Pope’s Prayer Intentions for February 2015

Universal: Prisoners - That prisoners, especially the young, may be able to rebuild lives of dignity.

Evangelization: Separated spouses - That married people who are separated may find welcome and support in the Christian community.

Lectio Divina February-febrero-febbraio 2015

“Servants and Prophets of the Living God” is the theme of the retreat scheduled for the 22nd to the 27th of February which Pope Francis will attend along with the members of the Roman Curia. The retreat will be held at the Casa Divin Maestro in Ariccia on the outskirts of Rome. The meditations which will offer a pastoral Reading of the prophet Elijah, will be led by the Carmelite Fr. Bruno Secondin, O.Carm. (from the Osservatore Romano)

Pope chooses Carmelite professor to lead Lenten retreat

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has chosen an Italian Carmelite professor of spirituality to lead him and top members of the Roman Curia on their Lenten retreat.

Carmelite Father Bruno Secondin, though listed as a "professor emeritus" at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, is still teaching in the university's Institute of Spirituality. He is the author of dozens of books, including a multivolume series of guides for "lectio divina," the prayerful reading of the books of the New Testament and selected readings from the Old Testament.

The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, reported Jan. 30 that Father Secondin will preach on the theme, "Servants and Prophets of the Living God."

Pope Francis and some 80 Vatican officials will listen to Father Secondin and reflect on his words Feb. 22-27 at the Pauline Fathers' retreat and conference center in Ariccia, about 20 miles southeast of Rome.

Father Secondin will give 10 meditations during the week, which L'Osservatore said would have a special focus each day: "Journeys of authenticity," including "the courage to say no to ambiguity"; "paths of freedom," subtitled "from vain idols to true piety"; "let yourself be surprised by God," meeting God where you least expect him and being evangelized by the poor; "justice and intercession," looking at witnesses of justice and solidarity; and "accepting Elijah's cloak," looking at ways of becoming "prophets of fraternity."

By Cindy Wooden from Catholic News Service

During the Assembly of the Provincial Commissariat of Peru (PCM) held on 20-23 January 2015 were elected:

• Commissary Provincial:  Fr. Miguel Bacigalupo, O.Carm.
• First Councilor:  Fr. Gerald Payea, O.Carm.
• Second Councilor:  Fr. Eduardo Rivero, O.Carm.

PAN AFRICAN CARMELITE LEADERS AND FORMATORS ASSEMBLY
BOKO, DAR-ES-SALAAM, TANZANIA, 21-26 JANUARY 2015

CHRIST OUR HOPE

1. We, the Leaders and Formators of the various Carmelite presences in Africa met at Boko, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from the 21^st-26^th January 2015. We gathered together to exchange ideas and experiences and set up institutional structures that will facilitate greater intra-African communication, collaboration and cooperation.
2. Agenda and Aims

Our agenda was as follows:

• to get to know each other in order to work together;
• to grapple with the various challenges in establishing Carmel in Africa;
• to exchange views pertaining to leadership, formation (initial and ongoing), self-reliance (resource mobilization) and approaches to ministry;
• to elect coordination committees
• to dialogue, propose and agree upon an operational framework and a series of guidelines on these committees.
• to encourage a culture of reflection and writing among African Carmelites in order to preserve African memory;

3. Inculturation

In the spirit of the African understanding that a person is a person through others, we understand that we cannot be Carmelite in isolation. As members of the one Carmelite Family – and from the one region represented by the one General Councilor, it does not make sense that we develop separately and in isolation. The strong sense of family in Africa, where members of the extended family are not seen as cousins but brothers and sisters, urges us to look beyond our delegations and Commissariats for ways of cooperation with each other in Africa. It is a sign of the times that countries have signed cooperation agreements to foster common goals and maximize trade and cooperation. Religious cannot be seen to lag behind this positive trend.

4. Commitments

We therefore resolve to undertake:

• To strengthen the cooperation already established in Africa in terms of the regional novitiates in Cameroon and Zimbabwe
• To establish the African Carmelite Leaders Forum
• To establish the African Carmelite Formators Forum in the two regions.

We believe in interaction/ cooperation. We hope to see in the future some level of interaction and cooperation between the two sister novitiates.

5. In the light of the many crises that plague Africa: hunger and disease, socio-economic difficulties, politico-religious conflicts, lack of transparency in leadership and accountable structures, we commit ourselves to servant leadership that identifies us with our people following the spirit of the Carmelite Rule in imitation of Jesus Christ who did not come to be served but to serve (Mk 10:45; Phil 2:5-11).

