Carmelite Spirituality : A Continuing Tradition

CONTEMPLATION: A direct and intimate experience with God in a spirit of contemplation, is the basis of Carmelite spirituality and is required of those who wish to lead the life of Carmel. It is to Christ that the Carmelite turns, offering Him prayer and love. And it is following Him that the Carmelite intends to walk "with a pure heart and a good conscience".

PRAYER: The exercise of prayer at Carmel is accompanied by a minimum of material conditions. Prayer involves no rigorously prescribed methods. For its development it requires the liberty and fidelity of a soul constantly visited and vivified by the spirit. This search for God in silence and solitude, this absence of imposed forms of prayer, this is what characterizes Carmel.

MARIAN DEVOTION: One of the noted characteristics of Carmel's spirituality is the presence of the Virgin Mary in our Life, communion with her, imitation of her virtues and cultivating special devotion to her. Carmel professes a total consecration to the Virgin Mary along with its total dedication to the service of Jesus Christ. Carmelites have expressed their consecration to the Virgin particularly through the liturgy. They have dedicated churches to her and venerated her image. The feast of the Solemn Commemoration of the Virgin of Mount Carmel is the principal feast. (The remembrance of the Virgin's protection in what is the symbol of her great love for Carmelites: the gift of the Holy Scapular and its privileges, is celebrated on July 16th as the date traditionally associated with St Simon Stock's vision of Mary.) Together with the liturgy, characteristic devotional practices have flourished, such as the Angelus and the Rosary and others proper to the Order, alongside the scapular devotion.

APOSTOLIC ZEAL: Carmelite prayer has an apostolic side and overflows with missionary fervor. Carmel has never in fact separated the apostolic from the contemplative life. The Carmelites reach out in a unique fashion as contemplatives in action, caring for and serving their fellow Christians and non-Christians alike. They engage in preaching, teaching, and spiritual direction. Others serve as missionaries, as university teachers, or in pastoral care. To follow Jesus Christ as Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, called together by the Holy Spirit, to live as Elijah in the presence of God, to serve the needs of the Church and each other in love. This is the life purpose of the Carmelite.

The Order of Carmel has been the nurturing place of many contemplatives and mystics over the centuries even in our modern times, like Saint Edith Stein. Our Holy Father says, "Thus an intimacy of spiritual relations has blossomed, leading to an ever - increasing communion with Christ and Mary."