Carmel is a School of Love
Terenure College
April 2010
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Introduction
When I think of what I would like a Carmelite school to be, I think of a place where people, have a great familiarity with the Word of God, live with a great devotion to Mary, are inspired by the prophet Elijah in their prayer and their pursuit of justice, are good at working together and have a great sense that the following of Christ and the Christian message is what will help people to be happy and fulfilled in a society that is able to cherish all its members. I think of a place where people are positive about life and about themselves and know how to praise and thank their God.
Schools are places. These places are made holy by the lives of the people who live and work in them. The consciousness of place is something that Sr. Constance Fitzgerald captured in her address to the 1986 Congress on the Carmelite Rule in Niagara: Physical place, or “where” stands out in the text. (…) The hermits are described or named, not in reference to a human person, nor even with reference to a mystery of God or Mary, but only in reference to a specific place – a spring and a mountain called Carmel.[1] The hermits went to a place that belonged to the Lord Jesus and pledged their allegiance to the Lord of the Place. Mary would become known as the Lady of the Place. A place is where things happen. In the incarnation of the Word of God, the Son of God came to a place, was born in a place and went about doing good. In the fullness of time he rose from a place and returned to the Father.
That has something to say to us. Knowing that the place we know as school, college or institute is made holy, or unholy, by the people who live there we realise that we have an influence on the places in which we live and work. Our task is to exercise the right influence and to produce the right results, results that belong to the Kingdom of God, seen through the prism of the Carmelite charism and tradition. Are we happy with the influence we have on the place in which we live and work or are we looking for something different or something more?
In an article titled, Who is Bringing up our children? Archbishop Rowan Williams sounds a warning: When a culture ignores or sidelines the question of what it actually wants to produce, what kind of human beings it actually wants to nurture, when it assumes indifference, it still educates.[2]
We cannot be accused of this kind of indifference. The work done by Carmelites in preparing mission statements for their school in recent years is clear evidence of a consciousness of the need to state clearly what we want to produce. There is evidence in these statements of an amount of common ground in relation to our understanding of education in general and catholic education in particular. There is evidence also of a common understanding of the Carmelite tradition and what it has to offer the world of education, and the responsibility Carmelites bear because of the gift they have received. Carmelites have found ways of expressing their charism in their attitudes, in the decoration of their schools, in the teaching of religion and history and in the promotion of the saints of Carmel.
As we recognise the amount of Carmelite presence and consciousness that is already in our schools, colleges and institutes, this conference has to be a celebration of what has already been achieved and after that a common reflection on what we might still like to achieve until we feel we are doing justice to the gift we have been given, the responsibility we have taken on and the people who are entrusted to our care - students, staff and parents alike.
It is in the nature of a conference like this to have moments when the participants tell one another about what is going on in their own place. Given the variety of places and cultures represented in this group that kind of sharing is bound to be very rich. I will not attempt to provide a survey of what is happening in our schools. Suffice it to say that browsing the internet gives a very comprehensive view of the wealth that is in the schools in which we work, on all five continents and at all three levels of education, primary, secondary and tertiary. I see my task rather as that of reflecting with you on what we have received by way of charism and tradition in its modern interpretation in order to see some of its implications and answer some of its demands.
When we consider our responsibility to the world of education, it is clear that what we want is not a take-over but rather to make a contribution. We are not running minor seminaries that will make Carmelites of everyone who is educated in them. Our contribution is more like a part of a mosaic. We are but one tile in a very rich mosaic. If the school is the mosaic the Carmelite content is one part of the mosaic. If the world at large is the mosaic then the Carmelite content is an even smaller tile. Yet if you take that tile away the mosaic loses its impact, it’s sense of completeness and its ability to call itself a mosaic. If the tile is there but is discoloured, the effect on the mosaic is immediate. We want to be that tile that is Carmelite, with its Carmelite colour, capable of receiving something from and giving something to the tiles around us and to be there in the best possible condition in order to make the mosaic as beautiful and complete as the Artist intended.
