Mr. Abraham Maximiliano Camino

BEING AND DOING

At this time I want to share with my brothers in faith and Carmel, something that my mother taught me from childhood which is that God has something set aside for us, and in my life I have to discover it.  Several years have passed and these words have stuck with me, and each time I witness that God has many things in store for his children and thanks to Carmel I can discover them.

I want to share the wonderful experience that touched my life in the ALACAR-COLOMBIA meeting of 2009. It is through these words and the title this article “Being and Doing” that I arrive at the conclusion that today a Christian has:

To Be = Mystic and Prophet = To Do

The Carmelites in accordance with their rich history, tradition and charism, show us through their 800 years of existence how we can find criteria that tell us whether we are really close to God, if God exists and lives in us, and thus in our lay lives to find a role (propositum) to live “En Obsequio Jesucristo” – (In allegiance to Jesus Christ). 

Carmelite spirituality permits us to give a place for God or to let God BE God in our lives, but not like something occasional or temporary, but something that makes me act in freedom, to feel invaded by God’s presence in my life and come to look, act, talk, react as Christ would. Galatians 2.19 to 20: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

A lay person must be an evangelizer, not only do what Christ does but BE HIM.  Because we all have something to give. From the useless God brings out usefulness.  (Retreat of the Carmelite Family - Vacare Deo. August 2009. Lima, Peru).

Being a Prophet Today

How can we be Christ?

Carmelite mysticism tells us that being a prophet today is not only to announce and proclaim with words but to act in a Christ like manner.

Therefore we not only have to DO, we have to BE.

To be in the presence of God (like Elijah) is to allow the same God to act in my life; only then will we be recognized as sons and daughters of God.
Prophecy is nothing else but to announce what we receive from God: Love. And this we give in how we each day treat others. 

We will be known by love, whatever my service if I do it out of love and charity, all works will be meaningful. 1 Cor 13:1-13.

Everything is possible when Christ is the center of my actions in the manner of the first Carmelites who modeled their lives around Jesus Christ. That’s why they were recognized as brothers, they all had a sense of God and that is the great legacy that they left to us.
The Carmelites gifted us and presented us with their Charism, and through this beautiful spirituality linked to God under the example of holy Mary, we can be partners in building the Kingdom of God.

THROUGH:  

Contemplation and Prayer: How do I decode the language of God who talks to me all the time?
Can I differentiate what is from God and what is not from God?   Listening to the heart. Discern in the Spirit, since everything is put there to be discovered in contemplative prayer.

HERE AND NOW         
FRATERNITY:

How do I share the language of God?  Confronting and discerning with my brothers, which will give me confidence that this is God’s language, what we do together will be so that we all form this “Reign” (Kingdom of God):  Here and Now.

SERVICE AND PROPHECY: 

Understanding reality through the eyes of God leads me to proclaim the good that I receive from God and denounce what is not of God. From the love and mercy he has with me, and so you can have the same feelings of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and thus care for the poor and needy and reverence in them the living God.

The laity have a great challenge and indeed a prophetic mission, to denounce without fear in these difficult times anything that takes away from the presence of God while the world in which we live is encouraging us to become what is false. There we see the Prophecy of our father Elias, embodied in our Carmelite lives.

The history of Carmel, was no stranger to difficulties in each of its periods, and this has been demonstrated since the first Carmelites.
As committed lay Carmelites, in the spirit that guided our Father Elijah on Mount Carmel and out  sister, the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nazareth, by the example of them, we can live according to God’s will that the same spirit helps us to insert ourselves and be a main force in this reality that we live.

At last! I have found my vocation! In the heart of the Church--my Mother--I will be love! And all my dreams shall be realized!

(St. Therese of the Child Jesus)

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life... If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.

(St. Teresa of Jesus)

What we need most in order to make progress is to be silent before this great God with our appetite and with our tongue, for the language he best hears is silent love.  

(St John of the Cross)

Prayer is a cry of gratitude and love, in the midst of trial as well as in joy.

