Carmel in the Holy Land — Carmelite Sisters

Our life

In our four Carmels, life resembles that of all the Carmels throughout the world, despite the conditions particular to our country :

Prayer

Our days are regulated by prayer : the Eucharist, two hours of silent prayer, praise of God in the Divine Office gather us together many times each day.

Reading the Word of God and the works of our saints, as well as other books on spirituality, theology or biblical study, nourish our prayer and take up a good part of our day.

Conferences from our Carmelite Friars or others are fairly frequent in all our monasteries and are a welcome contribution from outside.

Work

In the communities, house work and the needs of our aged sisters occupy our day to a greater or lesser degree. To earn our living, rather modestly, our monasteries generally make hosts and small hand-crafted souvenirs for the pilgrims and tourists — rosaries, cards with flowers of the Holy Land, candles, computer designed images, embroidery… Some cultivate vegetables and fruit trees : a much appreciated contribution to the community table.

Fraternal Life

This is seen particularly in the community meetings for sharing on subjects important to our life, as well as during recreation together, twice each day and on feast days.

Silence and Solitude

Apart from these times of fraternal life, silence and solitude assist recollection and life lived in the presence of the Lord.

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Our diversity

All our monasteries, being French foundations, were rather monolithic in the beginning, with rarely a few Arab sisters. But with time they have allowed themselves to be fashioned in the image of the country in which they now are : today, all are international, and according to circumstances, from around ten to twelve nationalities from every continent can be found. This counting on vocations from around the world is, in reality, a long monastic tradition : from the beginning, men and women from every country came to live their call to follow Jesus in the country where He Himself lived. For example, we can think of St Jerome, Paula, Melanie, to speak only of the better known… This was, moreover, the case of the first hermits on Mt Carmel.

This diversity is both a richness and a demand.

Similarly, our " liturgical origins " can also vary : in our communities there are sisters of various oriental rites. This again mirrors the diversity of Churches and rites in this country.

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[ sommary ] - [ history ] - [ Carmelite Fathers ] - [ Carmelite Sisters ] - [ Mariam Baouardy ] - [ saints of Carmel ] - [ Land of the Bible ] - [ this land ]