reflection cards on the final message of the 2011 general ... · reflection cards on the final...

Reflection cards on the final message of the 2011 General Congregation.

1

Reflection cards on

the Final Message

of

the 2011 General

Congregation


2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LETTER OF PRIOR GENERAL ........................................... 3

1. CONTEMPLATIVE RELIGIOUS..................................... 6

2. AND PROPHETS OF HOPE ........................................... 12

3. IN THE MIDST OF THE PEOPLE. ................................ 18

FINAL MESSAGE OF

THE GENERAL CONGREGATION MMXI ...................... 24


3

LETTER OF PRIOR GENERAL

Rome March 25, 2012

Prot. 63/2012

Dear Brothers,

From the 5th

to the 16th

of September last year, the General

Congregation of our Order took place in the Mount Carmel

Centre (our house at Niagara Falls in Canada) as the most

important meeting that takes place between one General

Chapter and the next (See, Art.285 of our Constitutions). As

you know, the main theme of our reflections was the identity of

our Order in the present context of the Church. With this theme

it was our intention to continue the process of reflection that

began in recent General Chapters, as well as in the 2009

Council of Provinces that took place in San Felice del Benaco in

Italy. As a title for this Congregation we chose a phrase out of

the Rubrica prima , “Qualiter respondendum sit querentibus”

(What answer should be given to those who ask questions about

us?) in which there is clear indication of a concern about the

identity and the mission of the Order.


4

As I have pointed out in different places, I believe that the

atmosphere around the General Congregation was very positive,

with a genuine desire to go on generously serving the people of

God, but always with a deepening awareness of our own

identity and with a creative fidelity to our charism and

spirituality. In this process of reflection we were helped by a

number of well-qualified people from different backgrounds. As

a result of our reflections we wrote a final message that was sent

to you via our online CITOC service (104/2011). This

document highlights the essential points that emerged as our

reflection continued and which, to some degree, mark out the

main lines for our next General Chapter, which, God willing,

will take place from the 2nd

to the 21st of September 2013.

Among them, I would like to emphasise, the call to develop the

contemplative ideal of our Order (from which all our

apostolates are to spring) and the insistent call that comes to us

from different directions to be “witnesses of hope”, as well as

the mission of the Order today (presence in new places,

inculturation, formation in the emerging areas etc.)

We do not want this reflection to end with the General

Congregation, but rather we would hope that on very different

levels (individual, community, provincial) this reflection might

continue. With that in mind, we send you this material in the

form of questionnaires in which, based on the final document of

the General Congregation, we invite you to reflect upon and to


5

look deeply at the themes that appear there. This is merely a

working tool that may be used in your community meetings, on

days of retreat, in your provincial assemblies, etc. You do not

have to send any conclusions. These are merely suggestions for

all those who in union with the whole Order wish to reflect on

questions that are so important for our present and our future.

Use them as you see fit and according to your own discretion.

Even though they are primarily intended for the friars, it is

possible (and desirable) that they be used with other members

and groups of the Carmelite Family who will no doubt greatly

enrich our own reflection. Thus, in a humble kind of way, a

family kind of way, we set out on our journey towards the next

General Chapter, on which our General Council has already

begun to work. There is still much time to go, but it would not

be out of place to begin a serious preparation so that this can be

truly a moment of grace, encounter, and growth for the whole

Carmelite family.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, the Stella

Maris, guide and accompany us on this journey.

With fraternal regards and affection,

Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm.

Prior General


6

1. CONTEMPLATIVE RELIGIOUS

Reflection on the Final Message of the General

Congregation

“How to respond to those who ask” (Niagara Falls, 2011)

This material is only to give some ideas and can be

adapted as each community decides.

1. Distribution of handout.

2. Personal reading of the Final Message of the General

Congregation 2011.

COMMUNITY MEETING

3. Prayer: St. John of the Cross, 2 Ascent 5, 6-7. “The ray

of sunshine upon a smudgy window” (contemplation,

transformation, union and purification).

On 12th

January 2007, The Washington Post carried out an

unusual experiment to try to discover the artistic taste and


7

perception of beauty of the average North American citizen. For

this purpose they convinced Joshua Bell, a famous violinist to

disguise himself as a beggar, with dirty jeans and a baseball cap.

He went to one of the Metro Stations of Washington, and

played music from the wonderful concert that a few days

previously he had played in the Boston Symphony Hall. Bell

declared that it was a strange sensation as he was completely

ignored. However, he was quite amused at the whole

experience. First of all, playing his Stradivarius, worth about

three and a half million dollars, he had managed to earn only 32

dollars and 17 cents. Secondly, Bell learned that sometimes

“the most extraordinary things can be happening right beside

us and we are not aware of it”. The contemplative is a sentinel

who knows how to be aware of the presence of God.

We need, perhaps today more than ever, poets, mystics,

and contemplatives, who are able to discover the signs of God's

presence. «If union, in its most profound meaning is “God's

gazing on the human being”, contemplation will be the “gaze of

the human being towards God” and “at every work of God that

comes from His hands” […] The loving gaze of God transforms

our eyes and our heart so that we can contemplate his


8

mystery»1, This includes where apparently there are only the

outward trappings of ugliness: «One day beauty and ugliness

went to bathe in the river. Both took off their clothes and left

them on the bank. Ugliness was the first to get out of the water,

and being very astute, put on beauty's clothes. When beauty

emerged from the water, there was nothing else to do but to put

on the clothes left by ugliness. Until today, both beauty and

ugliness go about disguised and only contemplative eyes know

how to distinguish them».

Contemplation is a window on to beauty, truth and

goodness. There are many types of aesthetic surgical operations,

varnishes, that can hide a great deal of ugliness, lies and evil (cf.

O. Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray). Vice versa, there can be

apparent ugliness, sufferings, and desert experiences that can

hide the beauty of the Lord2.

1 MILLÁN ROMERAL, F., Letter of the Prior General to young

Carmelites gathered at the World Youth Day in Madrid 2011, in

http://www.ocarm.org/madrid2011/content/.

2 RATIZINGER, J., "The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of

Beauty" (Rimini; August 2002). In this article he tries to clarify this

paradox (beauty-ugliness) when he comments on the antiphons that

precede Psalm 44 in the Liturgy of the Hours (Monday, Week II,

Lent and Easter). How can we reconcile these two realities? How is it


9

“Carmel understands the life lived according to the

evangelical counsels as the best adapted way to walk towards

full transformation in Christ.” (RIVC 7, 9, 19c, 25). The

evangelical counsels are a transformative way that leads the

Carmelite progressively from the slavery of the “old man” to the

freedom of the “new man” (cf. RIVC 16): from the necessity of

“survival” to the hope of “poverty”; from the necessity of

“control” to the faith of “obedience”; from the necessity of

“affectivity” to the love of “chastity”. In the evangelical

counsels the “substance” is the transforming love of God, which

brings about union and the purification of the individual. In the

religious life, Richard Rohr, O.F.M. reminded us, during the

General Congregation, that it would be dangerous to mix up

“contemplation” with “observation”, or with “introversion”.

From one point of view, to contemplate is not the same as to

“observe” from a distance or to “look all around”. In

“observation” God is reduced to a specimen who is simply

analysed in the “laboratory of ideas”. From another perspective,

contemplation is a just a desire for introversion, or a type of

pseudo-spiritual evasion of reality. Religious consecration,

“unites more closely”, and “conforms” us more strictly to the

style of life of Jesus of Nazareth (cf. LG 44).

that «the most handsome of men» (Ps. 44 (45), 2), is «without beauty,

without majesty…his face disfigured by suffering (Is 53, 2)?


10

The River Negros and the River Solimões are two

tributaries of the Amazon. The River Negros, as its name

indicates, has black water. The Solimões, however, is a river of

brownish-red water. When the waters of these two rivers meet

to flow into the Amazon, they produce a wonderful spectacle.

