Monthly News January 2018 – Damien Peile
The year has started well and as I meet and talk with different members of the Carmelite Family there are three things that stand out:
- the richness of each person’s unique call to the Carmelite Way
- the ideal of the Carmelite Family as the place to nurture relationships in all life’s ups and downs, and
- it’s a life long journey!
Paola Yevenes, liaison person for the Carmelite Family at Wentworthville, Sydney has some thoughts on what it means to belong to the Carmelite Family;
‘Some of us ended up here by accident, some by design, some of us were passing by and noticed that the lights were on’.
This week I attended Whitefriars College Staff Spirituality Day – a day of reflection on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si. The day was promoted with the theme of ‘Carmel’ being a sacred space in which Laudato Si is a frame for opening up connectedness, awe, wonder and moral responsibility.
A Carmelite Family Residential Retreat is planned for the weekend of August 31st 2018. This is likely to be held at Holy Cross Retreat Centre, Templestowe. Stay tuned for more details and contact me if you are interested in attending.
I look forward to hearing from you of events or activities in your Carmelite community.
Carmelite Librarian Suggested Reading – Philip Harvey
This coming May the renowned spiritual writer Margaret Silf visits Melbourne, where she will conduct a four-day workshop at Kardia Formation http://www.kardia.com.au/4-day-workshop-margaret-silf/ Margaret Silf’s name appears in a new acquisition at the Carmelite Library
She writes: “We are living through times of disillusionment and bewilderment – a global ‘dark night of the soul’. Carmelite spirituality understands this terrain. This book guides us expertly into the spirit of Carmel, outlining its background, introducing us to major Carmelite visionaries … and inviting us to explore the Carmelite method of quiet contemplative prayer, just ‘gazing on God’.”
The book she is talking about is ‘The way of the Carmelites : a prayer journey through Lent’ (ISBN: 978-0-281-07529-4) It is the last book of James McCaffrey OCD to be published in his lifetime; Fr James died on Christmas morning in St Luke’s Hospital, Oxford. As many of you will know, he wrote beautifully on Carmelite tradition throughout his life and, to judge by the glowing reviews, this book is no exception. It is ideal Lenten reading. Philip Harvey
Monthly Musing
Years ago, I stopped making resolutions and decided to focus on what I valued – the things that mattered. Three values are important to me – a sense of belonging, a need to pray and being of use to other people. Damien
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