← [[session-09-f1b|Session 9: The Local Council — Understanding the Function of the Council]] | [[formation-I-b-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[session-11-f1b|Session 11: The Promise in the Spirit of the Evangelical Counsels and the Beatitudes]] → # Session 10: OCDS Members' Responsibilities to the Community and the Order “Let your desire be to see God; your fear lest you lose Him; your joy in that which will take you to Him and thus shall you live in great peace.” — St Teresa of Avila Required Reading: Constitutions articles 12-16. Welcome to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, The Beatitudes and Your Vocation to Carmel, pgs. 61-77. Additional Reading: The Promise and Vows, by Fr Alzinir Debastiani (Appendix O). The Evangelical Counsels by Gerald Alford (Appendix P). Essential Points to Discuss: • By the Promise made to the community, the person becomes a full member of the Secular Order and may use the OCDS designation after his/her name within the context of Carmel (Const. art. 12). • This Promise is renewed once a year during the Easter Season (Const. art. 12; OCDS Ritual ch. 5). • The Promise is an ecclesial act. One becomes more part of the Church by the Promise and membership in the Order. Our Promise as members of the Discalced Carmelite Order deepens our baptismal commitment to live as disciples of Christ in communion with His Church. We participate fully in the liturgical life of the Church through Mass, the sacraments, and the Liturgy of the Hours. We take part in the Church’s mission of evangelization by taking part in the Order’s mission of “knowing Christ that Christ may be known.” • Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience are part of Jesus’ life in the Gospel. These three virtues become the measuring stick for one’s relationship with the members of the community, families, co-workers and the world. Jesus becomes the standard by which we evaluate ourselves. • The Promise made as seculars is not to live our poverty, our chastity, or our obedience, but to live the Poverty, Chastity and Obedience of Jesus. • The Beatitudes are a way of life. By living the Beatitudes, Carmelites bear witness to Christ (see Const. art. 16). • We live in Jesus, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Through Jesus we are taken up into the life of the Trinity. Assigned Meditative Reading: • CCC 2544-2547 – poverty of heart • CCC 2337-2349 – chastity and the perfection of charity • CCC 612-618 – the obedience of Christ; uniting oneself with the suffering Christ • Constitutions 11-16 – our commitment in Carmel 24 At the end of this period of formation the candidate should have: 1\. A sincere appreciation of the history of the Order. 2\. A basic understanding of the OCDS role in the mission of the Church through the study of the Rule of St Albert, OCDS Constitutions and Provincial Statutes. 3\. A heightened desire for fidelity to a life of prayer in keeping with the teachings and example of Our Holy Mother St Teresa, demonstrated by faithfulness to daily mental prayer and the Liturgy of the Hours. 4\. An understanding of Poverty, Chastity, Obedience and the Beatitudes within the context of the Promise appropriate to this stage of formation. 5\. A desire to be of service to the community and ongoing development of the attitudes necessary for harmonious community life. Note to the Council: Refer to the Ratio Institutionis 59-68 for basic qualities that indicate a vocation to Carmel. --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation I Year B: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life* (US National Formation Program, 2024).