Carmelite missionaries are coming to our country
Since the beginning of 1993, a small community of sisters – missionary workers (as they call themselves) of the missionary family Donum Dei has been living in our country. They were invited by the then pastor in Frýdlant nad Ostravicí and also the superior of the Carmelites, P. Josef Jančář O.Carm., with the intention that the sisters would develop their mission in our country as well. They come from distant countries and continents, and their form of evangelization is also not quite usual: the sisters run restaurants, serve in them, and through their work, or even words, give testimony to their faith and life surrendered to Christ. Now, after several years of preparation, the moment of completion of the house, which is being built for them with the help of other benefactors and sponsors by the Frýdlant parish, is approaching.
We would like to support the sisters and their work through the pages of our magazine: to present to readers their community through a short testimony of the sisters and to ask all brothers and sisters of the Carmelite family among us and all our supporters to join in prayer for this beginning mission.
The founder of the missionary family Donum Dei, French priest P. Marcel Roussel, was born on June 8, 1910, in the village of Fins in eastern France. He was ordained a priest on December 21, 1934. Because he himself was a person who directly thirsted for God, he clearly saw how many people live today far from Christ and from the Church. He longed to help them.
In every person's heart lies a thirst, a search that cannot be quenched by earthly things alone. For man longs for God Himself. And Jesus came to quench this thirst for God's closeness with His life, suffering, and resurrection. But how to revive this thirst for God in the hearts of modern people, who live only between the factory, the street, and the household – without a church and faith?
Father Roussel wanted to reach them through a life lived in the midst of their world, yet entirely dedicated to Christ. This testimony was to be given by young girls, offering their virginity to God and serving the spread of faith among ordinary people. They were not to be nuns – that could make it difficult for people from the world to approach them – but like nuns, they also had to give their lives entirely to God.
When the community was established in 1950, it took the name "Missionary Workers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary." After the publication of the encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the missionary mission of the Church Fidei donum, Father Roussel also instructed the sisters to bear Christ's light to all five continents. Thus, they began to establish restaurants L’Eau-Vive (Living Water). These became the starting points of their apostolate – the effort to quench the thirst for the "water of life" of those who come there.
When Father Roussel sought official church approval for the missionary family Donum Dei, he recognized that its spiritual life is close to the spirituality of Carmel. He then told the sisters' superior: "Your activity must emerge from the spirit of Saint Teresa of Lisieux and Carmel. Let the working Jesus be your model, whom you look up to. Let work, like for Him, also be contemplation for you. May work not interrupt your connection with God, as you have established it during morning prayer. This is the most important thing in the life of you – missionary workers."
Since the beginnings of the Church, many men and women desiring to serve Christ, called by the Holy Spirit and equipped with His diverse gifts, have followed the Lord Jesus with pure hearts and freedom of spirit. The sisters of Donum Dei have also accepted this call to fully live the Gospel and to testify to the world about Christ as Christians – laity.
Our community wants to live in the spirit of family – this is also a means of evangelization. We live together, even though we come from different nations and countries and have different skin colors. Thus, we want to show and promote unity among us in today's de-Christianized world. Building unity is after all the fundamental mission of the Church. All members of the Donum Dei family consider it their special task to live and spread the spirit of community, each according to the vocation they have received from God:
- sisters missionary workers through a life entirely dedicated to Christ in international communities and through common work;
- members of the "Living Water" brotherhood (attached to us) within their own families and professions.
Family coexistence among people of different skin colors is seen as our way of revealing God's love to the world. Today's world needs to see that unity among people is possible if the foundation that connects us is Christ. And the love that springs from Christ then spreads to the surroundings.
With all that we have mentioned, we want to be the leaven in the dough of the modern world:
- mutual love regardless of race or nationality;
- absolute and lasting self-sacrifice to Christ;
- familial relationships among us;
- intense spiritual life, while being in the midst of ordinary work.
Let us also mention the words of Father Roussel: "Many ask: 'What is this missionary family Donum Dei?' It is something old and at the same time new. It is something old because such a way of life already existed in the early Church. And at the same time, it is something new because this vocation is experiencing a new development in today's Church. The roots of our family thus reach back to the very beginnings of the Church."
Thus, briefly about our family. We said that Father Roussel realized the similarity of our spiritual life with the spirituality of Carmel. We can point out four common elements here:
1) Emphasis on experiencing God's presence
A Carmelite must be a person of God, a living testimony to God's holiness. A sister of Donum Dei is a virgin bride of Jesus Christ, striving to live in the presence of Jesus, accepting everything as coming from Him, always seeking only what He wants.
2) Passionate relationship to the Virgin Mary and the effort to resemble her
Carmel continues in Jesus’ filial love for Mary. A missionary sister, closely connected with Christ, longs to love Mary together with Him and as He does. An example to us in this is Father Marcel. For him – as for Carmelites – Mary was a Mother, a model, and the founder of his work. Thus, we also know that each of us is guided, raised, and strengthened by the Virgin Mary on our spiritual journey.
3) Inner prayer
Contemplative prayer is essential to Carmel. Through their lives in the midst of the work world, missionary sisters want to show that it is precisely through ordinary life that a person is called to unity with God… Our everyday life has great value in God’s eyes – we must not forget this. God desires that even the most mundane task of each day be an opportunity for us to connect with Him. A sister teaches her surroundings that the life of work should not be separated from life with God. The life of a Christian can be a continuous prayer – even in the midst of work. Through work, we connect with God's will when we faithfully fulfill our daily duties. Thus, even during their work, a sister is a contemplative person – immersed in prayer.
4) Prophetic element
A Carmelite is called to be like the prophet Elijah, a sign of the quest for God, inquiring about God and His will – for those who have strayed. A sister of Donum Dei strives to remain with those who have distanced themselves the most from Christian life, revealing to them the thirst for supernatural values deep within their hearts.
Let us finally give the word to Father Roussel: "What, then, is the mission of the missionary workers? It is said that in today’s world, holiness is most lacking. And the goal of the sisters is not great social works, but to reveal, unveil God’s love and translate it to the modern world."
Text prepared by the sisters of Donum Dei
Contact address:
Mlle. Mariana Vakalepu
Náměstí 2
739 11
Frýdlant nad Ostravicí
