The sophisticated world of today needs simplicity badly. Teresa of Avila reformed Carmel in order to help the Church to overcome the crisis of her time. She founded her monasteries, “dovecotes,” as she called them, not simply in order to offer an ideal atmosphere for contemplative life, but, rather, for the benefit of the entire Church.

Of course, these two aims are really one and the same. By living a true contemplative life in the constant presence of Jesus, the Bridegroom, the Carmelite becomes more and more involved in the work of the Church, becomes fruitful for the Church and for the redemption of mankind.

Once again, we realize that true adoration of God implies a participation in the redemptive love of God. “When I look at the great needs of the Church, which afflict me so much, it seems to me ridiculous to be distressed about anything else,” Teresa said.

Teresa knew all too well that contemplative life, and especially in the enclosure, can tempt the nun to be more attentive to herself and her own petty little needs than to the invisible world of God. The remedy is always to have the extensive needs of the Church present in her prayers.

True prayer is always fruitful for the Church. Growth in holiness on behalf of the Church and Her needs is the primary motivation for the contemplative nun in Teresa’s vision of Carmelite life. One could even say that there is a kind of interiorization of the Church into the very soul of the person at prayer. Once again, we see the parallel between the Church, Our Lady, and the soul.

Teresa offers us who live in an epoch of efficiency a remedy against our all-too-human expectations and our longings for success.

God can work wonders through a person who completely and totally belongs to Him—someone like Teresa of Jesus. She shows us the true image of the Church and what our role is in the Mystical Body of Christ. She shows us the fundamental unity of contemplative and apostolic life in the heart of the Church.

In that way, Teresa helps us to discover the real sense of the Church and makes us feel at home there, because the Church truly is where we receive Jesus Christ.

Cardinal Anders Arborelius, O.C.D.

Chapter 11, The Church in the Carmelite Tradition

Arborelius OCD, A. 2020, Carmelite Spirituality: The Way of Carmelite Prayer and Contemplation, EWTN Publishing, Irondale, Alabama.

Featured image: This photo of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Compiègne was taken in the choir of their post-revolutionary monastery, which was established in 1867 on the outskirts of town. The photo was captured by Jean-Pierre Gilson, a photographer from the University of Technology of Compiègne, and was published in the 1989 photographic album, Les Carmélites de Compiègne (Medialogue, Paris).

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