← [[f2-c-00-intro|Introduction to Formation II]] | [[formation-II-c-handbook-toc|Table of Contents]] | [[f2-c-00-year-c|Introduction to Year C]] → # The Specific Guidelines for Formation It is important to keep clearly in mind the purpose of formation in Carmel and to strike a balance between “head” and “heart.” • “Number 32 of the Constitutions states that the purpose of formation is ‘to prepare the person to live the [charism and] spirituality of Carmel.’ This sentence of the Constitutions gives a very important emphasis to the purpose of formation, indicating those elements that are not the priorities in the progress of Carmel of formation. The purpose of the formation program is not to produce experts in Carmelite spirituality, nor to obtain a university degree in spirituality or spiritual theology” (Ratio Institutionis 4). • “The purpose is to ‘prepare the person.’ The stress on the person who is to be prepared helps the formation community understand that the process must be directed to the individual in a concrete way. The people who come to the Secular Order of Carmel are, with few exceptions, people who have many commitments, especially with families and with work. The program of formation must be flexible enough to adapt to the circumstances of each person who is to become a member” (Ratio 5). • “…The primary role of the person responsible for formation … is to accompany those in formation, to help them put into practice what they learn through the process of formation. The information they are given through reading and classes is meant to be a help to the person’s spiritual growth” (Ratio 7). (emphasis added) • “…With a progression suitable to the various stages, the candidate should get a clearer idea of how important, indeed necessary, our charism is for [one’s] personal life…” (Ratio 23). • “The spirituality of the Discalced Carmelites has a sound intellectual foundation. As members of the Order, Secular Carmelites are called to represent and give witness to a mature and authentic spirituality. Any person who wants to be a Discalced Carmelite must be a person with interest in learning from the teachers of Carmel. There are three Doctors of the universal Church, Teresa, John of the Cross, and Therese” (Ratio 78). • “There is an intellectual aspect to the formation of a Discalced Carmelite. There is a doctrinal basis to the spirituality and identity of one who is called to the Order. As the friars and nuns, the seculars too ought to have a good intellectual and doctrinal formation since as members of the Order they represent and witness to a mature and profound spirituality” (Ratio 79). “The directors [formators] should reflect that they themselves are not the chief agent, guide, and mover of souls in this matter, but the principal guide is the Holy Spirit, who is never neglectful of souls, and they themselves are instruments for directing these souls to perfection through faith and the law of God, according to 4 the spirit given by God to each one. Thus, the whole concern of the directors [formators] should not be to accommodate souls to their own method and condition, but they should observe the road along which God is leading one…” (The Living Flame of Love, Stanza 3:46) --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year C: Story of a Soul (The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux)* (US National Formation Program, 2024).