person who guides us in the truth - but it is a journey made in faith.

We refer to Pentecost as the birthday of the Church. We ask the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and enlighten our minds. The Holy Spirit is the very air that the Church breathes to keep alive. Jesus, returning to the Father, keeps his promise and sends the Holy Spirit, confirming in that sending of the Spirit, the fundamental mystery of God’s self revelation - the Trinity. The Council document on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum (2) says: “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:1S; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14 15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself.” God, one in three, through the presence of the Spirit reveals Himself as He is on the day of Pentecost and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit make their dwelling with us. That presence changes humanity.

Saint Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, also known as the Gospel of the Holy Spirit describes the change that takes place in the tiny group of believers in the resurrection of Jesus. “These occupied themselves continually with the apostle’s teaching, their fellowship in the breaking of the bread, and the fixed times of prayer, and every soul was struck with awe, so many were the wonders and signs performed by the apostles in Jerusalem. All the faithful held together and shared all they had, selling their possessions and their means of livelihood, so as to distribute to all, as each had need. They persevered with one accord, day by day, in the temple worship, and as they broke bread in this house or that, took their share of food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God, and winning favour with all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship others that were to be saved.” (Acts 2, 42-47)

There are then four signs (marks, characteristics) of the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit:

a) Listening to the teaching of the apostles;
b) Fellowship (unity);
c) Breaking of the bread;
d) Prayer.

These four characteristics then were and always will be the productive evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church, and what we say of the life of the Church is, of course, true of the life of the Order. Each one of them needs to be understood and given its proper place in the understanding of the Church.

Listening to the teaching of the apostles: what did the apostles teach? It is evident from the writings of the new Testament that what they taught was knowledge of the life of Jesus - his miracles, his attention to the sick, the weak, sinners, his teaching, a new way of understanding the revelation that preceded him in the Old Testament, an interpretation of the facts of life and history in the light of the good news of God’s presence among us. Saint Cyprian said that the Gospel is always much more convincing when it is lived. Cardinal Suenens said that you might be the only Gospel that some people ever read. The teaching of the apostles was that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus makes all the difference in the world.

Fellowship - fraternal union, unity, community. In one sense that might be understood in the light of the sharing of goods referred to in the Acts of the Apostles. But in the first sense I think it refers to the spiritual union that is the obvious will of Jesus expressed in the 17th chapter of Saint John1s Gospel - “that all might be one”. A unity based on the truth revealed in the mystery of the life of Jesus.

The breaking of bread. The third element of the Spirit’s presence was the breaking of bread, Saint Luke’s expression of the celebration of the Eucharist. It was the Eucharist that nourished and strengthened the followers of Christ. The celebration of his presence and his passion motivated then to live the Gospel. Fellowship and breaking of bread go together here in a very intimate union.

Prayer. Intimate relationship with God, praise, supplication, self-knowledge and contrition. This translation uses the expression of fixed times of prayer, I don’t think so much to show some adhesion to a certain horarium, as to be able to facilitate meeting together for the purpose of prayer, and I think the context of the reading supports that interpretation. Everything else is done together, why should this element be left up to only the individual?

The presence of the Holy Spirit changed the believers in the Lord’s resurrection and formed them into the community of believers, the Church. These four elements express the change made in individual believers. These four elements continue to be the expression of the change made in individual believers. These four elements are profoundly Teresian, because the Holy Spirit profoundly moved Teresa. They are, therefore, expressions of the Teresian way of life and the apostolate of the Order.

What I believe to be expressed in the statement that the future of the Secular Carmel depends on the collaboration with the Holy Spirit in the apostolate of the Order is the emphasis on the responsibility that is yours because of the call to live the Carmelite vocation as seculars. This is the new thing. Again returning to the call of the Holy Father in VC - intensely share in the spirituality and mission of the Order. That is to say, you are not called, nor moved by the Holy Spirit to be simply members of the Order in order to share in the spiritual privileges of your Carmelite identity. You are called to be agents of what Carmel has to offer the world through its spiritual heritage.

What do you have to give? The formation you have received as Carmelite Seculars has been given to you so that you might “actively, maturely and responsibly collaborate with the Holy Spirit in the apostolate of the Order.”

Truman Dickens, in his now famous book on the spirituality of Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross, The Crucible of Love, said that the most pressing pastoral problem of the modern world is to teach people how to pray. The understanding behind to statement on the future of the Secular Carmel is that because of what you receive though your Carmelite vocation you have the responsibility, but more than that, the capacity to communicate what you receive to others.

Simply look at the four characteristic elements of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the birth of the Church through the experience of your Carmelite vocation in order to see how what you have received has taken fruit in you.

Listening to the apostles’ teaching. First of all listening. The very first thing any of us has to learn in the growth of our spiritual life is the contemplative quality of listening. Only silence produces the quality of listening. We live in a world polluted with noise. I travel public transportation all over the world and am constantly struck by the number of people, both old and young who constantly have earplugs, connected to cassette and CD players to accompany them - endless noise. The lessening of the ability to listen affects greatly the capacity to dialogue.

Listening to teaching. Listening to someone else other than you in order to learn. The explosion of information and the demand of our society that you know, the rapidity with which we can know things through such wonderful things like the Internet have also affected the contemplative quality of wonder, of awe. Gone from our society is the mystical wonder of not knowing.

The second element - fellowship is at the heart of Teresian spirituality and our formation as Carmelites. The discipline of forming community, with all the sacrifices it entails is an art that this world of rugged individualism and fractured relationships needs to relearn. The presence of a community of men and women with a mature spirituality of prayer and relationship with God and each other enriches the local church.

Breaking of bread. Nearly all, if not all Saint Teresa’s mystical experiences of God took place in the context of the Eucharist - the body of Christ, which she saw as the experience of His most Sacred Humanity. A commitment to living fully the sacramental life of the Church has to lead to a desire to share the richness found in that life with others. The final sections of the post-synod document Christifideles Laici speak of the necessity of forming those who can form others.

And finally the gift of prayer. What prayer and the life of prayer is in our lives because of what we receive through the grace of our formation as Carmelites can only reach its fullness in us when it is productive for others as well. Saint Teresa says in the 7th Mansions, the 4th chapter “O my Sisters! How forgetful this soul, in which the Lord dwells in so particular a way, should be of its own rest, how little it should care for its honor, and how far it should be from wanting esteem in anything! For if it is with Him very much, as is right, it should think little about itself. All its concern is taken up with how to please Him more and how or where it will show Him the love it bears Him. This is the reason for prayer, my daughters, the purpose of this spiritual marriage: the birth always of good works, good works.”

