← [[f2-c-00-guidelines|The Specific Guidelines for Formation]] | [[formation-II-c-handbook-toc|Table of Contents]] | [[f2-c-00-syllabus|About the Syllabus]] → # Introduction to Year C Note: Unless otherwise stated, all page numbers refer to Story of a Soul, Study Edition, published by ICS, 2005. This year the candidates are expected to learn how to integrate Carmelite spirituality into their lives as lay persons. They give daily witness in their family and social life to “an integrated approach to life that is fully brought about by the inspiration and strength of the Gospel” (Epilogue — OCDS Constitutions). The teachings of St. Thérèse and her Gospel message exemplify the spirit of an integrated approach to holiness in one’s daily life. “I understand and I know from experience that: ‘The kingdom of God is within you’ (Luke 17:21). Jesus has no need of books or doctors to instruct souls; He, the Doctor of doctors, teaches without the noise of words. … I find just when I need them certain lights that I had not seen until then, and it isn’t most frequently during my hours of prayer that these are most abundant but rather in the midst of my daily occupations” (pg. 276277). (emphasis added) In Year C of Formation II, candidates are introduced to “the greatest Saint of modern times,” St. Thérèse of Lisieux, OCD. Her Story of a Soul is read and studied as the central document from Thérèse’s own hand describing her life and spirituality. The autobiography contributed to her cause for canonization and helped establish her as a Doctor of the Church. The Study Edition provides additional background and context. “Story of a Soul has a power to enkindle devotion in the will because Thérèse’s pen was guided by the living spirit of God” (pg. 36). “If we read Story of a Soul carefully, we can see the inner process of Thérèse’s mind at work. …the topic imperceptibly shifts from one subject to another... We should not interpret this linking of thoughts that we see in Story of a Soul as merely a process of free association. Rather it is a stream of consciousness guided by the mind of God [cf. pg. 276-277]” (pg. 34-35). Early in her community life, Thérèse fervently read and practiced the ascetical teachings of Our Holy Father, St. John of the Cross. She writes, “Ah! How many lights have I not drawn from the works of our holy father, St. John of the Cross! At the ages of seventeen and eighteen I had no other spiritual nourishment” (pg. 276). In the Ascent of Mount Carmel, John counsels on how to overcome inordinate attachments and begin to make progress on the path to spiritual maturity. He teaches, “First, have a habitual desire to imitate Christ in all your deeds by bringing your life into conformity with His. You must then study his life in order to know how to imitate Him and behave in all events as he would” (A.I.13:3). Second, in order to be successful in this imitation, renounce and remain empty of any sensory satisfaction that is not purely for the honor and glory of God. Do this out of love for Jesus Christ (see A. I, 13:4). (emphasis added) p.5 Following the tradition of Carmel and the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thérèse embraced the life of Jesus. This encounter with the person of Jesus gave her a new horizon and a decisive direction. Thérèse discovered that “The elevator which must raise me to heaven is Your arms, O Jesus! And for this I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more” (pg. 329). The soul that places itself in the hands of Jesus will receive the graces it needs to carry out its daily tasks according to God’s will. Every encounter in her daily life, whether in the laundry room or in the chapel, was an encounter with Jesus. “Thérèse shows us that within our ordinary life — going to work in our cars or on the subway, doing our taxes, getting our children ready for school, fixing meals — we can find the mysterious exchanges between ourselves and God in prayer and meditation, no matter how brief or hurried. She reveals the hidden works of love that go on daily, not in some special precious time, but in the ordinary everyday time. Thérèse poses a tremendous threat because she brings hidden mystic life out into the open and says, in effect, here it is for the taking, for all of us, not just the specially gifted, but all of us, each with our own gifts” (Experiencing Saint Thérèse Today, pg. 141). In this respect, Thérèse follows the teachings of Our Holy Mother St. Teresa. “Know that if it is in the kitchen, the Lord walks among the pots and pans helping you both interiorly and exteriorly” (The Foundations, 5:8). Thérèse’s life clearly demonstrates that there cannot be two parallel lives in one’s existence: “on the one hand, the so-called ‘spiritual’ life, with its values and demands; and on the other, the so called ‘secular’ life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social