Carmelite Spirituality - Part 2 by Fr Paul of the Cross OCD

Primacy of the contemplative spirit.

A direct and intimate experience with God is the basis of Carmel spirituality. Therefore, before any Rule, and in order that the Rule may be lived when it is formulated, a contemplative spirit and a deep sense of God are required of those who wish to lead the life of Carmel.

Of one who understands how to stay before God, no special activity, no special practical disposition is required. While, on the contrary, this sense of God, this thirst to remain in His presence does not belong to that category of realities that a Rule or a technique can call into being. Nor can they be developed in any way ascertainable by the sense. They must exist prior to the realization of a contemplative religious life. God Himself has placed them in the soul's very centre and ceaselessly maintains them by means of His grace and His Holy Spirit.

This enables us to understand how, although it is not an institution in the western meaning of the term but only a place for the election of a spiritual reality, Carmel has long been able to exist in a free, spontaneous, elementary way and to subsist through the sheer power of its "spirit".

This primacy of "spirit", necessary in every religious institute seems even more necessary in Carmel.

No exterior activity, whatever be its form, not even fidelity to the Rule, jealously guarded though this must be, can ever take the place of what ought to be the soul of Carmel, we mean the divine current that reaches the depths of man's being and impels the Carmelite to return constantly to his centre.

This search for God, so essential and so secret, leads of itself to simplicity and spiritual poverty. Instinctively the soul seeking God longs to be disencumbered, to be delivered from all things spiritual and material, in order to think of God alone, to be freed from things of the flesh in order to attain to life in the spirit, and to become altogether spiritual.

An idea like this necessarily leads to a spiritual conception of religious life. In fact, nowhere as much as in Carmel must life and observances be vivified by the spirit.

That is why a religious as familiar with the origins of Carmel as John of Saint-Samson could write in "De la perfection et decadence de la vie religieuse":
"I say that in the days of these first patriarchs and founders, religious life (at Carmel) was a body strongly and excellently animated by spirit, or rather it was all spirit, and all fervent spirit."

In fact the ideal of Carmel was always, according to the expression of this same author in "Le vrai esprit du Carmel," "to live in a state of great purity... and to enter into God with all one's strength".

It is obvious that John of Saint-Samson here refers to the "Institution des premiers moines," a text highly representative of the spirit of Carmel and of its oldest and purest mystical traditions. In it we read these lines in which the author seeks to describe the life of the first hermits of Carmel.

"This life has a double end. The first is ours as the result of our virtuous work and effort, divine grace aiding us. It consists in offering God a holy heart, freed from all stain of actual sin. We attain this end when we are perfect and in Carith (which means ' hidden in charity ')...The second end of this life is communicated to us as God's pure gift. I mean that not only after death but here in this mortal life we can in some way in our hearts taste and experience in spirit the power of the divine presence and the sweetness of heavenly glory. This is called drinking from
the torrent of divine pleasure."

At Carmel, purity of heart is never disassociated from delight in things divine. The illusion most to be dreaded has always been to aspire to the highest gifts while disdaining or underestimating the necessary publications. There is another and equally dangerous snare: to try to live a life of high perfection for its own sake and not to aspire to receive the communication of divine life. Carmelite spirituality consists of a supernatural balance which is only possible where there is habitual recourse to the spirit with humility of heart. Although Carmel can see the weakness of its children without astonishment or pessimism, and because it
counts on the abundance of divine mercy to remain undisturbed, it has no pity for the slightest shadow that soils the soul. A man who voluntarily harbors some vain attachment in his heart is not a spiritual man. But of what price is purity without spiritual fruitfulness? A detachment in which there is no love?

In fact theological primacy makes it impossible for the Carmelite soul to deviate in his pursuit of his double goal. If he aspires to love with the love of God Himself, it is because he is strong in his hope, resolute in his faith, docile in all things to the invitations of the Spirit; it is because he depends on God alone.

Mother Mary of Jesus on Modernism

This passage shows well the attitude of Mother Mary of Jesus and we would do well to adopt it ourselves to keep us free from this and all heresy -

Another service which she rendered this priest was to point the dangers of modernism, long before its condemnation. He had sent her some books of Loisy’s [a renowned modernist author]. Her comment is characteristic: ‘I only gave a glance at Abbe Loisy — it is just what I knew it was, most terrible. Oh! the cure to all these sins and heresies and horrors would be the surrender of our will and being to God. There is only our mind fit to learn and understand the right and the wrong, the truth of God and the infinite beauty of supernatural faith’.

