Looking at this meeting I can not help but think of the mystery of the Church, the People of God, a pilgrim in the world. In fact here we lay, religious, priests, men and women of different races, different languages, and express a wide variety of cultures. We are united by our common faith in the Risen Lord, whose presence we must witness to the heart of the world. At the same time we are joined by Teresa Carmelite charism, the gift of the Spirit for the service of the Church and the world. You, the members of the Secular Order, you are part of the Carmelite Saint Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross.
This Second International Congress of Secular wants to be a step forward in the realization of your identity and lay Carmelite. Indeed, as already noted 13 years ago 'the post-synodal document Christifideles Laity, the Spirit has inspired new aspirations towards holiness and participation in many lay faithful. You are opening an egg style of active collaboration among priests, religious and laity flourish groups, associations, movements of lay spirituality and commitment. We are looking for a wider participation of women in Church and society. The challenge is to find concrete ways to achieve this theoretical reflection on the dignity and mission of the laity.
The theme that I was asked to develop, OCDS's contribution to the Church, shared responsibility and collaboration, has three dimensions, past, present and future. These dimensions give rise to the three parts in which I intend to divide my presentation.
I. CORREPONSABILITA ' OCDS AND COLLABORATION WITH THE CHURCH - THE PAST
The Secular previously lived in his service of co-operation and shared responsibility conditioned by the situation of the laity. This in turn depended on a hierarchical model of the Church too, where the laity were second-class members. They were asked a largely receptive attitude and stand against the authority of the Church. This, combined with a lack of catechetical formation, theological and biblical, did lay persons who are unable to provide a broad and effective cooperation in the field of evangelization.
Within the religious orders, known as third orders, even if it were part of the Religious Institute, had no clear secular identity. We ask them virtually to be "religious in the world." Co-responsibility and cooperation areas were reduced to very minor, generally not related to the charism and spirituality of the religious. Rather, it is very secondary issues-oriented and practical organization, such as activities, services, initiatives in relation to the celebration of religious holidays and as a private devotion to the scapular.
As a result of the situation of the laity on the one hand, and for lack of a strong charismatic and spiritual identity of the other, the OCDS could certainly take a shared responsibility and collaboration in the pastoral levels, in decision-making, the promotion of Christian life in the Church. Also lacked, with few exceptions, adequate training in the spirituality of Caramel. This reduces the real possibility of a distinctive contribution to the Church from the Carmelite charism. Certainly the fact of participating in the liturgical actions, the recitation of Parvo, to carry out some ascetic exercises (abstinence) and the practice of certain devotions, were a way to collaborate in the mission of the Church through prayer, the source of all service to evangelization. Likewise, the testimony Christian life was a way to evangelize others.
If we pass from the personal to the plane of the Secular Community, we find the vacation of a qualified service in the field of pastoral care. It was entrusted almost exclusively to priests and religious, both in the field as Church in Caramel. The Secular helped by what it referred to organizational structures or materials. It was still far from that indicated the Christifideles Lay saying that the images of the Gospel of salt, light and leaven that relate to all the disciples of Christ, apply more specifically to the lay faithful, as talk of a full and deep into the world and in the community men to spread the Gospel. Although in theory it was stated that not only the shepherds were instituted by Christ, and could only take upon himself the entire saving mission of the Church and the world, in real life the gifts of the laity and the services were not recognized, nor, consequently, his active collaboration in the field of evangelization.
The rediscovery of the Church as the People of God, carried out by Vatican II, marked the beginning of a new era for the Christian layman. It 'been recognized its dignity and its mission is rooted in the incorporation into Christ by Baptism, which integrates the People of God and gives him a share, in its way, the "function priestly, prophetic and kingly mission of Christ ", to carry out the Church's mission in the world and all Christian people for the part that belongs to him. Lay was invited to join in the work of the hierarchy just as it participates in the salvific mission of the world.
