During the first Provincial Chapter of the unified German Province held on 25-29 May 2015 were elected:

• Prior Provincial:  Fr. Dieter Lankes, O.Carm.
• First Councilor:  Fr. Peter Schröder, O.Carm.
• Second Councilor:  Br. Andreas Scholten, O.Carm.
• Third Councilor:  Fr. Klemens August Droste, O.Carm.
• Fourth Councilor:  Br. Guido Niessner, O.Carm.

The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of Aracena, Spain, was held 21 May 2015. The following were elected:

• Prioress:  Sr. Elena M. López Font., O.Carm.
• 1st Councilor:   Sr. M. Remedios Alvarez Soriano, O.Carm.
• 2nd Councilor:  Sr. Milagros Herrera Badillo, O.Carm.
• Director of Novices:  Sr. M. Remedios Alvarez Soriano, O.Carm.
• Treasurer:  Sr. Milagros Herrera Badillo, O.Carm.
• Sacristan:  Sr. Elsy Arackal Inasu, O.Carm.

We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.

(St. Teresa of Jesus)

It is love alone that gives worth to all things.

(St. Teresa of Jesus)

A soldier pierces Jesus’ heart
John 19:31-37

1. LECTIO

a) Opening prayer:

Lord Jesus, grant that we may stand before your Word in a listening attitude. Help us to stay calm, not to be superficial and distracted. If we meditate on your Word, then we shall, certainly, experience an invasion of tenderness, compassion and love that flows from your pierced heart on humanity. Grant that we may understand the symbolism of the blood and water flowing from your heart. Grant that we too may gather that blood and water so that we may share in your infinite passion of love and suffering when you underwent every physical and moral suffering. May our meditating on those symbols break our egoism, our self-centredness and our indifference. May the water and blood mentioned in today’s Gospel calm our anxieties and worries, take away our vainglory, purify our greediness, transform our fears into hopes and our darkness into light. As we open ourselves to the force of your Word, we say to you with all our heart and soul, “Jesus, you are truly the revelation of love”.

b) Reading of the Gospel:

31 It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies' remaining on the cross during the Sabbath -- since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity -- the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. 32 Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. 33 When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs 34 one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. 35 This is the evidence of one who saw it -- true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true -- and he gives it so that you may believe as well. 36 Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture: Not one bone of his will be broken; 37 and again, in another place scripture says: They will look to the one whom they have pierced.

c) A moment of silence:

Let the silence in this meeting with the Word be truly a prayer: a conversation with God, a listening to Him who reveals himself and calls you and invites you to be one with Him.

2. MEDITATIO

a) A key to the reading – content and division:

This passage of the Gospel begins with a mention of the Pasch of the Jews and with a request to Pilate (19,31). For the Evangelist such an event holds extraordinary importance. The centre of the Gospel passage is the piercing of the side whence flow blood and water. We should take note of the symbols in this passage: the blood symbolises death and love to the end; the water whence life comes is the symbol of love expressed and communicated. In the context of the Pasch, these symbols point to the blood of the Lamb who conquers death, and the water, source that purifies. These symbols seek to show that this love (the blood) saves by giving its entire life (water-Spirit). That which the Evangelist witnessed, is the basis of faith. The passage is organised thus: first the obligation of rest on the festive day which leads to the request made of Pilate that the bodies be taken down (19,31); there follows the scene on the cross when a soldier pierces Jesus’ side (19,32-34); finally the witness of the Evangelist, based on the Law and the Prophets (19,35-37).

b) The festive rest and the request to Pilate (19,31):

The Jewish leaders, because of the legal purity required by the Pasch now close at hand, and worried that the execution of the death of Jesus might profane the Sabbath or even the whole feast of the Pasch, «asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away». They are not in the least aware that their Pasch has been substituted by Jesus’ Pasch. The mention of the bodies is significant. Mention is made not only of the body of Jesus, but also of the bodies of those crucified with him, as if to express Jesus’ solidarity with those crucified with him and with the whole of humanity.

