Carmelite Spirituality.

[oremus1]

Can I ask, to what extent is the eremitical dimension still present in the Carmelites today (in general)?

[brandelynmarie]

I'm going to give you an answer now off the top of my head & hopefully I'll get more information next week. :) I understand that the Carmelites live as hermits in community. I know they will pray the Divine Office together, eat together, have recreation together & work together as needed in as much silence as possible. Most work is done alone. There are usually hermitages on the property for "desert" days & personal retreats. One community I know of has individual hermitages/cells/cabins on their property as opposed to individual cells within a main building.

Now, I would consider the Carthusians & even the Sisters of Bethlehem to be even more eremetical than some Carmelites, but I understand among Carmelites this differs from community to community. :)

There are specific communities made up of Carmelite hermits, both men & women usually, throughout the US. In Brazil are some very austere hermits, but their name is escaping me at the moment. I will post one of their videos when I have time. :)

[oremus1]

I'm going to give you an answer now off the top of my head & hopefully I'll get more information next week. :) I understand that the Carmelites live as hermits in community. I know they will pray the Divine Office together, eat together, have recreation together & work together as needed in as much silence as possible. Most work is done alone. There are usually hermitages on the property for "desert" days & personal retreats. One community I know of has individual hermitages/cells/cabins on their property as opposed to individual cells within a main building.

Now, I would consider the Carthusians & even the Sisters of Bethlehem to be even more eremetical than some Carmelites, but I understand among Carmelites this differs from community to community. :)

There are specific communities made up of Carmelite hermits, both men & women usually, throughout the US. In Brazil are some very austere hermits, but their name is escaping me at the moment. I will post one of their videos when I have time. :)

wow, i never knew this!!

[brandelynmarie]

:) I think you would like the Brazilian ones. I'll try to come up with a list of the hermits as well...but stay tuned til next week...when I can think & have computer access :hehe2:

[Indwelling Trinity]

I found this beautiful explanation of living as a Carmelite from Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity:

 

To live in the presence of God; that is surely an inheritance left to the children of Carmel by the prophet Elijah, who cried out in the fervor of his faith:

"The God I serve is a living God"... A life of prayer is the essence of the Carmelite vocation; the heart to heart communion that never ends, because when one loves, one no longer belongs to oneself but to the Beloved, and so lives more in Him than in oneself. That is what life in Carmel means: to live in God, contemplating His goodness and beauty, and dedicated entirely to the fulfillment of His blessed Will. Then every immolation, every sacrifice becomes divine; through everything the soul sees Him whom she loves and everything leads her to Him... it is a continual communion. All day long she surrenders herself to Love, by doing the will of God, under His gaze, with Him, in Him, for Him alone.

 

This is the life of a Carmelite: to be a true contemplative, another Magdalene whom nothing can distract from the 'one thing necessary'. I want to be an apostle from the depths of my beloved solitude in Carmel; I want to work for God's glory and the good of all His people, especially His priests; and for that I must be full of Him. Then I should be all-powerful: a look, a wish, would become an irresistible prayer that could obtain everything one asks in the Name of Jesus. I want to remain like Mary Magdalene silent and adoring at the Master's feet, asking Him to make the words of apostles bear fruit in souls.

 

As Our Lord dwells within us, His prayer is ours, and I want to share in it unceasingly, remaining like a little vessel at the spring, at the fountain of life, and so be able to communicate it to others by letting its floods of charity overflow.

 

How sublime is the Carmelite's mission! She should be a mediatrix with Jesus Christ, and be for Him, as it were, another humanity in which He can perpetuate His life of reparation and sacrifice, of love and praise and adoration. She abides faithfully in prayerful silence and solitude so that the Most High God may be able to realize His desires in her, accomplishing His will in her as an instrument of His love and peace among His people.

 

So, on the mountain of Carmel, in silence, in solitude, in a prayer which is unceasing, for nothing can interrupt it, the Carmelite already lives as though in heaven: for God alone! The same God who will one day be her beatitude and will fulfill her desires in glory, is already giving Himself to her here on earth. He never leaves her, He dwells in the depths of her being, and more wonderful still, He and she are but one. And so she is hungry for silence and prayer that she may always listen to Him and penetrate more deeply into His infinite Being. She identifies herself with Him whom she loves, she finds Him everywhere. She sees Him shining through everything. She belongs to Him alone, and trusts completely in His loving and faithful providence. Is that not heaven on earth?

