A Day in the Life of a Carmelite Nun (Part 4) -- Terce (Part 1)

Terce is the first of the “little hours” of the divine Office. The time for this hour varies, due to Mass schedules. Typically, Mass follows Lauds (or Morning Prayer—around 7:30am), then Terce follows the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If we look at the third day of creation in light of this part of our day, it’s mind boggling how much it reveals. Day three is in two parts. Let’s look at the first part for now:

“Then God said: Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear. And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared. God called the dry land “earth,” and the basin of water He called “Sea.” God saw that it was good…” 

~ Genesis 1:9 - 10

The separation of the water from the land, of course, creates a desert. Deserts in the Bible are a place of purification, desolation, and sacrifice. For example, Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert and was tempted by Satan. The Jews were originally to travel 40 days and 40 nights through the desert to the promised land (but ended up being 40 years, due to their sinfulness and love of idols). 

As previously mentioned in the introduction, Carmel is a Desert (a place of solitude). St. Teresa of Avila, when she reformed the order (which became the Discalced Carmelites), desired to go back to the Desert Fathers, who sought union with Christ in a place of solitude (the desert). It is “in this desert” that we sacrifice all for Christ and are purified. 

We are all called to sanctity and holiness. As Carmelites, we are here to pray for the Church and especially for priests. While the priests are out on the front lines, fighting the battle for God, Carmelites are behind the strong walls of a fortress, assisting them through prayer. Think of Moses, who raised his arms in prayer to help the Israelites win the battle. When he lowered his arms, the Israelites began losing, but when he raised his arms again in prayer, they succeeded. Like Moses, we are here to pray and sacrifice for the Church. The culmination of our sacrifice takes place on Calvary, which is the Mass.

So how does this relate to the Mass?

What is the Mass, but a place of purification and sacrifice? An offering of ourselves along with Christ on the altar and on the cross for the sake of humanity? At the beginning of Mass we silently confess our sins and ask purification. We, then, come to the altar to offer ourselves to God… our blood, sweat, tears… it’s all there. We bring everything with us and sacrifice it all at the moment of consecration, along with Jesus on the cross (yes, at Mass we really are present with Him at Calvary!). If we make a true and heartfelt offering of ourselves as a gift to God during the Offertory (when our “gifts”—bread and wine made by human hands—are offered to the priest), then we, too, are nailed to Jesus on the cross. We are the gift on the altar.

Now really listen to what the priest says about those gifts, keeping in mind that you are the gift. He blesses them and asks that they “become the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” Do you see what this means? That at the moment of consecration—if you have truly given yourself to the sacrifice—you are consecrated with the Host and with the Chalice! 

As the blood is separated from the body (for our purposes here, we can connect this back to the water separated from the land = desert; in this case, death is the desert), which is the moment our Lord dies on the cross, you die with Him. Next, as the body is put back together with the blood (during the Lamb of God, when the priest breaks a piece of the Host and drops it into the Precious Blood), you are resurrected with Him. We are now asked to behold the risen Lord, and like Mary Magdalene, we may not recognize Him in the Host and Chalice. But He is there. And so are we; We are One Body, One Blood, risen with Jesus Christ, right there in the priest’s hands! 

No wonder Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity would ask priests to “consecrate me with the Host.” 

Then, when we receive Holy Communion, the priest gives our offering back to us (the gift we gave of ourselves), now fully united with Christ and one another! We are “the Body of Christ.” 

Like I said at the beginning, day three of creation has two parts to it, but just taking into account the first part, we can definitely see how the desert--or the themes of desolation, purification, suffering, sacrifice (etc.)--are present at Mass. So as not to overwhelm you, lets stop here for now. We can take a little time to contemplate all this. Next time, we will examine how this all ties into the Divine Office and how it relates to the time of day when we pray Terce. Until then, may our good God bless you and shower you with an abundance of grace! You are in our prayers.

In the peace and love of Christ,

Your Sisters in Eugene Carmel