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Each year we organise a silent retreat with a Carmelite theme which is open to the other OCDS Communities and to the wider Dioceses as a way of sharing our Carmel charism. Our theme for 2024 was:
The tree that is beside running water is fresher and gives more fruit.
As noted from our retreat organiser and community formator, Megan Emery:
From our regular attendees through to new participants, the fruits of the retreat were apparent. You can learn more from a new participant’s perspective by reading about Rebecca’s experience.
with Fr Adalbert, OCD
Here are some highlights from our retreat as led by Fr Adalbert OCD, which you can find in its entirety within our December 2024 newsletter.
Our experience of silence can be positive or negative. It can mean peace, calm, joy… or it can mean loneliness… or even be traumatic. Sedatephobia is the fear of silence. Silence can be a noun or a transitive verb, meaning it can be something, or it can bring about something. Silence can be a space of reflection, or it can be a space of healing, where God transforms us from being lonely, to being alone in prayer with Him, in solitude & friendship.
“Silence is the way to foster holiness” (Rule of St Albert).
Studying the Bible is a sacred art, meaning we need to pray before, during and after the study. There are also different approaches to studying the Bible. The three-world approach looks at the world behind the text (context, history, tradition), the world of the text (story, characters, language, genre), and the world in front of the text (reader-response). It is important to consider each of these three worlds when studying a text. It is also important to find a middle ground between a literal translation (the words) and a dynamic translation (the meaning).
There are different shades of the meaning of ‘silence’ in the Old Testament: silence, quiet(ness), still(ness). The Psalmist tells us, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). Silence can mean peace and security in God: “…in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Is. 30:15). Or God can be a powerful force causing stillness: “By his power he stilled the Sea” (Job 26:12). God can be found in the thunder (Ex.19:16-19). He can also be found in the silence, where Elijah was given his mission (1 Kings 19:9-15).
Silence can be considered through the characters of Jesus and Mary in the New Testament. Jesus was tempted in silence of the desert (Luke 4:1-13). So, in silence, we can encounter the voice of the devil as well as the voice of God. St John of the Cross tells us of the three traditional enemies of the soul: the flesh, the world and the devil. So, during Lent, we fast to counter the flesh, we give alms to counter the world, and we pray to counter the devil. However, temptations can be a mirror, showing us something lacking in ourselves, something we desire. They can therefore help us to gain self-knowledge and can help us to trust God more fully. Temptations can be our footsteps to holiness, when we freely choose to go back to God each time we are tempted.
In another passage, Jesus “spent the whole night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12-16). Silence helps with discernment, by giving space for God to speak to us.
In the story of the nativity (Luke 2:1-20), Mary “treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart”, silence being joy and peace. However, at the foot of the cross, Mary stood in silence, where it was suffering and darkness (John 19:25-27).
But, in the silence, there was also hope.
“For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us” (Life, 8.5).
Prayer, for St Teresa, is relational. It is a friendship with God, where we reveal more and more of ourself to the other. In the silence of loneliness, we feel sad and disconnected. In the silence of solitude, we are connected to God, we start to be.
There are three fundamental virtues which are preconditions for prayer: charity, detachment and humility (truth). With prayer, these virtues grow, as does our desire for solitude and awe of God. Prayer is therefore transformative. We become more and more who we are meant to be.
St Teresa tells us of the various stages of active prayer: vocal prayer, mental prayer, prayer of recollection… But in all these stages, St Teresa never leaves the sacred humanity of Christ.
In the prayer of recollection, St Teresa tells us about striving to picture Christ in our mind, and sitting with Him, in silence and solitude… Then there are the passive (or receptive) stages of prayer. Contemplation is a gratuitous gift from God. However, even vocal prayer can lead to contemplation, if it is done with attention and intention.
St Teresa herself struggled with prayer for 20 years! She saw herself as miserable, because as she drew closer to God, she saw every speck in herself. But she became the first female Doctor of the Church, Doctor of Prayer, because she was given the grace to receive from God, the grace to understand what she had received, and the grace to explain it. She also tells us not to worry about distractions in prayer. [In fact, every time we pull back to God, it is an act of love for Him. We then grow in the virtue of love and so in our path to holiness.]
Pray to St Teresa, become her friend, ask her to teach you!
St John of the Cross is an example of the amazing transformative power of prayer in the midst of an intense silence of suffering and pain. We can start by reading his poems and letting them speak to us. His works are commentaries on his poems: Spiritual Canticle, Living Flame, Ascent (active prayer), Dark Night (being passive/receptive to God).
St John sees the person as a soul, made up of sense and spirit.
The sense comprises exterior and interior senses (imagination).
The spirit comprises the intellect (hope), memory (faith) and will (love), which is the highest faculty of the soul, and which unites us to God.
The senses need to be purified, as the memory and imagination provide many distractions. Hope purifies our memories (possessions), as we learn to let go. Only God is worth possessing. The Holy Spirit helps us to accept God’s free will of Himself, allowing Him to heal us. So, fill yourself with things that are of God. This will feed our imagination and memory.
Then, in silence and solitude, we can listen to the voice of God.
Our desires also need to be purified. Union with God is our ultimate desire. Ask God for this grace of desiring Him first.
Then, all our other desires will fall into the right order. Out of love for Jesus, “renounce… any sensory satisfaction that is not purely for the honour and glory of God” (Ascent, Bk 1).
Silence makes us more receptive, and so, more appreciative. It gives space for transformation. Nothing can be a substitute for our silence with God, “He understands only one language, that of silent love” (Letter to a Carmelite nun).
If you’ve made it this far, we think you would enjoy spending time on retreat with us.
Keep an eye out as we start to advertise from late September next year for our next November retreat. We’d love to see you there.
Is God perhaps calling you to the Secular Carmelite (OCDS) life? Send us an enquiry to take your first steps.
Blessings in Carmel.