At 12:05 noon today in Rome (6:05am EDT), in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who are participating in the General Chapter of the Order of Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Carmelites) which has been taking place in Rome from 10 to 27 September 2019. The theme of this gathering is You are my witnesses (Is 43:10); from one generation to another: called to be faithful to our Carmelite charism (cf. Constitution, 21).
Dear brothers!
With joy I greet all of you, summoned here to celebrate your General Chapter, and, through you, I greet all the members of the Carmelite Order. The theme at the centre of your Chapter reflection is You are my witnesses (Is 43,10); from one generation to another: called to be faithful to our Carmelite charism (see Const. 21).
God blessed Carmel with an original charism to enrich the Church and to communicate the joy of the Gospel to the world, sharing what you received with enthusiasm and generosity: Freely you have received, give freely (Mt 10.8). I would like to encourage you in this by pointing to three lines of the journey.
The first line is fidelity and contemplation. The Church appreciates you and, when thinking of Carmel, she thinks of a school of contemplation. As a rich spiritual tradition attests, your mission is fruitful to the extent that it is rooted in a personal relationship with God. Blessed Titus Brandsma, martyr and mystic, affirmed: It is proper to the Order of Carmel, although it is a mendicant order of active life that lives among the people, to maintain a great esteem for solitude and detachment from the world, considering solitude and contemplation as the best part of her spiritual life. The Constitutions from 1995, which you are reviewing in these days, emphasize this: The great spiritual teachers of the Carmelite family always refer to this contemplative vocation (Constitutions, 17). The Carmelite mode of living contemplation prepares you to serve the people of God through any ministry and apostolate. What is certain is that, whatever you do, you will be faithful to your past and open to the future with hope if, living in homage to Jesus Christ (Rule, 2), you especially care for the spiritual journey of the people.
The second line is accompaniment and prayer. Carmel is synonymous with inner life. Carmelite mystics and writers have understood that being in God and being in his things do not always coincide. Struggling for a thousand things of God without being rooted in Him (cf Lk 10: 38-42), sooner or later he presents us with the bill: we realize that we have lost Him along the way. Saint Maria Maddalena de Pazzi, in her famous letters of Renewal of the Church (1586), explains that lukewarmness can creep into consecrated life when the evangelical counsels become only a routine and the love of Jesus is no longer the centre of life (cf Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 264). And thus worldliness can also creep in, which is the most dangerous temptation for the Church, especially for us, men of the Church. I know very well, brothers, that this temptation has entered and has done serious damage even among you. I have prayed and prayed for the Lord to help you. And this Chapter is a providential opportunity to receive from the Holy Spirit the strength to fight together against these pitfalls.
Generations of Carmelites have taught us by your example to live more inside than outside of ourselves, and to go towards el más profundo centro - the deepest centre, as Saint John of the Cross says (Fiamma viva d'amore B, 1,11-12), because God lives there, and from there he invites us to look for him. The true prophet in the Church is he and she who comes from the desert, like Elijah, rich in the Holy Spirit, and with the authority of those who have listened to the subtle voice of God in silence (cf 1 Kings 19,12).
I encourage you to help people to make friends with God. Saint Teresa said: I never tired of talking or hearing about God. Our world is thirsty for God and you Carmelites, teachers of prayer, can help so many people to come out of the noise, haste and spiritual dryness. It is not a question, of course, of teaching people to accumulate prayers, but to be men and women of faith, friends of God, who know how to walk the paths of the spirit.
From silence and prayer, renewed communities and authentic ministries will be born (cf Constitutions, 62). As good artisans of fraternity, place your trust in the Lord by overcoming the inertia of immobility and avoiding the temptation to reduce the religious community to work groups that would end up diluting the fundamental elements of religious life. The beauty of community life is in itself a point of reference that generates serenity, attracts the people of God and infects the joy of the Risen Christ. The true Carmelite conveys the joy of seeing in the other a brother to support and love and with whom to share life.
And finally the third line: tenderness and compassion. The contemplative has a compassionate heart. When love weakens, everything loses its flavour. Love, caring and creativity, is balm for those who are tired and exhausted (cf Mt 11:28), for those who suffer the abandonment, the silence of God, the emptiness of the soul and broken love. If one day, around us, there are no more sick and hungry people, abandoned and despised - the minores of which your beggar tradition speaks - it is not because they are not there, but simply, because we do not see them. The little ones (cf Mt 25: 31-46) and the discarded (cf Evangelii gaudium, 53) we will always have them (cf Jn 12: 8), to offer us an opportunity for contemplation and to be a window open to beauty, to truth and to goodness. Whoever loves God must seek him in the poor, in the brothers of Jesus, as Blessed Angelo Paoli said, of whom we will soon be celebrating the third centenary of his death. May you always have the goodness to look for them! The absolute trust of Blessed Angelo Paoli in divine providence made him exclaim with joy: I have a pantry in which nothing is missing! Your pantry overflows with compassion before any form of human suffering!
Contemplation would only be something momentary if it were reduced to raptures and ecstasies that would take us away from the joys and worries of the people. We must be wary of the contemplative who is not compassionate. Tenderness, according to the style of Jesus (cf Lk 10: 25-37), shelters us from pseudo mystics, weekend solidarity and the temptation to stay away from the wounds of the body of Christ. There are three dangers: the pseudo mystic, weekend solidarity and the temptation to stay away from the wounds of the body of Christ. The wounds of Jesus are also visible today in the bodies of the brothers who are stripped, humiliated and enslaved. By touching these wounds, caressing them, it is possible to worship the living God in our midst. Today we need a revolution of tenderness (see Evangelii Gaudium, 88; 288) that makes us more sensitive to the dark nights and the tragedies of humanity.
