Mystery Creates History

"IS ANYTHING TOO MARVELOUS FOR THE LORD TO DO?" – Gen 18:14

The Second Vatican Council (2 of 14)

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Council Fathers summoned all religious to a “continuous return to the sources of all Christian life, to the original inspiration behind a given community, and an adjustment of the community to the changed conditions of the times” – Perfectae Caritatis, 2.

The original Carmelites were Hermits. The Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel seek to return to the eremitical spirit and life of the first Hermits on Mount Carmel. Those first Carmelites had spoken with St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem and described how they had been living on Mount Carmel. Then they asked him to express their way of life in a formula acceptable to the Church. St. Albert's response became “The Rule of St. Albert,” thus, he became known as Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Lawgiver of Carmel.

In the course of history the international Carmelite Order emerged. The varied expressions of the Rule of St. Albert encompass the First Order of Friars and Hermits, the Second Order of Nuns and Hermits, the Third Order of affiliated apostolic Carmelite Religious Communities, Secular Institute and Lay Carmelites. All Carmelites, walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, "pure in heart and steadfast in conscience" (Rule #2) daily celebrating the Eucharist, treasuring and pondering the Word of God in unceasing prayer, living is silence and solitude, in Spirit and in Truth, are united in one family.

In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, I believed God was calling me to return to the roots of the Order and to be a Hermit.

Jesus showed me how the graces of one’s Baptism and of one’s Solemn Vows can be expressed through the practice of charity, detachment and humility, and through communication in prayer with God, with one’s self and with others. At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I wrote two books: Friendship with Christ: Love and Service and Becoming My Disciples.

St. Teresa of Jesus tells us charity, detachment, and humility are virtues that prepare one to receive God's gift of contemplative prayer. Jesus awakened my heart to the mystery of the Holy Trinity hidden in these virtues and expressed in listening and self-revelation. To converse means to cross over. When you listen, you cross over into another's heart. I speak of heart in the biblical sense. When you listen in Jesus, you cross over into another's heart – one's whole person. To listen in Jesus is not a skill nor an art, nor a means of achieving any human goal; it is a grace. It is the pearl of great price that Christ says, "the man went off and sold all his possessions to buy..." – Mt 13:44. Self-revelation compliments listening. You cannot listen and reveal yourself at the same time. Jesus shows you how to respond to each grace individually, not simultaneously.

After much prayer and listening to God to discern His will, there came a moment when I knew Our Lord was calling me anew to sell all my possessions in order to “buy the pearl of great price.” He wanted me to set out in faith and love “with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart” – The Ascent of Mount Carmel, 3. On January 12, 1976, I went forth, fortified with the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm" – Is 7:9. As the plane leveled off in the clouds, the title of two books came to mind: Katherine Burton's Sorrow Built A Bridge and Thomas Merton's Exile End In Glory.

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