Carmel is a Flame…
a quiet flame, like a candle held in a woman’s hand, or set in a window at dusk.
Does this small spark – this life of prayer – serve the Church and our world of the third Millennium? The Gospel tells us of Christ’s use of the simplest things: water, light, bread, salt, wine.
The touch of Christ turned them into blessings. So the simple life of Carmel is touched with the divine mystery and turned into a sign of God’s Presence, a witness in today’s world.
Her life becomes truly authentic as she strives to “become prayer” in the heart of the Church.
The source and summit of the sister’s life is the Liturgy and Eucharistic Sacrifice, from which her personal dedication and joyous community-sharing draw their value. By her prayer for the Holy Father, theologians and priests, and for all who entrust their concerns to the community, she shares in the evangelization of the people of our time.
You would find as the primary goal, a life in which everything is focused on favoring the deepening and development of a life of prayer, centered around the daily celebration of the Eucharist.
It includes two hours of solitary meditation, one in the early morning and the other in late afternoon.
The recitation of the Divine Office. This Prayer of the Church is composed of hymns, psalms, and readings from the Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church and other holy men and women. It creates a rhythm that helps each sister pass from periods of work, community recreation and private spiritual reading to the great liturgical Prayer of the Church in union with Jesus Christ, the one Mediator with the Father, for the whole world.
By her participation in the various tasks and projects of the monastery she earns her living, in solidarity with all who work to earn their daily bread.
Printing novenas
Writing Icons and Painting
Gardening and harvesting
Sewing – Making habits and veils
Maintaining the website
Bookkeeping
Knitting and Crocheting
Making rosaries
Cataloguing books
Packing & shipping
Recreation – Having fun!
Carmel is a silence
that is broken by a song.
It is a desert
where the Spirit sows seeds of joy that bloom and come to fruitfulness under the profound action of God.
It is the hidden work
of the Spirit that gives fecundity to the apostolic tradition of Carmel.
It is the wind of hope
that scatters the frail seeds of prayer upon the world, and the Divine Life is generated..
Hermitage – Solitude
Why?
For a daughter of Carmel, the idea of the hermitage is like the fragrance of an old herb garden, ancient and yet familiar.
It is something instantly recognized as belonging to the Order, as a precious legacy that comes straight from our Holy Mother, St. Teresa.
Our primitive sources are the hermits of Mt. Carmel of the 12th century, and through them the long tradition of hermit life “in the strength and spirit” of our Father, the Prophet Elijah, the model and prototype of contemplative prayer.
Our hermitage encompasses this distinctive mixture of fiery zeal and shattered humanness that the greatest of the prophets typified. We also shall be revived, first all by the Bread of the Eucharist, but also by prayer in solitude where we, too, shall be able to walk in the strength of the One Bread Who is Christ, on our long journey to the mountain of God.