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July - September 2020 Vol 68/3

MOUNT CARMEL OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2001 1

MOUNT CARMEL

VOL. 68 NO. 3 JULY - SEPTEMBER

2020

A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

by

The Discalced Carmelites of the Anglo-Irish Province

AIMS

To help people in every aspect of their lives by sharing and exploring with them the rich sources of Carmelite teaching on prayer within the broad perspective of Christian spirituality and life experience.

EDITOR

Alexander of Mary Queen Beauty of Carmel, OCD

Assistant Editor

Joanne Mosley

Editorial Advisers

Iain Matthew, OCD Margaret McLaughlin, OCDSMary of St Philip, OCD Craig Morrison, O CarmPeter Tyler, PhD Martin Wray, MA

Cover Design

Joshua Horgan, Oxford

Editorial Enquiries, Articles, Letters to: THE EDITOR, Carmelite Priory,Boars Hill, Oxford, OX1 5HB

phone: (01865) 735133 / 730183e-mail: [email protected]

websites: www.mcmag.org / www.carmelite.org.ukISSN 0307 – 5958

Subscriptions: e-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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http://www.carmelite.org.uk


Advance notice:

The Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality, Oxford will hold its first virtual:

Scripture & Spirituality Summit (SSS) 18th – 19th November 2020

Theme:Christ and the Carmelite Saints

The conference will be live streamed!

For details, please contact: 07849 596 572 [email protected] / www.oxcacs.org

Spirituality Summer School (Online)18—24 JULY 2020

The Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality, Oxford One-Week Summer School offers an exciting new opportunity for in-depth spiritual formation.

Holy Wisdom: Exploring the Spiritual Canticle of St John of the CrossDate: July 18-20, 2020

Presenter: Fr Matt Blake, OCD

This summer course presents the magnificent goal to which the mystical Doctor, John of the Cross, intends to lead the one who seeks

a deeper and fuller experience of the spiritual life. The major themes of John’s Spiritual Canticle, the love story God and the soul,

will be explored for their significance for daily living.

St Thérèse and the Spirituality of the Little Way of Love Date: July 21-23, 2020

Presenter: Fr Vincent O’Hara, OCD

The hybrid presentation (livestream and pre-recorded) of this course will explore aspects of the life and spirituality of the youngest doctor of the

Church. You will gain a deeper appreciation of the wisdom of her spirituality of the Little Way and its relevance for our world marked

by much suffering and violence.

For details and remaining places, please contact: 07849 596 572 / [email protected] / www.oxcacs.org

A subscription form for Mount Carmelcan be found at the end of the magazine.

Cover image © matthias/stock.adobe.comTypeset and printed by Joshua Horgan, Oxford


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MOUNT CARMEL JULY – SEPTEMBER 2020 3

CONTENTSEditorialAlexander of Mary Queen Beauty of Carmel 5

Beauty RediscoveredVincent O’Hara 8

Living Prayer: A Life-Changing ExperienceAnn Feloy 17

Carmel in Lockdown: A Journey Towards the Resurrection with St Thérèse of LisieuxRima Devereaux 21

Scripture and Eucharist: Some Insights from the Carmelite SaintsMary Forrest 31

In Pursuit of Contemplative PrayerSusan Muto 40

Living Prayer: A Journey of the HeartKaren Littleton 44

In Memory of Mother Mary of the Angels (1923-2016)Carmelite Nuns of St Joseph, Ontario Canada 51

Fragments of Theological Hope in CODIV-19Mary Stevens 61

Companions on the Journey 68

Springs of Living Water 71

CONTENTS

4 MOUNT CARMEL JULY – SEPTEMBER 2020

Voices of the Heart 73

News and Views 74

Food for the Journey – Books 82


EDITORIAL

ALEXANDER OF MARY QUEEN BEAUTY OF CARMEL

It has not been the best of times for us: COVID-19 and what it has unleashed – deaths, physical ailments, mental

health crisis, loss of employment, fear and anxiety, grief and anguish, name it. All these, in one way or another, relate to the asphyxiation of life.

Obviously, in this time of Covid-19 we have come to a new appreciation of breathing, something we so much take for granted. It has also been a time of rediscovery of important aspects of our lives and our natural world as the title of the first article in this issue – Beauty Rediscovered – suggests. Indeed, during the lockdown which is still in place in many parts of the world, nature had the chance to breathe again and to bloom. With the fresh air and the clear skies nature seems to be saying: I’m alive again!

Providentially, the Pentecost Retreat ran by the Carmelite Priory in Boars Hill, Oxford was titled, “Empowered by the Spirit’s Breath.” It was an opportunity to reflect on how we can allow God to breathe new life into us so that we can be alive again through the breath of the Holy Spirit which reminds us of the original inbreathing of the Spirit of God: “The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). In a way we can say that the gift of

EDITORIAL


the Spirit – the divine breath – is what empowers us to attain the fullness of life that Christ is offering us: “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). But this divine gift is not to be kept to ourselves. It is a gift given to be gifted to others. Only in this way can we become sources of life for others.

Unfortunately, recent events such as the death of George Floyd, an African-American man killed during an arrest in the United States, have highlighted institutionalised ways by which society can be depriving some of its members of breath, of life, and of living to their full potentials as equal members of the human family. But we must be cautious when we speak of ‘society’ for as a former Prime Minister of the UK famously said, “there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families.” Indeed, the man who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes was an individual. His colleagues who stood around while he knelt on the poor man’s neck were individuals who could have stopped him. So the structures of racism and discrimi-nation in societies will not change as someone put it, “until you can see in those nine minutes a black man as a brother and not withdraw from his suffering; until you can feel the pain of that knee on your own neck and suddenly find it hard to breath in front of your computer screen; until then nothing will change. … This sharing in the experience of others is what it is to be one body in Christ.” Perhaps, this could inspire an examination of conscience and consciousness of the ways we may not have sufficiently paid attention to those around us who are struggling to ‘breath’ while society just carries on.

A final word in the context of this [Provincial] Chapter of our Anglo-Irish Province. This Chapter is an opportunity for self-examination and renewal that can offer real hope for the future, and that future already begins now. Perhaps there


EDITORIAL

is need to boldly ask: Are there processes and attitudes and structures that are in one way or another asphyxiating some members of the province? Can we trust the Spirit to inspire us with a creative fidelity that will allow us to explore new ways for letting in fresh air into how we live community and minister in Christ’s name? This indeed will mean that those attending the Chapter will have to speak with “parrhesia”, a Greek word meaning “to speak with frankness, forthright-ness and without fear of disagreement.”

In this matter, St John of the Cross makes his mind clear. His thoughts are conveyed to us by Eliseo de los Martires, first provincial of Mexico, in his Dictamenes. John admon-ishes us that it would be lamentable if the Order should reach the stage when those obliged by their call to the Chapter are afraid to speak their minds for reasons of cowardice or weak-ness, or for fear of annoying others or being left out of office, which in itself is manifest ambition. Even more forcefully, he warns: “When it is clearly seen in Chapters that nothing is questioned, but rather all is conceded and passed over, and each one looks to his own interests, the common good suffers, vice and ambition are nurtured, which should be denounced without compassion as a pernicious vice and destructive of the common good.”

We shall be wise to heed Our Holy Father, St John of the Cross.

Happy feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel!


BEAUTY REDISCOVERED

The author is currently Prior of our Carmelite community in ‘Avila’, Dublin, and has extensive experience of speaking and giving retreats. In this article, he reflects on a renewed sense of wonderment at the small and simple things of life and in nature which the lockdown necessitated by Covid-19 has awakened in us.

VINCENT O’HARA

Nature

The unprecedented global phenomenon of the pandemic COVID-19 is an invitation to universal reflection. Despite the posturings of various political figures, the reality is that we did not see this coming, even though a handful of enlight-ened prophets did issue some unheeded warnings. There is hardly an individual on the face of the Earth who has not been affected in some way by the crisis, and that is surely unprecedented in our lifetime at least. The tiny, silent, obnox-ious killer that is the coronavirus has crept into all of our lives and will colour our existence for the foreseeable future. Normal life as we knew it will hardly return in the short-term and much of what we took for granted is now a luxury that we aspire to. Among the many thoughtful, and indeed beau-tiful reflections going around on social media, the following captures the spirit better than most:

‘We fell asleep in one world and woke up in another. Suddenly Disney is out of magic and New York is asleep. Hugs have suddenly become weapons, and not visiting


BEAUTY REDISCOVERED

grandparents becomes an act of love. Suddenly you realise that power and money are worthless and can’t get you the oxygen you’re fighting for. But nature continues its life and it is beautiful, sending us this message:

You are not necessary. The earth, air, water and sky are fine without you. When you come back, remember that you are my guests. Not my masters!’

And indeed nature has continued on its own sweet way, without any help from us. People have begun to take notice in a new way. In the early days of lockdown, with scarcely a plane in the sky, and minimal traffic on the ground, did we not notice unusually blue skies, and the striking lessen-ing of noise levels accentuated the birdsong in a way we had not experienced before. And walking in restricted space did we not begin to notice the small things with a keener eye, and marvel (for example) at the process by which the humble dandelion morphs into the exquisite delicacy of that white orb that captures the hearts of children. In that sense, we all became children again, for in the previous ‘normal’ we knew the truth of Francis Thompson’s words: ‘’Tis ye, ’tis your estrangéd faces, That miss the many-splendoured thing’ (‘In no strange land’). The daffodils were in full bloom as the crisis hit, and we were able to marvel with Shakespeare at ‘daffodils that come before the swallow dares and take the winds of March with beauty’.

We have regained something of the wonder of William Blake:

To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower,Hold infinity in the palm of your handAnd eternity in an hour.

BEAUTY REDISCOVERED


‘Without wonder the people perish’

Wonder is a lovely quality that enables us to see into the fresh-ness of things, to be able to look with a new eye on every day that dawns, on every sun that sets. Wonder it is that sends a thrill through our being when Spring sends the sap through the trees and makes ‘the heart leap when I behold a rainbow in the sky’. The Irish poet, Patrick Kavanagh, laments in later life that he was no longer able, as he says, “to see wonders in the grass”, as he did when he was a child. In one of his poems, he asks people to ‘pray that I may be alive when April’s ecstasy dances in every white-thorn tree’. April, though, this year brought an eerie silence, and right in the middle of it we had the muted celebration of the Paschal Mystery, and we got a new sense of Holy Saturday all over the Earth when the haunting reflection of that anonymous early Christian writer took on more significance than usual: ‘What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness’. And indeed, that silence permeated most of the lockdown period.

Many people were challenged by the silence and the solitude and, understandably, some went under. But many came to know the power of silence in a new way and learned to touch their inner spirit in a way that was not accessible before, dis-covering the gift of silence, enabling them to get a hint of what Eckhart meant when he said that ‘nothing in the world resembles God so much as silence’. The haunting stillness of the landscape was tangible and eloquent.

To come into silence is to come into the presence of the divine. One of the great healing functions of landscape is that it is the custodian of a great unclaimed silence that urbanised postmodern society has not raided yet. This land-scape, living in a mode of silence, is wrapped in seamless prayer. (John O’Donohue)


BEAUTY REDISCOVERED

While tragedy, sadness and hardship have been the inevita-ble concomitant of the virus, it has brought many unexpected benefits too. The slower pace of life, the enforced leisure, the needs of others: all these have led to an enhancement of the quality of life for countless people, resulting in a more caring, reflective society - dare I say it, a more prayer-ful society too, for when people are thrown back on their internal resources, they realise their shortcomings and their limitations and tend to cry out to a ‘Higher Power’. The words from the Book of Esther come to mind: ‘Queen Esther took refuge in the Lord in the mortal peril that had overtaken her’.

Beauty

The American environmentalist, Thomas Berry, penned a startling statement which stops us in our tracks: ‘To wan-tonly destroy a living species is to silence forever a divine voice’. There is a beauty in small things that tends to get over-looked in the hustle and bustle of life. There is a story told of a Belgian Carmelite who was imprisoned during the Second World War. In his solitary confinement, a fly came in one day on his dinner plate, and he struck up a great rapport with this fly, being the only other living thing in that hovel – to such an extent that, on his release, the friar could not abide the killing of any kind of insect!

Patrick Kavanagh again speaks about ‘the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful God breathing his love by a cut-away bog’. For many, the COVID-19 crisis, and the enforced isolation, brought a new appreciation of beauty, and that was (is) a new enrich-ment of life for, in the words of Ralph Emerson:

Beauty is God’s handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, every fair flower, and thank God, for it is a cup of blessing.

BEAUTY REDISCOVERED


Beauty refines the soul and brings colour and richness into the dullest life. Maybe amid the noise and haste, we had become blind to beauty and lost our sense of wonder, with a consequent impoverishment of spirit – the spirit that only grows by opening to beauty as a flower opens to the sun.

The fact is, we are surrounded by beauty at every step – but do we notice? Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder; if the beholder is not fully alive inside, then beauty can pass us by.

O WORLD invisible, we view thee,O world intangible, we touch thee,O world unknowable, we know thee,Inapprehensible, we clutch thee! (Francis Thompson, ‘In no strange land’)

We might not be able to define beauty but we all know what it is, and how it can brighten up life.

One may lack words to express the impact of beauty, but no one who has felt it remains untouched. It is renewal, enlarge-ment, intensification. (Bernard Devoto)

It is only beauty that will save the world. Beauty is a sacra-ment; it is Christ’s tender smile coming through the world. (Simone Weil)

St Thomas Aquinas said that God created the world in a spirit of joy. The Scriptures echo this joy at every turn, thrilling to the beauty of nature. Ecclesiasticus:

He clothed them with strength like his own, and made them in his own image … gave them a heart to think with, filled them with knowledge and understanding ... put his own light into their hearts, to show them the magnificence of his works … their eyes saw his glorious majesty … (Eccles. 17: 3, 13)

And later on:

Look upon the rainbow and praise its Maker, exceedingly beautiful in its brightness … He scatters the snow like birds


BEAUTY REDISCOVERED

flying down. The eye marvels at the beauty of its whiteness, and the mind is amazed at its falling. (Eccles. 43: 11-13, 18-20)

The Romantic poets were intoxicated with beauty, Keats for example:

A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth.