Here are seven points to think about:
We are growing in holiness
We see and recognise giftedness
We care
We are close to the poor
We work together
We follow Jesus, Mary and Elijah
We are celebrators of the Eucharist
1. We are growing in holiness
The belief that we grow in holiness is central to Carmelite thinking. The purpose of the Carmelite life is outlined in the earliest texts of the Order[3]: "The goal of this life is twofold: One part we acquire by our own effort and the exercise of the virtues, with the help of divine grace. This is to offer God a heart that is holy and pure from actual stain of sin. (…)The other goal of this life is granted to us as the free gift of God; namely, not only after death but even in this mortal life, to taste somewhat in the heart and to experience in the mind the power of the divine presence and the sweetness of heavenly glory." There is a progression in this double calling. As the years go by people who reflect on life become more mature. It is true that children and people who are not conscious of being on a journey with God receive extraordinary graces. Their growth too however will be seen not in the graces they receive but in what they do with these graces when they recognise them. St. Paul might be a good example of this.
Gospel and growth go hand in hand. The parables of the sower and the mustard seed, the training of the apostles and the story of St. Peter indicate movement from small beginnings into full flourishings. Schools recognise this principle and help to ensure that the process of growing is well directed.
In its essence Christian faith believes that the process of humanisation is a process of divinisation. The more the human person is developed the more is the person’s recognition of a capacity for transcendence and movement into something greater than the now. While our physical bodies decline, our spirit is taken up in an adventure with God that reveals our own smallness on the one hand, and the invitation given by God to grow in holiness on the other.
What is distinctive about the Carmelite tradition is the wealth of language and experience we have in relation to this process. Our well known authors have described, from their own experience, the heights and depths of union and integration the human person can reach. We have become familiar with the Dark Night as a way of describing the process by which we make our way towards union, leaving behind the confusion and the idols that distract us. In this we understand that our growth in holiness is a process of deepening motivations until we are able to say with St. Paul, It is no longer I who live. It is Christ who lives in me. (Gal 4:20) This is for many a process of leaving behind the familiar and comforting in favour of reaching out towards what is still to come.
God’s work is going on all the time (Jn 5:17). It is discerned in the interaction of people with their faith, with one another and with the world in which we live. More than a teacher, the Carmelite is a discerner of the signs of God’s love. This is based on the belief that God loved us first (I Jn 4:9-13). We stand in the presence of the living God whom we serve (I Kg 17:1). Our service is a seeking of the love of God who has already wounded us by his love.[4] The more we discern the signs of God’s love and accept these signs the more we grow in holiness, that is, in our union with God. Our schools thus become contemplative places, where the love of God is discerned in the interaction of people and place and we grow in our consciousness of God’s love for us. This is the enjoyment, even in this life of the power of the divine presence and the sweetness of heavenly glory.
We are capable of knowing the love of God to the point where we are so united with God that we “see with the eyes of God and love with the heart of God”[5]. We become God by participation. Recognition of our sinfulness is the recognition of what keeps us at a distance from God and stands in the way of our coming to union with God. This is a very lofty understanding of the human person, but one that we take to be real, and part of our tradition.
If we have this kind of understanding of the destiny of the human person will it not shape our attitude to life and to education? Might we not then seek to play our part in ensuring that people have the opportunity to see life in this way? Might we not educate in such a way that people grow in their desire for God and the things of God? Because of this kind of belief in God, which is the foundation of religion but also goes beyond religion, have we not something very important to contribute to interreligious dialogue today, particulary between Judaism, Islam and Christianity? In a world that is becoming increasingly multi-cultural and multi-religious, the clarity of Carmel’s attention to the one God and Lord of all offers us the possibility to cut through the less essential in order to proclaim the most essential. How long will you hop from one foot to the other – If God is God serve him, if Baal is God serve him. (I Kg 18:21)
2. We see and recognise giftedness
Our attitude to people is that of recognising their dignity as created in the image and likeness of God, destined to live in freedom and equipped with a myriad of gifts which when they are developed make the joy of humanity complete. The language that we use in our prospectus is one of helping students to grow, intellectually, spiritually, morally, socially and physically. Everything about the way we talk about our schools suggests a recognition of the wealth of the human person and our understanding of education as a commitment to the development of every positive dimension of the human person. If it were not so, would we not be guilty of developing a very distorted citizen. If we were to begin from any agenda other than the development of all that the Creator has given, would we not be guilty of putting ourselves in the place of the Creator?