6. Co-ordinating Committees

As Leaders and Formators, we know that we remain brothers entrusted with responsibilities for which everyone is a collaborator. Therefore, we have established frameworks and guidelines for dialogue and consultation by electing coordinating committees, that will facilitate our working together as African Carmelites. This, we hope, will make us more open to the realities of each other and keep us attuned to the Gospel and the needs of our communities both in terms of the communities themselves and of the people we serve.

7. Drawing on Resources

While it is important to draw on the long traditions of Carmel in the other parts of the world, we note that new establishments can also benefit from older foundations within Africa in terms of accumulated experience and resource mobilization, be it human or material. Cooperation will strengthen our unity as a family and our common sense of belonging.

8. Gratitude

We are very grateful to our respective jurisdictions for the support they have given to this initiative; to the General Council for its interest in the development of Carmel in Africa; to the Sisters and local community of Carmelite friars for their welcome, support and hospitality; and to our translator who enabled us to communicate in English, French and Portuguese.

9. We entrust the future of Carmel in Africa to the intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the fiery Prophet Elijah, our inspirations, to awaken in all Carmelites the desire to build the Kingdom of God through cultivating our specific Charism of being contemplative and prophetic fraternities at the service of the Church and society. May we put our hope in Christ because Christ is our hope. Our encounter with Jesus Christ has led us on the path of brotherhood. May we demonstrate this brotherhood through tender concern for each other and fulsome collaboration.

Jordan Aumann, O.P.

When Pope Paul VI proclaimed St. Teresa of Avila the first woman Doctor of the Church on September 27, 1970, he selected one of her many titles as the basis for conferring that honor on her: Teresa of Avila, Teacher of Prayer. The same sentiment was expressed by Pope John Paul II in a letter to the Superior General of the Discalced Carmelite Friars to mark the fourth centenary of the death of Teresa:

Teresa considered that her vocation and her mission was prayer in the Church and with the Church, which is a praying community moved by the Holy Spirit to adore the Father in and with Jesus "in spirit and in truth" (Jn 4:23). . . . Saint Teresa considered the life of prayer to be the greatest manifestation of the theological life of the faithful who, believing in the love of God, free themselves from everything to attain the full presence of that love (L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, November 9, 1981).

In all of her major works—The Life, The Way of Perfection, The Interior Castle—St. Teresa explains the practice of prayer. And it is noteworthy that she did not begin to write until she was 47 years old, after her second conversion and when she was already well-versed in the practice of prayer. Her teaching flows from her own experience and not from books on prayer. She does, however, acknowledge her indebtedness to two authors: Francisco de Osuna, the author of The Third Spiritual Alphabet, and Bernardino de Laredo, the author of The Ascent of Mount Sion. The book by Osuna treated of the prayer of recollection, and St. Teresa states that she was "delighted with the book and resolved to follow that way of prayer with all my might" (cf. The Life, chap. 4).The treatise by Laredo described the prayer of union, to which St. Teresa had attained "after almost twenty years of experience in the practice of prayer" (cf. The Life, chap. 23).

As we have noted, Teresa began writing her first work, The Life, at the age of 47, and she finished it three years later. In that same year (1565) she began The Way of Perfection, since the nuns of the first monastery of the reform has asked her to teach them about mental prayer. In these first two works, St. Teresa concentrates on the ascetical grades of prayer, but in The Interior Castle, written when she was 62 years old, she gives detailed descriptions of the mystical grades of prayer. Thus, in the Second Mansions of The Interior Castle she says: "I want to say very little to you about [the prayer of the Second Mansions] because I have written of it at length elsewhere."

St. Teresa realized that not all souls travel by the same path to perfection, but that God leads souls by many different roads. At the same time she knew that in order to teach the theology and practice of prayer, one has to follow a basic pattern or structure. The journey to spiritual perfection is a progressive passage from the lower to the higher stages of prayer, from ascetical to mystical prayer. And since St. Teresa treats only briefly of the lower grades of prayer in her definitive work, The Interior Castle, it is necessary to turn to her two earlier works for a fuller description of the ascetical grades of prayer.

The Life

In her first work St. Teresa explains the grades of prayer by using the symbol of the "four waters," or more precisely, the four methods of watering a garden. The first method is by drawing water from a well by means of a bucket attached to a rope. This is the first stage of prayer and it includes vocal prayer and discursive meditation. The individual is active, exercising the facultiesand reaping what benefit it can through one's own efforts. But lest the beginners think too much and turn their discursive meditationinto an intellectual exercise, St. Teresa advises them "not to spend all their time in doing so. Their method of prayer is most meritorious, but since they enjoy it so much, they sometimes fail to realize that they should have some kind of a sabbath, that is, a period of rest from their labors. . . . Let them imagine themselves, as I have suggested, in the presence of Christ, and let them continue conversing with him and delighting in him, without wearying their minds or exhausting themselves by composing speeches to him" (The Life, chap. 13).