Taken from 'In the Silence of Mary'. Published by Notting Hill Carmel 1964.

The Discalced Friars by Fr Benedict Zimmerman

This is a brief description of the life of a Discalced Carmelite Friar as it was lived according to the traditional Rule. You will find it very edifying -

Shortly before midnight the brethren rise and repair to the choir, where at the twelfth stroke of the hour they continue Matins according to the Roman rite. The singing is not plain chant, as in the monasteries of the Benedictine, Trappist or Carthusian Orders, but a simple kind of monotone, which, however, is not devoid of solemnity. Matins last about an hour and a quarter, followed by a short meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. The Midnight Office is of great importance; at a time when the world is forgetful of God, or even grievously offending His majesty, the Church, through her various Religious Orders, presents herself in supplication before His throne, praising His glorious name, and expiating for the world’s sinfulness.

About 2 a.m. the monks are back in their cells to take some repose: not an easy thing to do on cold winter nights. They rise again before five to chant Prime and Terce and make an hour’s meditation which is followed by Mass. Each priest says low Mass at the time and the altar appointed by the Prior; on Sundays and feasts there is sing Mass. Allowing about an hour for Mass, with preparation and thanksgiving, there remain three hours to be spent in work. Each member of the Community has his special offices or duties; some have charge of the household and its administration, others the care of the library; others, again are employed in the sacred ministry, hearing confessions and preaching the Word of God. Thus the difficulty is not how to find work, but rather how to do it all in such a short time.

The true home of the monk is his cell. This is about twelve foot long by ten in width. Its furniture is of the simplest kind; the bed consists of a board, six feet by two and a half or three feet, resting on trestles, and covered with some blankets and a pillow. There is a writing table, with shelves for books, and a chair. On the walls are a cross and some pious pictures.

At half past ten Sext and None are recited in choir, followed at eleven by dinner. This is the first, and during the greater part of the year the only, meal. Those, however, who are unable to keep such a long fast can easily obtain permission to take a cup of coffee after Mass. Dinner consists of vegetables, fish and eggs, with cheese and fruit. Meat is only given to the sick and infirm, and these have a special place in refectory; even visitors and guests are bound to the abstinence as long as they remain in the monastery, unless, indeed, they are in delicate health themselves.

After dinner there is an hour’s recreation in common, but during the rest of the day silence is strictly enjoined. At two o’clock Vespers are chanted, frequently followed by the Office of the Dead. The afternoon is devoted to work, only interrupted by an hour’s meditation. In the evening there is a second meal, followed by a short recreation in summer, but in winter there is only a small collation. Compline and Night Prayers having been said, the Religious retire to their cells at about half past seven.

Discalced Carmelite Third Order

One of the great traditions of the Discalced Carmelite Order was its Third Order for the laity[the First Order was the Friars and the Second Order the Nuns]which is reputed to be, among all the Third Orders, the closest to the religious life as you will read.

Here follows a brief explanation of the spirit and life of the Third Order according to the traditional Rule -

Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Teresa of Jesus

Many have heard of this Third Order but know little about it. The Way of Perfection for the Laity by Fr Kevin ODC is an excellent book which expounds the Rule of the Third Order. It tells us that that the ideal is ‘the union of the soul and God, a union more intimate than that of window and the ray, of the coal and the fire. Wondrous means: surrender of the soul to the action of God by prayer, by ‘holy meditations and contemplations,’ in a word, Love and its pursuit and its pursuit, those are the spiritual arms of the Order of Carmel. Its motto is that of St Paul, ‘Ambulate in dilectione’ (walk in love). The child of Carmel ‘knows only one means to reach perfection . . . Love’; nothing troubles him, nothing affrights him — nothing is wanting to him. God alone is sufficient for him. Following the beautiful programme of Sr Elizabeth of the Trinity, his life must be a continual communion, ‘he awakes in Love — the whole day is lived in Love in doing the will of Good God — then, when evening comes after a dialogue of love which has never ceased in his heart, surrendering to the fire of love which consumes all his faults and infidelities, he sleeps again in love’ under the gaze of Our Lady, the sweetness and glory of Carmel.’