In her vision of the Blessed Trinity, St. Mary Magdalen saw something of the movement of understanding and love that there is between the persons of the Trinity.[6] The word she uses to describe this is looking. This way of looking reveals the full identity of the other. The Father looks at the Son, looks deeply and loves what he sees. The Spirit is in the looking and there is peace. The Son looks at the Father, looks deeply and loves what he sees. The Spirit is in the looking and there is peace.
This understanding of looking is captured for us in the image of the serpents in the desert and of the centurion at the foot of the cross. Those who had been bitten had only to look at the serpent fixed to the pole and they were cured (Num 21:9). The centurion looked at the one on the Cross and believed (Mk 15:39). Jesus in turn, looked at the rich young man and understood how difficult it was for the rich man to get into heaven (Mk 10.21).
Our looking is a part of daily life. There are people and situations around us all the time and we are called upon to take a stand. When dealing with another person we have the ability to look, to look deeply and to love what we see and to commit ourselves to what we see. We have the ability to look at situations, to look deeply and to love what we see and to commit ourselves to what we see. We do this because in our deeper looking what we see is the work of the Kingdom of God, the work of salvation going on all the time. This is the work by which God draws all things to himself and we align ourselves with that work every time we accept to commit ourselves to what we see and love. This is a contemplative gift and a contemplative approach to ordinary daily life.
In our schools and institutes, while we look to what public education policy, and parents and students demand, the Carmelite also pays deep attention to the demands of the Kingdom of God and the working of the Holy Spirit in order to develop and harness the gifts of people for the purpose for which they were given.
3. We care
There is a quality in our approach to education that goes beyond the professional. Just recently in an article in the Far East I read about a woman who told of taking care of an expectant mother in very difficult circumstances in Cambodia. She did all she could to ensure the safe delivery of the child but alas was not successful. The child died. The woman, a professional nurse, looked at her own reaction to what had happened. At first, all she could think of was that she had failed as a nurse. It was only later that she began to dwell on what the experience might have meant to the mother of the child.[7]
Carmelites have to be professional and to take pride in their ability to be professional in the work of education. Even more than that they have to care for people, because being professional can at times be self-serving. Being profession can be an idol that might not meet the demands of caring. When we read the Gospel we see very clearly how Jesus allowed himself to be moved by what was happening around him. We can think of many examples, the widow of Nain, the death of Lazarus, the slavery of the rich young man, the agony in the Garden. He criticised the Pharisees, the professionals, for laying heavy burdens on people and not lifting a finger to help them. He wept over Jerusalem and its failure to accept him.
While we know that we are part of the education structure in each of the countries in which we live, we do not limit ourselves to fulfilling the demands of the system. We accompany that and enrich it with our commitment to the person and our following of Christ so that we meet the demands of love – love of God and love of neighbour.
Our fundamental attitude is to desire the salvation of the students. In St. Therese of the Child Jesus we find that the desire for the salvation of souls means a desire for people to know the love of the Father, as she has known that love. The Declaration on Education from the II Vatican Council reminds us that education directs us towards our ultimate goal, which is eternal life[8]. Carmel is considered by many to be a school of prayer. It is also a school of love that enables us to know Love, to seek Love, to love Love and to offer this love to those around us.[9] In this school of love we have learned to look at people and give thanks for them. It is good that they are there.
4. We are close to the poor
What a thorny question! For many who attend this conference being physically close to the poor is a day-to-day reality. For others it is a challenge. It is a constant calling. How are we to understand the call to be close to the poor and the option for the poor today?
It comes naturally to us to talk about our relationship with the poor. What happened to Haiti in recent months is but one example of the existence of extraordinary poverty in the world and people were moved in their thousands to give a helpful response.
