This past May 7, the General Chapter reelected you to the office of Superior General. At the
moment of election, what did you feel?
Saint Paul says that the desires of the flesh are opposed to the desires of the Spirit. I have lived
some of that within myself. I do not hide the desire I had of fleeing tiredness, the fear of not
having enough strength for another six years of service, the temptation to take my life back
into my own hands. But above all that, a basic logic prevailed: if six years ago I said “yesâ€
because I saw in the election by the brothers, an expression of the will of God, I cannot behave
in a different way now. Therefore, I ended up by accepting this new call with much peace.
After six years of governance of the Order, I imagine you face this challenge in a different way
than six years ago. How can the experience you have gained help you?
In effect, today I see the work that awaits me from a different perspective. The point is to try
to continue the work already begun with a better understanding of the difficulties that will
arise as well as the reasons that motivate us to carry it out.
It is clear that one cannot make a global assessment of the Order without considering the
characteristics of each circumscription. However, if you would permit me, I would like to ask
about the Order in general terms. How is its health?
The order is alive and has a richness and fertility of which perhaps we are not fully aware. I
would almost respond with the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John: the Order is fruitful, but
precisely because of that, it needs to be pruned and nurtured so that it will bear more fruit.
In old Europe, the vocational crisis is a challenge. From the Discalced Carmel, how is that
challenge met?
There are, naturally, different reactions in the face of this crisis. In my point of view, the
healthiest reaction is to work on what depends on us, as Saint Teresa said: to do that little bit
which depends on us, which in reality is not such a little thing, since it means trying to live
deeply, within the circumstances of today’s world, our vocation of prayerful and fraternal
communities. As far as we are able to do this work in ourselves, I am sure that we will also be
capable of facing and overcoming the crisis that religious life in the western world is
undergoing.
Without a doubt, the message of the Carmelite Saints help us do that.
Yes, our “reality,†that is, our relevance in the world, actually depends precisely on the
specificity of our charism. Rereading the works of Saint Teresa has made us discover, I believe,
that many of our problems have their answers in the experience of a woman who lived five
centuries ago. They are not answers provided as an afterthought; they are original; they oblige
us to dig deep into ourselves and into our way of living as individuals and as communities.
Conversely; the Order is growing elsewhere …
Yes, the growth of the Order is heady, especially in Africa and some parts of Asia. And in other
regions it has, in any case, a good atmosphere and a particular stability.
Certainly, it is a challenge to reach the youth. How can that be carried out in this society in which
their attention is claimed by so many messages?
I think the first thing that must be done is to listen attentively to the young people; listen in
depth, beyond the first superficial impressions that their manner of speaking or
communicating calls up in us who are more advanced in age. I see clearly that when a religious
has this capacity of empathizing, the young people notice him or her, or respond with greater
interest and openness.
Changing the subject. The relationship with the Discalced Carmelite nuns has been the focus of
several days of the General Chapter. You have dedicated several documents on this topic over
the last six years. What steps will be taken in the next six years?
The presence of our Carmelite sisters for two days of the Chapter has not only been an act of
courtesy; it has been a genuine encounter that has given place to a true dialogue in which
convergences and divergences have come to light. In the end, the sisters have invited us to
continue this exchange, most especially in the face of a common work toward permanent
formation which is, in my opinion, one of the most important challenges in contemplative life.
As in the case of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, the seculars have also been heard in the Chapter. Yet another challenge for these six years …
We dedicated one day of the Chapter to the OCDS, with the participation of some members
from different countries. The reality of the secular Carmelite is very varied. To belong to the
Secular Order has very different implications based on regions and cultures. I believe,
however, that in all of them the challenge of seriously taking up the responsibilities proper to
secular members of the Carmelite family is present. It is necessary that seculars find their own,
specific way of living the different dimensions of the Carmelite charism, which is obviously
different from the way a community of friars or nuns lives them.
We spoke previously about how to reach lay youth. Now I will refer to those under formation.
Specifically, about the importance of the formative stage.
