SECULAR ORDER

DISCALCED CARMELITES

Mary Queen of Carmel Community

Clearwater, Florida

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Master in the Faith

Apostolic Letter

of

Pope John Paul II

24 November 1990

The Charism of the Teresian Carmel

"The growing interest which St. John of the Cross awakens in our contemporaries is a motive for legitimate satisfaction, particularly for the sons and daughters of the Teresian Carmel of whom he is Father, master and guide. It is also a sign that the charism of life and of service which God has given you in the church continues to have full vigor and validity".

Our Charism Is a Grave Responsibility

"But your charism is not a material possession or a heritage guaranteed once for all. It is a grace of the Spirit which demands of you fidelity and creativity in communion with the Church to whose needs you must always show yourself attentive. To all of you who are sons and brothers, daughters and sisters of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, I remind you that your vocation is a motive of grave responsibility more than of glory".

Our Mission Is to Teach the Church to Pray

"The painstaking care with which you have seen to the presentation of the writings and the diffusion of the message your Father and Doctor of the Church professed, is certainly a worthwhile service to the Church. So are your efforts to make it easier to understand his doctrine by fostering suitable studies and by providing the instruction necessary for those who would begin to read him and apply his doctrine to life. But the Teresian Carmel must certainly take its response further and give the fruitful witness of a rich experience of your personal and community life. Each Discalced Carmelite, each community and the entire Order are called upon to incarnate the traits which shine forth in the life and writings of him who is, as it were, "the living image of the Discalced Carmelite": austerity, intimacy with God, intense prayer, evangelical fraternity and a commitment to promoting prayer and Christian perfection through the spiritual teaching and direction which are your specific apostolate in the Church".

"In the evening of life, we will be judged on love"

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