For more than six kilometres, the waters flow together but in

parallel fashion, not mixing, forming a highway of two colours.

There is black water on the left and ochre on the right. Near the

city of Manaus, the great miracle of the union of the two colours

takes place. Swirls and small waterfalls act as the mixer and

together they form a new chocolate-coloured river: the Amazon.

Contemplation never moves on a parallel track to God without

ever resulting in a real encounter with Him. Contemplation

brings about the meeting, the actual encounter with Christ.

4. Reading Final Message, No. 3-4.

5. Community dialogue.

OPTION A

• What does contemplation mean for you? What can our

contemplative spirit give to the Church and the world?

• "Thus the practice of the evangelical counsels is not a

renunciation but a means by which we grow in love so as to

attain fullness of life in God" (RIVC 25). The evangelical

counsels are not just a way of "deification" but also a way of


11

"humanisation". Do the evangelical counsels make us more

credible, more human, happier, both personally and as

communities? In the community and the Province do we

promote a type of poverty that liberates, an obedience that

opens us to each other and a kind of chastity that is full of

compassion and tenderness? Are there among us personal,

communitarian, and Provincial forms of poverty, obedience and

chastity that do not come from the Gospel?

OPTION B

• Read and comment on in community Michael Plattig’s

conference, "Vivit Dominus Deus Israel in cuius conspectu sto"

(Vulgate, 1 Kings 17, 1).


12

2. AND PROPHETS OF HOPE


Congregation

“How to respond to those who ask” (Niagara Falls,

2011)

This material is only to give some ideas and can be

adapted as each community decides.

1. Distribution of handout.

2. Personal reading of the Final Message of the General

Congregation 2011.

COMMUNITY MEETING

3. Opening prayer (mosaic of biblical texts)

• Is 52: 7-10: "The feet of the messenger."

• Is 26, 1-6: "The feet of the poor."

• Jn 13: 3-14: "The feet of the disciples."

• Jn 12: 1-3, Lk 24, 36-40: "The feet of Jesus."

A Caravaggio painting: "The feet of the pilgrims"


13

Anyone who wishes can go the web site of the Order and

view pictures of the Caravaggio painting "The Madonna of the

Pilgrims."

In the Church of S. Augustine, in Rome, where Saint

Monica is buried, there is a painting attributed to Caravaggio,

entitled "The Madonna of the Pilgrims" (1604-1605). The

sanctuary of Loreto, for some time, had become a centre of

pilgrimage. The Augustinians, to honour the village to which,

according to tradition, the house of Our Lady had been moved,

commissioned the artist to paint a picture of Mary as Queen,

enthroned as a heavenly being. The artist completed the work

but, when it was time for payment, he found that the friars

neither wanted to pay, nor did they want the picture, because it

seemed irreverent to them to have represented the Mother of

God as a village woman. 3

3 Some specialists on Caravaggio affirm that the row became more acute when it

became known among the ecclesiastical hierarchy that the model who posed for the

painting (Lena Antognetti), was in fact the lover of the painter, and was a well

known Roman prostitute. Others disagreed. Whatever the truth, it is certain that the

life of the painter swung between the churches and palaces of the cardinals and the

bordellos, gambling dens and taverns of the less salubrious parts of Rome. The

great artist, by means of his work, tried to unite these two worlds. It was not

without its arguments and dangers. However, it is certain that “the feet of the

pilgrims”, finally passed the exam of orthodoxy and they remain for eternity.


14

The painting in

question depicts Mary

at the door of her house

carrying Jesus in her

arms. Kneeling in front

of Mary, are two

pilgrims, barefoot and

dirty from the dusty

road. [There were those

who said that the dirty

feet of the beggars were

so well painted and

were so real that they

even seemed to smell!]

“The pilgrim's feet”

started such a

commotion that a cleric

branded the genius

"indecent", stating that

such details should be

removed from art, especially art which was intended to awaken

"elevated devotion to Our Lady." Caravaggio, however, did not

yield, and stated categorically that there can be no higher

devotion that that given to the Mother of God by the tired and

aching feet of the poor. The white foot of the Madonna, shaped


15

like that of a ballerina, enhances the contrast with the corns and

calluses of the "pilgrim's feet."

The painter tried to convince the Augustinians that Mary

exercised her royal role by the closeness and intimacy of the

woman who is known as sister and companion to the weary.

Caravaggio realised that the humanity of Mary was glorified by

the feet.4 Luther, in one of the most beautiful commentaries

ever written on the Magnificat, portrayed Mary's humanity,

saying of her: "She claimed for herself no action, no honour, no

fame [...]. She claimed no honour for herself but continued as

before to be devoted to her normal work, milking cows,

cooking, washing dishes, sweeping the floor. She behaved the

same as a maid or housekeeper dedicated to insignificant

chores [...].”5 Mary stoops down to humanity. Stooping down

is a prophetic trait, as well as being maternal and fraternal, at

the same time. Mothers crouch down looking for their children,

and their backs are early signs of it. Mazzolari Primo says:

"That stoop in your body is the proof of your love, the

4 MILLÁN ROMERAL, F., “Et humiles victoria ornat (Sal 149,4)”, in Fonte 2 (2005) 112.

The theology that lies behind the coronation of Our Lady is quite significant: “On may think,

on a first superficial reading, that it is possible to crown Our Lady like a divine being far

from the human condition […] Really, it is the complete opposite: in Mary we crown

redeemed humanity, we recognise in Her what humanity can become and what we are called

to be”.

5 LUTHER, M., Luther’s Works.

http://www.godrules.net/library/luther/NEW1luther_c5.htm.


16

unmistakable sign of motherhood that bends down to the level

of the children."

The true prophet of the Church of the future will be the

one who comes from the "desert" like Moses, Elijah, John the

Baptist, Paul and especially Jesus, people of God and with that

special glow that only those who are used to talk with God face

to face have.

4. Reading of Final Message, No. 5-6.

5. Community discussion.

• John XXIII in his opening address to the Second Vatican

Council (October 11, 1962) stated: "In the daily exercise of our

pastoral ministry, there sometimes come to our ears, the voices

of some, who, though are very zealous for religion, seem to

have too little discretion and judgement. Such are those who in

our modern times seem to see nothing but lies and ruination ...It

seems necessary to say that we disagree with these "prophets of

doom" who are always announcing upcoming dreadful events

as if it were the end of time ... ". What does it mean to you

personally, that a Carmelite is a "prophet of hope" in our world?

• "The true contemplative is carrying the light of the risen

Christ in the middle of the nights of humanity" (No. 6). What

are the “deserts” that affect our society and the people we serve


17

in our ministries? What does your community do in order to be

a "light" in those dark nights? What more could it do?

• Pope Benedict, in the dialogue he had with the Prior

General, Fr Fernando Millán, in August 2010, during the

Pilgrimage of Hope, in Castelgandolfo, reminded us: "The

Carmelites are the ones who teach us to pray ...". How do you

relate this statement of the Pope with our prophetic Elijah

dimension of our charism? What does this statement mean to

you?

7. Our Father.

8. Marian Antiphon.


18

3. IN THE MIDST OF THE PEOPLE.


Congregation

“How to respond to those who ask” (Niagara Falls,

2011)

• The material is for guidance only and can be adapted by

each community.

1. Distribution of this leaflet.

2. Personal reading of the final message of the General

Congregation 2011

3. Personal reading, before the community meeting, of the

talk given by Michael Plattig: Practical examples of the

meaning of Carmelite spirituality for the Church (Niagara

2011). This can be downloaded from the web site of the Order.

The questions and issues raised in this reflection may serve to

guide the dialogue of the community meeting.

COMMUNITY MEETING

4. Opening prayer. 1 Kings 17,1-16 (Vg.). "The Lord lives

in whose presence I stand."