The Vatican starts talking about collaboration and co-responsibility of the laity in the Church. It stresses that are called to "make the Church present and fruitful in those places and in those circumstances in which it can not become the salt of the earth if not through them. [...] Grava then lay all the exalted duty of working to bring God's plan of salvation will reach every day all men of all time and all places on earth. So is their any way to open, according to their abilities and needs of the times, they also actively participate in the saving work of the Church. "
The pastors of the Church are invited to promote the dignity and responsibility of the laity in the Church, giving them freedom and opportunity to act, encouraging them to undertake works on their own initiative. I lay on their part have a duty to "make known their views on what concerns the good of the Church [...] This fact is strengthened in the laity a sense of their responsibility ...". The post-synodal exhortation
Christifideles Laity has highlighted some specific areas of the apostolate in which there is joint responsibility of the laity in the Church on mission: the promotion of human dignity, protection of life and religious freedom, the family as the first area of \u200b\u200bsocial commitment, the testimony of a charity manifested in solidarity, putting the human at the center of economic and social life and the evangelization of culture and cultures. It also spoke of the personal and aggregated forms of participation in the life and apostolate of the Church. The Secular Order is one of these forms of association to participate.
Finally, the post-synodal document that invites the laity to discover their own vocation and mission, speaking of the need to give them a holistic education so that they may live into their human and Christian vocation. To achieve this vital synthesis, it should be, first, a spiritual and doctrinal formation that they may be fit to face the challenges of our time and of the socio-cultural perspective of the Christian faith and from the announcement of the Gospel.
These changes and new requirements in relation to the laity of the Church, have deeply questioned the structures and purposes of the Secular Order of Religious Institutes. Without prejudice to their legal belonging to their respective religious orders, new challenges have appeared and rich perspective to this and for the future.
II. CORREPONSABILITA 'OCDS AND COLLABORATION WITH THE CHURCH - IN THIS
After placing as a backdrop for our discussion is a quick panoramic look at the past about the near and far vision and the situation of the laity, we can now talk more specifically Secular Order and what it expects the Church in matters of shared responsibility and cooperation in his mission of evangelization.
The post-synodal document on Religious Life, speaking of communion and collaboration with lay religious institutes, specifically mention the so-called "Third Order", "Building on experience such as those of historical Secular or Third Orders, has begun a new chapter, rich in hope, in the history of relations between consecrated persons and laity. "
The same document focuses mainly on three areas in which the laity participate - in the case of the Secular Order as part of the Institute - in the life of Religious Institutes: charism, spirituality and mission. Only by keeping these three aspects we can understand and guide the collaboration and shared responsibility that requires the Secular Order of the Church today. This requires training which has as its fundamental objective, the discovery of his vocation lay from within the charism and spirituality of the Institute, so you can live in the fulfillment of a special mission and responsibility in collaboration with the Church.
Charisma is a gift bestowed by the Spirit, free and in the service of the Church. The charisma of each order or congregation of consecrated life is expressed in the Rule and Constitutions. Since then charisma emerges a style or a particular form of living the Christian life and religion, that is, a spirituality. It points out some elements of Christian life and from them, living as it is essential for all: life in Christ and the Spirit, received in faith, expressed in love, lived in hope. The charism and spirituality lead apostolic commitment in all areas of evangelization, and even if more specific guidelines to enable one of them. It 's like saying that provide an experiential and practical expertise to offer a quality service in the Church.
I think is important to remember in this connection, what are the essential elements of the charism and spirituality of Caramel Teresiano. In light of the Constitutions of the Friars, we can say that the primordial elements are as follows:
- live in allegiance to Jesus Christ, under the protection of B. Virgin, in imitation and in union with you, whose life lies before us as a model of being conformed to Christ
- Looking for the "mysterious communion with God" in the path of contemplation and apostolic activity, each welded to the service of the Church;
- give a special importance to prayer which, through hearing the Word of God and the Liturgy leads us to the friendly dialogue with God, not only in prayer but also in life, we aim to nurture this life of prayer with faith, hope and above all divine love, to experience the presence and the mystery of the living God;
- with the intention apostolic animate all our prayer and our lives in a climate of human and Christian brotherhood;
- live the evangelical self-denial in a theological perspective.
From this charism and spirituality of apostolic service there is a peculiar type, which should be given priority, the consecrated life as in the Secular: the apostolate or ministry of spirituality. Open to the needs of the Church and the world today, we must give first place in this apostolic ministry, even in the Secular Order. This would be the practical way of offering, in co-responsibility, work together more effectively to the Church, from our Teresian Carmelite identity.