New-found leisure enabled many to ponder on the deeper things in life and to ask the basic questions: ‘What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’. The Italian concept of ‘dolce farniente’ (sweet idleness) took on a new meaning. In the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, the Italians were very much to the fore, taking the brunt of the pandemic, but in the process, the spirit of the country rose to the surface, and the resilience and creativity of the Italian people became a template for other nations when they were struck down later.

The power of music

Who will ever forget the power of that great paean of freedom, the ‘Va pensiero’, sung from the balconies of flats in northern Italy? Or the poignant spectacle of Andrea Bocelli singing in the empty Duomo in Milan? And taking their cue from the Italians, other nations sang their way through the trauma. Indeed, music came into its own as an expression of deep feeling and solidarity and took on a beauty that uplifted the spirit. For music has that power.

Music is an expression of beauty, counteracting the wide-spread disharmony and ugliness that is all too prevalent - the

BEAUTY REDISCOVERED


ugliness of pollution, the disharmony of war. Music is a spark of the divine, touching a deep chord in every heart; it refines the spirit when we listen to the sound of the wind in the trees, the sound of laughter, the sounds of nature, listen also to ‘the music of life’ for ‘the music of what happens is the sweetest sound of all’.

Music ‘soothes the savage breast’ (William Congreve). The poets are eloquent when they speak of ‘music when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory’ (Shelley). ‘The man that hath no music in himself Nor is not moved by concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils’ (Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice). ‘Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes’ (Tennyson).

Music is a means of tapping into the core of life, and being energized - being in touch with our own deepest feelings, and getting in touch with others - listening to ‘the still sad music of humanity’, and giving us the sensitivity, too, to listen to the cry of the poor.

There is a moving scene in the film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Andy is all alone in the warden’s office. He plays an aria from The Marriage of Figaro, first for himself: and then he puts it through the public address system, and every prisoner on the outside landing looks up and stands still to listen to this beautiful aria. And then Andy’s friend Red, played by Morgan Freeman, says:

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are better left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and makes the heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was as if some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage, and made those walls dissolve away. And for


BEAUTY REDISCOVERED

the briefest moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free. That’s the power of music. It can free the body, the heart – even the soul. I believe it can free one from sin and all that is bad in oneself: and take one away from all that is evil in the world. I also believe it can so lift the soul that it gives it a taste of heaven.

The great Mozart, whose music is incomparable, wrote his Clarinet Concerto just three months before he died. There is little in the suave and relaxed lines of the second movement to suggest that the composer was in dire financial straits, seriously ill and would shortly be dead. The beauty and extraordinary simplicity of the melodic line is delivered in meltingly arched phrases. As someone said: ‘There are times when unbearable sadness seems to linger in the music.’

The dance of the universeBishop Helder Camara, the great liberation theologian from Latin America, speaks about the music of the universe. He says:

God has put music and harmony in all of us. The role of genuine music is to arouse the music within us that the rough, hard life we lead so often puts to sleep … God has stamped a rhythm in human beings, animals, plants, and even stones. A person walking, a bird flying, a leaf falling – everything proclaims the beginning of a dance. At the heart of the atom, in the ballet of the stars, rhythm and harmony have been sown by our Creator! Listening to music, watching dance – these are true prayers.

Thoughts surely echoed by Pope Francis, whose landmark first encyclical ‘Laudato Sí’ five years ago has turned out to be truly prophetic and should serve as a template for all world leaders in caring for ‘our common home’.

The earth cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the

BEAUTY REDISCOVERED


goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will … We have forgotten that we are dust of the earth; our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters (2)

Pale blue dotThe renowned American astronomer, Carl Sagan, waxes eloquent on the beauty of the universe, and he enthuses in particular on the wonder of an image of our planet taken by Voyager 1 at a distance of 4 billion miles, where our earth appears as a tiny point of light. Sagan comments:

Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives … The aggregate of our joy and suffering, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam … There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known. (Pale Blue Dot – Carl Sagan)

A rediscovery of wonder and beauty will be a positive and enriching by-product of the present crisis and will lead to a new appreciation of what we took for granted before. In the words of Pope Francis, who has been an inspiration in all this:

(When all this is over) the normal will seem an unexpected and beautiful gift. We will love everything that before seemed ordinary to us. Every second will be precious.

And we will have begun to respond to the great cry of Gerard Manley Hopkins: ‘Give beauty back to God, beauty’s self and beauty’s Giver’.


LIVING PRAYER: A LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE

Ann Feloy was a participant on the Living Prayer Course offered by the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS), Oxford. She lost her beloved son Oliver to suicide in 2017 in whose memory she founded and now chairs Olly’s Future – a charity with the mission to help stop young people losing their lives to suicide. In this

article, Ann reflects on her experience of the Living Prayer Course (2019/2020) which for her has been life changing.

ANN FELOY

A precious insight

My exceptionally gifted, kind and loving son, Oliver, took his own life on February 14th, 2017, two days before his 23rd birthday. No one on earth has every brought me so much joy and happiness. Nowadays, sadness is a constant companion, some days closer than others, and I feel as though I have one foot in this world and one foot in the next. However, over the past year, through coming to Boars Hill Priory, I have come to recognise the insight I have gained through this terrible loss as a gift - the greatest gift anyone could receive.

Through God, I am connected to Oliver and through Oliver, I am connected to God. The two are inseparable. Coming to know the Carmelite community at Boars Hill and allowing them and God to help me develop my prayer life and faith has

LIVING PRAYER


brought me peace and a deeper understanding. I have a true sense of my purpose too, which I realise has been heaven-sent. However, it was only seemingly by chance that I found myself at the large Victorian priory on the southern fringes of Oxford.

My life-long friend Caroline and I had promised ourselves a week in April 2019 to spend time together to reflect. We had planned an adventure of walking the final part of the Camino Way to arrive at Santiago di Compostela, or a retreat in Italy, but as the date drew closer a few obstacles prevented us from doing either. Instead Caroline, who is Catholic, said she had found a week-long retreat that was not too far for either of us to travel, and that there were spaces. So, with some disap-pointment, we both settled for this choice.

It was to prove life changing.

There were very few of us at the priory, so the silence was rejuvenating, albeit unfamiliar at first. We were assigned a friar to help guide us for up to an hour and a half every day. After dinner, on our first evening, Fr Yamai and I sat down together, and I told him my painful story. His empathy was obvious, but he spoke very little. However, his instruction to me was of great significance.

He said “Take the night off.”

Here was someone, living the holiest of lives, telling me simply to let go. Of course, he knew that God would do all the work if I, for once, stopped being in the driving seat.

It was true. I had thrown myself into starting up a charity soon after Oliver died, to celebrate his life and to create as positive a legacy for him as possible. Olly’s Future works to prevent young suicides, and we have achieved so much in such a short space of time. Our slogan is ‘Love and Light’. Many of Oliver’s friends help me with this work, but the pace


LIVING PRAYER

has been relentless. Taking the night off was the first step on my spiritual journey.

Some of the events in that week-long retreat were profound, almost unworldly, and I left with a yearning to go deeper into myself and to strengthen my spirituality. It was a blessing, therefore, to sign up for the nine month Living Prayer Course which started later that year in September and finished in April 2020, via Zoom.

The weekend courses were held once a month and involved a mixture of enrichment lectures, spiritual writing and reading, silent prayer and worship. Time to ourselves to reflect and relax and to perhaps walk around the extensive grounds or nearby countryside was also built into the course, and most meals were eaten in silence with the friars and spir-itual facilitators/directors who supported us.

Each weekend, a new chapter of St Theresa of Avilla’s ‘The Interior Castle’ formed the focus of a lecture by one of the monks or a guest speaker, including leading Carmelites. (please do include the names here if you think this is fitting) Great store was placed on sharing experiences of prayer and faith, resulting in an ever-growing appreciation of others and one’s own inner truth. Above all, the course provided a way to practise contemplative living, so that the insight gained would stay with us well beyond the priory, and become inte-gral to oneself as a person.

How significant it was that the last two weekends in March and April were over the internet. What appeared initially as an obstacle, has opened up so many possibilities to stay con-nected to the Priory. Our small discussion group on the Living Prayer Course now meets on line every week for an hour of reflection and silent contemplation and we have become dear friends, while Sunday mass, via YouTube, has become my church, along with a great many others who tune in.

LIVING PRAYER


To see Fr Liam on my TV screen, speaking so passionately about the power of the Eucharist and to hear him say the table in my kitchen is the same as both the ‘table’ at Boars Hill chapel and the table at the Last Supper is both deeply meaningful and joyous. Before Boars Hill, I had attended a local Church of England church for periods, on and off over the years, but I am now hooked on this new way of worship.

What greater evidence of God can there be in anyone’s life than to experience love?

For more information about Oliver and Olly’s Future, please go to www.ollysfuture.org.uk

http://www.ollysfuture.org.uk


CARMEL IN LOCKDOWN: A JOURNEY TOWARDS THE RESURRECTION WITH

ST THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX

Rima Devereaux is a Secular Carmelite in the Notting Hill Holy Trinity community. She is an editor, writer and translator spe-cializing in medieval French and Italian studies, Catholic spirituality and fantasy fiction. She is the author, translator, or compiler of several books and is an expe-rienced reviewer. In this article, she gives a

personal account of her love for Thérèse of Lisieux’s autobio-graphical Story of a Soul, and how it has helped her to get through the lockdown. In her spare time, she enjoys medieval re-enactment, learning languages and country walks.

RIMA DEVEREAUX

Introduction

I was baptized at an Easter Vigil service in Paris in 2001. Because of this, thinking about the resurrection has always conjured up images of cherry blossom: Paris in the Spring! When I hear the Regina caeli, the first hymn to Our Lady that I learned, or the Hail Mary sung in French, I am taken right back to that time. On that Easter night, my sponsor gave me a gift. It was Thérèse of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul, a copy I treasure.

As I write, the UK is still in a coronavirus-imposed lockdown. Although restrictions have been relaxed slightly, my lifestyle has not changed. I am still working remotely and living like

CARMEL IN LOCKDOWN


a semi-hermit. When the lockdown was first put in place, the enforced solitude instilled in me a sense of panic, frustration and boredom. There was a drive to escape through various forms of modern communication. However, rereading Story of a Soul has helped me to see how God can turn anything to good – not just in my life, but in the lives of everyone affected by external impositions.

Hermits in communityThe Carmelite vocation is, famously, to be a hermit in the community. Of course, every Secular must discover what this means for him or her, but lockdown brings further vari-ables into the equation. I am working entirely from home and unable to visit my partner or friends, or allow them to visit me. The solitude is broken predominantly by the technology of video calling, but this isn’t community in the same way as being in the same room as others. So much for the problem. What about the solution?

Early in Story of a Soul, Thérèse says:

Just as the sun shines simultaneously on the tall cedars and on each little flower as though it were alone on the earth, so Our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it. (SS, p. 14)1

Ultimately, all of us are alone in the world. Usually, we hide this fact with a multiplicity of contacts of various depths and complexities. I think it is true to say that, in each of us, the relationship between self and the outside world is deeply damaged.

Jesus offers a way out. Accepting the aloneness of lockdown and seeing it as a way to develop a relationship with God,

1. SS = Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux,Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996.


CARMEL IN LOCKDOWN

without putting idols in the way (even the idol of religion), I was asked to confront painful feelings that the constant activity and distraction of my life had masked. I did get to the point, several times, where I was not sure I could bear it any longer. But Teresa of Avila, with her usual practicality, came to my aid, advising how prayer must always centre on the humanity of Christ:

It is an important thing that while we are living and are human we have human support . . . We are not angels but we have a body. To desire to be angels while we are on earth – and as much on earth as I was – is foolishness. (L 22.9)2

The key to the apparent paradox of being a hermit in com-munity is Jesus.

As the second half of the quotation above from Thérèse shows, Jesus loves us as if there were no one else in the world. A hermit is not alone – he or she is there for God. Here is Thérèse on her First Communion day:

That day, it was no longer simply a look, it was a fusion; they were no longer two, Thérèse had vanished as a drop of water is lost in the immensity of the ocean. Jesus alone remained; He was the Master, the King. (SS, p. 77)

When we are united with Jesus, the division between being a hermit and being in community also dissolves. Alone, we are with him; with others, we are able to accept them as they are. Only if we are truly alone can we appreciate the benefits of community. Action and contemplation cannot be separated:

The soul prays, suffers and acts. At this stage, action and contemplation go hand in hand; we, however, at the bottom of the ladder, divide them . . . When we see saints at this

2. L = The Book of Her Life. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and OtilioRodriguez, OCD (trans.), The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, vol.1, Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1987, p. 195

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stage, we can no longer distinguish the contemplative from the active person; externally they are either contemplative or active, depending on the form of life they have adopted, but in themselves, in their true life, they are both active and contemplative.3

AcediaAcedia is a sin much discussed by the Desert Fathers and Mothers – not surprisingly, because it has a lot to do with sol-itude. It is a kind of spiritual sloth. What had previously been a refuge from my busy life – my flat – became a permanent home, and that was difficult. I wandered around restlessly, finding no interest in anything. Thérèse has something to say about this. There is someone there who will take an interest in us, that can revive us, but it takes an act of faith. It isn’t apparent on a level of feeling. She says:

I imagine I was born in a country that is covered in thick fog . . . I know the country I am living in is not really my true fatherland . . . This is not simply a story . . ., but it is a reality, for the King of the Fatherland of the bright sun actually came and lived for thirty-three years in the land of darkness. (SS, p. 212)

This reminds me of the Dwarves in C. S. Lewis’s The Last Battle. When they are taken into the transformed Narnia, they think they are still in a dingy stable. Not even Aslan (Lewis’s Jesus figure) can free them from the prison they have created for themselves.4 Eckhart Tolle has a wonderful comment on this:

The most common ego identifications have to do with pos-sessions, the work you do, social status and recognition,

3. Fr Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus, Au souffle de l’Esprit: Prière etaction, Toulouse: Éditions du Carmel, 1990, p. 355 (my translation).4. C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle, London: HarperCollins, 2001, pp. 178–83.


