Carmel and the Internet

This week on Thursday is the day for our Virtual Carmel – an internet meeting for those who are unable to attend physical OCDS meetings.  At the moment it is just a ninety-minute shortened version of a typical OCDS gathering, but I can’t help feeling that it may be the seed of something more extensive over time.  Perhaps we have not yet grasped the potential of the internet in its conquest of distance.  We in Virtual Carmel don’t do internet formation at present, but there is no reason in principle that it could not be done.  I expect that some who attend physical meetings are presently receiving their formation on Zoom, and there is no reason that in the future there could not be internet formation for Virtual Carmel attendees.  Hopefully, moreover, there will be more Virtual Carmels as numbers grow.  The Friars decided to discourage the practice of having Isolates – individuals not belonging to OCDS communities who learned the Carmelite life through connection with a friar - some years ago, but that was before the internet appeared.  Perhaps the time has come for that policy to be revisited.

Intercessions:

Brian Davis - cancer

Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela) - cancer

Agnes Rees RIP.  Agnes died last Thursday.  A great prolife worker who died before she could be taken into formation

Siena, Elara – sick children

Rosemarie – seriously ill

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David - housebound

Sophia – blind infant