Gorze, March 2025

Approaching the Carmelite spiritual experience in the footsteps of Saint Teresa of Avila...

Dear friends,

Why Saint Teresa of Avila?

In our chapel, on the west wall, we have an icon of Saint Teresa painted by Rachel Goettmann, who, along with Father Alphonse, was one of the founding pillars of the Bethany Center.

We also have a statue of the saint, brought back from Avila, staff in hand, to the mission of founding monasteries in Spain, foundations requested of her by "His Majesty", as she calls Christ... So, for many years now, we have been under her protection in Bethany...

Carmel began in Palestine at the time of the Crusades, with a few hermit brothers around a sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady.

The rule of Carmel is that of Saint Albert and dates from 1209. Rome imposed on them the status of a mendicant order like the Franciscans and Dominicans. Initially contemplative, their life would also become apostolic.

The order takes the prophet Elijah as its model: "He lives," says the prophet, "the God before whom I stand. Standing before the living God is the fundamental meditative attitude of the Carmelite, and later of the Carmelite nun.

Doesn't the rule of Saint Albert prescribe to "meditate day and night on the law of the Lord"? Food" or liturgical prayer and "breathing" or silent prayer are the two pillars of life in Christ.

St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, in the 16th century, enriched and renewed the Carmelite monastery from their own uncommonly intense Christian experience.

They surrendered themselves to the divine will, living the full inner journey of metanoia. Their writings shed light on what goes on inside human beings. Thérèse recounts "what happened to her".

The experience she shares stirs and awakens souls, and she does so with finesse of analysis and great elegance of expression. Our two doctors are an indispensable reference for those on the road who have chosen Christ.

The third pinnacle of the Carmelite tradition, the third Doctor of the Church of Rome, appears with Thérèse de Lisieux.
She is the saint of the spirituality of the most banal everyday life... We could apply to her this Zen aphorism: "Drawing water, chopping wood: what a marvel!" Thérèse opens up the space for a spirituality embodied in the details of everyday life.
 

She proclaimed a message of hope in God who is mercy. This commitment to the Carmelite tradition reminds us of our human vocation: "To give thanks at all times and in all places", and "To pray without ceasing." Presence to self, presence to God!
 

The little meditation bench used by Saint Teresa of Avila reminds us of the bodily attitude that promotes vigilance. It's the expression of "holding on", for "the God before whom I stand is alive.
It is this dignity, which is a way of praying with the body, that roots us in our incarnation and opens the way to deification.
 

The human being commits body, soul and spirit, and this commitment must be renewed at every moment.
Thérèse prescribed two hours of daily prayer for her sons and daughters, and designed her monasteries' way of life around silent prayer.

"Prayer," she writes, "is nothing other than a friendship in which we converse frequently and intimately with the One we know we love. This shared love is nourished by the "noble Silence" of His presence.

The thought of the loved one and the impulse of love towards him or her then return to the whole of existence, to the mundane and everyday. Yes, the Lord is also in the midst of "cooking pots", as she liked to say!

So, let's head for our kitchens... in the midst of our daily work, because that's where the Lord is waiting for us, and nowhere else... As Saint Paul reminds us: "NOW is the acceptable time, NOW is the day of salvation". (2 co 6, 2)

With all my affection in Christ!

Father Francis