# Interior Castle Handbook Special Session > [!NOTE] > Interior Castle Handbook Special Session with the Formation Director for Candidates in Their Third Year of Formation Ii: Called to Holiness — The Definitive Promise in the Secular order of the Discalced Carmelites **Required Reading:** OCDS Constitutions, Articles 11-16; Ratio, 59-93; Ritual for the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order, sections applicable to the ceremony to be used. **Additional Reading:** The Promise and Vows in the Secular Order, Fr Alzinir Debastiani, OCD (Formation I, Yr B, Appendix O) ## Essential Points to Discuss •       “The Secular Carmelite wants to see God, wants to know God, and recognizes that prayer and meditation now become more important. The Promise is a commitment to a new way of life in which the ‘allegiance to Jesus Christ’ marks the person and the way this person lives” (Ratio Article 88). •       “For the members of the Secular Order it is an honor to be part of the Carmelite family…The Secular Carmelite seeks intimate union with Christ in the world through the lived experience of the Promise made according to the Constitutions of the Secular Order” (Ratio Article 86). •       “Following Jesus as members of the Secular Order is expressed by the promise to strive for evangelical perfection in the spirit of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience and through the beatitudes” (OCDS Const. Article 11). •       “The promise of chastity reinforces the commitment to love God above all else and to love others with the love God has for them…This promise does not prevent a change in state of life” (Const. Article 13). •       “By the promise of poverty the Secular Carmelite expresses the desire to live in accordance with the Gospel and its values. In evangelical poverty there is a wealth of generosity, self-denial, and interior liberty…” (Const. Article 14). •       “The promise of obedience is a pledge to live open to the will of God…For this reason the Secular Carmelite freely cooperates with those who have responsibility for guiding the community and the Order in discerning and accepting God’s ways: the Community’s Council, the Provincial and the General” (Const. Article 15). •       “The beatitudes are a plan of action for life and a way to enter into relationship with the world, neighbors and co-workers, families and friends. By promising to live the beatitudes in daily life, Secular Carmelites seek to give evangelical witness as members of the Church and the Order, and by this witness invite the world to follow Christ: ‘the Way the Truth and the Life’ (Jn.14:6)” (Const. Article 16). •       “What is the element that distinguishes those called to be Secular Carmelites? It is not the spirituality, nor the study, nor the devotion to Mary. Simply put, the Secular Carmelite is moved to commit himself or herself to the Order: to commit himself to the service of the Church through collaboration and cooperation with the goal of the Order. This commitment in the form of the **Promise** is an ecclesial event and an event of the Order in addition to being an event in the life of the person who makes the Promise” (Ratio Article 83). •       Secular Carmelites are called to share in the common vocation to holiness (see, Preface to the OCDS Constitutions). “We come to a full sense of the dignity of the lay faithful if we consider _the prime_ and _fundamental_ _vocation..._ is the vocation to holiness, that is perfection of charity. Holiness is the greatest testimony to the dignity conferred on a disciple of Christ. It is possible to say that this call to holiness is precisely the basic charge entrusted to all the sons and daughters of the Church. This charge is not a simple moral exhortation, but an undeniable requirement arising from the mystery of the Church” (_Christifideles Laici — Call to Holiness_, para. 16). Hence, “... this promise is a pledge to pursue personal holiness...” (OCDS Const. Article 11). •       “The vocation of the lay faithful to holiness implies that life according to the Spirit expresses itself in a particular way in their involvement in temporal affairs and their participation in earthly activities. Once again, the Apostle admonishes us: ‘Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colos. 3:17) (_Christifideles Laici — The Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People_, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II). “... The Secular Order receives new vocations with joy, but also with a feeling of responsibility, so that in them also the charism may be daily understood more deeply, bear fruit and expand...” (Ratio 20). •       “… within the lay state diverse ‘vocations’ are given, that is, there are different paths in the spiritual life and the apostolate which are taken by individual members of the lay faithful. In the field of a ‘commonly shared’ lay vocation, ‘special’ lay vocations flourish. In this area we can also recall the spiritual experience of the flourishing of diverse forms of secular institutions that have developed recently in the Church. These offer the lay faithful, and even priests, the possibility of professing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience through vows or promises while fully maintaining one’s lay or clerical state” (_Christifideles Laici — The Various Vocations in the Lay State,_ para. 56). •       “...Our Lord will reward anyone who does more than he or she is obliged to do. See that the bounds of common sense are not exceeded, however, for common sense is the guide of the virtues” (Rule of St. Albert, Article 24). ## The Definitive Promise I, (name), inspired by the Holy Spirit, in response to God’s call, sincerely promise to the Superiors of the Order of the Teresian Carmel and to you my brothers and sisters, to tend toward evangelical perfection in the spirit of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, obedience, and of the Beatitudes, according to the Constitutions of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, **for the rest of my life.** I confidently entrust this, my Promise, to the Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Carmel. ## Letter to the OCDS from Fr. Saverio Cannistra, OCD As the candidates prepare for the Definitive Promise, it is helpful to recall the words of Fr. Saverio Cannistra, OCD Letter to the OCDS, March 20, 2020: … I urge you to know your legislative documents more and more, especially the Constitutions, both in initial and ongoing formation. Always remember that a charism in the Church is a gift of the Holy Spirit; it is a living and dynamic reality which must be constantly cultivated and made to bear fruit, otherwise it rots. It is there, in the documents of the OCDS, that you find the essential elements of the charism of the Teresian Carmel adapted to your lay life. Faced with the many commitments and rapid changes in our post-modern world, many times we risk losing our roots and we forget who we are. Returning from time to time to the Constitutions and the writings of our Saints will confirm you in a solid doctrine that allows you to walk with firmness and enthusiasm on the streets of the world. I ask the Lord to enlighten you so that you may continue to be faithful to the essential elements of your vocation as Secular Carmelites. May the light and strength which come from prayer as friendship with the Lord and fraternal relationship with your brothers and sisters enable you to respond to the challenges and needs of your personal, family and community realities. May the contemplation of the Risen Christ fill you with peace and joy. May Mary, Queen of Heaven, give you the joy of her Living Son forever. Fraternally, Fr. Saverio Cannistra, OCD Superior General, 2009–2021 # Links [[pursuits-texts/04-formation-and-liturgy/handbooks/formation-II-b-handbook/tj-ic-guide-apx-a|Session 9, Excerpt from Gaudium Et Spes (22) Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World]] --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year B: The Interior Castle (The Seven Dwelling Places)* (US National Formation Program, 2024).