The Lay Order
Discalced Carmelite Secular Order (O.C.D.S.) members belong to the Carmelite family of the 16th century reform of St Teresa of Jesus. Discalced means “shoeless” and they were so named because St. Teresa’s followers wore sandals instead of shoes. Discalced Carmelites exist as a separate order from the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance (O. Carm.).
The Call to “Seek the Face of God”
All mankind is called to union with God through Jesus Christ who died on the cross to lift the veil that stood between God and His people. St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” By studying the example and instructions given by the Discalced Carmelite Doctors of the Church, we learn to encounter God in prayer and are “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Living close to God, we can more effectively listen to Him, cooperate with His grace, and witness to Christ’s call to “Follow Me” by our lives.
The Commitment to the Lay Order
In 1209, a group of hermits on Mount Carmel requested that St. Albert, the Patriarch of Jerusalem give them a Rule of Life. Members of the O.C.D.S. follow a Rule of Life based on his Rule.
- Living in allegiance to Christ,
- Being diligent in meditating on the law of the Lord,
- Giving time to spiritual reading,
- Participating in the Liturgy of the Church, including Eucharist and Liturgy of the Hours,
- Arming themselves with the practice of virtues,
- Seeking interior silence and solitude,
- Using prudent discretion in all that they do.
(from “Constitutions of the Secular Order of the Teresian Carmel” 2003)
Lay Carmelites meet monthly to pray, study and worship together in Community.
Secular Discalced Carmelites wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as the habit of the Order.