The Incompatibility of Comfort: Embracing the Carmelite Rule for the New Year

The journey to the interior life, as taught by St. Teresa of Avila, requires true dedication. As we turn our hearts toward the future year, I find myself drawn back to the very foundation of her teaching in The Way of Perfection:

"Our primitive rule states that we must pray without ceasing. If we do this with all the care possible—for unceasing prayer is the most important aspect of the rule—the fasts, the disciplines, and the silence the order commands will not be wanting. For you already know that if prayer is to be genuine it must be helped by these other things; prayer and comfortable living are incompatible."

This is a profound blueprint for total commitment to our path. If we are to achieve genuine progress we must understand and embrace this rule.

Unceasing Prayer: The Perpetual Intention

Pray without ceasing is the call to perpetual intention. It means our central goal, our prayer, must be so carefully maintained that it becomes the unbroken thread woven through every hour of the day. It is the work of recollection—of bringing the mind back to its foundational purpose again and again and our purpose is to love God.

For the coming year, I ask myself: What is the deepest spiritual and personal commitment that will order all my other efforts?

• This is the foundation. If I neglect this central prayer, my spiritual life will flounder.

• This primary focus must be guarded with "all the care possible," treated as the most vital aspect of the Rule.

The Ascent of Discomfort

The most challenging truth lies in the final clause: prayer and comfortable living are incompatible.

Our spiritual ascent, like any ascent of purpose, requires us to leave the pleasant, flat, easy terrain of complacency. We cannot achieve the heights of the Interior Castle (or our highest potential) while clinging to the ease of the world.

• The Fasts (Voluntary Detachment): What worldly comforts, what distractions, what excesses must I voluntarily relinquish to create the necessary space for my prayer to flourish? This requires humility and a fierce detachment from the noise of the Exterior Castle.

• The Disciplines (Holy Habits): These are the ordered, daily habits that are often difficult and require perseverance. They are the steps of the ascent, the regular setting aside of time, the focused labor, the courageous engagement with the demanding task.

• The Silence (Deep Contemplation): This is the elimination of external and internal chatter. The silence commands us to remove the cacophony of modern life so we may attend to the quiet voice of our deepest purpose.

My Rule for the New Year: The Vocation of the Heart

My commitment for the next year is not to compartmentalize my faith, but to recognize that my true vocation, the Unceasing Prayer of my life, is the love of God and the love of His people, lived out with a Carmelite heart.

I will continue to reflect on this to pull out key components that may be used for tracking for growth. How do I track practicing the presence of God and then the further fruits of that discipline?

May we all enter the new year with the radical clarity of St. Teresa, choosing the difficulty of discipline over the deceit of comfort, and so make our every action a true, humble part of our unceasing prayer.