J M J T
The
Carmelite Novitiate
OUTLOOK
Published
Monthly by the Discalced Carmelite Fathers, Our Lady’s Hill, Waverly, New York
Volume 1, No. 11 October 1962
Dear
Friends of Carmel,
Ordinarily, vacations come quickly
to a close, but the memory of them remains vivid for some time. We return with an imagination brimful of
varied impressions. This has been my
experience, anyway, and because I am a Carmelite it usually proves to be
disconcerting. The impressions have a
way of yielding an uncomfortably rich harvest of distractions during the time
of meditation. This year, one
impression stands out so boldly it overshadows almost all the others. It is akin to the feeling one gets when he
puts on his first pair of eyeglasses.
(if he is nearsighted, that is).
It is like the shock of having one’s perspectives suddenly broadened and
deepened, and of having reality brought sharply into focus. I hate to own up to it, but this vacation
made it clear that IAM (oh, sob!) EXPENDABLE.
Not only has the community gotten along very well without me, they seem
to have fared better in my absence. But
thank God I can point to one happy result of this unpleasant fact: it does not present any difficulties during
meditation. Actually, it helps me to
make a good one (Hmm, maybe I should take two vacations from now on!)
Another unpleasant aftermath of my
vacation, and one that has caused not happy side effects can be compared to the
hangover that often follows a rousing good party. This headache consists of the mountain of correspondence that
piled up while I was away. After two
weeks of frenzied efforts to cut it down to the size of a molehill, it is only
slightly smaller. I have had to make my
own the battle cry which Father Timothy devised when he first came face to face
with a like dilemma: “Down to the
wood”. Father coined this slogan when
he used to be the Province’s only Vocation Director. When he would return to his monastery after having made a tour of
many schools giving vocation talks, he would frequently find every inch of his
desk thickly overlaid with letters, packages and sundry other papers. Then he would sit at his desk, eyebrow-deep
in work and mutter to himself very earnestly, “Down to the wood”. It used to inspire him to greater depths. Believe it or not, this battle cry really
works.
* * * * * * *
SO
SORRY…
Speaking of Fr. Timothy reminds me
of an item he wants included in this issue.
It concerns his account (a most admirable one, you will agree) of the
Blessing of the Novitiate. By an
oversight, he forgot to report that our Monastery at Brookline, Massachusetts
was represented at the Blessing by Father Joachim Bowes, O.C.D.
* * * * * * *
THAT
ROAD AGAIN…
I hope you will excuse me for
bringing up once again the subject of our road. If you will recall, we stated in a previous issue that our road
was as treacherous in the hot summer weather as it was during the winter. Now I have to say that it is perilous even
in the fall. Actually, it is the
combination of the autumn foliage and the road that is dangerous.
This fall the foliage was so
beautiful – every hill and mountainside was a blaze of brilliant yellows, deep
reds and every intermediate hue – as to make one catch his breath and stare in
wonderment. It is a big mistake to
stare in wonderment while driving on our twisting, sharply turning road. One young lady did so and ended up in a
ditch. It took a tow truck to get her
back on the road. She is lucky she
didn’t plunge down a steep slope.
The natives tell us that this year’s
fall coloring was by far the best in many a year. This is surprising, in view of the serious drought of the past
summer. But now that I reflect on it, there
must be a definite causal relationship between the drought and the vivid colors. One time, after having welcomed a
distinguished visitor to the monastery, we went off to prepare some suitable
refreshments. We soon discovered, to
our embarrassment, that we were completely “dry”. Right away, we turned all colors.
* * * * * * *
RECENT
DOINGS…
During the weeks following the
Blessing the Novices and Postulants have not been idle. They have been expending prodigious amounts
of energy on the construction of a garden in our 74-foot square inner
courtyard. A young, talented
artist-architect friend from Sayre, Pa., drew up the plans for us. The garden will include a four foot wide
fishpond running the length of one whole side, undulating, flagstone-paved
walkways, recessed areas containing shrubbery or other decorative effects,
small trees, a fountain, a shrine, etc.
At one point the walkway will bridge the pond, at another it will dip
below the water level. Unfortunately,
days upon days of rain have held progress down to a walk (no pun
intended). But it is a delight nevertheless
to imagine how beautiful the garden will be and to anticipate the spiritual and
psychological lift it will provide.
