Vocation

The option for Carmel

MOUNT CARMEL, WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

The story of Carmel is a mystery of love, the love of God for us, and the love he inspires in the hearts of those he calls to live in close intimacy with him in the cloistered life. Enclosure minimizes distractions and creates a solitude in which prayer can grow deeper, a solitude supported by our community life.

This prayer is not for ourselves alone. It is to the deepest places in the human heart, where people suffer most, that the apostolate of the Carmelite nun is directed. In moments of terrible loneliness, perhaps the consoling presence of Christ is mediated to the sufferer by some Carmelite nun whose life bears witness to the Resurrection light shining through the cross of Christ, the light showing us that God is our Father, and he alone fully satisfies the restless human heart.

Carmel has attracted and still attracts many different types of women –among them Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Elizabeth of Dijon, Edith Stein, the Chilean girl, Teresa of the Andes.

For all of them, one word explains their vocation – Love.