Jesus’ body on the cross, that makes him one with humanity, is, for the Evangelist, God’s sanctuary (2,21). The bodies of those crucified could not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, since what was involved was the preparation for the most solemn feast in the Jewish tradition. Anyway, this feast will lose its traditional meaning and will be substituted by the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

«The Jews» put concrete requests before Pilate: that the legs of those crucified be broken so as to accelerate their death and thus avoid the problem that they pose at that particular time. None of these requests is carried out in the case of Jesus: the soldiers do not break his legs nor do they take him down from the cross.

c) The pierced side (19,32-33):

The soldiers break the legs of those with Jesus, but when they get to Jesus they see «he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs…» It is significant that the soldiers break the legs of those crucified with Jesus. They are still alive and now that Jesus is dead, they too can die. It is as though Jesus, by dying before them, through his death has opened the way for them to the Father and now they can follow him. By stating that they did not break the legs of Jesus, the Evangelist seems to be saying: No one can take life from Jesus, because he gave his life of himself (10:17ff; 19:30). «One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water». The reader may be surprised by the action of the soldier since Jesus was already dead. What need was there to pierce him? It seems that hostility goes on even after death. The piercing with the point of the lance wants to destroy him forever. This act of hatred allows Jesus to give the kind of love that produces life. This fact is extraordinarily important and contains great wealth of meaning. The blood that flows from Jesus’ side symbolises his death, which he accepts so as to save humanity; it is and expression of his glory and of his love to the end (1:14; 13:1); it is the gift of the shepherd for his sheep (10:11); it is the love of the friend who gives his life for his friends (15: 13). This supreme proof of love, which does not withdraw in the face of the suffering of death on a cross, is an object of contemplation for us on this solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From his pierced side comes love, which love is his and at the same time inseparably that of the Father. The water that comes out also represents the Spirit, source of life. The blood and water witness to his love proclaimed and communicated. The allusion to the symbols of water and wine at the wedding feast of Cana is evident: the hour has come for Jesus to give the wine of his love. Now the definitive wedding has taken place. The law of supreme and sincere love (1:17) shown on the cross, echoed in his commandment, «love one another as I have loved you” (13:34), is poured out into the hearts of believers by the Spirit. The divine plan of love is fulfilled in Jesus in the outpouring of blood and water (19:28-30); now it is the time for men and women to realise its fulfilment. In this fulfilment, we shall be aided by the Spirit that flows from the pierced side of Jesus, transforming us into a new humanity, capable of loving and of becoming children of God (1: 12).

d) The witness of the Evangelist and of Scripture:

With the scene of Jesus pierced on the cross, the Evangelist gives proof of a great and solemn witness so that all who listen to him might come to believe. This final and supreme manifestation will form the foundation of the faith of future disciples. We should note that only here does the Evangelist address his readers with the plural “you”: «so that you may believe as well”.

Jesus’ pierced side on the cross is the great sign towards which all the persons mentioned throughout the Gospels converge, but above all, all the readers of today, to whom it is given to understand the full meaning of Jesus’ existence. The passage concerning the pierced side is, for the Evangelist, the key that explains the giving of oneself for the salvation of humanity. Even if such a sign may seem paradoxical to the modern reader, in God’s plan it becomes the manifestation of his saving power. Could not God have chosen another sign of his saving love? Why did he choose the sign of a man sentenced to death and death on a cross? What image of God do we see in this sign? God manifests himself solely in generous love capable of giving life.

e) A few questions:

- What place does the contemplation of the pierced heart of Jesus hold in your personal prayer? Do you allow yourself to be involved in the symbols of blood and water that express the mysterious gift of God to you and to humanity?

- Have you ever thought that at the time of greatest resistance to God and the death of Jesus, there begins the moment of grace, mercy, the gift of the Spirit and of the life of faith?

- How do you see your weaknesses? Do you see them as means of mercy, especially when you are ready to admit them? Do you not know that they may be instruments that God uses to evangelise your heart, to save you, to forgive you, and to give you new life to love in love?

- People who draw away from God, difficult young people, violence, hostility … often give rise within us of moans, discomfort, bitterness and scepticism. Have you ever thought that God may be saving people in their sins and beginning with their sins? Have you ever thought that so many men, women, young people who are in prison or in communities for drug addicts experience in those who help them a meeting with the Lord and thus feel loved and saved by him?

3. ORATIO

a) Isaiah 12:2; 4cd; 5-6

Look, he is the God of my salvation:
I shall have faith and not be afraid,
for Yahweh is my strength and my song,
he has been my salvation.'

'Praise Yahweh,
invoke his name.
Proclaim his deeds to the people,
declare his name sublime.

