brothers and sisters,
with feelings of gratitude I am here in the midst of this great assembly Carmelites are all eager to discover and deepen our understanding of his contribution to secular Carmelites. I arrived full of hope.
way to frame the scene this morning ... We are here because we care, we care about what happens in the world. The world is a family, but a humanity divided by hatred, wars, inter-religious disputes, ethnic purity, racism ... We live in a world divided between people extremely rich and extremely poor people, people who live cheek by jowl in the same country, in the same city.
This inequality, depersonalized us all, rich and poor nations, corporations, individuals, oppressor and oppressed, and we are here in a position to do something about it.
So we get to the title of this conference: "Co-responsibility in the apostolate of the Secular Spirituality."
What I'd like to humbly, in the next forty minutes, it would be to stimulate and provoke you in some way, offering practical ideas for working together, more easily, to build the Kingdom of God on earth, and create a world where our people deserve and need so much.
Let me explain what I'd like to share with you. I begin by talking about our commitment to secular Carmelites in this world, the need for entries prophetic, especially in the laity. First of all it comes to finding God in our lives, and later to reveal his presence in our secular world. The question is to find our place in this world through our spirituality.
followed by a quick appreciation of the world in which we live, at the beginning of the 21st century, a world of contrasts, wealth and poverty, and barbarism of intuition, of globalization and individualism. In this context we have to live the Carmelite charism. Finally
speak of our apostolate of Spirituality and discuss various practical considerations that may be able to make our apostolate more effective.
1. WHO ARE THE Secular Carmelites?
First let me answer the question: "Who are the Secular Carmelites?"
Let me begin with a classical basic question: Who is the so-called secular believer? What are the particular characteristics of Lay Carmelites?
the laity in the past was often described with a negative formulation, defining those who were neither secular nor religious clerics. It is certainly not the best way to describe them. No doubt in the Code of Canon Law, the laity is defined as: "those who, having been incorporated in Christ through baptism have been established as the People of God .... " That sounds better already, right?
In the documents of Vatican II and the Laity Christifideles is defined in a much more positive ... We must therefore acknowledge the great work done to clarify and redefine the identity, vocation and mission of the laity, although in some quarters that insists could do more.
But in practice? For now we just make a note here that in practice, the time to share and collaborate, there is still much that is unsatisfactory in the decisions that are made with the hierarchy. When Clifford Longley, recently on "The Tablet" said that "as citizens we are asked to be critical of the authorities, when necessary, we are asked to consider our rights and defend them, then somehow we, as Catholics we strive to be totally different people: gentle, passive, uncritical, without power or influence no, no right to information, without the right to be consulted?
A Church "prophetic."
The above leads us to what we call the task "prophetic" of the Church, and that includes both the laity as clergy. Through our baptism we are kings, priests and prophets in the Kingdom. The prophet is, above all, who has an understanding of the Kingdom, and has a look which allows him to see in perspective how this understanding will be achieved in a given community or society. The prophet is not just someone who predicts the future.
However one aspect of which is an important consideration is that the prophet is not always popular, and sometimes you do not clash with an opposition but only with violence. Think of Martin Luther King, who died defending freedom el'eguale dignity of African-Americans think of Bishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, was assassinated while saying mass, we think of the thousands of Christians in Latin America who have suffered violence or death simply because they have made a campaign seeking justice for the poor.
We can choose between a secular Carmelite put our heads in the sand and simply stay in our corners to pray and ignores the rest of the world or we can decide to fulfill our role missionary going to the real world.
Our Blessed Mother Teresa reminded us that our whole life, and not only our formal devotions are what influence and express our relationship with God So it's clear that our vocation is not simply the personal sanctification. A vocation is always the Church, centered in the community.
Living in God's presence
Some lay people, perhaps in response to spirituality of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross, joined the Carmelite family, hoping to get inspiration and support for their inner lives and for their apostolate in the circumstances to their state of life.
This is probably the reason why we all are here today. We recognize the treasures that can be found in the Carmelite Order which gave three Doctors of the Church. We also learn that in addition to the call to holiness, which we share with all believers in Christ, the secular Carmelites "prefer to remain first in the presence of God."
What does remain in the presence of God? Father Hilary Doran says that usually means staying in harmony, in seeking the will of God in whose presence we are. Secular Carmelites live and work in the world, a world full of violence, through the power of secularism and consumerism.
Here's the rub: in a similar situation there are at least two temptations they are exposed to the lai and especially the lay Carmelite
1. the temptation to be so so interested in the services and tasks of the church that we fall into the error of not actively get involved in our responsibilities in the professional, social, cultural and political
2. the temptation of legitimizing the unwarranted separation of faith and life, ie a separation between the reception of Gospel and the concrete life of the Gospel in different situations in the world.
