“‘Mary hath chosen the better part which shall not be taken from her.’ So said the Lord to Martha – Martha who was troubled with much serving, and who complained that her sister had left her to serve alone. Holy Church applies these words to Mary, the Mother of God; and the Order of Carmel, so dear to its heavenly Mother, vindicates for itself Mary’s part in the spiritual life of the Church. We may truly say that the Contemplative Orders have ever had to meet the most serious hindrances in the life of prayer. Carmel, notwithstanding, has ever borne witness to the pre-eminence of contemplation. Inevitably, in almost all circumstances of modern life, the active apostolate makes its great demands on Carmel and then the Carmelite priests gladly adopt the motto of the Dominican Friars. They must root this activity deep in contemplation, for them its only source and warrant of fruitfulness. When this is necessary, Carmel will be honoured and blessed by such an apostolate. But it must never forget that the better part is contemplation – the active life must always take a second place. The first hermits of Carmel loved solitude. After the noise and tumult of battle, they withdrew from the world into the quiet of Carmel’s caves, henceforward to devote their lives entirely to God. With Elias they had known the perils of the wilderness and hoped to find God on the Holy Mountain. But almost immediately we find them scattering over the world, founding cloisters and engaging in apostolic work. Nicholas Gallus might safely say they did it rarely, but they did concern themselves with work of this kind under the stress of necessity and it was not regarded as being contrary to the Rule.”
Bl. Titus Brandsma
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