Sing of Yahweh,
for his works are majestic,
make them known throughout the world.
Cry and shout for joy,
you who live in Zion,
For the Holy One of Israel is among you in his greatness.'

b) Closing prayer:

At the end of this moment of listening to the Word, let us use the help of prayers that come from a loving and wise study of the Bible. Prayer begins with listening and leads to action «with a pure heart and right conscience». The title of the prayer is «That I may love, Lord!»: Is it an empty dream to imagine a united humanity, where all are glad to live with others and feel useful, understood and loved? How often people, yesterday, today and in the future, have had and will have such a dream, Lord! The need for unity and the desire for charity dwell in human nature. Love, the law that unites the universe, is the reason and vocation that You, Lord, entrust to everyone who comes to life. To live means to feel loved and to be able to love. When one feels lonely, empty, without love, it seems that life is worthless and colourless! How is it, then, Lord, that not all seek love, always, nor do they all live for others, nor are they capable of giving themselves? To give oneself to each other means transforming the existence of the world into gift. Grant, Lord, that I may understand and live this wonderful vocation of love! (Lucio Renna)

4. CONTEMPLATIO

On earth, the knowledge we can have of God is divine silence. Through the lectio divina our thirst for the Word is not quenched but is made more acute. St. Augustine said: «You find him only to seek him more avidly». When a heart is seduced by the Word, it feels as if it were dying if the encounter were to be deferred. This is what Teresa of Avila experienced: «Muero por que no muero» (I die because I do no die). To initiate this moment of contemplation, I would like to quote three sayings of Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity. They are taken from a part entitled “ a hymn” to suffering, but we must not think that suffering was the Absolute in her life. Rather she says that we are called to “enter into the joy of the Lord”. The first thought is: «Suffering is such a great thing, such a divine thing! It seems to me that if the Blessed in heaven could envy us one thing, they would envy us this treasure. It is such a powerful lever on the heart of the good God!» (Letter to Mrs. Angles, 14 August 1904). The second thought is: «Suffering is a string that produces even sweeter sounds and she (the soul) likes to make it its instrument to move more deliciously the heart of God» (Retreat on How to find heaven on earth). The last thought is: «Nothing moves God’s heart like suffering. If we cannot desire or go to meet it, then at least we can accept the trials that God sends us. The more he loves a soul, the more he makes it suffer» (Diary, 17 March 1889). Why is it that Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity sees in suffering «such a great thing, such a divine thing that moves the heart of God?» Because it is the road taken by Christ. Christ’s Pasch, passion and death on the one hand and resurrection on the other are one as are concave and convex.

With great joy we present the new edition of the electronic bulletin for the Carmelite Laity. In this third publication we want to share a major event that gathered large crowds: the Congress of the Third Order of Carmelites of Asia and Australia held in the Philippines. This edition also highlights the figure of our sister St. Teresa de Jesus, Doctor of the Church, because the Carmelite Family all around the world is celebrating the V Centenary of her birth. We thank you for reading this E-bulletin and for the suggestions that you constantly send us for the next editions. God bless you!

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Please click here to download the E-bulletin

http://ocarm.org/ebook/laybulletin/no3/No2-15EN.pdf

During the Provincial Chapter of the Polish Province held on 18-22 May 2015 were elected:

• Prior Provincial:  Fr. Bogdan Meger, O.Carm.
• First Councilor:  Fr. Tadeusz Popiela, O.Carm.
• Second Councilor:  Fr. Zbigniew Czerwien, O.Carm.
• Third Councilor:  Fr. Wieslaw Strzelecki, O.Carm.
• Fourth Councilor:  Fr. Marcin Siemek, O.Carm.

On 16th May 2015, in the Holy Rosary Church in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Archbishop Joseph Harris, CSSp concluded the diocesan phase of the process for the Beatification of the Servant of God, Mother Mary Ellerker of the Blessed Sacrament (1875-1949), foundress of the Corpus Christi Carmelites. Now the process will be delivered to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for the Roman phase.

Joseph Chalmers, O.Carm.

Every Christian shares in the threefold dignity of Christ - priest, prophet and king. We Carmelites have had a particular prophetic thrust from the very beginnings of our Order coming from the Elijan aspect of our spirituality. The figure of Elijah the contemplative has had a great impact on our spirituality. From him we learn to listen for the voice of God in the unexpected. God was not in the earthquake or the great fire or the mighty wind but in the sound of a gentle breeze, as it was known for many years, or "in silence" as it is more commonly translated now. The experience of Elijah has given courage to many generations of Carmelites. He believed that he spoke in the name of God and he had won a wonderful victory on Mount Carmel. However he also had to learn how God acts and so when his victory was not followed by even greater success but by serious threats on his life, he became depressed. He went into the desert, sat under a tree and wished he were dead. However God did not allow him to give up. The angel of the Lord, who can come in many different forms, gave him the necessary strength to continue his journey.

When he arrived at Mount Horeb, he had to learn that God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. God asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19,9) Elijah answered, "I am zealous with great zeal for the Lord God of hosts …for the Israelites have abandoned your covenant. They have thrown down your altars and have put your prophets to the sword. Only I remain and now they are seeking to kill me." The Lord, after having come to Elijah in the sound of silence, reminded him that that there were at least seven thousand people in Israel who had not bent the knee to Baal or kissed him.