(St Therese of the Child Jesus)

For my heart is always with Him, day and night it thinks unceasingly of its heavenly and divine Friend, to whom it wants to prove its affection. Also within it arises this desire: not to die, but to suffer long, to suffer for God, to give Him its life while praying for poor sinners.

(Bl Elisabeth of the Trinity)

Look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for all.

(St Teresa of Jesus)

Always remember to love your neighbor; always prefer the one who tries your patience, who test your virtue, because with her you can always merit: suffering is Love; the Law is Love.

(Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified)

The second in a series of interdisciplinary seminars organised by the Institutum Carmelitanum, took place at CISA Rome, from the 17th to the 19th of January, 2013. The seminar consisted of a study of texts by Carmelite authors in order to establish if and in what way they expressed the contemplative dimension of our charism and spirituality. Some fifteen scholars, religious and lay, from different backgrounds, presented papers on the texts and the thoughts of Carmelite authors of the 14th and 15th centuries. A number of auditores also took part. The opening lecture was given by Professor Gert Melville, of the University of Dresden, founder and director of the institute of study on medieval consecrated life, who is working with the Institutum to produce the “Bibliotheca Carmelitana Nova”. Very soon the papers of the first seminar will be published and shortly after that the papers of the seminar that has just concluded.

• Bl. Kuriakos Elias Chavara
  Thursday, January 3, 2013
• St. Peter Thomas, Bishop (Feast)
  Tuesday, January 8, 2013
• St. Andrew Corsini, Bishop (Feast)
  Wednesday, January 9, 2013
  
