I once visited Paris, the large, bustling capital of France, on holiday.  It was exciting to be in this famous city, and I spent each day walking around nonstop and taking in the incredible beauty that surrounded me.  By the end of the day, I was so tired that when I returned to my hotel room, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. 

            So imagine my surprise when one night at around midnight, I heard screaming from outside.  I opened my window and saw a man on the other side of the street with a huge bouquet in his hands shouting at the top of his lungs toward the balcony just above him.  “I love you!  I love you with all my heart, and I want the whole world to hear this!” he shouted over and over.  Windows opened up all around me, and people popped out their weary but surprised heads, looking toward the balcony in anticipation of the response from the woman within.

            God himself is like the man in the story.  At times unexpected throughout our human history, God broke in and unsettled us, but with the same message, “I love you.”  And at a certain time in our history, he entered our world in a way and at a time that no one expected through his Incarnation, but with the very same message, “I love you.”  The Jewish people certainly expected a messiah, but who knew it would be God himself made flesh?  Matthew reminds us in our Gospel that God will do the same in our own lives.  He will one day break into our routines, our lives, to say “I love you” and to call us home.  Will we be ready to receive his love?

Advent is time where we are reminded once again of these truths, that God came and will come again at the end of time to interrupt the mundanity of human existence, and invites us to be ready to receive it wholeheartedly.

            But we also know from our faith that we have the opportunity to encounter God every day in the faces of our sisters and brothers, the other members of the Body of Christ.  How often are we engaged in our activities when we are suddenly interrupted by a request for help, a need for a shoulder to cry on, or simply the desire to spend some time together?  Sometimes when this happens, we feel like it is a great inconvenience and we find ourselves getting upset, especially with the person who has come to us.  But how often do we realize that perhaps it is Christ himself breaking into our lives simply to say, “I love you”? 

Fr. Emiel Abalahin, O.Carm.

Forty-one Carmelite educators from the four O.Carm. schools in the Philippines (Mount Carmel College of Escalante, Negros Occidental; Mount Carmel College of San Francisco, Mount Carmel High School of Rosario and Father Urios High School of Prosperidad) gathered on November 17-20, 2010 for their triennial colloquium at Mount Carmel College in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur in southern Philippines. In a spirit of fellowship and communion the delegates celebrated together as they discerned and listened to the different presentations of the resource speakers and co-delegates. Fr. Artemio Jusayan, the Commissary General who also serves as the Chair of the National Board of Trustees of the Carmelite School System in the Philippines exhorted the educators in their vocation and role as Carmelite educators. Other resource persons were Frs. Gabriel Dolotina, Alaindelon Balasabas and Christian Buenafe who also shared their experiences, insights and learning from the First International Congress of Carmelite schools in Dublin last April. The lay-consultants Noel Valencia and Lisa Clamor also presented to the school heads and principle stakeholders the results of the 10-year summing-up of the O.Carm. school ministry in the country for its validation and further enrichment. The delegates also met the students during their school visit and strengthened the bond among the Carmelites educators and students.

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On 21st November of this year, the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm., celebrated Pro Orantibus Day with our sisters from the monastery of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi in Florence, Italy. They were accompanied by Fr. Josef Jancár, O.Carm., General Delegate to the nuns, and Fr. Mario Alfarano, O. Carm., Secretary General. In his homily during the Mass on the solemnity of Christ the King, the Prior General underlined the paradoxical character of the Kingdom of God that was grasped especially by the great mystics, including Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi. During the celebration, Fr. Fernando and the Carmelite community prayed for all of the nuns of our Order.

On 15 and 16 November the Order’s General Commission on Finance met in the Curia house in Rome under the chairmanship of Kevin Alban, the Bursar General. Also present were James Des Lauriers (Aus.), Manuel Bonilla (Cat.), Gian Domenico Meloni (Ita.), Michael Kissane (SEL-NY), Fintan Burke (Hib.), Wilmar Santin (GerS-Para.) Antonio Monteiro (Lus.), Bro. Mark McBride (TOR), Mr. Jeffrey Cull (US marketing), and Mr. Pierluigi Simoncelli (banking). An investment consultancy firm from the US, BMT, made a presentation to the commission of the services that they offer. The main business, however, was the examination of the budget for the Curia and the bodies that depend on it for 2011. This will be finalised by the General Council in its December plenary session.

Lay Carmelite Communities
Since the earliest days of the Order, lay people have been integral members of the Carmelite Family. You can access information about each of the Third Order Chapters and Carmelite Spirituality Groups in Britain by visiting the Communities section of this website (via the menu on the left) and clicking on the relevant map pins and ensuing bubbles for further information.

What today is the Carmelite Order began not as a religious order but with a small number of mostly lay people who came together and formed community on the slopes of Mount Carmel at the beginning of the thirteenth century. It would be some years before they were given an official status by the Church authorities. Over the centuries many people have felt called to Carmel: some as friars, nuns or sisters; others within the context of married family life and others as single people either living alone or in small informal communities.

Carmel is bigger than any individual expression it may have and is not the private preserve of any particular group. In Britain there are many different people who seek to allow God to touch their lives with the Carmelite charism. Many of these are members of the Carmelite Third Order but there are many others.

Lay Carmelites celebrating at an international meeting of the Order in Rome in 2006

Lay Carmelites from around the world at their International Congress in 2006

Could God be calling you to Lay Carmel? If you seek personal growth and spiritual formation in the spirit of Carmel... If you desire an opportunity to share your spiritual journey with others... if you would like to belong to the world-wide Carmelite family... you can make enquiries to:

*from: www.carmelite.org

The Curia’s Commission charged with the oversight of the Domus Carmelitana met in Rome on 12 November 2010. Present were Giovanni Grosso (Ita.), the “legal representative”, James Des Lauriers (Aus.), Manuel Bonilla (Cat.),John Lanahan (hotel financier), Janet Keeffe (UK tour operator), Jeffrey Cull (US marketing) and Kevin Alban (Curia). The commission conducted a thorough inspection of the site, inside and out, before meeting with the surveyor and architect to discuss future plans and developments. It was noted that great progress had been made with the filling of the hole in the back garden of the Domus. The commission also discussed the Domus’ finances and expressed its satisfaction with the good level of occupancy achieved so far in 2010.

www.domuscarmelitana.com