Carmelite Spirituality

   "The Discalced Carmelite Nuns are, by calling, part of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. They belong to a family consecrated in a special way to loving and venerating the Holy Mother of God; and they seek to attain evangelical perfection in union with her. Mary's presence among her daughters and sisters pervades the entire Carmelite vocation. It imparts a special Marian tone to their contemplation, sisterhood, evangelical self-denial, and apostolic spirit." (Const. Ch. 3 #53) "In Our Lady we contemplate the ideal of the Order lived to perfection. Her example inspires us to follow in her footsteps. She takes the lead among the Lord's poor and little ones. She best exemplifies contemplative life in the Church." (Const. Ch.3 #55)

Prayer Before The Tabernacle

Spiritual Reading

Continual Prayer

   Each of you is to stay in his own cell or nearby, pondering the Lord's law day and night and keeping watch at his prayers unless attending to some other duty. (Rule #10)

Exhortations

   The sword of the spirit, the word of God (cf Eph. 6,17) must abound (cf. Col. 3, 16) in your mouths and hearts (cf Rom. 10,8). Let all you do have the Lord's word for accompaniment (cf Col. 3, 17; Cor. 10,31).

St. Joseph Shrine

Work

   You must give yourselves to work of some kind. (Rule #20)

Silence

   The apostle would have us keep silence, for in silence he tells us to work (2 Thess. 3,12). As the prophet also makes known to us "silence is the way to foster holiness." (cf Is.32, 17) Elsewhere he says "Your strength will lie in silence and hope (cf Is. 30,15) (Rule #21)

   “Discalced Carmelite Nuns are obliged by their vocation ‘to live in allegiance to Christ Jesus’ and to ‘meditate day and night on the law of the Lord and watch in prayer’. Holy Mother was faithful to this principle of the ‘primitive’ Rule. She renewed the call to contemplation of Mt. Carmel’s fathers of old. She made prayer the foundation of her daughters’ life and their primary activity.

   "True to the ideal of their Holy Mother, (St. Teresa) the Discalced Carmelite Nuns live their contemplative, ecclesial life in an atmosphere that integrates, on the one hand, solitude and silence, with a sisterly communion on the other. This is lived in a family which is set up like the little 'college of Christ' centered on love for the Lord, and ruled by sisterly charity and generous self-denial." (Constitutions Ch.1 #11)

   The obligation of praying and of contemplating cannot be confined to participating in prayer at stated times. On the contrary, in the spirit of the Rule, it must permeate the entire existence of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns. In that way they will walk in the presence of the living God (cf. 1 Kings 18,24), put faith, hope and love unceasingly into practice and make their entire life a prayerful quest for union with God. (Const. Ch. 4, 61)

   Christ raised the prayer of his disciples to the dignity of a share in his own filial converse with the Father in the Holy Spirit ( cf. Lk. 11, 2-4), Rom. 8, 15-17). Model , teacher , and mediatior of Christian prayer, he taught his friends the Our Father. This evangelical prayer expresses the intentions which the Christian holds dearest; and, as Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus noted, it contains a program of life that follows the way of perfection. (Const. ch. 4, 62)