← [[session-08-asp|Brief History of the Discalced Carmelite Charism of Prayer]] | [[aspirancy-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[session-10-asp|Discalced Carmelite Understanding of Devotion to Mary and of the Scapular]] → # Apostolate — Charism of Prayer Required Reading: Constitutions art. 25-26; and Carmelite Spirituality in the Teresian Tradition, pgs. 32-33 • Carmel has never, in fact, separated apostolic activity from prayer life. Carmelite prayer has an apostolic dimension and overflows with missionary fervor. • Apostolic activity is the fruit of prayer: “The purpose of prayer is the birth of good works” (St. Teresa, Interior castle). • The Carmelite apostolate is based on a fervent inner life. St Therese of Lisieux, a cloistered contemplative nun, has been proclaimed the “Patron of all Missionaries” along with the much-traveled St. Francis Xavier. “My goal is to spend my heaven doing good on earth till the end of the world.” “I would want to preach the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles. I would be a missionary, not for a few years only, but from the beginning of creation until the consummation of the ages” (Story of a Soul, Manuscript B). 14 --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Aspirancy Handbook: A Journey in Carmel* (US National Formation Program, 2024).