Saturday 21 September 2013

Carmel's Call, Part I

CONTENTS

CARMEL’S CALL
       Indulgenced Prayer to Our Lady………………………………………………………....………………9

       Introduction to Carmel’s Call……………………………………………………………………….…....6

The Carmelite Third Order…………………………………………………………………………………..12

       Rule of the Third Order Secular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and THE RULE OF LIFE………...…14

Our Salvation in Mary……………………………………………………………………………………….27

       Home, Another Carmel…………………………………………………………………………………29

Silence, Solitude, and Suffering……………………………………………………………………………...30

The Imitation of Mary in Modern Life……………………………………………………………………….32

The Third Order Novice Master……………………………………………………………………………...34

The Spirit of Poverty in the Third Order……………………………………………………………………..36

The Spirit of Obedience in the Third Order…………………………………………………………………..38

Spiritual Rewards in Carmel………………………………………………………………………………….40

The Tertiary in the Parish……………………………………………………………………………………..43

The Tertiary and Marriage Problems…………………………………………………………………………45

The Tertiary and the Catholic Atmosphere in the Home……………………………………………………..47

The Tertiary and Family Prayer………………………………………………………………………………49

The Tertiary and Vocational Activities………………………………………………………………………52

The Third Order in the Life of a Seminarian or Priest……………………………………………………….54

The Tertiary and Convert Making……………………………………………………………………………57

The Tertiary and the Fatima Crusade………………………………………………………………………...60

The Tertiary and the Matt Talbot Legion…………………………………………………………………….63

The Tertiary and Catholic Literature…………………………………………………………………………65

Renewal of the Christian Spirit………………………………………………………………………………67

The Tertiary and Communion………………………………………………………………………………..69

Increasing Membership in the Third Order…………………………………………………………………..71
Liturgical Prayer…………………………………………………………………………………………….73

THE MONTHLY CONFERENCE………………………………………………………………………....76
Prayers for Council and Chapter Meetings………………………………………………………………….80

Formula for General Absolution with Plenary Indulgence………………………………………………….81

FORMULA OF PAPAL BENEDICTION TO BE USED TWICE A YEAR……………………………..83

STUDY CLUB QUESTIONS………………………………………………………………………………84
Carmelite Third Order

THE RECEPTION CEREMONY…………………………………………………………………………..85
For Postulants

THE PROFESSION CEREMONY………………………………………………………………………....90
For Novices

CARMELITE CALENDAR………………………………………………………………………………...96
With Days of General Absolution and Plenary Indulgence

SPECIAL INDULGENCES FOR TERTIARIES…………………………………………………………103
Plenary and Partial

SUMMARY OF INDULGENCES………………………………………………………………………...106

THE SABBATINE PRIVILEGE…………………………………………………………………………..108
Our Lady and Purgatory

THE LITTLE OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY……………………………………………109
According to the Carmelite Rite
Prayer Before the Office……………………………………………………………………………………109
At Matins…………………………………………………………………………………………………....110
At Lauds…………………………………………………………………………………………………….121
At Prime……………………………………………………………………………………………………..128
At Terce……………………………………………………………………………………………………...133
At Sext……………………………………………………………………………………………………….137
At None……………………………………………………………………………………………………....142
At Vespers……………………………………………………………………………………………………146
At Compline………………………………………………………………………………………………….152
Prayer After the Office……………………………………………………………………………………….157

LITANY IN HONOR OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL……………………………………..........158
For the Conversion of Sinners

Chaplet in Honor of Our Lady…………………………………………………………………………..........162

Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin Mary…………………………………………………………………….165

Actual Copy of the Carmelite Little Office as Used in the Cloister………………………………………….167




INTRODUCTION TO CARMEL’S CALL

Carmel’s Call is a call to prayer. For nine centuries before the coming of Christ, holy men lived on Mount Carmel and gave themselves to the work of prayer and contemplation. Elias, the Prophet of Carmel, was their first superior and is looked upon as the Founder of the Carmelite Order, the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel.
The history of Carmel begins at a time when God seems to have deserted His people. It begins in the Third Book of Kings when Achab, King of the Jews, married a wicked and idolatrous woman, named Jezebel, and permitted her to bring her false gods with her into the country of the Jews. Until Jezebel’s time the Israelites had not come into close contact with idolatry. But Baal-worship was sanctioned now by the King and the worship of false gods spread rapidly. To solve this situation, God sent His Prophet, Elias.
Elias appeared before Achab telling him: “As the Lord liveth, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years….” (3 Kings, 17:1). For three years no rain fell upon the earth. Holy Scripture gives us the picture of men and beasts dying together at the empty cisterns. One day when King Achab and his Minister, Abdias, were out searching for food and water, Elias appeared before the King and commanded him: “Send now, and gather unto me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred….”
There follows one of the most dramatic scenes in the Old Testament. On the appointed day the whole nation of Israel assembled on Mt. Carmel together with all priests of the false gods. Elias, burning with zeal, stood between priests and people: “How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” Elias then proposed the terms of the contest, saying: “Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord; and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God.” And all the people, answering, said: “A very good proposal.” (3 Kings, 18:24).
When the priests of Baal failed to bring down fire, Elias, seeing that the time was come to offer sacrifice to the Lord, “repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down….Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn that thou art the Lord God….Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this they fell on their faces and they said: The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God.” (3 Kings, 18:24).
After the false prophets had been taken to the torrent of Cison and slain, Elias began to pray for rain. “And he said to his servant: Go up, and look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. And at the seventh time, behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man’s foot.” Elias knew that it was the sign of rain. The rain came and the earth was made fertile again.
The little cloud seen by Elias on Mt. Carmel has ever been regarded as a type of the Virgin who would one day bring forth a Saviour. Just as the rain that fell made the earth fruitful, even so the Virgin would bring Christ into the world and produce grace in our souls, making our life fruitful for eternity. Tradition tells us that Elias modeled his life on the virtues of the Virgin and that in later centuries, his followers, the sons of the prophets, built a chapel in her honor on Mt. Carmel. Whence the title, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the oldest of all titles given to Mary.
The story of Elias is concluded in the Fourth Book of Kings: “And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elias into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elias and Eliseus were going from Galgal. And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay thou here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as Bethel. And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they were come down to Bethel. The sons of the prophets, that were at Bethel, came forth to Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he answered: I also know it….And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as the Jordan…And fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and stood in sight at a distance: but they two stood by the Jordan. And Elias took his mantle and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over dry ground. And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit…And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own garments, and rent them in two pieces. And he took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him: and going back, he stood upon the bank of the Jordan. And he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias, that had fallen from him, and they were not divided. And he said: Where is now the God of Elias? And he struck the waters, and they were divided, hither and thither, and Eliseus passed over. And the sons of the prophets at Jericho, who were over against him, seeing it, said: The spirit of Elias hath rested upon Eliseus….”
From Elias Carmel has taken its motto. In the Carmelite Coat of Arms all the elements of his double spirit are to be found: the escutcheon is made up of a mountain in brown and three stars in a field of white. The lowest star, in silver, represents the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Star of the Sea; the two upper stars, in gold, represent our Fathers Elias and Eliseus. These stars would point to the Marian character of the Order and to its Elian descent. Above the shield is a fiery sword over a crown, and the motto: With zeal have I labored for the Lord God of hosts. The mountain denotes Mt. Carmel where the Order came into being, a mountain which calls for prayer and contemplation. Over Mary’s crown is the fiery sword of Elias, signifying the spirit of zeal for God and His holy Mother. The whole constitutes the double spirit of Elias, which he gave to his Order. Three stars stand for the epochs in Carmel’s history: the pre-Christian, the Oriental, and the Latin.
Canonically the Carmelite Order was officially recognized and established as a mendicant order by Pope Honorius III in 1226 A.D. Earlier St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, had given the hermits living on Mt. Carmel a summary of practices which came to be known as the Rule of St. Albert. This ancient Rule, with some additions and modifications, is still followed by all Carmelites today.
In the thirteenth century the Mohammedans conquered the Holy Land and finally caused even the hermits on Mt. Carmel to flee for safety in Europe. The few who remained were massacred by the Turks after the fall of Acre in 1291. Those who fled to Europe were beset with many trials; clergy and laity alike seemed to agree that there was no room for them. In the midst of such trials the General Chapter held at Aylesford, England, in 1245 elected Simon Stock, the first Prior General of the West.
We can well imagine how fervently Simon Stock prayed to Our Lady to preserve her Order. Today we know his prayer as the “Flos Carmeli” (Flower of Carmel):

O beautiful flower of Carmel,
Most fruitful vine,
Splendor of heaven,
Holy and singular,
Who brought forth the Son of God,
Still ever remaining a pure Virgin,
Assist us in this necessity.
O Star of the Sea,
Help and protect us.
Show us that thou art our Mother.

