 We
embrace the religious life in friendship and service of Jesus Christ, in
imitation of and under the patronage of the Virgin Mary, whose life of
faith, simplicity and intimate union with Jesus and his mission,
constitutes for us the interior model.
Our vocation aspires to union with God by the way of contemplation and
apostolic zeal indissolubly united, and to the formation of a fraternal
community as a sign of communion in the world.
Prayer, which is a life of prayer and a prayer of life, is nourished by
listening to the Word of God and the liturgy and with “the joys and
hopes, sorrows and anxieties” of the Church and of humanity. It is a way
of life of faith, hope and love.
Apostolic zeal penetrates our prayer and our entire life, and it impels
us to work with fervent activity in different ways in the service of the
Church and humankind.
Evangelical self-denial, as a capacity for spiritual sacrifice, is a
natural disposition because the Gospel, Jesus and His Kingdom are worth
it, and because the road to union with God and the mission makes us
experience the necessity of the purification and transformation of the
heart and of life.
Everything has to carry the impress of a spiritual humanism which
integrates simplicity, authenticity, joy, the gentleness of fraternal
life, the dignity of the human person, appreciation for the formation of
the religious and the equilibrium of the ascetical life ordained to the
theological life and the mission.
The charism is a dynamic reality capable of growing and becoming
enriched in the course of history. Numerous Carmelites have enriched it
with their teachings and initiatives, like St. John of the Cross, St.
Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Francisco Palau, St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith
Stein), Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity and others. Many who are not
canonized, like Jerome Gracian and John of Jesus Mary, to cite of few of
the more eminent of the first generation of Teresian Carmelites, along
with later ones, particular the missionaries, have enriched the charism.
Inspired and compelled by the Gospel and the Teresian impulse they all
have multiplied the interior mansions and have expanded the horizons of
Carmel. |