The second method of watering a garden is by means of a waterwheel to which dippers are attached. As the wheel is turned, the water is poured into a trough that carries the water to the garden. St. Teresa explains that this stage, in which "the soul begins to recollect itself, borders on the supernatural. . . . This state is a recollecting of the faculties within the soul, so that its enjoyment of that contentment may provide greater delight" (The Life, chap. 13).

The third type of watering a garden is by irrigation by means of a running stream. It doesn't call for human effort as in the two previous methods. Prayer at this stage is mystical; that is, all the faculties are centered on God. "This kind of prayer," says St. Teresa, "is quite definitely a union of the entire soul with God" (The Life, chap. 17). She calls it a "sleep of the faculties" because they are totally occupied with God. "Not one of them, it seems, ventures to stir, nor can we cause any of them to be active except by striving to fix our attention very carefully on something else, and even then I don't think we could succeed entirely in doing so" (The Life, chap. 16).

The fourth and final method for watering a garden is by means of falling rain. This stage of prayer is totally mystical, meaning that it is infused by God and is not attained by human effort. It is called the prayer of union, and it admits of varying degrees.

The grades of prayer described by St. Teresa in The Life do not correspond to the division of prayer that is usually given in manuals of spiritual theology. There are several reasons for this, and the first one is possibly the fact of the discrepancy of 15 years between her first and the last major work. Secondly, the precise terminology to describe some the transitional grades of prayer between discursive mental prayer and the prayer of the transforming union did not come into common use until the seventeenth century. Thirdly, since she was writing from her own experience, it is possible that St. Teresa had passed immediately from discursive meditation to a high degree of infused, mystical prayer.

The Way of Perfection

When we turn to The Way of Perfection, which St. Teresa began in 1565, we notice that there are some adjustments in her division. Since the first nuns of the Teresian reform had asked her to teach them about mental prayer, it is logical that she would be more precise and detailed, especially when speaking of the earlier stages of mental prayer. One of the most obvious differences in The Way of Perfection is that St. Teresa tries to distinguish between the prayer of active recollection and the prayer of infused recollection.

In Chapters 28 and 29 she discusses the prayer of active recollection. After recalling that St. Augustine had said that he had looked for God in many places and finally found God within himself, St. Teresa asserts that one need not go to heaven to speak to God, nor is it necessary to speak in a loud voice. "However quietly we speak, he is so near that he will hear us. We need no wings to go in search of him, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon him present within us" (chap. 28).

If one prays in this way, conversing with God who dwells in the soul through sanctifying grace, even if the prayer is vocal, the mind will be recollected. It is called prayer of recollection because "the soul gathers together all its faculties and enters within itself to be with its God" (loc. cit.). This may prove to be something of a struggle in the beginning, says St. Teresa, but if a person cultivates the habit of recollection, the soul and the will gain such power over the senses that "they will only have to make a sign to show that they wish to enterinto recollection and the senses will obey and let themselves be recollected" (ibid.).

When St. Teresa spoke of the prayer of recollection in Chapter 15 of The Life, she said that "this quiet and recollection. . .is not something that can be acquired." But in Chapter 29 of The Way of Perfection she says: "You must understand that this is not a supernatural state, but depends on our will, and that, by God's favor, we can enter it of our own accord. . . . For this is not a silence of the faculties; it is an enclosing of the faculties within itself by the soul." In other words, it is an ascetical, acquired grade of prayer, and not a mystical, infused grade.

What St. Teresa calls the prayer of quiet in Chapter 31, on the other hand, is definitely the prayer of infused recollection, a type of mystical, infused contemplation. Later on, she will further refine her terminology, but for the moment we should read her description of this "prayer of quiet."

I still want to describe this prayer of quiet to youin the way that I have heard it explained and as the Lord has been pleased to teach it to me. . . . This is a supernatural state and however hard we try, we cannot acquire it by ourselves. . . . The faculties are stilled and have no wish to move, for any movement they make seems to hinder the soul from loving God. They are not completely lost, however, since two of them are free and they can realize in whose presence they are. It is the will that is captive now. . . . The intellect tries to occupy itself with only one thing, and the memory has no desire to busy itself with more. They both see that this is the one thing necessary; anything else will cause them to be disturbed (chap. 31).

