Abbey-Roads2

Madame Acaire (Barbara Aurillot) essentially brought the Carmelite reform of Teresa of Avila to France.  Although Ven. Mother Anna of St. Bartholomew, protege and confidate of Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus, must in fact be honored as the foundress of the Carmelite reform in France.

Venerable Mother Anna of St. Bartholomew

In heritage, the French Carmel differs somewhat from the original Spanish reform in as much it was influenced by the French spirituality of Cardinal Berulle,  Madame Acaire’s cousin.  It is a difference that may be noted even today in the spirituality of Spanish Carmels and Spanish Colonial Carmels, contrasted with those in France and their descendant French Carmels.

For instance, today in France, the enclosure and wearing of the habit is less traditional, while in Spain and Portugal and Spanish colonial descendant monasteries, enclosure and the habit remain virtually unchanged since the time of Holy Mother St. Teresa.  This may or may not be attributed to the difference of spiritual influences in the nascent French Carmel, that may have led Ven. Anna of St. Bartholomew to Antwerp to found the Belgium Carmel, thus forsaking the French controversies.

Blessed Marie of the Incarnation

Some history on Barbe Acaire:

The first foundation of nuns at Paris was the project of Barbe Acarie, a brilliant and beautiful mother of six who became one of the principal spiritual lights of her age. A mystic who worked tirelessly to relieve the spiritual and material poverty that surrounded her, Madame Acarie attracted to herself the leading religious figures of the day. Among those who frequented her Paris salon were Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Vincent de Paul, André Duval (Regius Professor of Theology at the Sorbonne and Barbe s first biographer), Jacques Gallement, and her young cousin Pierre (later Cardinal) Bérulle, founder of the French Oratory. 11 Of Barbe Acarie’s wide contemporary influence, French historian Henri Brémond writes:

The activity of this woman, an invalid and ecstatic, who died at fifty-two, was miraculous. To her is due the introduction into France of the Carmelite Order founded by S. Teresa, which at her death already numbered seventeen houses on French soil; as much and even more than Mme de Sainte- Beuve, she laboured to develop the Ursulines; the reform of the Benedictine Abbeys owes her much, and countless other works also occupied her; lastly, she knew, grouped, stimulated and directed wellnigh all the leading religious spirits of her day. It is not too much to say that, of all the spiritual hearths kindled in the reign of Henri IV, none burned more brightly or equalled the intensity of that of the Hôtel Acarie.12 - Martyrs of Compiegne  

Bl. Marie of the Incarnation, a former Parisian ’socialite’, was an extraordinary soul, and rightly takes her place among the greatest Saints of France, who nonetheless died a humble sister of the white veil in Carmel. 

Carmel celebrates the feast of Blessed Marie of the Incarnation on April 18th, the same day I left the Carmelite Fathers in the Sothwest Province of St. Therese, now so many years ago.

As facts emerge from the Virginia Tech shootings millions of opinions and analysis is also emerging, along with the inevitable arguments pro and con for gun control.  Of course the country is horrified and devastated, and we all mourn the loss of these men and women in such a senseless massacre.  Voices, seeking to blame someone, are calling for the resignation of the principals involved who had the responsibility of protecting the Virginia Tech students, the Police Chief and the University President.  As if this will erase what happened or make any difference at all.

Psychologists and spiritual leaders will attempt to make sense of what happened, while criminal experts and media will flesh out the time-line and all the other details of what happened.  Nevertheless, it cannot be undone - it is forever imprinted upon the American consciousness, as one more tragic event that marks our decline as a culture.

History will place this event within the context of our age, and will perhaps connect all the dots better than anyone else can right now.  However, if we examine our times closely, with ruthless honesty, maybe we can do something - if only everyone would stop and shut up.

For decades we’ve tolerated a culture wherein life is cheap.  Sacrificing our children in wars, murdering them in the womb, exploiting them sexually, abusing them savagely.  While on the other hand, many of the children we do permit to live, those we nurture lavishly, become spoiled and are often made into selfish uncaring brats, who are accustomed to getting anything they want.  We’ve turned into a hip-hop culture, permitting ourselves to become ‘vulgarized’ by the lowest denominator of popular entertainment and culture, laughing at shock jocks such as Don Imus and Howard Stern, allowing soft-pornography on daily television, on the radio, in our pop music, and fashions, and so on.

We are in essence a morally bankrupt society and culture - even our religious leaders, who lie, molest, cheat and steal, not to mention politicians and business leaders.  As everyone must know, we daily kill our unborn, and quietly murder our sick and lame.  Yet, strangely enough, we can distract ourselves from our crimes through escapes into unreality - whether it be entertainment, or whatever addiction we’ve embraced, including our obsessive-complusive consumerism and materialism, or some other self-medication plan to protect ourselves from experiencing the pain of our purposelessness.

Everyone is going to urge Virginia Tech and those affected by the massacre to bounce back, to be resilient, to survive all of this.  They will preach, “We have to get over it, to move on.”  Just as we did after Columbine, or Waco, or the Oklahoma City bombing, even the 9/11 disaster.  We seem to get over things rather quickly so that we can return to our mind-numbing apathy as we watch the decline and collapse of our civilization on television, rotting from within.

Don’t tell me Virginia Tech has been a wake-up call, since it will only cause most people to roll over and go back to sleep.    

I think we need God right now.