Cloistered Carmelite Nuns SW India Association

CARMEL ITSELF RESEMBLES A CASTLE

We can relate Carmel as an interior castle. It was my first experience in my life to see a cloistered convent when I came to Malayattoor, Mount Carmel. It was in the Year of Mercy, our loving God gave me the chance to visit this "Heaven on earth". I was little bit terrified when I saw the black curtains but I gathered my courage and spoke with the sisters. Like Jeremiah in 17:12 "Our Temple is like a glorious throne, standing on a high mountain from the beginning". It seems that this house was formed in God’s heart from the beginning. I experienced that our Carmel is the place which was sanctified by the coming of St. Thomas the Apostle, was really the glorious throne of heaven on earth.

I was pleased to remain in my cell like our St. Little flower. I see this house and my little cell like the heaven on earth. Our life is a pilgrimage from this heaven on earth to the eternal home. I thank God for planting a soul into this more fertile soil from the place where I was, to have this heavenly experience in this life on earth. We are called to be the mother of souls and the gates of heaven shall be opened for us when we reach there with the many souls, we have saved for God. I praise God who knew me before I was formed in my mother’s womb and chosen me to live in this house.

God healed me form the fear of black curtain in the parlour by revealing to me its significance. As we know that black colour reminds us about death. Yes, it is those who have the courage to die for Christ who enter here to be dead to the world, dead to the passion of your body and dead to one's own will. God gives us the strength to die to the three enemies - the body, world and devil. Only those who have the desire to be dead to these enemies can enter and live here happily. It is the extreme love for God which is the way to Carmel. It is that burning love which has brought us here. When we enter this castle through the gate of love we can see many mansions in it. We have the tabernacle where we find God in the Holy Eucharist, besides that each cell is also a place where we find God’s presence. Hermitage is another beautiful place where the  mighty presence of God prevails. The more you keep the interior silence the more you can experience God’s presence in these places. My Cell is the common meeting place of my spouse with me, there my soul becomes one with Him, I speak with Him and nothing disturbs me there. This cell is also an altar, from which the fragrance of prayer spreads to the whole world. St. Edith Stein says, "from the cell to heaven”! Yes, by living in the cell which is the soul of Carmel, let us come in union with the Holy Trinity and continue this heavenly experience now on earth and then in eternity.

Carmel Malayattoor