What is at least equally delightful is to remember that this project,
which would ordinarily cost in the neighborhood of a couple of thousand dollars
will be accomplished with an actual outlay of a few hundred, thanks to the
generosity of those who are either donating materials or supplying them at
nominal cost. The biggest cost saving
will be in the labor, thanks to Brothers Maurice and Thomas (our workhorses)
and the rest of the Novices and Postulants.
In my opinion the two Brothers named are worth their weight (which
happens to be considerable) in gold.
* * * * * * *
GEE
THANKS…
At this time I would like to express
our sincere thanks for all those readers of OUTLOOK who sent in names to be
remembered in the special Mass we will offer every day of November for the
souls of the deceased recommended to us.
Since our Carmelite Apostolate is
principally a hidden one of prayer (even the Fathers have a limited external
apostolate), it is not often that we receive tangible proofs of our usefulness
to the community and to the church. To
know you also have faith in the form of life we have embraced affords us no
little consolation. God bless and
reward you all.
* * * * * * *
A
COMPLETE PICTURE…
We call your attention to the aerial
photo of the monastery. Since we are
perched on a relatively small plateau on the top of a hill, we can never get
far enough away from it to get a picture of the entire building. Unfortunately, the fact we are on a hill is
not evidenced in the picture because of the height and the perspective. In the photo you can see the 74-foot square
inner courtyard we have been speaking about.
It is also evident that more of the building has to be added. The courtyard should be surrounded on two
sides by two stories, (front and left) and by three stories on the other
two. Also, the third floor of the
living quarters has to be extended the entire length of the rear wing. There is a large open space at the left of
the building (you can see part of it in the photograph) on which a wing
containing a meeting room, a library, the permanent choir and large public Chapel
have yet to be constructed. We hope these
additions will materialize before twenty more years have elapsed.
* * * * * * *
INTRODUCING…
With the last issue of OUTLOOK we
gave you a hangnail sketch of the last of us Carmelite Priests who are assigned
to our Novitiate here at Waverly. Now
we turn our attention to other Fathers of the Province, with the intention of
acquainting you with some of the more important personalities. We will start at the top by telling you
about our ‘man in Rome’. He is the Very
Reverend Albert Bourke, O.C.D.
Currently he is serving as the fourth General Definitor. The four definitors form the General
Superior’s advisory board. The account
we print is taken from the Italian Carmelite bi-monthly “Il Piccolo Fiore di
Gesu” (the Little Flower of Jesus), to which we have added a few
embellishments. The photo of the Holy
Father with our General Superior and some of the definitors is also taken from
that magazine. Father Albert is in the
insert.
Very Reverend Father Albert of the
Most Blessed Sacrament was born Edward R. Bourke in Arlington, Washington State
on March 13, 1909. A top-notch pianist,
Father Albert earned a degree of Master of Music at the University of Seattle,
Washington. On the third of September
1931, he entered the Novitiate of the Order at Holy Hill, Wisconsin, and on
September 4 a year later he made his first Profession of Vows. In virtue of his qualities of spirit and
intelligence he was sent by our Very Reverend Father William, then General of
the Order, to study Philosophy at Mount Carmel, Palestine. From there, after having made his solemn
vows a month early, by a special indult of the Holy See, he was transferred to
the International College of the Discalced Carmelite Order at Rome. He was ordained a priest by His Eminence
Cardinal Traglia, at that time Vicar of Rome.
(Note: the Vicar of Rome is the
person to whom the Holy Father entrusts the bulk of the work of administering
the Diocese of Rome, while the Pope himself is engaged with the more burdensome
duties of the Vicar of Christ).
In 1940, after he had returned to
the United States, Father Albert was appointed Master of Students at our
Theological College at Washington, D. C.
From 1942 to 1948 (for two terms, that is) he was the Master of Novices
at Brookline, Massachusetts. Following
that, Father was elected Prior of the same Monastery. From 1951 to 1954 he was the Provincial Superior, and when his
term of office was completed, appointed Superior of our Minor Seminary at
Peterborough, New Hampshire. A year
later (in 1955) when Very Reverend Father Thomas Kilduff, O.C.D. (who had
succeeded Father Albert as Provincial) was elected 4th General
Definitor, Father Albert was re-named Provincial by the General
Definitory. In 1957 Father Albert was
again elected Provincial, and following this term was assigned to the Novitiate
at Brookline, Massachusetts, where he soon distinguished himself in the role of
chief breadwinner. In 1961 Father
Albert was elected to the office of 4th General Definitor, and since
then has resided in Rome.
