← [[celebrations-fh|Celebrations]] | [[formation-handbook-toc|Table of Contents]] | [[bibliography-fh|Bibliography]] → # Conclusion Human formation, as understood by our Holy Mother St. Teresa, is a transformative process from worm to butterfly and beyond. The transformation of a person develops gradually, in stages, over 27 a lifetime, rather than in a short moment of reflection. The OCDS formation program is designed to accommodate human formation within the context of Christian and Carmelite formation. “... St. Teresa placed prayer as the foundation and basic exercise of her religious family. For this reason, Secular Carmelites are called to strive to make prayer penetrate their whole existence, in order to walk in the presence of the living God through the constant exercise of faith, hope and love, in such a way that the whole of their life is a prayer, a search for union with God. The goal will be to achieve the integration of experience of God with the experience of life: to be contemplatives in prayer and the fulfillment of their own mission” (Ratio 47 and OCDS Const. 17). We are part of the Discalced Carmelite Order, living the same Spirit of Carmel in the world as those in the monasteries and convents. “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). It is important that formators understand and encourage the candidates to learn and to integrate Carmelite spirituality into their lives as laity. 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 [as shown in the writings of our Carmelite saints]” (OCDS Constitutions — Epilogue). 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 [and their 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, para 15)., “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6). --- **Source:** [[maps/bibliography#^biblio-ocds-fh|OCDS Formation Handbook]]