In recent years the Carmelite Family has become aware of the importance of the Prophet Elijah as an inspiration in the work of justice and peace. His contemplative experience impelled him to prophetic action. He denounced without fear the actions of the powerful people of his day and he brought the light of the Word of God into situations of sin. The story of Naboth's vineyard (1 K.21) is a good example of Elijah' s prophetic activity. King Acab wanted Naboth's vineyard for himself but Naboth did not want to sell his patrimony. The Queen, Jezebel, mocked her husband and challenged him to show who in fact was King in Israel. The queen had hatched a diabolical plot to accuse Naboth unjustly of blasphemy and to assume the control of the vineyard when Naboth was out of the way. The Prophet Elijah came on to the scene when Acab had taken the vineyard into his possession and he condemned Acab for abusing his authority. Obviously this was a very courageous step. Proclaiming the Word of God in certain situations can be very dangerous. The stories regarding the Prophet Elijah help us to focus specifically on the prophetic aspect of our vocation. We see a man who translated his contemplative experience into prophetic action and therefore is an excellent model for all Carmelites who are involved in an active apostolate.

To work for justice is an essential element of the preaching of the Gospel. This has been underlined innumerable times in church documents. However those who work in the area of justice and peace often meet with incomprehension or even antagonism from their own brothers or sisters. Why is not easy to explain but this fact has obscured a very important element of our work as religious.

God is not deaf to the cry of the poor and neither must we be deaf. In the words of the Prophet Isaiah, God says, "Is not this rather the fast which I desire: break unjust fetters, untie the thongs of the yoke, set free the oppressed and break every yoke? Does it not consist perhaps in sharing your bread with the hungry and to bring the oppressed and homeless into your own home, in clothing those who are naked without neglecting your own people?" (Is. 58, 6-7). We live in God's world and creation has been entrusted to us as God's stewards. This does not mean that we have complete liberty to use or abuse the goods of the earth without thought for tomorrow or for future generations. We have certain rights but also certain duties towards the rest of creation. The Word of God is concerned with the whole of life and not just spiritual things. Elijah, the man of God, is at the same time a contemplative and also a prophet. Perhaps because he was a contemplative , he was able to be a prophet. Thus Elijah is a model for all Carmelites.

Jesus Christ is for us the primary model of what it means to be a prophet. We are above all followers of Christ and therefore we must seek to put into practice his teachings every day. Jesus Christ is priest, prophet and king because in him all the promises and roles of the Old Testament are fulfilled. He is the one in whom the work of the prophets reaches its culmination. The prophets of the Old Testament proclaimed the Word of God in particular situations. They warned and condemned but also comforted the people in times of difficulty. They sought to turn the hearts of the people towards God and they spoke with severity or with tenderness according to the situation.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God, God's yes to the world. By means of his death and resurrection we are redeemed and reunited with God. The Word of God does not return to Him without having completed what it was sent to do, according to the prophet Isaiah. This is true in a sublime way in the case of Jesus Christ through whom the whole of creation finds once again the road which leads to God. The prophets described the personal relationship which God had with the people as like a marriage. In Christ, God and the human family are united in a way which goes way beyond what the prophets spoke of and they can never be divided.

A prophet is someone who proclaims the Word of God in particular situations. Do not trust a person who wants to be a prophet or who believes himself or herself to be a prophet. A true prophet is one who is sent by God. This mandate gives a certain amount of confidence but also profound humility with the realisation that the choice of God is not based on merit but that God chooses the weak and makes them strong in bearing witness to Him. Pride is the sign of a false prophet.

The Word of God is like a double sided sword which penetrates between the bones and the marrow. Often this is most uncomfortable first of all for the prophet but always for those who listen. Some people are called to be prophets like those of the Old Testament but I think that this is a rare vocation. Nevertheless we are all called by means of our Christian and Carmelite vocation to share in the prophetic function of Christ, bringing the Word of God into every situation in which we find ourselves. This does not mean finding an explicit Biblical text for the situation but it means to give God the space to shape our hearts according to His Word so that our very presence becomes a word from God.

All of this is easy to say but how do we accomplish it in practice? We accepted Christ's call to follow him with the best of intentions. We had high ideals and generosity. Over time perhaps the experience of life has changed our ideals somewhat but hopefully has not destroyed them. Fundamentally the mission of all Christians is the same - to continue the presence and work of Jesus Christ in our world. The way we do this can and must change as circumstances change. No individual and no religious group can on its own fully reflect or fully represent the fullness of Christ and therefore every religious family has its particular charism which represents one aspect of the work of Christ. We cannot change our charism which is the gift of God to us for the world. Our charism defines the form of our participation in the mission of the Church. Mission and charism are intimately linked.