The call to holiness is never self-centering. It never has been. Truly holy people have always sought to make God known, that is to say, they have always been evangelizers. Your vocation to Carmel means that you have received a call to holiness precisely so that you might evangelize others. There is an apostolic purpose to your vocation. The signs of the times, the call of history is expressed in the statement that “the future of the Secular Carmel depends precisely on the active, mature and responsible collaboration (with the Holy Spirit) in the apostolate of the Order on all levels.”

I close with another quote from Vita Consacrata. It is a quote specifically addressed to religious Orders, but certainly applies to you as well. “You have not only a glorious history to remember and recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished. Look to the future, where the Spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things.” Vita Consacrata, 110.

OCDS and the Friars

A few days ago I received an email from a member of the Secular Order who generally has had a good experience of the relationship between the friars and the seculars. The point of her email was that she had recently discovered that not every secular has had the same good fortune, and that some had even had bad experiences of the relationship between these two branches of the one Discalced Carmelite Order.

In attempting to answer the question I thought that it might be a good thing to share my answer in the newsgroup. It is not that my answer is definitive or better than anyone else’s answer. I just thought that it might help to address a problem that exists in some regions of the Order.

During the last 7 year while I have had the responsibility of being the General’s delegate to the Secular Order I have heard many stories from Secular Order members of difficulties they experience with friars. Because of this position, I too have had some friars express very negative opinions of the Secular Order. Before this, I had never heard in my own Province or from my own friars or seculars anything in the way of negative experiences. Not that they do not exist in my Province, it is just that I never heard of them. So it was quite a new phenomenon for me.

I am going to state a few one sentence principles that form the background of my comments.

Principle # 1: Negative people are not the majority, but they are the most vocal.
Principle # 2: Together we can be all things to all persons, but no individual can be all things to all persons.
Principle # 3: It is not necessary to be accepted by everybody in order to realize one’s vocation.
Principle # 4: “Keep your eyes fixed on Christ Crucified and all will become small” applies in every circumstance of life, outside and inside the Order.
Corollary of Principle # 4: Adversity, in God’s hands, is an experience of grace.

Another thing to remember before tackling the attempt at an answer is that we a most certainly living in a time when roles within the Church, and therefore, within the Order, are being re-evaluated and reshaped. Things as we knew them to be are not as they were. Things as they will be are not yet there. Not the faith, not the substance of what makes us Catholics, but the forms, “the ways and means” of how we live together in the Church. Because of that it is necessary to be very patient with each other. And, as I always like to point out, patience comes from the Latin verb, patior, pati, passus sum, which means to suffer. It is a suffering to be patient with each other. And it is to cause suffering to each other to be impatient.

The Order has an official position on the nature of the Secular Order and its members. That official position is expressed in the Constitutions of the friars, and very well developed in the new Constitutions of the Secular Order. Both documents are approved by the Holy See. The identity and role of the seculars and friars and the relationship that exists between them in very well laid out in the official legislation of these two branches of the Order.

This role and this identity are not new. In 1962 the Generalate published in Italian a book entitled Punti Fermi e Orientamenti del Terz’Ordine Dei Camelitani Scalzi (Established Points and Orientations of the Third Order of the Discalced Carmelites) and in 1980, Father Anastasio of the Holy Rosary, a former General and later Cardinal Archbishop of Turin, wrote a book on the vocation of the Secular entitle Partecipi dello Stesso Carisma (Participants in the Same Charism).
Both of these works clearly identified and understood the OCDS to be integrally part of the Carmelite Order, recognizing the differences between the religious members and the lay members. That official line is the view (opinion, position, approach, belief, judgment, attitude) of the Church and of the Order. As we say in American English – period, dot, exclamation point.

Now, everyone is entitled to his or her own personal opinions and positions on everything. I believe that the majority of friars and seculars are in line with the official position expressed in the legislation. But not all! There are some friars who do not agree with, or are not in line with the official position. (But guess what, neither are all seculars). No matter what opinion either a friar or a secular, no matter how many years a Carmelite, no matter what office he or she has in the Order (Province, community), no matter what influence he or she has on the members, if the opinion is not in line with the official opinion expressed in the official legislation, then that opinion is 100% personal and 0% official.
In addition, there are some people (again, friars and seculars) who are just plain negative. You know who they are. They do not always know that they are. They usually think that they are “right”, “faithful”, “avant-garde”, “defenders of the tradition”, or whatever. They run the gambit from right to left, liberal to conservative, lax to rigid. If you disagree with them, watch out. If you agree with them, you are a genius.

Some seculars have had many unfortunate experiences with negative friars. And some friars have had unfortunate experiences with negative seculars. The most unfortunate result of the negative experience of the seculars with the friars, is that somehow the friars have communicated to the seculars that what the individual friar thinks is what the Order thinks. This experience has then affected the attitude of the seculars towards the Order. The only explanation is that this particular person is negative.

Again, I think that negative people are few, but they are really loud in their negativity. Therefore, they are very noticeable. If your experience of a certain friar or a certain secular is negative, I think if you examine well the circumstances you might discover that the negativity is not just confined to the OCDS.

Another point about the friars is that some friars have lots of talents to do lots of things. Others have many talents for some things. I would like to mention a personal example. In my 30 years of priesthood I have visited many people in hospitals. However, I have to confess that it is not a particular ministry for which I think I have the talent. I know some other priests who can spend hours every day visiting hospitals and do wonderful work. In the Order there are some friars who spend their whole lives ministering to our cloistered sisters, the nuns. And there are other friars who just do not have the talent for the apostolate to the nuns. I have known some friars who have worked enthusiastically and efficiently with the OCDS, but cannot work well with nuns. And I have known friars who were great with the nuns, but disasters in dealing with the seculars. Sometimes a friar may deny an invitation to give a conference, or be a spiritual assistant, or speak to the OCDS, not because he does not accept or recognize the validity of your call or your place in the Order, but simply because he does not see himself as having the necessary talents. It can be as plain and simple as that.

I travel to many different parts of the world to visit the OCDS. I tend to concentrate on those parts of the world where there are no friars. In many of these parts there are also our sisters, the nuns. I have seen the look of surprise on the face of both the OCDS and the nuns when the nuns ask me to give them some conferences and I respond to them “Sorry Mother, I am here for the Secular Order”. The surprise on their faces comes from the fact that they are used to hearing the opposite. “Sorry, I cannot give conferences to the OCDS because I am here for the nuns.” Do I respond to the nuns because I reject their vocation? Of course not! I have to keep my focus on what I am supposed to be doing. I have limits to my energy and time. So I have to be aware of what my responsibilities are. Giving conferences is much more than just talking. It is trying to enter into a dialogue with the persons involved. And if I do well, I am tired, not so much physically, but mentally. So, be aware. If a friar is there to give conferences or a retreat to the nuns and you ask him for a conference, it may not be because he rejects your place in the Order. He may just want to focus his energy on why he is there.

