Blog

Proposal for the preparation of the celebrations of the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Saint Teresa of Jesus (2015)

General Audience Catechesis by Benedict XVI on June 15, 2011

The pilgrimage of the relics of the parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and the Holy Face through Bohemia and Moravia was a great spiritual event for all our communities...

Francisco de Sales Alencar Batista, někdejší provinciál brazilské provincie Pernambuco, přirovnal rodinu Karmelu k barevné mozaice...

Proposal for the preparation of the celebration of the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Saint Teresa of Jesus (2015)

P. Gorazd Cetkovský, O.Carm.

I will present one more thought from J. A. Jungmann.¹ If you were to open old catechisms or faith explanations, you might notice that these books, when they spoke about what salvation means that we have received in Christ, focused – forgive me for the colloquial expression – on “what it does in us.” How salvation manifests itself within the person and in the life of the person. Much was discussed about grace, about supernatural life, they spoke of “something.” And little was said about someone. About Christ, from whom all that “something” flows. And little was thought about the communion of the church through which salvation is given to us. When we read such a book and compare how that grace is in our concrete life, it causes us trouble. It is much easier for us to focus on Christ and simply say that He gives us participation in His life. Our task is to cling to Christ. To believe in Him, to love Him. And He then transforms our inner self. Whereas if we were to focus only on that “something,” which He pours into us and what happens in us, then we lose sight of Him. But it is He, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who draws us and is the source of our salvation. “We should understand grace as participation in the divine life that Christ brought into the world. The encouragement to a true Christian life should therefore not be: ‘You must “have” saving grace!’, but: ‘We must cling to Christ in faith and love; and keep that constantly.’”²

Notice how this understanding of salvation shines through in the liturgy, from its ancient customs. At the Easter vigil, we bless the paschal candle – the symbol of the risen Christ. Then, from the Easter fire, we light the paschal candle, which is ceremoniously raised at the front of the procession of all the assembled and brought into the church. Inside, everyone lights their candles from it, and thus the light of the paschal candle fills the entire church. And let us remember: in several foreign languages (not in Czech, we “suffer” from the richness of our mother tongue), one and the same word means both “church” and “congregation” (die Kirche, church, chiesa). In these languages, the same word denotes both the building of the church and those who gather in it, that is, the church. The light of the paschal candle fills the church space, and the light of Christ illuminates our hearts. And we then immerse the lit paschal candle into the water designated for baptism, so that it too may work “enlightenment.”³ Symbolically, it is suggested here: it is Christ who gives this water its power! Then, the catechumens are baptized with this water, and we all let ourselves be sprinkled with this water during the renewal of our baptismal vows. All this beautifully indicates: grace is participation in Christ’s life. He is the source from which that light, that power flows that permeates our life. The subsequent handing over of a burning candle and a white robe to those who have just been baptized is just another continuation of this easily understandable symbolism.

The second such eloquent gesture during the baptismal liturgy is anointing. In the baptism of an adult, this anointing with chrism after baptism is the sacrament of confirmation. In the baptism of small children, this anointing on the head is not sacramental, but it is still an anointing with chrism. Historical testimonies mention this anointing in Roman liturgy since the 3rd century, making it a very old custom. “By this anointing, the baptized becomes christos, God’s anointed one; this anointing incorporates him into the royal and priestly lineage of the people of the new covenant.” This clearly expresses that this baptized person is connected to the one who is Christos – the Messiah, that is, to Jesus. He is merged with Him, Christ fills his inner self and his life with His workings and he participates in Christ’s priesthood, prophetic mission, and royal reign. Thus, baptism gives us participation in Christ's holiness; in the wealth of life that is in Christ and flows from Him.

As I mentioned, the book by J. A. Jungmann, from which we draw here, was published during the Second Vatican Council. The council speaks of baptism in this way. Baptism is our inclusion into Christ: we have one life with Christ. At the same time, we have participation in the life of the Holy Trinity and in the communion of the church. And this life of Christ, which is poured into us, is love. The love that the communion of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – lives is poured into our hearts, and we are drawn into the communion of the loving Trinity, and as a church, we are the communion in which this love is shared and passed on. Thus, the church is one body.

Thus, the Second Vatican Council teaches about baptism, and this view of baptism is adopted in the Rule of the Third Order of Carmel, which was published in 2003 and which we currently follow. Although, as I said, our saints speak little about baptism, the current tertiary rule speaks more about baptism (in articles 1; 12; 20; 24–26; 82), because it draws inspiration from the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and its emphasis on this sacrament.

And so, right at the beginning of the rule (in article 1), it is written: “By the sacrament of baptism, people are brought into divine life and become in the Holy Spirit adoptive children of the Father and brothers (and sisters) of Christ.” They thus participate in the life of the Trinity.

My explanation of what it means that “God’s life is given to us” has been connected for several years with an experience from one service in our parish in Liboc. I invited a little girl, who was to go for her first holy communion in a week, to the altar, and together we all thought: there stands an altar made of stone, with a bouquet of flowers in a vase, next to it stands a little girl. Let’s imagine in our imagination that I take the little girl’s human spirit and place it in the altar. What would that cause? Then I could talk to the altar: I’m speaking to it, and it hears me, understands, and responds. The altar is ordinarily not capable of that, because it is wooden or stone, but if it had a human spirit, it could speak. We encounter this in children’s imagination, in fairy tales. And God does this. It’s not a fairy tale; it’s a mystery of our faith: He puts His divine life, which He lives, into our human hearts. So I, a weak and sinful person, participate in God’s life. The life that “pulses” in God has been poured into me. The Spirit that is in God has been given to me. And I participate in the love that is in God. Although my heart is tiny and “leaky” and often I drag all sorts of dirt and malice into it, nevertheless, God purifies it and pours His love into it. And that love is not some “diluted” version compared to that which flows in the bosom of the Holy Trinity! God gives me just that Spirit that He has. Just that love that He has within Him, He gives to me. The peace He has, He gives to me. In that patience,⁴ which He has, He gives me a share... Our task is to open ourselves to this wealth through faith and to reinforce it in ourselves through prayer – and baptism is the sacramental confirmation of all this. Faith means the beginning, and baptism means the confirmation of our participation in the divine life.

God’s approach to us therefore has immense power. God truly calls us “to the fullness of Christian life and to perfect love.” That’s how it is said in article 2 of our tertiary rule. As we quoted in the subtitle of our reflection: by the sacrament of baptism, we are “called to holiness.” And holiness means the fullness of Christian life and perfect love. Not some piousness. Not the piling up of additions that we might consider holiness, but the fullness of Christian life, perfect love.

And what is the significance of our religious and tertiary consecration? We commit ourselves to strive towards perfect love with the help of the experience that the community of Carmel has. Through the saints of our order, through the devotion of simple brothers and sisters, and through the great events of our history that we have gone through as a family of Carmel. This is for us a concrete school and path we want to follow towards perfect love. “By making a profession, the tertiary wants to strengthen the baptismal vow to love God above all and to renounce Satan and his seductions” (article 12). Our tertiary and Carmelite life is nothing other than the desire to live baptism intensely. To love God, to love people, and to consistently renounce what contradicts that. That’s why the rule says: “By the sacrament of baptism, which makes each a member of the mysterious body of Jesus, the tertiary is called to holiness. His greatest dignity lies in the fact that he has the divine life and God’s love within him, which the Spirit pours into his heart” (article 20).

I had a great desire to present the example of Saints Cyril and Methodius before us in this reflection. But when I searched ancient Slavic written monuments, I found nothing suitable about baptism for our inspiration. Perhaps it is just my clumsiness and lack of expertise. In Lidéřovice, in the context of our programs called “ventilating the church and organ,” we dealt some time ago with St. Ludger (742–809), whose name ultimately forms the basis for the naming of this village. In order to know something more about this saint, who was a missionary to the Saxons and the first bishop in Münster, I received a beautiful book about him from the Carmelite brothers from Germany.⁵ It writes about the Christianization of Germanic tribes more broadly.