An essential element of the Carmelite charism is the contemplative aspect which has an intimate connection with the prophetic dimension. By responding to the challenge of the contemplative dimension of our vocation we become a word from God to our society which is the fundamental mission of a prophet.

To become a word from God it is necessary to enter a process of interior transformation and consent to the presence and action of God in our life. This is the work of God but God will not do it without our consent. This process can be painful because through it we come to see ourselves as we really are and not as we would like to be. The great danger is that we will seek to run away from this encounter with ourselves because we do not want to accept what is being revealed to us. This process of transformation includes a disintegration of what is false within us so that the true self can come to birth.

The false self is a defence which each one of us constructs around ourselves against a perceived danger, that is a threat to our need for esteem, our instinct for survival and our need to control our environment. If we think that these basic human needs are not being satisfied, and they never will be satisfied because they are insatiable, they can never have enough of a good thing, then we will seek to satisfy them in whatever way is open to us. We will seek esteem and affection from our families and friends, from the members of our community, from our superiors, from the people we serve in our apostolic work. We will seek signs of security everywhere. We will seek to have control over our own lives and also the lives of those people who enter our sphere of influence.

The false self is very subtle and can find a whole host of reasons for not changing. It is even more subtle when it manages to convince us that it does not exist. The false self is perfectly content in whatever way of life it happens to find itself. It can wear a religious habit - it does not matter - it simply changes its way of working. In the Gospel when Jesus says that one must lose one's life in order to find it, it is the false self which must die in order to discover the true self which is created in the image of God. However we do not want to lose this false self because it is the only self we know. For this reason the spiritual journey, which is simple is at the same time very difficult.

We do not fulfil our prophetic vocation simply by preaching or when we work with the poor and the emarginated, vital though that work is. We fulfil our prophetic vocation when we become a word from God and this involves a death in view of a resurrection, a new life in the image of God.

The prophets of the Old Testament spoke to the imagination. They asked the people to imagine another possible future. For example the prophets Isaiah and Mica spoke in a time of war of a time of peace when "from their swords they will forge ploughshares and from their blades, scythes. No nation will lift the sword against another nation and they will not learn the art of war anymore…." When the future is very dark, the prophets bring hope. However in order to do this, it is necessary to see beyond the present situation to the reality which lies beneath. This is the faith of Our Lady in the Magnificat who sees the proud cast down, the hungry filled with good things and the rich sent away empty when those who see only the external appearances would believe the opposite to be true.

Carmel is famous for its marian devotion which is expressed in many ways. The greatest devotion is to be conformed to the object of our devotion. Titus Brandsma said that the vocation of a Carmelite was to be another Mary. The "yes" of Mary gave the necessary space for Christ to be born. Through her, God now has a human face. Our devotion to Mary must not stop at the imitation of her virtues, though that is very important. We must allow Christ to grow within us so that we become transformed in him so that we can say with St. Paul, "it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me". (Gal. 2,20) In that way we will be a word from God, a tabernacle of the presence of God in the world. In that way we will live our prophetic vocation.

I believe that St. Thérèse of Lisieux was a prophet sent by God to remind the world of the simplicity of the Good News when it was obscured by human ideas of holiness. In the time of Thérèse, there was great emphasis on moral perfection and purity as a condition of approaching God. Thus the spiritual life was hard and rather grim. Thérèse was aware that she was not able to climb the huge mountains of spiritual perfection, but did not become discouraged but entrusted herself to the Merciful Love of God who raises little ones to the top of the mountain.

Abandoning ourselves into the hands of God with the desire of being whatever God wants us to be, disposes us completely to the action of God. Then we will be a word from God in every situation in which we find ourselves. This might mean that we are called upon to do something very important or perhaps we will be forgotten by everyone. Remember the example used by Thérèse of the different types of flowers all of which give pleasure to God. Some flowers are bigger or brighter than others or with a more beautiful perfume but God takes pleasure in all of them.

Fulfilling our prophetic vocation as members of the Carmelite family is a great challenge for each of us but it is not something which we can do with our own strength. We will be faithful to our vocation inasmuch as we consent to the purifying and transforming action of God in our lives. God will shape us and form us to become a word from Him. In this process Our Lady is the greatest example we have.

As St. Thérèse said, "Holiness does not consist in this or that practice. It consists in a disposition of heart which makes us humble and small in the arms of God, aware of our own weakness and daringly confident in His Fatherly goodness." (NV)