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“All are to remain in their cells or near them, meditating day and night on the Law of the Lord and keeping vigil in prayer.”
~ Carmelite Rule
Silent Prayer
If there is one element that can be said to embody or symbolise the essence of Carmel it is the importance we place on solitary, silent prayer. It is by her fidelity to these hours of prayer – two hours each day – that a Carmelite is forged. The hours of solitary, ‘unoccupied’ prayer as it were, are the most powerful expression of this vocation and our most practical act of faith in God.
Remaining open to God, receiving Him. In common with everyone else, we eat, sleep, work, serve one another, talk, play, read - but at least twice a day we leave every occupation aside and set ourselves before God, with nothing to offer except ourselves just as we are.
St John of the Cross, who was a contemporary of St Teresa of Avila and who played a very important role in helping her reform Carmel in the 16th century, recognised the value of this hidden apostolate of constant prayer to the Church and the world at large. As he saw it, a purely contemplative life, when lived to the full, allows divine Love – God’s love – to reach to the depths of the human person, and that very divine action overflows into the world in ways that we most often can only grasp through faith.
“My soul is occupied,
And all my substance in His service;
Now I guard no flock,
Nor have I any other employment:
My sole occupation is love.”
~ St John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle stanza 28-29
“The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul.”
In more recent times, other Carmelites have shed light on this mystery of our call to silent prayer. St Elizabeth of the Trinity in particular was given a profound awareness of the indwelling of God in the soul and the need to spend time with Him in silent communion and adoration. “He hollows out abysses in my soul, abysses He alone can fill, and to do that He leads me into deep silence that I never want to leave again.”
Silent prayer, also known as ‘mental’ prayer, is distinguished from liturgical or ‘vocal’ prayer, usually said or recited with other people (for instance while praying the Divine Office together in Choir or when attending Mass).
You can learn more about the Liturgy in Carmel here.
“Let us not leave Him alone in the sanctuary of our soul; through everything let us remember that He is there and He needs to be loved.”
~ St Elizabeth of the Trinity