P. Norbert Žuška, O.Carm.
For the title of this lecture, I drew from a quote from the book of the prophet Isaiah, where the prophet speaks of a desert that will "rejoice" thanks to the Lord's intervention and will be given the "glory of Carmel."1 The transformation of the desert here is certainly not a transformation "from one's own resources," but a transformation "by grace," and the "glory of Carmel" represents in a way a reflection of the Lord's glory, the Lord's splendor. I personally believe in this "glory of Carmel," that is, in the beauty of Carmelite spirituality, because it once captivated me and continues to attract and nourish me even after years of living the religious life. It is undoubtedly true that I can live only from a small fraction of its wealth, and this likely holds true for the Carmel community as a whole.
When I contemplated what kind of spectacle we Carmelites provide to those who see us from the outside – and I do not think of those who tend to idealize us, but of those who try to look at us objectively and with healthy criticism – I recalled the prophecy of Balaam from the 24th chapter of the Fourth Book of Moses. The Moabite king Balak summoned the prophet Balaam out of fear of the Israelites, who were marching into the Promised Land, to curse the camp of the Israelites.
Try to imagine a wandering or camping crowd that (as yet) does not have its own land! Despite reports of its victories over surrounding kings, what kind of sight must it have presented to the Moabite king? Perhaps Balak thought to himself: "It's a horde that needs to be cursed to stop its rampage. Just looking at them, words of curse come to my lips. It certainly won't be hard for a professional diviner like Balaam to weaken them with a curse."
And how did it turn out? The prophet Balaam, under the power of God's word and vision, "falls into a trance, his eyes are uncovered" and says: "How lovely are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel!" It seems he sees a beauty that is not visible at first glance; in a moment of grace, he sees how the Lord himself looks upon the people; he sees what is God's truth about Israel; he sees the beauty of Jacob, which, however, is not accessible to mere natural sight. Personally, I am convinced that the "glory of Carmel" is present in the world and in the church today, and that it does not only pertain to Carmelite spirituality as though it were separated from specific individuals; this beauty is present in the vocation and life of all members of the Carmelite family. However, it is not always visible at first sight; very often it is captured more by the eye of faith than by natural sight. This "glory" is stored in "clay vessels",2 which in many ways obscure it with their opaqueness and may even lose something from it with their cracks. Nevertheless, this "glory" is and remains a reflection of authentic divine splendor and beauty.
Regarding the spirituality of Carmel, it should first be noted that it is primarily a spirituality in the deepest Christian sense, a spirituality fundamentally focused on living close to Jesus Christ and on the life of listening and obedience to his word.3 The very fact that Carmel originated in the Holy Land and that the building blocks and first members of the initially hermitic community, later the community, were – at least in part – pilgrims to the Holy Land, attests to the Christological core of our spirituality. "Our forefathers" were people drawn to Christ, who longed to visit places sanctified by Jesus' earthly life and who ultimately decided to remain in his land, in his heritage, and to spend the rest of their lives here.
They chose Carmel because this place was associated with the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah. However, the term "Mount Carmel" was formed later as a spiritual symbol expressing the ascent of man to an ever more perfect union with God. The original hermitic settlement was located in the Wadi Ain es Siah valley, one of the valleys that carve through the ridge of the Carmel mountain range, near a spring known as Elijah's spring.
An important characteristic of the personality of the Old Testament prophet Elijah, which has been carried into the spirituality of Carmel and developed within it, can be found in the First Book of Kings.4 It concerns the very first words of Elijah, which the sacred writers attribute to him in the scriptures: "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand..." With these words, the prophet approaches the Israelite king Ahab, in order to fortify his mission with the authority of the living God and obedient service to him, announcing a period of drought as a punishment for the king's unfaithfulness and the subsequent unfaithfulness of the entire nation. These words were the program of Elijah's life and ministry, and their content was evident in the prophet. Later, when he meets the widow in Zarephath, to whom he was sent to take care of him, and asks her for "a little water, that I may drink," and for "a morsel of bread," she replies: "As the Lord your God lives, I do not have a baked cake...".5
The Carmelites were fascinated by the fact that it was "seen" in Elijah that his God is the living God. They felt themselves heirs of this spirituality, especially when Elijah's immediate successor in his prophetic office, Elisha, supported his mission with the words: "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand,"6 By freely and creatively dealing with these words, they arrived at "Elijah's statement," which at the same time expressed the program of their spiritual life and endeavor: "The living God, before whose face I stand." Living in the presence of God, in the presence of the living God, listening to his word and "acting according to it,"7 is central to the spirituality of Carmel.
Another of Elijah's statements that shapes Carmelite spirituality is the phrase: "Zelo zelatus sum pro Domino Deo exercituum."8 These words have even made it into our religious emblem and, when translated, mean: "I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts." Zeal for God, for his kingdom, for his worship, especially in times when people do not discern and bow down to idols, is another ideal of a Carmelite life.
When I entered the order, this aspect of our spirituality attracted me very much. I was never drawn to mediocrity! Even before my conversion, I was not a "mediocre sinner"; after my conversion, I certainly did not become a "mediocre Christian" (or, if you prefer, a "reasonable Christian" who does not take his faith too far), and I absolutely did not associate entering Carmel with the idea of living a "mediocre religious life." However, only a few years ago did I notice a peculiar paradox: Elijah pronounces these words on Mount Horeb at a moment when he has just accomplished a magnificent victory against the prophets of Baal and Asherah, during which he risked his life; therefore, we cannot deny him zeal. Nevertheless, at the moment when he utters these words, he has already fled from Queen Jezebel. And that flight was not made "according to the word of the Lord,”9 but out of fear; hence, "to save his life."10
Moreover, Elijah's statement is a response to the Lord's question: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" The Lord seems almost surprised to find his prophet somewhere where He has – at least on the surface – not sent him. Elijah should have answered truthfully: "I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, but now I am fleeing because I am afraid of a man, I am afraid of the queen and her vengeance." Perhaps Elijah was so used to considering himself a man who always "burns with zeal" that he could not even see that, for this journey to Mount Horeb, this was not the case. The moment under the thornbush, when he says: "I have had enough, Lord; take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors,”11 is already forty days in the past, forgotten or suppressed. Now he has behind him a forty-day heroic march in the strength of the mysterious bread the angel brought him. And perhaps – without undermining the divine source of the sustenance of this food – he marvels at how much he could endure.
These meditations or speculations do not, of course, aim to uncover what the biblical Elijah underwent. Their purpose is to help us, in light of Elijah's story, to glimpse our own life with God and its pitfalls. To hold up a mirror to our experience of living by grace, which self-satisfaction is so eager to feed on. Our zeal may exist more in the realm of our wishes than in reality, or it may be a faulty interpretation or concealment of the fact that we act out of fear and cowardice. In any case, the Lord does not reject Elijah; He accepts him even as he is capable or incapable of seeing and interpreting the whole situation, and does not dissolve the "prophetic working relationship" because of his weakness and failure. On the contrary, on Mount Horeb he gives him a new experience of His presence "not in the wind," "not in the earthquake," "not in the fire,” but "in the gentle whisper."12 In a way that only God can, He incorporated Elijah's fear and flight into the journey of his personal growth, without damaging the prophetic mission. Thanks to this educational art of the Lord, Elijah’s journey could have continuity and truly culminate in "ascent," not merely to the peak of the mountain (whether Carmel or Horeb), but "to heaven," as we read in the Second Book of Kings: "Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven in a chariot of fire with horses of fire."13
The transformative power of God and his wise pedagogy, which manifests in those who strive to "live before the Face of God" in the spirit of Elijah; God's zeal for us, which precedes our "zeal for the Lord" and watches over it to rekindle and correct it throughout our lives, is also the foundation of the hopes of contemporary Carmel.
What role does the Virgin Mary play in Carmelite spirituality? This question would probably elicit slightly different answers from each of the brothers or sisters, depending on the role that Mary plays in their personal lives. However, looking back at history – to the beginnings of the order – we find that at a time when the "group of hermits" dwelling at Elijah's spring on Mount Carmel began to transform into a "community of hermits," and the need arose for some kind of "spiritual center," the brothers built an oratory (prayer place) amidst the hermitages to gather there for daily Eucharistic celebrations, dedicating it to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that over time they came to be called the Brothers of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel.
