Section III ( Continued - 2014 Additions )

III – B – FRATERNAL COMMUNION

24 - a) 

     The Church,

           the family of God
           Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

       is a mystery of communion.                   [21]

              [21] Cf. Vatican Council II,
                           Lumen Gentium, 4

Lumen Gentium, 4;
Light of the Nations 
"Christ is the Light of Nations"

Lumen Gentium
Dogmatic Constitution On The Church 
Solemnly Promulgated By His Holiness 
Pope Paul VI 
On November 21, 1964 

4. 
When the work 
which the Father gave the Son 
to do on earth (9) was accomplished, 
the Holy Spirit was sent 
on the day of Pentecost 
in order that He might 
continually sanctify the Church,
and thus, 
all those who believe 
would have access through Christ
in one Spirit to the Father.
       (10) 

He is the Spirit of Life, 
a fountain of water 
springing up to life eternal.
       (11)

To men, dead in sin, 
the Father gives life through Him, 
until, in Christ, 
He brings to life their mortal bodies.
       (12) 

The Spirit dwells
in the Church and 
in the hearts of the faithful,
as in a temple.
       (13)

In them 
He prays on their behalf and 
bears witness to the fact 
that they are adopted sons.
        (14) 

The Church, 
which the Spirit guides 
in way of all truth and 
        (15) 
which He unified 
in communion and
in works of ministry, 
He both equips and directs 
with hierarchical and charismatic gifts 
and adorns with His fruits.
        (16) 

By the power of the Gospel 
He makes the Church 
keep the freshness of youth. 

Uninterruptedly He renews it and 
leads it to perfect union with its Spouse.
        (3*) 

The Spirit and the Bride 
both say to Jesus, the Lord, 
"Come!"  
        (17) 

Thus, the Church has been seen as 
"a people made one with the unity 
of the Father, the Son 
and the Holy Spirit." 
        (4*)

 9 Cf. Jn. 17:4.
10 Cf  Eph. 1:18.
11 Cf  Jn. 4:14; 7:38-39.
12 Cf. Rom. 8:10-11.
13 Cf. Cor. 3:16; 6:19.
14 Cf. Gal. 4:6; 
       Rom. 8:15-16 and 26.
15 Cf. Jn. 16:13

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES (*)

(3)Cfr. S. Irenaeus, adv. Haer, 
   111 24, 1: PG 7, 966 B; 
   Harvey 2, 13i, ed. Sagnard, 
   Sources Chr., p 398.

(4)S. Cyprianus, De Orat Dom. 23: 
   PL 4, 5S3, Hartel, 
   III A, p. 28S. S. 
   Augustinus, Serm. 71, 20, 33: 
   PL 38, 463 s. S. Io. Damascenus, 
   Adv. Iconocl. 12: 
   PG 96, 1358 D.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils
/ii_vatican_council/documents
/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

 

              [21] Gaudium et spes, 24;

Gaudium Et Spes, 24
The Joys and the Hopes

PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH 
IN THE MODERN WORLD

GAUDIUM ET SPES

PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS, 
POPE PAUL VI

ON DECEMBER 7, 1965
 
CHAPTER II 
THE COMMUNITY OF MANKIND 
...
24. 
God, 
Who has fatherly concern for everyone, 
has willed that all men should 
constitute one family and 
treat one another 
in a spirit of brotherhood. 

For having been created 
in the image of God, 
Who "from one man has 
created the whole human race and
made them live all over the face 
of the earth" 
     (Acts 17:26), 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

   Acts 17:26
   26  And he made from one every nation of men 
       to live on all the face of the earth, 
       having determined allotted periods and 
       the boundaries of their habitation, 

   27  that they should seek God, 
       in the hope 
       that they might feel after him 
       and find him. 
       Yet he is not far from each one of us, 

   28  for `In him we live and move 
       and have our being'; 
       as even some of your poets have said, 
       `For we are indeed his offspring.' 

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

all men are called to one and the same goal, 
  namely God Himself.

For this reason, love for God and neighbor
is the first and greatest commandment. 

Sacred Scripture, however, teaches us 
that the love of God cannot be separated 
from love of neighbor: 

"If there is any other commandment, 
it is summed up in this saying:
 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.... 
Love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law" 

   (Rom. 13:9-10; 
    cf. 1 John 4:20). 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

    Rom. 13:9-10
    9  For Thou shalt not commit adultery: 
       Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal, 
       Thou shalt not bear false witness: 
       Thou shalt not covet: 
       and if there be any other commandment, 
       it is comprised in this word, 
       Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

   10  The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. 
        Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law. 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    1 John 4:20 
       If any man say, 
       I love God, and hateth his brother; 
       he is a liar. 

       For he that loveth not his brother, 
           whom he seeth, 
        how can he love God, 
           whom he seeth not? 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To men growing daily more dependent 
on one another, and
to a world becoming more unified every day,
this truth proves to be 
of paramount importance.

Indeed, the Lord Jesus, 
when He prayed to the Father, 
"that all may be one. . . as we are one" 
        (John 17:21-22)
opened up vistas closed to human reason, 
for He implied a certain likeness between 
the union of the divine Persons, and 
the unity of God's sons
in truth and charity. 

This likeness reveals that man, 
who is the only creature on earth 
which God willed for itself, 
cannot fully find himself 
except through a sincere gift of himself.  
      (2)

      (2). Cf. Luke 17:33.

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

       Lk 17:33

       "Whoever seeks to gain his life 
        will lose it, 
        but whoever loses his life 
        will preserve it.'

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/
ii_vatican_council/documents/
vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html          

 

        

              [21] cf. John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, 19.

Christifideles Laici, 19
Christ's Faithful People (Christifideles Laici) 

Christifideles Laici

Of His Holiness John Paul II
On The Vocation And The Mission 
Of The Lay Faithful 
In The Church And In The World

Vatican II and the Ecclesiology of Communion

19. 
At the Second Vatican Council the Church 
again proposed this central idea 
about herself, 
as the 1985 Extraordinary Synod recalls: 
"The ecclesiology of communion 
is a central and fundamental concept 
in the conciliar documents.

Koinonia-communion, 
finding its source in Sacred Scripture, 
was a concept held in great honour
in the early Church and 
in the Oriental Churches, 
and this teaching endures 
to the present day. 

Much was done by the Second Vatican Council 
to bring about a clearer understanding 
of the Church as communion 
and its concrete application to life. 

What, then, 
does this complex word 'communion' mean? 

Its fundamental meaning speaks of
the union with God 
brought about by Jesus Christ, 
in the Holy Spirit. 

The opportunity for such communion is present 
in the Word of God and in the Sacraments. 

Baptism is the door 
and the foundation of communion in the Church. 

The Eucharist is 
the source and summit 
of the whole Christian life
 (cf. Lumen Gentium, 11). 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    Lumen Gentium, 11

    ...Taking part 
    in the Eucharistic sacrifice, 
    which is the fount and apex 
    of the whole Christian life,
    they offer the Divine Victim to God, 
    and offer themselves along with It.
         (6*) 

    Thus both by reason of the offering and 
    through Holy Communion 
    all take part in this liturgical service, 
    not indeed, all in the same way 
    but each in that way 
    which is proper to himself. 
    Strengthened in Holy Communion 
    by the Body of Christ, 
    they then manifest in a concrete way 
    that unity of the people of God 
    which is suitably signified 
    and wondrously brought about 
    by this most august sacrament...

   (6) Cfr. S. Thomas, Summa Theol. III, 
            q. 62, a. 5, ad 1.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist 
sacramentalizes this communion, 
that is, it is a sign and 
actually brings about 
the intimate bonds of communion 
among all the faithful
in the Body of Christ 
which is the Church 
      (1 Cor 10:16)".  
          (53) 

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

       1 Cor 10:16

       16 The cup of blessing 
          that we bless, 
          is it not a participation 
          in the blood of Christ? 
          The bread that we break, 
          is it not a participation 
          in the body of Christ? 

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the day after the conclusion 
of the Council Pope Paul VI 
addressed the faithful 
in the following words: 

"The Church is a communion.

In this context 
what does communion mean? 

We refer you to the paragraph 
in the Catechism that speaks 
of the sanctorum communionem, 
'the Communion of Saints'. 

The meaning of the Church 
is a communion of saints.

'Communion' speaks of a 
double, lifegiving participation: 

the incorporation of Christians 
into the life of Christ, and 
the communication of that life of charity 
to the entire body of the Faithful, 
in this world and in the next, 
union with Christ and in Christ, and 
union among Christians, in the Church"
     (54).

Vatican Council II has invited us 
to contemplate the mystery of the Church 
through biblical images 
which bring to light 
the reality of the Church 
as a communion 
with its inseparable dimensions: 

the communion of each Christian 
with Christ and 
the communion of all Christians 
with one another. 


There is the sheepfold, 
the flock, the vine, 
the spiritual building, 
the Holy City
      (55). 

Above all, 
there is the image of the Body 
as set forth by the Apostle Paul. 

Its doctrine finds a pleasing expression 
once again 
in various passages 
of the Council's documents 
      (56). 

In its turn, the Council 
has looked again at the entire history 
of salvation and 
has reproposed the image of the Church 
as the People of God: 

"It has pleased God to make people holy 
and to save them, 
not merely as individuals 
without any mutual bonds, 
but by making them into a single people, 
a people which acknowledges him in truth 
and serves him in holiness 
       (57)."  

From its opening lines, 
the Constitution Lumen Gentium 
summarizes this doctrine in a wonderful way: 

"The Church in Christ is a kind of sacrament, 
that is, a sign and instrument of 
of intimate union with God  
of the unity of all the human race" 
       (58).

The reality of the Church as Communion 
is, then, the integrating aspect, 
indeed the central content of the "mystery", 
or rather, the divine plan 
for the salvation of humanity.

For this purpose 
ecclesial communion cannot be interpreted 
in a sufficient way 
if it is understood as simply a sociological 
or a psychological reality.

The Church as Communion is  
the "new" People, 
the "messianic" People, 
the People that
"has, for its head, Christ... 

as its heritage, 
the dignity and freedom 
of God's Children... 

for its law, the new commandment 
to love as Christ loved us... 

for its goal, the kingdom of God... 
established by Christ 
as a communion 
of life, love and truth"  
      (59). 

The bonds that unite the members 
of the New People 
among themselves 
- and first of all with Christ -
are not those of "flesh and blood", 

but those of the spirit, 
more precisely those of the Holy Spirit, 
whom all the baptized have received 
   (cf. Joel 3:1).

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

       Joel 3:1

    The Day of the Lord 
    It shall come to pass
    I will pour out my spirit 
    upon all flesh.
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your old men will dream dreams,
    your young men will see visions.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In fact, 
that Spirit is the One 
who from eternity 
unites the one and undivided Trinity, 

that Spirit 
who "in the fullness of time"
    Gal 4:4) 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    Gal 4:4

    4 But when the fullness of time 
      had come, 
      God sent his Son, born of a woman, 
      born under the law, 

    5 to ransom those under the law, 
       so that we might receive adoption. 

    6 As proof that you are children, 
       God sent the spirit of his Son 
       into our hearts, 
       crying out, “Abba, Father!” 

    7 So you are no longer a slave 
      but a child, 
      and if a child 
      then also an heir, through God.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

forever unites human nature 
to the Son of God, 
            
that same identical Spirit 
who in the course of Christian generations 
is the constant and never-ending source 
of communion in the Church.

(no footnotes supplied 
 by the Vatican.Va sites )

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/
john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/
documents/
hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici_en.html

Copyright 1998 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 

    
               [21] Ratio Institutionis OCDS, 25.

Ratio Institutionis OCDS, 25
             
25. The secular community expresses 
the mystery of the Church - Communion. 

Indeed, it arises from the communion 
between the Father, 
the Son and the Holy Spirit 
by which it is nourished;

it takes part in the mission of the church 
of calling the people to this communion.  
  (LG 1, 19).

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   Lumen Gentium  1

   1. Christ is the Light of nations. 
      Because this is so, 
      this Sacred Synod gathered together 
      in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, 
      by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, 
                (1)
      to bring the light of Christ to all men, 
      a light brightly visible on the countenance 
      of the Church. 

      Since the Church is in Christ 
      like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument 
      both of a very closely knit union with God 
      and of the unity of the whole human race,
      it desires now to unfold more fully 
      to the faithful of the Church 
      and to the whole world 
      its own inner nature and universal mission. 

      This it intends to do 
      following faithfully the teaching 
      of previous councils. 

      The present-day conditions of the world 
      add greater urgency 
      to this work of the Church  
      so that all men, joined more closely today 
      by various social, technical and cultural ties, 
      might also attain fuller unity in Christ. 

       1 Cf. Mk. 16:15.
       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

       Lumen Gentium  19

       The Lord Jesus, 
       after praying to the Father, 
       calling to Himself 
       those whom He desired, 
       appointed twelve to be with Him, 
       and whom He would send 
       to preach the Kingdom of God;      
           (137) 
       and these apostles                    
           (138) 
       He formed
       after the manner of a college 
       or a stable group, 
       over which He placed Peter 
       chosen from among them.              
           (139) 

       He sent them first to the children of Israel 
       and then to all nations,             
           (140) 
       so that as sharers in His power 
       they might make all peoples His disciples, 
       and sanctify and govern them,           
           (141) 
       and thus spread His Church, 
       and by ministering to it 
       under the guidance of the Lord, 
       direct it all days 
       even to the consummation of the world. 
           (142) 

       And in this mission they were fully confirmed 
       on the day of Pentecost  
           (143) 
       in accordance with the Lord's promise: 

       "You shall receive power 
       when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, 
       and you shall be witnesses for me 
       in Jerusalem, 
       and in all Judea and in Samaria, 
       and even to the very ends of the earth".           
           (144) 
       And the apostles, 
       by preaching the Gospel  everywhere,                            
           (145) 
       and it being accepted by their hearers 
       under the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
       gather together the universal Church, 
       which the Lord established 
       on the apostles and 
       built upon blessed Peter, their chief, 
       Christ Jesus 
       Himself being the supreme cornerstone.          
           (146)                                                                     
           (3*)

137 Mk.  3:13-19;
    Mt. 10:1-42.
138 Cf   Lk. 6:13.
139 Cf.  Jn. 21:15-17.
140 Rom. 1:16.
141 Cf.  Mt. 28:16-20; 
         Mk. 16:15; 
         Lk. 24:45-48; 
         Jn. 20:21-23.
142 Cf.  Mt. 28:20.
143 Cf.  Acts 2:1-26.
144      Acts 1.8.
145 Cf.  Mk. 16:20.
146 Cf.  Rev. 21:14; 
         Mt. 16:18; 
         Eph. 2:20.

(3*) Cfr. S. Irenaeus, adv. Haer, 
          111 24, 1: 
          PG 7, 966 B; 
          Harvey 2, 13i, ed. Sagnard, 
          Sources Chr., p 398.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/
hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/
documents/
vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

         
              [21] Congregation for the Institutes of
                     Consecrated Life and Societies
                              of Apostolic Life,
                     Congregavit in uno Christi amor, 8‐9.

Congregavit in uno Christi amor 8-9
"The love of Christ has gathered together 
 all into one"
 
CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES 
OF CONSECRATED LIFE 
AND SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE 
FRATERNAL LIFE IN COMMUNITY

"Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor"

I. 
THE GIFT OF COMMUNION 
AND THE GIFT OF COMMUNITY

8. 
Before being a human construction, 
religious community is a gift of the Spirit.

It is the love of God, 
poured into our hearts 
by the Holy Spirit, 
from which religious community takes its origin 
and is built as a 
true family gathered together 
in the Lord's name.                       
      (20)

It is therefore impossible 
to understand religious community 
unless we start 
from its being a gift from on high, 
from its being a mystery,
from its being rooted in the very heart 
of the blessed and sanctifying Trinity, 
who wills it as part 
of  the mystery of the Church, 
for the life of the world.

The Church as Communion

9. 
In creating man and woman 
in his own image and likeness, 
God created them for communion. 

God the Creator, 
who revealed himself 
as Love, as Trinity, as communion, 
called them to enter 
into intimate relationship with himself 
and into interpersonal communion, 
in the universal fraternity 
of all men and women.               
    (21)

This is our highest vocation: 
to enter into communion with God 
and with our brothers and sisters.

God's plan was compromised through sin, 
which sundered every kind of relationship: 
 between the human race and God,
 between man and woman, 
 among brothers and sisters, 
 between peoples, 
 between humanity and the rest of creation.

In his great love, 
the Father sent his Son, 
the new Adam, 
to reconstitute all creation 
and bring it to full unity. 

When he came among us, 
he established the beginning 
of the new People of God, 
calling to himself apostles and disciples, 
men and women

 - a living parable of the human family 
   gathered together in unity. 


He announced to them universal fraternity 
in the Father, 
who made us his intimates, his children, 
and brothers and sisters among ourselves. 

In this way he taught equality in fraternity 
and reconciliation in forgiveness. 

He overturned the relationships 
of power and domination, 
himself giving the example 
of how to serve and choose the last place. 

During the Last Supper, 
he entrusted to them 
the new commandment of mutual love: 

  "a new commandment I give to you, 
   that you love one another; 

   even as I have loved you, 
   that you also love one another" 
        (Jn. 13:34; 
         cf. 15:12); 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   Jn. 13:34

   34  I give you a new commandment: 
       love one another. 
       As I have loved you, 
       so you also should love one another.

   35  This is how all will know 
       that you are my disciples, 
       if you have love for one another.” 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   Jn  15:12

   This is my commandment: 
   love one another as I love you

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


He instituted the Eucharist, 
which, making us share 
in the one bread and one cup, 
nourishes mutual love. 

Then he turned to the Father asking, 
as a synthesis of his desires, 
for the unity of all, 
modelled on the Trinitarian unity: 

  "that they may all be one; 
   even as you, Father, 
   are in me and I in you, 
   that they also may be in us"
    (cf. Jn. 17:21).

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   Jn. 17:21

   20 “I pray not only for them, 
      but also for those 
      who will believe in me 
      through their word, 

   21 so that they may all be one, 
      as you, Father, are in me 
      and I in you, 
      that they also may be in us, 
      that the world may believe 
      that you sent me. 

   22 And I have given them the glory 
      you gave me, 
      so that they may be one, 
      as we are one, 

   23 I in them and you in me,
      that they may be brought 
      to perfection as one, 
      that the world may know 
      that you sent me, 
      and 
      that you loved them 
      even as you loved me. 

   24 Father, they are your gift to me.
      I wish that where I am  
      they also may be with me, 
      that they may see my glory 
      that you gave me,
      because you loved me 
      before the foundation of the world.

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Entrusting himself then 
to the Father's will, 
he achieved in the paschal mystery 
that unity which he had taught his disciples 
to live 
and which he had asked of the Father. 

By his death on the cross, 
he destroyed the barrier 
that separated peoples, 
reconciling us all in unity
    (cf. Eph. 2:14-16). 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    Eph. 2:14-16

    13  But now in Christ Jesus you 
        who once were far off 
        have become near 
        by the blood of Christ. 

    14  For he is our peace, 
        he who made both one 
        and broke down the dividing wall 
        of enmity, through his flesh,  

    15  abolishing the law 
        with its commandments and legal claims, 
        that he might create in himself 
        one new person
        in place of the two, 
        thus establishing peace, 

    16  and might reconcile both with God, 
        in one body,
        through the cross, 
        putting that enmity to death by it.  

    17  He came and preached peace to you 
        who were far off and peace to those 
        who were near, 

    18  for through him we both have access 
        in one Spirit to the Father. 

    19  So then you are no longer strangers 
        and sojourners, 
        but you are fellow citizens 
        with the holy ones and members 
        of the household of God, 

    20  built upon the foundation 
        of the apostles and prophets,  
        with Christ Jesus himself 
        as the capstone.  