The rule of the Discalced Carmelite Third Order is a most suitable form of life to attain this end. Of all Tertiary rules it is the nearest approach to the religious life, and although the Tertiaries of other Orders are bound to seek perfection of the Christian life, towards this end there is a definiteness and helpfulness in the Discalced Carmelite Third Order which is lacking in others. For that very reason the obligations are greater. The whole goal of the Carmelite rule is to cause people to lead interior lives, in order to foster the interior spirit, much time is given to prayer. The end, of course, is for our life to become a constant prayer. This requires retirement, of course, the Carmelite nuns are strictly contemplative and enclosed – the Tertiaries are not. Nevertheless, the tertiaries also are to be isolated from the world as far as possible. In all conversation etc., the objective must be the sanctification of the other person. Unfortunately, the value of this type of life hidden from the world is rarely understood and even more rarely appreciated. Certainly, a Carmelite Tertiary must be careful not to neglect their duties of state – in fact; tertiaries must make every effort to be a model in performing their duties. The call of perfection is for all. Therefore, Our Lord’s demand for us not to be “of the world” applies to each and every one of us.

A summary of the obligations – The tertiary when received into the Discalced Carmelite Third Order will receive a brown scapular composed of two equal parts of 10 inches in length and 7 inches in width. It is to be worn at all times. The new novice will also be given a religious name at this time.A period of at least one year and one day must elapse, before the novitiate ends and the Profession ceremony takes place. The novice will at this time make a vow of Chastity and Obedience. Before Profession, the novice will make a retreat or other pious practices according to the advice of the Spiritual Director of the Third Order. It is essential that a prayerful study of the Third Order Rule is undertaken by each novice, so that they can learn the spirit, the distinctive character of the Third Order, and so become deeply convinced of the sublimity of their vocation and infused with an abiding Marian love.’

· The tertiary who is able to read will unless prevented by some reasonable cause, recite daily the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

· Each day, they will spend a half an hour in meditation. Either a quarter of an hour in the morning and a quarter of an hour in the evening, or all at one time.

· Each Wednesday, the tertiary will abstain from meat, as also the Saturdays of Advent.

· Every day, if possible, the tertiary will hear Holy Mass. He or she will receive Holy Communion regularly, at least once a week.

· Also, on the First Friday, and the principal feasts of Our Lord and Our Lady, as well as the feast of the founders and patrons of our Order.

· On the anniversary of their Profession in the Third Order of Mount Carmel.

· The Renewal of vows – the 6th of January (the Epiphany) and 14th September (The Exaltation of the Holy Cross)

· When they learn that any member of the Third Order is dangerously ill or has died.

· Once a month they will, is possible, set apart a day of recollection, and once a year, they will make the Spiritual Exercises.

· All tertiaries should never fail to make the daily examination of conscience with due care and contrition for their sins.

· Tertiaries should be exact in the observance of the Fast and abstinence prescribed by the Church, and never seek to be dispensed with grave and sufficient cause. Besides the Fast days prescribed by the Church, they shall fast using the foods and condiments permitted by the Church on ordinary fast days in their respective countries on the vigils of the following feasts:- Corpus Christi; Our Holy Father, St. John of the Cross; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; Immaculate Conception and Our Holy Mother, St. Teresa

· They will abstain from meat, besides the days prescribed by the Church on the vigils of the following feasts: The Purification; Our Holy Father, St. Elias; The Annunciation; The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; The Visitation; The feast of All saints of the Carmelite Order(14th November 2nd Class feast – those saints who have not as yet been canonized)

· On the 15th November, the feast of All Souls of the Carmelite Order, the tertiaries will receive Holy Communion and recite the Office for the departed members

Carmelite Spirituality - Part 1 by Fr Paul Marie of the Cross OCD

The Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel counts among its members many mystics and many saints, its roots are plunged deep in the Old Testament, its mission is specifically spiritual and yet at no time in the past does it seem to have made any special effort to define its spirituality. Does this not mean that this present work is temerarious?