There is problem that I have discovered in some few Provinces. Most provinces have a friar who is Provincial Delegate. In some Provinces the Delegate has been Delegate for many, many years. And sometimes it has been a problem. Not all the time, but sometimes, yes. In some rare cases where the Delegate has been perpetual, he has made the OCDS a personal possession and had such an influence that the OCDS members are dominated by the Delegate’s way of doing things. The other friars in the Province are too intimidated to touch that personal possession. I have met friars who told me that they would love to work with the OCDS, but cannot. They cannot for two reasons. The first reason is that they do not want to enter into conflict with the Delegate. The second reason is that whatever they say will be subjected to the Delegate by the OCDS for approval. I myself had the experience of being present in one such context as General Delegate. I gave my conference. After I left the perpetual Provincial Delegate interpreted everything I said for the OCDS in such a way as to make it say what he wanted said. Some people interpret authority as control instead of leadership and empowerment.

Since you have the position of the Order, approved by the Holy See, expressed in your Constitutions and with that the support and encouragement of the General Superiors as Fathers of the Order, you really do not need anyone else’s approval to be what you are called to be in Carmel. Yes, it is the responsibility of the friars to minister and empower you to live that call. Just remember that it is not necessary to have everybody’s approval to do that.

The lives of our holy Parents, Saints Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross are the richest examples of dealing with adversity. Saint Teresa was called before the Inquisition twice. Saint John of the Cross spent 9 months locked in a prison cell by Carmelite friars. Thank goodness they did not let their experiences of negativity embitter them!

Saint Teresa in the Interior Castle (VII, 4) writes “Poned los ojos en el Crucificado y todo se hará poco.” (Keep your eyes on the Crucified One and everything will become small.) I mean, we really did not join Carmel so that everybody would think well of us. I believe that the practical effect of obedience is to keep us focused on exactly where we get the direction of our lives. For me the most efficient way of keeping my eyes fixed one the Lord, is to cooperate in obedience with the legitimate superiors of the Order and the Church.

Saint John of the Cross has the famous saying, “adonde no hay amor, ponga amor, y sacará amor” (where there is not love, put love and you will draw love). He does not say “where there is no love, put love and you will be loved”. Guard against allowing any negative experience make you negative.

The experience which our holy Parents had of adversity did not sour them but strengthened them in their identity and vocation.

For me, the bottom line is that your call and place in the Order is certified in the official documents of the Order which have been approved by the Church. That is the source of your identity. Anyone - friar, nun, or other secular - who has a view or an opinion that differs from what is found in those official sources is expressing a personal opinion, but should not at all be taken seriously.

What do “the friars” think? The answer to that question is in the documents. What does this particular friar think? Ask him! Just keep in mind that, to the extent that he differs from what is contained in the documents, he is just giving a personal opinion.

Study and the OCDS

Study and the OCDS

Recently I have been asked about the role of study in the Secular Order of Carmel. Some think that too much emphasis on studying may have the effect of scaring people away from the OCDS. Others think that an emphasis on studying makes the formation director’s job much more complicated and/or difficult. And others say that there is difficulty in finding adequate formation personnel because they are not academically trained to be teachers.

As far as I can, I would like to clarify some issues in regard to study and the OCDS.

The first thing to say is that most of us have an image associated with the word “study” which comes from our own personal experience. When we were in primary school, we had “to study” in order to advance from grade to grade each year. “Study” meant memorizing, practicing, testing, afternoons or evenings in front of books (with our minds sometimes wanting us to be elsewhere). “Study” was competitive. Scores were given and prizes awarded to the ones whose “study” produced the best scores. As we progressed in school and advanced from grade to grade, the “studying” got more and more complicated and, above all, harder. Some people seemed to breeze through. Others succeeded, but at what headaches! But the good thing was, IT HAD AN END!

When or if we got to the advanced stages of “study” at university levels or post-graduate levels, we ran into an even finer “study”. People in higher degree programs entered into fields of “study” in order to dedicate their lives and energies to “study” one certain thing. They produced the fruit of their academic work in a thesis that sometimes had the title of “The Study of……”

So “study” has for many of us, an image of “get it over with so you can get out of school” or “dedicate all your energy and time to this one thing”.

Neither one of those ideas has anything to do with what the word “study” means in the initial or on-going formation of the members of the Secular Order. So, to try to understand what “study” is in the life of the secular, please take those ideas and images that you have and put them aside.

First, study in formation of the OCDS is not reduced to some sort of academic pursuit of knowledge that is externally discernable by testing like a mathematical times table.

Second, study in formation of the OCDS is not the sole pursuit of one person to conquer a body of knowledge.

Third, study in formation of the OCDS does not have a point at which one says THE END.

A basic definition of what “study in formation of the OCDS” could be, the process whereby, with the help of others, we attempt to deepen our understanding of the relationship with God in the light of Catholic and Carmelite doctrine.

Is there a place of academic and intellectual pursuit? Certainly, for those who have the time and the ability and the talent, yes, there is a place. But that is not what all of us need to do in order to “study” our spirituality.

A primary point is that we are all, at all times, in formation. No matter when we made our definitive commitment to the Lord in Carmel, we are still all in formation.

A second point, all of us are helped and accompanied by others in this process of deepening our understanding, be it by a designated person in certain stages, or by the community which serves as support in the relationship with God.
Academic study has a product. Formation study is a process.

Because someone can quote chapter and verse of Saint Teresa, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Therese, does not necessarily mean they have been formed. I have heard the lament: “Our poor Holy Parents (Teresa and John), so often quoted, so little followed!”

There are challenges in this type of study. Not the academic ones… there are no tests, gold stars, blue ribbons.

The challenges are first, the desire to deepen the understanding of the relationship with God. That can be very demanding… in fact, it is a lot easier to memorize Saint Teresa!
A second challenge is that you need others do help you and you need to help others. Also, not so easy.
The third challenge is that it is based on Catholic and Carmelite teaching, not just on the way I think about it all.

So, I hope this helps to see the difference between the “study” that got you through school and the “study” that gets you through life.

Aloysius, ocd

The 6 M's

The identity if highlighted in the Preface of the Constitution:
“The great Teresian Carmelite family is present in the world in many forms.The nucleus of this family is the Order of Discalced Carmelites: the Friars, the Nuns, and the Seculars. It is the one Order with the same charism. The Order is nourished by the long tradition of Carmel, expressed in the Rule of St. Albert and the doctrine of the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the Order’s other saints.”

