'Get caught up in God's love,' Pope urges Discalced Carmelites

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"The path of contemplation is inherently a path of love," that "makes us witnesses of the love we have received," Pope Francis observed when welcoming superiors and delegates of Discalced Carmelites in the Vatican on Thursday. 

Serving "as a ladder that raises us up to God," contemplation, the Pope said, is not about separating one from the world, but grounding us more deeply in it.

Embracing the Lord's calling

Recognizing that the religious are in the process of revising their Constitutions, the Holy Father acknowledged this "is a significant undertaking." Not only does it respond "to a natural human need and the contingencies of community life," he said, it also marks "an occasion" to devote themselves to prayer and discernment.

Pope Francis welcomes Discalced Carmelites in the Vatican]

By "remaining inwardly open to the working of the Holy Spirit," the Pope continued, "you are challenged to discover new language, new ways, and new means to give greater impetus to the contemplative life that the Lord has called you to embrace."

In this way, the Holy Father said, they enable the charism of Carmel "to attract many hearts, for the glory of God and the good of the Church."

As the Pope called their history and past "a source of richness," he likewise encouraged the nuns to "remain open to the promptings of the Spirit," "to the perennial newness of the Gospel," and "to the signs that the Lord shows us through the experiences of life and the challenges of history."

Caught up by the love of Christ

As cloistered women, the Holy Father acknowledged they live a certain "tension" between separation from the world and immersion in it, clarifying that their reality is "far from seeking refuge in interior spiritual consolations or a prayer [that is] divorced from reality."

Rather, Pope Francis marveled, the Carmelites allow themselves "to be caught up by the love of Christ and union with Him, so that His love can pervade your entire existence and find expression in all that you say and do." 

Hope offered by the Gospel

The Pope said that the light they need to revise their Constitutions and address the many concrete problems of monasteries and of community life is "none other than the hope offered by the Gospel," which, he said, differs from illusions based on human calculations.  

This, the Pope said, "entails surrendering ourselves to God, learning to read the signs He gives us to discern the future." 

"May your complete immersion in His presence," the Holy Father said, "always fill you with the joy of sisterhood and mutual love." 

Pope Francis concluded by encouraging the sisters to look ahead, with hope and trust in God.

Pope Francis greets Discalced Carmelites in the Vatican