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Soundings from the Carmelite Monastery, Ormiston,
Queensland
Issue 3 (July 2001)
 Thérèse
Martin, the 24 year old whom many regard as turning the spirituality of
generations of Catholics upside down, is continuing to influence young
and old the world over. In her short life, she was virtually unknown. In
the 100 years since then, however, the story of this young Carmelite would
even seem to have dramatically changed people's perceptions of God. Thérèse
dared to break through the fears and apprehensions of her contemporaries,
challenging their image of a God of justice and majesty. She went straight
to the Gospels, and with amazing audacity, took Jesus at His word. Aware
of her fragility, her human weakness and her failure to do always the better
thing, Thérèse accepted herself just as she was, and trusted
that Jesus would do the rest. For her, it was love that mattered. She threw
herself into the arms of Jesus like a child.
What is your image of God? For you, is God someone approachable like a
Father, Mother, best friend, brother, even lover? Whoever we are, whatever
we have (or haven't)done, what-ever weighs us down or makes us happy, at
any hour of any day, we can confide in this faithful, closest and most
intimate Friend.
In this and the next issue of Seeds of Carmel, we are focusing on St. Thérèse,
who is to visit Australia in 2002. Yes, she is coming!! Since 1997, when
the Holy Father declared her a Doctor of the Church, she has been 'cooking
up a storm' all over the globe. We hope that you will be inspired to read
her life yourself, and realise that it is possible for you, too, to find
fulfilment and happiness within yourselves and in your relationships with
God and others.
A Word from the Prioress
 
Dear Young Friends,
Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, makes no secret of the great confidence
he places in the spiritual energies and talents God has planted in you,
the young people of this new millennium.
He encourages you to 'launch out into the deep, and pay out your nets for
a great catch' in order to allow these God-given powers to be released
in you.
Prayer is this net, and the great catch is intimate knowledge of Christ,
self transcendence and transformation of history. It is not just any kind
of prayer, but intense prayer, which calls for a commitment and a journey:
a commitment to set time aside frequently for a personal and communal dialogue
of intimacy with Jesus, and a love strong enough to support
a journey through the painful purifications of the 'dark night', as experienced
by the youthful St. Thérèse of Lisieux, in the closing years
of her life.
St. Thérèse challenges all young people to become, like her,
an icon of hope for a world, secularized, yet hungering for a Christ-centred
spirituality, which is expressed, in large part, as a renewed need to launch
into the deep sea of prayer.
If you have questions, comments, stories, prayer requests, anything at
all write to us here:
Sister Katherine,
Carmelite Monastery,
287 Wellington St,
Ormiston. QLD 4160.
e-mail: 
Visit us at: www.carmelite.com
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18-35 year olds-
we'd like to hear from you
Anyone interested in joining a Brisbane-based group
to share Scripture, Theology and Carmelite Spirituality? Check out the
Carmelite website to see how the Sydney group operates:
Click on Youth on the Menu bar on the left.
Write to Sr Katherine:
Carmelite Monastery,
287 Wellington St, Ormiston QLD 4160
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 FROM
OUR DIARY
We had visits from Damian Pitt and Eugene Ashkar, who were home on holidays.
Both are currently studying for the Priesthood: Damian with our own Carmelite
friars in Varroville and Eugene for the diocesan Priesthood in Melbourne.
Our prayers accompany them on their formation journey.
Most of you would know about NET Ministries (National Evangelization
Teams), an outreach of Emmanuel Covenant Community, which trains groups
of young people to go to various parishes/schools around Australia, ministering
to youth
and sharing their own faith stories. A vibrant, spirited group of forty
young adults came to ask our prayer support before being commissioned for
their year's assignments. We were inspired by their witness, prayerfulness
and lively singing. We look forward to seeing them again at the end of
the year.
We had a farewell visit with Bishop Michael Putney, who has been appointed
Bishop of Townsville diocese. As academic dean at Banyo seminary, he started
giving us talks on theology in the late 80's. Since being made auxiliary
Bishop of Brisbane in 1995, in spite of his hectic schedule, he has continued
to keep us up to date with developments in ecumenism and happenings in
the local Church.
