Meditations from Carmel

Recently I was introduced to a Carmelite web site that give people an opportunity to learn about Carmelite spirituality through podcasts that are short meditations from the great Carmelite saints. Being a great admirer of Saint Teresa of Avila, I found this web site a wonderful resource. I had the opportunity to “email interview” Lisa Johnston. Here it is …

1. Who produces the Meditations from Carmel podcasts?

The podcasts are being produced by members in the Order of Carmelite Discalced Secular (OCDS), a Secular Community in St. Louis, Missouri, of which we are about 40 strong. The podcast has become one of apostolates and was begun only after much prayerful consideration and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Also, however, our wonderful Sisters at the Carmel of St. Joseph monastery are prayerfully behind our efforts and we could not have done this without them!!!

2. What is your hope for this apostolate?

Our OCDS community began this new media apostolate earlier this year in hopes of bringing the message of contemplative and mystical prayer to a wider Christian audience. We hope these short Meditations from Carmel will help lead the way to a more contemplative prayer life as the listener is guided by the words of great Saints of Carmel.

Our plan has been to disseminate these meditations via our Podcast at www.stl-ocds.org on a weekly basis and have been doing so on each Sunday of the week. We are currently searching for Catholic Broadcasters who may be interested in using the meditations in their daily programming as prayerful interludes between their shows.

3. Tell me a bit about what the saints of Carmel have to offer people.

There is SO much to tell about the deep, deep well of Carmel, but let me start with St. Teresa of Avila because she is a woman of so many great talents and because I love her so! The first woman Doctor of the Catholic Church, Teresa was not only a heroic reformer of the Carmelite Order (who gave them the name “discalced” or “shoeless”) but she is also one of the greatest teachers of prayer where her writings on this matter are unsurpassed in their timeless wisdoms on drawing close to God. She had a beautiful way of making one understand their own soul and she likened our soul “to be like a castle made entirely out of a diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven there are many dwelling places. For in reflecting upon it carefully, Sisters, we realize that the soul of the just person is nothing else but a paradise where the Lord says He finds His delight.” Teresa’s book, Interior Castle, explains how we may recognize our own castle and how we can navigate through its many, many rooms in search of the royal throne room where His Majesty, our Lord, dwells.

In the great garden of Carmel, we are also privileged to have the “Mystical Doctor” of the Church, St. John of the Cross. John lived at the same time as Teresa in Spain and was her great helper in reform of the Carmelite Order. John lived an austere life where he contemplated God as a Living Flame of Love which ignited his entire being with such a great love for God and His infinite beauty. There may be no better guide than John of the Cross who can teach about living in total union with God through a contemplative life of mystical prayer. His spiritual classic, The Dark Night of the Soul, is a venerable writing where John explains about the purgation and purification of a soul on its way to union with God.

As if that was not enough, let us also introduce you to the third Carmelite Doctor of the Church, St. Therese of Lisieux. Though Therese died when she was only 24 and never having left her Carmelite Monastery in France (which she entered to at the age of only 15!), Therese is now decorated as the doctor of Missionaries and also the Doctor of Confidence. Her message is that of simplicity - to love God with the heart of a child. Therese called this “her little way” and her method for attaining heaven on earth can be taught to persons of all fashions. We perhaps know our Sister in Carmel best by her religious titles “St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face”, but many others know her by her honorable title as “the little flower”. Therese teaches us that, “We can never have enough confidence in God who is so good, so powerful, so merciful”. Her most famous writing is that of her diary, the Story of a Soul, a book translated into countless languages and loved by millions of people.

O.K., well I hope that will start your appetite for Carmel! And it is only the tip of the “Holy Iceberg”! Wait until you meet some others!

We have tried carefully to make it easy for our visitors to learn more about our saints and how to find a richer prayer life for themselves. To this end each podcast includes a photograph and text of each meditation which can be downloaded and printed for each podcast. We truly hope this makes it easier for your own prayerful meditation to enjoy again and again. Maybe one may print it out and place it on their bedside table to re-read and consider during their own bedtime prayer! Also, each episode includes direct links to the book publishers who offer these spiritual classics by the Carmelites (like ICS in Washington and the Teresian Charism Press in Holy Hill) so that listeners can continue to learn more about our Saints and their writings.

4. Where can people go to access the podcasts and learn more about Carmel and its saints?

Meditations from Carmel podcast can be found by entering our web site at www.stl-ocds.org. There are m4p media files of each podcast (best sound quality) and also smaller MP3 files for each episode. Both of these files can be downloaded onto your own iPod or MP3 player. Most of the meditations are quite short (about 2 minutes) but some are longer but max out at 5 minutes.

Our first Volume of works which we have been posting each week contain the works of Saints Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux. Also you will find inspirational messaged by another saint of Carmel, Teresa of the Andes. If you have not yet met this mystical young woman you will be glad you finally did!

Starting at the beginning of 2007 we hope to start airing Volume II of our meditations which will feature St. John of the Cross, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity and Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection who will help you practice the presence of God.