    21  Through him the whole structure 
        is held together 
        and grows into a temple sacred 
        in the Lord; 

    22 in him you also are 
        being built together 
        into a dwelling place of God 
        in the Spirit. 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By this, he taught us 
that communion and unity are the fruit 
of sharing in the mystery of His death. 

The coming of the Holy Spirit, 
first gift to believers, 
brought about the unity willed by Christ. 

Poured out on the disciples 
gathered in the Upper Room with Mary,
the Spirit gave visibility to the Church, 
which, from the very first moment, 
is characterised 
as fraternity and communion 
in the unity of one heart and one soul 
    (cf. Acts 4:32).

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    Acts 4:32

    32  The community of believers was 
        of one heart and mind, 
        and no one claimed 
        that any of his possessions 
        was his own, 
        but they had everything in common. 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This communion is the bond of charity 
which joins among themselves 
all the members of the same Body of Christ, 
and the Body with its Head. 

The same life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit  
     (22)  
builds in Christ organic cohesion: 

he unifies the Church in communion and ministry,
co-ordinates and directs it 
with various hierarchic and charismatic gifts 
which complement each other, 
and makes the Church beautiful by his fruits.   
     (23)

In her pilgrimage through this world, 
the Church, one and holy, 
has constantly been characterised by a tension, 
often painful, towards effective unity. 

Along her path through history, 
she has become increasingly conscious of being 
the People and family of God, 
the Body of Christ, 
Temple of the Spirit, 
Sacrament of the intimate union 
of the human race, 
communion, 
icon of the Trinity. 

The Second Vatican Council has brought out, 
perhaps as never before, 
this mysterious and "communional" 
dimension of the Church.
 

(20) Cf. PC 15a; 
         can. 602.
(21) Cf. GS 3.
(22) Cf. LG 7.
(23) Cf. LG 4; 
         MR 2.

PC Decree Perfectae Caritatis, 1965.

MR Directives for the Mutual Relations 
   Between Bishops and Religious 
   in the Church, 
   Sacred Congregation for Bishops 
   and SCRIS, 1978.


CONCLUSION
71. 
A religious community, 
as an expression of the Church, 
is a fruit of the Spirit and 
a participation in the Trinitarian communion. 

For this reason, each and every religious 
is committed to feel 
co-responsible for fraternal life in common,
so that it will manifest clearly 
their belonging to Christ, 
who chooses and calls brothers and sisters 
to live together in His name.

"The effectiveness of religious life 
depends on the quality of the fraternal life 
in common.

Even more so, the current renewal 
in the Church and in religious life 
is characterised by a search 
for communion and community".     
    (87)

For some consecrated persons and 
for some communities, 
the task of beginning again 
to rebuild fraternal life 
in common may appear daunting, 
even utopian. 

In the face 
of certain past wounds and 
of difficulties in the present, 
the task may appear 
beyond feeble human capacities.

It is a question of taking up in faith 
a reflection on the theologal sense 
of fraternal life in common, 
of being convinced that through it 
the witness of consecration flows.

"The response to this invitation 
to build community 
together with the Lord, 
in patience every day," says our Holy Father, 
"takes place on the way of the Cross; 

it requires frequent self-denial".    
    (88)

United with Mary, Mother of Jesus, 
our communities invoke the Spirit, 
who has the power 
to create fraternal communities 
which radiate the joy of the Gospel and 
which are capable of attracting new disciples, 
following the example of the earliest community: 

"and they devoted themselves 
to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, 
to the breaking of bread and the prayers" 
      (Acts 2:42), 

"and more than ever believers were added 
to the Lord, 
multitudes both of men and women"
      (Acts 5:14).

May Mary bring together religious communities 
and support them daily
in invoking the Spirit, 
who is the bond, the ferment, and 
the source of all fraternal communion.

On 15 January 1994, 
the Holy Father approved this document 
of the Congregation for Institutes 
of Consecrated Life 
and Societies of Apostolic Life 
and authorised its publication.

Rome, 2 February 1994, 
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

(87) John Paul II, 
     to the Plenary Meeting of CICLSAL, 
     20 November 1992, n. 3, 
     or
     (English) 2 December 1992.

     CICLSAL Congregation for Institutes 
     of Consecrated Life 
     and Societies of Apostolic Life.


(88) Ibid., n. 2.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/
congregations/ccscrlife/documents/
rc_con_ccscrlife_doc_02021994_
fraternal-life-in-community_en.html

 

 In fact, Jesus came among us to reveal to us
        this Trinitarian love and
        the vocation to participate in a communion of love
                 with the Most Holy Trinity;

This is something to which every human person
       created in God’s image and likeness
                 (cf. Gen 1:26-27)
  is called.

Gen  1: 26 - 27
             
26 
Then God said: 
Let us make  human beings 
in our image, 
after our likeness.  
Let them have dominion over 
the fish of the sea, 
the birds of the air, 
the tame animals, 
all the wild animals, 
and all the creatures 
that crawl on the earth. 

27 
God created mankind 
in his image;
in the image of God 
he created them;
male and female - 
he created them.
               

 

In the light of this mystery,
the true identity and dignity
    of every human being,  and specifically
    of every member of the Church,
is revealed.                                                        [22]


              [22] John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, 8.

Christifideles Laici, 8.
Christ's Faithful People 
(Christifideles Laici) 

Christifideles Laici

Of His Holiness John Paul II
On The Vocation And The Mission 
Of The Lay Faithful 
In The Church And In The World

CHAPTER I
I AM THE VINE AND 
YOU ARE THE BRANCHES


The Dignity of the Lay Faithful 
in the Church as Mystery
 
The Mystery of the Vine 

8. 
The Sacred Scriptures use 
the image of the vine in various ways. 

In a particular case, 
the vine serves to express 
the Mystery of the People of God. 

From this perspective 
which emphasizes 
the Church's internal nature, 
the lay faithful are seen 
not simply as labourers 
who work in the vineyard, 
but as themselves 
being a part of the vineyard.

Jesus says, 
"I am the vine, 
you are the branches" 
    (Jn 15:5).

The prophets in the Old Testament 
used the image of the vine 
to describe the chosen people. 

Israel is God's vine, 
the Lord's own work, 
the joy of his heart: 

"I have planted you a choice vine" 
    (Jer 2:21); 

"Your mother was like a vine 
in a vineyard transplanted by the water, 
fruitful and full of branches 
by reason of abundant water" 
    (Ez 19:10); 

"My beloved had a vineyard 
on a very fertile hill. 
He dug it and cleared it of stones 
and planted it with choice vines ..."
    (Is 5:1-2).

Jesus himself once again takes up 
the symbol of the vine 
and uses it to illustrate various aspects 
of the Kingdom of God: 

"A man planted a vineyard, 
and set a hedge around it, 
and dug a pit for the winepress, 
and built a tower 
and let it out to tenants 
and went into another country"
    (Mk 12:1; 
     cf. Mt 21:28 ff.).

John the Evangelist invites us 
to go further and 
leads us to discover the mystery of the vine: 
it is the figure and symbol 
not only of the People of God, 
but of Jesus himself. 

He is the vine and we, 
His disciples, are the branches. 

He is the "true vine", 
to which the branches are engrafted 
to have life 
    (cf. Jn 15:1 ff.).

The Second Vatican Council, 
making reference 
to the various biblical images
that help to reveal the mystery 
of the Church, 
proposes again the image 
of the vine and the branches: 

"Christ is the true vine 
who gives life and fruitfulness 
to the branches,
that is, to us. 

Through the Church we abide in Christ, 
without whom we can do nothing 
    (Jn 15:1-5) "                  
    (12). 

The Church herself, then, 
is the vine in the gospel. 

She is mystery 
because the very life and 
love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit 
are the gift gratuitously offered  
to all those 
who are born of water and the Holy Spirit 
    (cf. Jn 3:5),    
and called to relive 
the very communion of God 
and to manifest it and communicate it 
in history (mission): 

"In that day", Jesus says, "you will know 
that I am in my Father and you in me, 
and I in you" 
    (Jn 14:20).

Only from inside 
the Church's mystery of communion is 
the "identity" of the lay faithful 
made known,  and 
their fundamental dignity revealed. 

Only within the context of this dignity 
can their vocation and mission 
in the Church and in the world be defined.  

(no footnotes supplied 
by the Vatican.Va sites ) 

 

Being spiritual in nature,
the human person grows and matures
by being in an authentic relationship
  with God and with others.                 [23]


              [23] Vatican Council II,
                     Gaudium et Spes, 23;

Gaudium et spes, 23- 24
The Joys and the Hopes

PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH 
IN THE MODERN WORLD
GAUDIUM ET SPES

PROMULGATED BY  HIS HOLINESS, 
POPE PAUL VI
ON DECEMBER 7, 1965
 
CHAPTER II 
THE COMMUNITY OF MANKIND 

23. 
One of the salient features 
of the modern world 
is the growing interdependence of men 
one on the other, 
a development promoted chiefly 
by modern technical advances.

Nevertheless brotherly dialogue among men 
does not reach its perfection 
on the level of technical progress, 
but on the deeper level 
of interpersonal relationships. 

These demand a mutual respect 
for the full spiritual dignity of the person.

Christian revelation contributes greatly 
To the promotion 
of this communion between persons, 
and at the same time 
leads us to a deeper understanding 
of the laws of social life 
which the Creator has written 
into man's moral and spiritual nature.

Since rather recent documents 
of the Church's teaching authority 
have dealt at considerable length 
with Christian doctrine about human society,   
      (1)
this council is merely going to call to mind 
some of the more basic truths, 
treating their foundations under 
the light of revelation.

Then it will dwell more at length 
on certain of their implications
having special significance for our day.

1. 
Cf. John XXIII, 
encyclical letter, Mater et Magistra, 
May 15, 1961: 
AAS 53 (1961), pp. 401-464, 

and 
encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, 
April 11, 1963: 
AAS 55 (1963), pp. 257-304; 

Paul VI encyclical letter 
Ecclesiam Suam, 
Aug. 6, 1964: 
AAS 54 (1864) pp. 609-659.
 

 
24. 
God, Who has fatherly concern 
for everyone, 
has willed that all men should 
constitute one family and 
treat one another 
in a spirit of brotherhood. 

For having been created 
in the image of God, 
Who "from one man has created 
the whole human race 
and made them live 
all over the face of the earth" 
  (Acts 17:26), 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

   Acts 17:26

   26  And he made 
       from one every nation of men 
       to live on all the face of the earth, 
       having determined allotted periods and 
       the boundaries of their habitation, 

   27  that they should seek God, 
       in the hope that they might 
       feel after him and find him. 
       Yet he is not far 
       from each one of us, 

   28  for `In him we live and move 
       and have our being'; 
       as even some of your poets have said, 
       `For we are indeed his offspring.' 

   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

all men are called to one and the same goal, 
namely God Himself.

For this reason, love for God and neighbor
is the first and greatest commandment. 

Sacred Scripture, however, teaches us 
that the love of God cannot be separated 
from love of neighbor: 

"If there is any other commandment, 
it is summed up in this saying: 

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.... 
Love therefore is 
the fulfillment of the Law" 
     (Rom. 13:9-10; 
      cf. 1 John 4:20). 

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

     Rom. 13:9-10

     9 For Thou shalt not commit adultery: 
       Thou shalt not kill: 
       Thou shalt not steal, 
       Thou shalt not bear false witness: 
       Thou shalt not covet: 
       and if there be any other commandment, 
       it is comprised in this word, 
       Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

    10 The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. 
       Love therefore is 
       the fulfilling of the law. 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     1 John 4:20 

       If any man say, 
       I love God, 
       and hateth his brother; 
       he is a liar. 

       For he that loveth not his brother, 
       whom he seeth, 
       how can he love God, 
       whom he seeth not? 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To men growing daily 
more dependent on one another, and
to a world becoming more unified every day,
this truth proves to be of paramount importance.

Indeed, the Lord Jesus, 
when He prayed to the Father, 
"that all may be one. . . 
as we are one" 
   (John 17:21-22)
opened up vistas closed to human reason, 
for He implied a certain likeness between 
the union of the divine Persons, and 
the unity of God's sons 
in truth and charity. 

This likeness reveals that man, 
who is the only creature on earth 
which God willed for itself, 
cannot fully find himself 
except through a sincere gift of himself.  
    (2)

    (2). Cf. Luke 17:33.

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
     Lk 17:33

     "Whoever seeks to gain his life 
      will lose it, 
      but whoever loses his life 
      will preserve it.'
     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

http://www.vatican.va/
archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/
documents
/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html                

 

       
             [23] Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,
                      Compendium of the Social Doctrine
                            of the Church, 34.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine    34
             
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 
Compendium of the Social Doctrine 
of the Church, 34.  

III. 
THE HUMAN PERSON IN GOD'S PLAN OF LOVE 

a. Trinitarian love, 
   the origin and goal of the human person 

34. 
The revelation in Christ of the mystery 
of God as Trinitarian love 
is at the same time 
the revelation of the vocation 
of the human person to love. 

This revelation sheds light 
on every aspect of the personal 
dignity and freedom 
of men and women, and 
on the depths of their social nature. 

"Being a person 
in the image and likeness of God 
... involves existing in a relationship,
in relation to the other 'I'  "                
    [36],     
because God himself, one and triune, 
is the communion of the Father, 
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

In the communion of love 
that is God, and 
in which the Three Divine Persons 
mutually love one another 
and are the One God, 
the human person is called to discover 
the origin and goal 
of his existence and of history. 

The Council Fathers, 
in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 
teach that "the Lord Jesus Christ, 
when praying to the Father 
'that they may all be one ... 
 as we are one'                  
   (Jn 17:21-22), 
has opened up new horizons 
closed to human reason 
by implying that 
there is a certain parallel between
the union existing 
among the divine Persons and
the union of the children of God 
in truth and love. 

It follows, then, 
that if man is the only creature on earth 
that God has willed for its own sake, 
man can fully discover his true self 
only in a sincere giving of himself 
   (cf. Lk 17:33)"     
       [37]. 

[36] John Paul II, 
     Apostolic Letter 
     Mulieris Dignitatem, 7: 
     AAS 80 (1988), 1664.

[37] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, 
     Pastoral Constitution 
     Gaudium et Spes, 24: 
     AAS 58 (1966), 1045.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/
pontifical_councils/
justpeace/documents/
rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526
_compendio-dott-soc_en.html
               

 

     
             [23] Cf. Benedict XVI,
                         Caritas in Veritate, 54.

Caritas in Veritate, 54
Charity in Truth

Caritas In Veritate
Encyclical Letter Of The Supreme Pontiff  
Benedict XVI 
To The Bishops Priests And Deacons 
Men And Women Religious 
The Lay Faithful And All People Of Good Will             

On Integral Human Development 
In Charity And Truth

54. 
The theme of development can be identified 
with the inclusion-in-relation 
of all individuals and peoples 
within the one community of the human family, 
built in solidarity 
on the basis of the fundamental values 
of justice and peace. 

This perspective is illuminated 
in a striking way 
by the relationship 
between the Persons of the Trinity 
within the one divine Substance. 

The Trinity is absolute unity 
insofar as the three divine Persons 
are pure relationality. 

The reciprocal transparency 
among the divine Persons is total 
and the bond between each of them complete,    
since they constitute 
a unique and absolute unity. 

God desires to incorporate us 
into this reality of communion as well:
“that they may be one even as we are one”            
     (Jn 17:22). 

The Church is a sign and instrument 
of this unity   
      [131]. 

[131] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, 
      Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
      Lumen Gentium, 1.

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

      Lumen Gentium 1
      ...Since the Church is in Christ 
      like a sacrament 
      or as a sign and instrument 
      Both of a 
      very closely knit union with God 
      and of the unity 
      of the whole human race...

      
      http://www.vatican.va/archive/
      hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/
      documents/
      vat-ii_const_19641121_
      lumen-gentium_en.html
      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Relationships between human beings 
throughout history 
cannot but be enriched 
by reference to this divine model. 

In particular, in the light 
of the revealed mystery of the Trinity, 
we understand that 
true openness does not mean loss 
of individual identity
but profound interpenetration. 

This also emerges 
from the common human experiences 
of love and truth. 

Just as the sacramental love of spouses 
unites them spiritually in “one flesh”
    (Gen 2:24;
     Mt 19:5;
     Eph 5:31) 
and  makes out of the two 
a real and relational unity, 
so in an analogous way truth 
unites spirits and 
causes them to think in unison, 
attracting them as a unity to itself.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/
benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/
hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-
in-veritate_en.html

 

     
             [23] Cf. n. 34.  (Caritas in Veritate,34)

Caritas In Veritate, 34 
Charity in Truth        

Caritas In Veritate
Encyclical Letter Of The Supreme Pontiff  
Benedict XVI 
To The Bishops Priests And Deacons 
Men And Women Religious 
The Lay Faithful And All People Of Good Will

Benedict XVI

On Integral Human Development 
In Charity And Truth

CHAPTER THREE
FRATERNITY, ECONOMIC
 DEVELOPMENT 
AND CIVIL SOCIETY

34. 
Charity in truth places man 
before the astonishing experience 
of gift. 

Gratuitousness is present in our lives 
in many different forms, 
which often go unrecognized 
because of a purely consumerist 
and utilitarian view of life. 

The human being is made for gift, 
which expresses and 
makes present his transcendent dimension. 

Sometimes modern man is wrongly convinced 
that he is the sole author 
of himself, his life and society. 

This is a presumption that follows 
from being selfishly closed in 
upon himself, 
     
and it is a consequence 
 — to express it in faith terms — 
of original sin. 

The Church's wisdom has always pointed 
to the presence of original sin 
in social conditions and 
in the structure of society: 

“Ignorance of the fact 
that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil
gives rise to serious errors 
in the areas of education, 
politics, social action and morals”       
      [85].

In the list of areas 
where the pernicious effects of sin 
are evident, 
the economy has been included for some time now. 

We have a clear proof of this 
at the present time. 

The conviction that man is self-sufficient 
and can successfully eliminate the evil 
present in history 
by his own action alone 
has led him to confuse happiness and salvation 
with immanent forms of material prosperity 
and social action. 

Then, the conviction 
that the economy must be autonomous, 
that it must be shielded from “influences” 
of a moral character, 
has led man to abuse the economic process 
in a thoroughly destructive way.

In the long term, these convictions have led 
to economic, social and political systems 
that trample upon personal and social freedom, 
and 
are therefore unable to deliver the justice 
that they promise. 

As I said in my Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, 
history is thereby deprived of Christian hope   
     [86], 
deprived of a powerful social resource 
at the service of integral human development,
sought in freedom and in justice.

Hope encourages reason and 
gives it the strength to direct the will     
     [87]. 

It is already present in faith, 
indeed it is called forth by faith. 

Charity in truth feeds on hope and, 
at the same time, manifests it. 

As the absolutely gratuitous gift of God, 
hope bursts into our lives 
as something not due to us, 
something that transcends 
every law of justice. 

Gift by its nature goes beyond merit, 
its rule is that of superabundance. 

It takes first place in our souls 
as a sign of God's presence in us, 
a sign of what he expects from us. 

Truth 
 — which is itself gift, 
   in the same way as charity —
is greater than we are, 
as Saint Augustine teaches      
   [88]. 

Likewise the truth of ourselves, 
of our personal conscience,
is first of all given to us. 

In every cognitive process,
truth is not something that we produce, 
it is always found, or better, received. 

Truth, like love,
“is neither planned nor willed, 
but somehow imposes itself 
upon human beings”    
     [89].

Because it is a gift received by everyone,
charity in truth 
is a force that builds community, 
it brings all people together 
without imposing barriers or limits.