In one sense it would be impossible to present ourselves as Christian or Catholic without showing a regard for the poor, but it is all to easy to include a statutory reference to the poor and leave it at that. However the option for the poor that our Church has consistently affirmed demands more of us.
Long before Carmelites had an explicit commitment to justice and peace, we had a very clear commitment to the poor[10]. In an interesting study, presented to a meeting of the Carmelite Family in Recife in 1994, Francisco de Sales of the Province of Pernambuco outlined three features of this commitment: The location of Carmelite communities, in the tradition of mendicants allowed them to live and move among the poor. Their life-style tended to be modest and simple so as not to remove them from the culture of the poor. Their sense of poverty kept them close to the image of Jesus in his poverty, particularly his total poverty on the cross. The upcoming beatification of Angelo Paoli is a timely reminder of this commitment.
One challenge to us today is to go beyond merely reaching out to the poor, or having good programmes for helping the poor. It is the challenge to be so close to the poor that we take on their wisdom, spirituality and language, all that St. Paul might understand as the mind of the poor.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect. Rm 12:1-2
We tend to adopt the culture of our surroundings and allow that to shape our mind, while all the time believing that our religious life is intended to ask questions of the dominant culture. With this new mind we could have something very important to say to a society that is capable of sacrificing the human person on the altar of productivity, wealth and power.
The challenge in this is to see the poor as those who have very little and count for very little in our society. [11]The poor are the mass of people who continue to exercise, unwittingly, an extraordinary influence on the thinking of world organisations and national governments. All of these vie with one another to show their awareness of their duty to the poor. It sometimes surprises us to know that the professed aim of the IMF and the World Bank is to eradicate poverty. Nevertheless the poor stand at our door and plead for our attention as people who have been failed by world policy.
Distance is the problem. It is one thing to consider the poor from a distance. It is quite another matter to know the poor close up. The poor are our brothers and sisters who are suffering and look to us for help. It is not limited to this however. They are the chosen friends of the Lord, who listen to his word and find consolation in it and their world and their wisdom are the privileged route of preaching the Gospel.
Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Lk 7:45-47
We cannot learn the Gospel among the rich if by rich we mean people who live in order to protect and increase the power and wealth they already have. We can learn the gospel much better among the poor if by poor we mean people who have very little, cry out for more and yet are willing to share the little they have with people who might have less than they.
All of this will remain as pure theory unless we cultivate a genuine love for the poor. This cannot be done from a distance. Somehow our way of life has to bring us into close contact with the poor. Experience shows that when our students have this close contact with the poor the effect can be dramatic and their way of thinking can change radically.
5. We work together.
From the time the hermits came together and worked out their formula for life we have been living and working with others, not by accident but by choice, in the recognition that we go to God together and we become human together. Our rule by calling the brothers from their cells to gather as one recognises this and gives us what we might consider a manual for living in community.
Over the years, while we have recognised the essential community nature of our lives, we seem not to have realised how much wisdom there is in our Rule for the building of community. By establishing a healthy and respectful relationship between the members and the leader, by finding the right balance between solitude and gathering, by having meetings specifically to order the life of the community and correct faults if there are any to be found, the Rule provides a structure for growth.
In addition to this it speaks of silence and work as the features by which we move away from self-centredness and dedicate ourselves to the work of the Kingdom. Silence in this case is not the absence of words but the deepest respect for words that communicate health and salvation. Carmelites practice silence by listening to what the other has to say and by carefully choosing the words with which to speak. The letter to the Ephesians makes this clear: (Eph 4:29) Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. Our understanding of silence improves the quality of communication which is an essential ingredient in building healthy human relationships and strong community.
