Carmel in the Holy Land— Saints of Carmel

St Teresa of Avila

The re-founder of the Carmelite Order in the 16th century, is, paradoxically, less well-known to the public at large that her "daughter" of the same name, Therese of the Child Jesus.

Born at Avila, she became a nun at the Carmel of the Incarnation, and from 1562 onwards "sprinkled" Spain with nuns' monasteries that took their inspiration from the original Rule of the Order of the "Brothers of Our Lady" of Mount Carmel. The works of our Holy Mother are full of obvious references to the Rule and how they observed it. But for Teresa this was not just a harking back to the past: in the same breath she never ceases to urge her daughters to imitate the "holy Fathers".

"I was thinking about what I could do for God, and I thought that the first thing was to follow the call to the religious life, which His Majesty had given me, by keeping my rule as perfectly as I could".

This awareness was for Teresa the point of departure for the whole of her future work, since at the Incarnation

the Rule was not followed in its original austerity, but as in the rest of the Order, according to the Bull of mitigation. (See Life 32:9).

She endeavoured to follow everything that had reference to the original rule, particularly with regard to the poverty she desired for her monasteries (Life 35:2), detachment from everything (Life 36:26), silence and prayer (5th Mansions 1:2), patience to be observed in life's little ailments (Way 11:4), moderation to be observed when building Carmelite monasteries (Foundations 14:4-5).

In The Way of Perfection, written above all for her sisters, Teresa explains the underlying reasons for this return to the original Rule without mitigation. One of the most important reasons was the division in the Church ( this was the time of Luther and the Protestant Reformation):

"It seemed to me that I would have given a thousand lives to save one soul out of the many that were being lost there. I realized I was a woman and wretched and incapable of doing any of the useful things I desired to do in the service of the Lord... All my longing was and still is that since He has so many enemies and so few friends that these few friends be good ones. As a result I resolved to do the little that was in my power; that is, to follow the evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could and strive that these few persons who live here do the same (Way 1:2).

Given the similarity of terms used by the Holy Mother, we can virtually say that for her, "to follow the evangelical counsels" was equivalent to "following the Rule".

Writing in the book of Foundations about the first visit of Fr Rubeo, the General of the Order, to St Joseph's in Avila, she notes:

He rejoiced to see our manner of life, a portrait, although an imperfect one, of the beginnings of our order..... And with the desire he had that this beginning go forward, he gave me very extensive patent letters, so that more monasteries could be founded (Foundations 2:3).

In addition:

"I sometimes hear it said about the first members of religious orders that since they were the foundation the Lord granted them greater favours and He did to our holy forebears; and this is true. (The Saint herself erased what she originally wrote which read: 'This ought to be true since those who are wiser than I say so). But we must always observe that they are the foundation for those who are to come. If we who live now had not fallen from where our forebears were, and those who come after us would live as they did, the edifice would always be firm. What does it profit me that our forebears had been so holy if I afterward am so wretched that I leave the edifice damaged through bad customs? For it is clear that those who come will not so much remember those who lived many years ago as those they see before them. It would be rather amusing were I to make the excuse that I am not one of the first members and at the same time fail to recognize the difference lying between my life and virtue and that of those to whom God granted such great favours! (Foundations 4:6)

She pleads with her sisters that each new one of them consider that this original Rule of Our Lady begins anew with them.

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But there are other aspects of which our monasteries in the Holy Land are particularly aware. We can think how she incessantly refers to the need to come back to "the Holy Humanity of Christ":

"The soul can place itself in the presence of Christ and grow accustomed to being inflamed with love for His sacred humanity. It can keep Him ever present and speak with Him... (Life 12:2).

She devotes a whole chapter to refuting what she considers a grave error for those practising prayer: banishing thoughts of the Humanity of Christ under the fear that they could "distract you from God". She addresses very strong words to those who believe they can bypass the Sacred Humanity -

"We should skilfully and carefully accustom ourselves to avoid striving with all our strength to keep this most sacred humanity always present (and please the Lord it would be present always), this, I say, is what I don't think is good. The soul is left floating in the air, as they say; it seems it has no support no matter how much it may think it is full of God... To desire to be angels while we are on earth — and as much on earth as I was — is foolishness... (Life 22).

What better place to understand this mystery than at Bethlehem, where the "Sacred Humanity" was revealed to the world? And to sing about the Child, as all the charming Christmas Carols still remind us so well?

At Pater Carmel in Jerusalem there is really no need to search for a long time to discover the most special thing the Holy Mother handed on to her children: isn't her Way of Perfection a long meditation exactly on the Our Father?

But we do not stop there. In speaking of the Holy Humanity, Teresa recalls the mystery that is particularly dear to her:

"This is the method of prayer I then used: since I could not reflect discursively with the intellect, I strove to represent Christ within me, and it did me greater good - in my opinion - to represent Him in those scenes where I saw him more alone. It seemed to me that being alone and afflicted, as a person in need, He had to accept me. I had many simple thought like these. The scene of His prayer in the garden, especially, was a comfort to me; I strove to be His companion there. If I could, I thought of the sweat and agony He had undergone in that place. I desired to wipe away the sweat He so painfully experienced, but I recall that I never dared to actually do it, since my sins appeared to me so serious. I remained with Him as long as my thoughts allowed me to... (Life 11:4).

The Pater Carmel is on the Mount of Olives and the agony in the garden took place a few steps from the monastery...

And in Nazareth it is particularly easy to think of the great devotion, we could say filial love, St Teresa had for St Joseph. The well-known passage in he Life comes easily to mind:

"It is an amazing thing the great many favors God has granted me through the mediation of this blessed saint, the dangers I was freed from both of body and soul. For with other saints it seems the Lord has given them grace to be of help in one need, whereas with this glorious saint I have experience that he helps in all our needs and that the Lord wants us to understand that just as He was subject to St Joseph on earth - for since bearing the title of father, being the Lord's tutor, Joseph could give the Child command - so in heaven God does whatever he commands... For I don't know how one can think about the Queen of Angels and about when she went through so much with the Infant Jesus without giving thanks to St Joseph for the good assistance he then provided them both with (Life: 6: 6, 8).

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