An example that is imprinted indelibly in the mind is an interview which I attended in Beijing during the Fourth World Congress of Women. An important leader of this Congress was questioned by a journalist: "How Catholic is in agreement with the Vatican on issues of abortion and birth control, etc..?" She said, "When working as a representative of the people of your beliefs not influence personal actions. One is Catholic in his private life and is in a Tanzanian public office. I do not apply my Catholicism, giving lectures, would otherwise be a disaster. "
I think - and this makes me sad - that this attitude is quite extensive. Despite our Holy Father John Paul II reminds us often that our Catholic teaching can not accept a dichotomy between faith and life, there are still many Catholics who seem not to have heard that message.
Inculturation.
An important concept in Christian thought is inculturation. If we can spread a message effectively, we will be closely linked to our society and we will be part of it. We need to understand its language, its values, its needs, aspirations and dreams. When we talk about how the Christians, we must use language that society can understand.
To use an old cliché, must be in the world without being of the world. Jesus used some plastic images to tell us how he intended that his followers were. The salt is what gives flavor to our food, but does so only when it is completely dissolved in it, and in fact we can not see a time dissolved the salt in the food, but we can taste it. This is the characteristic taste that we give to our society.
I recently found this little story that tells of Pope Pius X. One day in the company of a group of cardinal asked the question: "Currently, what is more important to save the company?" The responses ranged from recruiting more talent for the Catholic clergy to build more schools, etc.. The pope replied, "What is most needed today is that in every parish there is a lay group that is both virtuous, educated, determined and very apostolic."
So the pope wanted to say that the salvation of the world depends, in large part, from training of lay persons who devote themselves to the apostolate, in word, deed and especially by example. The missionary bishops and priests in churches today's young people would also totally agree with His Holiness.
Our Christian lives need balance: neither spend all day saying prayers and doing little attention to material needs, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the people, and not jump into any kind of activity, as some social activists who do a lot for the poor but they seem to have little time for prayer.
We have a great need for vigilance to avoid falling into the temptation to give more value to our personal salvation that mission. Generally speaking, I think I can safely say that many Catholics seem far more worried about going to heaven to serve the helpless. The question is not either / or but and / e.
place of meditation and contemplation.
In our Carmelite school of holiness we are fortunate to be able to study the methods of prayer and contemplation of St. Teresa and St. John ... The importance of prayer for meditation and contemplation can not be overstated. As St. Teresa says: "Meditation is a means of acquiring all the virtues; take is a matter of life or death, for all Christians." The theologian Karl Rahner said something like: "The devout Christian of the future will be a mystic, someone who has experienced something, otherwise it will be nothing."
in my part of the world, in Asia, there is a long tradition of monasticism, asceticism and contemplation. These are the characteristics of many Asian religions. Consequently, the forms of prayer of quiet, meditative and contemplative ones easily resonate within us. We are attracted by the mysteries that allow us the luxury of a religious experience.
From this, I posed a question to some of the more than 200 religious leaders from around the world gathered in Rome last year for religious assembly, "as a fact that meditation is as natural as breathing in Asia, how we justify all the terrible wars that have been undertaken over the past 100 years in Asia and other parts of the world "?
After all we are aware of what meditation can do for those who remain faithful. Therefore, if the leaders of different religions had taught his followers in an appropriate manner the various forms of prayer and meditation, as justified then the terrible cruelty and suffering that now seem to have invaded all areas of life?
To my surprise, a good number of religious leaders have admitted that even the monks and priests are often so absorbed in administrative tasks that they could not find time to practice what they themselves taught. As a result, their followers have suffered and the entire world has suffered.
This is true even for Catholics. Continuously chief retreats I repeat that when they preach withdrawals in the seminaries, seminarians do not seem to know "how to pray."
And when these seminarians are ordained priests barely keep only the theory of what is prayer, but not leading a life of prayer.
As these members of the clergy can therefore motivate the laity to pray? And 'this is the field where our competent Carmelite priests and laity can offer their specialty and can teach meditation and contemplation to the seminarians? This is a field that must be very careful.
2. THE CURRENT SITUATION
I come to the second part of my paper, which I invite you to consider briefly the context in which we live our mission of secular Carmelites.
We live in a world that currently has the capacity to destroy life on our planet just by pressing a button. Who wins! Behind the facade of the promising great prosperity of developed countries, hundreds of millions of people live in poverty and neglect, hunger and malnutrition, almost as a direct result of the commercial and industrial development, inside as outside.
In the name of development, progress and science, were devastated natural and social environment has been destroyed the social fabric of some cultures, a deep rich time ... And underlining all these physical progress and the resulting misery and poverty that produces and supports, we note also a great spiritual hunger of the real meaning of life, a search for values \u200b\u200bthat will enrich the lives of communities and individuals.
In our world, recently described as "global village", there are growing divisions in communities, often based on ethnic divisions, the religious beliefs and social class.
While others ponder the pros and cons of the language of fashion, globalization, we, the followers of Christ, secular Carmelite, to be precise, we need to launch a closer look at the reigning atmosphere of greed, selfishness and violence that imprisons world. As I said, it is in this world that we live our vocation and mission.
What role can we as Christians, and especially as a secular Carmelite, to create the future world that we leave to our children and our grandchildren? With all the advances in psychology and our understanding of how people act, react and interact, marriage has never been in a situation as precarious, with more than half of marriages that come apart.
Many in this world today are very cynical about the role of religion in our society and often, frankly, not without reason. They see the followers of different religions enveloped of the most horrific atrocities of recent times. Murders and shootings in Ulster ankles, ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Chechenya, mutilation in East Timor, the massacres in Uganda, to name a few.
Certainly we know that some of these people who claim to act in the name of religion can hardly be separated from the ideals and beliefs of that religion. Clearly there can be no genuinely religious faith that can take on the killing of innocent people, the burning of churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and the lynching of people.
I agree with Martin Luther King Jr. when he says that "non-cooperation with evil is a moral as well as cooperation with good. " But to quote another great man, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II, I remember what he said: "We must discern the sometimes narrow paths between the cowardice which gives in front of evil and violence that the illusion of fighting against evil only makes it worse. "
3. PUT INTO PRACTICE IDEAS
brings me to my final point of the exhibition, the third. Given what we have said so far, what are the responsibilities of the apostolate of the Secular Carmelite spirituality?
One way to increase the apostolate of spirituality is to share with the local church's teachings of our holy fathers. Specifically, helping people develop a spiritual life. This means teaching them to pray, teach and to discover more permanent presence of God in our lives, teach to meditate and contemplate. This implies an effort to acquire the virtues and overcome our shortcomings. At the same time we must bear in mind that the depth of our love is the only true of our progress towards holiness. We need to learn how to join our prayer life with our activities, both religious as secular. Neither Mary only, nor only Martha, but a balance of both, what is sometimes called "contemplation in action." The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila is a wonderful example of this. And for the person who lives constantly in the presence of Christ in fact there is no purely secular activities. Everything is imbued with the presence and love of God
So one of our primary responsibilities is to be sure to teach lay people how to pray, not only to say the prayers, but understand the importance of the practice of meditation and contemplation .
Some measures suggested.
There have been other suggestions that relate to the Apostolate of Spirituality for Lay Carmelites. For example, it was proposed that the Secular Carmelites take an active role in the functioning of Stella Maris in Haifa in Israel. This center is currently not in use, I think. At first we could maybe work with our Carmelite Fathers in giving courses and retreats in Haifa for a period of one month or longer.
After all, is the cradle of our Carmelite charism. This requires the preparation of some of our Carmelite Secular Carmelites sent before the centers to prepare for spirituality and prayer, because then they can significantly help our Carmelite Fathers by offering some courses.
Certainly there is no reason why we can not arrange a suitable training course, in some Centres of withdrawal Carmelites throughout the world. This however requires an appropriate organization and an international collaboration, and perhaps even a collection of the necessary funds.
I think there are courses on Carmelite spirituality on the Internet. The Internet is an ideal time for those who can not leave their home for an extended period of time. Other means of education such as books on Carmelite Spirituality and the magazine Mount Caramel could also be made accessible via the Internet.
Coming to Christians of other denominations, I also remember the church of Catholics. There are many problems in sharing the building of the church because of theological differences Eucharist and other sacraments, but praying together is a great advantage.
Many Anglican churches, and Protestant bishops are now much more open to meditation and contemplative prayer. While at the summit, there are still problems for the unit at the base there is a broad landscape for Catholics of a parish or city to get to their Christian neighbors in prayer, social works, in assisting those in need in the suburbs.
Some of the projects in which we we need to commit funds for financing, a way to resolve this would be a small share of the monthly contribution for each member. This would be set aside for education and training of members as well as the others to whom we can get.
As we seen?
The Carmelites have a message for the world. Our message is simple. We have a treasure to share with everyone. We become visible as we should and could? We are really working together to build the Kingdom on the basis of the view that the Second Vatican Council has given us? We are familiar with that view? Maybe we still need to study these documents, especially those dealing with the Church, Scripture and the Church in the modern world. Some of these documents, together with those on social justice, are among the best secrets preserved in the Church!
bluntly: if the secular Carmelites completely disappeared tomorrow we would be surprised? The work of evangelization of the Church can be compromised? Or putting it another way: what should and could do for the Church, and especially for the Church in the area where we find ourselves, to make a difference?
This is what each fraternity has to decide, after an intense and prayerful discernment. Such discernment is based on two factors: 1
. The special gifts that come from our Carmelite charism and that we offer.
