Please forgive me if I make any errors at all. I know very little about the Carmelite traditions, but I do know that I feel the call to the desert and pray that if my vocation is to be a Third Order Carmelite (TOC) or Secular/Lay Carmelite (ODCS), God will pave that path for me.
In Dallas, there is a small OCD cloistered convent in Oak Cliff that was “host” to the local FSSP community every Sunday for many years, and still celebrates at least two masses a month in the EF with the FSSP priests during their monthly First Friday/First Saturday overnight vigil masses.
I found a most excellent statement about the differences between the charisms of different orders, and it brought great insight to me:
In any case, mendicant Orders do not base their identity on an apostolate, but on a spirituality, and the spirituality guides and directs the apostolates to which they dedicate themselves. The spirituality of the mendicant Orders reflects elements or an element that belong to the essence of the Church in the world. The dedication of the Dominicans to higher education is a fruit of Dominican identity of the preacher who spreads the word. Much of the Franciscan apostolate is a dedication to working with the poor. This is the fruit of the Franciscan desire to follow Jesus in the purity and simplicity of the Gospel. Augustinian spirituality is based on a desire to discover Jesus in the midst of community life which leads them to a dedication to many social apostolates. And the Teresian Carmel’s charism is based on the place of the loving personal relationship between God and the person found in prayer. From that base flows the work to which Carmelites dedicate themselves. (from*
Pastoral Care of the Secular Order*)
I had often thought about prayer and contemplation in regards to the Carmelite charism, but this helped bring much-needed perspective of the apostolic mission of the Carmelites. I’ve been reading a lot about the apostolate of the Christian from the last two weeks’ readings in “Divine Intimacy”, and about what it will mean if I am led by Mary Queen of Carmel and her beloved Son to the vocation of a Third Order.
I heard a Carmelite priest say once that it’s hard to recruit priests to the Carmelite order because on the surface, they don’t appear to “do” anything. They don’t serve like the Franciscans or preach like the Dominicans. They just pray. A
lot. It’s hard to explain why I am pulled to Carmelite spirituality. Maybe it’s my melancholic temperament. Maybe it’s the beauty of little Therese’s simplicity, or the simplicity of Brother Lawrence’s devotion. Maybe it’s because when I read St. Teresa’s writings, I feel comforted that a great spiritual leader can have thoughts that wander as much as mine. Or maybe it’s because every time I drive up to the Carmelite convent chapel for the First Friday mass, I see the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel holding Christ Jesus, and with tears in my eyes I instinctively say, “Mom, I’m home!”
At any rate, I think a pull to any particular order warrants a study of the spirituality behind the apostolate, not just an attraction to a habit, or a location, or an admiration of a particular saint.
