Enclosure

“The ceaseless quest for God in solitude is like an exodus into the desert.  God draws and guides us there in order to speak to our heart (Hos. 2,16).  Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, many have responded to Christ’s invitation to His disciples (Mk. 6,31) and have retired to solitude where they adore the Father and listen to His Word.  They have chosen the one thing necessary, the better part, and it will not be taken from them (Lk. 10, 39-42)….

This kind of life imitates Christ in contemplation on the mountain.  It shares in His paschal mystery, because it is a dying for the sake of rising again.  Furthermore, in a special way, it fulfills the contemplative vocation of the Church as Bride which it reveals for all to see.  For the Bride, hidden with Christ in God, always seeks the things above, while she keeps watch for the final manifestation of the Lord. (Col. 1, 1-4)”

Constitutions #105-106

“According to St. Teresa, the freely-chosen life of enclosure brings about a radical detachment from exterior things that leads to interior detachment, and it involves a life of silence and solitude ordered toward finding in the Spouse the living water of contemplation. It is also a great aid for reaching holy liberty of spirit, in a joyful experience of sisterly union in Christ, of those who are alone with Him alone.

In conformity with their contemplative vocation, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns are obliged to observe papal enclosure, that is, enclosure according to the laws established by the Apostolic See…”

Constitutions #107,109

We observe Verbi Sponsa, the current papal enclosure document, along with our Constitutions.