ALACAR Meeting Yields Much Unity in the Carmelite Family

The Asociación Latinoamericana de los Carmelitas (Latin American Association of Carmelites) (ALACAR), held a gathering at the Centro Teresiano de Espiritualidade in São Roque, Brazil, from October 20–25, 2025. It was hosted with exceptional hospitality, care, and contemplative spirit by our Discalced Carmelite (OCD) brothers and sisters.

ALACAR is composed of religious of the Order of Carmel (OCARM) and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD), members of various Carmelite congregations, and Lay Carmelites of the Third Order from across Latin America. This year’s assembly brought together over 90 participants, representing the richness and diversity of the Carmelite family; friars, nuns, sisters, and lay Carmelites from every region of the continent.

The theme of the conference was “María, maestra de oración” (Mary, Teacher of Prayer). Eight lectures were scheduled. They included: Missionary Mary Visits Latin America—Features of a Marian Mission Since the Guadalupe Event by Cándido Celestino Gonzalez, OCD and Mary, Ark of the Covenant—Marian Presence in the Shrines of Latin America by Renê Augusto Vilela da Silva, O. Carm.

On Wednesday, the talks were Mary, Woman and Mother—A Feminine Interpretation by Liliana Franco of the Company of Mary and Mary, Magnificat—An Approach from Carmelite and Ecological Spirituality by Miguel Márquez, OCD, Superior General of the Discalced Carmelites. On the third full day, the lectures were Mary Queen and Beauty of Carmel by Martín Martínez, OCD and Mary in Everyday Life—A Mariological Approach in the Light of St. Teresa of the Andes by Luisa Escobar, CM. The final two talks were Mary, Follower of Jesus—A Biblical Approach to Mary from the Beatitudes by Jairo Gómez, OCD and Mary, Mystagogue—Mary’s Role in Initial and Ongoing Formation by Edimar Fernando Moreira, O. Carm.

The gathering included the participation of leadership from both Orders: Fr. Miguel Márquez, OCD, Superior General; Fr. Martín Martínez Larios, OCD, Definitor General for Latin America; and Fr. Nepi Willemsen, O. Carm., General Councilor for the Americas. Their participation was a strong sign of communion and shared vision in the Carmelite family.

On Wednesday, Bishop João Bosco Barbosa de Sousa, OFM, presided at the Eucharist. He is the third bishop of Oasaco in the state of São Paulo, where the conference was held.

Throughout the week, participants reflected on Mary as the living model of prayer, a woman of silence and interiority, of listening and intercession, of mercy and prophetic faith. Far from being a merely devotional figure, Mary emerged as the true teacher of discipleship and contemplative prayer, guiding the Carmelite family to rediscover its contemplative roots and prophetic mission.

The week was also marked by a profound experience of communion and fraternity among all branches of the Carmelite family. The exchanges, liturgies, and shared reflections deepened the awareness that we are one family in Carmel, united in diversity, and called to pray and serve together for the life of the Church.

The ALACAR gathering, held every four years, will next be organized by the Order of Carmel (OCARM) and is projected to take place in October 2029.

Giving Thanks With Grateful Hearts
(Luke 7:11-17)

This weekend we celebrate those who are now in God’s care.
We pray for them with faith and hope.
As St Paul says, what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by his death we have been made righteous in the eyes of God (Romans 5:8-10). God does not wait for us to be perfect before reaching out to us in love.
We thank God for the presence of our departed sisters and brothers in our lives. We recognise them as a gift and blessing to us. Even in the midst of our sadness we are aware of God’s graciousness in sharing them with us and we pray for them with grateful hearts. Our prayer for them expresses our Christian hope that death is not the end of life, and that we will meet each other again in God’s kingdom.
Giving thanks to God is a fundamental character of our liturgy. The word Eucharist means ‘to give thanks’. The word liturgy means ‘to do one’s public duty’. When we talk about the Liturgy of the Eucharist we are talking about the time we spend at mass doing our public work of giving thanks to God.
The Gospel for our commemoration today is both emotional and touching. Jesus meets the funeral procession of a young man. He is deeply moved with compassion for the young man’s mother and the young man himself.
The Gospel tells us that the mother is a widow and the young man who has died is her only son. In the times in which Jesus lived that meant that the mother, in addition to being grief-stricken, was now extremely vulnerable - having no male to act on her behalf in legal or financial matters and no bread-winner now to look after her.
In restoring her son’s life Jesus has also restored her life. It’s a double restoration, a double blessing and a double sign of God’s goodness and compassion.
Today, we join with the whole Church in praying that God welcome our departed sisters and brothers fully into the Divine embrace.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - Commemoration Of All Souls [PDF](2.79 MB)
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• pdf Celebrando en Familia - La conmemoración de los fieles difuntos(476 KB)
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On October 18, 2025, the feast of St. Luke, the Betica Province in Spain celebrated the 34th Carmelite Family Gathering. On this occasion, the event took place in El Viso del Alcor (Seville), in the centenary year of the founding of the Brotherhood and Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in that town.