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knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems . . . None of these is you . . . All of these things you will have to relinquish sooner or later . . . You will know [the truth of it] at the latest when you feel death approaching. Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to die before you die, and find that there is no death.5

We create our own prisons by believing that, if something is lacking in any of these ego identifications, we are somehow diminished by it.

Attachment to people and things that appear to offer securityI think there is a desire in each one of us to return to the com-parative simplicity of childhood, to have everything in black and white, to allow someone to tell us how to live, to prior-itize rules and regulations. This isn’t mature faith. Thérèse became very attached to her sister Marie, to the extent that it took her away from an activity she enjoyed:

I set myself up in Pauline’s old painting room and arranged it to suit my taste . . . When I learned of Marie’s departure, my room lost its attraction for me. (SS, pp. 90–91)

She says to Mother Marie de Gonzague:

I told [another sister] how I loved you and the sacrifices I was obliged to make at the commencement of my religious life in order not to become attached to you. (SS, p. 237)

But she underwent growth:

I understand and I know from experience that: ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ Jesus has no need of books or teachers to instruct souls. (SS, p. 179)

5. Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment,audio edn., New World Library, 2000, ch. 2.

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Becoming attached to Jesus is not the same as attachment to anything else, because Jesus is God. Our attachment – para-doxically - sets us free. This is an effective answer to atheistic objections that Christianity infantilizes people. It does the opposite: in Jesus there is true maturity.

Pope Francis is aware of this tendency:

A disciple of Jesus does not go to Church simply to observe a precept, to feel he/she is in good standing with God . . . This is the attitude of so many Catholics, so many.6

Faith is uncomfortable and demanding. It takes us out of our comfort zone. In lockdown, cut off from people (and ideas) in whom I might have been tempted to find security, I have been forced to come to terms with the living God.

Money, possessions and workAs Seculars, we also need to work out what the promise of poverty means to us. Early in the lockdown, I became the victim of a serious fraud. This experience was a touchstone for me, clearly demonstrating how attached I was to material things. It also forced me to confront practicalities without the positive counterweight of being able to distract myself with company. Thérèse has something to say about this:

I consider it a great grace not to have remained at Alençon. The friends we had there were too worldly. (SS, p. 73)

I have renounced the goods of this earth through the Vow of Poverty, and so I haven’t the right to complain when one takes a thing that is not mine. On the contrary, I should rejoice . . . We really have to ask for indispensable things, but when we do it with humility, we are not failing in the com-mandment of Jesus. (SS, p. 226)

6. Homily, 7 March 2015, cited in Pope Francis and the Joy of Family Life:Daily Reflections, Kevin Cotter (ed.), Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor,2015, p. 158.


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There is no virtue in poverty. It’s simply a means to an end – it is the desire for material things that is dangerous, not the things themselves. John of the Cross is strong on this, and Thérèse is his true spiritual daughter. She is practical here: we should take all necessary steps to secure what we need, through prayer initially of all, but also through action, as the two are indissoluble.The lockdown has also shifted the emphasis of my life away from work. Again, this has been a struggle, but the very fact that there is a struggle shows me the growth that is happen-ing with every day that passes. To paraphrase a saying I heard on the radio the other day: ‘If you have love, nothing will ever be that wrong with your life.’ Not a victimCarl Jung viewed life as a process of growth:

The theme that runs through the whole corpus of Jungian theory is the principle of growth, development, individu-ation, Self-realization. Jung saw the whole life-cycle as a continuing process of metamorphosis.7

The Christian attempts to imitate Jesus in his act of self-giving to the Father, as Thérèse says, quoting Jesus’ priestly prayer in John 17:

I want to be able to say to You, O my God:‘I have glorified you on earth . . . And now do you, Father, glorify me with yourself. (SS, p. 255)

Every action of Jesus’ life was a gift of self, but in order to give yourself you have to possess yourself first. Healthy self-esteem is part of both Jungian individuation and the Christian way. Trampling on the Self has no part in Christianity.But a life of self-giving is painful. A couple of years ago, Richard Harries wrote a book with a title that cuts to the

7. Anthony Stevens, On Jung, 2nd edn., London: Penguin, 1999, p. 52.

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heart of the contrasts of the world we live in: The Beauty and the Horror: Searching for God in a Suffering World.8 It is part of the paradox of the cross that surrender to God is an active choice that enables us to take control of our lives. We are no longer victims of what happens to us:

I had offered myself . . . to the Child Jesus as His little play-thing. I told Him . . . to use me like a little ball of no value which He could throw on the ground. (SS, p. 136)

I was in the laundry doing the washing in front of a Sister who was throwing dirty water into my face . . . I put forth all my efforts to desire receiving very much of this dirty water. (SS, p. 250)

Thérèse’s very practical applications of this principle show that she fully grasped this. She made the choice to live for God, and in so doing, became the architect of her own destiny. We all have a tendency to dwell on the negative things that have happened to us; the danger is that we then view ourselves as victims, which does us no favours. In lock-down, I have learned that what seems to be compulsion from the outside (enforced solitude), can – if we live it for God – become something we choose. And that changes everything.Committed to the present dayThere’s a myth that ‘religious’ people are stuck in the past. But Thérèse was very aware of the times she lived in:

We are living now in an age of inventions, and we no longer have to take the trouble of climbing stairs, for, in the homes of the rich, an elevator has replaced these. (SS, p. 207)

One thing the lockdown has brought me is a renewed com-mitment to the present day. As a recent book on the crisis has commented:

8. Richard Harries, The Beauty and the Horror: Searching for God in aSuffering World, London: SPCK, 2018.


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These, and not any others, are the times and situations we must navigate . . . The solution is not to wish it away or to treat the pandemic (or its effects) as a distraction from the real business of life.9

Cawley makes the point that, if we hark back to a past ‘nor-mality’, we will end up missing the rest of our lives. Another aspect of this is a rediscovery of the local area: I have unearthed walks into the countryside that do not require me to take any form of transport, and I also stumbled upon a community garden project which I am considering getting involved with after lockdown is relaxed.

Interceding for othersFor Thérèse, her vocation of love sprang from the words of Jesus in the Gospels:

He said to them with inexpressible tenderness: ‘A new com-mandment I give you that you love one another: THAT AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, YOU ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.’ (SS, p. 219)

When Jesus calls us to intercede for others, he enables us to create community in a way that is far more immediate than video calling. This does, in fact, mimic the true communion of being in the same room as another person.

Thérèse wanted to help others through prayer. She began a correspondence with a seminarian, Maurice Barthélemy-Bellière, fulfilling her wish to have a ‘brother’ for whom she could pray and offer sacrifices:

It was our Holy Mother St. Teresa who sent me my first little brother as a feastday gift in 1895. (SS, p. 251)

9. Luke Cawley, ‘Orienting ourselves to the new reality’, in Healthy Faithand the Coronavirus Crisis: Thriving in the COVID-19 Pandemic, KristiMair and Luke Cawley (eds.), London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2020, eBookedn., ch. 1.

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One of my apostolates is writing. In a video posted by a society of writers that I belong to, the speakers said they write so that they can touch others’ lives and speak to their common humanity. In one of the Harry Potter novels, the tent used by the children and Mr Weasley at the Quidditch World Cup is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside:

Harry bent down, ducked under the tent flap, and felt his jaw drop. He had walked into what looked like an old-fashioned, three-roomed flat, complete with bathroom and kitchen.10

Lockdown – and the fact that we are all in this together – has taken me away from my own concerns. I have been praying especially for my mother, who has terminal cancer. In the Carmelite vocation, the needs of other people – particularly with regard to the coronavirus but also social and environ-mental issues – can open up a magically enhanced space within us, created by our common humanity, that houses the whole world.

ConclusionThe place of our greatest pain becomes the place of new life. That is why the cross is draped in white on Easter Day. Facing the inner turmoil of my thoughts and feelings, and my flinching from the stressful things that are happening, I expe-rienced a healing and transformation at a very deep level. This transcended what I have always felt to be an endless conflict between my desire for solitude, and my desire to be with people. Stepping away from religiosity into a faith which stands firm in a time of crisis, and discovering a deep joy. With Jesus.

10. J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, London: Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 74.


SCRIPTURE AND EUCHARIST: SOME INSIGHTS FROM THE

CARMELITE SAINTSThe author is a member of the Carmelite Explorers, a lay Carmel group based in Terenure College Dublin. She completed an MA in Carmelite Spirituality with CIBI (Carmelite Institute of Britain and Ireland) and is now a member of the Academic Board. In this article she explores how the Carmelite tradition can be a source of inspi-

ration for present day lay people. By occupation Mary is a lecturer in horticulture in University College Dublin, where she specialises in trees and shrubs and garden history.

MARY FORREST

The scriptures – the Word of God – and the Eucharist were central to the lives of the Carmelite saints, their many

writings providing abundant evidence of this. Within the scope of this article, some aspects of their thoughts are pre-sented to give some direction for our own faith journeys. Their reflections and thoughts can inspire and guide, as we read or listen to the Word of God and receive Holy Communion at Mass, or pray the scriptures, alone or with others. Though appearing somewhat unnatural to separate the themes, for the purposes of the topic, scripture in the saints’ lives is examined first, followed by the Eucharist.

SCRIPTURE AND EUCHARIST


St Teresa and the scripturesReferences to scripture leap out from the pages of the writ-ings of the 16th-century Spanish Carmelite saint St. Teresa of Avila. Strange as it might seem to us now, Teresa was unlikely to have had her own Bible - that was the preserve of theologians. Teresa became familiar with the Word of God from readings and sermons at Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours (Office) in Latin and in books which included passages of scripture. Her understanding of the Word of God was based on what she learned from priests, and her own mystical expe-riences. Given the abundant references and allusions to the Old and New Testament in her writings, Teresa of Avila, to quote the Carmelite Rule, must have ‘pondered the law of the Lord day and night’ (Rule 10).

The Soliloquies, prayers of Teresa, demonstrate how phrases from scripture permeated her personal prayer. She takes the prayer of Mary and makes it her own: ‘He helps you to play some small role in the blessing of His name; and that you can truthfully say: My soul magnifies and praises the Lord’ (Sol 7:3; cf. Lk 1.46).1 She addresses the Lord: ‘You say: Come to me all who labour and are burdened, for I will comfort you’ (Mt 11:28). And commenting on our inability to find this ‘comfort’ or ‘rest’, as the word is also translated, Teresa con-tinues, ‘Behold, we don’t understand or know what we desire, nor do we obtain what we ask for’, and then prays:

Lord, give us light; behold, the need is greater than with the man born blind, for he wanted to see the light and couldn’t. Now, Lord, there is no desire to see. Oh, how incurable an illness! Here, my God, is where Your power must be demon-strated; here, Your mercy. (Sol 8:2; cf. John 9)

1. Sol = Soliloquies. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD(trans.), The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, vol. 1, Washington, DC:ICS Publications, 1987, p. 450.



Gospel episodes inspired her. She described how she ‘strove to be His companion’ — the scene of Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:36-46) was a comfort to her (L 9:4). In her autobiography, Teresa wrote that from childhood she begged the Lord to give her this ‘living water’ which Jesus had offered the Samaritan woman (John 4:15). ‘I am so fond of that gospel passage’ she wrote (L 30:19). So enamoured by this passage was she that she constantly carried a picture of Jesus at the well.

Gospel figures were an inspiration for St Teresa and gave her direction for the teachings on prayer and the pattern of life in the convents that she was founding. She must have thought much about Martha and Mary, and the visit Jesus made to their home, when Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and Martha busied herself serving food (Lk 10:38–42). The sisters are mentioned in each of her three works about prayer, the Book of Her Life, the Way of Perfection, and the Interior Castle. Teresa explains to her nuns how action and contemplation, the Martha and Mary representations respectively, work together, and she cautions wanting to be Mary before having been Martha first. She obviously ruminated over the actions of St. Paul and St Peter. In Life she wrote ‘I frequently kept in mind St. Paul’s words that all things can be done in God. I understood clearly that of myself I couldn’t do anything (cf. Phil 4:13). I often thought that St. Peter didn’t lose anything when he threw himself into the sea, even though he grew frightened afterwards’ (cf. Mt. 14:29 -30; L 13:3). Are there gospel pas-sages or gospel figures, individuals or episodes from the Old Testament that inspire us?

St Thérèse and the scripturesSt Thérèse of Lisieux, the French Carmelite saint, was enlight-ened by the Word of God. As a young teenager, she wanted to join Carmel, and whilst on a pilgrimage to Rome she was,



as she said herself, filled with confidence with the words of the Gospel of the day - ‘Fear, not, little flock for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Luke 12.32). The Gospel of the day resonated with Thérèse and sometimes the scripture of the day seems directed at our personal situa-tions, too. Thérèse wrote, ‘In the Bible I discover a very pure nourishment. But it is especially the Gospels which sustain me during my hours of prayer. I am constantly discovering in them new lights, hidden and mysterious meanings.’2

Thérèse consulted the Scripture and found answers to her innermost questions. In 1896, a year before her death, she won-dered about her particular vocation and ‘decided to consult Saint Paul’s letters in the hope of getting an answer’. Thérèse read his letter to the Corinthians, particularly Chapters 12 and 13, which describe the diversity of vocations, preachers, teachers and the characteristics of love, being patient and kind etc. She realised that Charity or Love was the key to her vocation. She goes on to say several times, ‘I understood that Love comprised all vocations.’ Finally, she cried out:

O Jesus my Love …. my vocation, at last I have found it … MY VOCATION IS LOVE! Yes, I have found my place in the Church and it is You, O my God, who has given me this place; in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be Love. (SS, p. 194)

Thérèse wrote to her sister Celine:

Frequently, we descend into fertile valleys where our heart loves to nourish itself, the vast field of the scriptures which has so many times opened before us to pour out its rich treas-ures in our favor; this vast field seems to us to be a desert, arid and without water …. We know no longer where we are;

2. Johan Bergström-Allen (ed.), Climbing the Mountain: The CarmeliteJourney, Faversham: St Albert’s Press, 2010, p. 543.



instead of peace and light, we find only turmoil or at least darkness …. (LT 165)3

So while she often derived great nourishment from the scrip-tures, there were also times when they were not always full of meaning for her as she acknowledged. Yet, she knew well that it was always Jesus who made her understand.4 At times, we too might not understand a gospel or scripture passage.

