A Call to Carmel

So I say now that all of us who wear this holy habit of Carmel are called to prayer and contemplation. This call explains our origin; we are the descendants of men who felt this call, of those holy fathers on Mount Carmel who in such great solitude…sought this treasure, this precious pearl of contemplation.

- St. Teresa of Jesus, Doctor of the Church

Is God calling you to be a Discalced Carmelite Friar?

Our vocation as an Order is prayer, modeled on the prayer of Christ. He gave himself to contemplation in the desert and made his whole life a prayer. We, too, are aware of the Father’s love for us. So, in an attitude of faith, hope, and charity, we continually seek to cultivate a friend-to-friend relationship with him in personal prayer. We strive to organize our whole life in such a way that prayer is clearly seen to be our gift and mission, both as individuals and as communities. The vocation to be a Discalced Carmelite Friar is a gratuitous call from God. It is a gift that he gives to us in order that we may serve the Church and the world in Christ’s name.

Proclamation of the Word

What you hear in the dark, proclaim in the light. The Discalced Carmelite friar, after having pondered the word in his heart, is entrusted with the mission of proclaiming the word through preaching, teaching, and catechizing. The Church looks to Carmelites for such apostolates as preaching parish missions, giving public conferences on prayer and spirituality, and for leading retreats and days of recollection. The Church also looks to the Carmelites, the Brothers of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, to foster among the faithful an authentically Christian relationship with Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer.

Do you feel drawn to the mission described above? Do you think you might like to dedicate your life to living in allegiance to Jesus Christ in the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the brothers and sisters of the Order of Discalced Carmelites? Are you wondering whether you might have the gift of a vocation to the Discalced Carmelite Friars?

Elements of Vocation

The Discalced Carmelite Friars are committed to a consecrated life of allegiance to Jesus Christ. In this we are sustained by the companionship, the example and protection of our Lady. Her life of union with Christ we regard as the prototype of ours.

Our vocation is a grace by which we are called to a hidden union with God, in a form of life and fraternal sharing in which contemplation and action are blended to become a vital apostolic service of the Church.

This call to prayer embraces our whole life. Sustained by the word of God and the sacred liturgy, we are led to live in intimate friendship with God. By growing in faith, hope and above all charity, we deepen our prayer life.

With our heart thus purified we are enabled to share more closely in the life of Christ himself, and prepare the way for a more abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In this way the Teresian charism and the original spirit of Carmel become a reality in our lives as we walk in the presence of the living God.

The very nature of our charism demands that our prayer and our whole religious life be ardently apostolic, and that we put ourselves at the service of the Church and of all God's people. We strive to do this in such a way that our apostolic activity stems from our close union with Christ. Indeed, we aim at that most fruitful of all apostolates, which derives from the state of union with God.

It is for this twofold service, contemplative and active, that we share life as brothers in the community. United by the bond of love in fraternal life, we also bear witness to the unity of the Church, faithful in this to St. Teresa of Jesus, who wanted her communities to resemble "the college of Christ."

This way of life, based on the primitive Rule of St. Albert and of the teachings of St. Teresa of Jesus and of St. John of the Cross, must be sustained by constant evangelical self-denial.

Formation Program

  • The formation program is such that each phase of the program prepares the candidate for the following stage of formation. The goal of the pre-novitiate is to prepare the candidate for the novitiate by affording him a basic understanding of a religious vocation within the People of God. This stage of formation entails a period of six to twelve months.

    The candidate will be given the tools and instructions necessary to enable him to deepen his basic Christian and religious knowledge. During this period of time the candidate is given an opportunity to know our way of life, its values and its demands. He is also introduced to the apostolate of our province and helped to accommodate himself to and appreciate the multi-cultural environment of our houses and ministerial settings.

    The pre-novitiate is designed to facilitate a gradual transition to religious life. Developing a personal relationship between the candidate and the community is more important at this point than the form of life he follows.

  • The purpose of the novitiate is: to offer the novice a genuine experience of what it means to be consecrated to God as a Discalced Carmelite friar; to make available to the novice a deep objective knowledge of the evangelical counsels, and the theological virtues inherent in the Christian life; to help him come to an understanding of the basic demands made upon him by our way of life, i.e, a spirit of detachment, whole-hearted adherence to God in contemplation and apostolic zeal. This period of formation covers the period of a year and one day.

    The foundation and structure of the novice's personal prayer are to be found in Scripture and the Liturgy (R. 198). The novice should develop a deep love of prayer. The novice's prayer should be one of a personal response to the Lord's call to friendship with him.

    The font of fraternal union and the gratuitous giving of oneself are to be found in the Eucharist. Daily participation in the community's Mass is the keystone of the novice's vocational development.

    At the end of the novitiate year, with the consent of the Provincial and the formation community, the novice may be admitted to profess the evangelical vows of poverty, chastity and obedience according to the Rule and Constitutions of the Discalced Carmelite Friars. These vows are professed for one year's time.

  • The goal of the time of temporary profession is to deepen in the student his commitment to, and sense of personal responsibility for, the values of religious and Carmelite life.

    The student's academic studies, his introduction to the apostolate, his ongoing experience of community life, his continuing fidelity to prayer, and his further assimilation of Carmelite spirituality comprise the basic components of his life. Each of these components, in varying ways, help towards the fulfillment of the above-stated goal.

  • After having lived the evangelical counsels for a period of five years, a candidate may be admitted to make Solemn Profession, by which he professes the evangelical vows of poverty, chastity and obedience according to the Rule and Constitutions of the Discalced Carmelite Friars. By Solemn profession a religious is definitively incorporated into the Order and becomes a full member of it.

Admission Requirements

  • Before admission to the pre-novitiate, the candidate will ordinarily meet these requirements:

    • An ability to live in community.

    • Be 20-37 years of age.

    • Have a sound spiritual life.

    • Have two years of college, or the equivalent in military service or work.

    • Be debt free (no exceptions are to be made on this without permission of the Provincial).

    • Submit a completed application form.

    • Medical exam results (a complete physical examination, including dental and eye). The candidate will sign a release form giving permission to submit the results to the Provincial and Director of Vocations. All these tests are the financial responsibility of the candidate.

    • Undergo a criminal background check.

    In addition to the above requirements we ask for the following: birth certificate, baptismal certificate, confirmation certificate, free status from any impediments in universal law, and a signed release form of non- remuneration.

  • Ordinarily a live-in experience in a formation house will be required of the candidate, the duration of which would be two weeks.

  • The candidate is asked to be responsible for personal expenses. It is strongly recommended that the candidate maintain his own medical insurance for the duration of the pre- novitiate.

Interested in learning more?

Contact our Vocations Director, Fr. Jorge Maria Cabrera, OCD at vocations@carmelitefriarsocd.com or fill out this form: