Carmelite Spirituality| Spirituality personal prayer in allegiance to Jesus Christ |
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Through Christ our prayer is made to share in the mystery of Christ's own prayer. It is transformed into a filial converse with the living God, as with our Father, who speaks to us through his Son and raises us to share in his life by giving us his Spirit. By word and example Christ teaches us how to contemplate the Father in solitude and activity, how to adore and praise him, how to turn to him in our needs and gratefully and wholeheartedly embrace his will. Our Holy Parents excel in the art of teaching us both by word and example how to pray, and permeate our whole life with prayer as the Gospel proposes. United in faith with the humanity of Christ as with a loving friend, we too through the Holy Spirit enter into this filial converstaion with the Father. In this way our prayer becomes a genuine expression of our relationship with God and the lifespring of our service in the Church. It is through this kind of prayer that we are brought to the fullness of life, and become more deeply involved in the life and vicissitudes of the Church and of the world we live in.
We therefore strive to organise our whole life in such a way that prayer is clearly seen to be our charism, both as individuals and as communities; and we do our best to ensure that our apostolic activity is embued with the spirit of prayer, and that prayer nourishes and sustains all our apostolic efforts.
This life of friendship with God has the liturgy as its sacramental source; but it must be fostered by continual personal prayer. As the richest source of our spiritual life, as the focal point of all community life and as the prayer of the community par excellence, the liturgy enriches our personal prayer. On the other hand, personal prayer, by deepening our participation in the mysteries we celebrate, brings the liturgical action to bear on our life.
Our vocation as an Order is prayer, modelled on the prayer of Christ. He gave himself to contemplation in the desert and made his whole life a prayer. We too are aware of the Fathers love for us. So in an attitude of faith hope and charity, we continually seek to cultivate a friend-to-friend relationship with him in personal prayer. That is what the Church expects of us. That is why she repeatedly urges us to spare no pains in our quest for union with God. That is the commitment that each of us considers his primary personal obligation.
As a means of fostering this life of prayer our Order has laid down from its earliest days that two hours be set aside each day for conversation with God in personal prayer.
Taken from the Discalced Carmelites Constitutions and Norms
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| Last Updated on Monday, 28 June 2010 11:53 |