Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS)'s Podcast
The Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS) is a centre for research and formation that promotes spiritual formation and renewal, drawing on the rich resources of the venerable Carmelite tradition.
It is an apostolate of the Anglo-Irish Province of the Discalced Carmelites, based at the Carmelite Priory at Boars Hill, Oxford, England.
OUR MISSION
CACS strives to achieve its mission through structured study and formation programmes in spirituality from the Carmelite perspective, especially Prayer and Spiritual Direction. At the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality, you are welcome to enter into the silence where God’s voice is heard in prayer, word and sacrament, inviting you to journey ever more deeply into a place of growth and wholeness. Our goal is to bring people to experience a life-transforming friendship with God through a lived experience of Carmelite spirituality that is authentic to its biblical roots.
Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS)'s Podcast
Holy Tuesday
HOLY TUESDAY
Word & Wisdom is a weekly reflection on the Sunday’s scriptures and the wisdom of the Carmelite tradition. It promises to offer you real spiritual food to sustain you on the journey.
This Word and Wisdom Podcast is brought to you by the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality, Oxford (carmelite.uk.net).
To receive audio and written copies, subscribe by emailing podcasts@cacs.org.uk
To connect with our Living Prayer Podcast on Youtube, kindly click: https://www.youtube.com/@CACSOxford
Today's readings reveal three intertwining themes. Chosen by God, however unworthy we may feel, trusting in God's plan, however unlikely its fulfilment seems to be, and overcoming every obstacle to cooperation with the grace of God, from lack of faith to outright betrayal. Isaiah 49 verses 1 to 6 confirms the mystery that before we came to be, we were already present in the mind and heart of God.
Our essence preceded our existence, a truth confirmed by the words, the Lord called me before I was born. Being chosen by God requires that we, like the prophets before us, listen with full attention to the mystery unfolding in, with, and through us. Only then may we know who we are and what God calls us to do.
The word that comes from the mouth of the servant will be like a sharp sword. It will be living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to judge the thoughts and situations of the heart. This prophecy challenges our trust in God's plan.
God's servant will not only renew the covenant, but grant salvation to the world. All creation will experience renewal thanks to the Holy One of Israel whom God has chosen, consecrated, and commissioned to bring the good news to the ends of the earth. Psalm 71 expresses the experience of an aged believer, acknowledging his dependence on God for everything from relieving him of oppression by the wicked to being his rock and his fortress.
Who else would he praise but God from his birth to his death? In the spiritual canicle, Saint John of the Cross offers three reasons to live in continual praise of the Lord. The bride praises the Beloved for the sweetness he gives her that is so efficacious. It makes souls run along the road to perfection.
The second reason has to do with his visits of love by which he suddenly inflames souls in love. The third concerns the abundance of charity he infuses in them. These gifts cause the spirit to be elevated and to burst forth in praise and delightful affections of love before God, echoing the elation of the psalmist who praises God's righteousness and proclaims God's wondrous deeds.
In the Gospel reading from John, we meet Jesus under more sombre circumstances. The God of glory is revealed as troubled in spirit because one of his trusted apostles will betray him. The one who took the piece of bread dipped in the dish would be Judas.
So chagrined was Peter by what Jesus had foretold that he pledged never to betray him and even to lay down his life for him. What a boastful and idle promise! The Lord knew that before the cock crowed, he would deny him three times. Saint John of the Cross articulates the lesson we ought to take away from this exchange between Jesus and Peter.
He tells us that only when we admit we have nothing to boast about and operate instead from the centre of our humility will God be our all in all, resting gratefully at the feet of Jesus. Nothing will tire us by pulling us up, and nothing will oppress us by pushing us down. In his sayings of light and love, Saint John offers a fitting summary to today's readings.
To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness but on the greatness of its humility.