More than one hundred people attended, not counting the religious of the province who accompanied the different groups from seventeen different locations throughout our geography (Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, TOC, confraternities, teachers from our schools, and parishioners). Of particular note was the presence of the prior general of the Order, Fr. Desiderio García Martínez, who, in addition to presiding over the Eucharist of the meeting, gave a beautiful and moving lecture on the life and experience of faith of Fray Pablo María de la Cruz.

A Few Days of Joyful Fraternity with the Carmelites of East Timor

Given the geographical proximity and the fact that I was in Indonesia for the General Chapter and had previously planned this visit with the prior provincial of the Province of Australia and East Timor, Bruce Clark, I was given the opportunity to make a fraternal visit to our confreres of this Province in East Timor.

The connection between Portugal and East Timor is a historical fact. The first Portuguese merchants and missionaries arrived on this island in 1515, exploiting the region's natural resources and proclaiming the Gospel. Timor was Portuguese territory until 1975.

Despite all the historical vicissitudes, East Timor has been a fully independent territory since May 22, 2002. The link with Portugal has been maintained due to our shared history and mutual collaboration in various areas. For example, one of East Timor's official languages is Portuguese.

It is in this context that the Commissariat of the Carmelites in Portugal has maintained a close relationship with the Carmelites of East Timor, supporting the confreres in their formation and in their learning the Portuguese language. It was also this relationship that led me to visit our confreres in this country for a week. To the historical, cultural, and collaborative closeness, I have now added an experience of closeness through physical presence.

I can testify to the joy with which these brothers live the charism and fraternity, and how the different generations live a simple life of prayer, collaboration and mutual support. It is with this same joy that they welcome those who visit them.

East Timor is teeming with vocations. It throbs with hope in living and proclaiming Jesus Christ and the Carmelite charism. It is growing in communion and participation in the local Church. The affection with which the Carmelites are treated is a testimony to this dedication in the community.

Something that also struck me was the closeness between the various branches of the Carmelite Family: confreres, lay people and Carmelite Sisters. There is great complicity between everyone and the realization of projects in which everyone is involved.

It's been a growing presence since 2001, when our confreres in Australia began this project. In addition to the older communities in Hera (two formation communities), Zumalai and Fatuhada (Dili), the confreres are starting a new community in Comoro (Dili) and have embraced a missionary project in Guisarudo where they are creating the spiritual and material conditions for the creation of a new parish.

Personally, I have witnessed the generosity of the confreres in their service to the community and of the community towards the confreres. Some of the confreres are still present in institutes and on formation fronts linked to philosophy and theology, as well as being asked to lead retreats and provide spiritual assistance to some chaplaincies.

I had the opportunity to visit some of the houses of the Carmelite Sisters of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. The Sisters' dedication in the education sector, in running a retreat centre and in various socio-charitable projects, especially in peripheral contexts, is commendable. I would also like to thank the sisters for their fraternal welcome, which was always very lively and choreographed! 

I carry with me an enviable collection of "tais" (Timor's traditional garments used in honoring and welcoming people) that I keep as a symbol of a memorable time!

As well as visiting and socializing with the various branches of the Carmelite Family, I also had the chance to visit some of Timor's emblematic and historic sites, as well as some of its natural beauty.

In a Jubilee year with the theme "Pilgrims of Hope," these days in East Timor were an opportunity for me to reinforce hope in the present and future of the Carmelite Order, wherever it may be. It perfectly complemented and added to the memory of the fraternity and vitality of the Order experienced at the Malang General Chapter.

I thank God for the witness of fraternity that I received and for the joy of our confreres on this "good and holy" journey in "obedience" to Jesus Christ, following the example of Mary and Elijah."

Agostinho Marques Castro, O. Carm.
Commissary General

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We’ve All Met Them!
(Luke 18:9-14)

We’ve all met them: people who only seem to be able to bolster their self-image by putting everyone else down. We meet such a character in the Pharisee in the Gospel for this Sunday. Like the Pharisee in this week’s Gospel, we can sometimes see religion as a set of personal rituals, actions and prayers that cause us to think we have been faithful to God’s calling because we have done this or that.
Spirituality, however, is about practising our ‘faith’ with a profound sense of God’s presence, God’s love for us, and ours for one another. We live work and pray out of our relationship with God, deeply aware of God’s gift of abiding love and mercy that surrounds us.
The background for the Gospel is set in the First Reading from Ecclesiasticus (35:12-14, 16-19) – God’s judgement is not fooled by outward appearances of wealth, or power, or religious shows of piety. God cannot be fooled into judging against the injured, the poor, the widow or orphan.
It is the person ‘who with his whole heart serves God’ whose prayers are accepted.
The parable in this Gospel, we are told, is addressed to ‘people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else’.
The Pharisee (people well respected due to their personal piety) prays to God, reminding God (and himself) what a good person he is and all the religious things he has done. He has thus fulfilled the duties of a ‘religious’ and ‘righteous’ person – unlike, he says, the tax collector.
However, the tax collector (considered a sinner in Jesus’ time), doesn’t see himself worthy to even lift his eyes to God and acknowledges that he has sinned and considers himself unworthy to be in the presence of God. But, as Jesus says, he leaves the temple ‘at rights with God’. His relationship with God is from the heart. Overcome with a deep awareness of God’s love for him, and his own unworthiness of it, he does not dare to even lift up his eyes. Whereas the Pharisee, through his lack of humility and apparent self-righteousness, leaves assuming that he is at rights with God.
Our prayer and worship should never be empty words or merely symbolic actions. They must truly come from our hearts and so lead us not only into a deeper relationship with God but also into the willing service of all.

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• pdf Celebrando en Familia - XXX Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario(320 KB)
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• pdf Celebrando em família - XXX Domingo do Tempo Comum(483 KB)

From the General Archives …

For the fourth consecutive year, we have completed another block of restorations of seals from our collection of parchments. As in previous years, the project was supported by contributions from the CEI's 8xMille fund and was carried out by Dr. Luca Becchetti, custodian of the seals of the Vatican Apostolic Archives.

Here are the before and after of a large round seal in natural wax belonging to King Francis I of France (1515-1547), which was in very poor condition before restoration, with fragments glued back together in a haphazard manner. The seal, now legible again despite the missing parts, shows on the front the effigy of the sovereign seated on the throne, crowned and with the scepter, inside a pavilion with cornflowers; under his feet, the silhouettes of two lions can be seen. On the back, traces of the shield of France can be seen.

The privilege to which it belongs (II Extra/1527.1) is dated Saint Denis, July 7, 1527: it is a royal letter in which the King of France writes to Prior General Niccolò Audet, putting an end to the dispute between him and Stephane Jovency, prior of the Province of Narbonne. When Audet was elected general on May 8, 1524, during the Chapter of Venice, Jovency refused to recognize his authority, causing a rift in the Carmelite Order. A week after the contested election, the prior of Narbonne had convened an anti-chapter in Montpellier, from which he emerged as prior general. Probably only the provinces of southern France participated in that chapter, but the clash between them and the rest of the Order was such as to cause a schism accompanied by excommunications. In fact, Audet had brought the matter before Pope Clement VII, obtaining a bull ordering the French to return to the jurisdiction of the Carmelite Curia in Rome. In turn, Jovency appealed to the King of France in an attempt to have the papal decision suspended, but the Royal Council ruled in favor of Audet, who governed from 1524 to 1562, distinguishing himself as an extraordinary reformer. His generalate was the second longest in the history of the Order, after that of Giovanni Grossi (1411-1430).