It is true that the members of the "Carmelite family" feel closely united to one another by "a characteristic and permanent way of seeing, feeling,willing".[1] It is also true that Carmel possesses texts that are specially representative of its traditions and spirit but these texts are rather like reminders or manifestations than sources.

To characterize the spirituality of Carmel is all the more difficult because unlike other religious families Carmel has, in the strict sense of the word, no founder who trained it or gave it a rule. As a matter of fact no rule was written until the hermits of Mount Carmel requested one. And this was but the codification of the form of life that these men had spontaneously adopted.

Where are the sources of Carmel's spirit to be found and how can that spirit be acquired?

To answer these questions, two things are necessary. First, we must understand the nature of this spirit which came down from heaven upon the sons of the prophets dwelling century after century on the slopes of the holy mountain; because without this spirit Carmel would never have started and would never have lasted. We must also grasp the extraordinary signs of this spirit that are evident in those who possess it and give it full expression.

It will be seen that Carmelite spirituality is based only in part on documents. It is above all spirit and life. So it follows that by examining its origins, searching the Rule, the lives and writings of the Order's great saints that the soul of Carmel is revealed and, at the same time, Carmelite spirituality is made manifest.



I. THE SOURCES


Elias the prophet.

While it is certain that "schools of prophets " were established on Mount Carmel in the footsteps of Elias and Eliseus, it is impossible to discover how and when these schools became permanent institutions. Despite the mystery of these beginnings Carmel has always claimed Elias as its own and has seen in him one who inaugurated the eremitic and prophetic life which is its characteristic.

This is not to say that Elias introduced within the Old Testament frame of reference a special spirit, a new doctrine, a personal way. On the contrary, Elias is typical of the just men and the prophets who lived under the Old Covenant. But his disciples remembered this distinguishing note about him: He is the man whom the Spirit of Yahweh led into deep solitude and who, drawing waters from the "torrent of Carith ", drank from the rivers of living water and tasted, in contemplation, pleasures that
are divine. Therefore, if it is in documents that we wish to find the spirit of Carmel it is to the chapters in the books of Kings dealing with this prophet that we must go.

Here in fact rings out that fundamental note which will re-echo down the centuries, not only in the rocky solitudes of Mount Carmel but throughout the whole history of the order. In Elias, Carmel sees itself as in a mirror. His eremitic and prophetic life expresses its own most intimate ideal. In studying the life of Elias, Carmel is aware of a growing thirst for contemplation. It perceives its deep kinship with this man who "stood in the presence of the living God". If it shares his weaknesses and his anguish, it also knows his faith in God and his zeal for the "Yahweh of armies" and it has tasted the same delights of a life hidden in God which the prophet also experienced. When it discovers in the light of the inspired word that Elias, "in the strength he drew from the divine food,walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God", it is not in the least surprised. How could the prophet not have been drawn to this spot where that tremendous event of the religious history of mankind had taken place several centuries earlier: God's revelation to Moses.

There, in the bleak wastes of Sinai, we read in the book of Exodus that Moses, silent and alone, perceived Yahweh's mysterious presence in the light of fiery flames that burned the bush without consuming it (Ex. 3:2). There, were revealed to him the incommunicable Name, the divine transcendence and benevolence. There, Moses understood that he must make known to those entrusted to him what he had been allowed to contemplate. "Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you". (Ex. 3: 14).

How could the father of contemplative life not have been drawn to this mountain where God spoke to Moses "as a man is wont to speak to his friend" (Ex. 33: 11), where man dared address this prayer to God: "show me Thy glory" (Ex. 3 3: 1 8)? How could he have failed to see that all the elements essential to contemplation were already contained in the scene on Horeb? So we may say that having found its model in Elias, the Carmelite advances with him toward the very origin of true contemplative life. Or, it might be more exact to say that having found the contemplative experience in its origin, carried by Elias to the highest degree of
purity, detachment and fulfillment, the Carmelite, wishing to renew this experience, feels obliged to recreate in his soul the climate in which this life grew: the desert with its spiritual solitude and silence; and he, in his turn feels constrained to undertake this persevering march toward the mountain of God where fire burns but does not consume.