 

When you think of the life of the Carmelite, thank Him for the beautiful portion that is hers. What will it be like in heaven, if even here below He enters into such intimate union with those who love Him?

 

Here in Carmel, there is nothing, nothing but God. He is all, He suffices, and one lives for Him alone and for His glory... this life of prayer and contemplation, interceding always for His people before the Face of God...


This reflection from the website of the Carmelite Nuns of Arlington, Texas. Please visit their web page!
http://www.carmelnuns.com  

These sayings you quoted come from my Favorite Carmelite;  Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. Just a litlle bit of trivia. :paperbag:

 

[cmaD2006]

IT I am glad to see you online. Not sure if you have pm turned on but I will try your old email ... I have a very special and important prayer request for you.

[brandelynmarie]

Ok. Got to a computer & found the video. :)  Rumor has it they may be founding  in the USA.

 

 

 http://youtu.be/jDuISiFwNRg

[brandelynmarie]

Carmelite spirituality is characterised by an intense thirst for an immediate and direct experience of God. Reduced to its most fundamental expression, Carmelite spirituality is centred on prayer, understood as loving friendship with God, and contemplation as the free gift of God. 

 

 

 

http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/default.cfm?loadref=86

[corban711]

Has anyone read the book "I Want to See God" by Fr. Marie-Eugene?  I recently picked up a used copy of it at a bookstore and I was really excited.  I love Carmelite saints and spirituality and I've been told that he was a master of it for modern times. 

 

Flipping through it I thought it looked pretty good.  However, I did remember talking to a friend about that book years ago and she wasn't too big a fan of it.  The only problem is that I don't remember what her critique was...but I think it was something along the lines of it being too dry, or academic, or something to that effect.  Any thoughts?

[brandelynmarie]

I think I read it a long time ago, if not another book by him & I did find it "scholarly". If you start reading it, let us know what you think :)

[corban711]

I think I read it a long time ago, if not another book by him & I did find it "scholarly". If you start reading it, let us know what you think :)

 

I will!   And thank you for the response!   It will most likely be about a month or so before I will be able to start it but I am really hoping to start it then.  When I do get around to reading it, I will be searching vigorously for deep Carmelite treasures that I can share here.   :) 

 

I am convinced there will be some good stuff even if I have to do some digging beyond the "scholarly" tone.  I really hope its not too bad!  Fr. Marie Eugene was a very holy man.  I have a book called "Descending Fire" by Jean Petit that has some amazing, amazing stuff in it.  For any fans of the way of St. Therese, that book is a must read.  But Jean Petit is actually a pen name Fr. Marie Eugene used due to the private nature of the writings.  I am like 99% sure of it. 

 

If he was capable of writing that book, then I know he could write other great ones.  I'm just hoping "I Want to See God" will be one of the good ones.

 

Okay, done hijacking now.  Carry on! 

[brandelynmarie]

I think all things Carmel are welcome here. :) No worries. I've kinda taken over the thread since AugustineA hasn't been on lately. It gives me a place to put all things Carmelite from the web!

 

 

What does it mean to be a Carmeli

Carmelite spirituality enables God-seekers to discover new heights and depths in their own hearts and in the God who calls and loves them.

Returning from his pastoral work, Father Abednecco Wambua Peters, O.C.D. of Kenya catches a ride back to the monastery on a motorcycle taxi.

 

 

Probably the most recognizable memberof the Carmelite order is Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, popularly known as the Little Flower. Statues and pictures of this young nun in her brown habit and white mantle, usually shown holding a crucifix and an armful of roses, are found all over the world. More than a century after her death at age 24, Thérèse remains immensely popular. What many of her admirers don’t know is that when 15-year-old Thérèse Martin entered the Carmelite convent in her home town in France in 1888, she was embracing a tradition and a spirituality that had already produced and nourished God-seekers for more than half a millennium. 

Who are the Carmelites? 
Carmelites originated in the Holy Land as a group of lay hermits some time after the Third Crusade. Jacques de Vitry, bishop of Acre in Palestine from 1216 to 1228, said that “after the example of the holy prophet Elijah [they] live on Mount Carmel—on that part of the mountain that is near Haifa, by the wadi[“spring”] of Elijah. They live as hermits” in a cluster of cells built around a church they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Because of their devotion to Mary and their church in her honor, they soon became known as “the hermits of St. Mary of Mount Carmel.” 