New Province in Indonesia Dedicates Church and Ordains 10 Members As Priests

On October 14, 2025, the Bishop of Maumere, Mgr. Edwaldus Martinus Sedu, dedicated the parish church of Maria Kusuma Karmel Bu Nuaria parish. Participating with the bishop were the prior provincial of Eastern Indonesia, Fr. Marselinus Barus, O. Carm., as well as the parish priest of Nuaria, Fr. Damaskus Sukutukan Belang, O. Carm., and the other concelebrating priests.

The following day, October 15, 2025, the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, 10 Carmelite deacons of the province were ordained to the priesthood.

The Eastern Indonesia Province was created on March 25, 2025, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. It was placed under the patronage of St. Titus Brandsma. It was previously part of the Province of Indonesia which was established in 1923 by the Dutch province. Members were given the option of staying in the province or joining the new entity. The new province will consist of one hundred and seventeen (117) friars of solemn profession and sixty-five (65) friars of simple profession. The area of the new province covers the ecclesial provinces of Makasar, Ende, Kupang, and Merauke in the eastern part of Indonesia.

The new province has four canonically erected houses and three formation houses. Its prior provincial is Marselinus Barus, O. Carm.

PROFESSIO TEMPORANEA
06-09-25  Maria Iuliana della Santa Famiglia  (CAR) Luncani, Romania

ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS
15-10-25  Andrianus Bado Rema (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Georgius Ture (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Daniel Seti Hali Tolang (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Patrisius Rato (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Blasius Wege (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Hendrikus Nggala (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Hilarius Abiops Sawokupu (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Alexandro Putra Bei (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Marianus Ronaldo Tiba (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
15-10-25  Yulianus Yesik M. Rudeng (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia

15 October Feast

From the “Works” of Saint Teresa of Jesus, virgin
(book “The Book of Life,” chapter 22, 6-7, 14)

Let Us Always Remember the Love of Christ

Those who have Christ Jesus as their friend and follow such a magnanimous captain as he certainly can endure anything; for Jesus helps and gives strength, never fails, and loves sincerely. In fact, I have always recognized and still see clearly that we cannot please God and receive great graces from him except through the hands of the most sacred humanity of Christ, in which he said he was pleased.

I have experienced this many times, and the Lord himself has told me so. I have clearly seen that we must pass through this door if we desire that the supreme Majesty show us his great secrets. We must not seek another way, even if we have reached the summit of contemplation, because this way is sure. It is from him, our Lord, that all good things come to us. He will instruct us.

Meditating on his life, you will find no more perfect model. What more could we desire when we have such a good friend at our side who never abandons us in tribulations and misfortunes, as the friends of the world do? Blessed is he who truly loves him and always has him with him! Let us look at the glorious apostle Paul, who could not help but always have the name of Jesus on his lips, because he had it firmly fixed in his heart. Knowing this truth, I have considered and learned that some very contemplative saints, such as Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, and Catherine of Siena, followed no other path. We must walk this path with great freedom, abandoning ourselves into God's hands. If he wishes to raise us up among the princes of his court, let us willingly accept this grace.

Every time we think of Christ, let us remember the love that prompted him to grant us so many graces and the ardent charity that God has shown us by giving us in him a pledge of the tenderness with which he follows us: for love demands love. Therefore, let us strive to consider this truth and inspire ourselves to love. If the Lord were to grant us the grace, once, to imprint this love in our hearts, everything would become easy for us and we would accomplish much, quickly and without effort.

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Edizioni Carmelitane has published A Spirituality of Truth: Philosophical Explorations of St. Teresa of Jesus by renowned Philippino author Macario Ofilada Mina. It is available at from Edizioni Carmelitane.
 
We also offer a number of other books on the life of St. Teresa, her work, and legacy. We suggest reading the following books, available from Edizioni Carmelitane: The Heirs of St. Teresa of Avila and "I Consider the Labor Well Spent" A Mini-Course on the Interior Castle.

To access these and many other fine publications at Edizioni Carmelitane, click here.