Facing Lay Carmelites as the challenges of today's world
changes in the world are fast and Contin. Today there are changes that in a short time previously required centuries. On the other hand, these changes are universal today, because of the interdependence of scientific, political, economic, cultural and technical. Deep impact because they affect the whole human being in his own reality. Some people and groups causing the changes, others will suffer, but no one is excluded. You could also talk rather than change, a change of era, characterized by modernity and post-modernism, subjectivism and the ideologies of the crisis. In particular, there are phenomena such as secularization, liberation, globalization and the new ethics.
Secularization leads with it a transformation of the human relationship with nature, with others and with God 'the phenomenon of secularization in order to affirm the legitimate autonomy of the person, culture and technology. This gives rise to some imbalances between the autonomy of the human and the loss of a sense of transcendence that leads to secularism, between religious values \u200b\u200band new myths and idols. It opens to the Secular and the possibility of living to witness the presence of God in the heart of the world to help others discover the footprints of God in earthly realities, as have our saints, but would open at the same time to transcendence God is also in a deeper center of our being. He can accomplish this with the testimony of his life and an apostolic commitment that may take many forms.
Another phenomenon that can not be ignored is liberation. Individuals, groups, peoples and cultures do not want to be objects in the hands of those who hold power. They want to be actors in a situation of equality, accountability, participation and communion. This one lives as they arise new forms of oppression, marginalization and exploitation of the weakest. The awareness of the dignity of the human person goes to seek new ways for its realization through the recognition of his fundamental rights effectively recognized, protected and promoted. In this field you must enter the feminist movement that attempts to give the woman the space that corresponds, in society and the Church. The members of the Carmelite Secular Order are called to promote the defense of human dignity, in contemplating our saints proclaimed by the vocation of every human being to be transformed into God St. John of the Cross said that "man is worth a thought that all world and therefore God alone is worthy. " The spirituality of Caramel appears as a path to inner freedom, the source of all true liberation.
One element that characterizes the current situation is, of course, globalization. The World currently living a process of unification because of the increasing interdependence in all areas. The earth is a "global village", with economic, commercial, political and military. The media and communications have approached people in a world full of information, communications and meetings. It 's a process full of contradictions. Economic power is concentrated in few hands, and so the communication and information. There is total control. Appear deep imbalances between rich and poor, with the growing phenomenon of the masses of poor people in rich countries and rich minorities in poor countries. In globalization, there are several dimensions: technological, economic, political and cultural. The positive aspects are the possibility of a large interconnected world, access to information and the reduction of the distances that can improve the quality of human life. Of course there are downsides: the search of huge financial gain that reduces the person to the consumer, the growing gap between rich and poor, the gap of cultures and ways of living which seeks to standardize the globalization. Faced with this challenge, the Carmelite Secular is called to advocate the globalization of solidarity as a requirement of the Gospel. The Teresian Carmelite charism emphasizes the fraternity: to be "small college of Christ" as one of the Apostles and how the early Christian community, where believers "were of one heart and one mind ... and none of them was in need" (Acts 4, 32.34).
the basis of the changes is the crisis of ethics of the past and the search for a new ethic on the edge of religious institutions, and which relegates religion into the realm of God and the private sector. We are witnessing the development of bio-ethics, with the great challenges of genetic engineering that threatens to create a standardized human. By manipulating the human gene, scientists sometimes claim to "play at being God." Becomes urgent ethics based on the dignity of the human person created by God, the only absolute. Even here the experience of our Carmelite saints track routes in the testimony and commitment in decision-making.
No doubt not all bad in these changes. There are also positive trends such as awareness of the value of the person and his fundamental rights, the search for a new harmony between human beings and nature, sensitivity to the problem of life, justice and peace, consciousness the value of their cultures, the search for a new international economic order, the growing sense of responsibility of the human face of the future, a greater sensitivity of religious and mystical experiences as a means for a process of liberation and personal growth, a new situation of women in society. In all these areas, the spirituality of Caramel has something to say, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Edith Stein, Titus and many others, illuminate and argue with their experience and their teaching these signs of the times.
The Church asks the age-old Carmelo collaboration and shared responsibility to help her "to scrutinize the signs of the times and to interpret them in light of the Gospel so that, in a manner appropriate to each generation, it can respond to the perennial questions which people the meaning of life and future, and their mutual Report. To achieve this, we need practical and concrete means that routes in the Secular Order will facilitate the co-responsibility and collaboration with the Church. This opens up the possibilities of the future.
III. CORREPONSABILITA 'OCDS AND COLLABORATION WITH THE CHURCH - THE FUTURE
The invitation which the Church extends to religious and to renew their charisma with creative fidelity, can and should also apply to the Secular. Creative fidelity implies a return to origins in order to address the dynamic challenges of the present moment. This commitment must trace routes and point out practical means to help make operational fidelity creative.
practical routes
In an effort today to review the identity and mission of the Carmelite Secular, recourse has mainly three ways: that of spirituality, that the formation of the fraternity.
Spirituality is the first thing that must be borne in mind in the process of creative fidelity to the Secular Order. Only a spiritual experience can give authenticity to the quest for new forms of life and presence. This is a Christian spirituality in general and in particular of Caramel. Creative fidelity in spirituality has a strong point. It is their unifying element.
To live in fidelity dynamic renewal of the Carmelite Secular is also requires initial and continuing training. Initial training requires dialogue and cooperation with the new generations, from the reality in which they live and the challenges they face. In this way you can update the charism and spirituality of Caramel Teresa, from a secular perspective, discover that the dynamics that are locked up. The training has as its aim to enable us to a reinterpretation of charisma to make it capable of an existential language, intelligible to a world different from that of yesterday.
Another important point is that 'old is emphasized in Caramel fraternity. In fact, the community aspect of the history of salvation must be made well in relief by all Christians. We must therefore help to create a different mentality in the fraternity community, in ways that the commitments of the Carmelite Secular Order in the particular churches have not only an individual dimension, but also a collective. The communities must be able to make a discernment of faith in the light of the times and places, to create a single plan of service in the diversity of gifts and personal perspectives.
Means to pursue these routes
Among the means which experience has proved effective in raising awareness and especially for the realization of the marked routes, we first reflections community, provincial and general. These reflections are the starting point to open up new horizons and that the tensions of this moment of transition to levels remain manageable.
Another great help in this process is the organization of continuing education courses on the charism and spirituality of Caramel, and the new situation of the laity. This helps to reinforce its identity as a secular Carmelite, and facilitates the reading of the lay Carmelite charism of Teresa and her inculturation. A
half as effective are also regular meetings with regional leaders OCDS and the religious assistants. This hole extended in charge, one can assess the situation of the mallet and several districts could be set up projects with the certainty that the support will count equally responsible for those who animate the spiritual and apostolic life of the Secular Order members.
Finally, Congress national, regional and international, such as this, are valid means for the realization of what it is, and for a renewal in tune with the challenges of the present moment, a time of transition and looking for new models that ridonino Caramel secular existential intelligible language.
CONCLUSION
After these reflections we conclude that the new awareness of the Church and Carmelite is a moment of grace to reread the contribution of the Carmelite Secular Order must give to the Church and its sense of responsibility and cooperation.
the Secular is called to make the local Churches and of the universal Church, a specific collaboration in the likeness of one of the monks and nuns of Caramel Theresian witness and transmit the richness of the experience of God and prayer life as an opening to transcendence, a source of hope and commitment for dialogue with the Christian denominations and with the great religions. And this at all levels: popular religion, diffusinoe, academia, schools of prayer, biblical reflection, preaching of retreats, publications.
The various institutes are called upon to provide a service "specialist" that flows from its charism and spirituality. This special apostolate has increased considerably in recent years in the Order. We have now dedicated 159 homes in one form or another, this service characteristic of our charism in the Church: 68 retreat houses, 67 prayer houses, 24 schools of spirituality, 47 sanctuaries. The active presence of members of the Carmelite Secular Order in the reality of these undoubtedly enrich, and also reveal the secular face of the charism of Caramel. This should be the particular contribution Secular Order of Caramel to the Church.
Mary, Mother and Sister, we obtain from the Lord the attitudes of evangelical discernment and acceptance of the risk of faith and God's ways the beginning of this third millennium.
FOR REFLECTION
1. How old Caramel is located in your region in relation to this type of collaboration in the Church?
2. What are the main difficulties encountered in order to become a reality this new figure of the members of the OCDS? How to overcome?
3. What could be done by the Centre of the Order to facilitate this new responsibility and collaboration Secular Order?
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