In the 16th century Saint Teresa of Avila yearned to rekindle the Carmelites’ original hermit spirit. She founded small convents of nuns dedicated to simple, prayerful living and, helped by Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), monasteries of friars also. Building on their Carmelite heritage, these two great Spanish mystics developed a new expression of Carmelite life that became the Discalced (“shoeless”) Carmelites. 

 

In their chapel at Mount St. Joseph Novitiate in San Jose, CA, Discalced Carmelite friars pray the Divine Office together.

 

In the 21st century the Carmelite family includes two main groups of friars and nuns and their respective lay (third) orders, comprising: the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance (O.Carm.) and the Discalced Carmelites (O.C.D.). The ancient “vine of Carmel” has sprouted many branches, including numerous apostolic congregations, secular institutes, hermits, ecclesial movements, and laypeople who live a Carmelite vocation in many nations, cultures, and walks of life. (For the purposes of this article, we’ll explore Carmelite spirituality through the lens of the Discalced Carmelite tradition.) 

The journey within 
Carmelite spirituality offers a particular challenge: It’s both utterly simple and at the same time intense (some might think even intimidating) in its bare-bones, laser-sharp focus on God alone. The archetypal image of the mountain has always been associated with Carmelite spirituality, both for the physical Mount Carmel where the order began but also for the arduous climb to the summit of perfection recalled by Saint John of the Cross’ classic text The Ascent of Mount Carmel. 



  But as every Carmelite will tell you, Carmelite living is also a descent, an ever-challenging inner exploration where one meets the self, both the dark side and goodness, on an ongoing, incredible discovery of God within. As Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591) described it, “The treasures of Christ are like an abundant mine with many recesses of treasures, so that however deep individuals may go they never reach the end or bottom but . . . find new . . . riches everywhere” (Spiritual Canticle, 37,4). 

Like many contemplatives, Carmelites can say, “I don’t do. I am.” That’s because even when the friars or nuns work, their primary ministry in the church is that of prayer, a witness to the centrality of God. Even for Carmelites engaged in active ministry, their aim is to live centered in God’s presence. In the spirit of the biblical prophet Elijah, “zealous for the Lord God of hosts,” they aim to be, like him, attentive to God’s voice heard in “the sound of sheer silence” (1 Kings 19:12). 

Mary is the model 
Ever since the first Carmelite hermits settled on Mount Carmel, Mary has been an inspiration for every Carmelite as she is for every Christian. Carmelites honor her especially for her total openness to God. 

She is the beloved model of that humble listening that makes a “yes” to God possible, the fruitful dwelling place of the Word. Mary holds the things of God in her heart in reflective love and silence. She urges the follower of Christ to “do whatever he tells you.” With Mary, every Carmelite aims to have a loving care for God’s people, holding all their needs in the heart of their prayer. 

Carmelite prayer 
Unlike many other spiritual traditions in the church, Carmelite prayer offers no “method,” no specific steps or stages for the praying person to follow. That can be very freeing but also frustrating for 21st-century people looking for evidence of “success” and results even in their relationship with God. 

Sister Marjorie Robinson lights candles for Mass.

 

 

Carmelite prayer life includes daily celebration of the Eucharist. “In a world that prizes usefulness, measurable progress—what I’ve done, what I’ve achieved—Carmelite spirituality really challenges one to look through the façades to focus on the primacy of union with God,” says Father Michael Berry, O.C.D., a Discalced Carmelite of the Washington, D.C. province and its vocation director. There’s nothing to show—not even any defining ministry in Carmelite life. “So in that sense, Carmel is really marginal,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity to live Saint Teresa [of Avila]’s advice: ‘Only God is enough.’ ” 

But not having any method doesn’t mean that Carmelites are left without resources in their quest for deepening union with God. A rich source of inspiration, formation, and experience are the writings of the great Carmelite saints and mystics, especially Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Thérèse of Lisieux. Among the constellation of numerous Carmelite saints, these three have been named Doctors of the Church for the perennial richness of their mystical teaching and the soundness of their spiritual doctrine for people of every century and walk of life. The spiritual classics these saints produced are all in print and in e-books, translated into languages from Arabic to Swahili. 

Discalced Carmelite friars in Kenya, like Brother Harrison Irungu, O.C.D., raise livestock to support themselves.

