Carmelites

Throughout time, men and women have sought solitude and silence in the search for God. This is not solely a Christian vocation for other faiths have followed the same path. Over a number of years, John Robert Young managed to persuade certain communities of monks, friars and nuns to allow him to document their way of life, even the ‘enclosed’ orders of the Carthusians, Cistercians and the Poor Clares. A life of silence, prayer and work.

Friars, like monks are devoted to a religious life, but in total contrast live and work among regular people in society. A monk lives in a secluded, self-sufficient group of monks. The Friars, in Aylesford, Kent, is an ancient Roman Catholic religious house of the Order of Carmelites dating back to the 13th century. Over the centuries and in recent years The Friars has become, through popular support, a great centre of pilgrimage and a place of ecumenical activity.

‘The monk is one who, alone and poor, yet rich in a love that is wide enough to embrace the world, feels within him the silence of God expanding into a tremendous smile: it is the presence of the infinite Word claiming possession of another humanity, a possession due to Him not only as Head of the human race but by the right conquest. He has won the right to exult our hearts by the triumph of His Cross.’

Silence in Heaven: Thomas Merton.