In the baptismal ceremony as we use it today, our attention is drawn to the words of the priest, who, during the baptism, says to the catechumen: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Whereas in the early Middle Ages, the most prominent core of the entire ceremony was the confession pronounced by the catechumen himself. The priest or bishop would ask him: “Do you believe in God, the Almighty Father?” And the catechumen would loudly confess: “I believe.” Then he would ask him: “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” And the person would answer again: “I believe.” And so on. It was made absolutely clear that baptism is not something “someone performs on someone,” but that it is a life decision of a specific person: a renunciation of evil and a confession of Christian faith.⁶

And it is worth correcting our view on mass baptisms. Alcuin, the court theologian of Charles the Great, was against forced baptisms. Even if Charles the Great resorted to them. We are easily tempted to be appalled that ancient nations or tribes accepted baptism as a whole, all at once. However, upon closer examination of the mentality of those Germans, we find that at that time it was not possible otherwise. These people lived in such close-knit communities that within their tribe, everyone shared the same religion. Who would distinguish themselves in their faith would expose themselves to the fateful uprooting and the risk of destruction. While the previous ancient society was already more relaxed (as is our modern society) and allowed the individual autonomy in matters of religion, in medieval society, this was not possible. At that time, in a particular tribe, either everyone was pagan, or everyone was Christian... And we come to realize that we must judge the faith of our ancestors at the time of the acceptance of Christianity very carefully.⁷

Let us add a few more thoughts inspired by the present. Baptism is a life decision for each of us. It is my commitment that binds me, that ties me to someone. And it also represents an anchor that holds me (in the storm of the world) in one place. This I want to emphasize now. Some time ago, one of the participants in the tertiary meeting (I hope he won’t be upset that I mention this anonymously here) came to me and our conversation affected me deeply. This person came with a request whether he could make a tertiary vow. Since we had never met before, I was understandably surprised and asked him why he wanted to make the vow. And he replied: “I have just been through very difficult things, evil has shaken me to the core and almost destroyed my personal and family life. And I have realized that it is very important for me to commit. To anchor myself in the right place, to tie myself to God and to Christ. And I would like to do it...” Without rejecting the possibility that he might one day become a tertiary and make a profession in the third order, I first tried to briefly explain to him that such anchoring we have already done with our baptism.

And then I thought more generally: it is a shame if we do not realize this aspect of baptism or if we forget it. Today’s world often lives as if “everything is possible.” Everything is in motion and everything is relative... And so, for example, a completely random meeting of a strange man and a strange woman is taken as an opportunity for a brief partnership, followed by an equally sudden breakup. And one can even get used to such an approach, act like this repeatedly and cold-bloodedly. No care is taken for the future, responsibility is not acknowledged. Behavior is based on the situation, on random circumstances, without deeper reflection and self-criticism. And then it can happen that unpredictably we harm another person very much or damage a relationship that we have built for a long time. Just because the opportunity came up and we “didn’t deal with it.” More specific examples do not need to be given... And so it is very important that we do not fall into this trap. Yes, much around us is in motion: cars drive very fast, people talk to us three at once, noise is pouring in on us from different sides, a lot of impressions, this or that provokes us... – but we know where our anchor lies. We, baptized in the name of Christ, walk through this world as people who know to whom they belong.

Christians in the first centuries were very fond of using the sign of the so-called small cross. They made it on their foreheads, on their lips, on their hearts, on various parts of their bodies, especially in temptations, and while doing so, they remembered: “This is a signature! This little cross is a sign of to whom I belong – I belong to Christ.” And so we can also say: “Is your hand tempting you? Make a cross on it! That hand belongs to Christ. Are your lips tempting you? Make a cross on them. Those lips are to belong to Christ. And you promised at baptism that they would belong to Christ! So just return to that and be faithful to it...”