Part I “Our Identity, Values, and Commitment
“Secular Carmelites, together with the Friars and Nuns, are sons and daughters of the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Teresa of Jesus. As a result, they share the same charism with the religious each according to their particular state of life. It is one family with the same spiritual possessions, the same call to holiness and the same apostolic mission. Secular members contribute to the Order the benefits proper to their secular state.”

Members of the Church
“The members of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites are faithful members of the Church called to live “in allegiance to Jesus Christ” through a friendship with the One we know loves us in service to the Church Under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in the biblical tradition of the prophet Elijah and inspired by the teachings of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, they seek to deepen their Christian commitment received in Baptism.”

Now your identity in these Constitutions, approved by the Holy See is confirmed. You are not adjunct members of the Order. You are not auxiliary to the Order. You are the Order. The Secular Order is present in countries where there are no Friars and no Nuns and it is amazing how fast it is growing. There are 40,000 Secular Order Members in 90 countries. It has now developed into a presence within the Order.

One of the things I’m most frequently asked for is a formation program. But I believe. the request is actually, ”What do we do in the first year, second year, third year, fourth year and fifth year?”. Rather than a Formation Program they want to know what is the information they are supposed to give. I had one developed, but I was a little hesitant to give it out because we are not clear about what the formation program should be.
One of the glaring empty spots in most formation programs that I have seen is that there is very little emphasis given in formation to the very thing that makes you members of the Secular Order: the Promise. It is this that makes you members of the Secular Order – not St. Teresa of Jesus, not St. John of the Cross-and not the spirituality of how to pray or how to use the Bible for Lectio Divina. There are many people who use all those things who are not members of the Order. And because this formation for the Promise is lacking, many times people do not understand themselves as members of the Order. They understand themselves as Carmelites, but not as members of the Order. I am a member of the Order because I belong to a Province that received me, in which I made my commitment, therefore I’m a Carmelite, because I’m incorporated.
Another area that is lacking in the formation programs is imparting a true understanding of community. You are members of the Order because you belong to a community - because you identify with other people who share your identity and in that sharing confirm each other.

To illustrate this point I want to respond to a question that I am very frequently asked. I want to respond, give an explanation and make a suggestion. The question comes from Presidents or Council members, but mostly from Formation Directors: “Father, what do we do about people who come to the Secular Order but belong to many other organizations – they go to Charismatic meetings, they go to Cenacle meetings, also belong to Medjugorje prayer groups and belong to Our Lady speaks to beloved priests, and they belong to all those things. How do we explain to them that this is different than belonging to all those different things? “
I try to be practical in answering that question. What are the obligations these Constitutions envision in the life of the Secular Order Member? I see six obligations that are part of the rhythm of the Secular Carmelite’s life. These six obligations consume time & energy.

1. Meditation. Carmel is identified with meditation. I’m using the word meditation as opposed to the word contemplation because we know that most of us wait a long time before God gives us the gift of contemplation. So we meditate or do mental prayer if you would like to use that term. Meditation is our daily devotion under the inspiration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel who is our Lady of Meditation – it’s that way of relating to God that is specific to Carmel and Carmel’s Love, devotion, and relationship with God. So I put that in first place because we can do that no matter where we are. Traditionally we use about thirty minutes a day. It might be fifteen minutes in the morning and fifteen minutes in the afternoon or it might be thirty minutes at one time. Sometimes it might be ten minutes three times a day depending on work or family schedules and other things. We have to be practical but we are conscious of having to do that. We are conscious of wanting to do that. Common sense – that’s the Carmelite spirituality. Meditation is in the first place as the first of our daily obligations that takes 30 minutes of our day. Part III on the Constitutions: Witnesses to the Experience of God, PP 17 – 24 is entirely on prayer.

2. Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and, if you can, Night Prayer. Night Prayer, as the Constitutions mention, is optional. All of these things are when you can do it. If you can’t do it you can’t do it! None of these things that I mention are under the obligation of sin except what the Church commends as under the obligation of sin. The Friars, the Nuns, we have two hours of mental prayer a day - an hour in the morning and one hour in the evening; our Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Mid-day Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer – the Nuns have two more hours of prayer. Why do we have more and you have less? Why? Because you have families, or you have jobs and other obligations that God is going to ask you about first.
Here two reasons \why I think it important to emphasize the Liturgy of Hours as prayer. First when we said Morning Prayer this morning, the Pope in Rome said the same exact Morning Prayer nine hours before. The Secular Order members in Malaysia said them six hours before that. When you are at home by yourself and you are saying Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer or Night Prayer, you are not doing that alone, you are joining other people.
Second reason is you are not picking texts that are pleasing to you; that’s not prayer, that’s self-consolation. How can you hope to convert to the will of God if you are making the word of God convert to how you feel? You are taking texts that the Church says, offers, gives, and you are adjusting your spirit to it. So we use the Liturgy of Hours to get us out of ourselves with the words of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures and prayer. So Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer would probably take 25 minutes out of our day. Add that to the 30 minutes for mental prayer and we have 55 minutes of our day used up.

3. Mass – of course Mass is the most important thing in the hierarchy of order. But we have to go some place to do that. Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer, Meditation, we can do it on a plane, we can do it at home, we can do it on the way to work. . We don’t have to go to Church to do those things. But if we go to Mass with some frequency, more than once a week, more than Sunday, which is an obligation, by the time you get up, leave, you drive to Church, go to Mass, drive home, we’re talking at a minimum, forty-five minutes to an hour or more time. So that’s thirty minutes for Mental Prayer, plus twenty-five minutes for the Liturgy of the Hours, plus forty-five for Mass equals an hour and forty minutes.

4. Mary. We’re a Marian Order of the Church, and there may be some expression of devotion to Mary that we want to practice everyday, if we can. Our first and primary devotion to Mary, however, is expressed in meditation. Looking as Mary did, in St. Luke’s Gospel twice, at the life of Christ and meditating on these things in her heart. That’s our primary Marian devotion. We wear the scapular. Many people say the Rosary everyday. So let’s add another fifteen minutes to say the Rosary, for those who say the Rosary. It’s not mandatory. The Rosary is an expression of devotion. If you do say the Rosary, there’s another fifteen minutes, so you have an hour and fifty-five minutes everyday, and we still have two M’s to go!
This is what we are trying to explain to people when they come to the Secular Order or to people in the Secular Order as to what we are, what they are doing when they are joining this. What are their obligations? Those first four things, Meditation, Morning Prayer, Mass, Mary – they are a part of the personal daily life of the individual member of the Secular Order. The other two M’s are a little bit different because they are not a part of the daily life but a part of the energy flow, you might say, of the Secular Order members.

5. Meetings. There are so many things that fit into this category of meetings: formation, information and fellowship. Formation – not just the formation of individuals but also the formation of community as a community. It is not a collective group of individuals who love our Lady and love Carmelite spirituality. It is a community of people who have made a commitment to each other. It’s very clear, when you make your promises; you make it to the Community. You are incorporating yourselves as members of a community.