The human community 
that we build by ourselves 
can never, purely by its own strength, 
be a fully fraternal community, 
nor can it overcome every division 
and become a truly universal community. 

The unity of the human race, 
a fraternal communion 
transcending every barrier,
is called into being 
by the word of God-who-is-Love. 

In addressing this key question, 
we must make it clear, on the one hand, 
that the logic of gift 
does not exclude justice, 
nor does it merely sit alongside it 
as a second element added from without; 

on the other hand, economic, 
social and political development, 
if it is to be authentically human, 
needs to make room 
for the principle of gratuitousness 
as an expression of  fraternity.

[85] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 407; 
     cf. John Paul II, 
     Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 25: 
     loc. cit., 822-824.

[86] Cf. no. 17: 
     AAS 99 (2007), 1000.

[87] Cf. ibid., 23: 
     loc. cit., 1004-1005.

[88] Saint Augustine expounds this teaching 
     in detail 
     in his dialogue on free will 
     (De libero arbitrio, II, 3, 8ff.). 

     He indicates the existence 
     within the human soul 
     of an “internal sense”. 

     This sense consists in an act 
     that is fulfilled 
     outside the normal functions of reason, 
     an act that is not the result of reflection, 
     but is almost instinctive, 
     through which reason, 
     realizing its transient and fallible nature, 
     admits the existence of something eternal, 
     higher than itself, 
     something absolutely true and certain. 

     The name that Saint Augustine gives 
     to this interior truth 
     is at times the name of God 
     Confessions X, 24, 35; 
                 XII, 25, 35;
     De libero arbitrio II, 3, 8), 
     more often that of Christ
     De magistro 11:38; 
     Confessions VII, 18, 24; 
                 XI, 2, 4).

[89] Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter
     Deus Caritas Est, 3: 
     loc. cit., 219.

                
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/
benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/
hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-
in-veritate_en.html


 

Therefore, the local community of the Secular Order
      of the Teresian Carmel,
      a visible sign of the Church and of the Order,     [24]



              [24] Cf. OCDS Constitutions, 40.

OCDS Constitutions, 40
             
40. 
The Secular Order is basically structured 
on the local community 
as a visible sign of the Church. 

At the Provincial level 
and in the local communities,
the Secular Order enjoys juridical personality   
   [33]. 

33] CIC 301, 303-306,313

Code of Canon Law    
TITLE V.
ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL 
CHAPTER I.  COMMON NORMS

Can. 301 

§1. 
It is for the competent 
ecclesiastical authority alone 
to erect associations of the Christian faithful 
which propose to hand on Christian doctrine
in the name of the Church 
or to promote public worship, 
or which intend other purposes 
whose pursuit is of its nature reserved
to the same ecclesiastical authority.

§2. 
Competent ecclesiastical authority,
if it has judged it expedient, 
can also erect 
associations of the Christian faithful 
to pursue directly or indirectly 
other spiritual purposes 
whose accomplishment has not been
sufficiently provided for 
through the initiatives of private persons.

§3. 
Associations of the Christian faithful 
which are erected 
by competent ecclesiastical authority 
are called public associations.
       
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Can. 303-306

Can. 303 

Associations whose members share 
in the spirit of some religious institute 
while in secular life, 
lead an apostolic life, 
and strive for Christian perfection 
under the higher direction 
of the same institute 
are called third orders 
or some other appropriate name.

Can. 304 

§1. 
All public or private associations 
of the Christian faithful, 
by whatever title or name they are called, 
are to have their own statutes 
which define the purpose or social objective 
of the association, its seat, government, and 
conditions required for membership and 
which determine the manner of its acting, 
attentive, however, to the necessity or advantage 
of time and place.

§2. 
They are to choose a title or name for themselves 
adapted to the usage of time and place, 
selected above all with regard 
to their intended purpose.


Can. 305 

§1.  
All associations of the Christian faithful
are subject to the vigilance 
of competent ecclesiastical authority 
which is to take care that the integrity 
of faith and morals 
is preserved in them and is to watch 
so that abuse does not creep 
into ecclesiastical discipline. 

This authority therefore has the duty and right
to inspect them according to the norm 
of law and the statutes.

These associations are also subject 
to the governance 
of this same authority according to the prescripts 
of the canons which follow.

§2.  
Associations of any kind are subject 
to the vigilance of the Holy See; 
diocesan associations and other associations 
to the extent that they work in the diocese 
are subject to the vigilance of the local ordinary.


Can. 306 

In order for a person to possess 
the rights and privileges of an association and 
the indulgences and other spiritual favors 
granted to the same association, 
it is necessary and sufficient that the person 
has been validly received into it and 
has not been legitimately dismissed from it 
according to the prescripts of law and 
the proper statutes of the association.

http://www.vatican.va/
archive/ENG1104/__P11.HTM
 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Can.   313

CHAPTER II.
PUBLIC ASSOCIATIONS 
OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL
 
Can. 313 
Through the same decree 
by which the competent ecclesiastical authority 
according to the norm of ⇒ can. 312 erects it, 
a public association and even a confederation 
of public associations 
is constituted a juridic person and, 
to the extent it is required, 
receives a mission for the purposes 
which it proposes to pursue in the name 
of the Church.


http://www.vatican.va/archive/
ENG1104/__P12.HTM
       
Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 
  

is a place to live and promote
      personal and communal fellowship with God
         in Christ and
         in the Spirit and  with other brothers and sisters
                   (cf. Rom 8:29)

Rom 8:29
  
For those God foreknew 
he also predestined 
to be conformed 
to the image of his Son, 
that he might be the firstborn 
among many brothers and sisters.                

 

   in accordance with the Teresian charism.



The person of Christ is at the center of the Community.



Members meet regularly in His name,
                   (cf. Mt 18:20)

Mt 18:20
             
"For where two or three 
are gathered together 
in my name, 
there am I 
in the midst of them.”                 

 

   drawing inspiration from
   the group formed by Jesus and the twelve Apostles
                    (cf. Mc 3,14-16.34-35)                       [25]

Mk 3: 14-16 
             
14  
He appointed twelve
[whom he also named apostles] 
that they might be with him  and 
he might send them forth 
to preach

15  
and to have authority 
to drive out demons: 

16  
[he appointed the twelve:] 
Simon, whom he named Peter;   
             
17  
James, son of Zebedee, and 
John the brother of James,
whom he named Boanerges, 
that is, sons of thunder; 

18  
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, 
Matthew, Thomas, 
James the son of Alphaeus; 
Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, 

19  
and Judas Iscariot 
who betrayed him

 

Mk 3:  34-35

34  
And looking around 
at those seated in the circle 
he said,
“Here are 
my mother and my brothers. 

35  
[For] whoever does the will of God 
is my brother and sister 
and mother.” 

 

              [25] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                           Way of Perfection, 24,5

Way of Perfection, 24,5;  
 
THE WAY OF PERFECTION
by ST. TERESA OF AVILA

It would be a good idea for us to imagine            
that He has taught this prayer (Pater Noster) 
to each one of us individually, 
and that He is continually expounding it to us. 

The Master is never so far away 
that the disciple needs to raise his voice 
in order to be heard: 
He is always right at his side. 

I want you to understand that, 
if you are to recite the Pater Noster well, 
one thing is needful: 
you must not leave the side of the Master 
Who has taught it you. 

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 


CHAPTER 24

Describes 
how vocal prayer may be practised 
with perfection and 
how closely allied it is to mental prayer. 

"...when I repeat the “Our Father”, 
my love should make me want to understand 
Who this Father of ours is and 
Who the Master is that taught us this prayer. 

...And when it comes to the Master 
Who taught us this prayer, and 
Who loves us so much and 
is so anxious for us to profit by it, 
may God forbid that we should fail 
to think of Him often 
when we repeat it, 
although our own weakness may prevent us 
from doing so every time. 

Now, in the first place, you know 
that His Majesty teaches 
that this prayer must be made 
when we are alone, 
just as He was often alone when He prayed, 
not because this was necessary for Him, 
but for our edification. 

It has already been said 
that it is impossible
to speak to God and to the world 
at the same time; 

yet this is just what we are trying to do 
when we are saying our prayers 
and at the same time listening 
to the conversation of others 
or letting our thoughts wander 
on any matter that occurs to us, 
without making an effort to control them. 

There are occasions 
when one cannot help doing this: 
times of ill-health 
 (especially in persons 
  who suffer from melancholia); 
or  times when our heads are tired, 
and, however hard we try, 
we cannot concentrate; 

or times when, for their own good, 
God allows His servants for days on end 
to go through great storms.

And, although they are distressed 
and strive to calm themselves,
they are unable to do so and 
incapable of attending 
to what they are saying, 
however hard they try, 
nor can they fix 
their understanding on anything: 
they seem to be in a frenzy, 
so distraught are they. 

5.
The very suffering of anyone in this state 
will show her 
that she is not to blame, 
and she must not worry, 
for that only makes matters worse, 

nor must she weary herself 
by trying to put sense into something
 — namely, her mind —
which for the moment is without any. 

She should pray as best she can: 

indeed, she need not pray at all,
but may try to rest her spirit 
as though she were ill 
and busy herself 
with some other virtuous action. 

These directions are meant for persons 
who keep careful guard over themselves and 
know that they must not speak to God 
and to the world at the same time. 

What we can do ourselves 
is to try to be alone —
and God grant that this may suffice, 
as I say,
to make us realize 
in Whose presence we are and 
how the Lord answers our petitions. 

Do you suppose that, 
because we cannot hear Him, 
He is silent? 

He speaks clearly to the heart 
when we beg Him from our hearts to do so. 

It would be a good idea for us to imagine     
      94
that He has taught this prayer 
to each one of us individually, 
and that He is continually expounding it to us. 

The Master is never so far away 
that the disciple needs to raise his voice 
in order to be heard: 
He is always right at his side. 

I want you to understand that, 
if you are to recite the Paternoster well, 
one thing is needful: 
you must not leave the side of the Master 
Who has taught it you."
 

[94] More literally: “consider”, “reflect”. 

Translated & Edited by E. ALLISON PEERS

ccel  Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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teresa/way.i.xxx.html

 

              [25] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                           Way of Perfection, 26,1;

Way of Perfection,  26,1 

THE WAY OF PERFECTION
by ST. TERESA OF AVILA

CHAPTER 26

Continues the description of a method 
for recollecting the thoughts. 
Describes means of doing this. 

This chapter is very profitable for those 
who are beginning prayer. 

Let us now return to our vocal prayer, 
so that we may learn to pray in such a way 
that, without our understanding how, 
God may give us everything at once: 

if we do this, as I have said, 
we shall pray as we ought. 

As you know, the first things must be 
examination of conscience, 
confession of sin and 
the signing of yourself with the Cross.

Then, daughter, as you are alone, 
you must look for a companion—
and who could be a better Companion 
than the very Master 
Who taught you the prayer 
that you are about to say?

Imagine that 
this Lord Himself is at your side 
and see how lovingly and how humbly 
He is teaching you—

and, believe me, you should stay 
with so good a Friend 
for as long as you can before you leave Him. 

If you become accustomed 
to having Him at your side,  and
if He sees that you love Him to be there 
and are always trying to please Him, 
you will never be able, as we put it, 
to send Him away, 
nor will He ever fail you. 

He will help you in all your trials and 
you will have Him everywhere. 

Do you think it is a small thing 
to have such a Friend as that beside you? 
                
Translated & Edited by E. ALLISON PEERS

ccel  Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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             [25] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                          Way of Perfection, 27,6.

Way of Perfection,   27,6. 
THE WAY OF PERFECTION
by ST. TERESA OF AVILA
 
CHAPTER 27

Describes the great love shown us by the Lord 
in the first words of the Paternoster and 
the great importance of our making no account 
of good birth
if we truly desire to be the daughters of God. 

Way of Perfection,  27,6.

O College of Christ, 
in which the Lord was pleased that Saint Peter, 
who was a fisherman, 
should have more authority than Saint Bartholomew, 
who was the son of a king! 

His Majesty knew what a fuss would be made 
in the world 
about who was fashioned from the finer clay
 — which is like discussing 
   whether clay is better 
   for bricks or for walls. 

Dear Lord, what a trouble we make about it! 

God deliver you, sisters, 
from such contentions, 
even if they be carried on only in jest; 

I hope that His Majesty will indeed deliver you. 

If anything like this 
should be going on among you, 
apply the remedy immediately,
and let the sister concerned fear 
lest she be a Judas among the Apostles.

Do what you can 
to get rid of such a bad companion. 

If you cannot, 
give her penances 
heavier than for anything else 
until she realizes 
that she has not deserved
to be even the basest clay. 

You have a good Father, 
given you by the good Jesus: 
let no other father 
be known or referred to here. 

Strive, my daughters, to be such
that you deserve to find comfort in Him 
and to throw yourselves into His arms. 

You know that, if you are good children, 
He will never send you away.

And who would not do anything 
rather than lose such a Father? 

Translated & Edited by E. ALLISON PEERS

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              [25] Way of Perfection (Escorial), 20,1..

The Way of Perfection  
             
St. Teresa of Jesus,           
The Way of Perfection  
                                              
 
( referring to the monastery / convent 
    as "the college of Christ" 

"The first redaction goes on 
at greater length 
and is put more strongly: 
"Oh, what a great act of charity and 
what a great service to God 
a nun would perform if when she sees 
that she cannot follow 
the practices of perfection 
and customs of this house 
she would recognize the fact and go, 
and leave the others in peace!

...In this house you have risked and lost 
the honor of this world, 
for the poor receive no honor. 

Don't desire that others have it 
at such a cost to yourselves. 
Our honor, Sisters, must be to serve God. 

If someone becomes a hindrance 
to your doing this, 
she should remain at home with her honor. 

For this reason 
our fathers ordained a one-year probation, 
and in our order we have the faculty 
to delay the profession for four years. 

And in this house I would like to delay it 
even ten years. 

A humble nun will not mind 
a delay of profession. 

She already knows that if she is good 
they will not dismiss her; 

if she is not good, 
why does she desire to do harm 
to this college of Christ?

In saying 'not good,' 
I am not speaking of some vanity; 
for, with God's help, 
I hope such a thing 
will stay far from this house."

Cited in Kavanaugh/Rodriguez translation, 
Footnote  #2  
of  The Way of Perfection,  ch. 13).
ICS Institute of Carmelite Studies
 
Copyright © 1980 
by Washington  Province 
of Discalced Carmelite Friars, Inc.
 
                

 

as well as
the early Christian communities
             ( cf. Acts 2:42 )

Acts 2:42

42  They devoted themselves 
     to the teaching of the apostles and 
     to the communal life, 
     to the breaking of the bread 
     and 
     to the prayers.            
                

 

              ( cf. Acts 4, 32-35 )

Acts 4, 32-35
             
32 
The community of believers was 
of one heart and mind, 
and no one claimed 
that any of his possessions 
was his own, 
but they had everything in common. 

33 
With great power 
the apostles bore witness 
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, 
and 
great favor was accorded them all. 

34 
There was no needy person among them, 
for those who owned property or houses 
would sell them, 
bring the proceeds of the sale, 

35  
and put them at the feet of the apostles,
and they were distributed to each 
according to need.                 

 

They seek to live in accordance with
    the unity requested by Jesus
                (Jn 17:20-23)

Jn 17:20-23
             
20  
“I pray not only for them, 
but also for those 
who will believe in me 
through their word, 

21   
so that they may all be one, 
as you, Father, are in me 
and I in you,
that they also may be in us, 
that the world may believe 
that you sent me. 

22  
And I have given them 
the glory you gave me, 
so that they may be one, 
as we are one, 

23  
I in them and you in me, 
that they may be brought 
to perfection as one, 
that the world may know 
that you sent me, and 
that you loved them 
even as you loved me. 

24  
Father, 
they are your gift to me. 
I wish that where I am  
they also may be with me, 
that they may see my glory 
that you gave me, 
because you loved me 
before the foundation 
of the world.                

 

and His commandment
  to love as He loves them
                       (Jn 13:34).

Jn 13:34

34  
I give you a new commandment:  

love one another. 

As I have loved you, 
so you also should love one another.

35  
This is how all will know 
that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”              
                

 

They promise to strive for evangelical perfection       [26]

              [26] Cf. OCDS Constitutions, 11.

OCDS Constitutions, 11.
             
11. 
Following Jesus 
as members of the Secular Order 
is expressed by the promise 
to strive for evangelical perfection 
in the spirit of the evangelical counsels of
chastity, poverty and obedience and 
through the beatitudes. 

By means of this promise 
the member’s baptismal commitment 
is strengthened for the service 
of God’s plan in the world. 

This promise is a pledge 
to pursue personal holiness, 
which necessarily carries with it a commitment 
to serving the Church 
in faithfulness 
to the Teresian Carmelite charism. 

The promise is taken 
before the members of the community, 
representing the whole Church
and in the presence of the Delegate 
of the Superior of the Order.                 

 

in the spirit
  of the evangelical counsels,
  of the Beatitudes
                   (Mt 5:1-12 )

Mt 5:1-12
             
1  When he saw the crowds,  
   he went up the mountain, 
   and after he had sat down, 
   his disciples came to him. 

2  He began to teach them, saying: 
 
3  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

4  Blessed are they who mourn, 
    for they will be comforted.

5  Blessed are the meek, 
    for they will inherit the land.

6  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst 
    for righteousness, 
    for they will be satisfied.

7  Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy. 

8  Blessed are the clean of heart, 
    for they will see God.

9  Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are they who are persecuted 
    for the sake of righteousness, 
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

11 Blessed are you when they insult you 
    and persecute you 
    and utter every kind of evil against you 
      because of me

12 Rejoice and be glad, 
    for  your reward will be great in heaven.
    Thus they persecuted the prophets 
    who were before you. 
               

 

  and
  of the Christian virtues
                ( cf. Col 3:12-17 )

Col 3:12-17 
             
12  
Put on then, 
as God’s chosen ones, 
holy and beloved, 
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, 
gentleness, and patience,

13  
bearing with one another 
and forgiving one another, 

if one has a grievance against another; 
as the Lord has forgiven you, 
so must you also do. 

14  
And over all these put on love, 
that is, the bond of perfection. 

15  
And let the peace of Christ 
control your hearts, 
the peace into which you were 
also called in one body. 
And be thankful. 

16  
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, 
as in all wisdom you teach 
and admonish one another, 
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs 
with gratitude in your hearts to God. 

17  
And whatever you do, 
in word or in deed, 
do everything 
in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks to God the Father 
through him.  
               

 

                ( cf.  Phil 2:15 ),

Phil 2:15
             
13  
For God is the one 
who, for his good purpose, 
works in you 
both to desire and to work. 

14  
Do everything 
without grumbling or questioning, 

15  
that you may be 
blameless and innocent, 
children of God 
without blemish 
in the midst 
of a crooked and perverse generation, 
among whom you shine 
like lights in the world,               

 

Phil 2: 2  - 5             

2  
Fulfil ye my joy, 
that you may be of one mind, 
having the same charity, 
being of one accord, 
agreeing in sentiment. 

3  
Let nothing be done through contention, 
neither by vain glory: 
but in humility, 
let each esteem others 
better than themselves: 

4  
Each one not considering the things 
that are his own, 
but those that are other men's. 

5  
For let this mind be in you, 
which was also in Christ Jesus
        

 

 and
 in the awareness
   that this reality of communion
   is an integral part of Carmelite spirituality.

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

24 - b ) 

St. Teresa of Jesus initiated
   a new model of community life.

Her ideal of community life is based
   on the certainty of faith

   that the Risen Jesus is
      in the midst of the community
               and
   that it lives under the protection
      of the Virgin Mary.                      [27]

              [27] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                            Life, 32,11;

Life, 32,11
   
...One day, after Communion, 
our Lord commanded me 
to labour with all my might 
for this end.