The predominant characteristics of the prayer of quiet are peace and joy, for the will is totally captivated by divine love. The faculties of intellect and memory are still free and may wander, but the soul should pay no attention to the operations of these faculties. To do so would cause distraction and anxiety. Later on, in the prayer of union, it will be impossible for the intellect and memory to operate independently, because all the faculties will be centered on God. But to learn St. Teresa's teaching on the prayer of union, we must consult her final major work.

The Interior Castle

Using the symbol of a castle containing seven apartments or suites (las moradas), St. Teresa identifies the first three as the stages of prayer in the ascetical phase of the spiritual life, and the treatment is very brief because she has already discussed the lower degrees of prayer in her previous works. The last four stages of prayer, from the fourth to the seventh moradas, represent the various degrees of mystical prayer. And at the very outset of her discussion of the grades of mystical prayer, St. Teresa advises the reader:

It may be that I am contradicting what I myself have said elsewhere. This is not surprising, because almost fifteen years have passed since then, and perhaps the Lord has now given me a clearer realization of these matters than I had at first (Fourth Mansions, chap. 2).

The most noteworthy changes in The Interior Castle are a clear distinction between acquired and infused recollection, further precisions concerning the prayer of quiet, and the description of sensible consolations and infused spiritual delights.

St. Teresa had previously discussed the prayer of recollection in Chapters 15 and 16 of The Life and in Chapters 28 and 29 of The Way of Perfection. Consequently, in The Interior Castle she makes only a brief reference to it, saying that "in the prayer of [acquired] recollection it is unnecessary to abandon [discursive] meditation and the activity of the intellect" (Fourth Mansions, chap. 3). In the subsequent literature on the practice of prayer this acquired recollection will be called by various names: prayer of simplicity, prayer of simple regard, acquired contemplation, and the loving awareness of God.

It is in the Fourth Mansions of The Interior Castle, says St. Teresa, that "we now begin to touch the supernatural." She is preparing to discuss the prayer of quiet, which she also calls the "prayer of consolations from God." However, before doing so, she turns back to describe the prayer of infused recollection.

First of all, I will say something (though not much, as I have dealt with it elsewhere) about another kind of prayer, which almost invariably begins before this one. It is a form of recollection which also seems to me supernatural. . . . Do not think that the soul can attain to him merely by trying to think of him as present within the soul. This is a good habit and an excellent kind of meditation, for it is founded on a truth, namely, that God is within us. But it is not the kind of prayer that I have in mind. . . . What I am describing is quite different.

As I understand it, the soul whom the Lord has been pleased to lead into this mansion will do best to act as I have said.. Let it try, without forcing itself or causing any turmoil, to put a stop to all discursive reasoning, yet not to suspend the intellect nor to cease from all thought, although it is good for it to remember that it is in God's presence and who this God is. If this experience should lead to a state of absorption, well and good, but it should not try to understand what this state is, because it is a gift bestowed on the will. Therefore, the will should be allowed to enjoy it and should not be active except to utter a few loving words (Fourth Mansions, chap. 3).

Thus, the prayer of infused recollection is the first grade of mystical prayer in the Teresian schema of the degrees of prayer. In this Fourth Mansion of the spiritual life she also clearly distinguishes the prayer of infused recollection from the prayer of quiet, wherein the human will is completely captivated by divine love. And since the will is now operating on the mystical level, the individual experiences peace, sweetness and spiritual delight, which are fruits of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the experience is so intense that the individual passes into a swoon or a state of languor which St. Teresa calls a "sleep of the faculties." However, she also warns that hypersensitive persons of a weak constitution, bad health or an excessively austere life may sometimes think that they are experiencing a "sleep of the faculties" when in reality it is caused by one of the aforesaid conditions (Fourth Mansions, chap. 3).

Although some authors classify "sleep of the faculties" as a distinct grade of mystical prayer, St. Teresa makes so little of it that it seems to be merely an intensification of the prayer of quiet.

From the Fifth to the Seventh Mansions, St. Teresa treats of the final and highest grade of mystical prayer: the prayer of union. In this grade of mystical prayer there are various degrees of intensity and St. Teresa identifies them and describes the phenomena that normally accompany the prayer of union. In the Fifth Mansions she describes the prayer of simple union by saying that "God implants himself in the interior of the soul is such a way that, when it returns to itself, it cannot possibly doubt that God has been in it and it has been in God" (chap. 1). It should be noted, however, that although St. Teresa is here discussing the mystical prayer of union, she urges the nuns to "ask our Lord to give you this perfect love for your neighbor," because "if you are lacking in this virtue, you have not yet attained union" (chap. 3).

