La parola di Dio costruisce la comunità. L’esperienza nella Regola del Carmelo

Abstract

The theme of the research we have proposed to develop is that of the power of the Word of God in the building of community life,  by examining the text of the Carmelite Rule. What is a viable reality for the whole Church, that is, the effectiveness of the Word of  God in building community, we have studied in a specific text, one that witnesses to a profound charismatic and spiritual reality  such as that of the Carmelite Family. The text of the Rule of Carmel was first analyzed literally. From its literary structure the  frequent use of biblical language can be seen, as well as a thematic and textual unity that points to the human and spiritual  dispositions of a community life project. with the help of the reflections of a selection of scholars, we made a synthesis of the  human and spiritual journey traced out by the text of the Rule, which is laced with the Word-community dynamic, made visible in  the interaction between the Word of God, fraternal life and daily life. From this movement we see the emergence of the Christocentric experience of the “propositum” of the first Carmelite community: to follow Jesus Christ as brothers in Him, dwelling  in a land, the Holy Land, that is torn apart by conflicts, violence and wars. It is, in fact, the Lord Jesus the Word upon which the  brothers base their lives, with whom they are confronted both individually and as a community, from which they are enabled to give shape to their lives. The Word is the air they breathe, the spring from which they drink, the food that they eat. It is Christ’s reason  for them to be in the community: it is he who through his Word establishes relationships within their community; it is he who, as he  did for the first community of Jerusalem, still sends his Spirit to form them into one soul and one spirit; it is he who with his Word  exhorts the community to continue each day in its commitment to the building of an authentic fraternity.