Six M's of Teresian Carmelites

As members of a Teresian Carmelite Secular Community, all of us are guided by six(6) guiding principles better known as our "six Ms". Which are:

1. Mental Prayer - to fulfill our commitment of living in allegiance to Jesus Christ, we dedicate at least 30 minutes to an hour of our time everyday to God by quieting our selves and listening to Gods voice in silence.
2. Mary - the Blessed Virgin Mary is the model of our faithfulness to the Lord and in service to Him and to others. 
3. Mass - our participation to daily mass as much as possible, enriches our commitment to live a life of evangelical poverty, obedience and chastity.  
4. Morning, Evening and if possible Night prayer - by our daily prayers  of the Liturgy of the Hours (LOH), we participate in the prayers of the Universal Church, ensuring that the world is unceasingly making daily offerings to God in prayers.  
5. Meetings - our monthly meetings does not only allow us to develop camaraderie among our members, but is also allow us to develop our community spirit.  Learning to be at the side of the other, enlivening our love for our community and for others.   
6. Mission - by following the individual mission given by God to each member of a Carmelite Secular Community, we seek "mysterious union with God", by way of this apostolic activity, indissolubly joined together for the service to the Church.

Note: 

With excerpts from the OCDS Constitution and the OCDS Philippines Provincial Statutes.

Our Commitment to live the Evangilical Counsels in the Spirit of the Beatitudes

Our commitment to live the Evangelical Counsels in the spirit of the Beatitudes reflects our calling to live in perfection in the full spirit of the Gospel, imitating  Christ in his human nature as we traverse this world in fulfillment of our individual missions as laid down to us by Jesus, when He called us to enter Carmel and live the Carmelite way of life.

The Evangelical Counsel of Chastity

Our promise of chastity reinforces our commitment to love God above all else, and to love others.

With this promise, we seek the freedom to love God and neighbor, allowing us to witness the divine intimacy promised by the beatitude "blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8).

Our promise of chastity is our commitment to Christian love in its personal and social dimension that allows us to create an authentic community.

With this promise we expresses our conscious desire to respect each person as required by God's law and ones' state of life.

The Evangelical Counsel of Poverty

Our promise of living the evangelical counsel of poverty expresses our desire to live in accordance with the Gospel and its values. It allows us to recognize our personal limitations and surrenders it to God in full confidence of His goodness and fidelity, giving us the opportunity to gain  a wealth of generosity, self denial, interior liberty and full dependence to our Father.

With this promise, we seek an evangelical use of the goods of this world and of personal talents, confidently placing them in the hands of God as we exercise our personal responsibilities: in the society that we live-in; in our own family; and at work. It also implies our commitment to justice, for the world to respond in accordance to His plan.

The Evangelical Counsel of Obedience

The promise of obedience is our pledge to live openly in accordance to the will of God. Imitating Christ who accepted the Father's will who was obedient unto death.

With this promise, we exercise our faith that leads us in-search of God's will in all the events and challenges in the society that we lived in and in our own personal life, enabling us to freely cooperate with those who were given the responsibility to guide our community and the Order.

The Spirit of the Beatitudes

The Beatitudes becomes our plan of action in entering into a relationship with the world, our neighbors, co-workers, family and friends.

By promising to live the beatitudes in our daily lives, we seek to live as living witnesses of God's presence, as members of the Church and the Order, inviting the world to follow Christ, "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (Jn 14:6)

The Beatitudes (Mat. 5:3-10)

1. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
2. "Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted."
3. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
4. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."
5. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
6. "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God."
7. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."
8. "Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Resource:

• OCDS Constitution

As witnesses to the Experience of God

St. Teresa of Jesus placed prayer as the foundation and basic exercises of her religious family. To fulfill then our calling as members of the Teresian Carmel, we need to strive to make our prayers penetrate our whole existence, in order to walk in the presence of the living God. This we do through our constant exercise of the cardinal virtues, faith, hope and love.

We are called upon to make our life a prayer in itself. Integrating our life's experiences with our experiences of God, that allows us to become contemplatives in prayer as we fulfill our mission in life.

In our prayers, we are nourished by His Word, making our dialogue in such manner that "we speak to Him as we pray" and "hear His voice when we read His Divine Word."

Besides our personal contemplation, listening to the Word should also encourage us a form of contemplation that leads us to share our own personal experience with God in our own Community. And together we seek to discern God's way, maintaining a  permanent energy of conversion and renewed hope. Allowing us to see through events and Discover God's presence in everything.