We have to persevere a lot on human and Christian formation if we do not want Carmelite
formation to be some type of superficial varnish. It is necessary, in a way, to find the Teresian
Carmelite style of forming the person in a human and Christian way. I am convinced that in the
charismatic heritage of the Teresian Carmel there are sufficient elements to engender this
process of maturation on the levels of self knowledge and relationship with the Lord Jesus, and
to assume the commitments proper to religious life.
I am not forgetting ongoing formation. There is also a journey to undertake regarding that.
We have to distinguish between permanent formation and being up to date. Sometimes we confuse those two things. Permanent formation is what I prefer to call “self care†– caring for
our own vocation, our own soul, our own being. Its opposite is acidÄa, which etymologically
means precisely: neglect of oneself. In this sense, permanent formation is a personal
commitment that is carried out day by day on the occasions that arise during our personal
experience of ordinary life (prayer, community, work). Putting oneself up to date is a different
matter which implies a commitment to study, read, and inform oneself. During the last six
years we began projects of this type, organizing Biblical-spiritual formation courses in Stella
Maris (Haifa) and formation for formators, community leaders, and spiritual directors in India.
The Chapter has requested that these projects continue during the upcoming six years.
Focusing now on the General Chapter. In your closing document “es hora de caminar†(it is time
to walk, to be underway) you extend an invitation to reread the Constitutions. In summary,
what is the main objective of this rereading?
We have decided to begin rereading our Constitutions to give continuity to the journey of the
past six years with the reading of the works of Saint Teresa. We do not want to turn the page.
Instead, we want to continue asking ourselves the question, “what kind of persons ought we to
be†as sons of Saint Teresa. From that premise, our rereading of the Constitutions has as its
goal the comparison of our life today with the model set forth in the Constitutions. On one
hand, that means examining our life in the light of the Constitutions; on the other, it means
reviewing the Constitutions in view of the experience lived by religious and communities in the
last 30 or 40 years. There have been great changes. It seems to us that the moment has come
to try to answer many of the questions those changes pose.
During the Chapter there was also much talk about the ocd missions. The missionary spirit of
Saint Teresa lives. In these next six years, how will help for the missions be channeled from
the Generalate?
We have to work on several levels. First of all, we have to define more clearly what we mean
by mission in order for all of us to feel that we are involved in this commitment to be
missionaries and evangelize, which, as Teresian Carmelites, is part of our being. Pope Francis is
strongly exhorting the entire Church to come out of itself, avoiding the risks of closing itself up
and of self-absorption. Then there is a very concrete problem that refers to economic support
for the new missions. I am very happy that the Chapter has opted for the “communion of
goods,†choosing to create a fund to help the missions which will be administrated by the
Generalate. I hope we can respond, at least in part, to the many requests for help we receive.
Another important aspect is communication. In your presentation on the state of the Order, you
used the word “communicate†many times. How are we lacking in this area and how can we
walk together to improve it?
Communication is an essential dimension of human life, and even more so of life in
community. Sometimes we spiritualize the concept of community a bit. We speak of
communion and thereby exempt ourselves from the commitment to incarnate the gift of
communion in a concrete experience of communication. Communication is above all, that
which is lived with the brothers who surround us. Today we run the risk of communicating
over distance too often, in a virtual manner, and too little with those who are nearby.
Communication implies many things: capacity to listen, capacity to express oneself, trusting
the other, committing to the relationship. These are all values we should center on if we truly
want to be brothers who know each other and are friends, such as Saint Teresa wanted.
We conclude this interview by asking you for a message for all the Teresian Carmelite Family.
I find no better message than the one we have chosen as the title of the Chapter document,
“es tiempo de caminar†(it is time to walk, to be underway). We cannot stay still; we cannot
allow ourselves to be blocked by fears or false security. We have to begin a journey through
the Church and today’s world placing our trust and hope not in ourselves, but in the Lord who
has promised to walk with us. It is time to walk, to be underway, but knowing that “let us both
go together, Lord.â€
