Mindfulness in the Carmelite Tradition Can Draw Us Closer to God
Become a Channel of Grace as a Carmelite Priest
Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash
By Fr. Alexander Ezechukwu, OCD
As a priest, I have several ministries. In my work with young people I often extend my help in many ways.
On any given day, I might be:
- Reassuring a girl in secondary school whose parents are having marriage problems
- Advising a teenage boy who is struggling with sexual temptations
- Helping a man in his twenties who is trying to figure out what to do with his life
In all of these examples, I am happy to be what you could call a link in a long chain of help from heaven.
Of course, this isn’t anything that I can boast of.
By means of my baptism and ordination to the priesthood I can act as a channel of graces to help those whom I meet. Such graces are gifts which I, as a priest, appreciate, and which gives me great joy.
And as one called to be a Carmelite friar, I can convey certain insights into the spiritual life that are the flowers of a long history of traditions in our Order. These are the teachings of experts of spirituality as St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Therese of Lisieux.
Grace Through the Priesthood
A priest ministers in other ways, too.
Think of all the confusion and conflict in today’s world. Nations warring against each other. Laws that permit killing innocent children in the womb. Today’s confusion about one’s sexual identity. People swallowed in the guilt of their own sins.
Or…people not knowing why they were created, or what is their chief end in life?
We need God’s grace!
And how is that grace communicated to our world?
Through the priesthood.
Church’s Obedience Through the Priesthood
It is only with priests that the Church can obey Jesus Christ in his command to “make disciples of all nations,” (Mt. 28:19) “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Lk 22:10, see 1 Cor 11:24), and “as you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven” (Jn 20:23).
As Pope St. John Paul II stated in 1992 in his Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, No. 5,
“When Jesus lived on this earth, he manifested in himself the definitive role of the priesthood, establishing a ministerial priesthood with which the apostles were the first to be invested. This priesthood is destined to last in endless succession throughout history. In this sense the priest of the third millennium will continue the work of the priests who, in the preceding millennia, have animated the life of the Church.”
Carmelite Friars are Calling
If you’re a Catholic man age 18 to 35, have you thought about becoming a religious friar and thus can serve in God’s vineyard? Maybe God is calling you to a Carmelite vocation in our Anglo-Irish Province!
Contact me, Fr. Alex, Carmelite Encounter Director, at
+44 (0)7477 673932, fralex@carmelite.org.uk
Check us out on the internet:
Test Your Call to the Carmelite Friars of the Anglo-Irish Province
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About the Author
Kevin J. Banet is a journalist and publicist. He provides marketing for religious communities, non-profits and healthcare services. Kevin and his family live in the Chicago area. His website is VocationPromotion.com.