The Carmelite way of life, based on the Rule, has given us the skills to live in community and to build community. The fundamental formation document of the Friars explains:
Our joint commitment to a way of life, and our joint participation in moments of listening, of prayer, of celebration, of community and of communion, motivate us to proclaim joyfully and gratuitously the common calling to holiness and to full communion with God and among people. Thus Carmelite community becomes in and of itself a proclamation to the world. Our fraternal life becomes a prophetic sign of the possibility of living in communion, if one is willing to pay the price. Carmelites, who are also called to become experts in communion, invite others to share in their communal prayer and in their life. Listening prayerfully to the word of God, they find in it the inspiration to become a living and prophetic presence in the Christian community and in the world. From the sharing of material and spiritual goods springs the need to share with every brother and sister all that the Lord has freely given.[12]
The claim to be experts in communion is a bold one. It is something to which we are called and for which, by charism and training, we have been equipped. This essential understanding of life in community, which is a mark of our different schools and institutes around the world speaks of working with one another and with others in a partnership which is both effective and affective. We live as people who are committed to one another, have learned the skills of living in community and work for the good of others. We live, reflect and plan in community.
Recent years have seen the emergence of new forms of participation in our schools: Boards of Management, Staff Meetings, Student councils, Parents Associations, and Home School liaison are all features of the way we work together. In order to make these structures work, skills of speaking and listening have to be learned. With these skills we are assured that truth and commitment will emerge in ways that are productive and well directed.
6. Jesus, Mary and Elijah are our models.
Our charism, briefly stated, is a charism of allegiance to Jesus Christ, in prayer, fraternity and service, following the examples of Mary and Elijah. To say that our life is a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ, places Christ at the centre of our attention and our motivation. Our service is to him. What does he ask of us as an expression of our allegiances to him? All we have to do is accept him as he is revealed in the Gospel – not any kind of Jesus but the Christ who is poor, humble and cross-bearing[13].
While it is true that Carmelite spirituality very often concentrates on the centrality of love and the transformation of the human person, we know that it is through our appreciation of the Cross that we show our full acceptance of Jesus. While many of our saints help us to see the relationship between love and the Cross of Jesus, Edith Stein’s witness comes at a very appropriate time to show us how someone in a reasonably modern context understood the relevance of the cross, as a sign of self-emptying and of suffering for others.[14] The cross shows us the relevance of Jesus that takes us beyond the pursuit of the tranquillity and satisfaction that marks many contemporary presentations of Christian spirituality.
Our allegiance to Jesus Christ, lets us see the full revelation of God in the humanity of Jesus, poor, humble and cross-bearing. Our tradition has taught us that humility is to be understood as nothing other than cherishing the truth – truth about ourselves and truth about God. This is the truth that sets us free. We are on a journey of discovery in which we neither claim to have the full truth right now, nor compromise the truth that we have now in the pursuit of immediate and short-term gain. Too much truth is sacrificed today, both in Church and in State in the interests of self-preservation and short-term gain. A love for truth – the truth that God loves us and our greatest happiness is in serving Him – is something that Carmelites can help to bring to the people who journey with us.
In following this path, we are guided and helped by our two principal patrons, Mary and Elijah. Much of the excitement in Carmelite circles in recent years comes from the fresh and renewed things that we say and believe about these two figures:
Mary, disciple, sister and Mother.
We are used to saying that our charism is a charism of prayer, community and service and so it is. But every Christian life is made up of prayer, community and service. It could not be otherwise. What makes our statement of charism distinctive is the inclusion of Mary and Elijah in an intimate relationship with our lives. Much has been written in recent years about Mary’s place in Carmel, notably by Emanuele Boaga and Chris O’Donnell[15]. What emerges very strongly in our speaking about Mary today is that she is disciple, sister and Mother.
As Mother she nurtures life and protects it. As sister she shows the way to full stature in Christ. As disciple she learned from her Son by being attentive to his word.
We live in a world of great scientific progress. The shadow side of all our progress is a planet and a humanity in danger. We recognise the need to balance protection with development – safety and integrity with growth. That is the art of the mother. While she nurtures her children and exposes them to new realities in order that they may grow, she also protects them from anything that would harm them. The motherly protection of Mary is particularly relevant in the world of today. All of us want to grow and develop, yet we see everyday the threat to our environment, the potential effects of climate change, the increase in organised crime, the exploitation of sex and the awful availability, and use of harmful substances. The desire for protection may explain at least in part how in different Carmelite schools young people are happy to receive and to wear the Scapular. The recognition of the need for protection for ourselves and our planet, leading to a heartfelt cry for help, gives us a new-found relationship with Mary our Mother in the world of today.
In an education context, when we think about a students growth to maturity, we think about the emergence of the adult, in the use of talents and gifts, in the ability to relate to people and in the possession of Christian faith. Mary as sister is the fulfilment of what Paul says to the Ephesians[16]:
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in very way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
Our view of Mary as sister makes her one of us and one like us. For people who today find difficulty in relating to Mary as Mother, it may be possible for them to relate to her as sister.[17]
Mary the disciple relieves us of the burden of having to be perfect from day one. The disciple sits at the feet of the Master, intent on learning. Mary pondered all these things and treasured them in her heart. This positive learning attitude of the disciple shows us the fundamental attitude of looking and seeing, listening and hearing and accepting the truth of what we see and hear and allowing it to shape our lives. When what we see is what God is revealing and when we what we hear is what God is saying we are then in union with God and this union progress so that there is more or God and less of us. This less-of-us then becomes more-of-us because we become more in our union with God.
Elijah, Man of God, Man of the People
Elijah rose from among the people and became their champion. His story leads us to thoughts of deep-felt commitment to God and to our neighbour. We see in him the prophet who is a prophet because of his deep engagement with God and his deep engagement with the people in the world of his day.
As a tradition we used to see him as the one who stood alone in the presence of the living God. Now we see him as one who knew his people and his world intimately. The combination of the two, knowledge of God and knowledge of the world gave him the power to say important things and make important stands to save his people and point them in the direction of the one God who saves.
The commitment to justice that figures strongly in our mission statements takes much of its inspiration from this example of the prophet Elijah. In recent years we have added two new ways of understanding to our discourse on justice: The work of justice is the work of building right relationship and justice itself is learned in our contemplation of God – This is a God whose justice is generous, gratuitous and overflowing. If we accept this kind of justice, a justice without measure, we enter into the world of a provident God who in creation and redemption has shown how to provide all that is needed. The person who lives by this kind of justice trusts God and shares everything so that no one is left in need. (Acts 2:44) The work of justice builds right relationship between people and God, between people themselves, and between people and the created world. This work of justice begins with the rejection of idols and the acceptance of the only God who can give life. Baal can give no life.
7. We are Celebrators of the Eucharist
The Eucharist, we know, is at the heart of Christian life. All the baptised become celebrators of the Eucharist each in accordance with their calling and dignity. In the Eucharist we share in the sacrifice of love that the Son makes to the Father. We are fed and nourished at the banquet of heavenly food. We join in the thanksgiving of the Church. It is this last aspect that I would like to emphasise here. Through our celebration of the Eucharist we become eucharistic people. That means that we become a thankful people. Thanksgiving is based on memory. As we recall and re-enact the events of salvation we recognise more and more the enormity of the gift we have received and we give thanks. It is in the nature of the Christian to be thankful. The Eucharist affords us the opportunity to gather as the people of God and give thanks. It educates us in the way of thanksgiving so that our way of living becomes itself a thanksgiving and it is filled more and more with the recognition of what we have received and with the words, actions and attitudes of thanksgiving. To live a thankful life is to live a full life. Thanks opens us more and more to the reality of God’s love. Not to have this fundamental attitude means a failure to recognise the gift of God, and the many gifts that come from God through the people with whom we share our lives. The leper who returned to give thanks received more of the gift because he recognised the giver. The nine who went away received only a part of the gift, and perhaps the less important part. It is said in the Book of the First Monks that prophets are the reciters of Psalms – the ones who recognise the work of God and give thanks and praise. It is this recognition of the work of God that makes them prophets. The first reaction to such a recognition is to give thanks.
For it was you who created my being,
knit me together in my mothers womb.