As part of its Lenten programme, our archdiocese arranged prayer evenings
every Wednesday, entitled 'The Call to Holiness', each having a different
venue and based on a different Saint. We were asked to prepare an evening
here at our monastery. Our Saint was Thérèse of Lisieux.
People came from near and far to fill our Church. Four sisters presented
some aspect of the life and message of Thérèse: each presentation
being followed by a period of quiet prayer. The hour ended with Thérèse's
song, 'To Live by Love'.
Year 10 students from St. Francis College, Creastmead descended on Carmel,
Ormiston to learn what we're on about. The theme of their school project
was 'Enclosure, Ecstasy and Cutting Edge'. Sr. Moira was delegated to speak
to each of the four groups in the parlour and answer their questions. We
like to have opportunities like this to meet young people and challenge
them to think about the place and value of prayer in the Christian life.
Themes...
St Thérèse of Lisieux
The Martins had lost four children in infancy before their youngest,
Thérèse, arrived on 2 January, 1873. Only four years later,
Zelie Martin herself died, leaving her husband, Louis and five daughters
grief-stricken. The family moved to nearby Lisieux, a small town in Normandy,
France, closer to relatives. Thérèse, who had been a lively
and vivacious child, now became withdrawn and sensitive. The loss of her
mother left her deeply wounded.
The family was devoutly Catholic and Thérèse developed a
knowledge and love of God as a child. When her sister Pauline-her 'second
mother'-entered the Carmel of Lisieux, Thérèse's world fell
apart. The emotional
stress of losing another 'mother' caused a mysterious psychosomatic illness
when she was ten years old. The child turned in desperate prayer to her
heavenly Mother, Mary, whose smile restored her to peace and health.
Thérèse continued her schooling until the age of thirteen,
when her father sent her to a private tutor. Still struggling with an over-sensitive
nature, Thérèse was not free within herself. The break-through
came for her at Christmas, 1886. She related the incident in her autobiography,
'Story of a Soul'. It was ordinary enough. But it changed Thérèse
from a child to a mature, selfless, beautiful young woman. At the age of
fifteen, Thérèse braved opposition from all sides in order
to respond to God's call to give her life to Him as a Carmelite. Accompanied
by her generous father, who supported her, she made a pilgrimage to Rome,
and ignoring the prohibition to speak to the Pope, she did so, asking his
permission to enter Carmel before the required minimum age.
She was to spend only nine years in Carmel, dying of tuberculosis at the
age of 24. Yet in her short life, she not only became a Saint, but has
been proclaimed Patroness of the Missions and a Doctor of the Church, along
with Saints as great as Thomas Aquinas.
In our next issue, we will look at Thérèse's life in Carmel.
St. Therese in Australia
At the request of the Australian
Catholic Bishops, the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux
will be coming to Australia early in 2002. In her "Thérèse
mobile" she has already travelled across Europe, North and South
America and Ireland, and is due to go to Africa later this year. Details
of the Australian itinerary are now finalised. Go to: www.therese2002.com
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 RIDING
THE BUMPS
Hi! My name is Sister Theresa Margaret and I have been asked to tell
you something about myself and why I came to Carmel. Well, the first part
of that request is simple enough: I come from a family of seven children,
three brothers and three sisters, and grew up on our family sheep and cattle
property at Wallangarra, a lovely little country town on the Queensland/NSW
border.
For my last three years of schooling, I boarded at St. Joseph's, Stanthorpe,
and it was there that I realised God seemed to be asking me to give my
whole life to His service in Carmel. That was a great surprise to me, as
I certainly didn't see myself as suitable material for a nun! ! Surely,
you had to be very pious, even holy, and certainly quite 'special' for
THAT? I would have liked to be a jockey or a drover, and loved to be out
mustering with Dad and the boys, getting up in the wee small hours to help
with dipping the sheep, or working at the shed during shearing. But a NUN!!??
However, it seems that God has a way of sneaking into one's heart and planting
a tiny seed, which, like any seed given the right conditions, will sprout
and grow, so that it cannot be ignored. Well, my conditions must have been
'right', because I soon found that horses and most other things had slipped
down from 1st to 2nd place. Something, or rather, Someone else had laid
claim to the first place, so while I still loved and appreciated all those
other things, my heart was drawn to One whom I knew loved me with a tremendous
love. Now, don't be thinking that it has always felt like that. It hasn't!