19

"The Order has always regarded contemplation as the

heart of our calling or vocation." 6 In fact, "we are faithful to

our charism if we confront different situations and cultures with

a prophetic sense and an attitude of faith, to discover the God

who lives and speaks in history. Each option for the service of

our neighbour should proceed from and refer to this

contemplative attitude." 7 For the contemplative, who

experiences the total being of God, our service among the

people is not a circumstantial addition to our charism, but is a

logical consequence of contemplation. According to our history

and spiritual tradition, any ministry emerges from the personal

relationship with God (cf. 1 Kings 17, 1; Institutio I, 2). We

cannot leave our prophetic mission or apostolic work to chance,

spontaneity and dispersal. Our RIVC in fact insists that training

for service, which is also an essential element of our charism is

to be undertaken with the same dedication as for contemplation,

prayer and fraternity (cf. RIVC 45).

6 CHALMERS, J., The God of Our Contemplation, (Rome 2003) nº

7. 7 THUIS, F.J., In wonder at the Mystery of God (Rome 1983) 40.


20

What do lay

people expect of us?

Professor M.ª Dolores

López Guzmán in her

reflection "The hope of

the religious life from

the perspective of a lay

woman” presented at

the General

Congregation (Niagara

Falls 2011), noted some

challenges that a lay

person would see for

religious “What do I

seek from a religious

...? After the reflection

so far, this question is

easier to ask. This is so

because it should only

come from heart

knowledge. For this

Elijah at the brook Kerit

Jonas Umbach, 1645-1700


21

reason most of my observations can only be understood

correctly in the light of the previous reflection.8 I will point out

in brief the aspects which seem to me to be good to think about

in order to increase the hope for a better future for all of us:

That you be what you are called to be, that your calling

excites you and that you believe in it. It is a shock and not all

encouraging to meet with religious who are constantly

downcast and moody.

That you believe profoundly in God. It is not so easy to

find "men and women of faith" and the world needs them.

That you like to talk about the "things of God". Be people

of spiritual conversation. St. Teresa wrote, "To speak of God or

hear about Him almost never tired me" (Life 8, 12). People

need different words than those which the world offers us. The

Lord offers a different language that opens us to a new

understanding of reality. It is essential to help people to grow in

friendship with God, but this needs people who are experienced

in the spiritual life and in spiritual discernment.

8 Whoever wishes can download the talk from the Order’s

website: “The Hope of the Religious Life, From a Lay Woman’s

Perspective”, given by Professor M.ª Dolores López Guzmán at

the General CongRegation (Niagara Falls 2011).


22

That you become aware that you are a sort of touchstone

that generates peace in people. In the film "Of Gods and Men"

[Xavier Beavois 2010], about the martyrs of Tibhirine, it is

moving to hear the locals say that for them “the monks were the

branches of the tree where they could rest." This creates

accountability because in part it obligates you to be examples.

Jesus said it clearly: I have given you an example that you

should do as I have done to you (Jn 13.15).

That you be open to the signs of the times. This is

essential, so that you do not get bogged down by money or

particular people, or specific apostolates ... and thus maintain

that universal outlook that characterises you.

That you live simply because, among the three vows,

poverty is the one with the greater visibility and is the first that

people detect if it is not a stable part of your lives. A poor

lifestyle leads to gratitude, because to the one who has nothing,

everything seems a lot.

That the style you cultivate in your shared mission is a

style that contributes to an increase of mutual trust between lay

people and religious; that you know how to appreciate

professionalism (and not require from lay people that they be

volunteers working 24 hours a day), and that you do not forget

to value the lay vocation."

5. Reading of Final Message, No. 7-8.


23

6. Community discussion

• In our preaching do we respect and assume that people

are mature? Do we just tell them what they are to do and not to

do?

• Does work for Justice and Peace truly spring from the

contemplative dimension of our charism? Are we politicians or

prophets and people of God?

• What are our Eucharistic celebrations like? Are they just

a precept, a place to instruct people? Is the Eucharist a service

we offer to God, or is it a service that God offers people?

• In our spiritual accompaniment, do we lead people to

moral perfectionism or spiritual freedom?

7. Our Father.

8. Marian Antiphon.


24

FINAL MESSAGE OF THE GENERAL

CONGREGATION MMXI

“Qualiter respondendum sit quaerentibus”

“How shall we respond to those who are seeking?”

To all the Members of the Carmelite Family: Peace and

the Grace in the Lord .

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord,

continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him

and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding

in thanksgiving .” (Col 2:6-7). With these words of the Apostle

Saint Paul, proclaimed in the liturgy of the first day, and

praying for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, Prior General Fr

Fernando Millán Romeral inaugurated the 2011 General

Congregation.

1. The General Congregation was celebrated at Mount

Carmel Spiritual Centre, Niagara Falls, from the 5th

to the 15 th

September, 2011. The theme was “ Qualiter respondendum sit

quaerentibus ” (“How shall we respond to those who are

seeking? ”). These are the opening words of the Rubrica Prima

which can be found in our 1281 Constitutions, the oldest


25

Constitutions that we have. This document can be traced back to

1247, w hen the Order, while migrating to Europe, adopted a

mendicant life style. The Formula vitae and our Rule already

presented an implicit ecclesiology. The Rubrica Prima, from an

ecclesiological point of view, was the official answer to those

who asked us about the origins of our Order. The present

question, we suppose, has nothing to do with how we were born

or about our origins, but it challenges us to ask ourselves: “Who

are we? What are we doing here? (cfr 1 Kings 19:10), and why

do we do what we do in the Church?”

2. Following the directives given by our General

Council, we dealt with the second part of a reflection already

begun at the 2007 General Chapter: “ In obsequio Jesu Christi.

Praying and prophetic communities in a changing world.” We

dealt with the first part of this theme (“ Praying and prophetic

communities”) at the Council of Provinces meeting at San

Felice del Benaco in 2009. During these past days, using an

ecclesiological criterion, we dealt with the second part: “in a

changing world”. Three experts helped us, from different points

of view, to deepen our Carmelite identity. Fr Richard Rohr,

OFM, a Franciscan friar, proposed some areas which religious

life can offer to the Church and to the world. Professor María

Dolores López Guzmán, from the point of view of a committed

lay woman in the Church, described to us the hope that religious

life offers in dialogue with other states of life. Fr Michael


26

Plattig, O.Carm ., highlighted certain questions and practical

examples of how our Carmelite spirituality can contribute to the

Church.

3. We recalled during the past few days how

throughout our history and in our spiritual tradition,

contemplation is not only the heart of the Carmelite charism,

but also the best gift, the hidden treasure, the precious pearl (cfr

Mt 13:44 -46) that we can offer to the world and to the Church.

One is a contemplative where love becomes active.

Contemplation is a process of gradual transformation from the

false self (the old person) to the true self (the new person)

hidden in Christ (cfr Col 3:3), and realized in us by the Holy

Spirit to achieve union with God in love (RIVC, 1). It is love

which transforms our works, our thoughts, our feelings (cfr

Const. 17, RIVC, 23): that love which comes from God and

with which we serve humanity. It is love which purifies our

thoughts, heals our wounds, unites us to our brothers and sisters,

alleviates our sufferings, denounces injustice and opens ways to

reconciliation. Certainly, it is love which changes and

transforms our world. Our mystics remind us not to forget that

it is love which gives value to all of our works, since “ God

looks only on the love with which you do what you do” (St

Teresa of Avila , Exc., 5). Love is the vocation of the

contemplative: “ to love you and to make you love d” (St

Therese of Lisieux, Letter 119).


27

4. What is the specific characteristic of Carmelite

religious life? Religious life itself already refers to and speaks

of the goodness of the Lord, and visibly offers to the world a

clear message: “ God alone suffices” (St Teresa of Avila,

Poetry) . One need do nothing special, except just to be, since “

the dignity of the religious vocation has an intrinsic value in the

bosom of the Church, beyond its connection to any ministry or

service (cfr. RIVC, 112). The best icon of Religious Life is the

very presence of the consecrated person. Consecrated life, as

LG 44 points out , invites us Carmelites to live our

contemplative attitude, imitating “ much more closely (pressius)

that life form which the Son of man undertook by coming into

the world...” The comparative pressius, translated into our

vernacular languages as “ much more closely” loses the

intensity of the Latin term. Pressius is derived from the verb

presso, which means “to press”, “to squeeze”, “to unite more

tightly”. Inspired by this image, our consecration “ conforms”

us better to the life style of Jesus of Nazareth. We better

understand who we are when we enter into permanent dialogue

with all God’s people, because no single vocation in the Church

can fully fathom the depth of the mystery of Christ. “Carmel

understands its life according to the evangelical counsels, as

the most appropriate means of moving towards full

transformation in Christ” (RIVC, 7, 9, 1 , 9c; 25) and towards

liberty (RIVC, 16). Hence the exercise of the evangelical


28

counsels, rather than being “ the renouncing of something” or a

means of moral perfectionism, “ is rather a means of growing in

love and so reaching the fullness of life in God” (RIVC, 25).

We become a gift for God (“in obsequio Jesu Christi vivere

debeat, ” Rule 1) and for others, rendering our lives as an

offering.

5. The question which we have been examining in the

past few days is not so much “What do we hope for?”, but rather

“ What does God hope for us?” Our hope and our joy are based

in Jesus Christ, the beginning and the end of all reality. The

present, even if filled with burdens, can be lived with

enthusiasm; it is moving towards an end, but this goal is so

great that it justifies the effort needed (cfr Spes Salvi, 1).

Christian hope is God-centered. The Apostle Saint Paul reminds

us that the community of Ephesus was without hope because

they lived in this world as if they were “without God” (Eph

2:12). Our hope is rooted in knowing God, the true God (cf . 1

Kings, 18), the crucified Lord, the Risen Lord (cfr Lk 24:5-6).

Amongst the things that we can hope for, even if it leads to

rejection, is the cross of the Lord. Only by being friends with

the cross of the Lord (cf. Phil 3:18-19), will we live contentedly

and give hope to the weak. Our saints remind us that the

principal cause of not advancing in the spiritual life, is that we

are sometimes enemies of the cross of the Lord: “There will be

many who will begin but they will never end. And I think the


29

main reason is that they do not embrace the cross from the very

beginning.” (St Teresa of Avila , Life, 11, 15). Curiously

enough, our motto “ Zelo zelatus sum pro Domino Deo

exercituum” is not a triumphal cry of the prophet Elijah, but

rather a “prayer of complaint ” in which the prophet recognizes

his impotence and expresses his crisis and doubts, addressing

himself directly to God. We should not consider our poverty

and our limitations as failures, nor simply resign ourselves to

them, but rather we should see them as an authentic school of

transformation and of contemplation. Moreover it is necessary

to recognize our weakness in order to be able to better know

who God is and to let ourselves be saved by Him (cfr 2 Cor

12:9). The God of revelation, who showed Himself so powerful

in creation, wanted to manifest Himself as weak and powerless

in redemption. It is only in this way that He can be our

Redeemer and our Hope.

6. The experience of God lived in fraternity urges us to

take owner ship of “the mission of Christ” to be prophets of

hope. The authentic contemplative is the bearer of the light of

the Risen Christ in the midst of the darkness of the night of

humanity. There are many forms of desert in the midst of the

night: the desert of poverty and of abandonment, of loneliness

and of destroyed love. There is also the desert of God’s

darkness, that of forgetting the dignity of the person. The

external deserts are multiplied in the world because they have


30

extended the dark nights of the interior deserts. Our mission

does not consist in passive hope, but rather in hastening the

coming of the kingdom of God (cfr 2 Pt 3:12). All that we have

received in our Carmelite charism, our history, our spirituality,

by the very logic of gift, does not belong to us , because we

have received it “to donate it” and “to give it in the same way

that it was given to us ” (cfr John of the Cross, The Call, 3,78).

And it was given to us without interest and in abundant measure

(cfr Lk 6:38). Benedict XVI in conversation with the Prior

General during the Pilgrimage of Hope at Castelgandolfo in

August 2010 reminded us that “The Carmelites teach us how

to pray” . Any Carmelite apostolate or mission should teach us

not to accumulate prayers, turning devotions into pure

superstition and magic or mere collectors’ items, but to really

pray, that is, to nurture a mature relationship with God and with

others. The expressions with which the mystics speak of the

relationship with God enjoy a great freshness and simplicity,

and precisely because of this, they connect powerfully with the

hear t of God and with the essentials of life.

7. In these days we also recalled how the practice of

living in the presence of God ( cfr 1 Kings 17:1), the mystery of

allowing God to be God, the rediscovery of the spirituality of

the cell, the balance between silence and words, solitude, “

vacare Deo” , the “dark night” and our mendicant life style are t

he yeast which nourishes the Church and our world and which


31

offers us food for thought in our pastoral ministry. We are

aware that we are rich in tradition and theological models. But

perhaps we need to revitalize our mystic al journeys which, in

practice , serve to transmit to others the wealth of Carmel and

the beauty of having seen the Lord. The Carmelite in the midst

of the world is at the service of the cultivation of God’s garden,

Carmel, creating sacred places, mystical spaces where God can

shine. Our ministry should present us with a series of questions:

a) Do we respect and presuppose the maturity of the faithful in

our preaching? Do we tell them only what they should or should

not do? b) Does our work for justice and peace really flow from

our contemplative dimension? Are we politicians or prophets

and people of God? c) How do we celebrate the Eucharist? Is i t

only a duty, a place to instruct the people? Is it a service that we

give to God or rather a service which God gives to His people?

d) In spiritual accompaniment, do we seek to lead people to

moral perfection ism or to spiritual freedom ? Carmelites work

without appropriating the results of their work. They must

decrease so that Go d can increase (cfr Jn 3:30). They enlighten

without eclipsing the action of God, fully aware that if in our

mission we belittle God, we belittle ourselves. We do not

announce to the world a spirituality of efficiency, of success and

of productivity, but rather a spirituality of the little way and

humility where our trust is placed in God.


32

8. Blessed Titus Brandsma, from this very place in

1935 during his tour of North America (Washington, Chicago,

New York, Allentown, etc.) was deeply moved by the spectacle

of Niagara Falls. He wrote in his diary: “I am contemplating the

imposing Niagara Falls... from the high channel, I see them

rushing down ceaselessly. What is surprising is the marvelous

and complex possibility of the waters... I see God in the work of

his hands and the marks of his love in every visible thing. I am

seized by a supreme joy which is above all other joys.”

Certainly Fr Titus did not reduce contemplation to a mere

private and narcissistic self -complacency, but felt that he was

in solidarity with the men and women of his own time. In fact,

in his famous speech on the occasion of his investiture as Rector

of the Catholic University of Nijmegen, on the 17th

of October

1932 , he asked: “ Why has the image of God become so

obscured to the point that it no longer says anything to so

many? Among the many questions that I have, none disturbs me

more than the enigma of why so many learned and proud

people, engulfed by progress, alienate themselves from God.”

We also share the doubts and concerns of the people of our own

time.

9. We Carmelites salute Mary the Mother of God, as the

“Star of the Sea”. Life is like a voyage through the sea of

history in which Mary shows us the way. Holy Mary, Mother of


33

Hope, teach u s to believe, to hope and to love. Ave Maris Stella

enlighten and guide us on our path.

Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre,

Niagara Falls, Canada, 15th

September, 2011

reflection cards on the final message of the 2011 general ... · reflection cards on the final...

Documents