In the Sixth Mansions the soul experiences the spiritual betrothal (mystical espousal) which is usually accompanied by mystical phenomena such as painful trials and wounds of love, ecstasy and rapture, flights of the spirit, or even locutions and visions. This is the longest section of The Interior Castle—eleven chapters—because St. Teresa describes and explains the phenomena that accompany the mystical espousal. She also points out the dangers of such gifts, but admits that if they are received in the proper spirit, they can contribute greatly to the soul's purification and sanctification. The basic characteristic of this grade of mystical prayer is that the soul is wounded with love for the divine Spouse and seeks every opportunity to be alone with him. It willingly renounces everything that could possibly disturb its solitude.

Finally, in the Seventh Mansions, the soul experiences the transforming union or mystical marriage. This is the highest state of prayer that can be reached in this life on earth. St. Teresa begins by discussing the indwelling of the Trinity. The soul "sees these three Persons, individually, and yet, by a wonderful kind of knowledge which is given to it, the soul realizes that most certainly and truly all these three Persons are one Substance and one Power and one Knowledge and one God alone" (chap. 1). She then describes the various effects of the prayer of the Seventh Mansions, and she concludes The Interior Castle with some very important observations:

You must not build on foundations of prayer and contemplation alone, for unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs. . . . Anyone who fails to go forward begins to fall back, and love, I believe, can never be content for long where it is.

You may think that I am speaking about beginners, and that later on one may rest; but. . .the only repose that these souls enjoy is of an interior kind; of outward repose they get less and less. . . . We should desire and engage in prayer, not for our enjoyment, but for the sake of acquiring the strength which fits us for service. . . . Believe me, Martha and Mary must work together. . . . I will end by saying that we must not build towers without foundations, and that the Lord does not look so much at the magnitude of anything we do as at the love with which we do it. If we accomplish what we can, His Majesty will see to it that we become able to do more each day (Seventh Mansions, chap. 4).

By collating all the material contained in the works of St. Teresa and taking into account the contributions by later authors on the practice of prayer, we can offer the following schema of the grades of prayer:

Vocal Prayer, with attention to what one is saying or reading and God, whom one is addressing.

Discursive Meditation: consideration of a spiritual truth; application to oneself, and resolve to do something about it.

Affective Mental Prayer: one turns to "other," namely, God, and prayer becomes "the language of love."

Acquired Recollection: also called prayer of simplicity, prayer of simple regard, acquired contemplation, the loving awareness of God.

Infused Recollection: the first degree of infused, mystical contemplation.

Prayer of Quiet: the will is totally captivated by divine love; sometimes all the faculties are likewise captivated (sleep or ecstasy).

Prayer of Simple Union: both the intellect and the will are absorbed in God.

Prayer of Ecstatic Union: this is the "mystical espousal" or "conforming union."

Prayer of Transforming Union: also called the "mystical marriage" because it is the most intimate union of the soul with God that is possible in this life.

St. Teresa wrote her "Life" slowly. It was begun in spring, 1563, [35] and completed in May or June, 1565. She complains that she can only work at it by stealth on account of her duties at the distaff; [36] but the book is written with so much order and method, the manuscript is so free from mistakes, corrections and erasures, that we may conclude that while spinning she worked it out in her mind, so that the apparent delay proved most advantageous. In this respect the "Life" is superior to the first version of the "Way of Perfection." This latter work was printed during her lifetime, though it appeared only after her death. In 1586 the Definitory of the province of Discalced Carmelites decided upon the publication of the complete works of the Saint, but for obvious reasons deemed not only the members of her own Order but also Dominicans and Jesuits ineligible for the post of editor. Such of the manuscripts as could be found were therefore confided to the Augustinian Father, Luis de Leon, professor at Salamanca, who prepared the edition but did not live to carry it through the press. The fact that he did not know the autograph of the "Life" accounts for the numerous inaccuracies to be found in nearly all editions, but the publication of the original should ensure a great improvement for the future.  