Another important understanding that is mentioned in the Constitutions is that the Spiritual Assistant is not meant to be Formation Director for the community because it is not his job to form individual members of the community. His job, as defined in the Constitutions, is to support and assist the President, the Council and the Formation Director.

That is part of forming community because if the leadership of the Community understands their responsibility and their role, then the community begins to take shape and it’s identity becomes clear as a community of people. The Council has to function properly and all must realize that the Council is the superior of the community, not the President. The superior of the Council is the Provincial and the superior of the Provincial is the General.

But in order for the Council to function properly it has to function in a certain way. It has to be educated, formed to function as the leadership of the community. When we speak about the formation of the Council, there are some things that have to be understood about Councils and the way they function. If you are a member of the Council, you have an obligation to the other members of the Council and to the Community to respect the privacy of the Council.

If a member of the Council reveals, outside of the Council, decisions that have been made regarding candidates or other important matters, it could result in divisions within the community and stifle the freedom that councilors should feel within the council meetings. How can the Council arrive at a good decision if councilors are afraid to speak, afraid to express themselves because they are afraid that their opinion is going to be repeated? Confidentiality is a practical and necessary point.
. There is also the necessity for information. We call them formation classes, but I’m going to call them “information classes“, where information is passed on in the various stages of those being formed. Remember that there are three stages in initial formation: those in the Aspirancy, those in the two years preparing for First Promises, and those in the three year period before Definitive Promises. I hope in that in those two years prior to First Promise that there is enough preparation for the importance of the Promise and what it means. Not just what does St. Teresa teach about prayer and how to use the Bible - I’m repeating this again because it is a very important point, to understand the consequences of making the promises. Then in the third period of formation for three years, there is the preparation for the Final promises. So, there are different stages of information that need to be given. And they can’t all be given at once. You can’t put people who are in Aspirancy stage together with those who are preparing for Definitive promises.
. In some Communities, I have found that everybody from the oldest to the youngest, including those who have made Definitive promises are all together for the formation program. That’s not really good formation. You can’t put people who in the Aspirancy stage in with those who are in Definitive Promises. If I’m a teacher of Mathematics and I put first graders in with eighth graders, it would not work for obvious reasons. Paragraph 36 of the Constitutions states very clearly: that there is a “gradual introduction to the life of the Secular Order structure…” So it’s important to understand that it is done in stages. It is a gradual introduction to the life of the Secular Order.
The purpose of the Aspirancy is to give the Community an opportunity to make an adequate discernment of the person who is coming “After the initial period of contact the Council of the Community “may” admit the applicant to a more serious period of formation that usually last for two years leading up to the first promises” Our Communities are not factories of Carmelites, where we put people on a conveyor belt to form them and once you have finished the Aspirancy period, you have to enter into the second period automatically. How can that be good formation?
So the Constitutions specifically say that it is the Councils responsibility to decide if the person is ready to begin the next stage and the Council might not be ready or the person may not be ready. So does that mean that they either go home or they have to begin the next stage? No, it may be necessary to add a few extra months. If you have a fixed time, for example six months or twelve months for Aspirancy, you can lengthen it by one half of the original time, either three or six months depending on your term of Aspirancy Same with the second period where there is two years, you can lengthen it by one year. The third period of three years can be lengthened by one and a half years. This will be helpful for our communities because then they will take extra care in making decisions and in informing and forming our people
“At the end of this stage, with the approval of the Council of the Community, the applicant may be invited to make the First Promises.” So, with the approval, the applicant “may” be – see the language that is used in here – it’s not necessary that they he be invited to make the promises after two years.
And “In the last three years of the initial formation, there is a deeper study of prayer, the Scriptures, Documents of the Church, the saints of the order and formation in the Apostolate of the Order. At the end of these three years, the applicant may be invited by the Council to make Definitive Promises.”

One of the differences between the Constitutions versus the Rule of Life, is that in the Rule, the Spiritual Assistant had the right to veto the decision of the Council to admit someone to the various stages of formation. That’s gone. The Council now has the responsibility of making those decisions and carrying out those decisions. We are not just forming individuals, but we are forming Communities. Is this person capable of being a member of your community? Not are they capable of praying; not are they capable of saying the Rosary everyday; not if they are very faithful to Mass everyday; - but are they capable of being members of your community? Are they capable of relating to the other people in the Community?
This is again, a step forward in the understanding of the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order member’s vocation. You have Community. It is one thing is to know the Carmelite Spirituality and another thing to be a member of the Order. They are two different things. Hopefully members of the Order know the spirituality, but there are experts on the spirituality who are not members of the Order, who do not know what it means to be a member of the Order. They may know St. Teresa and St. John Of The Cross and be able to quote them better than most of us, but that doesn’t mean they know what it means to be a Carmelite. You are Carmelites. We are Carmelites. The Nuns are Carmelites.
So being part of a community, being involved in forming that community is what happens at the meetings. Because you, Secular Order members, have meetings where you meet and talk with other people and you decide things about your Carmelite life together. and are responsible for forming yourselves as members of this religious family. Your part in that now is very much to take responsibility. In my visits with communities around the world, I’ve discovered that there are many Communities of the Secular Order who have no idea of belonging to the Order.
It’s not because those Priests who formed them did not understand something about Carmelite Spirituality, they did understand something about Carmelite Spirituality, but they did not understand what it meant to be a member of the Order.
An example is Thailand. There are two Secular Order Communities – one is very large, it has about 120 members. I’m the first Discalced Carmelite priest they’ve seen as Secular Order members. It has taken me three visits before they finally began to understand that I am coming from Rome because they belong to what I belong to. They had no contact with the Order. They have a Diocesan Priest who is very good, who studies their spirituality and knows a lot about Carmelite Spirituality, but even he did not understand that Secular Order members were members of the Order.
So, formation, information, fellowship, - these are the three things that happen in meetings. Without these meetings your Order falls apart, your communities fall apart. People who do not come to meetings cease to be members. Even if they are still on the rolls

6. Mission
Paragraph 25 of the Constitutions speaks of the realization on the part of the religious orders that because of the events in history there is a need to share not only the spirituality but also the mission of the Order. I’ve come to use the word “Mission” instead of the word “apostolate”, because when I use the word “apostolate” people tend to get nervous. They say “Am I suppose to quit my job and leave my family?” So I use the word “Mission”.
Carmel has a mission. Carmel’s mission is that we know God so that God may be known. That’s the gift of our vocation. That is what we receive by being Carmelites, we know God. But it’s not just for us, it’s so that God may be known. There is a fairly new two- volume book of the Concordances on the writings of St. Teresa in Spanish. Eight hundred and ten time in the Concordance, St. Teresa uses the verb “to serve” in Spanish to describe the life of prayer. We are Teresian Carmelites. Do not have some fantastic image of St. Teresa that removes her from service – from doing for others for God.
When I went to be a Carmelite, I thought I’d be off in a cloister someplace praying. I didn’t know who was going to do the dishes, but I was sure I was going to pray. There’s that quote from St. Teresa that says that works is what the Lord wants, works. She is saying this to cloistered Nuns. The reason that God is giving us grace to know Him through the life of prayer is for us to do something. We cannot do it without prayer. In the Constitutions, Chapter 3 is entirely on prayer.