During his term as Provincial,
Father Albert engineered the foundation of Monasteries at Youngstown, Ohio and
Peterborough, New Hampshire, and did the groundwork for the building of our new
Novitiate here at Waverly. At the
present time Father Albert is in the States in order to attend the National
Congress of Discalced Carmelite Tertiaries at Washington, D. C. and to lend
dignity to other noteworthy functions that will take place within the
Province. We are looking forward to his
promised visit, for not only are we glad to welcome him in our midst at all
times, but we want him to have a vivid memory of this place when he has
returned to his post at the side of Our Very Reverend Father General. (Say!
This could be bad as well as good, couldn’t it?)
* * * * * * *
In the September issue of OUTLOOK we
said that we would speak this month, God willing, of the third reason why
Carmel is interested in the Second Vatican Council. But apparently, God is not willing, for we have decided to choose
another subject for this month’s spiritual discourse, namely, St. Therese of
the Child Jesus and her Little Way of Confidence. It was my good fortune to ‘rediscover’ the spiritual doctrine of
the Little Flower when preparing the sermons of the Triduum we held here in her
honor the first three days of October.
No little time has elapsed since last I read her works carefully, and
having had to come to grips with human nature both in myself and in others
during the short time since my ordination has enabled me to see much more
clearly the cogency and urgency of her message.
GODS’S
GIFT…
St. Therese of the Child Jesus is
God’s gift to ‘little souls’, those nameless, numberless souls who constitute
the greater majority in the Church, who are born, live, work and die in total
obscurity. An unhappy combination of
events operates to instill a certain suspicion in the minds of many of these
persons once they have gotten beyond the threshold of maturity, and this
suspicion grows gradually into all but a conviction as they themselves advance
in years. It is this, namely, that they
are non-entities, ciphers, of no great worth either objectively or in relation
to the rest of mankind. They feel that
their lives are of no consequence, of no real use to society.
A conviction such as this can tear a
man’s soul to shreds. It annihilates
him and brings him to the brink of despair.
Why? Because it contradicts the
two most basic aspirations implanted in him by God our Creator: to be esteemed, prized, loved, to be SOMEBODY,
for one thing, and to fulfill a role of importance, or at least to be truly
useful to the rest of humanity, for another.
To be forced into a situation in
which the afore-named conviction reaches out and punches him in the nose is the
lot of most of these little souls. It
is true, most of the common people do not verbalize this feeling of their own
worthlessness and uselessness, but it nevertheless gnaws at their
consciousness.
THREE
FORCES…
These are the forces that have
conspired to bring this about: first,
our growing dependence upon machines and mechanization. Machines are being built to do every kind of
work. Many a man’s importance and his
worth is then measured in relation to a machine. What could be more degrading than to have one’s personal value
determined in terms of his skill in the building operation, or repair of a
machine? But the fact remains: men are expendable, equipment is not. So we find human life sacrificed to
mechanization.
Next we can point to the vastly
improved means of communication and travel.
Through the media of press, radio and television the attention of the
entire world can be focused on any one spot on the globe. We are always being taken to where history
is being shaped, destinies forged, and extraordinary deeds of every kind are
taking place. Since the spotlight is
thrown with such dazzling brilliance upon the relatively few individuals who
are the protagonists of these events, the rest of mankind is thrown into a
shadow. We know less about our neighbors
than we know about people thousands of miles away. Compared to the celebrities, whose histories and accomplishments
are painted in glamorous and sensational colors, the rest of us appear as
nothing, as nobodies.
Third, sprawling agencies have taken
over and perform the offices of humanity that the ordinary man used to perform
for his fellow human creatures. Those
in need are being served more and more by social agencies that operate, for the
most part, as a business rather than out of a motive of charity and respect for
human life. Often the social workers
are devoid of warmth and interest. They
don’t deal with people but with cases, with cold statistics. Is it any wonder that the little man is
convinced he is of little or no worth?
