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By: Mary H. Netzhammer, T.O.Carm.
December 10, 2006, was a wonderful day of community celebration as all but one of the fourteen Lay Carmelite communities from Southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi gathered for a day of reflection led by Very Reverend John Welch, O.Carm., Prior Provincial of our Province. For some present, it was the first time in fifteen months they had seen some of their community members. For most Lay Carmelites it was the first opportunity they had to listen to our Prior Provincial make the words of Saint John of the Cross spring to life in a new and very personal way.
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Many times when we read the lives or works of our Carmelite saints, we approach it from a purely historic or literary perspective. In some ways, it is easier to ask yourself what Saint John of the Cross experienced when he wrote Dark Night of the Soul. What political motives resulted in his imprisonment? What effect does the verse construction have on the overall comprehension of the poem? Who was this man and why did he choose Carmel as his way of life? It is much more challenging to ask what this work means to each of us in our state of life in light of today’s circumstances.
Father Welch skillfully guided us to a much deeper understanding of how this work applies to each of us in our post Katrina world. Some of our members now have a better appreciation of how being isolated from the world helps us develop a deeper relationship with God. Being stuck in an attic for days awaiting rescue is surly as close as most of us will get to sitting next to Saint John in his cell.
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Jack Welch, O Carm presides over Reception and Profession ceremonies in New Orleans.
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One of the handouts that Father Welch used for this day asked us to be aware of signs indicating God’s invitation to let go of idols. Specifically,
• No satisfaction or consolation from the things of God, nor from creatures either.
• A wish for the former sense of well-being, but an awareness of a distaste for the things of God and a feeling of not serving God but turning back.
• A powerlessness to meditate or use the imagination as before.
The discussion then turned to recommendations for proceeding in the night including:
• Do not redouble the control that led to this outcome.
• Enter this dark time with patience, trust, perseverance, and, as far as possible, have a loving attentiveness.
The perfect ending to our day together came as we celebrated Mass and received three new members into the order and witnessed the perpetual promises of one Lay Carmelite. There is life after the storm and perhaps the best evidence of this is the renewed growth of our communities.
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