Dear brothers, I thank you for this meeting. May the Virgin of Carmel always accompany you and protect all those who collaborate with you and draw from your spirituality. And please also entrust me to her maternal protection. Thank you!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
offered to Carmelites
Dear brothers!
With joy I greet all of you, summoned here to celebrate your General Chapter, and, through you, I greet all the members of the Carmelite Order. The theme at the centre of your Chapter reflection is You are my witnesses (Is 43,10); from one generation to another: called to be faithful to our Carmelite charism (see Const. 21).
God blessed Carmel with an original charism to enrich the Church and to communicate the joy of the Gospel to the world, sharing what you received with enthusiasm and generosity: Freely you have received, give freely (Mt 10.8). I would like to encourage you in this by pointing to three lines of the journey.
The first line is fidelity and contemplation. The Church appreciates you and, when thinking of Carmel, she thinks of a school of contemplation. As a rich spiritual tradition attests, your mission is fruitful to the extent that it is rooted in a personal relationship with God. Blessed Titus Brandsma, martyr and mystic, affirmed: It is proper to the Order of Carmel, although it is a mendicant order of active life that lives among the people, to maintain a great esteem for solitude and detachment from the world, considering solitude and contemplation as the best part of her spiritual life. The Constitutions from 1995, which you are reviewing in these days, emphasize this: The great spiritual teachers of the Carmelite family always refer to this contemplative vocation (Constitutions, 17). The Carmelite mode of living contemplation prepares you to serve the people of God through any ministry and apostolate. What is certain is that, whatever you do, you will be faithful to your past and open to the future with hope if, living in homage to Jesus Christ (Rule, 2), you especially care for the spiritual journey of the people.
The second line is accompaniment and prayer. Carmel is synonymous with inner life. Carmelite mystics and writers have understood that being in God and being in his things do not always coincide. Struggling for a thousand things of God without being rooted in Him (cf Lk 10: 38-42), sooner or later he presents us with the bill: we realize that we have lost Him along the way. Saint Maria Maddalena de Pazzi, in her famous letters of Renewal of the Church (1586), explains that lukewarmness can creep into consecrated life when the evangelical counsels become only a routine and the love of Jesus is no longer the centre of life (cf Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 264). And thus worldliness can also creep in, which is the most dangerous temptation for the Church, especially for us, men of the Church. I know very well, brothers, that this temptation has entered and has done serious damage even among you. I have prayed and prayed for the Lord to help you. And this Chapter is a providential opportunity to receive from the Holy Spirit the strength to fight together against these pitfalls.
Generations of Carmelites have taught us by your example to live more inside than outside of ourselves, and to go towards el más profundo centro - the deepest centre, as Saint John of the Cross says (Fiamma viva d'amore B, 1,11-12), because God lives there, and from there he invites us to look for him. The true prophet in the Church is he and she who comes from the desert, like Elijah, rich in the Holy Spirit, and with the authority of those who have listened to the subtle voice of God in silence (cf 1 Kings 19,12).
I encourage you to help people to make friends with God. Saint Teresa said: I never tired of talking or hearing about God. Our world is thirsty for God and you Carmelites, teachers of prayer, can help so many people to come out of the noise, haste and spiritual dryness. It is not a question, of course, of teaching people to accumulate prayers, but to be men and women of faith, friends of God, who know how to walk the paths of the spirit.
From silence and prayer, renewed communities and authentic ministries will be born (cf Constitutions, 62). As good artisans of fraternity, place your trust in the Lord by overcoming the inertia of immobility and avoiding the temptation to reduce the religious community to work groups that would end up diluting the fundamental elements of religious life. The beauty of community life is in itself a point of reference that generates serenity, attracts the people of God and infects the joy of the Risen Christ. The true Carmelite conveys the joy of seeing in the other a brother to support and love and with whom to share life.
And finally the third line: tenderness and compassion. The contemplative has a compassionate heart. When love weakens, everything loses its flavour. Love, caring and creativity, is balm for those who are tired and exhausted (cf Mt 11:28), for those who suffer the abandonment, the silence of God, the emptiness of the soul and broken love. If one day, around us, there are no more sick and hungry people, abandoned and despised - the minores of which your beggar tradition speaks - it is not because they are not there, but simply, because we do not see them. The little ones (cf Mt 25: 31-46) and the discarded (cf Evangelii gaudium, 53) we will always have them (cf Jn 12: 8), to offer us an opportunity for contemplation and to be a window open to beauty, to truth and to goodness. Whoever loves God must seek him in the poor, in the brothers of Jesus, as Blessed Angelo Paoli said, of whom we will soon be celebrating the third centenary of his death. May you always have the goodness to look for them! The absolute trust of Blessed Angelo Paoli in divine providence made him exclaim with joy: I have a pantry in which nothing is missing! Your pantry overflows with compassion before any form of human suffering!
Contemplation would only be something momentary if it were reduced to raptures and ecstasies that would take us away from the joys and worries of the people. We must be wary of the contemplative who is not compassionate. Tenderness, according to the style of Jesus (cf Lk 10: 25-37), shelters us from pseudo mystics, weekend solidarity and the temptation to stay away from the wounds of the body of Christ. There are three dangers: the pseudo mystic, weekend solidarity and the temptation to stay away from the wounds of the body of Christ. The wounds of Jesus are also visible today in the bodies of the brothers who are stripped, humiliated and enslaved. By touching these wounds, caressing them, it is possible to worship the living God in our midst. Today we need a revolution of tenderness (see Evangelii Gaudium, 88; 288) that makes us more sensitive to the dark nights and the tragedies of humanity.
Dear brothers, I thank you for this meeting. May the Virgin of Carmel always accompany you and protect all those who collaborate with you and draw from your spirituality. And please also entrust me to her maternal protection. Thank you!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
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