I still remember the first time I heard the Rule of St Albert read in the refectory, as was the custom at the time, when I was a young postulant 23 years ago. I’d expected an emphasis on prayer in silence and solitude balanced with community life: aspects of the way of life of the early Carmelite hermits that I can still relate to as a 21st Century nun. What came as a complete surprise was the important place given to St Paul. “With him as your leader,” asserts St Albert, “you cannot go astray.”
St Paul was not someone I’d ever particularly associated with Carmel, yet here he was being held up in the Carmelite Rule as an example of hard work, keeping silence, perseverance and faith.
The teachings of the “preacher and teacher of faith and truth to the nations” so underpin our Christian life that it is easy to take him for granted. Over the years I’ve come to realise what a great influence his words and teaching had on the Carmelite saints, whose example is one of the great sources of hope in my own Carmelite life. For example, St Teresa of Avila found courage in his words: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). St Thérèse of Lisieux discovered in 1 Corinthians 13 the key to understanding her vocation as love in the heart of the Church, while St Elizabeth of the Trinity recognised in Ephesians 1 her own eternal call to be “the praise of glory”.
The saints of Carmel were all deeply aware that “Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” (Romans 8:35) They were by no means spared persecution or suffering but they never lost hope, even when they knew they faced certain death. As St Paul puts it so beautifully, “sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
In our daily usage of the word, hope is often associated with the future. I hope it will be sunny tomorrow or that Liverpool will win the league. The Christian virtue of hope is not just wishful thinking or optimism but something rooted in present reality. The Carmelite tradition emphasises a lifelong journey into a deeper relationship with a loving and merciful God whom we discover is awaiting us, calling us, always already there, deep within our own being. St Paul was very much aware of this reality, as were all the saints of Carmel.
The times in my life when I have felt somewhat hope-less have happened when I have placed my hope in something other than this reality and perhaps lost sight of the presence of God in the present moment. St John of the Cross is clear that even in religious life, we can create ‘false-gods’ in which we place our hope. These are not necessarily bad things. They may even have been part of our original call. The danger is that we make these things non-negotiable and so, when they are inevitably taken away from us, we feel crushed. The only constant source of hope is Christ and he may very well be inviting me to let go and move on, while keeping my hope fixed firmly in him.
We live in an uncertain and very deceptive world. We no longer trust the words of politicians, while our screens are filled with AI-generated digital media, making it difficult to distinguish fact from fantasy. The Carmelite tradition and the teaching of St Paul give me a firm anchor for these times, because they bear witness that “hope is not deceptive.”
Sr Thérèse Wilkinson OCD, Thicket Carmel, York