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Saint Teresa began to write the Interior Castle on June 2, 1577, Trinity Sunday, and completed it on the eve of St. Andrew, November 29, of the same year. But there was a long interruption of five months, [1]   so that the actual time spent in the composition of this work was reduced to about four weeks--a fortnight for the first, and another fortnight for the second half of the book. The rapidity with which it was written is easily explained by the fact that the Saint had conceived its plan some time previously. On January 17, 1577, she had written to her brother, Don Lorenzo de Cepeda, at Avila: I have asked the bishop--Don Alvaro Mendoza--for my book (the Life) because I shall perhaps complete it by adding those new favours our Lord has lately granted me. With these one may even compose a new work of considerable size, provided God grants me the grace of explaining myself; otherwise the loss will be of small account.' [2]She never asked for permission to write anything, but waited until she received a command from her superiors, which, in this case, came from Father Jerome Gracian, superior of the Discalced J. Carmelites of the Provinces of Andalusia and Castille, and from Don Alonso Velasquez, canon of Toledo, afterwards bishop of Osma. [3]The Saint was not in good health at the time; she repeatedly complains of noises in the head and other infirmities, but, worst of all, she was weighed down by troubles and anxieties resulting from the action of the superiors of the Order and of the Papal Nuncio against the nuns and friars of the Reform. Matters became even more serious when, in October, the nuns of the Incarnation of Avila proceeded to the election of a new prioress. Notwithstanding the prohibition of the provincial, fifty-five electors recorded their votes in favour of the Saint and were immediately declared excommunicated. The whole work of the Reform seemed on the brink of ruin, the Saint, as well as all her friends, was in disgrace, subject to obloquy and ill-treatment.  

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We are pleased to present the second bulletin for the Lay Carmelites. This time we share different activities and initiatives of our laity and youth in various parts of the world. We keep the hope that all this will continue to consolidate us as a great international Carmelite Family. In this issue, we continue our reflection on the figure of St. Albert of Jerusalem, Lawgiver of the Carmelite Order, whose eighth centenary of death we celebrated throughout 2014 and that ended with a weekend seminar in Rome. Thank you very much for reading this E-Bulletin and for any suggestions for the next editions.

Please click here to download the E-bulletin

http://ocarm.org/ebook/laybulletin/I-15/lay1-15en.pdf

St. Teresa of Avila

Although St. Teresa of Avila lived and wrote almost four centuries ago,her superbly inspiring classic on the practice of prayer is as freshand meaningful today as it was when she first wrote it. The Way ofPerfection is a practical guide to prayer setting forth the Saint'scounsels and directives for the attainment of spiritual perfection.

Through the entire work there runs the author's desire to teach a deepand lasting love of prayer beginning with a treatment of the threeessentials of the prayer-filled life --fraternal love, detachment fromcreated things, and true humility. St. Teresa's counsels on these arenot only the fruit of lofty mental speculation, but of mature practicalexperience. The next section develops these ideas and brings the readerdirectly to the subjects of prayer and contemplation. St. Teresa thengives various maxims for the practice of prayer and leads up to thetopic which occupies the balance of the book--a detailed and inspiringcommentary on the Lord's Prayer.

Of all St. Teresa's writings, The Way of Perfection is the most easilyunderstood. Although it is a work of sublime mystical beauty, itsoutstanding hallmark is its simplicity which instructs, exhorts, andinspires all those who are seeking a more perfect way of life.

"I shall speak of nothing of which I have no experience, either in myown life or in observation of others, or which the Lord has not taughtme in prayer."-- Prologue

Almost four centuries have passed since St. Teresa of Avila, the greatSpanish mystic and reformer, committed to writing the experiences whichbrought her to the highest degree of sanctity. Her search for, andeventual union with, God have been recorded in her own world-renownedwritings--the autobiographical Life, the celebrated masterpieceInterior Castle and The Way of Perfection-- as well as in the othernumerous works which flowed from her pen while she lived.

The Way of Perfection was written during the height of controversywhich raged over the reforms St. Teresa enacted within the CarmeliteOrder. Its specific purpose was to serve as a guide in the practice ofprayer and it sets forth her counsels and directives for the attainmentof spiritual perfection through prayer. It was composed by St. Teresaat the express command of her superiors, and was written during thelate hours in order not to interfere with the day's already crowdedschedule.---Without doubt it fulfills the tribute given all St. Teresa's works byE. Allison Peers, the outstanding authority on her writings: "Work of asublime beauty bearing the ineffaceable hallmark of genius."

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DEBORAH HAWLEY Motherhood and God

As Christians we know God as our Father, because this is how Jesus his Son taught us to address him. At the same time the idea of his motherhood, which is also found in Scripture, can offer us an insight into our relationship with God and into the Carmelite vocation. The prophet Isaiah, for example, tells us that God will console his people 'as a mother comforts her child' (Is 66:13), and Jesus addresses the people of Jerusalem using the image of a mother hen gathering her chicks under her wings (cf. Mt 23:37).

