Community of Mount Carmel
« There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand
rising from the sea. »
(1 Kings 18:43)
Nineteen years have passed after the Holy Spirit placed in the heart of Sister Marie of the Sacré-Cœur, a Discalced Carmelite from the monastery of Avignon (France), the desire to found a monastery at Mount Carmel and its effective completed on January 1, 1892.
However, an unbroken thread unites us to the Teresian foundation of Malagon: Genoa – Avignon – Écully – Mont Carmel.
Its origin is rooted in the heart of our Saint Mother Thérèse, when the Holy Spirit inspired her to found the dovecotes of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, where we would live the Primitive Rule as she called it – imitating the saints prophets who lived near the source of Elijah.
It is an invitation for the Carmelites of Mount Carmel today, as for those of yesterday. We feel contemporary with these first hermits who lived in obedience to Jesus Christ on this Holy Mountain, near the source of Elijah.
« All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women and Mary the mother of Jesus,
and his brothers. »
(Acts 1: 14)
For us to live as Carmelites on Mount Carmel is to place ourselves in communion with all those who throughout the centuries made this the place for their encounter with God. It is also to pray with the prophet Elijah for the triumph of the true faith and to learn to wait for the irruption of divine rain on the land of Israel. It is to live in the company of Mary and like her to open our heart to the Word.
It is to live deeply rooted in the ideal that each Carmelite in the entire world wishes to attain: “To live in obedience to Jesus Christ and to ponder the Lord’s law day and night.” That is why the text of the Rule given by Saint Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, is written on the walls of the cloister of our monastery.
A special prayer intention was entrusted to us by Pope Leo XIII and confirmed by Pope John Paul II: “To pray so that the churches that are still separated attain full union in Christ, that the Jewish people grow in fidelity to their vocation as a chosen people, witness to God, and for the fraternal reconciliation among all.” Since then we have kept vigil like sentinels in the night who wait for the dawn. This is the utmost significance of our presence as Discalced Carmelites on the mountain of Elijah and the Virgin Mary.