Vladimíra M. Polišenská
Dear chapter participants, brothers and sisters,
first of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be here with you on this occasion as we together commemorate the 800th anniversary of the handing over of the Rule of St. Albert of Jerusalem to our order.
The main theme of the chapter you have chosen is: Carmel – a praying and prophetic community in a changing world. When I was asked to share my experience as a Carmelite tertiary who tries to live these two aspects (prophetic and prayerful) in everyday life amidst the world, I asked myself the question: What is the mission of a Carmelite layperson in today's world? Here, I offer you a small reflection that emerged from this, hoping it may be beneficial. The reflection has three parts. The first part focuses on the situation of today's changing world and its needs and demands, which we laypeople strive to respond to with our lives. The second part concerns the prophetic aspect, and in the conclusion, I will talk about the life of prayer, which is the third part of this reflection.
The mission of laypeople can generally be expressed in the document Lumen Gentium: “From the own vocation of laypeople arises the task of seeking the Kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and ordering them according to God... It is especially their duty to permeate and organize all temporal matters with which they are closely involved, so that they may always be done and developed according to Christ and serve to the praise of the Creator and Redeemer.” (LG 31) If we focus on today's world with all its processes, transformations, and changes, it seems to me that the first thing we can offer is a certain constancy. A constancy that is based on the very object of our faith, on the reality of redemption. This constancy is not rigid, imposed by something external and thus rigid, but rather has its origin in faith; it is primarily internal and, therefore, independent of the external circumstances of our lives. However, it manifests itself through our specific attitudes. It reveals itself in the values we uphold, and above all in the way we fulfill them. Thus, through our own lives, we bear witness that there are values universally valid, yesterday and today. Foremost among them is respect for life and the dignity of every human being, as well as, among others, the importance and significance of family, respect for nature, and all of God's creation. These values serve as indicators in unclear situations in life when we encounter misunderstandings or outright abuses of terms such as freedom, the right to happiness, or self-realization.
Perseverance in our attitudes and behaviors has a significant impact on our surroundings. I myself have made this experience. Because I was baptized as an adult, I have many non-believing friends. Some of them watched my conversion somewhat distrustfully, but we did not talk much about it. Only after some time, when they saw that believing for me did not mean becoming a reactionary or even a fanatic on one hand, but on the other hand, that I remained faithful to my faith, were they able to accept my conversion. Today they often come to me and ask questions about God, about Jesus Christ, about the Church, or they ask me to pray for them. This certainly could not have happened if faith and the values professed were not in harmony with specific behaviors.
Such harmony is therefore another inseparable point of our mission. In the Rule of the Carmelite Third Order (n. 26) we read: “In participating in the prophetic mission of Christ and the Church, the tertiary strives in every job and worldly activity to assimilate the Gospel in faith and to proclaim it through their deeds. In this effort, they go so far as to boldly point out evil.” As is evident from the text, the prophetic aspect is always and primarily based on the way of life itself. The best way to reveal twisted and unhealthy phenomena in society is to show the same problematic moment, lived in accordance with God's will. Here I primarily have in mind interpersonal relationships, but the same applies to all other areas. I therefore see the prophetic dimension in seeking and questioning God's will, its realization in one's own life, which provides an example and an alternative to tendencies occurring in society, and only afterward pointing out other means of advocating against the evil we encounter. In my opinion, there are few worse ways to discourage others, especially non-believers, than to live something different from what we profess. If our lives, our families, and communities are not places of love for one's neighbor, love for God, which is also manifested in human relationships, then we are not true witnesses of Christ, and in this mission, we have failed. Thanks to the figure of the prophet Elijah and the entire Elijah tradition of Carmel, we have a rich source of inspiration for both contemplation and concrete behavior.
The desire to know God's will presupposes an internal and deep life of prayer. I now have primarily in mind personal, inner prayer, without wishing to exclude its other forms. In contemplation, we grow in our relationship with God and at the same time in love for our neighbor. We discover and deepen the meaning of truth, freedom, and similar matters, which subsequently helps us to create and solidify a system of values, as I mentioned earlier. Prayer allows us to orient ourselves in various situations in our lives and shows them to us from the perspective of faith. I would like to emphasize that, in my experience, which I also share with other laypeople, there is no truly contemplative lay life without regularly spending a certain amount of time in silence and solitude with the Lord. However, the situations in this regard vary greatly depending on the specific conditions of each layperson. Some have families and children, others live alone, some have many responsibilities or jobs that are time and energy demanding, while others have flexible work that they organize themselves. Each must solve the problem of how to live this aspect of the Carmelite vocation in their own way. Sometimes it can be a real struggle. We find the source of strength and grace in the sacramental life of the Church, especially in the Eucharist. By getting to know ourselves better, we also become more aware of our imperfections and our sin. Therefore, we often take advantage of the opportunity to receive forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation.
I cannot forget the indispensable role of spiritual accompaniment from your side, Carmelite fathers, and the importance of support in prayer from you nuns and sisters. Finally, the dimension of community is very important. By feeling like members of one family not just with our fellow brothers and sisters of the tertiaries from all over the world, but with the entire order, our sense of our Carmelite identity is strengthened, helping us to fulfill our vocation.
In conclusion, I will try to summarize this reflection in a few words and offer you an answer to my initial question. The mission of a Carmelite layperson is therefore this: through the overall constancy of life and values, through the harmony between what they believe and what they live, in constant growth in relationship with God in prayer, to be a true witness of Jesus Christ and his Kingdom in the midst of the world, and to do so in community and mutual support with their fellow brothers and sisters.
Let us entrust this mission of ours to the hands of our dear mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Sancta Maria, Mater et Decor Carmeli, ora pro nobis.
