Designate and maintain a solitary place. In considering "suitable places", we should consider also that places means far more than the physical places where we live and worship. From the fourth century, we have a document called the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolitus. In this document, which describes the initiation ceremonies of the Church in Rome, there is a list of professions that Christians are prohibited from holding: “If someone is a sculptor or a painter, let them be taught not to make idols. Either let them cease or let them be rejected. If someone is an actor or does shows in the theater, either he shall cease or he shall be rejected...” The list continues to include certain public officials, one who wants to become a soldier, astrologers, diviners and even includes an admonition that one who teaches children should cease. What this list tells us is not that it is immoral for a person to be a teacher, a solider, or to hold certain public offices, but that the Church recognized that there are certain professions and kinds of work that by their very nature, require one to do things that are indelibly opposed to the life of a Christian. One could not continue teaching children because in Rome, one would have been required to teach the virtues of the Roman gods and prepare children to burn incense and worship the Roman gods. To be an artist or sculptor would have required one to make images of the Roman idols. To become a soldier would have meant to have sworn loyalty to the emperor as a god and to consign one’s self to following orders that would surely have included the killing of innocents and other duties antithetical to Christ. Certain public offices also would have required one to enforce or even commit acts contradictory to their vows to Christ and his church. Similarly, today there are professions which may require one to act in unchristian ways, and push us in ways that contradict our chosen Way of Life.
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Accept places that are “suitable and convenient” to the observation of your Christian faith and Way of Life Each of us, regardless of what our goals may be, what we want to get out of life, or what we may want to accomplish, needs to pay attention to our environment, to the people with whom we spend our time, the activities we spend our time doing, and whatever other influences which may be surrounding us. At its core, this chapter of the Rule is telling us nothing more than this: that we be attentive to these things that surround us and judge them according to how they influence and affect the life in Christ that we desire to live. The first thing that we think about when considering places that are “suitable and convenient” to the observation of our Christian faith is the place where we live. Many of us, it must be recognized, do not have as much freedom to actually choose where we live as we, or others seem to often think. Whether it is a commitment to a job, the closeness of our family, our economic situation or even the cultural environment that we enjoy, one can’t simply say that we should all find a good house that is located in a good neighborhood to only live in places surrounded by other Christians and which offer quietness, silence and presence of nature that support this Carmelite Way of Life. Live according to the Way of obedience, chastity and the renunciation of ownership. The renunciation of ownership teaches us humility by placing the needs of others ahead of our own. If we no longer claim ownership of things, then it is harder to grow prideful and believe that we deserve them more than others. It teaches us patience. It is hard to grow angry over things that we do not see as “our own,” or rather, it is far too easy to be hurt and upset over things that we have laid claimed to. If someone criticizes our job, our opinions, or even our clothing, it can truly hurt deeply and more quickly motivate us to anger. Yet we also know that these things are not who we are—I am not the sum of either my wardrobe or my latest joke which no one laughed at. By renouncing ownership, we acknowledge this and are less hurt. If I no longer take possession of my job, or of my time writing, then I become more patient with interruptions and more attentive to other things that may need my attention. We learn patience too because there will be times when we want, or think that we need something, and it is not available to us—and so also we progress in the detachment from things and become less dependent on them. We grow in solidarity as we see things less often as mine, we are forced to work in cooperation with others more often and we gain the first hand experience and understanding of what it is like to have to go without at times. The renunciation of ownership increases our compassion, contentment and our faith; that we have more compassion for those who are in need, we are more content with fewer things and that we live more and more by the faith that God will always provide and less according to our individual need to accumulate and provide for ourselves. Live according to the Way of obedience, chastity and the renunciation of ownership. Although it is a common perception, the renunciation of ownership should not be confused with a vow of poverty; the renunciation of ownership is not the commitment to live a life of simplicity, to go hungry, to wear a lower quality of clothing, to live without money in savings or to use broken-down, second-hand things. The renunciation of ownership does not require one to live on the edge of financial security; it is not the voluntary decision to go without meeting one’s daily needs; it is not to be homeless, to have access to lower education or less access to basic health care. The renunciation of ownership is not a condition of life that for some is involuntary, brought on by the environment of a surrounding neighborhood, sudden and unplanned unemployment, serious medical conditions, or debilitating family situations. Rather, the renunciation of ownership, like the other vows, is a disposition of the heart: to renounce pressing an exclusive claim of use, of authority, or of belonging over any thing. By renouncing the ownership of things, we do not deprive ourselves of wants and needs, but transform and shape ourselves so that we want and need fewer things; that we don’t simply become more satisfied with less, but have our eyes trained toward the love of others and the truly valuable things in heaven. Chastity is not celibacy. To be sure, brothers and sisters in the Order do profess a vow of celibacy, this is according to Church law and the nature of their consecrated life, married to Christ. However, it is equally important to note that the Rule calls one to a life of chastity and a chaste way of love that all of us, whether married, single, adult or child, can live. In the shortest terms possible, to love chastely is to love as God Loves and this is the Way of Perfection, the Way that leads us to love more perfectly and to be in love perfectly. If