I thank you for the wonder of my being,
for the wonders of all your creation. (Ps 138:13-14)
Conclusion
We endeavour to be a contemplative fraternity in the midst of the people. We understand contemplation as a process of transformation whereby the human person is touched by the love of God is such a way that we grow in our God- likeness. This is the essence of the mystical life, the life of the person who has been affected by the love of God and whose life is so transformed. This gift is not confined in any way to Carmel but it is something to which Carmel has given great witness in the past and will do so also in the future. We have been given knowledge of the gift. It is for us then to seek it always. (Jn 4:10)
What will allow us to make an effective Carmelite contribution to our schools is a certain pride in being Carmelites. This will be expressed in our love for the Word of God, our love for the celebration of the Liturgy, for living in community, for the memory of the Carmelite saints, for being among the people in service and ministry, and in the interest that we take in promoting Carmelite activities and publications.[18]
While we are the heirs of a very strong mystical tradition it is obvious that we friars have not been good at studying and appreciating the wealth of our tradition. That has been rectified somewhat in recent years by the provision of excellent material by the scholars of the Order. We need more conferences like this and more personal reading and reflection in order to improve and enhance our knowledge and appreciation of what we have received. We also need to ask our scholars to have an eye to the pastoral implications of what they research and study. Some material is more relevant than other material, some is easier to reflect upon, some makes more sense, some is more appealing. I would encourage our scholars to pick out the good bits, i.e. the solid bits and the challenging bits, and leave the rest for later!
In the meantime we can end where the Rule of St. Albert ends – when we know what we have to do all we have to do is do it. If we do more the Lord will reward us on his return. Kees Waaijman’s commentary on this last chapter of the rule[19] connects it to the parable of the good Samaritan and suggests that the “more” is something beyond what we know we have to do. What more could the innkeeper do after he had done everything that was needed? That more does not mean adding more of the same but the entry into a world that we have not yet known. By being faithful over little we will be put in charge of much. By doing everything we can with the little we have much more will be shown to us in terms of the goodness of humanity and the overwhelming love of God that takes us beyond anything we could ever have imagined. The child who comes to school for the first day hides a secret that is revealed more and more along the way. It is for us to look, look deeply and love what we see.
[1] Constance Fitzgerald, O.C.D., How to Read the Rule: An Interpretation, in AA.VV., Albert’s Way, Ed. Michael Mulhall, Rome, Institutum Carmelitanum, 1989, p. 57.
[2] Rowan Williams, Who is bringing up our children, reprinted in Terenure College Annual 2004, p.7
[3] F. Ribot, The Institution of the First Monks, Book 1, chap. 2.
[4] St. John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love, 1:O Living flame of love, that tenderly wounds my soul in its deepest centre!
[5] J. Chalmers, The God of our Contemplation, Rome: Ediz. Carm. n.10.11
[6] St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, Colloquies I, pp.114-115
[7] Takahashi Masaya, Mother and Child, in Far East, Jan/Feb 2010, p.16.
[8] True education is directed towards the formation of the human person in view of his final end and the good of that society to which he belongs and in the duties of which he will, as an adult, have a share. Gravissimum Educationis, (Vat.II Declaration on Christian Education) n. 1
[9] St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, Probationi 2, 188-189
[10] Cf. An unpublished study by Francisco de Sales, O.Carm. (Pernambuco), of the commitment of Carmelites to justice and peace.
[11] It is probably wrong to use the word poor to refer to people who are rich in the goods of this world but who do not have the comfort of seeking God and believing in his providence. It is wrong to refer to such people as poor in spirit.
[12] Ratio Institutionis Vitae Carmelitanae, RIVC, n.36
[13] Lumen gentium (41)
[14] Cf. Edith Stein, Essential Writings, Selected by John O’Sullivan, O.C.D., New York: Orbis Books, 128-130.
[15] E. Boaga, The Lady of the Place, Rome: Ediz. Carmelitane, 2000. C. O Donnell, A Loving Presence, Mary and Carmel, Middle Park, Australia: Carmelite Communications, 2000.
[16] Eph 4:11-16
[17] C. O’Donnell, op.cit., p. 48
[18] Constitutions of the Carmelite Friars, 1995, n.131
[19] K. Waaijman, The Mystical Space of Carmel, Commentary on the Rule of St. Albert. Louvain: Peters Publishers, 1999, p.250. Trans. John Vriend.
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