Mumbai Cloistered: The Feast of Mount Carmel, with Pope Francis and St. Teresa of Avila
Mumbai
(AsiaNews) - Pope
Francis' constant references to the world of religious and contemplative religious life is "an
invitation to have greater
humanity,"
bearing witness
with prayer to the fact
that "our
prophetic vocation is a response to needs of the people the Church
and in the
world",
says Sister
Marie Gemma
OCD, Prioress of the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites
in Mumbai. She speaks to AsiaNews, on the eve
of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
A moment that anticipates 2015, when the cloistered will be engaged in a double celebration:
the Year for Consecrated
life and
the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Avila,
reformer of the Carmelite
order.
Pope Francis has made repeated references to
the contemplative
religious, stating, among other things, that "cloistered religious are called to have great humanity." What do you think of his words?
A contemplative is
basically one whose heart is on fire with love for God. The fruit of this love
is a constant yearning to do the Will of God. Right from the Old Testament to
the new this Will of God is enshrined in two commandments -"You shall love
the Lord Your God with all your Heart and soul and strength and you shall love
your neighbour as yourself."
Therefore Pope Francis rightly says, "Cloistered Nuns or contemplatives as we are also called, are called upon to have great humanity." The only humanity we are called upon to have is that of the One after whom the whole human race is modelled - Jesus. And so as we see our God in the Old Testament - we see our Jesus our one and only model in the New Testament calling us to be like unto Him - and as St. John who has touched Him emphatically says, "God is Love." The more we contemplate God either in the Old or New Testament we realise our God is a lavish God - In Eph 3:20 we read He gives us more than we can ever ask or imagine. This is the great humanity we are called upon to have. When asked to change water into wine He changed six gallons each containing 20 gallons of water!
This 'great humanity was fulfilled in the life of Mother Saint Teresa of Avila, who was so deeply passionately human, lavish and generous in her response to God and lavish too in her desires to do whatever she could to reach out to those she considered being damned in her time. And this is what she desired all her nuns to be, to do.
On
the Solemnity
of the Ascension Pope Francis
said that the Church "is
an outward bound community". Even cloistered
communities, "because
they are always
'outward bound'
with prayer, with an heart open to the world, the horizons of God." Can you speak to us about this
reality in concrete
terms?.
The Church was founded
on the mandate given by Jesus, "Go to the whole world...to proclaim the
good news..." If the Church would ever forget this mandate it would lose
its essential character, the raison d'etre of its very foundation. Every
organisation in the Church then gets stamped with this character either
explicitly or implicitly.
The cloistered contemplatives too are implicitly stamped with this yearning to bring JESUS the Good News to the whole World. That is the only reason which explains how St Therese remaining within the cloister - never stepping out from the age of 15 to 24 is today called, 'Patroness of the Missions." Known as the Little flower her desires embraced the whole world - she wanted to be apostle, doctor, preacher, martyr for God and for His people to bring the Good News of Jesus to everyone. With great joy she said: I have found my vocation, " In the heart of my Mother the Church I shall be love". St. Teresa of Avila would say, "I could die a thousand deaths to save one soul." St Francis de Sales puts it this way, "The one who loves God wishes to write His name on every heart. This is a graphic way of portraying how the contemplatives have their heart open to the world with the horizons of God...
Pope Francis said: "The Carmelite saints were great preachers and
teachers of prayer. This is what is required once again of the Carmel order in the twenty-first century.
Throughout your history, the
great Carmelites were a strong reminder of the roots of contemplation, always fertile
roots of prayer". Can you share your
thoughts on this with us?
The greats
of Carmel were all of them extraordinary lovers transformed by the love of God
proving that their prayer was nothing other than a deep intimate relationship
with the One they knew loved them. Today with its new age spirituality, with
the great longing of the human heart to be filled with what modern man is, not
even aware of - Carmelites do have something precious to offer. What we have is
not just a litany of prayers but a relationship with the One who satisfies our
every thirst by creating within us the wells of eternal Life with His own
presence. In our prophetic vocation they have offered a response, in the
Church and in the world, to the longings
of the people. They have put their finger in the wound of the Church and
placing God at the center they live in
intimate relationship with Him, a heart to heart in the solitude and silence of
their cloisters . Silence speaks louder than words but only when it is lived in
intimate union with this Loving God - Jesus.
2015, the Year of the consecrated life,
will be a double
celebration for
the Carmelite contemplatives, as you celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. How will you mark these festivities, and celebrate this year?
This truly is an
exciting time for us - twin celebrations and both of magnanimous proportions!
Our remote preparations have been to study our Holy Mother in depth by re-
reading her books that are like priceless diamonds always revealing a new facet
of light and splendour for our reflection, assimilation and for our practical
lives. This study in itself has been a fascinating enterprise as it was done
individually and collectively and also shared through our common newsletter.
Being the Year of Consecrated Life we have also received letters from the Holy
See to help look into our life as cloistered consecrated in a new way. That is
a welcome gift of this new year.
It is truly a big grace to see how both these celebrations have coincided. Could it be that Our Holy Mother who transformed her Carmel after 500 years is calling us 500 years down the line to look into a new transformation? We are not sure but are open to whatever the Spirit wishes to bring into our lives for God's glory. With regard to the 500th anniversary - all our Carmels will celebrate a day specially dedicated to Teresa of Avila - all our activities of that day will be centered around her. So each Carmel gets three days each. This too is something we are looking forward to and still discussing as to how to do it in the best way. May the longing of Jesus" I have come to cast fire on earth and I wish it were ablaze" be a reality in each one of us Carmelites.
May we be on fire with the passion for the possible and recognize the Face of God.
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