July 28, 2010

Discalced Carmelites: Prayer and penance for the good of souls

By Roxanne King

With this story, the Denver Catholic Register begins a series highlighting monasteries located in or near the Denver Archdiocese.

Each day, the Discalced Carmelite nuns awake to the sound of clappers and the prioress’ joyful summons.

“Praise be to Jesus Christ and to the Virgin Mary his mother! Come to praise sisters; come to praise the Lord!”

Striking their own clappers, the sisters echo the call, beginning another day of prayer and intimacy with God for the salvation of souls.

“We pray for the world, the Church and especially for priests,” Mother Gemma Marie Hughes, prioress of Carmel of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Littleton, told the Denver Catholic Register at the cloister on July 15.

“‘Monastery,’” she said, referring to the Greek origin of the word, “means ‘alone’ or ‘to be alone’ with God.”

“It’s a withdrawal from the world to live in community, seeking union with God,” added former prioress Sister Judith Hartford. “It’s paradise.”

Speaking from behind a metal grille in the visitors room, the two kindly nuns wore black veils and the brown Carmelite habit with the apron-like rectangular scapular the order is known for.

The Discalced (Latin for ‘shoeless’) Carmelite order traces its roots to 16th-century Spain where it was established by Doctors of the Church St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross as a reform to the Carmelite order. 

The Discalced Carmelites were invited to the Denver Archdiocese by Archbishop Urban Vehr in 1947. Their monastery, which is situated on 16 grassy, tree-lined acres protected by a tall fence, is the former estate of famed architect Jacques Benedict.
The dozen nuns residing at Carmel of the Holy Spirit, live lives of prayer, silence, sacrifice and manual labor.

Their daily schedule includes Mass, the entire Liturgy of the Hours sung in choir, two one-hour periods of mental prayer in common, an hour of recreation in common after lunch and after supper, spiritual reading and work.

The nuns range in age from 21 to 85. Two of them were among the first three who arrived to Colorado with the founding prioress, Mother Theresa Ruoff, from Carmel of Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Once a woman enters the cloister, she doesn’t leave it except for trips to the doctor. The nuns rarely meet with the public and receive limited visits—with no physical contact—from their families.

They don’t have a television or a computer.

“Within two minutes of 9-11 we knew what had happened because people started calling us for prayers,” Mother Gemma Marie said. “The same with Columbine, so we don’t need TV.”

The only radio station they listen to is a weather channel. The only newspapers they receive are the Denver Catholic Register and the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano.

A turnstile aids the exchange of messages and items with the outside world. The nuns also accept prayer requests over the phone and through the mail.

“Cloistered nuns are a blessing to any diocese because they provide such a beautiful and radical Christian witness of prayer,” Auxiliary Bishop James Conley told the Register. “The Carmelites, in a particular way, have given the Church so many saints who were masters in the spiritual life.”

On July 16 Bishop Conley led the final liturgy in this year’s triduum at the monastery chapel observing the feast of the order’s patroness, Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The feast commemorates the day in 1251 Mary appeared to Carmelite St. Simon Stock at Cambridge, England, and presented him with the brown scapular. The garment came with the promise that “no one who dies clothed in this will suffer eternal fire.”

Today, the scapular worn by laity consists of two stamp-size pieces of brown cloth (typically decorated with pictures of Mary and Jesus) that are connected by two cords and worn around the neck.

Some 500 faithful attended the triduum liturgies during which scapulars were blessed and distributed.

“The brown scapular is a sign of special devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel,” explained Bishop Conley. “The brown scapular is a ‘sacramental’ like a rosary, religious medal, holy water or a crucifix.

“Sacramentals,” he continued, “remind us of the sacred and the holy and are particularly effective in battling temptation. They remind us that God is our strength.”

The promise connected with the scapular to save one from hell doesn’t work like magic, proponents say. Rather, one wears the scapular as a reminder to “clothe” oneself in the virtues modeled by the Blessed Mother. The graces come as one grows in holiness.

“We’re all supposed to be saints,” Mother Gemma Marie said. “You don’t become a saint in heaven, you do it here.”

“Everyone has their cross and sufferings to bear,” she noted.

Those sufferings are meant to enlighten and purify, the prioress said. Embracing them as God’s will, trusting that he will grant one the grace to see them through, brings the person to new life here and, ultimately, into eternal life in heaven.

The nuns offer their sufferings “lovingly, joyfully and freely,” the prioress said, for the good of souls.

“Our life is for the salvation of souls,” she said.

A mendicant order, the Discalced Carmelites rely on alms for their support. Because the nuns offer spiritual support to the archdiocese, Archbishop Vehr established the Friends of Carmel, a branch of the Archbishop’s Guild, to help the nuns with their material needs. The Friends of Carmel hold an annual pledge drive every summer in which they invite the faithful to make a donation to the monastery.

“We’re so grateful to the people of the archdiocese and to our benefactors,” said Mother Gemma Marie, “we need them and they need us. It is so beautiful how the heavenly Father brings souls together to help each other and we thank and praise him.”

CARMEL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT MONASTERY

The public is invited to send the nuns their prayer intentions and is welcome to attend the 6:30 a.m. daily Mass in the monastery chapel.
Address: 6138 S. Gallup St., Littleton, CO 80120
Phone: 303-798-4176
To join Friends of Carmel: call 303-364-3469