Chapter 4 is then SERVING GOD’S PLAN. The verb used “serving” is on purpose - it’s a Teresian verb and is used when talking about the prayer life. If she uses it eight hundred and ten times in writing about the life of prayer, there must be something very specific about that verb. The mission that you share in is to know God – the Carmelite interior life – so that God may be made known. That’s our Carmelite mission. (Apostolate). When I speak about the mission of the Secular Order, I speak of doing something as a community, especially together with the Friars in terms of helping to spread Carmelite spirituality.

So:
MEDITATION
MORNING PRAYER – EVENING PRAYER – NIGHT PRAYER –
MASS –
MARY –
MEETINGS –
MISSION-.

These six things are an answer to people who want to become a Carmelite who also belong to many other groups. If they want to be a Carmelite this is what is entailed. It is a sacrifice to do these things everyday, to have this as a rhythm in your life. It takes time and commitment and leaves little time for other groups, if you are going to do it well. Some people have the club mentality with regard to religious organizations, but this is not a club. You don’t join a club when you become a member of the Order.
So I want to make a suggestion for a comment to be included in the Provincial Statues. “All are welcome to become members of the Secular Order except those who belong to other Secular Orders, and/or those who belong to other organizations whose membership would prohibit the person from participating fully in the life of the Secular Order.” That’s Teresian! Again, the step forward in these Constitutions is a step forward in the understanding of the Secular Order as members of the Order. That step forward has to be developed in the communities. We must strive to develop an understanding of our corporate identity, to develop the understanding of belonging to this body of the Order We the Friars, and you yourselves have treated yourselves as individuals in many ways. But the structure that’s given in the Constitutions of Secular Order now understand you as members with responsibilities and with obligations for your own government, for your own decisions, for your own formation. And it’s part of the way the Holy Spirit is moving the Church along.

I’ve repeated many times, “member of the Order” because I want to put emphasis on the fact that you are Carmelites because you are members of the Order. This is not joining a club. And as I’ve said many times before, “Being a Carmelite is not a privilege. Being a Carmelite is a responsibility!” That’s for me and for you. Responsibility doesn’t mean burden – it means the ability to respond. So, as Carmelites, we are given the grace of our vocation through those six means to respond to the God who calls us and to respond to the world that needs to know God.

Discernment of OCDS Vocation

WHO/WHAT IS A SECULAR CARMELITE?


I would describe a member of the Secular Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Teresa of Jesus as a practicing member of the Catholic Church who, under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and inspired by Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross, who makes the commitment to seek the face of God for the sake of the Church and the world.

I would note in that description six distinct elements that, coming together, are those elements that move people to approach the Order and seek identification with the Order in a more formal way.

This is the whole point of this presentation. What are the principles that you use to discern the vocation to the Secular Order? Who is called to be a Secular Carmelite and how to you distinguish between those called and those not called. Among the friars and the nuns, people do not leave because they are bad people. People are not sent home from the monastery or the convent because they are morally unacceptable. It is a vocation to be a member of the Order and one that needs, for everyone’s sake, to be clearly identified. Otherwise, the Order, either the friars, or the nuns, or the seculars, loses its way and confuses its identity

“Practicing member of the Catholic Church…” By this I mean Roman Catholic which refers to the unity under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. The majority of Roman Catholics belong to the Latin Rite. There are, however, other rites within the Roman Catholic Church, Maronite, Malabar, Melkite, Ukrainian, etc. There are Secular Order communities in each of these rites.

The word “practicing” specifies something about the person who can be a member of the Secular Order. As a basic litmus test of “practicing” the Catholic faith I suggest the capacity to participate fully in the Eucharist without any hindrance. The Council called the Eucharist “the summit”. It is the high point of Catholic life and identity. It is the meeting point of heaven and earth. So, if one is free to participate in the summit, then the lesser points of participation are certainly permitted.

For most cases in the past this was rather simple to determine. People who came to the Secular Order came from parishes where the friars were present or through contact with friars or nuns who recommended them to the Secular Order. Divorce was not a major factor in Catholic life. So most situations were cut and dry, as we say in English.

It is not the way it is today. Things are not always clear. It is precisely here where the spiritual assistant can be of most help to the Council of a fraternity of the secular Order in the screening of candidates. A woman approaches a fraternity of the Secular Order. The woman is known by some of the council. They know that this is her second marriage. They also know that she regularly goes to Mass and participates in the sacraments. The council of the fraternity would like clarity before admitting this person to formation.

There are a few possibilities with this case. The first marriage was annulled. Or, by arrangement with her confessor, she and her husband are living in such a way as to participate in the sacraments of the Church. An interview with the spiritual assistant would clarify the answers. Without necessity of too much explanation to respect the right to privacy and a good name that every member of the Church enjoys, he could give the word to the council that would allow this person to enter the Secular Order.

The Secular Order is a juridical part of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. It is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church and subject to the laws of the Church. Its own legislation must be approved by the Sacred Congregation. Therefore, someone who does not belong to one of the rites of the Roman Catholic Church may not be a member of the Secular Order. Non-catholic people with interest in the spirituality of Carmel are certainly welcome to participate in whatever way a fraternity might invite them, but they cannot be members of the Secular Order.

So here we have the first element of the identity of a Secular Order member – a person who participates in the life of the Catholic Church. There is, of course more, because there are millions of people who participate in the life of the Catholic Church who have not the slightest interest in Carmel.

We come to the second element – “under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel…”

It is not just any devotion to Our Lady that identifies a person called to the Secular Order. There are many Christians who are very devoted to Our Lady and have a very highly developed Marian character to their Christian life. There are many Orthodox Christians as well as High Church Anglicans who are very Marian. There are many Catholics who wear the scapular for all of the right reasons and with sincere dedication to Mary who are not called to be Secular Carmelites. Not only that, but there are some people who come to the Secular Order precisely because of devotion to Mary, the scapular, and the rosary who do not have a vocation to be Secular Order members.