2. The specific needs of the people among whom we live and work.
Image we design.
Over the centuries we have accumulated a lot of baggage theological and devotional, which has largely obscured the central message of the gospel. We need to trace the history of origin to help people to have the same vision of life that Jesus has left us
our message is often seen as too sectarian ideas that you have come to have to be a "Catholic" . But what Jesus actually preached a religion that was not replace other religions. Jesus preached the Kingdom: a place where prevailing values \u200b\u200bof truth, love, compassion, justice, freedom, human dignity, unity and peace. And this is not something only for Catholics, but something for the whole world. This is the journey of faith that Jesus has shown us. This is the way of God
We will be very Catholic, very Carmelites, when these qualities radiate from our lives, individually as well as in community. He, Jesus himself, was himself the embodiment of all these human qualities, and his mission was to the invitation for everyone to own these qualities.
This is our mission, not just pour water on people's heads and label them as "Catholic", but invite them to join us in the great adventure of building the Kingdom in our world. A good example of this are the Cistercians, who in the past have started to meditate with the Buddhists, and still do.
Need for active evangelization.
Sometimes our greatest weakness is our passivity as Catholics. This probably dates from the time when Hilaire Belloc said: "The Church is Europe, and Europe is the Church." In this situation, the priority of evangelization had a low tone, as all were baptized as Christians. The main task of the clergy was mainly distribute spiritual services to which the laity needed.
This was converted into what we might call a "church of survival. " In a sense, this mentality persists to this day. In many parts of the world a great deal of energy goes to the church those who are already converted.
But it is clear that from the current situation completely changed, where the Church barely somewhere in the world is practicing a majority, there is an urgent need for evangelization, which is a strong prospect of sharing the Gospel with people everywhere. And 'what on which Pope John Paul II has been insisting all the time, especially in this year of Jubilee.
E 'equally clear that evangelization must involve every Christian commitment and responsibility is not only the prerogative of the bishops, priests and religious. In the past, when evangelism was practiced by the clergy and religious, they were at a disadvantage. Their number was small, and often find the language barrier.
As lay people we are working in popular places, we are better placed to spread the word. We can use all available means to disseminate our message. There are many means of communication, from macromedia to Micromedia, Internet and satellite television, video and slide projector, magazines with international news in parish bulletins. We are dangerously neglecting those media.
A new Pentecost.
As I suggested, for a long time we have a introspective Church, as if we were still living in the era of European Christianity. We have focused too much energy on ourselves, and now is the time for a new Pentecost. At Pentecost the disciples, who were seated behind the locked doors were suddenly shaken by the powerful wind of the Spirit. On that day three thousand people responded to their message, the Good News about Jesus Christ.
It took time for the early Christians would realize that the message was not only for their people, but had to be shared with everyone, and that under the guidance of Spirit had all the signs of a good Christian.
We see Jesus, who is mixed with sinners and tax collectors, and even choose one of them as an apostle. We read the parable of the banquet where it says to the servants to go out on the streets to gather all those who manage to meet.
Very often our church activities are limited to areas of the middle class, while not much care about the areas where there are real needs. There are too few mothers Teresa. Nevertheless, there are more and more lay people involved in service in places of great social need in Africa, parts of Asia and Latin America, as well as in places of despair and abandonment of our cities richer. But the consciousness that evangelization, the expansion of the Kingdom, is an integral part of every Christian is something that still needs to be pursued more vigorously.
As we will see strong secular Carmelites of our faith when our lives will speak for itself. The Jubilee year is clearly an opportune time to do it.
It 's a difficult task to convert a billion people, in this perspective. But you will achieve this goal by big plans, but raising awareness each of us to give a small contribution.
CONCLUSION Let me conclude my remarks by summarizing the main points. We examined three topics today.
First, we made some reflections on our role as Lay Carmelites, then briefly looking at the world in which we are called to live the Carmelite charism. We ended up thinking of some special areas in which the secular Carmelites could fit significantly for the Apostolate of Spirituality.
What I wanted to do was raise some thoughts, so that together we could find some solution to the challenges that challenge us in the beginning of the third millennium. I hope to be able, in some way.
Let me conclude with the words of Jesus in the Gospel, as reminder to everyone:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches. If ye abide in me and I in you will bear much fruit for without me ye can do nothing. "
Thank you for your patient listening.
Theresa Ee-Chooi, OCDS
Guadalajara, Mexico, September 2, 2000
CONTENTS
Co-responsibility 'of the Secular Carmelite Spirituality in the apostolate of' a
1. Who are the Secular Carmelites? 1
2. The current situation 4
3. Putting ideas into practice
5 HOW WE ARE HAVING? 6 CONCLUSION
8
0 comments:
Post a Comment