Those who are called to the Carmelite Order also place themselves under the protection of Mary, the one chosen by God to be the mother of his Son.' They cultivate a devotion to her as the 'Mother of the Order'.7 I write as a Secular Carmelite, whose spirituality links into my secular life. In this case it is the life of a wife and mother, of a stepmother and mother-in-law, who has spent many years working with families. I have also received a new dimension to my spiritual life, with the gift of a grandson; this has probably been the most unexpected joy of all, because I do not think that I could ever have anticipated the depth of love which I have for this little boy.

My own involvement with maternity led me to wonder whether we, as we give ourselves to Christ, can also offer the gift of 'spiritual maternity' to the Church and the world.

NATURAL MOTHERHOOD A generous love

In order to answer this question, I first considered the way in which natural motherhood can enhance our human nature. And I realised that it is easier to see and feel the effect of a mother's love than it is to define this love. I have watched, it begin and grow in women I have cared for as a health visitor, and I have seen young, unsupported mothers give the same generous love to their children as those who have waited for their children through many empty years. Recent scientific studies confirm my intuition that this love is not only consoling, it is also essential. It is this earliest love relationship that nurtures the whole human personality. As I write this, though, I am aware of a similar birth of love and compassion in fathers, a topic which also deserves consideration.

I am not restricting the designation of 'mother' to those who are biological mothers. Although motherhood may involve conception, pregnancy and birth, these are not the only route to maternity. When a parish priest prayed for 'all mothers and all who take on a maternal role' on Mothering Sunday, I thought of all those people, married or single, secular or religious, who are led to take on a maternal role; I thought in particular of an unmarried friend who has spent many years giving children her maternal love.

Similarly, I am not thinking only of ideal mothers. There are no perfect mothers in our world, and there are many who struggle to be the best they can be in adverse circumstances. These are still mothers, even when the tasks of motherhood are beyond them.

A nurturing role

I think that the maternal role is centred on the idea of nurture, which includes guidance, counsel and care for others. This care may be physical, emotional or spiritual as with spiritual guidance and direction. What seems to me essential is that a mother has a continuing loving awareness of her child. This develops over time, and in this way a mother grows as her children grow. This is important because who she is matters more than what she does. John of the Cross makes the same point regarding spiritual directors, when he tells us that the spirituality of the director is more important than the guidance he or she gives (cf. LF 3:30).

As the mother herself grows, she holds her child in her mind. This experience is visceral as well as intellectual: it relates to the body as well as to the mind. She feels an aching emptiness when separated from her child. 'I know how you feel,' a friend said to me when I had to leave my young child for the first time. 'In your mind you know he will be all right, but inside you something is missing.'

Perhaps this is because maternal love comes from the 'heart', just like God's love which flows from every part of his 'heart and soul' (Jer 32:41) — a heart that 'aches for us' with love.3 He loves us from his heart and holds us in his heart. And however powerful our maternal love, God's love is even stronger: 'Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!' (Is 49:15). And if we live in union with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we may offer others even more than our natural maternal love: we may also offer them our spiritual maternity.

SPIRITUAL MATERNITY

Mary, the community and the world

Spiritual maternity is exemplified in the person of the Virgin Mary. As she stood at the foot of the Cross, Jesus gave her to his disciple John — who represents all of us — and he also gave John to Mary (cf. Jn 19:26-27), thus bestowing on her this new maternity. It is a ministry that requires our submission to God's will (cf. Lk 1:38) and dependence on Christ.

Those who are Secular Carmelites exercise their ministry in the context of 'the world'. We do not usually live within our communities, although the community offers prayerful support to its members as they take up their tasks. In order to serve our brothers and sisters as Jesus would, we pray to have his love for each one of them. If I cannot love them, I will not progress in my love for Christ. Likewise, if I do not grow in love for Christ, then I will have little to offer my community. To use St Paul's analogy of the body: if one of us is hurt, then the whole body is disabled (cf. I.Cor 12:26). Our fraternal love is essential: because our work of love, which transforms the Church and the world, is done by the whole Carmelite community in us.

Spiritual and natural maternity

Teresa of Avila admitted to feelings of compassion for spiritual people who have to live in the world (cf. L 37:11). Our identity as Secular Carmelites means that we may be called to meet many concrete needs as well as being 'spiritual mothers'. So, one person may have the care of young children or elderly parents, another may have a ministry with the sick, and a third may work in health or education, social work or commerce. Whatever the setting, the Secular Carmelite is called to combine 'natural' maternal love with spiritual maternity.

Self-offering without limits

Spiritual maternity may be less visible than the natural kind. It begins with the offering of ourselves to Christ, in the context of obedience to the Order and to the Church, 'for the sake of the Church and the world'.4 It includes a demanding commitment: to the Church, to communal and personal prayer, to meditation and contemplation. It involves prayer for our clergy as well as for the laity, and may include providing spiritual guidance, catechesis and evangelisation. At the same time, like all baptised Christians, a Carmelite should pray, and strive, to grow in love for God and others. As Teresa teaches us, our spiritual life should give birth to good works (cf. IC VII:4:6).

Our spiritual maternity will have no end. We can respond to the demands it places on us only with faith, hope and love — trusting in God's grace to enable us to meet these demands,

More being than doing

Whatever else she provides or does, a mother's presence brings solace, whether she is beside the cot, at the end of a phone line or at the foot of the cross. A mother carries her child, firstly in her womb and then in her arms, before setting him on his own two feet and watching him grow in independence. At the same time, that child is carried in her heart; she is always conscious of him, even if he is far away or dies. She never ceases to be his mother.

Similarly, our vocation requires us to hold each person in our hearts; and, as we live in Christ, this means we also hold them in our prayer. This may seem to be an overwhelming task, but we can see how it may be done from the autobiography of Therese of Lisieux (cf. SS, p. 194).5 Here we learn that, as she identifies herself with the love of Jesus, so she discovers that there is, in a sense, no need to pray for those whom she loves: for they, too, will be drawn with her `into the shoreless ocean of (His) love' (SS, p. 254). If we trust the word of this Carmelite saint and Doctor of the Church, we can be confident that our union with Christ will also draw others to him.

Obedience and trust

Foremost among our models of trust in God is the Blessed Virgin Mary, and she will help us to grow in confidence in Christ. She is the model of one who offers her spiritual maternity for all who need it, and she helps us to give the same gift of spiritual motherhood to those who are placed in our care. She carried Jesus, unseen, in her body and in her heart. Although he was formed by her, as well as by his heavenly Father, she never points to herself but draws us ever closer to him and counsels us to obey him. So, for example, she says to the servants at the wedding feast of Cana: 'Do whatever he tells you' (Jn 2:5); she says this, knowing that when we do trust and obey him, he will open our eyes to see just who he is. In a similar way we are called to help others, including our brothers and sisters in Carmel, into a closer relationship with the Lord. This mission, of course, reaches beyond the Carmelite community — into the whole Church and, through the Church, into the world. Again, it is what we are, more than what we do, that has the most effect: because our desire for Christ is the very centre of our calling. We love Christ because he, in obedience to the Father, loved us first and loved us unto death. Love unites us with him, and we bear fruit through this union (cf. Jn.1.5:1-11).

Love's fruitfulness

We may not be aware of the fruits of our spiritual maternity. We may undertake many activities for others but, faced with their suffering which we cannot ease, all we may have to offer is a loving awareness like Mary's as she stood at the foot of the Cross. The results of such love lie beyond our understanding.

Again, we can look to the example of St Therese, as she offered herself to the Church. She longed to do many things but was aware of her own limitations. Then she considered St Paul's discussion of service in the Church and his description of love, in his First Letter to the Corinthians (cf. 1Cor 12-13) — and there, she found her vocation as love in the heart of the Church (cf. SS, p. 194). She was appointed to help form the novices, and she gave spiritual guidance to sisters, priests and missionaries; but her greatest gift to the Church was the offering she made of herself to Jesus Christ. Through her generous love she shared something of his Passion and willingly entered into a terrible experience of darkness, which she offered to God for the salvation of others. All this brings us back to the question posed at the beginning of this article: as to whether, as we give ourselves to Christ, we can also offer the gift of 'spiritual maternity' to the Church and the world. I would suggest that we can, if we do so in the way that Mary did. Her spiritual maternity was the fruit of her submission to God and trust in Jesus. If we say 'yes' to our ministry and also 'remain in Christ' (Jn 15:4), then even though we may doubt our own ability to be spiritual as well as natural mothers, we will bear fruit. Such fruit can nurture our Order, our Church and the world.

The author is a Secular Carmelite and an associate tutor with the Maryvale Institute, where she completed an MA in Pastoral and Educational Studies, for which she wrote a dissertation on Therese. A mother of six, she currently works at children's centres, providing support to new mothers. In this article, she begins by considering the nature of motherhood, which leads her to reflect on spiritual maternity — and how a Secular Carmelite can offer this gift to the Church and the world.