Carmelite spirituality in every century needs to breathe the air of these high places if it is to live; and it needs a form of life sufficiently recollected to permit the soul to perceive the divine presence "in the sound of a gentle breeze" (Cf. 3 Kgs. 19: 12). In this perpetual return to solitude and recollection, this nostalgic call to detachment: "I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness; and I will speak to her heart" (OS. 2: 14), the Carmelite finds the very soul of his vocation.

So he takes as guides those who have advanced along the paths of divine union and have tasted the sweetness of heavenly things; and he prays with Eliseus to his father Elias to grant him a double part of his spirit (4 Kgs. 2: 9).

Can we describe this spirit?

In spite of the mystery of its beginnings, on this point no hesitation is possible. This spirit consists essentially in a longing for union with God.

It will be objected that all spiritual men know this longing. This is true. Nevertheless at Carmel this aspiration has a quality of immediacy, an insistence on prompt realization that distinguishes the Order's religious attitude.[2] Carmel makes contemplation its proper end and to attain this end it practices absolute detachment in relation to all demands, or at least to all temporal contingencies. Eminently theocentric, Carmel refers itself wholly to the living God: "As the Lord liveth the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand" (3 Kgs. 17: 1).

From the earliest ages union with God has been its "raison d'etre" and its soul. No doubt it was "the anticipated dawn of the Savior's redemptive grace"[3] that made this possible. No doubt, too, that it has benefited by the progress and development of revelation down the centuries. Nevertheless at Carmel from the beginning, union with God has been and continues to be central.

Characterized by an awareness of the presence within man's heart of the very being of God, the spirit of Carmel also includes a sense of the sacred and a thirst for things divine. Progress in the experience of God only serves to deepen and develop this basic and truly essential element. Without it neither the wise nor the simple could enter into and intensify their relations with God, No matter how individual is this spirit and with what difficulty it is analyzed, this spirit is to be identified with the most authentic mysticism. At Carmel nothing imitative or esoteric is to be found and Carmelite tradition is singularly sober as to the content of spiritual
experiences though their presence is frequently attested. Always objective, it merely affirms the possibility and the reality of direct contact with God and points out the necessity, if this is to be attained, of recourse to a particular kind of life--the eremitic life.

It assigns no date to its first manifestations but instead states forcefully that, granted certain conditions, it is possible for man truly to live the divine life. For this it suffices for him to realize in himself the climate of the original desert, and after withdrawing into this interior solitude, "to hold himself in the presence of the living God". Than the light of truth will come to purify, enlighten and enkindle his soul.

Foundations are thus laid for a personal experience of God and the intimate relations that a creature may have with Him. Going back through the ages Carmel will never hesitate to recognize itself in the first hermit whom the Bible describes for us and to model its life on that of men vowed to the contemplation of divine things in silence and solitude.

1. JEROME DE LA MERE DE DIEU, O.C.D. quoting Costa Rosetti, S.J. in "La

doctrine du venerable frere Jean de S. Samson", "La vie Spirituelle,"

1925, p. 32, n. 1.

2. Saint John of the Cross gives a startling confirmation of this fact

when he recalls it in the very title of "The Ascent of Carmel." He write:

"The Ascent of Mount Carmel shows how: soul can prepare to arrive promptly

at divine union..."

A very short biography

Madeleine Dupont was born in France, in 1851, and entered the Carmel of the Incarnation in Paris in 1872, taking the name of Sr Mary of Jesus. She came to England at the foundation of Notting Hill Carmel in 1878. Her early years in Carmel were marked by her profound experience of contemplative prayer and union with God. This bore abundant fruit, especially from the time she was nominated Prioress in 1883. Due to unusual circumstances she remained Prioress till her death in 1942 aged 91. She saw her vocation as one of "giving God to souls", and she became a loved and trusted spiritual guide. One cannot measure spiritual fecundity by numbers, nevertheless it is remarkable that during her nearly 60 years as Prioress, she gave the religious habit to 194 postulants, and of these, she prepared 148 novices for profession. With such an abundance of vocations at that period she was able to answer requests from bishops in various parts of the country, and founded 33 Carmels throughout Britain between the years 1907 - 1938. For her, this was simply "doing our Lady's work" and her simple trust in the Mother of God was at the heart of her endeavors.

Biography: In the Silence of Mary (1964) published privately at Notting Hill Carmel