relationships, in the responsibilities of public life and in culture. The branch, engrafted to the vine, which is Christ, bears its fruit in every sphere of existence and activity” (Christifideles Laici, 57). Thérèse’s teachings show clearly that “every area of the lay faithful’s lives, as different as they are, enters into the plan of God, who desires that these very areas be the ‘places in time’ where the love of Christ is revealed and realized for both the glory of the Father and service of others. Every activity, every situation, every precise responsibility—as, for example, skill and solidarity in work, love and dedication in the family and the education of children, service to society and public life and the promotion of truth in the area of culture—are the occasions ordained by Providence for a ‘continuous exercise of faith, hope and charity’” (Christifideles Laici, 57). (emphasis added) “Thérèse, the serious teenager, did not think like a dualist. Spontaneously, naturally, somehow, she perceived the unity of the complex condition of the human being; and she knew that Christic redemption addressed the whole ‘ball of wax’ in a hopeful way…Grace builds on nature. Grace is for the personal integration of nature with the theological and moral virtues so that the human being, fully alive, might become the ‘glory of God… Deep down Thérèse was an optimist, a synthesist, and an integrationist. Jesus Christ, God and man, is the ultimate model of all integration’” (Thérèse and Maturity: Prophetess of the Shift from the Perfection Model to the Integration Model, Sam Anthony Morello, OCD, Appendix A). (emphasis added) Consequently, “the world becomes the place and the means for lay faithful to fulfill their Christian vocation, because the world itself is destined to glorify God the Father in Christ… They are not called to abandon the position that they have in the world. Baptism (or vocation to Carmel) does not take them from the world at all, as the apostle Paul points out: ‘So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God’ (1 Cor 7:24)” (Christifideles Laici, The lay faithful and their secular character, 15). p.7 Mission From the beginning, Carmelite spirituality has had an apostolic side that overflows with missionary fervor. Carmel has never separated the apostolic from the contemplative life. The Prophet Elijah “who was afire with zeal for the Lord of hosts” had never ceased to lead the people of Israel to believe in the true God. St. John of the Cross sings his heart out in the joy of spreading the Good News: “I’ll go and tell the world/spreading the Word of your beauty/and sweetness and of your sovereignty” (The Poetry. Romance 9, 7. The Incarnation, pg. 67. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross) “The observation of St. Teresa that the purpose of prayer is ‘the birth of good works’ reminds the Secular Order that graces received ought to have an effect on those who receive them. Individually or as a community and above all as members of the Church, apostolic activity is the fruit of prayer” (OCDS Constitutions, 26). Following the tradition of Carmel, St. Thérèse took the missionary spirit to a new level. She burned with the desire to be a doctor, a missionary, a priest, an apostle and more. Can one person be all in Thérèse’s vocabulary? Thérèse shows the way. She goes on to describe the marvelous discovery of her vocation that overflows from the touch of a contemplative fervor of “love.” “Charity gave me the key to my vocation. … I understood that LOVE COMPRISED ALL VOCATIONS, THAT LOVE WAS EVERYTHING… O Jesus, my Love…my vocation, at last I have found it…MY VOCATION IS LOVE!... Thus I shall be everything, and thus my dream will be realized” (pg. 302). (emphasis added) Thérèse’s discovery of “love” demonstrates that all the soul’s desires are fulfilled within the context of the life-giving waters of contemplation and union with God. “Taking into account the origins of Carmel and the Teresian charism, [one of] the fundamental elements of the vocation of Teresian Secular Carmelites [is] ‘to seek mysterious union with God’ by way of contemplation and apostolic activity, indissolubly joined together, for service to the Church …” (see OCDS Constitutions, 9). (emphasis added) “THE SCIENCE OF DIVINE LOVE, which the Father of mercies pours out through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, is a gift granted to the little and the humble so that they may know and proclaim the secrets of the kingdom, hidden from the learned and the wise. Shining brightly among the little ones to whom the secrets of the kingdom were revealed in a most special way in Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, a professed Nun of the Order of Discalced Carmelites.” Apostolic Letter of His Holiness Pope St. John Paul II Divini Amoris Scientia 8 --- **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).