Their choice was certainly not accidental or random. One of the central articles of the rule required them to "remain in their cells and day and night meditate on the law of the Lord" (Art. 10). In other words, through their way of life "in obedience to Jesus Christ" (Art. 2) and an important means of sanctification was remaining in the presence of God's word, meditating on God's word. They could hardly choose a better teacher than the Virgin Mary, of whom Scripture testifies that "she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart,"14
Moreover – entirely in the spirit of feudal thinking – they understood Mary as the Lady of the place they lived and which they dedicated to her, as the Patroness (following the model of a feudal lord or patron), to whom they commit themselves (much like vassals) with their honor, loyalty, and worship. In return, she would hold her protective hand over them. In the constitutions from 1324, we find a prayer to God the Father, which understands Mary's patronage as a means of mediating God's protection: "Protect, Lord, your servants in peace, and when they are faithful to the protection (patrocinii) of the Blessed Virgin Mary, deliver them from all enemies. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
Furthermore, Mary was a model of purity and contemplation for the brothers, as only those "with pure hearts shall see God,”15 for them she was the Queen and adornment of Carmel, a Mother whose love and care precedes our response of honor and love. The scapular became for them a particular sign of Mary's protection and a lasting reminder of the baptismal commitment to "put off the old self and put on Christ."16
Currently, among Carmelites, the title Sister for Mary is of great interest, as it presents Mary in a particularly close and endearing way. Soon after their inception, the hermits on Carmel were called the Brothers of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel, but this title only acquired true significance in the 20th century in connection with the Second Vatican Council, when Pope Paul VI emphasized at the last session of the third session on November 21, 1964: "Mary is very close to us. She is Adam's daughter like us, and thus our sister through the bond of nature. She is certainly a creature, who was preserved from original sin in view of the merits of the Redeemer. To the gifts of grace, she added the personal virtue of an unwavering, exemplary faith."
Mary is our sister, a creature like us and, in cooperation with grace, attained "the personal virtue of unwavering and exemplary faith." Among the many aspects of Mary's faith, I would like to highlight just one: Mary's ability to remain in faith and to wait until "what was said to her by the Lord is fulfilled."17 It is the ability not to force God's word or interpret it with her necessarily short-sighted understanding, nor to fulfill or hasten the fulfillment of promises by her own strength. Mary's faith allowed God's word to fully "accomplish that for which it was sent,”18 because she knew how to wait.
She knew how to wait in faith and with trust in divine providence, until her (premarital) pregnancy is bodily revealed, until God’s and her Son is born, albeit under conditions opposing human dignity; she knew how to live his concealed life with faith, waiting until he matures, until he begins his public ministry, until the "crowds press in on him"19 and until "many oppose him";20 waiting until "his hour" comes,21 which will also be "the hour of his enemies and the reign of darkness";22 she persevered in faith through the agony of Calvary until Jesus' "it is finished";23 she accepted his resurrection in faith and awaited in prayer with the disciples "until the Father's promise is fulfilled"24 and "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit";25 her faith was part of the faith of the early church and with faith, she awaited "her hour," which would lead her into "the dwelling places that her Son has prepared for her at the Father’s house."26
To remain in faith and expectation is also part of our Christian and spiritual life. It is about waiting as a way of experiencing the necessary delay between "leavening the dough" and the state when "everything will be leavened";27 waiting that allows for ripening – the result of which is ripe fruit; it is about active waiting, which may also include "a flight into Egypt,"28 to protect the fragile treasure entrusted to us. It is about waiting that is not empty time because every moment of it is filled with the presence of the Promising One;29 it is waiting of faith connected with love, which does not seize to create its happiness but allows itself to be transformed and taught the art of loving by the one who "is Love" himself.30
Mary practiced waiting in faith not only during her earthly life, but she continues to wait: until her son reigns "over the house of Jacob forever,"31 because "everything" has not yet been "put under him";32 she waits until "all generations will call her blessed,"33 because this prophecy has not yet been fully realized. Therefore, the art of "waiting in faith" can also teach her brothers and sisters of all times – not only in Carmel.
Mary is in the very truest sense the "glory of Carmel," because she is the unblemished reflection of God's glory and God's splendor, but – as St. Thérèse of Lisieux says: "because of her perfections, it is not necessary to say that she eclipses the glory of all saints, like when the stars fade at sunrise. My God, how strange it is! A Mother who eclipses the glory of her children! I think the opposite is true; I believe that she increases even more the brilliance of the chosen ones."34 Just as Mary's faith serves our faith, so also Mary's glory serves our glorification.
(The lecture took place in Bratislava on June 29, 2012.)