• Bl. Angelo Paoli, Priest, (m)
  Sunday, January 20, 2013
• Mary Angeline Teresa
  Monday, January 21, 2013
• St. Enrique de Ossó  y Cervelló, (OCD), Priest (m)
  Sunday, January 27, 2013
• Bl. Archangela Girlani, Virgin (m)
  Tuesday, January 29, 2013
• Bl. Candelaria of St. Joseph, Virgin (m)
  Friday, February 1, 2013
• Presentation of Jesus In The Temple
  Saturday, February 2, 2013
• Seraphina di Dio (Serafina of God) - 1621-1699
  Sunday, March 17, 2013
• John Dominic Lucchesi (1652-1714), O.Carm, priest
  Monday, March 18, 2013
• Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary, Principal protector of the Order (Feast)
  Tuesday, March 19, 2013
• Bl. Frances of Jesus Mary Joseph (OCD), Priest (m)
  Wednesday, March 20, 2013
• Girolamo (Jerome) Terzo (1683-1758) O.Carm, Priest
  Thursday, April 11, 2013
• Bl. Baptist Spagnoli, Priest (M)
  Wednesday, April 17, 2013
• Bl. Mary of the Incarnation, (OCD), Reigious (m)
  Thursday, April 18, 2013
• Bl. Teresa Mary of the Cross Manetti, (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Tuesday, April 23, 2013
• St. Angelus, Priest and Martyr (M)
  Sunday, May 5, 2013
• Bl. Aloysius Rabatà, Priest (m)
  Wednesday, May 8, 2013
• Rosemary (Rosa Marie) Serio (1674-1726)
  Thursday, May 9, 2013
• St. Simon Stock, Religious (M)
  Thursday, May 16, 2013
• St. Joachina de Vedruna, Religious (m)
  Wednesday, May 22, 2013
• St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, Virgin (Feast)
  Saturday, May 25, 2013
• Bl. Elia of St. Clement, (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Wednesday, May 29, 2013
• Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew, (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Friday, June 7, 2013
• Bl. Hilary Januszewski, Priest and Martyr (m)
  Wednesday, June 12, 2013
• Bl. Alfonso Maria Mazurek, (OCD), Priest and Martyr (m)
  Wednesday, June 12, 2013
• St. Elisha, Prophet (M)
  Friday, June 14, 2013
• Bl. Maria Candida of the Eucharist, (OCD) Virgin (m)
  Friday, June 14, 2013
• Bl. Maria Crocifissa Curcio, Virgin (m)
  Thursday, July 4, 2013
• Bl. Jane Scopelli, Virgin (m)
  Tuesday, July 9, 2013
• St. Teresa of Jesus 'de Los Andes' (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Saturday, July 13, 2013
• Bls. Louis and Zelie Martin, Parents of Therese of Lisieux (m)
  Saturday, July 13, 2013
• Solemn Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Solemnity)
  Tuesday, July 16, 2013
• Bl. Teresa of St. Augustine and Companions (OCD), Virgins and Martyrs (m)
  Wednesday, July 17, 2013
• St. Elijah, Prophet (Solemnity)
  Saturday, July 20, 2013
• Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace, (m)
  Tuesday, July 23, 2013
• Bl. John Soreth, Priest (M)
  Wednesday, July 24, 2013
• Bls. Maria Pilar, Teresa and Maria Angeles, (OCD), Virgins and Martyrs (m)
  Wednesday, July 24, 2013
• Bl. Maria Mercedes Prat, (OCD) Virgin and Martyr, (m)
  Wednesday, July 24, 2013
• St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Virgin Mary, Protectors of the Order (M)
  Friday, July 26, 2013
• Bl. Titus Brandsma, Priest and Martyr (m)
  Saturday, July 27, 2013
• St. Pedro Poveda Castroverde, (OCD), Priest and Martyr (m)
  Sunday, July 28, 2013
• St. Albert of Trapani, Priest (Feast)
  Wednesday, August 7, 2013
• St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (OCD), Virgin and Martyr (Feast)
  Friday, August 9, 2013
• Bl. Isidore Bakanja, Martyr (m)
  Monday, August 12, 2013
• B. Maria Sagrario of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (OCD), Virgin & Martyr (m)
  Friday, August 16, 2013
• Bl. Angelus Augustine Mazzinghi, Priest (m)
  Saturday, August 17, 2013
• Bls. Jean-Baptiste Duverneuil, Michael Louis Brulard and James Gagnot, Priests and Martyrs (m) 
  Sunday, August 18, 2013
• Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Sunday, August 25, 2013
• Bl. Jacques Retouret, Priest and Martyr (m)
  Monday, August 26, 2013
• St. Teresa Margaret Redi (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Sunday, September 1, 2013
• Bl. Mary of Jesus, (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Thursday, September 12, 2013
• St. Albert of Jerusalem, Bishop and Lawgiver of Carmel (Feast)
  Tuesday, September 17, 2013
• St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (OCD), Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Feast)
  Tuesday, October 1, 2013
• St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Feast)
  Tuesday, October 15, 2013
• Bl. Maria Teresa of St. Joseph, (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Wednesday, October 30, 2013
• Bl. Frances d'Amboise, Religious (m)
  Tuesday, November 5, 2013
• Bl. Angel Prat i Hostench and 16 companions, Religious (m)
  Wednesday, November 6, 2013
• Bl. Josepha Navál Girbes, (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Wednesday, November 6, 2013
• Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Friday, November 8, 2013
• Mariangela Virgili, T.O.Carm. (1662-1734)
  Sunday, November 10, 2013
• Bl. Maria Teresa Scrilli, Virgin (m)
  Wednesday, November 13, 2013
• All Carmelite Saints (Feast)
  Thursday, November 14, 2013
• Commemoration of all Carmelite Souls (M)
  Friday, November 15, 2013
• St. Raphael of St. Joseph (OCD), Priest (m)
  Tuesday, November 19, 2013
• Miguel de la Fuente (1574-1626) O.Carm. Priest
  Wednesday, November 27, 2013
• Bl. Denis of the Nativity (OCD), Priest and Martyr Bl. Redemptus of the Cross (OCD), Religious and Martyr (m)
  Friday, November 29, 2013
• Bl. Bartholomew Fanti, Priest (m)
  Thursday, December 5, 2013
• St. Maria Maravillas of Jesus, Virgin (m)
  Wednesday, December 11, 2013
• St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Feast)
  Saturday, December 14, 2013
• Bl. Mary of the Angels, (OCD), Virgin (m)
  Monday, December 16, 2013