Thomas McGinnis, O.Carm.
We have shown in a previous article that the principal end of the Carmelite Order is found in true and infused contemplation, which is God’s crowning gift for a life of faithful and generous asceticism It follows, therefore, that the Carmelite school of spirituality does not see in prayer merely a means to secure progress in virtue. Rather is prayer the center of the entire Carmelite spiritual life, the exercise of love par excellence, as can be seen from the seventh chapter of the Carmelite Rule: « Each one is to remain in his cell or near it, meditating day and night on the law of the Lord and watching in prayer, unless occupied in some other lawful work ». In reference to this chapter of the Rule, the present Constitutions of the First Order tell us this: « Let it be deeply impressed upon our minds that the life of the religious is prayer, and that if prayer be wanting spiritual death will result, whereas if prayer abound life also will abound. And this is so true of our Order that we profess the principal and primary end of the Order to consist in prayer and contemplation » (art. 148).
When one thinks of Carmel, one thinks principally of mental prayer. Such a thought tends to frighten some of us, since we forget that St. Teresa has said that mental prayer, in her opinion, is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him Who, we know, loves us (cf. Life of St. Teresa by Herself, chap. 8). We have seen above that prayer is an elevation of the soul to God, by which we will in time what God from all eternity wills that we should ask of Him, namely, the different means of salvation, especially progress in charity. But we feel the need of a more intimate prayer in which our soul, in deeper recollection, may come into contact with the Blessed Trinity dwelling in us. This we desire that we may receive more abundantly from the interior Master that light of life which alone can make us penetrate and taste the mysteries of salvation, and reform our character by supernaturalizing it, by making it conformable to Him Who invites us to seek peace of soul in humility and sweetness. This intimate prayer is mental prayer, the prayer that prepares for infused contemplation. It is that spontaneous, intimate prayer with which all truly simple Christian souls are acquainted. It was the prayer of all the saints, long before the modern treatises on meditation.
This conception of the essential characteristics of all mental prayer should be kept constantly in mind, particularly by those who search in vain for a Carmelite method of mental prayer corresponding, for example to the method of St. Sulpice. The lack of fixed rules for mental prayer is simply the result of the Order’s antiquity. As Fr. A. Poulain, S. J., has written in his classical work, Des Graces d’Oraison: « Before the fifteenth century, or even before the sixteenth, the usage of methodical mental prayer — prayer, that is to say, where the subject, method, and duration are determined — is not traceable in the Church. It seems that the prayer of the old Orders consisted in penetrating the mind with ideas inspired by the Divine Office and Holy Scripture; then in free moments it reverted peacefully to these thoughts without any preconceived plan. The rules of Orders before the sixteenth century contain no definite instructions regarding prayer, apart from the Divine Office. Take the primitive rule of the Carmelites, for instance. Composed by St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, it was confirmed and modified by Pope Innocent IV in 1248. It was reestablished by St. Teresa for the reformed Carmelites, but she had to make the addition of two hours mental prayer » (chap. 2, art. 66).
From this, however, we must not conclude that the newcomer to Carmel should be left entirely to himself, without guidance, counsel, and advice, in the face particularly of the established periods of prayer which the more modern Constitutions demand. Carmel by no means rejects formal meditation, methodical mental prayer. In fact, as early as the fifteenth century we find a Carmelite strong in its support and propagation: Blessed John Soreth. He taught his fellow Carmelites that meditation has a threefold object: 1) The Book of Nature, worthy of our admiration as revealing so much of the mystery and law of God, an object which, after the Rule, the Carmelite should make one of the principal themes for his prayerful consideration; 2) The Book of Scripture, which must be meditated upon constantly, since it has been written expressly to manifest God’s law to us; 3) The Book of Life, which God
Himself writes for each one of us, to teach us how we in particular must walk in His sight and be perfect (cf. Expositio Paraenetica Regulae Carmelitarum, Textus VIII, chap. I). That Carmel today preserves this same attitude toward methodical prayer, namely, that it should be taught to beginners, we find clearly enunciated by Fr. John Haffert in a paper read in Rome at a meeting of all Carmelite Novice Masters in October, 1932. « Since the Carmelite must be totally dedicated to prayer », he writes, « it is a most serious duty of the Novice Master to instruct his subjects in the right manner of praying. He should explain several methods of prayer, from which each novice can select one according to his own character; for the same method which proves a help to one, can prove a detriment to another » (cf. Vita Carmelitana, pgs. 141-145). This is simply an elaboration of the teaching already contained in the present Constitutions of the First Order.