St Elizabeth of the Trinity and the Eucharist Another French Carmelite saint, St Elizabeth of the Trinity, a contemporary of St Thérèse, wrote in a letter in 1903,

It seems to me that nothing better expresses how the love in God’s Heart is than the Eucharist: it is union, consummation, He in us, we in Him, and isn’t that Heaven on Earth? Heaven in faith while awaiting the face-to-face vision we so desire. (L 165)5

In 1906 during the last months of her life, Elizabeth wrote ’Heaven in Faith,’ a spiritual treatise for her sister Guite, a young mother. This extract illustrates the depth of their understanding of the Eucharist.

When we receive Christ with interior devotion, His blood, full of warmth and glory, flows into our veins and a fire is enkindled in our depths. We receive the likeness of His virtues, and He lives in us and we in Him. He gives us His soul with the fullness of grace, by which the soul perseveres in love and praise of the Father! Love draws its objects into itself; we draw Jesus into ourselves; Jesus draws us into

3. LT = Letters of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, vol. 2, Washington, DC: ICSPublications, 1988, p. 861. To Celine: July 7, 1894.4. Christopher O’Donnell, Prayer insights from St Thérèse of Lisieux,Dublin: Veritas, 2001, p. 83.5. L = Letters from Carmel. Elizabeth of the Trinity, The Complete Works,vol. 2, Letters from Carmel, Washington, DC: ICS Publications 1995, p 105.



Himself. Then carried above ourselves into love’s interior seeking God, we go to meet Him, to meet His Spirit, which is His love, and this love burns us, consumes us, and draws us into unity where beatitude awaits us. Jesus meant this when He said: ‘With great desire have I desired to eat this Pasch with you.’ (HF 18)6

St Teresa and the Eucharist St Teresa advised how to prepare to receive Holy Communion. She wrote,

Certainly I think that if we were to approach the most Blessed Sacrament with great faith and love, once would be enough to leave us rich. How much richer from approaching so many times as we do. The trouble is we do so out of routine, and it shows. O miserable world, you have so covered the eyes of those who live in you that they do not see the treasures by which they could win everlasting riches! (M 13)7

How true for us at times too! And on receiving Holy Communion, St Teresa advised her nuns:

After having received the Lord, since you have the Person Himself present, strive to close the eyes of the body and open those of the soul and look into your own heart’… you should acquire the habit of doing this every time you receive Communion …. (WP 34:12)8

She shared her own experiences with her nuns, earlier in The Book of Her Life, she had written. ‘I had been devoted all my life to Christ … and I always returned to my custom of rejoic-

6. HF = Heaven In Faith. Elizabeth of the Trinity, The Complete Works,vol 1, Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1984, p. 100-101.7. M = Meditations on the Song of Songs. The Collected Works of St.Teresa of Avila, vol. 2, Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1980, p. 241.8. WP = Way of Perfection. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila,vol. 2, p. 173.



ing in this Lord, especially when I received Communion’ (L 22:4).9 Many of her mystical insights (see L 27:8) and direc-tions for her work of founding convents (see L 33:12) occurred during her thanksgiving after receiving Communion.

St Thérèse and the EucharistReception of Holy Communion was infrequent in the Carmel of Lisieux, and this caused St Thérèse great suffering. Before her death, she said to Mother Marie de Gonzague, who was afraid of daily Communion, ‘Mother, when I’m in heaven, I’ll make you change your opinion.’ After her death, the chaplain gave the nuns daily Communion and the prioress ‘was happy about it’ (LC p. 262).10 As a young novice, Thérèse wrote to her cousin who was suffering scruples about receiving com-munion “Oh my darling, think then that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you, for you alone; he is burning with a desire to enter your heart’ (LT 92).11

In her autobiography Story of a Soul, Therese wrote about prep-aration for Communion and Thanksgiving after Communion:

When I am preparing for Holy Communion, I picture my soul as a piece of land and I beg the Blessed Virgin to remove from it any rubbish that would prevent it from being free; then I ask her to set up a huge tent worthy of heaven, adorning it with her own jewellery; finally, I invite all the angels and saints to come and conduct a magnificent concert there. It seems to me that when Jesus descends into my heart, He is content to find Himself so well received and I, too, am content. All this, however, does not prevent both distractions and sleepiness

9. L = Book of Her Life. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, vol. 1,p 192.10. LC = Her Last Conversations. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: Her LastConversations, Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1977.11. Letters of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, vol. 1, Washington, DC: ICSPublications, 1982, p. 568. To Marie Guérin: May 30, 1889.



from visiting me, but at the end of the thanksgiving when I see that I’ve made it so badly I make a resolution to be thank-ful all through the rest of the day. (SS, pp. 172-173)

How consoling to read that despite Thérèse’s preparation for receiving communion and realisation that Jesus is in her heart, she admits to distractions.

Edith Stein and the EucharistTherese’s link between receiving Holy Communion and the rest of her day is also seen in the writings of Edith Stein, St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who died in Auschwitz in 1942.

This is Edith Stein a laywoman, a lecturer in a teacher train-ing college speaking to female teachers, ‘My first morning’s hour belongs to the Lord. I will tackle the day’s work which He charges me with, and He will give me the power to accom-plish it.” She continued:

So I will go to the altar of God. Here is not a question of my minute, petty affairs, but of the great offerings of reconcili-ation. I may participate in that, purify myself and be made happy, and lay myself with all my doings and troubles along with the sacrifice on the altar. And when the Lord comes to me in Holy Communion, then I may ask Him, “Lord, what do you want of me?” (St Teresa). And after quiet dialogue, I will go to that which I see as my next duty.12

For Edith:

It is most important that the Holy Eucharist becomes life’s focal point: that the Eucharistic Saviour of the centre of existence; that every day is received from His hand and laid back therein; that the day’s happenings are deliberated with Him.13

12. Edith Stein, Woman, Collected Works, vol. 2, Washington, DC: ICSPublications, 1996, p. 143-144.13. Edith Stein, Woman, p. 125.



The Carmelite Saints write eloquently about Scripture and the Eucharist, they describe what they mean to them, how they nourish, direct and bless their lives and lead them into the life of the Trinity, how they nourish and spur them on to work for God’s kingdom. Scripture and Eucharist are inextri-cably linked together and are also intertwined within their daily lives.

This article is being completed in the time when, due to COVID-19, attendance at Mass is not possible for most people, and meetings in groups is prohibited. The faith journeys of the Carmelite saints, expressed in their writings, are a source of inspiration for our inward and outward journeys in these times.


IN PURSUIT OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

Susan Muto, PhD is executive director of the Epiphany Association and Dean of its Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She aims, in her teaching, to integrate the life of prayer and presence with professional ministry and in-depth formation in the home, church and marketplace, and she holds the award

for excellence in teaching from Duquesne University, among other distinctions. Dr Muto lectures nationally and interna-tionally on many foundational facets of human and Christian formation in today’s world and is the author of many books, including Gratefulness: The Habit of a Grace-Filled Life, Drop Your Nets and Follow Jesus: How to Form Disciples for the New Evangelization and A Feast for Hungry Souls. In this article she reflects on the art and discipline of contempla-tive prayer.

SUSAN MUTO

Many Christians, seeking guidance in the art and disci-pline of contemplative prayer, have looked for help to

Far Eastern teachings, from zazen to yoga. There is, however, a remarkable tradition in Christianity itself regarding how to pray contemplatively.Two western Christian masters are outstanding in this regard. The first is the fourteenth century English mystic, the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing. The second is the sixteenth-century Spanish master, the ascetical-mystical theologian and Doctor of the Church, St. John of the Cross.



The author of The Cloud offers a young person who seeks his counsel a detailed explanation of how to engage in the work of contemplation in such a common-sense way that it effects for the better every exercise of apostolic action.

At the start of this journey to mature faith, he advises that we press all illusory desires for fulfilment under, in his words, the “cloud of forgetting.” That is what enables us to keep contemplation of God in the “cloud of unknowing” our sole concern.

Freed from fragmenting distractions, we are free to pierce that cloud by a “naked intent” or a “blind stirring” of our will. This attraction to God is like a “sharp dart of longing love” that goes where mere thought can never enter and gives us a taste of union with God.

This taste results in an intimacy with the Trinity that awakens us to the mystery of suffering love offered to us by the Son of God, whose redemptive sacrifice, real as it is, lies beyond our understanding.

The author tells us that if we wish to follow Jesus perfectly, we too must be willing to expend ourselves in works of love for the salvation of our brothers and sisters in the human family.

Before the cross, we bow in humility, acknowledging our nothingness and God’s allness. This knowledge comes to us not through understanding the mind of God, but through contemplating a mystery beyond finite comprehension.

The fruit of the contemplative life can be seen in the charity that flows from it. The author reminds us that the virtuous behaviour of contemplatives is such that everyone would like to call them their friends. Why? Because they are disciples of Jesus who, in his words, have learned to pick off the husks of life and feed themselves and others on the sweet kernels contained within.



Contemplative prayer, and the love it spawns, is not a matter of always feeling consoled by God, but of learning to adhere to the will of God, who consoles us even when we feel spir-itually dry.

Contemplation allows us to dive below the surface of life and its conflicting demands to behold, if only for a brief duration, “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

Though our false self wants to run away from the “dazzling darkness,” our true self wants to live in deeper conformity to Christ, in the known - but unknown - splendour of pure faith, hope and love.

The most renowned teacher of contemplative prayer in the sixteenth-century is St. John of the Cross. He wrote in elegant poetry and prose of his experience of the dark night of the soul that paradoxically illumined his memory, intellect, and will and united him with his Beloved Lord.

According to St. John, only faith - not ecstatic experiences or human works alone - in the darkest hours of our life is the secret of contemplative union with God.

The gate into intimacy with the mystery of transforming love is Christ Jesus. He himself passed through the night of spiritual abandonment in obedience to the Father’s will. The freedom of faith drew him to die for us out of love and to rise on the third day to eternal life.

Contemplative prayer follows the same path. It quells our prideful desire to master the mystery and lets us live in awe and adoration of God’s always benevolent plan for our lives, mysterious as it may be.

It helps us to distinguish the consolations of God that come and go, from the God who consoles us, especially in the mid-



night moments of our life. It gives us the courage to deny ourselves for the sake of finding ourselves anew in conform-ity to Christ.

With or without interior lights or exterior guides, we feel enkindled in us a “living flame of love” that burns away all remnants of self-centeredness. It sparks the motivation to soar to God in solitude and solidarity.

The Spirit leads us along unknown paths to communion with God and others, attained partially in this life, and promised fully and forever in the life to come.


LIVING PRAYER: A JOURNEY OF THE HEART

Karen Littleton was a participant on the Living Prayer Course. She lives in Bedfordshire and works part-time sup-porting researcher development and coaching academic leaders. In her article Karen reflects on her experience of the Living Prayer Course, which was presented for the first time in 2019/2020.

KAREN LITTLETON

Come you indoors, come home; your fading fire Mend first and vital candle in close heart’s vault…1

A tender invitationI have found it incredibly hard to wrap words around my experience of participating in the Living Prayer course. I suspect one of the reasons for this, is that it now feels rather strange to characterise something as transformative as Living Prayer as ‘a course’. What I experienced was a tender invita-tion to become part of the Carmelite family and (from within that nurturing, familial context of spiritual friendship) to experience something of what it is to live prayer and to deepen in intimacy with God. Living Prayer has been a gift, an answer to prayer and a homecoming.

I almost didn’t apply to participate in Living Prayer. I stum-bled across the course description, on the Carmelite Priory website, at a time when I was exhausted − hollowed out by a

1. Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Candle Indoors.


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series of losses and bereavements, including the recent death of my Mum. I was grieving hard and, whilst curious, I was unsure whether I had the capacity for such an extended and intense programme of formation. Yet I kept revisiting the website − reading and re-reading the course description. I started to get a sense that God was guiding me to this course, but I kept rehearsing in my mind all the reasons why this wasn’t the ‘right time’ for me. Yet the whispers of the still, small voice within were insistent that it was the right time for Him, and that in all my brokenness, depletion and vul-nerability I was walking on hallowed ground. Eventually I applied. Thus began my journey into Carmel.

A yearning for GodUpon being accepted onto the Living Prayer course, each par-ticipant was asked to undertake preliminary reading and also to write an individual reflection – thus experiencing the longstanding practice of spiritual autobiography within the Carmelite tradition. This exercise offered each of us an opportunity to explore, for example, our own narratives and the presence/apparent ‘absence’ of God in our lives. What struck me forcefully when writing this piece was the inten-sity of my life-long seeking and yearning for union with God. Alongside this, I could also see the myriad times when I had responded to this passionate longing by devising ever more complex and demanding programmes of things to do, learn or study – responses that had inadvertently, and painfully, curtailed the intimacy of sharing between friends.

Over the course of the first weekend (on the theme of ‘Awakened by the Beloved’) I saw how this habitual tendency to create complexity and busyness stood in stark contrast to Carmel’s call to simplicity. I began to sense that my Living Prayer journey would begin to strip away all that is not God and that understanding would entail unknowing. I was being

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asked to embark on the long journey from the head to the heart, to relinquish my cherished ‘ideas’ and ‘thoughts’ about Him and to gaze at him:

“I’m not asking you now that you think about Him or that you draw out a lot of concepts or make long and subtle reflec-tions with your intellect. I’m not asking you to do anything more than look at Him” (WP 26:3).

Intimacy and love

St. Teresa’s request to look at Him was soon accompanied by the imperative to listen to Him. As Living Prayer unfolded, each participant was supported to cultivate the Carmelite attitude of attentive listening within sacred times of Silent Prayer, Lectio Divina, Contemplative Liturgy, Psalmody, Prayer Journaling and Spiritual Reading. This learning to wait, to look, and to listen with the ear of the heart opened me to a renewed experience of Mystery and the love of a self-surrendering God within. A radical (re)education of my sensibilities was (and is) in chain and I found myself becom-ing aware of the sounds of God, approaching me within the mundane circumstances, interactions and contexts of my eve-ryday life. Literally God amid the Zoom meetings and emails! I somehow began to understand too that my love of, and desire for, Him was a response to His invitation to intimacy and love − I realised I had forgotten how deeply He cherishes me.

The weekends

The course was organized thematically and whilst each weekend adopted the same core structure (with time being allocated for prayer, spiritual reading, individual and col-lective reflection, lectures, Mass, Contemplative Eucharist) the ‘flavour’ and character of each weekend was shaped by the particular theme under exploration. Some of these explorations I found profoundly beautiful and inspiring.


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For example, the reflections associated with the theme of ‘Receiving True Life from the Tree of Life’ led me to become enthralled by the Beauty that is God, in awe of his call to be a reflection of His divine beauty. When invited to participate in the ‘Contemplative School of Mary’ I treasured her inspir-ing presence with us as a model of the contemplative life − pondering anew the transformative power of her humilityand docility to the Holy Spirit. Other weekends, in contrast,were tough going. For instance, during the weekends focus-ing on ‘Letting Go and Letting God’ and ‘Forgiveness andHealing in Relationships’ old hurts, regrets and shame-filledmemories resurfaced − confronting me with, for instance, myown proudness, stubborness, and hard-heartedness. Painfulthough the recognition of these were, it was purifying − anopening to the Light. Having been held tenderly in prayer, ina spirit of repentance, these memories have seeded valuableself-knowledge, rather than fuelling, self-destructive rumina-tive introspection. Some things are being laid down at thefoot of Christ’s Cross.

Throughout Living Prayer we explored The Interior Castle, being introduced systematically to St. Teresa’s counsel and experiencing her accompaniment on our soul journey. St. Teresa’s pervasive presence throughout Living Prayer encour-aged each of us to pray as we can, not as we can’t, trusting that God hears the prayer beneath our prayer − the prayer beneath each groan or sigh. I became increasingly grateful for her guidance and the blessing that is Carmelite spiritu-ality, a living tradition, that − rather than schooling us in particular ‘methods’ of prayer – points us to the very heart of prayer: relationship, friendship and intimacy with the He who dwells within us.

Beyond this exploration of The Interior Castle, Spiritual Enrichment Lectures introduced us to some of Teresa’s

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other works, to the Prophet Elijah and to the voices, lives and example of other Carmelite Saints. I have come to trust these Saints/Prophets. They have become companions on my onward journey. Most recently I have returned to the poetry of St. John of the Cross − especially ‘The Dark Night of the Soul’. I find myself sitting with this poem, quietly letting my assumptions about, and relationship with, (apparent) absence and darkness be delicately reshaped. I am being challenged: to detach from seeking the assurance of ‘felt’ presence; to have faith that night can guide.

Spiritual companionsAs an introverted person (albeit a sociable one) I initially found the intensely communal nature of Living Prayer daunting, especially the small group discussion sessions. Yet these discussions were very skillfully facilitated, with clear ‘touchstones’ in place to mediate the creation of safe spaces of exploration and inquiry. Over time our small group came to trust one another and we have become spiritual compan-ions, meeting up weekly, online, to pray silently together. Through this experience, albeit in a circumscribed way particular to Living Prayer, I have come to appreciate some-thing of why community is so central in Carmel. Community brings us into contact with differences of perspective and different lives, and there is something both unsettling and transformative if we can open to alterity.2 Living Prayer has thus supported me in ‘opening up’, both to other people and to Him. Additionally, compassionate, subtle and sensitive spiritual direction has disrupted my habitual, constraining

2. Sr J. Robson OCD, Sr Mary of St. Joseph OCD, and Sr P. Sargeant OCD,‘Living the Teresian tradition in the twenty-first century: Thoughts fromPraxis’, in P. Tyler and E. Howells (eds) Teresa of Avila: Mystical Theologyand Spirituality in the Carmelite Tradition, London: Routledge, 2017, pp.131-132.


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habits of heart and mind in ways that are expansive and Christ-centred.

We are living in uncertain and turbulent times and, given the Covid-19-related lockdown, the final two weekends of Living Prayer were conducted online − each participant following live-stream broadcasts and engaging in discussion sessions, mediated by Zoom, from their home. Crucially, together-apart, we gathered in contemplative intercessory prayer − each quiet inhalation and exhalation being offered up for all those strug-gling to breathe (be it through illness, anxiety, fear); each gentle breath extending His strength. The Zoom Gallery View of each Living Prayer participant praying silently, in their own domestic space, for me, bore witness to the powerful intercon-nectedness of all who are called to be a prayerful presence in their communities and in the wider world.

Interior calmDuring those precious times of collective, prayer-infused, silence I understood how Living Prayer had providentially formed us for these challenging times:

‘The fruit of contemplative prayer is a heart that widens to a universal embrace.’3

St. Teresa’s insistence that the fruits of Union are manifest in ‘works’ felt especially prescient during this time of pan-demic. Interior calm fortifies people:

“…so that they may endure much less calm in the exterior events of their lives, that they might have the strength to serve.”4

3. Mary McCormack, Upon This Mountain: Prayer in the CarmeliteTradition, Oxford, Teresian Press, 2011, p. 62.4. K. Kavanaugh, ‘General Introduction to the Interior Castle’, in K.Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez (trans), The Interior Castle (Study Edition),Washington DC: ICS Publications, 2010, p. 23.

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May the seeds sown in the Living Prayer course come to fruition. May our hearts continue to widen and may we all have the strength to serve − whatever His call, whenever He calls.


IN MEMORY OF MOTHER MARY OF THE ANGELS

LORRAINE DAVIS (1923-2016)

This article is by the Carmelite Nuns of St Joseph, St Agatha – Ontario, Canada. In it they share the remarkable life and mission of their Mother Foundress who returned to the Father’s House on February 26, 2016 aged 92, in the 74th year of her religious life.

The Lord gave her wisdom and understanding… and a largeness of heart as the sand that is on the seashore.

cf. 1 Kings 4:29

Bridging Two WorldsThe Davis family home in Biddeford, Maine, U.S.A., where Mother Mary grew up, must have been a lively, happy place, filled with music. God blessed the marriage of John Davis and Blanche Benoit with seven chil-

dren: Anne Marie, Ellen, Theresa, Lorraine, Rita, Johnny and Lucille. Lorraine came into this world on Holy Saturday, March 31, 1923. She was born between the Cross and the Resurrection. Both would deeply mark her life. Little Rita died of scarlet fever in May 1925, thus Lorraine did not remember her.



Early in life Lorraine learned what it was like to be bilingual, to bridge two worlds. Mother could be spoken to in either English or French, but Father must be addressed in English. Moreover, if anyone entered a room while you were speaking in a language that they did not understand, you immediately switched to the other one—even in mid-sentence.

Always describing herself as an independent American, Mother Mary had deep Canadian roots on her mother’s side of the family. In 1653, her ancestor Paul Benoit from Nevers, France, a carpenter, arrived in Ville-Marie (now Montreal). Her grandfather and his family (her mother was ten years old at the time) had been part of the great exodus from Quebec to the New England States at the end of the 19th century. On her father’s side, her ancestors were British. Her father’s grandfather and his brother had come from England. They had settled in Maine. Both had married local indigenous women. Thus, Mother Mary had the blood of the three found-ing nations coursing through her veins, blending in a warm and vibrant personality.

Intelligent and independent, musically gifted and a good student, she always wanted to do what her older sisters were doing. At age three she had her first piano lesson, with the piano stool put up to its full height. When she was nine years old, the family moved from the upstairs apartment in Biddeford to a farm-like home on the outskirts of Saco, Maine. She greatly loved living in the country. Now there was a large garden, chickens, rabbits, and even a cow, which she eventu-ally learned to milk.

Called to Carmel

With her older sisters attending boarding school in Coaticock, Quebec, Lorraine kept begging to join them. Finally, her parents permitted her to go. Here St. Therese, who had



miraculously saved her mother’s life many years before, was waiting for her. Bishop Arsène Turquetil, O.M.I., with his long white beard, frequently visited the boarding school. One of St. Therese’s earliest advocates, he handed out copies of the saint’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul, and encouraged the students to pray to her. A movie of the life of St. Therese had a profound effect on Lorraine. She decided to love God fully and to follow St. Therese to Carmel. She even asked one of her older sisters who was visiting to ask their mother if she could enter Carmel at fifteen—like St. Therese. The answer she received was, “Finish your education first. Then you can do whatever you want to do.” She spent her last year of high school at the boarding school in Island Pond, Vermont, where her mother’s cousin was Superior.

With her heart set on Carmel, Lorraine decided to work for a year before applying. She got a job as a switchboard operator for the local telephone company. These were exciting times. World War II was taking place across the Atlantic. Especially on the night shifts, as enemy ships were spotted in the coastal waters, calls had to be transferred to the nearby military base ASAP.

Lorraine applied to the Carmel in Montreal, the only one she knew of. She was politely refused and directed to apply to the Carmel in Cleveland, Ohio, where two nuns from Montreal were helping out. She applied to that Carmel, writing six letters before getting a reply. Finally, one day she received a package containing her six letters. It also contained a note stating that since this was an English-speaking Carmel, if she wished to apply, she should condense her letters (written in French) into one letter and write again in English. She did this and was accepted.

When Lorraine told her mother that she had been accepted and that her entrance date was set for December 8, she was



surprised that her mother looked so sad. “Oh,” she said, “I was hoping that you would still be here to help at Christmas.” Blanche’s large family lived in the area and kept up many of their French-Canadian Christmas customs, so Christmas meant a lot of extra baking and entertaining. Lorraine wrote immediately to the nuns in Cleveland and received permis-sion to postpone her entrance until February 2, 1943.

Beginning a New LifeAt the end of January, Lorraine said good-bye to her family and friends in Maine and travelled to Boston. There she visited her oldest sister Anne Marie. Not wanting to be late, she took an overnight train to Cleveland and arrived early on February 1st. When she phoned the sisters at the Carmel to ask where she could spend the night, they told her to come to the monastery right away. She then took a taxi and arrived there later that morning. The extern sister, Sister Mercedes, kept Lorraine occupied until she was welcomed into the cloister around 3:00 p.m. Only later did she learn that the delay was caused by the fact that the sisters were quickly completing the task of taking down the Christmas cribs and putting the decorations away. (At that time, the Christmas season lasted until February 2.) At Mass the next morning, the sight of the sisters in white mantles, holding lighted candles, gave Lorraine the impression that she had entered into heaven.

The new postulant immediately received the name ‘Sister Mary of the Angels’. She entered into her new life with joy and enthusiasm. Our Lord gave her many special graces, but also a share in His Cross—often in the form of illness. A nerve damaged during the extraction of her wisdom teeth caused a partial paralysis in one side of her face. As with her other illnesses, her graciousness and good humour hid this from everyone except those closest to her.



Sister Mary received the Holy Habit of Carmel on September 11, 1943. Her parents arrived to share her joy. It was the last time that she saw her mother. Blanche suffered a major stroke on April 20, 1944 and died shortly afterwards. That afternoon Sister Mary had suddenly sensed her mother’s presence and later realized that she had come to say “good-bye”.

Sister Mary’s health, which had always been so robust, again caused concern as the time for her profession of vows approached. After a few months’ delay, she made her profes-sion on January 23, 1945. Quick, efficient and energetic, she spent herself in serving the sisters. While washing a floor she stretched too far and suffered an internal injury. After some weeks of intense pain and a month’s stay in hospital, the doctors discovered that Sister Mary was suffering from a dropped kidney. The doctor kindly sat at her bedside and explained everything to her. He suggested that she try to lead a normal life with plenty of rest and a restricted diet. Surgery would likely cause more problems. At best, she perhaps would have ten more years to live. Difficult as it was, Sister Mary, once more put her life into God’s hands, confident that He would take care of her. He gave her many more years. However, at times, she experienced the light of God approaching in death, but then it retreated. She real-ized clearly that each day was a gift and that it must be lived for God.

As the time for Sister Mary’s perpetual vows approached, because of her health, her suitability for the Carmelite life was called into question. One of the sisters advised her to leave voluntarily. Sister Elizabeth, who had been her angel during her first months in the monastery, firmly believed in the genuineness of Sister Mary’s call. In mid-April 1948, having become Prioress, Mother Elizabeth permitted her to make her perpetual profession. At the end of the month, along



with her novitiate companion, Sister Rosemary, she received the black veil at a public ceremony.

On December 28, 1950, Bishop McCarthy of Nairobi, Kenya, visited the Carmelite community in Cleveland. He brought a heartfelt appeal for help from the little Carmel in his diocese. It had been founded in 1940 by nuns from Ireland, but there were now only six nuns and they begged for help. Mother Elizabeth volunteered to go herself along with five other members of the community. That led to months of packing and preparation. Sister Mary helped with the sewing as her health permitted. Sister Ann, one of her novitiate compan-ions who was going, begged her to join them. Sister Mary adamantly refused saying, “You can’t take a sick person with you”, and the confessor backed her up.

During the time of preparation for the departure for Africa, Mother Elizabeth who was both Prioress and Novice Mistress, appointed Sister Mary to assist her with the novices. Before leaving, she got permission for Sister Mary to take over as Novice Mistress even though she was not yet thirty years of age.

A New MissionCleveland Carmel, like many com-munities in the early 1950’s, was enjoying an influx of vocations. Not long after the departure of the nuns for Kenya, the nuns in Cleveland received a request to make a foun-dation in Canada. It came from Bishop Joseph F. Ryan of Hamilton,

Ontario. He especially wanted a contemplative community that would dedicate itself to praying for priests. The prioress, Mother Teresa, was thinking of refusing. She spoke with a saintly priest who told her emphatically, “No, don’t do that.



It is of God.” In February 1952, Mother Teresa and Sister Teresa Margaret travelled to Kitchener. They were shown several sites for a possible beginning and chose the house at 2 Lancaster Street East. This would be the little Bethlehem of the community.

On October 22, 1952, four nuns accompanied by Father Sullivan, boarded the train in Cleveland. They arrived in Hamilton and were taken by car to St. Mary’s Hospital in Kitchener. They would stay there until renovations were completed

in the house on Lancaster Street. Bishop Ryan greeted them and presided at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The nuns were also introduced to a group of benefactors— the first members of what today is known as The Committee for the Carmelite Nuns.

A few days later, Bishop Ryan appointed Mother Mary of the Angels prioress of the new Carmel. (She would remain prior-ess for the next thirty years.) Plans to transform the house at 2 Lancaster Street into a miniature monastery soon followed. After a couple of months, seeing that the work was proceed-ing rather slowly, the nuns placed a statue of St. Joseph in the porch and told the Saint that it would not be brought inside until the renovations were completed. The work then proceeded quickly, and the nuns moved in on January 22, 1953. They spent the night preparing for the First Mass which took place the following day – the eighth anniversary of Mary Mary’s profession. At the end of March, with the permission of Bishop Ryan, an Open House took place and then papal enclosure was established. The following day, Sister Maria Crucis started her canonical novitiate over again. She made her profession on March 25, 1954.



Over the next few months several postulants arrived, the first two receiving the Holy Habit of Carmel on January 23, 1954. The silent prayerful life of Carmel gradually took shape. At recreation time, the sisters’ laughter filled the little mon-astery and could sometimes be heard by the visitors. For special occasions, homemade plays were produced. The most famous one of the early years was entitled, “The Carmel of Reliquary Hill.”

A Permanent Home

As the monastery filled up, Mother Mary realized that it was time to look for a location for a perma-nent monastery. After much searching, a suitable property northeast of St. Agatha was located. Plans were drawn up and soon the first section of the monastery was under construction. The sisters moved in on May 27, 1963. Msgr. Ruben Haller, delegated by Bishop Ryan, offered the first Mass the following day.

Settling in and establishing the daily monastic rhythm took months, even years. Land had to be cleared for a garden and trees planted to provide an enclosure. Only a few of the sisters were accustomed to a rural setting, but everyone pitched in, gathering hay, caring for the chickens, making maple syrup, weeding the garden.

Mother Mary learned to drive a tractor so she could help with the lawn mowing and snow removal. She oversaw the addi-tions to the monastery which took place approximately every five years between 1974 and 1990.

Though Mother Mary found travelling difficult she did make two trips back to the United States. In June 1955, she par-ticipated in a gathering of all the prioresses of the American Carmels held at Eton Hall, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.



They met to discuss the possibility of forming a federation as requested by the Holy See. In June 1965, she attended another meeting of prioresses that took place in St. Louis, Missouri. The nuns discussed the updating of their life as called for by the Second Vatican Council.

Between 1968 and 1982, Mother Mary, usually accompa-nied by her faithful secretary, Sister Maria Crucis, and Sister Fleurette, travelled to Quebec every two years for the ses-sions of the Union of the Contemplative Religious of Canada (UCRC). The final trip of her life took place in April 1991. Mother Mary along with Mother Claire and Mother Catherine flew west to prepare the way for the foundation in Armstrong, British Columbia, which began on August 15 of that year.

Toward the Dawn

Mother Mary faced a major health crisis in 1984. She had experienced periodic back pain for several years. Suddenly she was unable to stand without support. Eventually, a friend provided a special walker which enabled her to move about on her own. She continued to serve the community in whatever way she could, serving as prioress again from 1990 to 1996. She dedicated herself more to prayer. She spent many hours in the oratory, praying for all the intentions confided to us.

Throughout her life Mother Mary made many deep and lasting friendships. Perhaps her training as a telephone oper-ator gave her a special facility in sensing the needs of those who called. Her calm reassurance and promise of prayers helped many people during family and personal crises. Her deep love for Christ was obvious to all those who came into contact with her.

Mother Mary had a deep love for her Carmelite vocation. She once said that her spiritual way was a blend of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, and St.



Elizabeth of the Trinity. She inculcated a spirit of generosity, freedom and joy in the service of Our Lord, springing from a deep love for Jesus and Mary. The example of her simple, humble life was a beacon to all her daughters.

As Mother Mary’s energies diminished, her appreciation for the presence of the sisters became more evident. Whenever possible she wanted to be with the sisters. She was grateful for the care that was lavished upon her. During the last three months of her life, the community engaged a personal support worker to be with her during the night. This greatly relieved the sisters who were caring for her. At 12:45 p.m. on Friday, February 26, 2016, Mother Mary died peacefully, surrounded by her sisters. Her funeral took place on March 1 with Bishop Douglas Crosby presiding and several priests concelebrating. Bishop Crosby remembered Mother Mary telling him that in her youth she had had an experience of Christ which had supported her for the rest of her life.

The interment ceremony took place on May 14, 2016. For the occasion, about one hundred friends joined the sisters and two of Mother Mary’s nieces. It had been raining for a few days. Just as the pallbearers brought Mother’s coffin to the top of the hill the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and a strong wind began to blow. At first, Bishop Matthew Ustrzycki’s words could hardly be heard above the wind. Then every-thing calmed down. A sense of peace and fulfilment pervaded the little cemetery. Mother Mary now joined the seven sisters who had been buried there already. A precious seed had been sown. The young woman who had been expected to die at age thirty-three, had lived almost another sixty years—these were years full of love and faith and good works. May she enjoy the reward of her labours and intercede for us with Our Lord.

“Blessed be God in all His gifts, and holy in all His works.”


FRAGMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL HOPE IN COVID-19

Mary Stevens is an Honorary Research Fellow in the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She specialises in theology of reli-gious life, St John of the Cross, St Teresa, and Pope St John Paul II with particular ref-erence to his theological anthropology and soteriology. Mary is retired and when not involved with academic theological work

she is highly involved with her dog in Therapet services, visit-ing care homes and spending much time with the university students. In this article she reflects on the gift of hope which Christians may both receive and give in this time of crisis through co-operation with the work of Redemption.

MARY STEVENS

During this pandemic many, if not most of us, have ques-tioned our priorities and values, and indeed the very

meaning of our lives and of our own selves. While many point to the goodness and generosity that have been manifested, we also experience our individual and collective powerless-ness, the limitations of science and medicine. We see a range of human responses including heroism, extraordinary com-munity spirit and activity, frustration, and depression, and also aggression, selfishness, meanness and even brutality and barbarity. It is commonly noted that huge numbers of us have experienced a shift in priorities towards the importance of family and friends, simple pleasures, quietness, stillness and an awareness of the human dimension beyond the material:



the spiritual, the transcendent. Collectively and individu-ally, there seems to be evidence that we are going through stages, akin to, but different from, the stages of grieving, with fear, bon esprit, incomprehension and confusion, generosity, mixing with anger, frustration, blame gaming - and surely there will be more to come. World and national leaders have responded to the situation in diverse ways and they have been praised, questioned, criticised, hated.

LockdownWe all experience lockdown; or because of essential and more-or-less dangerous jobs, the surreal world outside lock-down, while those who work with patients with COVID19 on a daily basis frequently experience psychological trauma and fatigue to a degree that others can barely imagine. Each of these situations brings extraordinary challenges and per-spectives which give an intensity to just about every question of life. No thinking person denies that any purported benefits of this situation occur against the daily horrors of ongoing catastrophic suffering for millions and for generations. In addition, in many countries there is a major dissonance between the respect and the provision which were directed to the elderly and the vulnerable before the pandemic, with the vast medical provision, social upheaval and economic resources made available for the protections of these same demographics in the response to the pandemic. Moreover, these resources are being made available at the cost of eco-nomic and social crisis, even catastrophe, which will itself affect millions of others now and in the future, and dis-proportionately those who are themselves vulnerable for economic, social or health reasons. The existential narrative, as it stands, is incoherent and incomprehensible.

When we have the courage to do so - and perhaps even when we do not - we live with a huge, sometimes screamed, ‘Why?’



These contemporary instances of life’s perennial questions are ‘like a probe inserted into the depths of the reality of man and man’s existence in the world’.1

HopeGaudium et Spes wrote: ‘We can justly consider that the future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping.’2 As Christians we simply must ask in what way our Christian faith can illuminate this particular encounter, both with suffering and with the glimpses of human tran-scendence and heroism which have shone through in human society. Is the sum of our faith to say that we are in God’s hands and He works all to the good? (And let us remember, if we dare, that the current pandemic is but the tip of the iceberg of both global suffering and human compassion.) What does it mean to say that God works all for good, and how does our faith say that that could that possibly happen?

How could we hope in God now?

RedemptionThe source of hope and the answer to our questions, Gaudium et Spes continues, is ‘the mystery of redemption: the work of Jesus Christ that is continually being effected in the Church and, through the Church in mankind and the world.’ This may seem remote, yet it is what we must probe even as we our probed, for it is our faith and the key to unlocking the way forward.

The revelation of the mystery of the Father and his love in Jesus Christ reveals man to man, and gives the ultimate answer to the question, ‘What is man?’ This answer cannot

1. Pope John Paul II, Sources of Renewal: The Implementation of theSecond Vatican Council, London: Collins, 1980, p. 71.2. Gaudium et Spes §31.



be separated from the problem of man’s vocation: man con-firms his identity by accepting that vocation and making it a reality.

The contrast between this assertion, and the conclusion of a poem by Haroon Rashid, currently making the rounds on the internet, are stark:

We fell asleep in one world, and woke up in another.…….The world continues its life and it is beautiful. It only puts humans in cages. I think it’s sending us a message:‘You are not necessary. The air, earth, water and sky without you are fine.When you come back, remember that you are my guests. Not my masters.’

While Rashid has “the world” saying to humans that they are not necessary, Christian hope begins in belief in the faithful love of God, by whom we are loved infinitely and given dignity and value in that love. We begin to experience Christian hope in the encounter which occurs precisely as we draw near to Christ, with the complexity and intensity of our questions, with our needs and obvious failings. Redemption involves a dual aspect by which we learn both about our-selves through the love given to us by God, and in that love are called to work with God.

The economy of redemption

When we talk about the redeeming love of God, of our iden-tity, our meaning and our vocation or commission within that love, we need to look at the way of Redemption, the so-called economy of Redemption, how it happens.

Baptised into the death and resurrection of Christ, our identity and vocation involves a participation by us as indi-



viduals, as members of the Body of Christ, in the dynamics of the Christological, Pascal manner (that is the death and resurrection of Christ) of Redemption. Our own lives will therefore represent a particular moment of hope, and a rich conduit of effective hope, through our incorporation into the Pascal Christ.

The soteriological identity of the baptised can be seen not only from the perspective of our own need for Redemption, for forgiveness, healing and new life, but also from the per-spective of a call and a corresponding duty received and laid upon us in baptism to enter into the Trinitarian working of Redemption. We are to receive and to dispense God’s effective love, working for the restoration of the wholeness of creation, living an existential proclamation of God’s desire for the full-ness of life for each unique person in intimacy with God and communion with each other.

The foundation of human identity, perceived in the love of God, is an equality of dignity and worth for each individual loved by God: ICU and Respiratory consultants, immigrants, politicians, Presidents, young, old, differently abled, care givers, the vulnerable, the rich and the destitute, or soon to be destitute.

While the announcement of future resurrection, and of eternal life, in union with God Himself is the ultimate hope, the sine qua non of the reality is the utter imperative to love, respect, serve and cherish each human person, and to work with all our skills for cultures and societies in which this mutual atti-tude becomes the path of life. A natural catastrophe of global breadth and intensity would appear to be needed to bring us to consider the need for this change of attitude of mind, heart and practical behaviours. The proclamation of the conquest of evil arising from the Redemptive nature of the love with which God loves us and calls us, the exposure to that love, is



the key which can unlock our attitudes and efforts towards a very different world, where we will require of ourselves and our structures an effective respect for all people and the needs of their daily lives.

God looks upon each of us with the same love with which the Father looked upon the Son, sending Him to save all people through His love. We, being called by this love, are there-fore called from within the Redemptive mission between the Father and the Son, and the missionary form of the Son’s love becomes the form of the baptised life. We receive ‘the salvific profile’ of Christ in our lives. Because of the profound com-munion of all humanity in the Word and in the power of the Pascal mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ, the work of Redemption is transferred to the level of humanity, as each baptised person takes on the life of Christ. Even as the individual is transformed, a ‘wide space’ opens in that individual for the ‘new creation’ in the world3 through which society and culture are also transformed and brought to par-ticipate in the Redemption. Through baptism, our loving is taken into the power of Redemptive love. Within families, between ourselves and all whom we meet, or on whose lives we have impacted, we both participate in and dispense the love between the Father and the Son, and the love between the Trinity and humanity.

O happy fault!The remoteness of these theological truths, perhaps seeming quite absurd, takes us, with our sense of powerlessness,

3. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation of His Holiness Pope JohnPaul II Redemptionis Donum to Men and Women Religious on TheirConsecration in the Light of the Mystery of the Redemption, (Vatican:Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1984), http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_25031984_redemptionis-donum_en.html § 10

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/



impotence and fear, into the self-emptying of Jesus Christ. Taking on the fullness of our own humanity, as did Christ, we see from the perspective of one loved infinitely by God, the imperative to be rid of greed and selfishness and to heed the dignity, rights and needs of others. Both visibly and invis-ibly these co-workers with God, inhabiting both the emptying of Christ and the simultaneous dignity, darkness, despair and needs of humanity are able with Christ to ‘provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping’. The celebration of Easter occurred around the time some countries were experiencing the height of the pandemic in terms of deaths and new infections. The vigil cry of the Easter Hymn brings to a climax the recitation of salvation, and refer-ences the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ responding to the depth of our inability to generate our own source of hope:

O felix culpa, quæ talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!O happy fault which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Here and now - in the midst of the fault lines of human exist-ence exposed so pitilessly by the corona virus - this is the joyful cry of hope of all Christians, as we take our places in the vigil of the world still, and for some time to come, in ter-rible darkness, but already harbouring the Redemptive dawn of dignity, justice, equality and peace.

When we come back, we must remember that we are neces-sary because we are infinitely loved. The poem on the internet rightly said that we are not masters, but neither are we merely guests, as the poem said: we are beloved co-workers with the Son of Man who is the servant and redeemer of all.


COMPANIONS ON THE JOURNEY

BLESSED JOHN SORETH

On 28th July, (Discalced Carmelites) and 24th July (O. Carm) the Carmelite

family celebrates the feast of Blessed John Soreth, Prior General and reformer of the Carmelite order.1 He is particularly remem-bered for his acceptance of women into the Carmelite order and establishment of a Carmelite community for women.

John was born around 1395 to a respectable family in Caen, Normandy, and from an early age, he was remarkable for his piety. As a young man, John joined the Carmelite Order to consecrate himself totally to the virgin mother of God. He received his Doctorate at the University of Paris in 1438, where he also became Reagent of Studies. He would later become the Provincial and Prior General of the Order from 1451 until his death at Angers (France) in 1471.

His remarkable commentary on the Carmelite Rule expresses the lived experience of prayer. At the foundation of his spir-ituality is the following of Christ. In his reflections on Jesus’ words ‘Learn from me for I am meek and humble in heart’ (Matt 11:29), John writes:

It is from Christ himself, brother, that we must learn how to love him. Learn to love him tenderly with all your heart, prudently with all your soul and valiantly with all your

1. We would like to express our grateful acknowledgement to thepublishers of the Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices, from which thisbiography has been adapted.



strength: tenderly, so as not to be enticed away from him; prudently, so as not to leave yourself open to deception; and valiantly so as not to be daunted or turned aside from God’s love or be led astray by the splendour of the world or the lusts of the flesh.2

The theological virtue of love defined, directed, and struc-tured John’s entire life and spirituality. Love became the foundation of his teachings and his life and he would exhort his brothers:

So let the love of Christ inflame your zeal, pervade your knowledge, and confirm your steadfastness. Let it be fervent, circumspect and unbowed, not lukewarm or undiscerning. ‘Love the Lord your God’ with all the affection of which your heart is capable; love him with all the watchfulness, all the circumspection of your soul, or rather your reason; Love him with all your strength so that you may not fear even death for the sake of his love.3

John speaks of the double impact of love; love of God is expressed in the love we bear to our neighbour and the love we show our neighbour becomes a reflection of our love for God. In exercising his duty as Prior General of the Carmelite Order, John sets an example of the virtues which he enjoined upon his brethren. His prudence in decision making endeared him to his brothers. A lover of humility, he showed himself - both in word and deed - a living picture of the virtue ofhumility. John was already living this virtue of humility inthe way Teresa would later define it – ‘Living in the truth.’

In his zeal for the spread of the Carmelite order, he travelled through the different countries of Europe. In the same spirit he was able to endure all kinds of trials bearing witness to the

2. Blessed John Soreth, Exhortation on the Carmelite Rule, Tex. 15, ch.4.3. Ibid.



prophetic spirit of the Order – to stand for justice and speak the truth – which is so relevant for our times still plagued by all sorts of injustice and discrimination. John is a model for us in this regard.

As Prior General he championed the inclusion of women in the Carmelite Order as nuns and opened the Order to the laity. One year into his term as Prior General (1452), he was able to secure the approval of the Church for the new com-munities of Carmelite nuns. Pope Nicholas V issued the Bull cum Nulla which formally recognized communities of the Carmelite nuns for the first time. The same papal document also opened the gates to participation by laymen and women in the Carmelite Order’s charism of prayer. These laymen and women would later constitute what is known today as the Secular Order.

John’s work in admitting women to the Order and encourag-ing the participation of laypeople in the life of the Order is a witness to the universality of the Carmelite charism of prayer which indeed, is at the foundation and the fulfilment of our relationship with God. As a companion on the journey, John Soreth encourages us to deepen our relationship with God. May he be an inspiration for us as we pray:

Lord God, you willed that Blessed John Soreth

should renew religious lifeand establish communities for women

in the order of Carmel, may his prayers and merits

help us to be ever more faithful in following Christ and his mother.

Amen.


SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER

GLIMPSES OF HOPE IN TRYING TIMES

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future

and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

“Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”

Jeremiah 17:14

The more a person loves God, the more reason he has to hope in Him. This hope produces in the Saints an unutterable peace, which they preserve even in adversity, because as they love God, and know how beautiful He is to those who love Him, they place all their confidence and find all their repose in Him alone.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori

I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.

2 Kings 20:5

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Oh, then, soul, most beautiful among all creatures, so anxious to know the dwelling place of your Beloved so you may go in search of him and be united with him, now we are telling you that you yourself are his dwelling and his secret inner

SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER


room and hiding place. There is reason for you to be elated and joyful in seeing that all your good and hope is so close as to be within you, or better, that you cannot be without him. Behold, exclaims the Bridegroom, the kingdom of God is within you [Lk. 17:21]. And his servant, the apostle St. Paul, declares: You are the temple of God [2 Cor. 6:16].

St John of the Cross, SC 1:7


VOICES OF THE HEARTOUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL

O Beautiful Flower of Carmel,Most Fruitful Vine

Splendour of Heaven,holy and singular,

who brought forth the Son of God,still ever remaining a pure Virgin,

assist me in this necessity.O Star of the Sea,

help and protect me.Show me that you are my Mother!

Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, pray for us.

Ancient Carmelite Hymn


NEWS AND VIEWS

CENTRE FOR APPLIED CARMELITE SPIRITUALITY

Dear Friends,

Sing to the LORD, for he has done marvellous things; let this be known to all the world. (Isaiah 12:5)

We are delighted to let you know of how the Lord Jesus contin-ues to work with us and confirm his word by the many lives touched and transformed through the various programmes offered here at the spirituality centre. The Online Retreats launched in February with A Lenten Retreat with St Elijah the Prophet – received an added flavour in May with Empowered by the Spirit’s Breath – A Pentecost Retreat. For the latter, we introduced opportunities for Individually Guided Sessions (IGS) and Group Guided Sessions (GGS) which people found very helpful. Over a thousand people from all around the world have participated in these retreats. Below are what people are saying about their experience.

A LENTEN RETREAT WITH ST ELIJAH THE PROPHET

Thank you very much for the Lent retreat, it is fantastic. Thank you. Blessings, Imogen

This is all absolutely wonderful and satis-fying my Carmelite hunger, and allowing me to more fully own this aspect of who and what I am and my spiritual home. Jane

The retreat is absolutely magnificent! Thank you and God bless. Manny

Frankly, the entire retreat was far, far beyond anything I could have anticipated. All of the priests were stunning in


NEWS AND VIEWS

their teaching. I have never attended anything remotely this moving and am grateful beyond expression. Wishing all of you the most blessed Easter season, with God’s bountiful graces. In Carmel, Maureen

The whole retreat, Elijah and the videos are profoundly beau-tiful... painfully so. I’m so very grateful to you and everyone involved in preparing them. God bless. Elizabeth

EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT’S BREATH – A PENTECOST RETREAT

I am writing to say how much I enjoyed the Pentecost Retreat and to thank you for it.

The Reflections were beautifully presented, and I will certainly be using them again in the future. Having access to the videos of the talks is an added

bonus and Mass this morning was the perfect ending…. Many thanks to everybody who was involved in bringing this retreat to us. Anthony

Hearing of so many lives blessed, we’re committed to offering more online retreats to assuage the deep spiritual nourish-ment that many yearn for with the gourmet food of Carmelite spirituality.

We invite you to join us this July for our Online Novena Retreat in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel:

MARY: A MODEL OF COURAGE FOR THE PRESENT AND A BEACON OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

(7-16 July 2020)

Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God” (Luke 1:30)

Mary the Mother of Jesus is a figure of inspi-ration and the model of true discipleship. She always leads us to Jesus her son in whom we

NEWS AND VIEWS


find the fullness of life (John 2:5). Carmelites have always known that no one who turns to Mary will ever be dis-appointed. During these difficult times we turn to her maternal protection and care and we are confident of her closeness and continued help. During this nine-day retreat we will reflect on the life and person of Mary the Mother of Carmel as she inspires us with courage to face the uncer-tainties of the present time and hope for the future.

On Tuesday, July 7th you will receive an email welcoming you to the retreat. You will be able to access the resources for the day’s reflection, along with short texts for prayer. These will offer you inspirations for the journey towards the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

DAILY THEMESDay 1: Tuesday June 7 - MARY, BLESSED & BEAUTIFUL

Day 2: Wednesday June 8 - MARY, A WOMAN FOR OTHERS

Day 3: Thursday June 9 - MARY’S SCAPULAR - A GIFT OF LOVE

Day 4: Friday June 10 - MARY, OUR QUEEN & MOTHER

Day 5: Saturday June 11 - MARY, OUR BEAUTY

Day 6: Sunday June 12 - MARY, OUR SISTER

Day 7: Monday June 13 - MARY, A WOMAN OF PRAYER

Day 8: Tuesday June 14 - AT HOME WITH MARY

Day 9: Wednesday June 15 - THE SPLENDOUR OF CARMEL

Thursday June 16 - SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL

During this retreat, we are happy to offer a number of Individually Guided Sessions (IGS) and Group Guided Sessions (GGS) through Zoom. Please email [email protected] for further information.


NEWS AND VIEWS

NOVENA PRAYER INTENTIONSYou’re welcome to send in petitions which will be recorded in the Golden Book of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Throughout the Novena this book is left at the foot of the altar and your intentions are prayed for at every Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass in the Priory. You may wish to fill out the enclosed Novena Request Form and send in or email your request to [email protected] and be assured that we will be praying for your intentions.

BREATHING SPACEIn addition to online themed retreats, we have launched a new platform called Breathing Space. This is an online spiritual accompaniment ministry. On our spiritual jour-neys, we need moments when we can stop and ponder in the company of another person. This ministry provides the space to do just that. We hope to offer you a compassion-ate and empathetic listening to support and to help you on your journey in the spiritual life. It’s our prayer that through shared insights and prayer with you, you’ll find the strength to continue on the journey and re-emerge with new insights and fresh understanding as to how and where God may be leading you. During this pandemic when so many people are very worried and fearful and needing support, we’re happy to offer this service of spiritual accompaniment and com-passionate listening freely. People are welcome to make a donation if they wish.

INDIVIDUALLY GUIDED ONLINE RETREATSometimes we need time away from our busy schedules to relax, pray and reflect. Our innovative Individually Guided Online Retreat runs all year round and is helping people all around the world to take advantage of a private retreat guided by a trained spiritual/retreat director, and to do this from the comfort of their own homes. We have an excellent and


NEWS AND VIEWS


experienced team of Directors who are able to facilitate these retreats anytime for anyone who is interested.

Details of our online IGRs and forthcoming themed retreats can be found on our website: www.oxcacs.org

For further information and any enquiries, please contact us on:

+44 (0)7849 596572 / [email protected]

A WORD OF GRATITUDE & A BLESSINGWe wish to thank our donors whose generosity make it pos-sible for us to offer our retreats to people with financial challenges as free of charge. Your contributions enable us to run our programmes and pay our bills. You are a pillar of support for us and our prayer is that the Good Lord who cannot be outdone in generosity may replenish your resources and take care of you, your loved ones and your affairs just as you have committed to taking care of His.

May the Lord make you a pillar in His holy Temple. Amen!

(Rev 3:12)

CARMELITE INSTITUTE OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND (CIBI)Academic Year 2019/20.

On state medical advice that “those who can work from home, should work from home”, we closed the CIBI office on March 12th, never thinking that three months later we would still be working from our spare rooms. The current advice is that we should continue to do so if we can. Working with CIBI, we were fortunate as we work so much online and any other time of year it would not have been a great problem. However, we




NEWS AND VIEWS

were approaching the end of semester with the required com-pilation of marks and grades. And the preparation of various reports for the Extern Examiner and the accrediting body. It was a time for creativity and new procedures, conference calls and secure emails became common place and every-day. Finally, the reporting was all done in good time and forwarded to the accrediting body and once again in 2020, students will be awarded the B.Th. (Carmelite Studies) and the Certificate in Spirituality (Carmelite Studies).

Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID- 19 pandemic was not all negative for CIBI, as, when a community invited us to provide a summer course for their members, it was a pleasure to set up a programme of six modules studied over six weeks in June and July. We also received a request from another institute, an invitation to provide some online modules that they were unable to supply on site, due to the present situation. Once again, we were pleased to provide the modules and that programme com-mences shortly.

CIBI Programmes

Our major programmes remain the M.Th. (Carmelite Studies) and the B.Th. (Carmelite Studies). Both of these programmes are accredited by the Pontifical college of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. These programmes have drawn students from across the continents including some of the African coun-tries, such as Zimbabwe and Nigeria; the USA, Australia, New Zealand, India; and from among the European countries are the Czech Republic Poland, Norway, and Finland.

It is not surprising that these programmes are attracting students from across the world, as the B.Th. (Carmelite Studies) offers students the opportunity to study Theology, Carmelite History and Tradition, Carmelite Spirituality

NEWS AND VIEWS


and the Saints. And the M.Th. (Carmelite Studies) offers the opportunity to gain a master’s degree while studying Carmelite History, Spirituality, and the Carmelite Saints at an advanced level.