The particular aspect of the Blessed Virgin Mary that must be present in any person called to Carmel is that of an inclination to “meditate in the heart”, the phrase that Saint Luke’s gospel uses twice to describe Mary’s attitude vis-à-vis her Son’s activity. Yes, all the other aspects of Marian life and devotion can be present, devotion to the scapular, the rosary, and other things. They are, however, secondary to this aspect of Marian devotion.

A very frequent experience of many groups is to have a person, sometimes a diocesan priest, who is very devoted to Mary, a person who has been on many pilgrimages to Marian shrines throughout the world, a person who is very familiar with many of the apparitions and messages attributed to Mary, a real authority on current Marian movements approach the Secular Order and want to become a member. Many times they do not have the slightest inclination to “meditate in the heart”. They desire quickly to become the ‘teachers’ of the fraternity about the Blessed Mother and introduce an entirely un-Carmelite strain of Marian interest into the fraternity. If this person is a priest, it is very difficult for the community to protect itself from this detour in its Marian life. There are other Marian groups and movements that might be the home for this person, but it is not the Secular Order.

In addition, within the Teresian Carmelite family there is a place for people whose primary motivation is devotion to the scapular and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular, or the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Before the Council, in nearly all the countries where the Order is present, there were many requests for the establishment of confraternities (Brown Scapular, Infant of Prague, and Saint Therese) in different parishes and places. The registers for these confraternities are kept in the Secretariat of the Secular Order. After the Council, the requests for these confraternities nearly disappeared except for Poland, Mexico and the United States.

My own theory is that instead of establishing confraternities, every new group in many places became requests immediately for establishment as Secular Order groups. As I see it, in many places, especially in some missionary territories, it might have been better to begin with Confraternities allowing them later to develop into Secular Order groups. And even in some other places, the Secular Order fraternities are, in reality, little more than confraternities. I say that meaning no insult to the confraternities. I only mean that the motivation for the Secular Order is different than the motivation for the confraternity. If the Secular Order has lost its resolve and attraction, it may be because it has become something less than what it is meant to be.

Mary, for a Secular Order member, is the model of a meditative attitude and disposition. She attracts and inspires a Carmelite to a contemplative way of understanding the life of the mystical body of her Son, the Church. It is she who draws the person to Carmel. And in the formation program which the person finds when they enter Carmel, it is this aspect which must be developed in the person. So, I say that this is the second element – “under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”

A member of the Secular Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Teresa of Jesus is a practicing member of any of the rites of the Roman Catholic Church who, under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and inspired by Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross…

Here we have the third element. I mention both Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross, and I might say right at the beginning of this section, that I also include Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, or Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity or Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, (Edith Stein) can also be included, but Saints Teresa and John of the Cross are central to this point.

Having mentioned all of those great people of the Carmelite tradition, I underline the importance of Saint Teresa of Jesus, whom, in our tradition we refer to as Our Holy Mother. The reason is because she is the one to whom the charism was given. In many parts of the world we are called Teresian Carmelites. Saint John of the Cross was the original collaborator with Our Holy Mother in both the spiritual and juridical re-founding of Carmel in this new charismatic way. So he is called Our Holy Father. It is hard for me to imagine any Discalced Carmelite of any brand who is not attracted by one, if not both of these persons – their histories, personalities, and, most importantly, their writings.

The writings of Saint Teresa of Jesus are the expression of the charism of the Discalced Carmelites. The spirituality of the Discalced Carmelites has a very well based intellectual foundation. There is a doctrine involved here. Doctrine, comes from docere, Latin for to teach. Any person who wants to be a Discalced Carmelite must be a person with an interest in learning from the teachers of Carmel. There are three doctors of the universal Church, Teresa, John and Therese.

A person comes to the community, a person with a great love of the Blessed Mother, wants to wear the scapular in honor of Mary as a sign of dedication to her service. This person is very prayerful but has no interest in reading or studying the spirituality of the Teresian Carmel. This person tries to read one of the Carmelite Doctors but just cannot find the interest to keep reading. To me, this is a good person who may belong in the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular, but definitely does not have a vocation to the Secular Order of Carmel.

There is an academic aspect to the formation of a Teresian Carmelite. There is an intellectual basis to the spirituality and identity of one who is called to the Order. And, as with each friar and each nun, each Secular represents the Order. A Carmelite that does not have the interest in studying or deepening the roots of his/her identity through prayer and study loses identity and can no longer represent the Order. Nor does that person speak for the Order. Many times when listening to a Carmelite speak it becomes obvious when hearing what is said that they have not gone beyond what they heard in formation years before.

This intellectual basis is the beginning of an attitude that is open to study. It leads to a deeper interest in Scripture, theology and the documents of the Church. The tradition of spiritual reading, lectio divina and time for study is the intellectual backbone of the spiritual life. Good formation depends on good information. When the information is bad, or absent, or incorrect, the formation stops or is stunted resulting in confusion in the Secular. If that Secular through some twist of fate becomes somehow an officer of the OCDS community, the community suffers. It happens with friars and nuns, and it happens with Seculars.

For some incredible reason which I have never fully comprehended, some Carmelites consider themselves and the Order dispensed from listening to the Church or following the indications given in Church documents. This is very present among Seculars. What the Holy Father said in Christifideles Laici is fine for everybody else, but “we are Carmelites and are different. We do not have to do what everybody else has to do because we pray.” Bad formation based on bad information.

This academic or intellectual basis is very important and has been sadly missing in many groups of the Secular Order. It is not a question of “being an intellectual” in order to be a Secular. It is a question of being intelligent in the pursuit of the truth about God, about oneself, about prayer, about the Order and about the Church. Obedience has long been associated with the intellect and the virtue of faith. Obedience means openness to hearing (ob + audire in Latin). Is a radical attitude of the person to move beyond what that person knows. Education also comes from Latin (Ex + ducere to lead out of). Saint Teresa describes the person of the third mansions as almost stuck and unable to move. One of the characteristics of this person permanently in the third mansions is that they want to teach everybody else. They know it all. In reality they are disobedient and uneducable. That is, they are closed and unable to learn.

I have spent a lot of time on this aspect because it is the most important element for the advancement of the Secular Order.

The fourth element of the description is “who makes a commitment”. There are so many committed Catholics who are devoted to Mary and even experts in Saint Teresa, Saint John of the Cross or one of our saints who do not have the vocation to the Secular Order. These people may be contemplatives or even hermits, who spend hours in prayer and study each day, but do not have the vocation to be a Carmelite. What is the element that differentiates these people from those called to follow Christ more closely as Secular Carmelites?

It is not the spirituality, nor the study, nor the devotion to Mary. Simply put, the Secular Carmelite is moved to commit himself or herself to the Order and to the Church. This commitment, in the form of the promises, is an ecclesial event and an event of the Order in addition to being an event in the person’s life who makes the promises. In a certain sense, remembering always the person’s context of family, work and responsibilities that are involved in his/her life, the person who commits him/herself, becomes characterized as a Carmelite.

As I said, it is an ecclesial event and an event of the Order. It is for this reason that the Church and the Order have the essential say in union with the candidate in accepting and approving the commitment of the person. It is also for this reason that the Church and the Order give the conditions and set the terms for the content of the promises. A person may want to commit him/herself to certain things, daily meditation or the divine office for example. But the Church, through the Order establishes the basic and broad lines of understanding with regards to this commitment.

The Secular belongs to Carmel. Carmel does not belong to the Secular. What I mean by that is that there is a new identity, one developed from the baptismal identity, which becomes a necessary point of reference. As the Church is the point of reference for the baptized person (the baptized person belongs to the Church), so Carmel becomes the point of reference for the Secular. The more “Catholic” one becomes, the more that person recognizes the catholicity of the church. The more one becomes Carmelite, the more one recognizes the catholicity of Carmel as well. In fact, the person who commits him/herself to Carmel in the Secular Order discovers that Carmel becomes essential to his/her identity as a Catholic.

It is because the Promises are the means by which one becomes a Secular Order member that formation for the Promises is so important – formation and on-going formation. In most formation programs that I have seen or that we have in the Generalate, the Promises seem to me rather summarily presented, almost as a minor point. And I have seen no program at all focusing on on-going formation in the Promises. The only possible point of on-going formation is the formation for the vows, but that is limited to those who make vows.

This commitment to the Church through Carmel has both content and purpose. These are expressed in the final two elements of my description of who is a Secular Carmelite.

The fifth element of the description is “to seek the face of God”. This element expresses the content of the Promises. I could rephrase this element in various ways, “to pray”, “to meditate”, “to live the spiritual life”. I have chosen this one because it is Scriptural and expresses the nature of contemplation – a wondering observation of God’s word and work in order to know, love and serve Him. The contemplative aspect of Carmelite life focuses on God, recognizing always that contemplation is a gift of God, not an acquisition as a result of putting in sufficient time.

The personal life of the Secular Carmelite becomes contemplative. The style of life changes with the growth in the virtues that accompany the growth in the spirit. It is impossible to live a life of prayer, meditation, and study without changing. This new style of life enhances all the rest of life. The majority of Secular Order members who are married and those with families experience that the commitment to the OCDS life enriches their marital and familial commitment. Men and women OCD Seculars who work experience a new moral commitment to justice in the work place. These are the direct results of seeking the face of God.

Is the essence of Carmel prayer? Many times I hear or read that affirmation. I am never sure just how to answer that. Not because I do not know what prayer is and its importance for any Carmelite. But because I never know what the speaker or writer wishes to justify by the statement. If the person means by prayer personal holiness and the pursuit of a genuine spirituality that recognizes the supremacy of God and of God’s will for the human family, than yes I agree. If the person means that I as a Carmelite fulfill my entire obligation as a Carmelite by being faithful to my prayer and that there is nothing else that I need do, than no, we do not agree. Personal holiness is not the same as personal pursuit of holiness. For a baptized member of the Church holiness is always ecclesial, never centered on self. And I am never the judge of my own holiness. (Nemo judex in causo suo.)

I am sanctified by the practice of the virtues which is the direct result of a life of prayerful searching for God’s will in my life. This is the Carmelite secret – prayer does not make us holy. Prayer is the essential element in Christian (Carmelite) holiness because it is the frequent contact necessary to remain faithful to God. This contact allows God to do His will in my life which then announces to the whole world God’s presence and goodness. Without the contact of prayer I cannot know God and God cannot be known to others.

To seek the face of God requires an unbelievable amount of discipline in the classic and original sense of the word – disciple, one who learns. I must recognize that I am forever a student. Never do I become a master. I am always surprised by what God does in the world. God is forever a mystery. The clues to God’s existence always interest me. I find them in the events of life, single, widowed, married, family, work, retirement. But they only become recognizable and clear through prayer, observing from the heart. The call to holiness is a burning desire in the heart and mind of the one called to the Secular Order. It is a commitment that the Secular must make. It is, in a phrase from Schillibecx, “an existential inability to do otherwise.” The Secular is drawn to prayer, finding in prayer a home and an identity.

This prayer, this pursuit of holiness, this encounter with the Lord makes the Secular more part of the Church. And as a more committed member of the Church the Secular’s life is more ecclesial. As the life of prayer grows it produces more fruit in the persons life (the growth of virtue) and in the persons ecclesial life (apostolate.)

This leads me to the sixth element of the description “for the sake of the Church and the world.” This is the newest development in the understanding of the place of the Secular in the Order and the Church. This is the result of the development in the theology of the Church on the role of laypersons in the Church, and applying that theology to the Order. Beginning with the Second Vatican Council’s document On the Apostolate of the Laity, and its fruition with the Synods on the Laity in 1986 and the Consecrated Life in 1996 (Christifideles Laici and Vita Consacrata) the Church has constantly underlined the need for a further commitment of the laity to her needs and the needs of the world. Saint Teresa had the conviction that the only proof of prayer was growth in virtue and that the necessary fruit of the life of prayer was the birth of good works.

At times I hear a Secular say “the only apostolate of the Secular is prayer.” The word that makes that statement false is “only.” A prayerful and obedient attitude toward the documents of the Church makes it clear that the role of the layperson within the Church has changed. The Rule of Life talked about the need of each Secular to have an individual apostolate. What Christifideles Laici highlights is the importance of all associations in the Church, and the OCDS is an association in the Church, to develop group apostolates. Many Seculars when they hear the mention of group apostolates think that I am talking about the entire community being nvolvoed in something that takes up hours each day. That is not at all what “group apostolate” means. Paragraph 30 of Christifideles Laici gives the basic principles of “ecclesiality” for associations and lists the fruits of these principles. The first fruit listed is a renewed desire for prayer, meditation, contemplation, and the sacramental life. These are things “right down Carmel’s alley.” How many people there are who need to know what our Carmelite Doctors of the Church have to say! If every Carmelite were dedicated to spreading Carmel’s message, how many people would not be confused in the spiritual life! Walk into any major bookstore and see what nonsense is listed in the section entitled “mysticism”.

We, all Carmelites, can help to clean up the mess by making what we have known. It is not an option, it is a responsibility. As I said in Mexico, being a Carmelite is not a privilege, it is a responsibility, both personal and ecclesial.

As I said at the beginning, it is not anyone element that discerns the person who has the vocation to Carmel as a Secular. It is the combination that makes the difference. In this description is also an outline of a formation program. That, however, is the subject of another article.