Carmel Bulletin, 5 July 2015
The Year of Consecrated Life provides everyone in the Church with the opportunity to reflect on the witness that people in consecrated life give. Pope Francis has named three aims for the Church during this year; the same aims were named by St John Paul II for the whole Church at the beginning of the third millennium.
The second aim for the year is to live the present with passion.
Living the present with passion means becoming “experts in communion”, “witnesses and architects of the ‘plan for unity’ which is the crowning point of human history in God’s design”. In a polarized society, where different cultures experience difficulty in living alongside one another, where the powerless encounter oppression, where inequality abounds, we are called to offer a concrete model of community which, by acknowledging the dignity of each person and sharing our respective gifts, makes it possible to live as brothers and sisters.
Apostolic Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to all Consecrated People on the Occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life, 21 November 2014
Carmelites strive to live in the present through their community life and through the many and varied ministries they engage in.
Carmelites live their life of allegiance to Christ through a commitment to seek the face of the living God (the contemplative dimension of life), through fraternity, and through service (diakonia) in the midst of the people.
Carmelite Constitutions, no. 14
In every Eucharistic celebration, we live the present with passion. We are inspired and nourished by Christ himself, present with us, so that we can go out and live his mission. When we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we can think about how we are called to see and respond to the face of God in our neighbours in the world. Let us work together to continue to make Christ present to those in need.
Liturgy 