In this sense, baptism for us is not merely a ceremony that happened some time ago or in childhood when we were brought to church as infants. Baptism is our basic anchoring in the storm or swaying of the world around us. The world is not evil; there is much beautiful and much good in it. But besides that, there is also evil and a lot of temptation. And if we dull our vigilance, it can happen that we forget to whom we belong. A clear example of this is again in partnerships. Young people go out to socialize, on trips, for fun. But if someone goes there who has a partner who couldn’t go with them, and they care about that partner, then they remain faithful to that relationship throughout that trip or during that time. And that person knows that they belong to someone. And such a commitment is contained in baptism.

I will emphasize again what I hinted at. Baptism anchors. It is a choice of a specific Savior and a specific spiritual path. And that means that I leave other “saviors” out of my interest. I have bet on Christ. And real evil not only stays out of my attention but I directly reject it, I stand against it. I do not want to have anything to do with it, because it offends and bothers Christ. I have made a choice and I will not dilute my relationship with Christ with anything. You may have heard that during the baptism ceremony in the Eastern Church, the catechumen spits toward the western side, which symbolizes Satan. With such a resolute “provocation” he expresses that from now on, he wants nothing to do with evil...

A few years ago, on Easter, after we had beautifully experienced the baptism of three catechumens in the community of the parish, one woman from the parish confided in me during the subsequent agapé: “I envied those catechumens! I felt sorry that I do not remember my baptism, and I wondered if I harm my children by having them baptized as small children...” But let us remind ourselves of the church tradition. The church has been baptizing small children since ancient times. And it has its value. In the baptism of small children, it is clearly visible: baptism is a gift. It is not a reward for our merits. And we also understand more clearly: baptism is a beginning. Baptism cannot be the end of a Christian life! And above all: the gift of baptism opens in our inner self the spring of God’s life. This divine life works within the child even before it starts to “understand.” And at the baptism of a small child, it is also evident: this little person will not have faith unless the church helps them. And we come to realize that this is true for all of us: we need the church. We need community. We cannot live our faith in Christ on our own, for ourselves. Thus, several reasons for the baptism of small children arise before us.

We baptize: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Today we are often dulled to the perception of the power of words. But that the name of God, the names of the persons of the Trinity were pronounced over me at my baptism, that is a great thing. The name of the true God was pronounced over me and I belong to Him. When we talked about “signing,” we talked about belonging to Christ. And even thanks to the pronouncement of His name over me at baptism – I belong to Him. When we reflect on the power of God’s name, we come to realize that baptism is not just my commitment – that I will stretch myself; I promised this, and now I will do it... But the name full of power was pronounced over me. And I rely on the strength of that name; I rely on the strength of Christ. He is full of power and wants to protect us. The statements of the New Testament in this regard are very strong. “No one born of God commits sin, for God’s seed remains in him” (1 John 3:9). John Paul II identified with the interpretation that the Divine seed in us is Christ, His saving action in us. In this sense, we should understand the other Johannine statement as well: “No one born of God lives in sin, for the Son of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him” (1 John 5:18n.).⁸

Let us conclude our reflection with a beautiful quote from the baptismal sermon of Professor Jan Heller: “Baptism demonstrates to us through a symbolic act that true life consists in love and forgiveness. But not merely in human love and human forgiveness, which can be very fragile and fleeting, but in the firm and everlasting love of God and God’s forgiveness. (...) There is nothing more precious than to be marked, surrounded, and guarded by this eternal and holy love.”⁹

Benedict XVI during the general audience on February 16, 2011

Many of her advice and insights are an excellent contribution to life...

Proposal for the preparation of the celebrations of the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Jesus (2015)

In the Carmelite tradition, very little is said about baptism...

some key concepts that allow us to better know and understand both the psychology and the language of that enchanting and passionate woman...

Proposal for the preparation of the celebrations for the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Saint Teresa of Jesus (2015)

Constant Prayer of St. Augustine – Completion

On September 14, we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On this day, the Discalced Carmelites renew their religious vows...