But God is faithful and has enabled me to hang on when the going was rough,
or tough, or just dull and dreary. If I were given the chance to choose
again, I would unhesitatingly make the same choice, the only difference
being that I would try to sit more lightly in the saddle and ride the bumps
more easily!
As you know, our life in Carmel is a blend of work and prayer,
so during my years in Carmel I have done a variety of work. Part of my
work at present is making candles, and I often think that each of our lives
is something like a candle -a little flame giving light and warmth to those
we meet, perhaps flickering and almost
going out when the wind seems too strong, but steadily burning and giving
its whole substance in the fulfilment of God's plan in our life. So, let's
pray for each other -and -keep on bravely burning wherever we are. . .
.
Praying with. . .
St Thérèse of Lisieux
"Praying with. . " is designed to introduce you to Carmelite
spirituality and help you to seek God in silence and prayer.
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I was in a sad desert, or rather my soul was like a
fragile boat delivered up to the mercy of the waves and having no pilot.
I knew Jesus was there sleeping in my boat, but the night was so black
it was impossible to see him; nothing gave me any light, not a single
flash came to break the dark clouds. . . . It was night! . . . I felt
all alone. . . God himself seemed to have abandoned me. Nature seemed
to share in my bitter sadness, for during these three days the sun did
not shine and the rain fell down in torrents.
Autobiography of St. Thérèse
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Ever felt like this? When Thérèse wrote it, she was 22,
and recalling an occasion during her adolescence which was extremely painful
for her. In previous issues, we have spent time praying with Teresa and
John of the Cross, being aware of God very close to us, our best friend
and confidant.
It's pretty cool to have God so near, and whenever we need Him. But there
are times when things just fall apart for us... ... when we are really
down.
Saints have days like this too. How do they survive? They sit with it.
They don't try to escape into an unreal world. Thérèse stayed
with it.
She knew Jesus was there, in spite of what she felt. She simply got on
with life, and tried to act lovingly and thoughtfully towards others. Meanwhile,
God was touching her within, at a level deeper than she realised.
Prayer is not only what we do, but more importantly, what God does in us.
o Find a quiet spot where you can be alone for about thirty minutes. Bring
your Bible with you.
o Read Mark 4:35-41 slowly, and then read through the short text from Thérèse.
o Think of a time when you felt like this. How would you describe your
experience?
o Be aware of Jesus asleep in your boat as he was on the Sea of Galilee
during the storm.
o Think of the young people who do not know God, and who resort to drink,
drugs, sex, violence etc. to try to fill up the emptiness.
o Pray for them, and in solidarity with them, remain with that painful
sense of loneliness and darkness, knowing, however, that your prayer is
somehow lifting the burden from their shoulders.
This is what Thérèse did; this is how she reached out in
love to people all over the world.
ASK US...
Q. WHAT PLACE DOES EUCHARISTIC ADORATION HAVE IN YOUR LIFESTYLE?
The Eucharist is the centre of Carmelite life as
it is the centre of the Church's life; a Carmelite community should be
the Church in miniature. The daily celebration of the Eucharist, which
we are fortunate to still have, is the pivotal point in ordering our day,
and we live with an awareness of the Eucharistic presence of Jesus at the
heart of our community. Carmelite spirituality is not oriented to adoration
of the Eucharist in the monstrance although we do have that on certain
days. Our focus is rather on the hidden and silent Eucharistic presence
in the tabernacle.
Q. DOES STUDY OF THEOLOGY HAVE A PLACE IN YOUR FORMATION?
Candidates have some initiation into theology, which opens
them to its depth and richness, hopefully encouraging them to pursue some
topic of their own choosing. Doing their own research and writing out their
findings allows what they study to be absorbed and form their spiritual
life. After the period of initial formation, distance learning courses
are available for any sisters who wish; regular time for this is the difficulty.
On the community level, there is nothing structured, but we take advantage
of available speakers, sometimes one-off, sometimes on a regular basis,
as we have monthly at present.
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