For those wishing to undertake an academic programme accredited by the Pontifical college of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, but who do not wish to undertake a theologi-cal programme, we provide the Certificate / Diploma in Spirituality (Carmelite Studies). This programme offers a wide range of modules on Carmelite History and Tradition, as well as modules on the Carmelite Saints and Blessed’s. On completion of the Diploma in Spirituality (Carmelite Studies) students will have the opportunity to continue their studies to the B.Th. (Carmelite Studies)

Over the past two years CIBI’s Initial Formation and Ongoing Formation programmes have been well established. With par-ticipants from Ireland, the United States, the Philippines, and Australia taking part in 2020. Participants have responded very positively to the modules on Prayer, Carmelite Tradition, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross etc. We must of course acknowledge the support and co-operation CIBI has received from local Formators and Superiors.

For students not wishing to undertake the demands of an academic programme, the Discovering Carmel Certificate programme remains a firm favourite. The programme now provides 46 introductory modules to choose from. As well as the modules on John, Teresa, Titus Brandsma, Edith Stein and Therese that you might expect, there are modules on Prayer, Scripture, Spirituality and Liturgy. There are also modules on Jessica Powers, Raphael Kalinowski and Hilary Januszewski. We have just added a very topical module, The Roles of Carmelites in Times of Epidemics.


NEWS AND VIEWS

Looking forward

The academic year 2020-21 is lining up to be another busy year, with student numbers increasing and the addition of programmes. And hopefully it will not be too long until we are back in the CIBI office.

Available Programmes from CIBI:

• M.Th. (Carmelite Studies). Accredited by St. Patrick’sCollege, Maynooth.

• B.Th. (Carmelite Studies) Accredited by St. Patrick’sCollege, Maynooth

• Diploma in Spirituality (Carmelite Studies) Accreditedby St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth

• Certificate in Spirituality (Carmelite Studies)Accredited by St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth

• Discovering Carmel Certificate (certified by theCarmelite Institute of Britain and Ireland)

• Tailored programme for Initial Formation and OngoingFormation are also available.

• CIBI will also tailor a programme to the pacific needsof a community or group.

For further details of available CIBI programme please view our website www.cibi.ie or email [email protected]

To discuss a tailored programme for your community or group email [email protected]

http://www.cibi.ie




FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY – BOOKS

When God speaks: Lectio Divina in St John of the Cross, the Ladder of Monks, and the Rule of Carmel. Sr Pascale-Dominique Nau, OP. Independently published, 2019. ISBN 978-1-072623-26-7. Pbk. Pages 77. £9.66

Sr Pascale-Dominique Nau OP has produced an almost bewildering variety of translations of spiritual writings and commentaries and other related matter in several languages, and this is one of her most recent. Her total publications as listed on Amazon UK run to the impressive total of 67. St Dorotheus of Gaza, St Augustine, St Athanasius, Evagrius Ponticus, Tauler – the list is long of the authors she has chosen to introduce in separate publications. This kind of work is extremely useful, she chooses shortish sections from the writers in question and thus gives a taster to a readership who would not necessarily want to tackle longer texts even if these were readily available.

This little book ‘does what it says on the label’ in the sense that the title tells us exactly what it contains. The authoress holds back from a great deal of commentary and lets these spiritual writings speak for themselves. The subject of Lectio Divina is of great interest to me because I have to confess after eighteen years in Carmel as a Secular that I find it very dif-ficult. I don’t find it difficult to read the bible and to meditate on bible texts, but there is more to Lectio than that.

The Ladder of Monks is a tiny spiritual classic by Guigo II the Carthusian (1114-1193?), who was the ninth prior of the Grande Chartreuse monastery. (From this extraordinary con-templative order came the first victims of Henry VIII.) He based his text on the famous Jacob’s ladder story in Genesis



28, 12. He saw this ladder as a metaphor for the monks’ enter-prise of rising to heaven, and he wrote about the various rungs of the ladder. He is believed to have been the first person in the western mystical tradition to present the stages of prayer as a ladder to God. The parallels with the idea of the ascent of Carmel are obvious, and the quotations from St John of the Cross introduced by Sr Pascale-Dominique are mostly of The Ascent of Carmel.

The author begins with a brief introduction on the central-ity of Holy Scripture for John of the Cross. She notes that for John, Scripture was the first of four sources of Christian life and spirituality, the others being the Church, its ministers, experience/science. He said he was basing his whole teaching on the Bible. There follows a chapter on ‘the Preliminaries for Lectio Divina’. Before conducting the exercise, we need to prepare ourselves to receive the illumination of the Spirit of God; then we must ‘set the letter aside’ and the soul ‘must remain in the darkness of faith’.

To those unfamiliar with John, this may of course seem an extraordinary idea! Why on earth do we have to start by being in the dark? Don’t we want to be all bushy-tailed and bright-eyed, waiting for our little ten-watt to be outshone by the light of the Spirit? No, says John, we need to let go of all our precon-ceptions and our suitcase of knowledge and open ourselves to receive the word ‘in the darkness of faith’. Faith is not a kind of knowledge that comes to us through the senses. ‘The double movement of opening – through belief’ writes Sister Pascale ‘- and abandoning – parting from the mind’s natural light – actually is a single movement that implies letting go in order to receive the word in the darkness of faith.’ We don’t need to come to lectio full of our knowledge of Scripture, full of what we have learned, full of who we are; but with an awed sense of who God is and a sense of the immensity of the



mystery of the faith. We must come empty, so he can fill us.

After the discussion of preliminaries, the author says a few words about ‘the practice of Lectio Divina’. She quotes John as saying we should limit ourselves to ‘the only thing that brings [us] everything: holy solitude accompanied by holy prayer and divine reading’. We can’t take this literally, but neither could he, for even he was involved in many other things – in the routine of monastic life, or in activities like writing or acting as spiritual director, or in practical tasks like build-ing works. But John speaks trenchantly in the manner of Our Lord, who laid down principles before us in the bluntest of fashion in order to make a point vividly – even to the point of telling us to cut off our hand if it leads us astray.

In another chapter Sister Pascale introduces us to Guigo II the twelfth-century Carthusian and his The Ladder of Monks. What was the ladder of the monks? Guigo lists four steps in particular on the upward path: reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation. ‘Reading is the attentive study of the Scriptures, made by the mind with application. Meditation is an operation of the intelligence, which follows from the studi-ous investigation of a hidden truth, with the help of one’s own reason. Prayer is a religious application of the heart that asks God to deliver it from evil or grant it goods. Contemplation is a certain elevation in God of a soul that is drawn above itself and savours the joy of eternal bliss. In reading, we seek the bliss of the beatific life; in meditation, we find it; in prayer, we ask for it; and in contemplation, we savour it. .... reading brings substantial food to the mouth, meditation chews and grinds the food, prayer draws out the taste and contemplation is the bliss itself that enjoys and restores.’

The bulk of the book is taken up by the text of Guigo’s work; the Carthusian gives a fuller explanation of what he under-stands by reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation,



before indicating how the soul can lose the grace of con-templation. The book ends with extracts from the Rule of St Albert.

The juxtaposition of these two great spiritual masters can only be helpful - and Guigo’s four steps especially so. We are heirs not just to the spiritual riches going back to sixteenth-century Spain – but to millennia of treasures from the Middle Ages and the Early Church (and indeed right back to Abraham!).

Cyprian Blamires, OCDS

How Do I Pray Today? Volume 1: The Experience of Prayer. Eds. Alexander Ezechukwu, OCD and Joanne Mosley. Teresian Press, Oxford, 2019. ISBN 978-0-947916-20-6. Pbk. Pages 144. £13.95

The title of this book is rather enigmatic, as the opening pages make clear. This is not a ‘how to’ book at all – as is pointed out in the introduction, Jesus’ disciples did not make that famous request ‘teach us to pray’ because they were unfa-miliar with the concept but rather that they wanted to know about his way of praying, his experience of it. The unveil-ing of something about the experience of prayer is what this volume is all about – indeed, part of what Carmelite spiritual-ity is all about.

For it is a truism that the great Carmelite writers do not give us precise instructions or methods by which to pray as may be understood in, for example, the Ignatian tradition. Rather they share from their own experience and indeed Teresa of Jesus has long been admired not only for her own spiritual growth but also for her capacity to grow in understanding of her experiences and, from there, to articulate them for the benefit of others. The authors who have contributed to this volume have similarly prayed, come to an understanding



of their prayer and here share their understanding for our enrichment. And, as with Teresa, we can trust them.

So from the introductory premise that ‘prayer is an intimate expression of a person’s unique relationship with God’ (p.8), we are gently led through accounts of eleven such unique relationships. The starting point could not be more encourag-ing – ‘Today!’ our opening author joyfully announces (p.13). This first chapter literally grounds us in the present and there can be no better enticement for prayer than her title – ‘Knowing that God is Seeking Me’, with its echoes of John of the Cross’s famous statement that if anyone is seeking God, the Beloved is seeking that person much more (Living Flame 3:28). The book begins here, our prayer begins here.

There are common threads running throughout each account – the importance of silence, stillness and listening, the placeof Scripture and the wider prayer of the Church – but also onecan see the freedom in each individual’s response to the par-ticular way God is calling. So amongst the treasures sharedwe see a love of praying with the Jesus Prayer, a marvellingat God’s splendour in creation, prayer as a loving response toGod’s mercy, and also prayer as ‘unknowing’ and groping inthe dark at times. We may be greatly encouraged by readingthat several of the writers describe themselves as prayingbadly! Whether Carmelite sisters, friars or lay people, eachwriter shares with honesty and vulnerability both what helpsthem to pray and what can get in the way of their prayer. Theyshare both struggles and joys, all in growing self-acceptanceand honest awareness of who they are before God and whoGod is for them.

In all the accounts there is an intimate connection between prayer and life in all its complexity and demands. So, to give but two examples, we have a friar writing from the bustle of New York on the challenge of living in an attitude of prayer



amidst the distractions of various projects, and a writer and academic seeking to become a prayerful presence in all she does through integration of work and worship. These may find echoes in our own situations, as may the various accounts of personal frailty, sickness and family anxieties and how such have impacted prayer but also ultimately led to growth. Prayer is deeply rooted in life, and is also outward looking. So just as Teresa insisted that the reason for prayer was ‘the birth always of good works, good works’ (Interior Castle VII: 4:6), so our writers too know that their prayer is ‘real’ only when it bears fruit in service and love for others.

We are also invited into the ongoing story of Carmel. Each chapter opens with a quote from a Carmelite saint and the writers variously share how they have been inspired by those who have gone before. They do so as though sharing their friends with us, and as we read we find ourselves drawn further into this community and wanting to know more. It reminds me of Teresa’s emphasis that ‘all must be friends, all must be loved, all must be held dear, all must be helped’ (Way of Perfection 4:6). One does indeed feel among helpful friends with this volume.

So, too, the questions for reflection / discussion at the end of each chapter invite us further to befriend and engage with what we have just encountered. We don’t just read a chapter and move on – we are encouraged to linger and bring our own prayer to the conversation.

I am conscious of writing this review in the strange and unique circumstances of the Covid-19 lockdown. To be isolated, unable to worship and pray with others except via technology (which could form a whole extra chapter of course), it feels even more of a gift to sit down with eleven prayerful people and learn from their experience.



As the first volume in the intended ‘Applied Biblical & Contemplative Spirituality Series’, this book is not only excel-lent in its own right but also whets the appetite for what is to come. I eagerly await Volume 2!

Audrey Hamilton

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TERESIAN PRESSPUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE

How Do I Pray Today?, Vol. 1: The Experience of PrayerEdited by Alexander Ezechukwu, OCD & Joanne Mosley

Prayer: Journeying to God with St TeresaTomás Álvarez, OCD

Journey of Love: Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle – A Reader’s Guide

Eugene McCaffrey, OCD

St Teresa and the Our Father: A Catechism of PrayerAloysius Rego, OCD

Praying with St Teresa through the Way of PerfectionJerome Lantry, OCD

The Writings of St Teresa of Avila – An IntroductionEugene McCaffrey, OCD

John of the Cross: Seasons of PrayerIain Matthew, OCD

Infinite Horizons: Scripture through Carmelite EyesJames McCaffrey, OCD

Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of her MessageJoanne Mosley 2 volumes

Holiness For All: Themes from St Thérèse of LisieuxAloysius Rego, OCD

Upon This Mountain: Prayer in the Carmelite TraditionMary McCormack, OCD

Let Yourself Be Loved: Elizabeth of the TrinityEugene McCaffrey, OCD

Joy to the World: Experiencing the Grace of ChristmasEdited by Alexander Ezechukwu, OCD

TERESIAN PRESSSOME FORTHCOMING

PUBLICATIONS

A Moment of Prayer – A Life of PrayerConrad De Meester, OCD

Contemplative Biblical Spirituality: Carmel’s Gift to the World– Proceedings of the Scripture and Contemplative Spirituality

Conference, Oxford 2019Edited by Alexander Ezechukwu, OCD

St Paul: A Gospel of PrayerJames McCaffrey, OCD

What Carmel Means to MeEdited by Alexander Ezechukwu, OCD & Joanne Mosley

Captive Flames: A Biblical Reading of the Carmelite Saints – to be reissued

James McCaffrey, OCD

Teresian PressCarmelite Priory

Boars HillOxford OX1 5HB

www.carmelite.org.uk


Prayer for Eternal Rest

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord And let your perpetual light shine upon them.

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

Beauty Rediscovered

Vincent O'Hara

Living Prayer: A Life-Changing Experience

AnnFeloy

Carmel in Lockdown: A Journey Towards the Resurrection

with St Therese of Lisieux

Rima Devereaux

Scripture and Eucharist: Some Insights from the Carmelite Saints

Mary Forrest

In Pursuit of Contemplative Prayer

Susan Muto

Living Prayer: A Journey of the Heart

Karen Littleton

In Memory of Mother Mary of the Angels (1923-2016)

Carmelite Nuns of St Joseph,

Ontario Canada

Fragments of Theological Hope in CODIV-19

Mary Stevens

Documents

THE BREATH OF LIFE€¦ · THE BREATH OF LIFE - ... explore aspects of the life and spirituality of the youngest doctor of the Church. You will gain a deeper appreciation of the wisdom