P. Gorazd Cetkovský, O.Carm.
Moreover, it is remarkable right at the beginning of the text of the rule that Bishop Albert wrote these rules at the request of the brothers: “However, since you are asking us...” Behind this request lies the humility of the brothers. Humility that manifests itself in the willingness to seek advice. That is, to turn to another and ask: “Please, could you say something about what I am striving for?”
Of course – here it is in a specific situation – we have before us a community that wants to essentially live a religious life and turns to a church superior. We can take several prompts from this for ourselves. Of course, we can also relate this to ourselves in the original sense: as an example of obedience to authority in the church. And then it applies to us as well: we are interested in what the bishop says about this or that matter, we are interested in what the catechism says about it, we are interested in what the pope has expressed regarding the given issue. And in the parish – especially when there is some bubbling and turmoil – we are interested in how the priest has responded to it. But that is only one layer.
In addition, I would like to offer the mentioned thought in a completely general sense: willingness to seek advice. You laypeople live in marriage. Or even in relationships: parents and children. A partner sees something differently, children often have good ideas, adolescents may say things bluntly... – but how valuable is it to have the humility to seek advice or the willingness to submit!
Here we touch upon a topic that is very sensitive in contemporary times, namely the attitude towards authority in general. Today, it is very difficult for us to submit. But notice (when we return to the life of the Church): the Church has been a community led by authority from the beginning. Jesus was clearly an authority for his apostles, and the apostles were clearly an authority among the other disciples and for the other crowds that followed Jesus. So if we were to comply so much with today’s times that we are unable to tolerate any authority, that we immediately tear down and criticize every authority, that is, that we consider ourselves the only authority, then we are not on the right path. Moreover – and I would like to emphasize this – our willingness to submit to authority must not be conditioned by the fact that the other person has no flaws, that they have never made a mistake. In this sense, I find it amazing that the brothers turned to the bishop, as if saying to him: “Father Bishop, we would need you to express yourself on how we live here at Carmel...”
As a second point, I would like to emphasize in this context: Bishop Albert writes in the rule: “Many times and in many ways, the holy fathers have established...” (something similar to what you are asking me now). Notice how beautiful the approach of Saint Albert was in that situation. I am convinced that Albert must have been a very mature and interesting person. And when the brothers approached him with their request, he made it clear to them: “Look, there are already such communities that live similarly, and there are such rules for those communities! But since you are turning to me, that’s fine. So I will write you rules that will be suitable specifically for you.”
What is noteworthy? Surely you have noticed it in yourself as well: sometimes under the pressure of haste, responsibility, or perhaps our own uncertainty (and somewhat our own pride) we perceive only ourselves, how I want to resolve the matter right now. Sometimes our originality even turns into intoxicating conviction: I come up with something completely new! Once we – still as seminarians – were warned against such an attitude by Monsignor Kavale. I remember how he urged us: “Gentlemen, when you come somewhere to a parish, do not think: it starts here with me! Those before me were either lazy or foolish. It starts with me in this parish!...” And thus, St. Albert might be saying to the Carmelites: “Gentlemen, there are already such communities! And there are already such rules!” Dear brothers and sisters, I consider this reference that we are not the only ones to be very useful words for us to be humble. To realize that not only we are here with our efforts, but that God also blesses many other people and leads them. And notice that this reference to others does not at all lead to any indifference or dilution, as if Bishop Albert suggested: “So it doesn’t matter what you live by and how you act. Just choose any of the existing rules; it doesn’t matter, as long as you have a pious heart – and that’s enough...” Albert’s attitude could be expressed more in the words: “Look, there are many such communities; many people strive as hard as you do. But if you want, then I will write to you how I envision your life in the future...”
Even in our lives, maturity is marked by our ability to perceive how others strive. When we do not feel alone in this world. When we can appreciate how much others strive. And when at the same time each of us is well aware: I am not them. There is a strong need for proper self-acceptance today. I must live my life in such a way that it corresponds to my situation and my equipment (that which God has given me) and my vocation.
Here we touch upon one more interesting question, namely whether and to what extent Saint Albert in the rule followed what the Carmelites were already living on Mount Carmel before they asked for the writing of the rule. It is not entirely clear at what stage of their experience the Carmelites turned to the bishop with their request. It could have been that their community was just forming, and therefore they asked their experienced bishop for basic direction for their community. However, rather (according to historians' opinions) the brothers already had some experience with the hermetic life on Carmel behind them. But it is also quite possible that the impetus for the request for a rule from the bishop came from something completely external, namely that someone publicly criticized their community and accused them (as was common at that time) that they were not reliably orthodox. Or simply that how they lived on Carmel happened – figuratively speaking – behind the bishop's back. Such accusations would be sufficient reason for the brothers to go to the bishop and ask him: “Father Bishop, we would very much like your word on how we, as hermits on Carmel, should live! But we have already been doing this for some time...” And as I emphasized earlier: the bishop did not respond by saying: “Forget it! I am the smartest, and I will line it all out for you now.” It is also hard to imagine that they would tell him: “Father Bishop, do it however you want, it doesn’t matter. We can conveniently set aside what has proven itself and what we have tried, and continue to adhere only to what you prescribe now...” The brothers felt somehow bound to live on Carmel similarly to how they had been living so far. What bound them to that? How God had blessed them in that place until then and what they had already experienced there. So we believe that Bishop Albert was sensitive to this when compiling the rule.
And in this, I again see something instructive for each of us. God may sometimes cause a fundamental turnaround in our lives through which we are suddenly directed in a completely new way. But I dare say that this does not happen very often. Much more often, his calls in our lives honor a certain continuity. So that we then do not discard or deny what we have already experienced before, even if it was painful, but carry it with us and build on it in a certain way.
Thus, on one side, there is the humble awareness that we are not the only ones, and on the other side, the conviction that we cannot sell out how God has guided us before, but we must build on it. And it is interesting that the Carmelites, when St. Albert wrote those rules for them, then did everything possible to continue to abide by them. And there were times when it was very difficult to uphold this.
Once again, let’s briefly digress into history. There were a large number of such communities as the group of hermits on Carmel at that time. Bishops and the papal curia were concerned about the lack of clarity in the situation and various vices, and therefore the Fourth Lateran Council (in 1215) established that from then on, when a new community arises, it must adopt an ancient rule as the rules for its life, which is proven and for which the authority of some saint stands – St. Augustine, St. Basil, St. Benedict. This brought significant pressure on the Carmelites, even though the founding of their community and the writing of the rule occurred before the mentioned council. They still had to prove themselves meticulously everywhere. And at that time they could do what St. Dominic did when he adopted the rule of St. Augustine and supplemented it with his own instructions. Something similar would represent a much easier way to justify the existence of the young and little-known order from Carmel.
But the Carmelites did not want to abandon their rules. They exerted efforts, developed the necessary diplomatic efforts among influential persons and at the papal curia, and managed to achieve the needed papal approvals. This shows that Albert's rule was truly not something they would willingly renounce.