Our Lady could not forget the long centuries of love for her, could not forget the Order that had honored her in word and in work from the days of Elias. To this Simon Stock, successor of Elias, Our Lady appeared on July 16, 1251. She came to him dressed in the Habit of a Carmelite with her Infant Son in her arms. Taking the Scapular in her right hand she gave it to Simon Stock, saying: “Receive, my beloved son, this Scapular. Whosoever dies wearing it shall not suffer eternal fire. It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger, and a pledge of peace.”
The Mother of Carmel had given more than Simon Stock could ever imagine. In a short time the whole world was seeking to be clothed in Mary’s Scapular. Then, as now, many who had never seen a Carmelite wanted to wear the Scapular and participate in the great Promise enjoyed by the Scapular Family of Our Lady. So unbelievable was the Promise attached to the Holy Scapular that theologians began to argue: how could Our Lady attach such a Promise to a piece of brown cloth? But as if in answer, Our Lady went even further when she appeared to Pope John XXII in 1322 telling His Holiness that all who would wear the Scapular faithfully, practice chastity according to their state in life, and say the Little Office (or if they could not read, abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays) would enjoy the Sabbatine Privilege: “I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall free.”
During the Generalate of St. Simon Stock the Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel came into being. Today it is so easy for men and women to enter Our Lady’s Third Order, that few will be able to appreciate the difficulties experienced by a lay person who wished to enter the Order some seven hundred years ago. In the city of Toulouse in France there lived a young girl, named Joan; she had grown up during the turbulent, bloody days of the Albigensian Heresy and had reached her twenty-fifth year when the Carmelites came to Toulouse in 1227.
Joan of Toulouse was attracted by the extraordinary love the hermits cherished for the holy Mother of God and she began to dream of becoming a Carmelite herself. Her dream was given reality when St. Simon Stock visited Toulouse and listened to her plea. After long deliberation, he invested her in the Habit and adapted the Rule to her state of life in the world, permitting her to share in the religious and apostolic life of Carmel. Joan of Toulouse is therefore considered the Foundress of the Third Order, the first Carmelite lay-apostle. She lived the life of prayer and action, giving herself to the work of helping the poor and unfortunate, bringing all to love Our Lady by means of her Scapular. She died in 1286 and was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1896. Her feast is celebrated on March thirty-first.
Joan of Toulouse had to wait a long time before she was raised to our altars, but her dream has been realized again and again during these seven centuries in the lives of other men and women like herself who wished to sanctify themselves in Carmel and live in what we know today as Carmel’s Cloister in the world.
This current Manual of Carmel’s Call combines three Third Order books: 1) The Manual of Carmelite Tertiaries, 2) The Little Office of the B.V.M. for Tertiaries, both compiled by the Rev. Stephen J. McDonald, O. Carm., who served as Provincial Director from 1933 to 1936, and 3) Carmel’s Call, edited by the Rev. Alexis E. McCarthy, O. Carm., Provincial Director from 1947 to 1948.
One does not have to change his state of life to become a Tertiary. Young men and young women, married men and married women, may all enjoy the wonderful privilege. Our Lord never intended that priests, brothers, and sisters should have a monopoly on sanctity. “Be ye perfect, as also your Heavenly Father is perfect,” was a command given to all men. Keeping the optimism of Christ in mind, Holy Mother Church extends the benefits of Religious Life out into the world and invites all men and women to follow a more perfect way.
Sovereign Pontiffs have often repeated the fact that men and women everywhere may find in the Third Order the answer to that longing expressed by every sincere Catholic at one time or another: the longing to leave the world and dedicate himself to God and Our Lady in a special way.
Tertiary Life is the answer for those whose state of life makes it impossible for them to do more than dream about Religious Life in some Order. It is the dream come true.
Tertiaries are banded together into various Chapters of the Third Order, usually found attached to high schools, colleges, and parish churches. Monthly they come together as a Community, pray together, receive an instruction on the Rule, report on the apostolic work they are doing. Like every Order approved by the Church, the Carmelite Third Order has superiors: a Prior, a Novice Master, and several Councillors – all lay people – who together with the priest-Director of the Chapter carry the voice of God and Our Lady into Tertiary work in the world.
The religious habit of the Tertiary is the Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. At the Chapter Conference, held monthly, a larger Scapular measuring six inches by eight inches is worn outside the clothing. This Third Order Scapular (or if the Tertiary wishes, the full Habit of the Carmelite complete with tunic, scapular, and white mantle) may be used on the day of burial.
Since the main work of Tertiary life is the work of prayer and sacrifice for others, a daily Office is said by all: the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, and the Rosary, or some other prayers given by the Director. Tertiaries add new luster to each daily action, have the prayers and good works of all Carmelites everywhere to help them, have numerous indulgences granted to them by the Church, have the special graces necessary to become perfect. Actually, they are Our Lady’s ambassadors to the world.
May this combination of both the third and fourth editions of Carmel’s Call go out to many devout men and women. May it bring to all of them Carmel’s spirit of nearness to God and filial love for God’s holy Mother.

Feast of St. Simon Stock
May 16, 1950
Fr. Howard Rafferty, O. Carm.

Provincial Director    

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