He made me great promises... 
Christ would be in the midst of us; 
that the monastery would be a star 
shining in great splendour;

... I was not to suppose 
that He was scantily served in them,

 — for what would become of the world, 
   if there were no religious in it? —

(CCEL Library - Peers )

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/teresa/
life.viii.xxxiii.html
             
 

              [27] Way of Perfection, 17,7

Way of Perfection, 17,7 
             
Ch 17 

I do not mean 
that it is for us to say what we shall do, 
but that we must do our best in everything,
for the choice is not ours 
but the Lord’s.

If after many years 
He is pleased to give each of us her office,
it will be a curious kind of humility 
for you to wish to choose; 

let the Lord of the house do that, 
for He is wise and powerful 
and knows what is fitting for you 
and for Himself as well. 

Be sure that, if you do 
what lies in your power 
and prepare yourself for high contemplation 
with the perfection aforementioned, 
then, if He does not grant it you 
 (and I think He will not fail to do so 
  if you have true detachment 
  and humility),
it will be 
because He has laid up this joy for you 
so as to give it you in Heaven, and 
because, as I have said elsewhere, 
He is pleased to treat you 
like people who are strong 
and give you a cross to bear on earth 
like that 
which His Majesty Himself always bore. 

What better sign of friendship is there 
than for Him to give you 
what He gave Himself?

It might well be 
that you would not have had 
so great a reward from contemplation. 

His judgments are His own; 
we must not meddle in them. 

It is indeed a good thing 
that the choice is not ours; 

for, if it were, 
we should think it the more restful life 
and all become great contemplatives. 

Oh, how much we gain 
if we have no desire to gain 
what seems to us best 
and so have no fear of losing, 
since God never permits a truly mortified person 
to lose anything 
except when such loss 
will bring him greater gain!
            
(CCEL Library - Peers )    

 

              [27] Way of Perfection, 1,5;

Way of Perfection,   1:5   
Ch 1: 5  

Oh, my sisters in Christ! 
Help me to entreat this of the Lord, 
Who has brought you together here 
for that very purpose. 

This is your vocation; 
this must be your business; 

these must be your desires;
these your tears; 
these your petitions.

Let us not pray for worldly things,
my sisters.
 
It makes me laugh, 
and yet it makes me sad, 
when I hear of the things 
which people come here 
to beg us to pray to God for; 

we are to ask His Majesty 
to give them money and 
to provide them with incomes

 —  I wish 
  that some of these people 
  would entreat God to enable them 
  to trample all such things 
  beneath their feet. 

Their intentions are quite good, 
and I do as they ask because I see 
that they are really devout people,
though I do not myself believe 
that God ever hears me 
when I pray for such things.

The world is on fire. 

Men try to condemn Christ once again, 
as it were, 
for they bring 
a thousand false witnesses 
against Him. 

They would raze His Church to the ground 
 — and are we to waste our time upon things 
which, if God were to grant them, 
would perhaps bring one soul less to Heaven? 

No, my sisters, 
this is no time to treat with God 
for things of little importance
      
CCEL Library - Peers )              

 

              [27] Way of Perfection, 3,1

Way of Perfection  3,1.

CHAPTER 3


Continues the subject 
begun in the first chapter and 
persuades the sisters 
to busy themselves constantly 
in beseeching God to help those 
who work for the Church. 

Ends with an exclamatory prayer. 

  .  .  .  . 

Let us now return to the principal reason 
for which the Lord has brought us together 
in this house, 

for which reason I am most desirous 
that we may be able to please His Majesty. 
  
Seeing 
how great are the evils 
of the present day and
how no human strength will suffice 
to quench the fire kindled 
by these heretics 
(though attempts have been made 
to organize opposition to them, 
as though such a great and 
rapidly spreading evil 
could be remedied by force of arms), 

it seems to me that it is like a war 
in which the enemy has overrun 
the whole country,

and the Lord of the country, 
hard pressed, retires into a city, 
which he causes to be well fortified, 
and whence from time to time 
he is able to attack.  

Those who are in the city are picked men 
who can do more by themselves 
than they could do 
with the aid of many soldiers 
if they were cowards. 

Often this method gains the victory;
or, if the garrison does not conquer, 
it is at least not conquered; 

for, as it contains no traitors, 
but picked men, 
it can be reduced only by hunger. 

In our own conflict, however, 
we cannot be forced to surrender 
by hunger;
we can die but we cannot be conquered.
 
(CCEL Library - Peers )           

 

She is aware that she and her nuns are gathered together
   to help the Church and
   to collaborate in its mission.

Relations are marked
    by the virtues of a love
         that is genuine, gratuitous, free and unselfish,
    as well as
    by detachment and humility.

These are fundamental virtues
    for the spiritual life and
they bring peace both internally and externally.           [28]

              [28] St. Teresa,
                     Way, 4,4.

Way of Perfections  4:4 
  
Do not suppose, 
my friends and sisters, 
that I am going to charge you to do 
a great many things; 

may it please the Lord 
that we do the things 
which our holy Fathers ordained and practised 
and by doing which they merited that name. 

It would be wrong of us 
to look for any other way 
or to learn from anyone else. 

There are only three things 
which I will explain at some length 
and which are taken 
from our Constitution itself. 

It is essential 
that we should understand 
how very important they are to us 
in helping us to preserve that peace, 
both inward and outward, 
which the Lord so earnestly 
recommended to us. 

One of these is 
love for each other; 

the second, 
detachment from all created things;

the third, 
true humility, 
which, although I put it last, 
is the most important of the three 
and embraces all the rest. 

        ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
With regard to the first -- 
namely, love for each other  -- 
this is of very great importance; 

for there is nothing, 
however annoying, 
that cannot easily  be borne 
by those who love each other, 
and anything which causes annoyance 
must be quite exceptional. 

If this commandment were kept 
in the world, 
as it should be, 
I believe it would take us a long way 
towards the keeping of the rest;

but, what with having too much love 
for each other or too little, 
we never manage to keep it perfectly. 

It may seem that for us 
to have too much love for each other 
cannot be wrong,
but I do not think anyone 
who had not been an eye-witness of it  
would believe how much evil and 
how many imperfections can result from this. 

The devil sets many snares here 
which the consciences of those 
who aim only in a rough-and-ready way 
at pleasing God 
seldom observe

 - indeed, 
   they think they are acting virtuously - 

but those who are aiming at perfection 
understand what they are very well: 

little by little 
they deprive the will of the strength 
which it needs 
if it is to employ itself 
wholly in the love of God. 

(CCEL Library - Peers )
 
 

              [28] St. Teresa,
                      Way, 4, 11;

Way of Perfection 4:11 and following
  
With regard to the nature 
of this mutual love 
and what is meant by the virtuous love 
which I wish you to have here, 
and how we shall know 
when we have this virtue, 
which is a very great one, 
since Our Lord  
      
has so strongly commended it to us 
and so straitly enjoined it upon His Apostles 
 - about all this 
   I should like to say a little now 
   as well as my lack of skill will allow me; 

if you find this explained in great detail 
in other books, 
take no notice of what I am saying here, 
for it may be that I do not understand 
what I am talking about.
     

There are two kinds of love 
which I am describing.   
     

The one is purely spiritual, 
and apparently has nothing to do 
with sensuality or the tenderness 
of our nature, 
either of which might stain its purity.
   
The other is also spiritual, 
but mingled with it 
are our sensuality and weakness;  
   

yet it is a worthy love, 
which, as between relatives and friends, 
seems lawful. 

Of this I have already said sufficient. 

It is of the first kind of spiritual love 
that I would now speak. 

It is untainted by any sort of passion, 
for such a thing would 
completely spoil its harmony. 

If it leads us to treat virtuous people, 
especially confessors, 
with moderation and discretion, 
it is profitable; 

but, if the confessor is seen to be tending 
in any way towards vanity, 
he should be regarded with grave suspicion, 

and, in such a case, 
conversation with him, however edifying, 
should be avoided, 

and the sister should 
make her confession briefly 
and say nothing more. 


It would be best for her, indeed, 
to tell the superior 
that she does not get on with him 
and go elsewhere; 

this is the safest way, 
providing it can be done 
without injuring his reputation.    
   

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              [28] St. Teresa,
                      Way, 6‐7

Way of Perfection 4:6‐7; 
             
This is even more applicable 
to women than to men 
and the harm which it does to community life 
is very serious. 

One result of it is 
that all the nuns do not love each other equally: 

some injury done to a friend is resented; 
a nun desires to have something 
to give to her friend 
or tries to make time for talking to her, 
and often her object in doing this is 
to tell her how fond she is of her,
and other irrelevant things, 

rather than how much she loves God. 

These intimate friendships 
are seldom calculated 
    [22]
to make for the love of God; 

I am more inclined to believe 
that the devil initiates them 
so as to create factions 
within religious Orders. 

When a friendship has for its object 
the service of His Majesty,
it at once becomes clear 
that the will is devoid of passion and 
indeed is helping to conquer other passions. 


               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Where a convent is large I should like 
to see many friendships of that type; 

but in this house, where there are not, 
and can never be, more than thirteen nuns,
all must be friends with each other, 
love each other, 
be fond of each other and 
help each other. 

For the love of the Lord, 
refrain from making individual friendships, 
however holy, 

for even among brothers and sisters 
such things are apt to be poisonous and
I can see no advantage in them;

when they are between other relatives,   
    [23]
they are much more dangerous 
and become a pest.

Believe me, sisters, 
though I may seem to you extreme in this, 
great perfection and great peace 
come of doing what I say and 
many occasions of sin may be avoided 
by those who are not very strong.

If our will becomes inclined 
more to one person 
than to another
 (this cannot be helped, 
  because it is natural - 
  it often leads us to love the person 
  who has the most faults
  if she is the most richly endowed by nature), 

we must exercise a firm restraint on ourselves 
and not allow ourselves to be conquered 
by our affection. 

Let us love the virtues and inward goodness, and 
let us always apply ourselves and take care 
to avoid attaching importance to externals. 

(CCEL Library - Peers )
                
22 Lit.: “are seldom ordered in such a way as.” 

23 “Other” is not in the Spanish. 
   “When they are only between”, 
   is the reading of T., which also omits: 
   “and become a pest.” 

 

              [28] cf. Interior Castle, V, 3,7‐12.

Interior Castle, V  Ch 3: 7‐12
St. Teresa of Jesus  5th Mansion  Ch3  #7-12. 

Mansion 5  Ch 3  

7. 
What do you think, daughters, is His will? 

That we may become quite perfect and 
so be made one with Him and with His Father 
as He prayed we might be.
      [193]

Observe, then, 
what is wanting in us to obtain this. 

I assure you it is most painful for me 
to write on this subject,
for I see how far I am, 
through my own fault, 
from having attained perfection. 

There is no need for us 
to receive special consolations from God 
in order to arrive at conformity 
with His will; 

He has done enough 
in giving us His Son to teach the way. 

This does not mean 
that we must so submit to the will of God 
as not to sorrow at such troubles 
as the death of a father or brother, 
or that we must bear crosses and sickness 
with joy.
    [194]

This is well, 
but it sometimes comes from common sense 
which, as we cannot help ourselves, 
makes a virtue of necessity. 

How often the great wisdom 
of the heathen philosophers 
led them to act thus in trials of this kind! 

Our Lord asks but two things of us: 
love, for Him 
and for our neighbour: 
these are what we must strive to obtain. 

If we practise both these virtues perfectly 
we shall be doing His will 
and so shall be united to Him. 

But, as I said, 
we are very far from obeying and serving 
our great Master perfectly 
in these two matters: 

may His Majesty give us the grace 
to merit union with Him; 

it is in our power to gain it if we will. 

8. 
I think the most certain sign 
that we keep these two commandments 
is that we have a genuine love for others. 


We cannot know 
whether we love God 
although there may be strong reasons 
for thinking so, 
but there can be no doubt about 
whether we love our neighbour or no.
    [195] 

Be sure that in proportion 
as you advance in fraternal charity, 
you are increasing in your love of God,
    [196]

for His Majesty bears 
so tender an affection for us 
that I cannot doubt 
He will repay our love for others 
by augmenting, in a thousand different ways, 
that which we bear for Him. 

We should watch most carefully over ourselves 
in this matter, 
for if we are faultless on this point 
we have done all.

I believe human nature is so evil 
that we could not feel a perfect charity 
for our neighbour 
unless it were rooted in the love of God. 

9. 
In this most important matter, sisters, 
we should be most vigilant in little things, 
taking no notice 
of the great works we plan during prayer 
which we imagine 
that we would perform for other people, 
even perhaps for the sake 
of saving a single soul. 

If our actions afterwards 
belie these grand schemes, 
there is no reason to imagine 
that we should do anything of the sort. 

I say the same of humility 
and the other virtues.
 
The devil’s wiles are many; 
he would turn hell upside down 
a thousand times
to make us think ourselves better 
than we are. 

He has good reason for it, 
for such fancies are most injurious; 
sham virtues springing from this root 
are always accompanied by a vainglory 
never found in those of divine origin, 
which are free from pride. 

10. 
It is amusing to see souls 
who, while they are at prayer,
fancy they are willing 
to be despised and publicly insulted 
  for the love of God, 

yet afterwards do all they can 
to hide their small defects;
if any one unjustly accuses them 
of a fault, 
God deliver us from their outcries! 

Let those who cannot bear such things 
take no notice of the splendid plans 
they made when alone, 
which could have been 
no genuine determination of the will 
but only some trick of the imagination, 
or the results would have been very different. 

The devil assaults and deceives people in this way, 
often doing great harm to women and others 
too ignorant to understand the difference 
between the powers of the soul and the imagination, 
and a thousand other matters of the sort. 

O sisters! 
how easy it is to know 
which of you have attained 
to a sincere love of your neighbour, 
and which of you are far from it. 

If you knew the importance of this virtue, 
your only care would be to gain it.
 

11. 
When I see people very anxious to know 
what sort of prayer they practise, 
covering their faces and afraid 
to move or think 
lest they should lose 
any slight tenderness and devotion they feel, 
I know how little they understand 
how to attain union with God 
since they think it consists 
in such things as these. 

No, sisters, no; 
our Lord expects works from us. 

If you see a sick sister whom you can relieve,
    [197]
never fear losing your devotion; 
compassionate her; 

if she is in pain, 
feel for it as if it were your own and, 
when there is need, 
fast so that she may eat, 
not so much for her sake 
as because you know your Lord asks it of you.

This is the true union of our will 
with the will of God. 

If some one else is well spoken of, 
be more pleased than if it were yourself; 

this is easy enough,
for if you were really humble 
it would vex you to be praised. 

It is a great good 
to rejoice 
at your sister’s virtues being known and
to feel as sorry for the fault 
you see in her 
as if it were yours, 
hiding it from the sight of others. 


12. 
I have often spoken on this subject elsewhere,
    [198]
because, my sisters, 
if we fail in this 
I know that all is lost: 

please God this may never be our case. 

If you possess fraternal charity, 
I assure you 
that you will certainly obtain the union 
I have described. 

If you are conscious 
that you are wanting in this charity,
although you may feel devotion and sweetness 
and a short absorption in the prayer of quiet 
 (which makes you think 
  you have attained to union with God), 
believe me you have not yet reached it. 

Beg our Lord to grant you 
perfect love for your neighbour, 
and leave the rest to Him. 

He will give you more than you know how to desire 
if you constrain yourselves 
and strive with all your power to gain it, 

forcing your will as far as possible 
to comply in all things 
with your sisters’ wishes 
although you may sometimes 
forfeit your own rights 
by so doing. 

Forget your self-interests for theirs, 
how ever much nature may rebel; 
when opportunity occurs 
take some burden upon yourself 
to ease your neighbour of it. 

Do not fancy it will cost you nothing 
and that you will find it 
all done for you: 

think what the love He bore for us 
cost our Spouse, 
Who to free us from death, 
Himself suffered the most painful death of all
 — the death of the Cross.


         
193  
St. John xvii. 22, 23: 
‘Ut sint unum, sicut 
et nos unum sumus. 
Ego in eis, et tu in me: 
ut sint consummati in unum.’ 

Way of Perf. ch. xxxii. 6. 


194  
Way of Perf. ch. ix. i, 2. 

195  
1 St. John iv. 20:
‘Qui enim non diligit fratrem 
suum quem videt, 
Deum quem non videt 
quomodo potest diligere?’ 

196  
Way of Perf. ch. xviii. 5. 
  
197  
Way of Perf. ch. vii. 4. 

198  
Way of Perf. ch. iv. 3; vii. 4. 


(CCEL Library - Peers )

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Teresa is aware of
    the importance of mutual support
         on the road of prayer
                    and
    the importance of friendship with others
         in the common search for God.             [29]

              [29] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                          Life, 15,5;

Life  15,5 
       
This little spark is a sign or pledge 
which God gives to a soul,
in token of His having chosen it 
for great things, 
if it will prepare to receive them. 

It is a great gift, 
much too great for me 
to be able to speak of it. 

It is a great sorrow to me; 
because, as I said before,
I know that many souls come thus far, 
and that those who go farther, 
as they ought to go, 
are so few, that I am ashamed to say it. 

I do not mean that they are absolutely few: 
there must be many, 
because God is patient with us, 
for some reasons;
I speak of what I have seen. 

I should like much to recommend these souls 
to take care 
that they do not hide their talent; 
for it may be that God has chosen them 
to be the edification of many others, 
(bring profit to others)
especially in these days, 
when the friends of God should be strong, 
in order that they may support the weak. 

Those who discern in themselves this grace, 
must look upon themselves as such friends, 
if they would fulfil the law which
even the honourable friendship 
of the world respects; 

if not, as I said just now, 
let them fear and tremble, 
lest they should be doing mischief 
to themselves—
and God grant it be to themselves only! 

(CCEL Library - Peers )
 
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              [29] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                           Life, 23,4;

Life  Chapter 23 #4 
             
Ch 23 

4. 
I spent some time in this state, till, 
after much inward contention and fear, 
I determined to 
confer with some spiritual person, 
to ask him to tell me 
what that method of prayer was 
which I was using, 
and to show me whether I was in error. 

I was also resolved 
to do everything I could 
not to offend God;
for the want of courage 
of which I was conscious, 
as I said before,
     [334]
made me so timid. 

Was there ever delusion 
so great as mine, O my God, 
when I withdrew from good 
in order to become good! 

The devil must lay much stress on this 
in the beginning of a course of virtue; 
for I could not overcome my repugnance. 

He knows 
that the whole relief of the soul
consists in conferring 
with the friends of God. 

Hence it was 
that no time was fixed 
in which I should resolve to do this.

I waited to grow better first, 
as I did before when I ceased to pray,
    [335]
and perhaps 
I never should have become better; 

for I had now sunk so deeply
into the  petty ways of an evil habit,
   — I could not convince myself 
     that they were wrong, —
that I needed the help of others, 
who should hold out a hand 
to raise me up. 

Blessed be Thou, O Lord!

  — for the first hand outstretched to me 
     was Thine. 
 

334   Ch. vii. § 37.

335   Ch. xix. §§ 7, 8.

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She also considers as fundamental to such friendship,

      culture, the human virtues, gentleness, empathy,
      prudence, discretion, simplicity, kindness, joy
      and availability,
as we seek
     to "walk in truth before God and people".       [30]

              [30] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                           Mansions, VI, 10,6;

Mansions  VI Chapter 10: 6   

6. 
I wish I could explain this better 
but am unable to do so. 
Let us learn from it, sisters, 
that if we would bear any resemblance 
to our God and our Spouse, 
we must strive 
to walk ever in the truth.

I do not merely mean 
that we should not tell falsehoods 

thank God, 
I see that in these convents 
you are most careful never to do so 
on any account

 — but I desire that as far as possible 
   we should walk with 
   perfect truth before God and man 

and above all that we should not wish 
to be thought better than we are; 

that in all our deeds we should 
ascribe to God what is His and
attribute what is ours to ourselves, 
and that we should seek for verity 
in all things. 

Thus we shall care little for this world, 
which is but deception and falsehood, 
and therefore  cannot last.  

Once, while I was wondering 
why our Lord so dearly loves 
the virtue of humility, 
the thought suddenly struck me,
without previous reflection, 
that it is because 
God is the supreme Truth and 
humility is the truth, 

for it is most true 
that we have nothing good of ourselves
but only misery and nothingness: 

whoever ignores this, 
lives a life of falsehood. 

They that realize this fact 
most deeply 
are the most pleasing to God, 
the supreme Truth, 
for they walk in the truth. 

God grant, sisters, 
that we may have the grace 
never to lose this self-knowledge! 

Amen. 
             
                
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teresa/castle2.x.xi.html

 

              [30] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                           Way 40,3;

Way 40,3
The Way of Perfection CH 40 #3

Those who really love God 
 love all good, 
 seek all good, 
 help forward all good, 
 praise all good, and 
 invariably join forces with good men and 
 help and defend them. 

They love only truth and things worthy of love. 

Do you think it possible 
that anyone 
who really and truly loves God 
can love vanities, riches, 
worldly pleasures or honours? 

Can he engage in strife or feel envy? 

No; 
for his only desire 
is to please the Beloved. 

Such persons die with longing 
for Him to love them and 
so they will give their lives to learn 
  how they may please Him better. 

Will they hide their love? 

No: 
if their love for God is genuine love 
they cannot. 

Why, think of Saint Paul or the Magdalen. 

One of these —Saint Paul— 
found in three days 
that he was sick with love. 

The Magdalen discovered this 
on the very first day. 

And how certain of it they were! 

For there are degrees of love for God, 
which shows itself 
in proportion to its strength. 

If there is little of it, 
it shows itself but little; 

if there is much, 
it shows itself a great deal. 

But it always shows itself, 
whether little or much, 
provided it is real love for God. 


http://www.ccel.org/ccel/
teresa/way.i.xlvi.html

 

              [30] Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus,
                           Way 41,7.

Way of Perfection 41,7.

Try, then, sisters, 
to be as pleasant as you can, 
without offending God, and 
to get on as well as you can 
with those you have to deal with, 

so that they may like talking to you 
and want to follow your way 
of life and conversation, 
and not be frightened and put off by virtue. 

This is very important for nuns: 

the holier they are, 
the more sociable they should be 
with their sisters. 

Although you may be very sorry 
if all your sisters’ conversation 
is not just 
as you would like it to be, 
never keep aloof from them 
if you wish to help them 
and to have their love. 

We must try hard 
to be pleasant, and 
to humour the people we deal with 
and make them like us, 
especially our sisters.            
                
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ccel/teresa/way.i.xlvii.html

 

The doctrine of St. John of the Cross
  points to union with God
by means of the theological virtues.      [31]

              [31] Cf. St. John of the Cross,
                           Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 6, 1:1;

Ascent of Mount Carmel BK 2 Ch6   #1-4
  
Wherein is described 
how it is the three theological virtues 
that perfect the three faculties 
of the soul, and 
how the said virtues produce emptiness 
and darkness within them. 

   .   .   .   .

Having now to endeavour to show 
how the three faculties of the soul

 — understanding, memory and will — 

are brought into this spiritual night, 
which is the means to Divine union, 
     [236]
it is necessary first of all 
to explain in this chapter 
how the three theological virtues 

 — faith, hope and charity — 

which have respect 
to the three faculties aforesaid 
as their proper supernatural objects, and 
by means whereof the soul is united with God 
according to its faculties, 
produce the same emptiness and darkness, 
each one in its own faculty. 

Faith, in the understanding; 

Hope, in the memory; and 

Charity, in the will. 


And afterwards we shall go on to describe how 

   the Understanding is perfected 
     in the darkness of faith; and 

   the Memory 
     in the emptiness of hope; 

and likewise how 

   the Will must be buried 
     by withdrawing and detaching 
     every affection 
     so that the soul may journey to God. 

This done, it will be clearly seen 
how necessary it is for the soul,  
if it is to walk securely 
on this spiritual road, 
to travel through this dark night, 
leaning upon these three virtues, 
which empty it of all things 
and make it dark with respect to them. 

For, as we have said, 
the soul is not united with God 
in this life 
through understanding, 
nor through enjoyment, 
nor through the imagination, 
nor through any sense whatsoever; 


but only 
through faith, 
  according to the understanding; and 

through hope, 
  according to the memory; and 

through love, 
  according to the will. 


2. 
These three virtues, as we have said, 
all cause emptiness in the faculties: 

faith, 
in the understanding, 
causes an emptiness and darkness 
with respect to understanding; 

hope, 
in the memory, 
causes emptiness of all possessions; and

charity 
causes emptiness in the will 
and detachment 
from all affection and 
from rejoicing in all that is not God. 

For, as we see, 
faith tells us 
what cannot be understood 
with the understanding. 

Wherefore Saint Paul spoke of it 
ad Hebraeos after this manner: 

Fides est sperandarum substantia rerum, 
argumentum non apparentium.   
    [237] 

This we interpret as meaning 
that faith is the substance 
of things hoped for; 

and, although the understanding may be firmly 
and certainly consenting to them, 
they are not things 
that are revealed to the understanding, 
since, if they were revealed to it, 
there would be no faith. 

So faith, 
although it brings certainty 
to the understanding, 
brings it not clearness, 
but obscurity. 

3. 
Then, as to hope, 
there is no doubt 
but that it renders the memory 
empty and dark 
with respect both 
to things below 
and to things above. 

For hope always relates to that 
which is not possessed; 

for, if it were possessed, 
there would be no more hope. 

Wherefore Saint Paul says ad Romanos: 
Spes, quae videtur, non est spes: 
nam quod videt quis, quid sperat?  
   [238] 

That is to say: 
Hope that is seen is not hope; 
for what a man seeth 
 — that is, what a man possesseth — 
how doth he hope for it? 

This virtue, then, also produces emptiness, 
for it has to do 
with that which is not possessed 
and not with that which is possessed. 

4. 
Similarity, 
charity causes emptiness in the will 
with respect to all things, 
since it obliges us 
to love God above them all; 

which cannot be 
unless we withdraw our affection 
from them 
in order to set it wholly upon God. 

Wherefore Christ says, through Saint Luke: 
Qui non renuntiat omnibus quae possidet, 
non potest meus esse discipulus.  
     [239] 
Which signifies: 
He that renounces not 
all that he possesses with the will 
cannot be My disciple. 

And thus 
all these three virtues set the soul 
in obscurity and emptiness 
with respect to all things. 



236  [Lit., ‘to lead . . . into,’ 
       as at the beginning of 6, below.] 

237   Hebrews xi, 1. 

238   Romans viii, 24. 

239   St. Luke xiv, 33. 

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/
ascent.v.vi.html       
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              [31] Cf. St. John of the Cross,
                           Precautions, 5.

Precautions, 5
             
The first precaution 

5. 
The first is that you should have 
an equal love for and 
an equal forgetfulness of all persons, 

whether relatives or not, and 
withdraw your heart from relatives 
as much as from others, 
and in some ways even more 
for fear that flesh and blood 
might be quickened 
by the natural love 
that is ever alive among kin, 
and must always be mortified 
for the sake of spiritual perfection. 

ICS Institute of Carmelite Studies 
Collected Works of St. John of the Cross
Copyright © 1991 by Washington Province 
of Discalced Carmelite Friars, Inc. 

 

Based on this principle,
the Saint also sees
   the purifying and unifying effect
        of the theological virtues
   in sisterly and brotherly relations.

This is particularly so in the exercise of love for others:

"Where there is no love,
    put love,
    and you will draw out love”,

  because that is what the Lord does:
    by loving us,
    He makes us capable of loving.        [32]

              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                     Letter 26 to M. Maria of the Incarnation,
                     6 July 1591;

Letter 26 to M. Maria of the Incarnation
             
TO M. MARÍA DE LA ENCARNACIÓN, 
SEGOVIA MADRID, 
JULY 6, 1591. 

"... God, Who knows what is meet for us 
 and ordains things for our good. 

Think only that God ordains all. 

And where there is no love, 
put love and you will find love ..."


(Peers translation  includes this as  Letter XXII )

 

              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                      cf. Letter 30, to a religious of Segovia;

Letter 33, to a religious of Segovia
             
Letter 33 
[To a discalced Carmelite nun 
 in Segovia
 Ubeda, 
 October-November 1591] 

"... Have a great love for those 
who contradict and fail to love you, 
for in this way 
love is begotten in a heart 
that has no love. 

God so acts with us, 
for he loves us 
that we might love 
by means of the very love 
he bears toward us. "

ICS Institute of Carmelite Studies 
Collected Works of St. John of the Cross

Copyright © 1991 
by Washington Province 
of Discalced Carmelite Friars, Inc.
 
                

 

              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                      Ascent, III, 23,1;

Ascent, III, 23,1;

Ascent of Mount Carmel  
BK 3  CHAPTER XXIII  #1

Of the benefits which the soul receives 
from not setting its rejoicing 
upon the good things of nature. 

Many are the benefits 
which come to the soul
through the withdrawal of its heart 
from this rejoicing; 

for, 
besides preparing itself for the love of God 
and the other virtues, 
it makes a direct way 
for its own humility, and 
for a general charity toward its neighbours. 

For, as it is not led 
by the apparent good things of nature, 
which are deceitful, into affection for anyone, 
the soul remains free and able  
    [596] 
to love them all 
rationally and spiritually, 
as God wills them to be loved. 

Here it must be understood 
that none deserves to be loved, 
save for the virtue that is in him. 

And, when we love in this way, 
it is very pleasing to the will of God, 
and also brings great freedom; 

and if there be attachment in it, 
there is greater attachment to God. 

For, in that case, 
the more this love grows, 
the more grows our love toward God; and, 
the more grows our love toward God, 
the greater becomes our love
for our neighbour. 

For, when love is grounded in God, 
the reason for all love 
is one and the same and 
the cause of all love 
is one and the same also. 

596   [Lit., ‘free and clear.’] 
 
             
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              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                      Dark Night, I, 2,1

Dark Night, I, 2,1 
             
Dark Night of the Soul
Book 1  CHAPTER II 

Of certain spiritual imperfections 
which beginners have 
with respect to the habit of pride.

AS these beginners feel themselves
to be very fervent and diligent 
in spiritual things and devout exercises, 
from this prosperity 
 (although it is true 
  that holy things of their own nature 
  cause humility) 
there often comes to them, 
through their imperfections, 
a certain kind of secret pride, 
whence they come to have 
some degree of satisfaction 
with their works and with themselves. 

And hence there comes to them 
likewise a certain desire, 
which is somewhat vain, 
and at times very vain, 
to speak of spiritual things 
in the presence of others, 
and sometimes even to teach such things 
rather than to learn them. 

They condemn others in their heart 
when they see 
that they have not the kind of devotion 
which they themselves desire; 

and sometimes they even say this in words, 
herein resembling the Pharisee, 
who boasted of himself, 
praising God for his own good works 
and despising the publican. 
   [21]
               
21   St. Luke xviii, 11-12.

 ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~   

Luke 18: 11-12.

11  
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus 
with himself, 
God, I thank thee, 
that I am not as the rest of men, 
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, 
or even as this publican. 

12    
I fast twice in the week;
I give tithes 
of all that I get. 

13   
But the publican, standing afar off, 
would not lift up so much 
as his eyes unto heaven, 
but smote his breast, saying, 
God, be thou merciful to me a sinner.

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dark_night.vii.ii.html

 

              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                      Dark Night I, 5,2

Dark Night, I,   5,2 
             
2. 
There are other 
of these spiritual persons, again, 
who fall into another kind of spiritual wrath: 

this happens when they become irritated 
at the sins of others, 
and keep watch on those others 
with a sort of uneasy zeal. 

At times the impulse comes to them 
to reprove them angrily, 
and occasionally they go so far 
as to indulge it   
      (39) 
and set themselves up as masters of virtue. 

All this is contrary to spiritual meekness.   

              

39   [Lit. ‘they even do it.’] 

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              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                      Dark Night, I, 7,1

Dark Night, I,  7,1 
             
Dark Night of the Soul
Book 1 CHAPTER VII
Of imperfections with respect 
to spiritual envy and sloth.

WITH respect likewise to the other two vices, 
which are spiritual envy and sloth, 
these beginners fail not 
to have many imperfections. 

For, with respect to envy,
many of them are wont 
to experience movements of displeasure 
at the spiritual good of others, 
which cause them a certain sensible grief 
at being outstripped upon this road, 
so that they would prefer 
not to hear others praised; 

for they become displeased 
at others’ virtues and 
sometimes they cannot refrain 
from contradicting 
what is said in praise of them, 
depreciating it as far as they can; 

and their annoyance  thereat  grows
    [53] 
because the same is not said of them, 
for they would fain be preferred in everything. 

All this is clean contrary to charity, 
which, as Saint Paul says, rejoices in goodness.
    [54] 

And, if charity has any envy, 
it is a holy envy, 
comprising grief 
at not having the virtues of others, 
yet also joy because others have them, 
and delight when others outstrip us 
in the service of God, 
wherein we ourselves are so remiss. 

53  [Lit., ‘and, as they say,
    their eye (el ojo) grows’
     — a colloquial phrase 
       expressing annoyance.] 

54  1 Corinthians xiii, 6. 
    The Saint here cites the sense, 
    not the letter, of the epistle. 

    4  Love suffereth long, and is kind; 
         love envieth not; 
         love vaunteth not itself,  
         is not puffed up, 
    5  doth not behave itself unseemly, 
         seeketh not its own, 
         is not provoked, 
         taketh not account of evil; 
    6  rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, 
         but rejoiceth with the truth; 
    7  beareth all things,
         believeth all things, 
         hopeth all things, 
         endureth all things.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/
dark_night.vii.vii.html                

 

              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                      Dark Night I, 12,7‐8

Dark Night I,  12,7‐8 
             
7. 
Likewise, from the aridities and voids 
of this night of the desire, 
the soul draws spiritual humility, 
which is the contrary virtue 
to the first capital sin, 
which, as we said, is spiritual pride. 

Through this humility, 
which is acquired 
by the said knowledge of self, 
the soul is purged 
from all those imperfections 
whereinto it fell with respect 
to that sin of pride,
in the time of its prosperity. 

For it sees itself so dry and miserable 
that the idea never even occurs to it 
that it is 
making better progress than others, 
or outstripping them, 
as it believed itself to be doing before. 

On the contrary,
it recognizes that others 
are making better progress
than itself. 

8. 
And hence arises the love of its neighbours, 
for it esteems them, 
and judges them not 
as it was wont to do aforetime, 
when it saw that itself had great fervour
and others not so.

It is aware only of its own wretchedness, 
which it keeps before its eyes 
to such an extent that it never forgets it, 
nor takes occasion 
to set its eyes on anyone else. 

This was described wonderfully by David, 
when he was in this night, in these words: 
‘I was dumb and was humbled and 
 kept silence from good things
 and my sorrow was renewed.’
    [91] 

This he says because it seemed to him 
that the good 
that was in his soul 
had so completely departed 
that not only did he neither speak nor find 
any language concerning it, 

but with respect to the good of others 
he was likewise dumb
because of his grief 
at the knowledge of his misery. 

91 Psalm xxxviii, 3 


Psalm 38: 3 

There is no soundness in my flesh 
because of thine indignation; 

Neither is there any health in my bones 
because of my sin. 
   [A.V., xxxix, 2].
   
   2  I was dumb with silence, 
      I held my peace, even from good; 
      And my sorrow was stirred. 

Ps: 38:3. 
I was dumb, and was humbled, 
and kept silence from good things: 
and my sorrow was renewed. 

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/
john_cross/dark_night.vii.xii.html                

 

              [32] St. John of the Cross,
                      Cf. Sayings, 27.

Sayings, 27
             
27. 
Mine are the heavens and 
mine is the earth. 
Mine are the nations, 
the just are mine, and 
mine the sinners.

The angels are mine, 
and the Mother of God,
and all things are mine; 
and God himself is mine and for me, 
because Christ is mine 
and all for me. 

What do you ask, then, and seek, my soul? 

Yours is all of this, and all is for you. 

Do not engage yourself in something less 
or pay heed to the crumbs that fall 
from your Father's table. 

Go forth and exult in your Glory! 

Hide yourself in it and rejoice, 
and you will obtain 
the supplications of your heart. 


ICS
Copyright © 1991 by Washington Province 
of Discalced Carmelite Friars, Inc. 
                

 

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


24 - c )

A person, loyal to their Christian faith,
begins to be part of the Secular Order

  through the promise made to the Community
  before the Superior of the Order.                 [33]

              [33] Cf. OCDS Constitutions, 12.

OCDS Constitutions, 12

By the promise made to the community 
in the presence of the Superior 
of the Order or his Delegate, 
the person becomes a full member 
of the Secular Order. 

By this commitment members strive 
to acquire the necessary training to know 
the reasons, 
the content and purpose 
of the evangelical lifestyle 
they are undertaking. 

The promise heightens and enriches 
the baptismal commitment 
in Secular Carmelites. 

This includes those called to married life, 
both as spouses and as parents. 

This promise is renewed 
once a year at Easter time. 
             
 
 

With the promise
  a person is committed to live in communion
        with the Church,
        with the Order,
        with the Province
            and especially
        with those who are part of the Community,

loving them and encouraging them
  in the practice of the virtues.                [34]

              [34] Cf. Mansions, VII, 4, 14‐15.

Mansions, VII, 4, 14‐15
             
Secondly, you may say 
that you have 
neither the power nor the means 
to lead souls to God; 

though you would willingly do so, 
you do not know how, 
as you can neither teach nor preach 
as did the Apostles. 

I have often written an answer 
to this objection 
though I cannot tell whether I have done so 
in connection with the Castle. 

However, as the difficulty probably 
often crosses your minds 
on account of the desires our Lord gives you 
of serving Him, 
I will now speak of it again.   
   [454]  

I told you elsewhere how the devil frequently 
fills our thoughts with great schemes, 
so that instead of putting our hands to 
what work we can do 
to serve our Lord, 
we may rest satisfied with wishing 
to perform impossibilities. 

You can do much by prayer; 

and then, 
do not try to help the whole world, 
but principally your companions; 

this work will be all the better 
because you are the more bound to it. 

Do you think it is a trifling matter that
 your humility and mortification, 
 your readiness to serve your sisters, 
 your fervent charity towards them, and 
 your love of God, 
should be as a fire to enkindle their zeal,  
and that you should constantly incite them 
to practise the other virtues? 

This would be a great work 
and one most pleasing to our Lord: 

by thus doing all that is in your power, 
you would prove to His Majesty 
your willingness to do still more 
and He would reward you 
as if you had won Him many souls. 

Do you answer: 
’This would not be converting my sisters, 
 for they are very good already?’ 

What business is that of yours? 

If they were still better, 
the praise they render God 
would please Him more 
and their prayers would be 
more helpful to their neighbours. 
    [455]

In short, my sisters, 
I will conclude with this advice; 

do not build towers without a foundation, 

for our Lord does not care so much 
for the importance of our works 
as for the love with which they are done. 

When we do all we can, 
His Majesty will enable us 
to do more every day. 

If we do not grow weary, 
but during the brief time this life lasts
 (and perhaps it will be shorter 
  than any of you think) 
we give our Lord every sacrifice we can, 
both interior and exterior, 
His Majesty will unite them 
with that He offered to His Father 
for us on the Cross 
so that they may be worth the value 
given them by our love, 
however mean the works themselves may be. 


454  Way of Perf. ch, i. 1. 
      Foundations, ch. i, 6, 7. 
      Supra, Mansion. vi ch. vi, 2. 

455  Way of Perf. ch. vii. 7. 


http://www.ccel.org/ccel/teresa/
castle2.xi.iv.html               

 

In smaller communities [35]

               [35] Cf. OCDS Constitutions, 58g

OCDS Constitutions, 58g

OCDS Statutes  Section XIII: 
Organization and Life

58.   The Provincial statutes 
      are to determine the following: 

      ...

58 g) the maximum number of members 
      of a community 
      before dividing the community 
      to form another; 
 
        
 

              [35] and the Provincial Statutes
                     on the maximum number of members
                     in a Community.

Provincial Statutes:  maximum number of members
 
Sec. XIII: Organization and Life 

1. 
OCDS Communities are a local manifestation 
of the entire Teresian Carmelite Family. 

2.
The size of a Community 
has an impact on Community life. 

Communities should not 
become disproportionately large.

Ideally, 
when a Community reaches 60 members, 
it shall begin to implement plans 
for a Recognized Group 
under the supervision of the Provincial Delegate

[see section XX, paragraph 3 below]. 

The stability and leadership of both 
the Community and the Recognized Group 
is an important consideration. 

   
 

it is possible to establish
   a true and deep relationship of
      human and spiritual friendship,
             as well as
      mutual support in charity and humility.

St. Teresa appreciates the assistance of another
      in the spiritual life:

Love grows where there is respectful dialogue,
      the purpose of which is
          to know oneself better
          so as to be pleasing to God.                           [36]

              [36] Cf. St. Teresa, Life, 7,22

Life, 7,22
             
I do not know 
whether the things I am saying 
are foolish or not.
If they be so, 
your reverence will strike them out.

I entreat you to help my simplicity 
by adding a good deal to this, 
because the things 
that relate to the service of God 
are so feebly managed, 
that it is necessary for those 
who would serve Him 
to join shoulder to shoulder, 
if they are to advance at all; 

for it is considered safe 
to live amidst the vanities and pleasures 
of the world, 
and few there be 
who regard them with unfavourable eyes. 

But if any one begins to give himself up 
to the service of God, 
there are so many to find fault with him, 
that it becomes necessary for him 
to seek companions,
in order that he may 
find protection among them 
till he grows strong enough not to feel 
what he may be made to suffer. 

If he does not, 
he will find himself in great straits. 


This, I believe, must have been the reason 
why some of the Saints 
withdrew into the desert. 

And it is a kind of humility in man 
not to trust to himself, 
but to believe that God will help him 
in his relations with those 
with whom he converses; 

and charity grows by being diffused; 

and there are a thousand blessings herein 
which I would not dare to speak of,
if I had not known by experience 
the great importance of it. 

It is very true 
that I am the most wicked 
and the basest of all 
who are born of women; 

but I believe that he 
who, humbling himself, though strong, 
yet trusteth not in himself, 
and believeth another 
who in this matter has had experience, 
will lose nothing. 

Of myself I may say that, 
if our Lord had not revealed to me 
this truth,  
and given me the opportunity 
of speaking very frequently 
to persons given to prayer, 
I should have gone on falling and rising 
till I tumbled into hell. 

I had many friends to help me to fall; 

but as to rising again, 
I was so much left to myself, 
that I wonder now 
I was not always on the ground. 

I praise God for His mercy; 
for it was He only 
Who stretched out His hand to me. 

May He be blessed for ever! Amen. 



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life.viii.viii.html
        

 

               [36] Cf. St. Teresa, Life 16,7.

Life  16,7             
 
I wish we five, 
who now love one another in our Lord, 
had made some such arrangement as this: 

as others in these times 
have met together in secret  
   [235] 
to plot wickedness and heresies 
against His Majesty, 

so we might contrive to meet together 
now and then, 
in order to undeceive one another,
to tell each other  
wherein we might improve ourselves, 
and be more pleasing unto God; 

for there is no one 
that knows himself as well 
as he is known of others who see him,  
if it be with eyes of love and 
the wish to do him good. 

I say; in secret; 

for language of this kind 
is no longer in use; 

even preachers go about 
arranging their sermons 
so as to displease no one.  
    [236] 

They have a good intention, 
and their work is good; 
yet still few amend their lives. 

But how is it that they are not many 
who, in consequence of these sermons, 
abstain from public sins? 

Well, I think it is 
because the preachers are highly sensible men. 

They are not burning 
with the great fire of the love of God, 
as the Apostles were, 
casting worldly prudence aside; 
and so their fire throws out but little heat. 

I do not say that their fire ought to burn 
like that of the Apostles, 
but I do wish it were a stronger fire 
than I see it is. 

Do you, my father, 
know wherein much of this fire consists? 

In the hatred of this life, 
in the desertion of its honours, 
in being utterly indifferent  
whether we lose or gain anything or everything, 
provided the truth be told and 
maintained for the glory of God; 

for he who is courageously in earnest for God, 
looks upon loss or gain indifferently. 

I do not say that I am a person of this kind, 
but I wish I was. 



235   
The Saint refers to the secret meetings 
of heretics in Valladolid,
under the direction of a fallen priest, 
the Doctor Agostino Cazalla, 
whose vanity led him to imitate Luther. 
 ... (De la Fuente).

236   
Father Bañes wrote here on the margin 
of the Saint's MS, 
"Legant prædicatores" (De la Fuente).


http://www.ccel.org/ccel/teresa/
life.viii.xvii.html                

 

Community meetings take place
   in a congenial atmosphere
   of dialogue and sharing.          [37]

              [37] Cf. OCDS Constitutions, 18.

OCDS Constitutions, 18
             
OCDS Constitutions, 18. 
III Witnesses To The Experience Of God 

Prayer, 
a dialogue of friendship with God, 
ought to be nourished by His Word
so that this dialogue becomes that,

“we speak to Him 
   when we pray; 
 we hear Him 
   when we read the divine word”   
 

God’s Word will nourish 
the contemplative experience 
of Carmelite Seculars 
and their mission in the world. 

Besides personal contemplation,
listening to the Word ought 
to encourage a contemplation
that leads to sharing the experience of God 
in the Secular Order community. 

By this means, 
the Community together seeks 
to discern God’s ways, 
maintain a permanent energy of conversion, 
and live with a renewed hope. 

The Carmelite Secular will be able to
see through events and discover 
God in everything. 
                
 

Prayer, formation and a joyful atmosphere are essential
   for deepening friendly relationships and
        ensuring for everyone mutual support
    in the daily living-out
        of the Teresian Carmelite lay vocation
    in the family, at work and in other social situations.

This requires regular and active participation
    in the life and meetings of the Community.

Absences are only allowed
    for serious and just reasons,
    evaluated and agreed to with those in charge.

The Provincial Statutes are to establish
    a limit on unjustifiable absences,
    beyond which, an individual will be considered
       inactive and
       liable for dismissal from the Community.

       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

24 - d )

The collective and individual responsibility
   of the Community for formation               [38]

              [38] OCDS Raatio, 28.

OCDS Raatio, 28
             
28. 
Because of this identity 
of the Secular Order Carmelite community, 
it is the appropriate place 
for the formation 
of the candidate seeking admission. 

The community should give a good example of 
how to live Secular Carmelite life, 
even if it does not reach the ideal. 

Only by way of exception, 
in extraordinary circumstances, 
may a candidate enter the Order 
as an isolated member.

The secular order community as a whole, 
and each of its members, 
have a formative responsibility, 
to be fulfilled in the manner 
determined in cooperation 
with the Director of formation 
and the Council.
                
RATIO INSTITUTIONIS 
OF THE SECULAR ORDER

 

requires that each individual member
   commit to fraternal communion,
   in the belief that a spirituality of communion        [39]

              [39] John Paul II,
                     Novo millennio ineunte, 43.

Novo millennio ineunte, 43
             
Novo Millennio Ineunte

Of His Holiness Pope John Paul II

To The Bishops Clergy And Lay Faithful    
At The Close Of The Great Jubilee 
Of The Year 2000

A spirituality of communion 

43. 
To make the Church 
the home and the school of communion: 
that is the great challenge 
facing us in the millennium 
which is now beginning, 
if we wish to be faithful to God's plan 
and respond to the world's deepest yearnings.

But what does this mean in practice? 

Here too, our thoughts could run immediately 
to the action to be undertaken,
but that would not be 
the right impulse to follow. 

Before making practical plans, 
we need to promote 
a spirituality of communion, 
making it the guiding principle of education 
wherever individuals and Christians are formed, 
wherever ministers of the altar, 
consecrated persons, 
and pastoral workers are trained, 
wherever families and communities 
are being built up. 

A spirituality of communion indicates above all 
the heart's contemplation of the mystery 
of the Trinity dwelling in us, and 
whose light we must also be able to see 
shining on the face 
of the brothers and sisters around us. 

A spirituality of communion 
also means an ability to think 
of our brothers and sisters in faith 
within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, 
and therefore as "those who are a part of me". 

This makes us able 
to share their joys and sufferings,
to sense their desires and attend to their needs, 
to offer them deep and genuine friendship. 

A spirituality of communion implies also 
the ability to see 
what is positive in others, 
to welcome it and prize it 
as a gift from God: 
not only as a gift for the brother or sister
who has received it directly, 
but also as a "gift for me". 

A spirituality of communion  means, finally,
to know how to "make room" 
for our brothers and sisters, 
bearing "each other's burdens" 
    (Gal 6:2) and 
resisting the selfish temptations 
which constantly beset us and provoke competition, 
careerism,  distrust and jealousy. 

Let us have no illusions: 
unless we follow this spiritual path, 
external structures of communion 
will serve very little purpose. 

They would become mechanisms without a soul, 
"masks" of communion 
rather than its means of expression and growth. 
               
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/
john_paul_ii/apost_letters/
documents/
hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-millennio-ineunte_en.html

 

plays an essential role in the
   deepening of the spiritual life and
   formation process of the members.


The Eucharistic life,
   lived in faith,                                             [40]

              [40] Francis, Lumen Fidei, 40.

Francis, Lumen Fidei, 40
The Light of   Faith

The sacraments and the transmission of faith

40. 
The Church, 
like every family, passes on to her children 
the whole store of her memories. 

But how does this come about in a way 
that nothing is lost,
but rather everything in the patrimony of faith 
comes to be more deeply understood? 

It is through the apostolic Tradition 
preserved in the Church 
with the assistance of the Holy Spirit 
that we enjoy a living contact 
with the foundational memory. 


What was handed down by the apostles 
 — as the Second Vatican Council states —
"comprises everything that serves 
to make the people of God 
live their lives in holiness 
and increase their faith. 

In this way the Church, 
in her doctrine, life and worship, 
perpetuates and transmits to every generation 
all that she herself is, 
all that she believes".   
       [35] 

Faith, in fact, needs a setting 
in which it can be 
witnessed to and communicated, 
a means which is suitable 
and proportionate to what is communicated. 

For transmitting a purely doctrinal content, 
an idea might suffice, or perhaps a book, 
or the repetition of a spoken message. 

But what is communicated in the Church, 
what is handed down in her living Tradition,
is the new light 
born of an encounter with the true God, 

a light which touches us 
at the core of our being 
and engages our minds, wills and emotions, 
opening us to relationships lived in communion. 

There is a special means 
for passing down this fullness, 
a means capable of engaging the entire person, 
body and spirit, interior life 
and relationships with others.

It is the sacraments, 
celebrated in the Church’s liturgy. 

The sacraments communicate 
an incarnate memory, 
linked to the times and places of our lives, 
linked to all our senses; 

in them the whole person is engaged 
as a member of a living subject and
part of a network 
of communitarian relationships. 

While the sacraments are indeed 
sacraments of faith,     
    [36] 
it can also be said 
that faith itself 
possesses a sacramental structure. 

The awakening of faith is linked 
to the dawning of a new sacramental sense 
in our lives as human beings and as Christians, 
in which visible and material realities are seen 
to point beyond themselves 
to the mystery of the eternal. 
 
[35] 
Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
Dei Verbum, 8.

[36] 
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, 
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
Sacrosanctum Concilium, 59. 
              

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/
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   and attentiveness to the Word of God              [41]

              [41] Benedict XVI,
                      Verbum Domini, 84‐85.

Verbum Domini, 84‐85
          
84. 
The Synod frequently spoke of the laity 
and thanked them for their generous activity 
in spreading the Gospel in the various settings 
of daily life, at work and in the schools,
in the family and in education.
      [281] 

This responsibility, rooted in Baptism, 
needs to develop 
through an ever more conscious 
Christian way of life 
capable of “accounting for the hope” within us 
   (cf. 1 Pet 3:15). 

In the Gospel of Matthew, 
Jesus points out that 
“the field is the world, and 
 the good seed 
 are the children of the Kingdom”  
      (13:38). 

These words apply especially 
to the Christian laity, 
who live out their specific vocation to holiness 
by a life in the Spirit expressed 
“in a particular way 
 by their engagement in temporal matters and
 by their participation in earthly activities”.       
      [282] 

The laity need to be trained 
to discern God’s will 
through a familiarity with his word, 
read and studied in the Church 
under the guidance of her legitimate pastors. 

They can receive this training at the school 
of the great ecclesial spiritualities,
all of which are grounded in sacred Scripture. 

Wherever possible, 
dioceses themselves should provide 
an opportunity for continuing formation 
to lay persons charged 
with particular ecclesial responsibilities.    
     [283]


e) The word of God, marriage and the family


85. 
The Synod also felt the need 
to stress the relationship 
between the word of God, marriage 
and the Christian family. 

Indeed, 
“with the proclamation of the word of God, 
the Church reveals to Christian families 
their true identity, 
what it is and 
what it must be in accordance 
with the Lord’s plan”.     
    [284] 

Consequently, 
it must never be forgotten 
that the word of God is 
at the very origin of marriage 
    (cf. Gen 2:24) 

and that Jesus himself made marriage 
one of the institutions of his Kingdom 
    (cf. Mt 19:4-8), 

elevating to the dignity of a sacrament
what was inscribed in human nature 
from the beginning. 

“In the celebration of the sacrament, 
a man and a woman speak a prophetic word 
of reciprocal self-giving, 
that of being ‘one flesh’, 
a sign of the mystery of the union 
of Christ with the Church 
    (cf. Eph 5:31-32)”.     
    [285]

Fidelity to God’s word leads us to point out 
that nowadays this institution 
is in many ways under attack 
from the current mentality. 

In the face of widespread confusion 
in the sphere of affectivity, 
and the rise of ways of thinking 
which trivialize the human body 
and sexual differentiation,
the word of God re-affirms 
the original goodness of the human being, 
created as man and woman 
and called to a love 
which is faithful, reciprocal and fruitful.


The great mystery of marriage 
is the source of the essential responsibility 
of parents towards their children. 


Part of authentic parenthood is 
to pass on and bear witness 
to the meaning of life in Christ: 

through their fidelity 
and the unity of family life, 
spouses are the first 
to proclaim God’s word 
to their children. 

The ecclesial community must 
support and assist them 
in fostering family prayer, 
attentive hearing of the word of God, 
and knowledge of the Bible. 

To this end the Synod urged 
that every household have its Bible, 
to be kept in a worthy place 
and used for reading and prayer. 

Whatever help is needed in this regard 
can be provided by priests, deacons 
and a well-prepared laity. 

The Synod also recommended the formation 
of small communities of families, 
where common prayer and meditation 
on passages of Scripture can be cultivated.   
     [286]


Spouses should also remember 
that “the Word of God is a precious support 
amid the difficulties which arise
in marriage and in family life”.   
     [287]

Here I would like to highlight 
the recommendations of the Synod 
concerning the role of women 
in relation to the word of God. 

Today, more than in the past, 
the “feminine genius”,   
     [288]   
to use the words  of John Paul II, 
has contributed greatly
to the understanding of Scripture and 
to the whole life of the Church, 
and this is now also 
the case with biblical studies. 

The Synod paid special attention 
to the indispensable role played by women 
in the family, education, catechesis 
and the communication of values.

“They have an ability 
to lead people to hear God’s word, 
to enjoy a personal relationship with God, and 
to show the meaning of forgiveness
and of evangelical sharing”.   
     [289] 

They are likewise 
 messengers of love, 
 models of mercy and 
 peacemakers; 

they communicate warmth and humanity 
in a world 
which all too often judges people
according to the ruthless criteria 
of exploitation and profit.


The prayerful reading 
of sacred Scripture and “lectio divina” 

 
86. 
The Synod frequently insisted on the need 
for a prayerful approach to the sacred text 
as a fundamental element 
in the spiritual life of every believer, 
in the various ministries and states in life, 
with particular reference to lectio divina.
    [290] 

The word of God is at the basis 
of all authentic Christian spirituality. 

The Synod Fathers thus took up the words 
of the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum: 

“Let the faithful go gladly 
to the sacred text itself, 

whether in the sacred liturgy, 
which is full of the divine words, 
or in devout reading, 
or in such suitable exercises 
and various other helps 
which, with the approval and guidance 
of the pastors of the Church,
are happily spreading everywhere in our day. 


Let them remember, however,
that prayer should accompany the reading 
of sacred Scripture”.
      [291] 

The Council thus sought to reappropriate 
the great patristic tradition 
which had always recommended 
approaching the Scripture 
in dialogue with God. 


As Saint Augustine puts it: 

“Your prayer is the word you speak to God. 
When you read the Bible, 
God speaks to you; 
when you pray, 
you speak to God”.    
     [292] 

Origen, 
one of the great masters 
of this way of reading the Bible, 
maintains that understanding Scripture 
demands, even more than study,
closeness to Christ and prayer. 

Origen was convinced, in fact, 
that the best way to know God 
is through love, 
and that there can be 
no authentic scientia Christi 
apart from growth in his love.

In his Letter to Gregory, 
the great Alexandrian theologian 
gave this advice: 

“Devote yourself 
 to the lectio of the divine Scriptures; 
 apply yourself to this with perseverance. 

 Do your reading with the intent 
 of believing in and pleasing God.

 If during the lectio 
 you encounter a closed door, 
 knock and it will be opened to you 
 by that guardian of whom Jesus said, 
 ‘The gatekeeper will open it for him’. 


By applying yourself in this way 
to lectio divina, 
search diligently 
and with unshakable trust in God 
for the meaning of the divine Scriptures, 
which is hidden in great fullness within. 

You ought not, however, to be satisfied 
merely with knocking and seeking: 

to understand the things of God, 
what is absolutely necessary 
is oratio. 


For this reason, the Saviour told us not only:

 ‘Seek and you will find’, and 
 ‘Knock and it shall be opened to you’, 

but also added,

 ‘Ask and you shall receive’”.    
      [293]               




[280] 
Benedict XVI, 
Address at Heiligenkreuz Abbey 
99 September 2007): 
AAS 99 (2007), 856.

[281] 
Cf. Propositio 30.

[282] 
John Paul II, 
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Christifideles Laici 
30 December 1988), 17:
AAS 81 (1989), 418.

[283] 
Cf. Propositio 33.

[284] 
John Paul II, 
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation 
Familiaris Consortio 
(22 November 1981), 49:
AAS 74 (1982), 140-141.

[285] 
Propositio 20.

[286] 
Cf. Propositio 21.

[287] 
Propositio 20.

[288] 
Cf. Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem
(15 August 1988), 31: 
AAS 80 (1988), 1727-1729.

[289] 
Propositio 17.

[290] 
Propositiones 9 and 22.

[291] 
No. 25.

[292] 
Enarrationes in Psalmos, 85, 7: 
PL 37, 1086.

[293] 
Origen, Epistola ad Gregorium, 3: 
PG 11, 92.

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hf_ben-xvi_exh_20100930_verbum-domini_en.html

 

              [41] Benedict XVI,
                      Cf. Id., Sacramentum Caritatis, 76. 82. 89.

Sacramentum Caritatis,  76. 82. 89
 
A Eucharistic Form of Christian Life, 
Membership in the Church

76. 
The importance of Sunday 
as the Dies Ecclesiae 
brings us back to the intrinsic relationship 
between Jesus' victory over evil and death, 
and our membership in his ecclesial body.

On the Lord's Day, 
each Christian rediscovers 
the communal dimension of his life 
as one who has been redeemed. 

Taking part in the liturgy 
and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ 
intensifies and deepens our belonging 
to the one who died for us 
    (cf. 1 Cor 6:19ff; 7:23). 

Truly, whoever eats of Christ lives for him. 

The eucharistic mystery helps us to understand 
the profound meaning of the communio sanctorum. 

Communion always and inseparably has 
both a vertical and a horizontal sense: 

it is communion with God and
communion with our brothers and sisters. 

Both dimensions mysteriously converge 
in the gift of the Eucharist. 

"Wherever communion with God, 
which is communion with the Father, 
with the Son and with the Holy Spirit, 
is destroyed, 
the root and source 
of our communion with one another
is destroyed. 

And wherever we do not live communion 
among ourselves, 
communion with the Triune God 
is not alive and true either."
     (215)

Called to be members of Christ 
and thus members of one another
   (cf. 1 Cor 12:27), 
we are a reality 
grounded ontologically in Baptism 
and nourished by the Eucharist, 
a reality that demands visible expression 
in the life of our communities.

The eucharistic form of Christian life 
is clearly an ecclesial 
and communitarian form. 

Through the Diocese and the parish, 
the fundamental structures of the Church
in a particular territory, 
each individual believer can experience 
concretely what it means 
to be a member of Christ's Body.

Associations, ecclesial movements 
and new communities
  – with their lively charisms 
    bestowed by the Holy Spirit 
    for the needs of our time – 
together with Institutes of Consecrated Life, 
have a particular responsibility for helping 
to make the faithful conscious 
that they belong to the Lord
     (cf. Rom 14:8). 

Secularization, 
with its inherent emphasis on individualism, 
has its most negative effects on individuals 
who are isolated and lack a sense of belonging. 

Christianity, from its very beginning, 
has meant fellowship, 
a network of relationships 
constantly strengthened 
by hearing God's word 
and sharing in the Eucharist,
and enlivened by the Holy Spirit.

 
(215) 
Benedict XVI, 
General Audience of 29 March 2006: 
L'Osservatore Romano, 
30 March 2006, p. 4.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


The Eucharist and moral transformation

82. 
In discovering the beauty 
of the eucharistic form 
of the Christian life, 
we are also led to reflect on the moral energy 
it provides for sustaining the authentic freedom 
of the children of God. 

Here I wish to take up a discussion 
that took place during the Synod 
about the connection between 
the eucharistic form of life 
and moral transformation. 

Pope John Paul II stated that the moral life 
"has the value of a 'spiritual worship' 
    (Rom 12:1; cf. Phil 3:3), 
flowing from and nourished 
by that inexhaustible source 
of holiness and glorification of God 
which is found in the sacraments, 
especially in the Eucharist: 

by sharing in the sacrifice of the Cross, 
the Christian partakes 
of Christ's self-giving love 
and is equipped and committed to live 
this same charity
in all his thoughts and deeds" 
     (228). 

In a word, "'worship' itself,
eucharistic communion, 
includes the reality both 
of being loved and 
of loving others in turn. 

A Eucharist which does not pass over
into the concrete practice of love 
is intrinsically fragmented"    
     (229).

This appeal to the moral value 
of spiritual worship 
should not be interpreted 
in a merely moralistic way. 

It is before all else 
the joy-filled discovery 
of love at work in the hearts of those 
who accept the Lord's gift, 
abandon themselves to him 
and thus find true freedom. 

The moral transformation implicit 
in the new worship instituted by Christ 
is a heartfelt yearning 
to respond to the Lord's love 
with one's whole being, 
while remaining ever conscious 
of one's own weakness. 

This is clearly reflected 
in the Gospel story of Zacchaeus 
    (cf. Lk 19:1-10). 

After welcoming Jesus to his home, 
the tax collector is completely changed: 

he decides 
to give half of his possessions to the poor 
and to repay fourfold 
those whom he had defrauded. 

The moral urgency born 
of welcoming Jesus into our lives
is the fruit of gratitude 
for having experienced 
the Lord's unmerited closeness.


(228) 
Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor 
(6 August 1993), 107: 
AAS 85 (1993), 
1216-1217.


(229) 
Benedict XVI, 
Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est 
(25 December 2005), 14: 
AAS 98 (2006), 229.


   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The social implications 
of the eucharistic mystery

89. 
The union with Christ
brought about by the Eucharist 
also brings a newness 
to our social relations: 

"this sacramental ‘mysticism' 
is social in character." 

Indeed, "union with Christ 
is also union with all those 
to whom he gives himself.

I cannot possess Christ 
just for myself; 

I can belong to him 
only in union with all those  
who have become, or 
who will become, his own."    
    (241) 


The relationship 
between the eucharistic mystery 
and social commitment must be made explicit. 

The Eucharist is the sacrament of communion 
between brothers and sisters 
who allow themselves to be reconciled in Christ, 
who made of Jews and pagans one people, 
tearing down the wall of hostility 
which divided them
    (cf. Eph 2:14). 

Only this constant impulse 
towards reconciliation
enables us to partake worthily 
of the Body and Blood of Christ 
    (cf. Mt 5:23-24).                       
    (242) 

In the memorial of his sacrifice, 
the Lord strengthens our fraternal communion 
and, in a particular way, urges those in conflict 
to hasten their reconciliation 
by opening themselves 
to dialogue and a commitment to justice. 

Certainly, the restoration of justice, 
reconciliation and forgiveness 
are the conditions 
for building true peace.          
    (243) 

The recognition of this fact 
leads to a determination 
to transform unjust structures and 
to restore respect for the dignity 
of all men and women, 
created in God's image and likeness. 

Through the concrete fulfilment 
of this responsibility, 
the Eucharist becomes in life 
what it signifies in its celebration. 

As I have had occasion to say, 
it is not the proper task of the Church 
to engage in the political work 
of bringing about 
the most just society possible; 

nonetheless she cannot and must not remain 
on the sidelines in the struggle for justice. 

The Church 
"has to play her part through rational argument 
and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy 
without which justice, 
which always demands sacrifice,
cannot prevail and prosper."           
    (244)

In discussing the social responsibility 
of all Christians, 
the Synod Fathers noted 
that the sacrifice of Christ 
is a mystery of liberation 
that constantly and insistently challenges us. 

I therefore urge all the faithful 
to be true promoters of peace and justice: 

"All who partake of the Eucharist 
must commit themselves
to peacemaking in our world 
scarred by violence and war, 
and today in particular, 
by terrorism, economic corruption 
and sexual exploitation."   
    (245) 

All these problems give rise in turn 
to others no less troubling and disheartening. 

We know 
that there can be no superficial solutions 
to these issues. 

Precisely because of the mystery we celebrate, 
we must denounce situations 
contrary to human dignity, 
since Christ shed his blood for all, 
and at the same time 
affirm the inestimable value 
of each individual person.

(241) 
Ibid., 14.

(242) 
During the Synod sessions 
we heard very moving 
and significant testimonies
about the effectiveness 
of the Eucharist in peacemaking. 

In this regard, 
Propositio 49 states that: 
"Thanks to eucharistic celebrations, 
peoples engaged in conflict have been able 
to gather around the word of God, 
hear his prophetic message of reconciliation
through gratuitous forgiveness, and 
receive the grace of conversion 
which allows them to share 
in the same bread and cup."



(243) 
Cf. Propositio 48.

(244) 
Benedict XVI, 
Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est
(25 December 2005), 28: 
AAS 98 (2006), 239.

(245) 
Propositio 48.



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help create and sustain communion.


The local authority of the Community
   fulfills its service in faith, love and humility
                    ( cf. Mt 20:28 )

Mt 20:28, 
 
just as the Son of Man 
did not come to be served, 
but to serve, 
and to give his life 
as a ransom for many.”

 

                   ( cf. Mk 10:43-45 )

Mk 10:43-45 
  
43    
But it is not so among you: 
but whosoever will be greater, 
shall be your minister.

44    
And whosoever will be first among you, 
shall be the servant of all.

45    
For the Son of man also is 
not come to be ministered unto, 
but to minister, and 
to give his life 
a redemption for many.

 

                   ( cf. Jn 13:14 ).

Jn 13:14
 
If then I 
being your Lord and Master, 
have washed your feet; 
you also ought to wash 
one another's feet.            
                

 

It encourages
   a familial atmosphere
         as well as
   the human and spiritual growth of all the members.

It promotes
   dialogue, personal sacrifice,
   forgiveness and reconciliation.

It avoids all attachment to power and favoritism
   in the exercise of office.


Prayer for one another,
mutual concern
    that includes instances where there is

        material need,
       contact with members who are far away,
       visiting the sick, the suffering, the elderly, and
       prayer for the deceased members,

  are also signs of communion.


The Secular Carmelite also
  realizes and expresses communion
    through meeting and solidarity with other communities,
    especially within the same Province or Circumscription,

    as well as through communication and collaboration
    with the entire Order and family of the Teresian Carmel.


So, with this witness to communion
   in accordance with the Teresian charism,
the Community of Secular Carmel cooperates
   with the evangelizing mission of the Church
   in the midst of the world.                             [42]

           [42] Vatican Council II,
                  Apostolicam Actuositatem, 13

Apostolicam Actuositatem, 13 
DECREE ON THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY

APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM 

SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS,

POPE PAUL VI

ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965
             
Vatican Council II, 
Apostolicam actuositatem, 13 

CHAPTER III 
THE VARIOUS FIELDS OF THE APOSTOLATE 
...

13. 
The apostolate in the social milieu, 
that is, the effort to infuse a Christian spirit 
into the mentality, customs, 
laws, and structures 
of the community in which one lives, 
is so much the duty and responsibility 
of the laity
that it can never be performed properly 
by others. 

In this area 
the laity can exercise the apostolate 
of like toward like. 

It is here that they complement 
the testimony of life 
with the testimony of the word.  
    (9) 

It is here where they work 
or practice their profession or study 
or reside or spend their leisure time 
or have their companionship
that they are more capable 
of helping their brethren. 


The laity fulfill this mission 
of the Church in the world 
especially by conforming their lives 
to their faith 
so that they become the light of the world 

as well as by practicing honesty 
in all their dealings 
so that they attract all 
to the love of the true and the good 
and finally to the Church and to Christ. 

They fulfill their mission also 
by fraternal charity 
which presses them to share 
in the living conditions, labors, sorrows, 
and aspirations of their brethren 
with the result that the hearts 
of all about them 
are quietly prepared for the workings 
of saving grace. 

Another requisite 
for the accomplishment of their task 
is a full consciousness of their role 
in building up society 
whereby they strive to perform 
their domestic, social, and professional duties 
with such Christian generosity
that their manner of acting should gradually 
penetrate the whole world of life and labor.

This apostolate should reach out to all 
wherever they may be encountered; 

it should not exclude 
any spiritual or temporal benefit
which they have the ability to confer. 

True apostles however, 
are not content with this activity alone 
but endeavor to announce Christ 
to their neighbors
by means of the spoken word as well. 

For there are many persons 
who can hear the Gospel and recognize Christ 
only through the laity who live near them. 

Children also 
have their own apostolic work to do. 
According to their ability 
they are true living witnesses of Christ 
among their companions.



9. 
cf. Pius XI, 
encyclical "Quadragesimo Anno," 
May 15, 1931: 
A.A.S. 23 (1931) 
pp. 225-226. Article 14:



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             [42] Vatican Council II,
                     Apostolicam actuositatem, 19

Apostolicam Actuositatem, 19
             
Vatican Council II, 
Apostolicam actuositatem, 19.

CHAPTER IV 
THE VARIOUS FORMS OF THE APOSTOLATE 

19. 
There is a great variety of associations 
in the apostolate.  
    (4) 

Some set before themselves 
the broad apostolic purpose of the Church; 

others aim to evangelize and sanctify 
in a special way. 

Some purpose to infuse a Christian spirit 
into the temporal order; 

others bear witness to Christ 
in a special way 
through works of mercy and charity.

Among these associations, 
those which promote and encourage 
closer unity 
between the concrete life of the members 
and their faith 
must be given primary consideration.

Associations are not ends unto themselves; 

rather they should serve the mission 
of the Church to the world. 

Their apostolic dynamism 
depends on their conformity 
with the goals of the Church 
as well as 
on the Christian witness and evangelical spirit 
of every member and of the whole association.

Now, in view of the progress 
of social institutions 
and the the fast-moving pace 
of modern society, 
the global nature 
of the Church's mission requires
that apostolic enterprises of Catholics 
should more and more develop organized forms 
in the international sphere.

Catholic international organizations 
will more effectively 
achieve their purpose
if the groups comprising them, 
as well as their members, 
are more closely united 
to these international organizations.

Maintaining the proper relationship 
to Church authorities,   
    (5)
the laity have the right   
to found and control such associations    
    (6) 
and to join those already existing. 

Yet the dispersion of efforts 
must be avoided.

This happens 
when new associations and projects 
are promoted without a sufficient reason, 
or if antiquated associations or methods 
are retained 
beyond their period of usefulness. 

Nor is it always fitting 
to transfer indiscriminately 
forms of the apostolates 
that have been used 
in one nation to other nations.    
      (7)
                



4. 
cf. Pius XII, 
allocution to the assembly 
of the International Federation 
of Catholic Men, 
Dec. 8, 1956: 
A.A.S. 49 (1957) pp. 26- 27.

5. 
cf. in Chap. 5, no. 24.

6. 
cf. Sacred Congregation 
of the Council, 
concerning the dissolution 
of the Corrientes diocese 
in Argentina, 
Nov. 13, 1920: 
A.A.S. 13 (1921) p. 139.

7. 
cf. John XXIII, 
encyclical "Princeps Pastorum," 
Dec. 10, 1959: 
A.A.S. 51 (1959) p. 856. Article 20: 



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              [42] John Paul II,
                     Christifideles Laici, 31‐32;

Christifideles Laici, 31‐32
Christ's Faithful People (Christifideles Laici) 

POST-SYNODAL
  APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION

CHRISTIFIDELES LAICI

OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II

ON THE VOCATION AND THE MISSION

OF THE LAY FAITHFUL

IN THE CHURCH AND IN THE WORLD

The Pastors in Service to Communion

31. 
The Pastors of the Church 
even if faced with 
possible and understandable difficulties 
as a result of such associations 
and the process of employing new forms, 
cannot renounce the service 
provided by their authority,
not simply for the well-being of the Church,
but also for the well-being 
of the lay associations themselves. 

In this sense 
they ought to accompany 
their work of discernment 
with guidance and, above all, encouragement 
so that lay associations might grow 
in Church communion and mission.

It is exceedingly opportune 
that some new associations and movements 
receive official recognition and explicit approval 
from competent Church authority 
to facilitate their growth on 
both the national and international level. 

The Council has already spoken in this regard: 

"Depending on its various forms and goals,
the lay apostolate provides for different types 
of relationships with the hierarchy... 

Certain forms of the lay apostolate are 
given explicit recognition
by the hierarchy, though in different ways. 

Because of the demands 
of the common good of the Church, 
moreover, ecclesial authority can select 
and promote in a particular way 
some of the apostolic associations and projects 
which have an immediately spiritual purpose, 
thereby assuming in them 
a special responsibility"    
     (116).

Among the various forms of the lay apostolate 
which have a particular relationship 
to the hierarchy, 
the Synod Fathers have singled out
various movements and associations 
of Catholic Action
in which "indeed, 
in this organic and stable form, 
the lay faithful may freely associate 
under the movement of the Holy Spirit,
in communion with their bishop and priests,
 
so that in a way proper to their vocation 
and with some special method 
they might be of service 
through their faithfulness and good works 
to promote the growth 
of the entire Christian community, 
pastoral activities
and infusing every aspect of life 
with the gospel spirit"  
       (117).

The Pontifical Council for the Laity 
has the task 

of preparing a list of those associations 
which have received the official approval 
of the Holy See, 
and, at the same time, 

of drawing up, 
together with the Pontifical Council 
for the Union of Christians, 
the basic conditions 
on which this approval might be given 
to ecumenical associations
in which there is a majority of Catholics, 
and determining those cases 
in which such an approval is not possible     
    (118).

All of us, Pastors and lay faithful, 
have the duty to promote and nourish 
stronger bonds and mutual esteem, 
cordiality and collaboration 
among the various forms of lay associations. 

Only in this way 
can the richness of the gifts and charisms 
that the Lord offers us 
bear their fruitful contribution 
in building the common house: 

 "For the sound building of a common house 
  it is necessary, furthermore,
  that every spirit of antagonism and conflict 
  be put aside and 
  that the competition be 
  in outdoing one another 
  in showing honour
   (cf. Rom 12:10), 
  in attaining 
  a mutual affection, 
  a will towards collaboration, 
  with patience, far-sightedness, 
  and readiness to sacrifice 
  which will at times be required"    
    (119).

So as to render thanks to God 
for the great gift of Church communion 
which is the reflection in time 
of the eternal and ineffable communion 
of the love of God, 
Three in One, 
we once again consider Jesus' words:

 "I am the vine, 
  you are the branches" 
     (Jn 15:5). 

The awareness of the gift 
ought to be accompanied
by a strong sense of responsibility 
for its use: 

it is, in fact, a gift that, 
like the talent of the gospel parable, 
must be put to work 
in a life of ever-increasing communion.

To be responsible 
for the gift of communion means, 

first of all, 
to be committed to overcoming each temptation 
to division and opposition 
that works against the Christian life 
with its responsibility in the apostolate. 

The cry of Saint Paul continues 
to resound as a reproach to those 
who are "wounding the Body of Christ": 

 "What I mean is that each one of you says,
   'I belong to Paul', or 
   'I belong to Cephas', or 
   'I belong to Christ!' 
  Is Christ divided?"         
    (1 Cor 1: 12-13). 

No, rather let these words of the apostle 
sound a persuasive call: 

 "I appeal to you, brethren, 
  by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
  that all of you agree and 
  that there be no dissensions among you,
  but that you be united 
  in the same mind and the same judgment"
    (1 Cor 1 :10).

Thus the life of Church communion will become
a sign for all the world and 
a compelling force
that will lead persons to faith in Christ: 

"that they may all be one; 
 even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, 
 that they also may be in us, 
 so that the world may believe 
 that you have sent me" 
   (Jn 17:21).

In such a way communion leads to mission, 
and mission itself to communion.


CHAPTER III

I HAVE APPOINTED YOU 
TO GO FORTH AND BEAR FRUIT


The Co-responsibility of the Lay Faithful 
in the Church as Mission

Mission to Communion 

32. 
We return to the biblical image 
of the vine and the branches, 
which immediately and quite appropriately 
lends itself to a consideration 
of fruitfulness and life. 

Engrafted to the vine and brought to life, 
the branches are expected to bear fruit:

 "He who abides in me, and I in him, 
  he it is that bears much fruit"    
   (Jn 15:5). 

Bearing fruit is an essential demand 
of life in Christ and life in the Church. 

The person who does not bear fruit 
does not remain in communion: 

 "Each branch of mine that bears no fruit, 
  he (my Father) takes away"      
     (Jn 15: 2).

Communion with Jesus, 
which gives rise to
the communion of Christians 
among themselves, 
is an indispensable condition 
for bearing fruit:

 "Apart from me you can do nothing"   
     (Jn 15:5). 

And communion with others 
is the most magnificent fruit 
that the branches can give: 

in fact, 
it is the gift of Christ and His Spirit.

At this point communion begets communion: 

essentially it is likened to a mission 
on behalf of communion. 

In fact, Jesus says to his disciples: 

 "You did not choose me, 
  but I chose you and appointed you 
  that you should go and bear fruit and 
  that your fruit should abide"         
    (Jn 15:16).

Communion and mission are 
profoundly connected with each other,

they interpenetrate 
and mutually imply each other, 
to the point that communion represents 
both the source and the fruit of mission: 

communion gives rise to mission 
and mission is accomplished in communion. 

It is always the one and the same Spirit 
who calls together and unifies the Church and  
sends her to preach the Gospel 
"to the ends of the earth"   
    (Acts 1:8). 

On her part, the Church knows 
that the communion received by her 
as a gift 
is destined for all people. 

Thus the Church feels she owes 
to each individual and 
to humanity as a whole 
the gift received from the Holy Spirit
that pours the charity of Jesus Christ 
into the hearts of believers, 
as a mystical force 
for internal cohesion and external growth. 

The mission of the Church flows 
from her own nature. 

Christ has willed it to be so: 

that of "sign and instrument... 
of unity of all the human race"  
 (120). 

Such a mission has the purpose 
of making everyone 
know and live the "new" communion 
that the Son of God made man introduced 
into the history of the world. 

In this regard, 
then, the testimony of John the Evangelist 
defines in an undeniable way 
the blessed end towards 
which the entire mission of the Church 
is directed: 

"That which we have seen and heard 
 we proclaim also to you, 
 so that you may have fellowship with us; 

 and our fellowship is 
 with the Father and 
 with his Son Jesus Christ" 
   (1 Jn 1:3).

In the context of Church mission, then, 
the Lord entrusts 
a great part of the responsibility 
to the lay faithful, 
in communion with all other members 
of the People of God. 

This fact, 
fully understood by the Fathers 
of the Second Vatican Council, 
recurred with renewed clarity 
and increased vigor 
in all the works of the Synod: 

"Indeed, Pastors know 
how much the lay faithful contribute 
to the welfare
of the entire Church. 

They also know 
that they themselves were 
not established by Christ 
to undertake alone 
the entire saving mission 
of the Church towards the world, 

but they understand
that it is their exalted office 
to be shepherds of the lay faithful and also 
to recognize the latter's services and charisms
that all according to their proper roles 
may cooperate in this common undertaking 
with one heart"   
   (121).



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christifideles-laici_en.html


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 at Vatican website)
                

 

              [42] Cf. Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 20.

Deus Caritas Est, 20
             
Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est

Of The Supreme Pontiff  
Benedict Xvi

To The Bishops Priests And Deacons  
Men And Women Religious  
And All The Lay Faithful

On Christian Love
Charity as a responsibility of the Church

20.
Love of neighbour, 
grounded in the love of God, 
is first and foremost a responsibility 
for each individual member of the faithful, 
but it is also a responsibility 
for the entire ecclesial community 
at every level: 
from the local community 
to the particular Church 
and to the Church universal in its entirety. 

As a community, 
the Church must practise love. 

Love thus needs to be organized 
if it is to be an ordered service 
to the community. 

The awareness of this responsibility 
has had a constitutive relevance in the Church 
from the beginning: 

“All who believed were together
and had all things in common; 
and they sold their possessions and goods 
and distributed them to all, 
as any had need” 
  (Acts 2:44-5). 

In these words, Saint Luke provides 
a kind of definition of the Church, 
whose constitutive elements include 
fidelity to the “teaching of the Apostles”,
“communion” (koinonia), 
“the breaking of the bread” and “prayer”              
  (cf. Acts 2:42). 

The element of “communion” (koinonia)
is not initially defined, 
but appears concretely 
in the verses quoted above: 

it consists in the fact 
that believers hold all things in common 
and that among them, 
there is no longer any distinction 
between rich and poor           
 (cf. also Acts 4:32-37). 

As the Church grew, 
this radical form of material communion
could not in fact be preserved. 

But its essential core remained: 
within the community of believers 
there can never be room for a poverty 
that denies anyone 
what is needed for a dignified life.

        . . . . 

Acts 2:42 
And they were persevering 
in the doctrine of the apostles, and 
in the communication 
of the breaking of bread, and 
in prayers. 
               
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father
/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/
documents/
hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html

 
 

         ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

24 -e ) 

A community that devoutly seeks God,
  will find the balance between
         individual rights
                and
         the good of the community as a whole.


Thus the rights and needs
     of each of the members
must be respected and safeguarded
     according to the laws of the Church,      [43]

              [43] Cf. Code of Canon Law,
                           can. 208‐223;
                           can. 224‐231.

Code of Canon Law   208‐223; 224‐231.
             
TITLE I.
THE OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS 
OF ALL THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL 

(Cann. 208 - 223)

Can. 208 

From their rebirth in Christ, 
there exists among all the Christian faithful 
a true equality regarding dignity and action 
by which they all cooperate in the building up 
of the Body of Christ 
according to each one’s 
own condition and function.


Can. 209 

§1. 
The Christian faithful, 
even in their own manner of acting, 
are always obliged to maintain communion 
with the Church.

§2. 
With great diligence 
they are to fulfill the duties 
which they owe to the universal Church 
and the particular church 
to which they belong 
according to the prescripts of the law.


Can. 210 
All the Christian faithful 
must direct their efforts 
to lead a holy life and 
to promote the growth of the Church 
and its continual sanctification, 
according to their own condition.


Can. 211 
All the Christian faithful 
have the duty and right to work 
so that the divine message of salvation 
more and more reaches all people 
in every age and in every land.


Can. 212

§1. 
Conscious of their own responsibility, 
the Christian faithful are bound to follow 
with Christian obedience 
those things which the sacred pastors, 
inasmuch as they represent Christ, 
declare as teachers of the faith or 
establish as rulers of the Church.

§2.
The Christian faithful 
are free to make known 
to the pastors of the Church 
their needs, especially spiritual ones, 
and their desires.

§3. 
According to the knowledge, competence, 
and prestige 
which they possess, 
they have the right 
and even at times the duty
to manifest to the sacred pastors 
their opinion on matters which pertain 
to the good of the Church
and to make their opinion known to the rest 
of the Christian faithful, 
without prejudice to the integrity 
of faith and morals, 
with reverence toward their pastors, 
and attentive to common advantage 
and the dignity of persons.


Can. 213 
The Christian faithful have the right 
to receive assistance from the sacred pastors
out of the spiritual goods of the Church, 
especially the word of God and the sacraments.


Can. 214 
The Christian faithful have the right 
to worship God 
according to the prescripts of their own rite 
approved by the legitimate pastors 
of the Church and 
to follow their own form of spiritual life 
so long as it is consonant 
with the doctrine of the Church.


Can. 215 
The Christian faithful are at liberty freely
to found and direct associations 
for purposes of charity or piety or 
for the promotion of the Christian vocation 
in the world and 
to hold meetings for the common pursuit 
of these purposes.


Can. 216 
Since they participate 
in the mission of the Church, 
all the Christian faithful have the right 
to promote or sustain apostolic action 
even by their own undertakings, 
according to their own state and condition.

Nevertheless, 
no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic
without the consent 
of competent ecclesiastical authority.


Can. 217 
Since they are called by baptism to lead a life 
in keeping with the teaching of the gospel, 
the Christian faithful have the right 
to a Christian education 
by which they are to be instructed properly 
to strive for the maturity of the human person 
and at the same time 
to know and live the mystery of salvation.


Can. 218 
Those engaged in the sacred disciplines 
have a just freedom of inquiry 
and of expressing their opinion prudently
on those matters 
in which they possess expertise, 
while observing the submission
due to the magisterium of the Church.


Can. 219 
All the Christian faithful have the right 
to be free from any kind of coercion 
in choosing a state of life.


Can. 220 
No one is permitted 
to harm illegitimately the good reputation 
which a person possesses 
nor to injure the right of any person
to protect his or her own privacy.


Can. 221 

§1. 
The Christian faithful can legitimately 
vindicate and defend
the rights which they possess in the Church 
in the competent ecclesiastical forum 
according to the norm of law.

§2. 
If they are summoned to a trial 
by a competent authority, 
the Christian faithful also have the right 
to be judged according to the prescripts 
of the law applied with equity.

§3. 
The Christian faithful have the right 
not to be punished with canonical penalties 
except according to the norm of law.



Can. 222 

§1. 
The Christian faithful are obliged 
to assist with the needs of the Church 
so that the Church has what is necessary 
for divine worship, 
for the works 
of the apostolate and of charity, and 
for the decent support of ministers.

§2. 
They are also obliged to promote social justice 
and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, 
to assist the poor from their own resources.



Can. 223 

§1. 
In exercising their rights, 
the Christian faithful,
both as individuals 
and gathered together in associations, 
must take into account
the common good of the Church, 
the rights of others, and 
their own duties toward others.

§2. 
In view of the common good, 
ecclesiastical authority can direct 
the exercise of rights 
which are proper to the Christian faithful.



(CANN. 224‐231)

TITLE II.
THE OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS 
OF THE LAY CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL 
(Cann. 224 - 231)

Can. 224 
In addition to those obligations and rights 
which are common to all the Christian faithful 
and those which are established 
in other canons, 
the lay Christian faithful are bound 
by the obligations 
and possess the rights which are enumerated 
in the canons of this title.


Can. 225 

§1. 
Since, like all the Christian faithful, 
lay persons are designated 
by God for the apostolate 
through baptism and confirmation, 
they are bound by the general obligation and 
possess the right as individuals, 
or joined in associations, 
to work so that the divine message of salvation 
is made known and accepted by all persons  
everywhere in the world. 

This obligation is even more compelling 
in those circumstances 
in which only through them 
can people hear the gospel and know Christ.

§2. 
According to each one’s own condition,
they are also bound by a particular duty 
to imbue and perfect 
the order of temporal affairs 
with the spirit of the gospel and 
thus to give witness to Christ, 
especially in carrying out these same affairs 
and in exercising secular functions.



Can. 226 

§1. 
According to their own vocation, 
those who live in the marital state 
are bound by a special duty 
to work through marriage and the family 
to build up the people of God.

§2. 
Since they have given life to their children, 
parents have a most grave obligation and 
possess the right to educate them. 

Therefore, 
it is for Christian parents particularly 
to take care of the Christian education 
of their children 
according to the doctrine 
handed on by the Church.


Can. 227 
The lay Christian faithful have the right 
to have recognized that freedom 
which all citizens have 
in the affairs of the earthly city. 

When using that same freedom, however, 
they are to take care 
that their actions are imbued 
with the spirit of the gospel 
and are to heed the doctrine set forth 
by the magisterium of the Church. 

In matters of opinion, moreover, 
they are to avoid 
setting forth their own opinion 
as the doctrine of the Church.



Can. 228 

§1. 
Lay persons who are found suitable are qualified 
to be admitted by the sacred pastors
to those ecclesiastical offices and functions 
which they are able to exercise 
according to the precepts of the law.

§2. 
Lay persons who excel in necessary knowledge, 
prudence, and integrity are qualified 
to assist the pastors of the Church 
as experts and advisors, 
even in councils according to the norm of law.



Can. 229

§1. 
Lay persons are 
bound by the obligation and 
possess the right 
to acquire knowledge of Christian doctrine
appropriate to the capacity and condition of each 
in order for them to be able to 
live according to this doctrine,
announce it themselves, 
defend it if necessary, and 
take their part in exercising the apostolate.

§2. 
They also possess the right to acquire 
that fuller knowledge of the sacred sciences 
which are taught 
in ecclesiastical universities and faculties 
or in institutes of religious sciences, 
by attending classes there 
and pursuing academic degrees.

§3. 
If the prescripts 
regarding the requisite suitability
have been observed, 
they are also qualified to receive 
from legitimate ecclesiastical authority 
a mandate to teach the sacred sciences.



Can. 230 

§1.
Lay men who possess the age and qualifications
established by decree 
of the conference of bishops 
can be admitted on a stable basis
through the prescribed liturgical rite 
to the ministries of lector and acolyte.

Nevertheless, the conferral of these ministries 
does not grant them the right 
to obtain support or remuneration 
from the Church.

§2.
Lay persons can fulfill the function of lector 
in liturgical actions by temporary designation. 

All lay persons can also perform the functions 
of commentator or cantor, or other functions, 
according to the norm of law.

§3. 
When the need of the Church warrants it 
and ministers are lacking, 
lay persons, 
even if they are not lectors or acolytes, 
can also supply certain of their duties, 
namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, 
to preside offer liturgical prayers, 
to confer baptism, and
to distribute Holy Communion, 
according to the prescripts of the law.



Can. 231 

§1. 
Lay persons who permanently or temporarily 
devote themselves to special service 
of the Church 
are obliged to acquire the appropriate formation
required to fulfill their function properly and
to carry out this function 
conscientiously, eagerly, and diligently.

§2. 
Without prejudice to the prescript 
of ⇒ can. 230, §1 
and with the prescripts of civil law 
having been observed, 
lay persons have the right 
to decent remuneration 
appropriate to their condition 
so that they are able to provide decently 
for their own needs and those of their family. 

They also have a right 
for their social provision, 
social security, and health benefits 
to be duly provided.
 

                
http://www.vatican.va/archive/
ENG1104/_INDEX.HTM

http://www.vatican.va/archive/
ENG1104/__PV.HTM

 

but likewise,
members must faithfully fulfill their duties
   in relation to the community,
   as laid down in the Constitutions.


In order to dismiss a member                        [44]

              [44] Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 308;

Code of Canon Law,  can. 308

TITLE V.
ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL 
(Cann. 298 - 329)
CHAPTER I.
COMMON NORMS

Can. 308 
No one legitimately enrolled 
is to be dismissed from an association 
except for a just cause 
according to the norm 
of law and the statutes.

 
http://www.vatican.va/
archive/ENG1104/__P11.HTM


 

              [44] Cf. OCDS Constitutions, 47‐e.

OCDS Constitutions, 47‐e
VII Organization And Government

47. The Council has the authority:  

 e) to dismiss a member of the community, 
    should this be necessary, 
    after consulting the Provincial;  
     [40]   

     [40] CIC 308 and 316

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TITLE V.
ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL 
(Cann. 298 - 329)
CHAPTER I.
COMMON NORMS

Can. 308 
No one legitimately enrolled 
is to be dismissed from an association 
except for a just cause 
according to the norm of law 
and the statutes.

 
http://www.vatican.va/
archive/ENG1104/__P11.HTM

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Can. 316
CHAPTER II.
PUBLIC ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL

Can. 316 

§1. 
A person 
who has publicly rejected the Catholic faith, 
has defected from ecclesiastical communion, 
or has been punished 
by an imposed or declared excommunication 
cannot be received validly 
into public associations.

§2. 
Those enrolled legitimately 
who fall into the situation mentioned in §1, 
after being warned, 
are to be dismissed from the association, 
with due regard for its statutes 
and without prejudice
to the right of recourse 
to the ecclesiastical authority 
mentioned in ⇒ can. 312, §1.

http://www.vatican.va/
archive/ENG1104/__P12.HTM
     
 

for the reasons set out in the Code of Canon Law
      ( public rejection of the Catholic faith,
        abandonment of ecclesiastical communion, or
        being under imposed or declared excommunication )
                                                                       [45]

               [45] Code of Canon Law,
                       can. 316 §1.

Can. 316 §1.
             
Code of Canon Law 
Can. 316 

§1.  
A person who 
has publicly rejected the Catholic faith, 
has defected from ecclesiastical communion, or 
has been punished 
by an imposed or declared excommunication 
cannot be received validly into public associations.                

 

or other provisions in the Provincial Statutes,
the Community Council should observe
the following procedure:

    1) verify the certainty of the facts;

    2) warn the member in writing,
              or, before two witnesses;

    3) allow a reasonable time for repentance.

If after all this there is no change,
it is permitted,
   after consulting the Provincial,
to proceed with the dismissal.

In all cases,
the member retains the right to appeal
to the competent ecclesiastical authority.          [46]

              [46] Id., can. 316 §2.

can. 316 §2
             
Can. 316   

§1. 
A person who 
has publicly rejected the Catholic faith, 
has defected from ecclesiastical communion, or 
has been punished 
by an imposed or declared excommunication 
cannot be received validly 
into public associations.  

§2. 
Those enrolled legitimately 
who fall 
into the situation mentioned in §1, 
after being warned, 
are to be dismissed from the association, 
with due regard for its statutes and 
without prejudice 
to the right of recourse
to the ecclesiastical authority 
mentioned in ⇒ can. 312, §1.


Can. 312 §1. 

The authority competent 
to erect public associations is:

1 the Holy See 
  for universal and international associations;

2 the conference of bishops in its own territory 
  for national associations, 
  that is, those which from their founding 
  are directed toward activity 
  throughout the whole nation;

3 the diocesan bishop in his own territory, 
  but not a diocesan administrator, 
  for diocesan associations, 
  except, however, for those associations 
  whose right of erection has been reserved 
  to others by apostolic privilege.


 

              [46] Cf. can. 312 §2

Can. 312 §1, §2
             
Can. 312 §1. 

The authority competent 
to erect public associations is:

1 the Holy See for universal 
  and international associations;

2 the conference of bishops 
  in its own territory 
  for national associations, 
  that is, those 
  which from their founding 
  are directed toward activity 
  throughout the whole nation;

3 the diocesan bishop in his own territory, 
  but not a diocesan administrator, 
  for diocesan associations, 
  except, however, for those associations 
  whose right of erection has been reserved 
  to others by apostolic privilege.


Can. 312 §2. 

Written consent of the diocesan bishop is required 
for the valid erection of an association or section 
of an association in a diocese 
even if it is done by virtue of apostolic privilege.

Nevertheless, 
the consent given by a diocesan bishop 
for the erection of a house of a religious institute 
is also valid for the erection 
in the same house or church attached to it 
of an association which is proper to that institute.
                

 

In the case where a member,
  after a serious evaluation and discernment
  with the Community Council,
comes to the decision to voluntarily leave the Community,
the request is to be made in writing
   to the competent authority of the Community,
   to whom they are committed
   by reason of their promises.                   [47]

               [47] Cf. OCDS Constitutions, 12.

OCDS Constitutions, 12
             
By the promise made to the community 
in the presence of the Superior of the Order 
or his Delegate, 
the person becomes a full member 
of the Secular Order. 

By this commitment members strive
to acquire the necessary training 
to know the reasons, the content and purpose 
of the evangelical lifestyle 
they are undertaking. 

The promise heightens and enriches 
the baptismal commitment 
in Secular Carmelites. 

This includes those called to married life, 
both as spouses and as parents. 

This promise is renewed 
once a year at Easter time. 
                

 

The Provincial is to be informed of all of this.


____________________________________________

Rule of  St Albert

OCDS Constitutions

Order of  Secular Discalced Carmelites ( Secular Carmelite Rule of Life )       Preface       Section 1      Our Identity, Values, and Committment        Section 11     Following Jesus                           in the Teresian Secular Carmel       Section 111    Witness to the experience of God       Section 1V     Serving God's Plan        Section V      With Mary, the Mother of Jesus       Section V1     Formation in the School of Carmel       Section V11    Organization and Government       Epilogue