Just returned from a depressing talk about Carmelite spirituality. The speaker was a friar, in civvies of course, who chose to approach the topic by denigrating what he called 'religion'. A preliminary sneer about Pope Benedict 'doing religion big time' and enthusiasm for Pope Francis who wants us to seek God (unlike any previous pope, of course) set the tone and I'm afraid I switched off for a good deal of what followed.
Essentially he seemed to be saying that the silent and comtemplative charism of Carmel was about allowing God to find us 'where we are', which could as easily be in the world as in an enclosed cloister. No problem there, he was speaking to lay people and a few secular priests. What I found disconcerting was that he seemed to suggest (and of course I could have misunderstood) that fruitful contemplation could be undertaken simply by taking out your Bible, reading,and interpreting it for yourself and that prayer was in any case about 'finding yourself'. Really? There was I thinking that it was an attempt to be open to God and that a little guidance from the Church might not go amiss.
Given that the phrase 'peace and justice' was bandied about repeatedly it came as no surprise that he seemed to think that all 'spiritualities' including the pagan were as good as each other.
Nor was it much of a surprise that he didn't like 'religion'. He defined this, essentially, as fixation on form, rather than content; in other words those who value beautiful liturgy, traditional devotions (rosary, Eucharistic adoration &c), frequent confession are superficial Christians who are judgemental of others (!) and make their liturgical and devotional preferences into a sort of false God. No understanding at all that such things are not viewed as an end in themselves, but as necessary aids to help us on our way as seekers of God.
Luckily I've started to read St Teresa of Avila, whom I expect to be more use.
He ended with another little sneer. If anyone finds Pope F. too 'challenging' they can 'go backwards' to their Benedict comfort zone but note that he always taught that we must seek Christ in Scripture. Thanks, we knew that already. We just, like Benedict, find beauty and reverence a help in our seeking.
