Carmelite Pathway

The Carmelites began as hermits on Mount Carmel in Palestine, living close to the source of the prophetic tradition that produced Elijah. They carried that contemplative intensity into the medieval Church, and in sixteenth-century Spain it produced two of the most remarkable mystics in the history of Christianity: Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross. Teresa's Interior Castle is the greatest systematic map of the soul's journey to God in Catholic mystical theology. She described the soul as a crystal castle with seven mansions, and God dwelling at the innermost centre. The question is not whether God is present — He always is. The question is how far into the castle you have gone. John of the Cross's Dark Night of the Soul is the most precise description of what happens when God begins to teach the soul directly: the consolations of early prayer are withdrawn, the familiar structures of religious feeling become dry and empty, and a person who does not understand what is happening thinks they are losing faith. John says they are entering prayer. The twentieth century added Thérèse of Lisieux — the Little Way. Not mystical heights but small things done with great love. This pathway moves through the Carmelite arc from entrance to union.