obedience is the beginning and the first step in this life, then chastity is its end, that we are not yet capable of loving so perfectly, but by fasting, prayer and alms giving we are transformed and grow in our ability to love others. Chastity, to love as God Loves, without any self-interest or gain, is our purpose and our goal. In the last post, we began looking at the place that the traditional vows of the Religious (obedience, chastity and the renunciation of ownership) have in the daily life of our Christian faith. These dispositions, as many are tempted to believe, are not vows reserved for men and women in religious orders, but are the cornerstones of the Christian life and anyone who longs to live a life in allegiance to Christ. I began by looking first at the place and importance of Obedience. Below is the second part to this article, exploring a little more into what this disposition of holy Obedience is and the virtues that it helps to build in one's life. At the surface, obedience is simply doing what is asked of you, without challenging or debating, but in a joyful and grateful way. But as in all things, we know that there is much more lying beneath the surface and apparent simplicity. To be obedient is to place yourself into the care of another. Not only believing that they will not over burden, take advantage of, or demand too much from you, but that they will take care of your interest, provide for your needs and promote your own good as a coach may train and foster an athlete to both improve one’s self and the team’s performance. Live according to the Way of obedience, chastity and the renunciation of ownership. An entire book can be written about each of these dispositions of the vowed life: obedience, chastity and the renunciation of ownership. Each of these books could then be followed by a complete series on how we may adopt such attitudes and adapt them to every day life outside of a religious Order. Here, I will attempt to write briefly, and perhaps write these books later or leave them for someone wiser and more eloquent than myself, setting the stage and foundation for you to see how they may be applied and incorporated into your own life. My hope is that you may begin to see that these are not vows and dispositions that have been reserved to members of religious orders alone, but their very presence in the orders comes from a most basic observation that they are essential to the Christian way of life and should, in fact, be central to the life of anyone who longs and strives to live a life in allegiance to Christ. Recognize the Prior of your home, promising obedience. In the fourth chapter, St. Albert directs the brothers and sisters of the Order to elect a prior from within their midst. His intention is simple and quite basic, and has nothing to do with democracy and governance, as some today are hasty to point toward. They would describe the Rule itself as a radical document of democratic ideals, written six centuries prior to the revolutions that swept the Americas and Europe. They would also like to reduce this move by the Patriarch to an ordinary act of practical management. The loose band of brothers gathered around the Spring on Mount Carmel needed to be brought together and organized under a single leadership in order to facilitate the living of a common life and create a structure for order. These are the ways of thinking in the democratic age of the 21st Century; it is the way of thinking of a corporate mind that concentrates on management structures and methods. But St. Albert did not come from this time and our age of thinking. His question was not first about how to organize a management structure that encouraged unity and cooperation among the brothers, nor was his second question about how to select a leader that would guarantee an equality of voice for all. Rather, we are already in the fourth chapter of his Rule and his first and second questions have already been answered: To live a life in allegiance to Christ according to this particular way which has been presented. These are his concerns, and the purpose for the Rule and the end toward which everything he has written points, including this provision to elect a prior. It has been a few months since I posted the introduction to this series of articles and in which I explained both the inspiration for the series, and the difference between the two parts: Desert Reflections and Adaptations. Rather than simply reposting, or inviting people to revisit the introduction (which you can read by clicking here) I have been thinking that it would be worthwhile to say a few things about the Desert Reflections and the two styles of the articles that will help in your reading. This project began a little more than two years ago, although at the time, I was not thinking about a long term project of any kind, nor about posting them on a regular website. I was a novice with the Carmelites, and it began as a Lenten meditation. Hold fast to the Rule, and to the faith of the Church, and to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps there is little more to be said than beyond offering this encouragement: Hold fast to the Rule, and to the faith of the Church, and to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. This life is filled with times of struggles, uncertainty and weariness. There are times when we, and our faith, are being tested. At others, we are being challenged and feel the pangs of growth, of the Lord transforming us into a more clear and life-like image of his very own likeness--this is the Dark Night and Ascent of Mt. Carmel that John of the Cross has described for us; that journey and way along the slopes of perfection that can be long and arduous at times, but as we know from our daily life and the normal way of things, significant rewards require significant work and investment. And as a good friend reminded me in one of my darker hours: “No cross, no Crown.” That the rewards of heaven and the fruit of a life of perfection come through such times of toil and hardship. Not even the Son of God could escape this mystery of things: “Father, I pray that if possible, take this cup from me...but only that your will is done”; even he, the one who himself conquered death and was raised by his own power, could not have been raised the King of Heaven without such suffering; that the Son of Man, to be raised in Glory, was to be handed over, tortured, abused, mocked and sacrificed for our sins. |
Carmel's Way...is a series of reflections on the Carmelite Rule, the quintessential letter of St. Albert of Jerusalem which has lead Christians to a life in allegiance with Christ and the Perfection of Love for more than 800 years. The blog brings the tenants of this ancient Way of Life into a contemporary context.
At the heart is a Way of Life, in the tradition of Elijah, that leads us to stand in the presence of the One who Loved us first and in a most perfect way; and to be transformed into one who loves more perfectly. Categories
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