The timing for this reflection, during the month of September when we celebrate the Feast of St Albert, prompted me to think about our Carmelite roots. St Albert was instrumental in supporting the group of individuals who settled on Mount Carmel. The Rule that he provided helped that new community to take root and grow. We know very little about these first Carmelites and what prompted them to choose Mount Carmel to establish their community. However, I would be very surprised that their choice of location was random. The ‘soil’ where they took root was the place where Elijah had his dramatic confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Elijah’s hope in Yahweh was fulfilled….and how! (1 Kings 18: 20-40). These first Carmelites dedicated themselves to Mary. Mary’s fiat response at the Annunciation is an amazing expression of hope and confidence which inspired those first settlers on Mount Carmel and which continues to inspire us today.
Our Carmelite roots can be traced back to those expressions of hope, reflected in our particular dedication to Mary and Elijah. The hope of Mary, Elijah and of those first settlers on Mount Camel continues to inspire and encourage us today: ‘….the prophet Elijah was caught up in a world in the process of great change and which led many people to abandon the true God. They thought that they were self-sufficient. Elijah was sustained by his certainty that God was stronger than any crisis or any danger.’ (Part One of Third Order rule, paragraph 47). It occurred to me when I read this paragraph that it could easily be a description of present day life. Our Carmelite roots, therefore, are not simply about events that happened in the past. They are sources of hope for today, nourishing a living faith that is relevant to 21st century life and which will be enduring.
The quote from the Third Order Rule above doesn’t use the word hope. However, I would substitute ‘hope’ for the words ‘sustained by his certainty.’ Hope is not some vague feeling that something might just be OK in the future. Faith driven hope is certainty of God’s presence and action in our lives; not a smug sense of self satisfaction because ‘we believe’ or are in the ‘Carmelite club’ but a deeply held assurance of what dwells in the vacare deo that is central to Carmelite spirituality. In the New Testament, the Greek word used for hope is ἐλπίς (elpis). The sense of the word is that of anticipation, expectation or confident expectation, which I think reflects the idea of being sustained by certainty.
Hope in our roots is about taking strength and inspiration from those who have gone before us. We can be inspired and encouraged by the lives of other Carmelites whose stories are woven into the root system of our Carmelite charism. Strong roots lead to new growth, so the examples from the past should help to nurture new growth in the future. That new growth is both personal and collective: our individual faith journey, alongside the growth of Carmelite groups and communities. I am a member of a Carmelite Spirituality group, which is a relatively new expression of how to share and disseminate Carmelite spirituality. The British Province website comments that the varied expressions of Lay Carmel ‘enrich the life of Carmel, bringing growth and diversity.’
In my professional life as an Educational Psychologist I often work with children who struggle with attachment and find it hard to separate from parents or carers. Leaving them at the school gate can be a major emotional upheaval that’s distressing for everyone involved. I often suggest a story book called ‘The Invisible String’ by Patrice Karst. It’s a story about a mother who reassures her children when they are in a scary situation that she is always connected to them by her ‘invisible string’. The mother tells her children that this invisible string is love and it will always keep them connected. We have a connection of love with people, even when we can’t see them. This book sprang to mind when I was thinking about this reflection. I visualised an ‘invisible string’ that connects us to Mary, Elijah and that first Carmelite community. It runs through our history and will continue onwards after we are gone. In that way we can be both receivers and givers of hope; receivers of hope from those Carmelites who have inspired us, and givers of hope to those who will continue to live and spread the Carmelite charism in the future.
Dr Jane Yeomans
Redditch Carmelite Spirituality Group
