Carmelite Prayer

At Prayer with Carmel

"Prayer is the centre of our lives, and authentic community and ministry spring from this source. The prayer of the Carmelite community is a sign of the praying Church to the world. It recalls the example of Mary, Mother of Jesus, who “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart,” praising the wonders that the Lord had worked in her."

(1995 Constitutions of the Carmelite Friars §64).

The great Carmelite St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila) described prayer as an intimate sharing with the God whom we know loves us. Any style of prayer that nourishes this intimate sharing - this relationship - with God might be practiced by a Carmelite community or individual. There is no single "method" of Carmelite prayer, but the liturgy, silence and Scripture (especially in Lectio Divina meditation) have a particularly important place in our life.

In the menu to the right you will find some prayers that are linked to the Carmelite Family.

Liturgical prayer

The Rule of Saint Albert specifies that Carmelites should participate daily, when possible, in the liturgical celebrations of the Divine Office and the Eucharist. To assist Carmelites in following the liturgical year, and the feasts observed in the British Province of Carmelites, Saint Albert's Press produces an annual Carmelite Ordo; to download the 2010 edition (in PDF format) please click here.

Requesting the prayer of Carmelites

One of the ministries of the Carmelite Family is to intercede for those who ask our prayers. To submit a prayer request that will be remembered by the friars at the National Shrine of St. Jude at Faversham, please click here.

Further resources on prayer

These publications can be borrowed from many Carmelite community libraries, or purchased from Christian bookshops including Saint Albert's Press in Faversham (visitable from this website) and the Carmelite Book Service in Oxford.

Joseph Chalmers, O.Carm., The Sound of Silence: Listening to the Word of God with Elijah the Prophet, (Faversham: Saint Albert's Press, 2007).

Mark Davis, Glimpses of the Carmelite Way, (West Kirby: Rockpool Publishing, 2007).

Keith J. Egan, T.O.C., (ed.), Carmelite Prayer: A Tradition for the 21st Century, (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2003).

John FitzGerald, O.Carm., Backwards into the Future: Meditations on the Letter to the Hebrews - with a guide to Lectio Divina by Carlos Mesters, O.Carm., (Faversham: Saint Albert's Press, 2005).

Irish Province of Carmelites, Meeting God: Carmelite Reflections and Prayers, (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2007).

Mary McCormack, O.C.D., Upon This Mountain: Prayer in the Carmelite Tradition, (Oxford: Teresian Press, 2009).

Wilfrid McGreal, O.Carm., At the Fountain of Elijah: The Carmelite Tradition, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1999).

Redemptus Maria Valabek, O.Carm., Prayer Life in Carmel: Historical Sketches, Carmel in the World Paperbacks, (Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum, 1982).

John Welch, O.Carm., The Carmelite Way: An Ancient Path for Today's Pilgrim, (Leominster: Gracewing, 1996).