 

 

Work is an important part of Carmelite life. According to each of these spiritual masters, praying doesn’t need to be complicated. Here are their personal, practical definitions of prayer: 

• “Conversation with the One who we know loves us” (Saint Teresa).
• “Remaining in God’s presence in loving attention” (Saint John of the Cross).
• An aspiration of the heart, a simple glance . . . which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus” (Saint Thérèse).

These saints also knew that the desire for God comes wrapped in human limitations. Teresa, the great mystic, was sometimes so distracted during prayer that she’d shake her hourglass to try to make the time go faster. Eminently practical, she wisely counseled, “Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” Thérèse admitted to routinely falling asleep during prayer time for most of her nine years as a nun. These flesh-and-blood people offer great hope to all who are committed to finding and serving God! 

Carmelites have two hours of recreation each day. Sister Marianna So (center left) enjoys a game of Scrabble with other sisters.

 

 

Prayer is not aimed at making the pray-er feel good; it’s about loving God through the litmus test of charity: “This is the reason for prayer,” Saint Teresa emphasized: “the birth always of good works.” 

Portraits of Carmelites 
In Sioux City, Iowa, Sister Marie Therese (carmelsc.org) has discovered the reality that prayer imperceptibly and gradually helps transform the one who lives it. After 15 years in Carmel, she says, “Now I feel freer and more available to others. . . . It’s a different dynamic than before. Before it was ‘me, me, me.’ Now it’s ‘you, you, you’ ”—a focus on God and through God, others. 

For both Carmelite contemplative nuns and the friars, prayer includes daily celebration of the Eucharist and the Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours, in common. But the anchor of the day is the two hours of silent, contemplative prayer, one in the morning and one in the evening, that characterizes their life. 

Father Michael Berry describes these two prayer periods as “speed bumps in the day” that force a Carmelite to slow down. According to the Carmelite community rule, prayer and recollection should permeate the entire day. “But when you have to sit down, stop all the busyness, and sometimes just wait, that’s both a great challenge and a great gift,” he says. “It’s time to just be present to the One who loves you.” 

Two hours of personal prayer anchor every Carmelite’s day.

 

Sister Marianna So, a member of the Terre Haute, Indiana, Carmel (heartsawake.org), also finds the joy and gift in these two hours of prayer. “It’s a luxury in a way,” she says; “most people don’t have this kind of time built into their life. It’s also very humbling” because this gift brings with it the responsibility to pray on behalf of those who are living very hectic lives. “It’s also our call to adore, praise, and give thanks, and there’s tremendous joy in that,” she says. 

The climate of prayerful silence that characterizes a Carmelite’s day is not aimed at being “penance,” as it’s sometimes portrayed, but to enable Carmelites to deepen their relationship with God and one another. As Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote, “The aim of the contemplative life is not to teach a person to say prayers, but to live in God.” 

For Sister Marjorie Robinson, of the Carmel of Beacon, New York (carmelitesbeacon.org), this living in God is what keeps Carmelites connected with the whole human family. “While our life may be out of sight, it’s not out of touch,” she says. “It’s the dynamic of prayer and community living that helps” Carmelites become their best selves, not only for God but also to be able to hold the needs of all God’s people in the heart of their prayer. 
 

 

Pat Morrison, a regular contributor to VISION, is editorial director of ICS Publications, the publishing house of the Washington, D.C.-based Discalced Carmelite Friars/Institute of Carmelite Studies. She is a vowed laywoman in the Carmelite tradition and a member of the Association of Contemplative Sisters.

 

 

 

http://www.vocationnetwork.org/articles/show/309

 

Edited August 19, 2014 by brandelynmarie

[brandelynmarie]

Carmelite resources

ONLINE
O.Carm.-O.C.D. web portal: ocarm-ocd.org

Order of Carmelites Index of Carmelite Topics: carmelites.info

Order of Discalced Carmelites, General House: discalcedcarmel.com

CarmelStream: carmelstream.com

BOOKS
ICS Publications, publishers of the works of Carmelites including Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thérèse of Lisieux, Edith Stein, and others: icspublications.org 

The Carmelite Tradition by Steven Payne, O.C.D. (Liturgical Press, 2011)

The Springs of Carmel: An Introduction to Carmelite Spirituality by Peter Slattery, O.Carm. (Alba House, 1991)

Several Carmelite men’s and women’s communities advertise on the VISION Vocation Network. Go to VocationNetwork.org to learn more.

[vee]

http://www.noreenmackey.com/writings-silent-music-of-ElizabethTrinity.html

[brandelynmarie]

This. ^^^

Thank you :flowers: