SECULAR ORDER
DISCALCED CARMELITES
Mary Queen of Carmel Community
Clearwater, Florida |
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| About Us |
Who We Are… |
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Religious Orders (Carmelites, Benedictines, Franciscans, etc.) have always had lay persons and diocesan clergy associated with them who share the same spirituality and charisms. In the course of time the association became juridical and these lay persons and diocesan clergy were known as Seculars or Third Orders. |
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We are a Community of Discalced Secular Carmelites. Our members are Catholic laity and diocesan clergy; we are under the authority of our Father General in Rome, who is the head of our Worldwide Discalced Carmelite Family of: |
| Friars who are semi-cloistered and function primarily as spiritual directors. | ||
| Nuns who lead a comtemplative life wholly within the cloister. | ||
| Seculars
(that's us) who live in the world and bring the Life of Carmel into the
world through prayer, study and witness of life. |
| Friars, Nuns and Seculars, while living different life styles, all share the same Charism and Vocation to Holiness. |
| Secular Carmel is a School of Mystical Theology – not a prayer group or psychotherapy group. |
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What Is So Special About Our Spirituality? Carmelite Spirituality is the narrow
path of the Gospel systematized, described experientially, and demonstrated
behaviorally. |
| The Catechism of the Catholic Church most frequently quotes Discalced Carmelite Saints on the subjects of Prayer and the Interior Life. |
What Is Our Mission? |
| We are not a prayer group or psychotherapy
group, we study and practice the teachings of our contemplative Doctors
of the Universal Church. At the specific direction of Pope John Paul II,
in his Letter commemorating the 400th Anniversary
of St. John of the Cross, Secular Carmel is a School of Mystical Theology
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Tradition, Holy Scripture and the Living Gospel of the Lives of the Saints |
| 1 Thessalonians 1: |
| 5 for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. | ||
| 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the
Holy Spirit; |
| 2 Corinthians 3: |
| 2 You yourselves are our letter of
recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men; |
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| 3 and you show that you are a letter from Christ
delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living
God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. |
Three Doctors of the Universal Church |
| St. John of the Cross – gives us a system – a road map of the soul's journey to God. | |
| St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila – gives us the experiential description of the journey. | |
| St. Therese of Lisieux – the living behavioral example of the teachings of St. John and St. Teresa. |
Two Discalced Carmelites as Spiritual Directors in the World |
| Blessed
Josepha Naval Girbes
– a Spanish Secular Carmelite who founded a school
of Carmelite Spirituality for young women. |
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| Blessed
Mary of the Incarnation –
as Barbe Acarie, a wife and mother, was an adviser to
laity and religious. |
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