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THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS

Ask a lone bird winging in the air
About the wind beneath her wings
Ask a fish delving in the depth of the sea
Of the feel of water about her
Ask a contemplative Carmelite
What prayer is like
And all of them will say something like this
Take me away from water
Take me away from the wind
Take me away from prayer
And I will cease to be me.
For a contemplative Carmelite nun Prayer is the all permeating life breath.
I have heard and read people say that if there is any beauty and goodness left
in the world, it is because of the silent supplication of those who lead a hidden life in
the cloisters or those doing intense ‘Thapas’ in the Himalayas. The most beautiful flowers bloom
and die in the thick of the forest just for the glory of God (unseen by any creatures)
Karl Rahner says that the only contribution the Catholics can give to the new millennium
Is the gift of mysticism. With the complexities of the modern day living is a growing awareness
of the need for God and the universal solidarity of humankind.
The inventive skill and creative vision of the human beings have explored the macrocosm
of the universe and this exploration will culminate in searching the Creator in the microcosm
of one’s soul. A time will come when people will worship God neither on this mountain nor on that mountain but in spirit and in truth, in the temple of human heart. It is already here.
It is here the cloistered contemplative way of life going to give a significant contribution.
The soul of a Carmelite is to be the best perpetual adoration chapel. Kalil Gibran put this way;
Jesus came to make your heart a temple of God and your mind a priest. A few years from now
Religious life will be relevant only to the extent we are exclusive seekers of God. This does not
Mean the cloisters will be flooded with vocations…..May or may not be. We are not to be unduly
worried about the future nor be lethargic and say the future will take care of itself. I have one
thing to remember; the glory of Carmel lies within my being and I have to enhance and hand it over to the next generation. A sacred patrimony is not a guarantee for eternal permanence. With a whole heart commitment to interiorly I can fan into flame the glory of Carmel so that it can be a sign and way side sacrament to the world today
My heart overwhelms with gratitude for His mercy and goodness towards me in calling me to the portals of Carmel. Write I must though with fear and trembling few of my longings and dreams, knowing well that you will overlook the folly of a beginner.
Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect; Jesus did not exclude anyone from His universal
Call to holiness, the highest degree of perfection possible here on earth, Mysticism is also an invitation
opened to all. There is a paradox here. It is God’s free gift; it is also the degree of our awareness of what God can and is doing to us.
The Pedigree of honey
Does not concern the bee
A clover, any line for him
It is aristocracy.- Emily Dickinson
If only we had the courage to live and let our world know our God is not a God who descends from the Olympian heights once in a thousand years to pick up one rare mortal soul to make her the beneficiary of His dart of love. For our holy mother St. Teresa, prayer is a friendship with God. We know that true friendship can take place only between two equals. I can never equate myself with God with all my brokenness and earthly ill dispositions. Yet I want to believe that I am a friend of Jesus not by halves but
fully, not as a cliche but really and truly….Unless and until I have this confidence what I will be offering to those who come to me is my emptiness and inner poverty.
We are called to Carmel not because we were perfect but He perfects whom He has called little by little.
He needs our honesty. Jesus said blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. The first thing then we have to do is to purify our motives. We may have not entered the cloister with the perfect
Understanding and the noblest motive but we can stand naked before the Lord and ennoble the reason of our being in the cloister.
I feel basic honesty is one of the surest way to the heart of God. The only groups of people whom Jesus ruthlessly attacked were the dishonest duplicate lot. Our holy mother said that Humility is truth or self realization. All of us feel jealousy but only an honest and humble person will silently whisper to the Lord’s ear “Lord I am eaten up with jealousy help me now”.
A Carmelite knows from the teaching of their holy parents that progress in prayer is wrought on the flaming forge of life. As long as we are not purified by a deep awareness of our own brokenness our lives will be made noisy by other people’s affairs. It is here that the reading and re-reading of Precautions of St. John of the Cross helps.
Once the inner rebellion crumbled down I began to realize how the culture and climate within
The cloister is meant to set a soul free for the silent working of the Holy Spirit. Everything in Carmel is a prelude to prayer, nay prayer itself. My inner space had been a battle field….My deepest longings, my
silent tears and fears all are blossoming into something beautiful for God. Shed all masks, pretensions own up the good and not so good within you and simply hand over life to God and He will take care of you. We will experience the silence of the surrendering love.
The saints of Carmel, especially my intimate friend and guide, Edith Stein has given me a new and profound meaning of suffering on our journey of love. Prayer is love aflame and a Carmelite is the one in search of the Beloved. Once this search becomes a thrill, the lover God places more hurdles on the way, though often you stumble and fall somewhere along the way you recognize the hurdles are making you stronger and humbler and you desire for more. Cross is a prize that we pay to prove our fidelity.
The best gift Carmel has given me is the awareness of a piece of heaven within and the relative importance of things. I know now that heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter…
I am amazed by the confidence level of the youth of today... When you watch a beauty contest or a reality show you wonder where they get such confidence from. How many of us, whom God has specially chosen and clothed with dignity and honor will with confidence say that God has called me to the highest perfection. I am in the Carmel for higher things to allow the full flowering of the sanctifying spirit within. The working of the sanctifying grace is to be considered more worth than a thousand
Charismatic gifts. Without this confidence of the divinity within me I cannot be a mystic.
Finally, God is there ever present before me and within me with all the Love that there ever could be….To see Him and be with Him fully, I need to become purer and purer...Letting go and letting go and finally letting God, for He has promised; blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.