Summer 2003   The Discalced Carmelite Order, like other Orders in the Church, convenes a so-called General Chapter every six years for discussion of the vitality of its institution in the service of spreading the Good News. This Spring the 89th edition of the General Chapter met for three weeks in Avila, Spain. The motto for the work assigned to the 110 delegates was "Starting from Essentials--Moving Ahead with Saints Teresa and John of the Cross." Several ongoing formation presentations reminded the group of the heritage they have received from those great reformers/refounders of the Spanish Golden Age in the sixteenth century. A couple of other key figures in the Discalced Carmelite family were singled out for special mention in the practical propositions voted in by the assembly. Both Saint Edith Stein and Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity received attention, and this "News" feature is a good channel to share the propositions issued by the General Chapter (attended by the Chairman/Publisher of I.C.S. as a provincial delegate, by the way). Regarding Saint Edith Stein a clear challenge was issued to increase the number of translations of the texts she left behind so a wider segment of the Church can come to discover the richness of her thought. Proposition No. 36 reads: "The General Chapter notes with gratitude all the efforts underway to promote knowledge of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). It looks forward to the full edition of her writings, translations of them, with scholarly study of her life and of her Christian thought so that her theological-spiritual contributions may become ever more evident to one and all." Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity received attention because the centenary of her death is "within range." Word from her Carmel near Dijon indicates that the centenary commemoration will last from Trinity Sunday on June 11, 2006 to Trinity Sunday on June 7th the following year. Here is the General Chapter’s call: "The General Chapter looks forward to celebrating the Centenary of the Death of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity in 2006 by deepening and spreading her spiritual doctrine as a most significant contribution of the Teresian charism." For more information either about the General Chapter or the saints and blessed of our Order one may log on to the OCD website in Rome www.ocd.pcn.net.   The month of July is well know as the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Those who pray with us Carmelites realize it is also a month for celebrating an Old Testament prophet, viz., Elijah the Tishbite (see Kings I:17-21 and II:1-2). On July 20th the Carmelites remember him liturgically as the spiritual inspiration for our vocation to prayer at the service of the People of God. Several of our American publications have recently featured the Prophet Elijah, whether it be The Clarion bulletin of the Washington Province’s Secular Order secretariat, or the magazine Carmelite Digest issued by the California/Arizona Province. They both feature him on their respective covers and provide numerous articles inside. For those of you who might not read either The Clarion or Carmelite Digest we are excerpting a passage about Elijah in a book just released by ICS Publications, in time for his feastday. Titled Elijah Prophet of Carmel, it was written by Dr. Jane Ackerman, Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. As the remarks on the back cover attest, Elijah is a religious figure who appeals to the three monotheistic religions. With all the attention placed on the Middle East nowadays his story ought to evoke passing-over reflections for our readers. We are happy that Jane Ackerman’s scholarship appears to be so timely. Here are a few lines to whet the appetite and maybe even bring inspiration when July 20th rolls around this year: "It remained until the fifteenth century for Carmelites to begin to claim a distinctively Christian spirituality for themselves. In this era, they began to write works that attach Elijan zeal to love of Christ. Albert's Rule encourages Carmelites to "live in allegiance to Jesus Christ and serve him faithfully with a pure heart and a good conscience" and to "put on the breastplate of justice so that you may love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul and your whole strength, and your neighbors as yourselves." Such single-minded dependence and service are identified in the Hebrew Bible with the word "ahav" (love) and in medieval European descriptions of patronage as "amicitia" (friendship). When the hermits on Mt. Carmel and medieval Carmelites loved their Lord with their whole heart and soul in the manner in which their Rule and their times had taught them, they served him as vassals dependent on him. They especially served, that is, loved Christ with their praise, their imitation of his life, and their commitment to further his mission of converting hearts to God. (from Chapter 5: "Elijah and Carmelite Renewal.") The striking depiction of Elijah (with his fiery sword) among the Carmelite saints below closes out this issue of "News." The engraving serves as frontispiece for an altar missal recently donated to the I.C.S. Published in Venice in 1761, it groups together the inspirational figures of Saint Elijah and Saint Teresa (he called "Pater et Dux Carmelitarum" ["Father and Leader of Carmelites"] and she "Mater Spiritualium" ["Mother of Spiritual Persons"] in the Vatican basilica where statues of founders of Orders add to the baroque splendor of St. Peter’s). With appreciation for the kindness of the donor we are happy to use it to add our own homage to the "prophet of Carmel."