Our daily practice of mental prayer is our way of being with God and strengthening our relationship with Him.

With our promise of living a life of evangelical self denial, we accept from the viewpoint of of the Cardinal Virtues, the work and suffering of each day, our family worries, the limitations and uncertainty of our human life, our sicknesses, our lack of understanding and all that makes up the fabric of our earthly existence.

With this acceptance, we strive hard to make these material as we dialogue with God, allowing us to grow in an attitude of praise and gratitude, which strengthens our conviction of living truly, simply, freely, humbly and in complete confidence to the Lord.

Resource:

• OCDS Constitution

Following Jesus as a Secular Teresian Carmelite - Our Apostolate

As Teresian Secular Carmelites, we are called upon to live the demands of following Christ in union with Him, by accepting His teachings and devoting ourselves to Him.

Following Him requires that we partake in His saving mission of proclaiming the Good News and the establishment of God's Kingdom here on Earth. Making Him the law of our lives and predisposed to fulfill three fundamental demands:

1. To place family ties beneath the interest of the Kingdom and Jesus Himself;
2. To live in detachment from wealth;
3. To carry the cross of accepting God's will revealed in the mission that He has confided to each person.

By the promise to strive for evangelical perfection in the spirit of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience and through the beatitudes that strengthens our baptismal commitment in the service of God's plan in the world, we express ourselves as followers of Jesus.

This promise is a pledge to pursue personal holiness that carries with it our commitment to serve the Church in faithfulness to our Teresian Carmelite Charism.

Resource:

• OCDS Constitution

Our Identity, Values and Commitment

Our Identity

Carmelite Seculars shares the same charism with the religious Friars and Nuns, we are all sons and daughters of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and St. Teresa of Jesus, our founder.

We are one family with the same spiritual possession; calling to holiness; and apostolic mission contributing  to the Order the benefits proper to our secular state of life.

With the Catholic Church's new theology of the laity, Christifideles Laici we live our membership to the Order with clear and secular identity.

Our Values

The Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites are called upon to live in allegiance to Jesus Christ through "friendship with the One we know loves us", under the protection of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the biblical tradition of the prophet Elijah.

With inspirations from the teachings of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, it is our intention to seek and deepen  our Christian commitment received in our baptism.

Our Commitment

Taking into account the origins of Carmel and the Teresian charism, the fundamental elements of  the vocation of Teresian  Secular Carmelites are:

1. To live in allegiance to Jesus Christ;
2. To seek a mysterious union with God by contemplation and apostolic activity;
3. To give particular importance to prayer, by listening to the word of God and by the liturgy;
4. To live evangelical self-denial;
5. To give importance to our commitment of evangelization  in the ministry of spirituality, faithful to its Teresian Carmelite identity.

Resource:

• OCDS Constitutions

The "Six (6) Ms" of a Teresian Secular Carmelite

As members of a Teresian Carmelite Secular Community, we commit  ourselves in following  six(6) guiding principles that guides our daily life better known as the "six Ms" of Secular Discalced Carmelites.

It aims to help us in achieving our goal of becoming a true friend of  "the one we know loves us."

These are:

1. Mental Prayer - to fulfill our commitment of living in allegiance to Jesus Christ, we dedicate at least 30 minutes to an hour of our time everyday to God by quieting our selves and listening to Gods voice in silence.
2. Mary - the Blessed Virgin Mary is the model of our faithfulness to the Lord and in service to Him and to others. 
3. Mass - our participation to daily mass as much as possible, enriches our commitment to live a life of evangelical poverty, obedience and chastity.  
4. Morning, Evening and if possible Night prayer - by our daily prayers  of the Liturgy of the Hours (LOH), we participate in the prayers of the Universal Church, ensuring that the world is unceasingly making daily offerings to God in prayers.  
5. Meetings - our monthly meetings does not only allow us to develop camaraderie among our members, but also allow us to develop our community spirit.  Learning to be at the side of the other, enlivening our love for our community and for others.   
6. Mission - by following the individual mission given by God to each member of a Carmelite Secular Community, we seek "mysterious union with God", by way of this apostolic activity, indissolubly joined together for the service to the Church.
   

With excerpts from the OCDS Constitution and the OCDS Philippines Provincial Statutes.