Love Alone

L o scorso 1 ottobre, festa di santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù, patrona delle missioni, noi studenti carmelitani ci siamo incontrati con alcuni monaci dal Tibet. Così, abbiamo vissuto l'esperienza stessa di Sta Teresina di portare sulla terra quel la pace e il bene che vuole da noi il nostro Dio Creatore, Padre di tutti noi. Ogni cosa può essere un'opportunità per dialogare con le altre religioni del mondo, così imparando uno degli altri il rispetto per la diversità e il fondamento essenziale positivo della globalizzazione. Così scrive il Santo Padre nella sua Enciclica Caritas in veritate [42]: Sometimes globalisation is viewed in fatalistic terms, as if the dynamics involved were the product of anonymous impersonal forces or structures independent of the human will. In this regard it is useful to r emember that while globalisation should certainly be understood as a socio-economic process, this is not its only dimension. Underneath the more visible process, humanity itself...

Bl-isbaħ xewqat għal Milied hieni u qaddis u sena ġdida mimlija kull risq u barka mill-Mulej Wishing all a happy and saintly Christmas and a prosperous New Year 2009 Con todo afecto os deseo una santa y feliz navidad y próspero año nuevo 2009 Con tutto affetto vi deseo un buon natale e prospero anno nuovo 2009

El Instituto Carmelita de Malta es fruto de una colaboración de la Provinicia Carmelita y la Carmelita Desaclza, ambos presentes desde hace muchos siglos en Malta. Es un intento de promover en Malta nuestra espiritualidad y tradición. Su objectivo es de ofrecer cursos de Espiritualidad Carmelita y de Mariología en diversos niveles, tanto que en octubre pasado el instituto ha empezado ya dos cursos a nivel universitario de espiritualidad y acompañamiento espiritual. Se ofrecerán más cursos en el futuro. En el lugar también ha abierto un museo cuyo fin es también espiritual. El visitador está invitado a descubrir el viaje que el fraile carmelita hace hacia la unión con Dios a través de una guía en el museo donde se visita el Oratorio, el Refectorio, la Sala del Capítulo, la Celda, la Sacristía y por fin la Iglesia. Antes de salir, el visitador puede entrar en la cafetería que está en el mismo convento y gustar comidas y dulces típicamente monásticas. El proyecto del convento y del museo ...

Por fin tengo aquí unas fotos de mi Profesión Simple que tuvo lugar el pasado 8 de septiembre. Fue una maravilla, de verdad. Una celebración simple, pero muy bella y digna. Os deseo todo bien en la vida y que halléis al Señor como lo he hallado yo. Que os vaya todo bién, estéis donde estéis.

On Saturday, 4th October 2008, at 10.00 a.m., the Carmelite Church at Mdina, Malta, will be the venue of the inauguration of the Carmelite Institute Malta. The Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm., will be present for this occasion. The inauguration programme includes two lectures, one by Fr. Kees Waaijman, O.Carm., (Neer), on “Carmel: An Empty Space for God”, and another by Fr. Eugene McCaffrey, OCD, on “Carmel: A Lover’s Quest”. The Carmelite Institute Malta is a collaborative effort of the Maltese Carmelite Province and of the Maltese Province of Discalced Carmelites to promote in Malta the study of Carmelite spirituality and tradition. Its main goal is to offer courses in Carmelite spirituality and Mariology on various levels. In fact, starting October of this year, the Institute will be cooperating with the Faculty of Theology of the University of Malta to offer an MA programme in Spirituality. Students enrolled in this programme may opt to specialize in Carmelite ...

One of the key points the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes about prayer is that it involves a mutual relationship between God and the person praying. "Prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him," the Catechism states (no. 2560). Moreover, God is the initiator of the relationship: "In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first (no. 2567). The human act of praying is a response to God's initiative. Perhaps this is not our experience. The move from saying prayers to meditating or praying from the heart can be difficult. Even the most loquacious person can be at a loss for words. I may not have a lot to say to God. Even more so does it seem that God has little to say to me. I wait in silence for God to speak and I hear nothing. God doesn't seem to be holding up his end of the deal. However, as I progress further in prayer, I realize God does speak. Usually not in words and often not at...

We live in a time of computers, of the virtual, of the immediate. News travels from one side of the world to the other in a fraction of a second. We have immediate access to a mountain of information. All of this undoubtedly has a positive value, as the Church has pointed out on numerous occasions. However, we do also run the risk of falling into the worrying superficiality of data with no criteria for analysis; information without formation, a light, post-modern culture which exalts the empty, the passing, the insignificant. Perhaps what this society needs, more than ever, is something that the Carmelite charism can offer: the meaning of contemplation, of spiritual depth. The Carmelite should be a man or woman with inner life, with depth, with spiritual riches, a man or woman who in the midst of the hustle and bustle of daily life, of the problems and contradictions of our time is able to create the inner silence in which God may speak. Sometimes we too are swept up in prejudice, hurr...