Before I go on, I wish to say that
the technical advances we have been considering are not to be condemned. They are good in themselves and should be
exploited for the overall good of mankind.
Their impact on the little man, however, is a side effect of fearful
consequences that should be counteracted at all costs.
THERESE’S
MESSAGE…
It is into a background such as this
that the Little Flower delivers her message.
We see then, that what she has to tell us is more timely now than it was
at the time of her canonization. It
will be even more urgent as time goes on.
By now you have put your finger on it; it is this: each and every human being is, objectively
speaking, of incalculable worth, and that every life, regardless of how humble
and indistinguished, can be of utmost usefulness to society. In her life and writings we are reminded
again and again that the human soul is of so great an intrinsic worth that it
is capable of participating in the Divine Life of God Himself, of being adopted
into His family and sharing the Divine Wealth and Perfections. There we are reminded that a man’s life can
be so valuable and meaningful as to be able to influence the course of History
and the destiny of millions of human lives.
What is this, you ask, if not the
message of the Gospel? Nothing, except
that in St. Therese of the Child Jesus we have the concrete example of a very
little soul who based her entire life upon these premises, namely, of the
sublime worth of her soul and the power that lay within her grasp to direct the
course of the world events. We see that
she was not confounded, that is, she was not deceived. The consequences of having lived these
truths surpassed her fondest expectations.
We see in her life that she was
convinced of the love which God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit nourished
toward her. She lived in the continual
awareness of their love and their presence.
She knew that as a human being she was precious to God, and that He
wanted to communicate to her all His love and receive her affection. It amazed her to think that the Lord set
store by her affection, and so she determined to give Him every last bit. The story of her soul reveals that our Lord
Jesus Christ was more real to her and more influential than anyone else in the
very small circle of her acquaintances, even her Father and her sister
Pauline. Her early life consisted in
nothing else than the gradual shaping of her soul to become one day the Spouse
of Jesus Christ in the Order of Carmel.
She was very little, a nobody, at least as the world judges. Yet, like every other human soul, so great
in the eyes of God as to be capable of becoming the Bride of the King of
Heaven.
TWO
PHASES…
Two phases characterized the life of
the Little Flower. First, she was
primarily preoccupied with being an attentive Spouse of Our Saviour. On the one hand she would bask in the
sunshine of His love, and on the other she would seek out and press into
service every means of making Him a return of love.
Later on, she realized that it was
beyond her power to love Him, as He deserves.
So she thirsted to bring all others, the entire world to love Him as she
did. This alone would satisfy her
desires. She became in other words, an
Apostle. And so she looked for a way to
influence the life of every human being who comes into the world. She was convinced despite the humble
obscurity of her daily life, that it lay within her power to exercise every
office in the church, to fulfill at every moment all the diverse functions of
the Mystical Body. She did find a
way. That way was love. By doing all things with love she would be
in the heart of the church and share in the life and accomplishments (good
works) of each and every member of the Church.
This is to shape the destiny of mankind and to contribute to its
ultimate good because the destiny of the human race is to grow to the fullness
of the age of Jesus Christ in His Mystical Body. Love, then, became for her the Philosopher’s Stone, which was
able to transmute an obscure, almost drab routine of life into the gold of a
rich and precious apostolate. Her
message to us little souls is that all she accomplished lies within our power,
too. Everything about her shows us most
graphically how to cope with every human situation and thereby fulfill the
basic desire of our human nature.
* * * * * * *
SUFFERING…
We are in the debt of St. Therese
for yet another reason, for the incomparable favor of pointing up convincingly
that suffering has not only redemptive value, but is also a means of proving
our love and nourishing it. It is good
news to little souls because it shows us that we have at our disposal all we
need in order to respond to God’s love and to draw down greater outpouring of
His grace. We have the means whereby we
can render our hidden lives more fruitful for the Church.
To prove our love we must pay a
price. The more a man spends on his
beloved the more convinced she is that he loves her. But when he spends not only all his possessions in order to
enrich her and make her happy, but spends himself besides, then she is sure
beyond all doubt. True lovers, then,
look for suffering, sigh for suffering as a means of demonstrating their
love. Our Lord Jesus Christ understands
only one language, the language of suffering.
It is the only language in which love can be explained adequately. When we not only accept and embrace the
suffering God sends us, but even long for it, we have proved to Him that we
really do love Him above all things.
BRINGS
OUT THE BEST…
Suffering nourishes love because it
brings out the best in a person. No
beloved bride who sees her spouse expending himself selflessly, enduring keen
sufferings for her sake can refrain from making every effort to return that
love. So it is that she surpasses
herself and reaches new heights of unselfish devotion in return. This reveals to her loved ones far greater
riches of goodness and virtue. Seeing,
therefore, that his beloved is even more loveable than he had once supposed, he
is further inspired to die more and more to himself in order to live for her
alone. Thus there begins a spiral
effect, which enables them both to fall ever more deeply in love. Something like this is true in the souls
relationship to God.
SUFFERING
GIVES VISION…
In our own spiritual life, suffering
gives an insight into the meaning of the Cross. The Cross of our Saviour becomes a book in which we can read with
ever greater understanding the unspeakable love of Our Lord and God for us. Suffering embraced for the Lord’s sake opens
the eyes of our soul and reveals to us in the Cross dimensions and depths and
perspectives of God’s love we never before knew existed. In this way our love for God is
nourished. It is this, which makes us,
thirst to love Him more and which disposes us to receive new outpourings of
love. That is why the great saints were
all so enamored of the Cross and suffering.
How lucky we little souls are.
We live in the very midst of the means best calculated to make us more
precious in the eyes of God and render our lives truly worthwhile: suffering.
YET
ANOTHER…
There is one more insight to which
the Little Flower has treated us, and that is the previous unheard of concept
of a “Victim of Merciful Love”. What
does it mean to be a victim of Merciful Love?
It means a willingness to let the Sacred Heart exhaust His desire to
have mercy and love upon one’s very own self.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is an ever-abounding fount of love and
mercy. His love and mercy are ever
seeking out what is poor in order to enrich it, what is base in order to enoble
it, what is wretched in order to glorify it, and so on. St. Therese conceived of the Heart of Jesus
as being in pain for want of finding souls willing to accept all the favors and
blessings He wishes to bestow. She
realized that nothing consoles and glorifies Him more than to let Him be
merciful and all-loving. How she
rejoiced when it came home to her that as a very little soul she was an ideal
victim. The smaller one is, the less
one has, the better able to receive the torrents of mercy and love Jesus is
anxious to pour forth. It became her
glory that she was so small. The more
faults she discovered in herself, the more wretched and incapable of doing any
good she found herself to be, the happier she became. It was precisely this that enabled her to please her beloved more
and more and opened the doors of her soul to fresh, more exquisite graces. Could there possibly be better news for us
nobodies, who will never amount to much in the eyes of the World? We owe this re-emphasis of the Gospel
message to St. Therese.
FEARSOME
CONSEQUENCES…
It is relatively easy to offer
oneself as a victim of merciful love with the lips, but it is not easy to
endure its consequences. For once we
have offered ourselves without reservations and the Lord has accepted our gift,
then He leads us along paths He himself had to tread. He who is a victim of merciful love must enter dark and dangerous
regions, climb rugged mountains, cross raging torrents, penetrate thick and
perilous forests, traverse dry, desolate waste, encounter savage beasts. These figures are intended
metaphorically. They apply to the
spirit, but signify very well what the soul must bear when it consents to
accept all the graces the Lord wishes to impart. Jesus gives Himself entirely to a Victim of merciful Love and so
until everything that is contrary to Him is driven out of his soul, that person
experiences the equivalent of Purgatory.
May the Little Flower obtain this grace for us all.
* * * * * * *
Alas, once again we have failed, for
lack of space, to finish saying what we started out to say. We hope to find an opportunity to speak of
the Little Way of Confidence in some later issue. Please pray for us. We
pray for all our readers. God bless you
all.
Cordially yours in Our Lady,
* * * * *
Note
to the reader: This newsletter was written in the 60’s and
Waverly Novitiate no longer exists, however, the Carmelites are always in
need of funds to carry out their work. If
anyone wishes to contribute to the cause of the Discalced Carmelite Friars,
please send your donations to: In appreciation
for Fr. Bruno's Works, Mission Procurator, P.O. Box 270136, Hartford, WI
53027.