The Declaration is the result of many years of laborious preparation, based on input from every Circumscription of the Carmelite Order and final scrutiny and elaboration at the General Chapter of 2021. It was approved at this General Chapter and presented to all our Friars for study and assimilation as the current formulation of our charism.
As members of the Carmelite family, we are also invited to accept and assimilate the text and deduce from it the necessary practical consequences. In this way too, the Declaration on our Charism can help us to live more fully our vocation as Teresian Missionary Carmelites in communion with the whole Carmelite Order.

The text of the Declaration can be divided in 8 parts:

1. Introduction
I. Responding to a call (nn.1-3)
2. II. Charism and formation (nn.4-10)
3. III. Charism and Teresian vision of the Human Person (nn.11-20)
4. IV A. The life of prayer (nn.21-29)
5. IV B. Fraternity (nn.30-44)
6. IV C. Mission (nn.45-57)
IV D. Unity of prayer- fraternity- mission (nn.58-60)
7. V. Unity and diversity (nn.61-68)
8. (Practical application: Demands on Community)

Every 10th of eeach month we will publish a video and materials coming from the General Definitory for personal and communitarian use. Let us use it as opportunity for renewal in our love for the Order and our Carmelite vocation, in deepen in our charism and identity.

We are encouraged to read not only the section proposed for that day, but also all the documents quoted as well (from our Saints, from the Order etc.). After watching the video, if it is deemed opportune, we suggest a number of questions that might serve as guidelines for reflection:
1. What is the actual significance of what has been read?
2. In what points can I identify the situation of my Community/Circumscription?
3. Where do I find, on the contrary, a more or less significant difference between the content expressed and the reality that I am experiencing in my life?
4. What are the reasons that I see – or presume – for such differences? How do I evaluate their importance?
5. What concrete steps can we take to comply more fully and faithfully with the charism here described?

DOWNLOAD in PDF: 2021_EN_-Declaration-on-the-Carmelite-Teresian-charisma

WATCH Introduction: