13-17 December 2019

Over five days in December, three events were held at the initiative of the Carmelite Institute Mdina, in collaboration with other groups, for the first year of this “ecological” initiative within the framework of Carmelite spirituality.  The Argentinian Carmelite, physicist and climatologist, Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., keynoted, or led, or participated in each of the events.

Event 1: Friday, 13 December 2019: Planting trees in Gozo

The first event, with the initiative of M.A.S.C. (the Maltese Association for the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Companionship), was a joint collaboration with Għaqda Siġar Maltin (a recently formed NGO).  The Carmelite Institute also financed this planting, and continuing care for, a variety of indigenous trees at Mġarr ix-Xini, Għawdex. The M.A.S.C. event recognized nearly forty current Theology graduates from the M.A. in Spirituality or Spiritual Companionship—by planting some twenty trees in all, which included Tamarisk, White Poplar, White Willow, Carob, and Chaste trees, all grown in the GħSM nurseries.  

In this event six persons crossed over to Gozo [Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm; Rev. Dr. Charló Camilleri, O. Carm.; Rev. Dr. Glen Attard, O. Carm; Dr. Edward J. Clemmer; Warren J. Borg Ebejer, and Sharon Bonnici], who then at Wied Mġarr ix-Xini met up with the four young lads of GħSM [Steve Zammit Lupi, Steve Fayek, Matthew Cassar, and Andrea Fenech] who that morning had sited and prepared valley locations for our planting of the two-year old saplings. [Andrea, however, had to leave for other work before we arrived].  But, with the arrival of person-power from Malta, we nine present then each took our multiple turns at digging, unpotting, planting, and/or tagging of the trees, from 11:00-12:30, under the emerging sunny and clearing skies, and with various sounds of  delighted birds serenading us from their hidden habitats within the valley’s peaceful silence.  Afterwards, the six Malta travelers had a hardy marine-based lunch in Xlendi, as strong winds were forcefully rising. Yet, before catching the sometimes rocky 5:30 p.m. ferry home to Malta, a visit also was accomplished to Ta’ Pinu Sanctuary with our distinguished guest.

Event 2: Saturday, 14 December 2019: Day Seminar at the Carmelite Institute Malta

The second event was a Day Seminar at the Carmelite Institute, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., entitled “One with Nature, One with God: A Christian Ecological Spirituality.”  Morning sessions began at 9:30 and were concluded by Holy Mass at 12:30, followed by Fr. Charló’s hosted spaghetti with rabbit sauce lunch at 13:00; the afternoon sessions, also including group work, began at 14:30 and were concluded with a final plenary session at 16:00.  The morning sessions addressed the physical science of Green House Gases in relationship to global warming and climate change, with graphic illustrations regarding the nature of the problem as both a social and spiritual issue.  “The roots of the current ecological crisis are human and not merely technical or scientific ones,” and they are linked to the way that “human relationships” are developed towards the “Divine” and “Nature,” where the recovery of harmonic relationships with all created things and with God is required both for ecological and for personal healing, wherein the ecological crisis (in particular) appears to be due to “the implicit silence of the Divine dimension” in western societies. Specifically, that Divine dimension of reality may be recovered within contemplation, whereby “prayer, community and service may approach each other to mend Nature.”  This is the “Ecological Conversion” required, and promoted most specifically and in its spiritual revolutionary form, by Pope Francis in his encyclical “Laudato, si” (2015).

Event 3: Tuesday, 17 December 2019: Public Lecture at the Faculty of Theology

The third event was organized by the Department of Moral Theology at the University of Malta, where the Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., once again, presented a public lecture at the Faculty Boardroom, “Climate Change: A Theological Perspective,” which described the scientific and moral rationale for the present “time of urgency,” also with a specific focus on Malta within the global context.  At the current rate of Green House Gases emissions, the point of no return for the planet and for humanity, an Anthropocene catastrophe sourced in human activity, may be upon us as soon as 2037, in only eighteen years.  We must consume less; reduce and replace fossil-fuel based energy consumption; and change our life styles, in relationship to human desires and the discrepancy of unjust and unequal distribution of resources and wealth, and which restore our human connections with one another and with Nature and with the Divine.

On Friday 15 November 2019, the newly founded Association of our spirituality and companionship alumni, the Maltese Association for the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Companionship (MASC), held its first open public event, a Buddhist-Christian dialogue, entitled “Philosophical Interpretation and Daily Life in the Way of Chinese Zen Buddhism.” The event was co-hosted by the Malta China Cultural Centre (MCCC) and Carmelite Institute Malta. Vice-Chairperson of MASC, Mr Martin Azzopardi SDC served as an intermediary between MCCC Director Mr Yang Xiaolong and MASC to hold this event.

The evening’s lecture with its hands-on experience was led by Buddhist Abbess Miao Duo who is Superintendent of Fo Guang Shan France, where Fo Guang Shan Europe is headquartered. Initially, there was a short film to demonstrate “The Art of One Stroke Calligraphy.” Then, at the heart of the evening, after the audience had been divided into several tables of nine or ten persons each, the Venerable Abbess led the audience into the practice of mindfulness, into the focused-awareness of being-present, through and within the experience of the “Tea Ceremony” with her team of Buddhist “Tea-Masters.” But before doing so, after her opening introduction to the ‘art’ of calligraphy that ‘writes itself’ virtually without awareness ‘in a single stroke,’ Mr. Martin Azzopardi SDC, Vice-Chairperson of MASC, introduced the Abbess and the event to the audience.In his address, Mr Azzopardi described the cultural and spiritual context of Buddhist thought that makes Buddhist-Christian dialogue possible. In his prefatory reflection, he both compared and distinguished the Buddha and the Christ. The existing commonalities suggested how Thomas Merton, as a Christian, could say that he also wanted “to become as good a Buddhist as I can.” Also, in that Christian and contemplative context, Fr. Charlò Camilleri, as Prior of the Carmelite Priory in Mdina and Faculty representative to MASC, blessed and welcomed the participants and the distinguished guests by offering for them The Prayer of St. Francis with the Bodhisattva Vow, which the group in their Christian example then completed with the Lord’s Prayer. The Venerable Abbess Miao Duo then led the assembly in an exercise that combined relaxation with an attentive mental focus to one’s bodily and sensory experience. After this initial effort to put aside all that was extraneous to the present moment, the Abbess then conducted and facilitated the “Tea Ceremony” which she described for nearly seventy participants, who at each table followed their respective “Tea Masters” in the ceremony for the preparation and consumption of tea, which process allows for the conscious discrimination and differentiation of various sensory experiences in their very moment of attention and awareness. In this “Tea Ceremony,” as one simultaneously sharpened and broadened one’s attention to various sensations, elements of that conscious experience would become even more focused and even more complex, so that sometimes spontaneous, or even very unexpected, sensations were favoured. The “Tea Ceremony” was also complimented gradually by other more elaborate contexts, such as the visual sight and movements of a costumed dancer, or the tranquil sound of gentile flutes. Even the very movements of the “Tea Masters,” each in her individual attention and of each participant’s attention to her, provided a further discipline to one’s awareness of the reflective space, and of its nature to open up consciousness to the meditative “silence” within it.

Then discussion followed, with Abbess Miao Duo’s taking up some engaging questions posed to her in dialogue with Mr. Martin Azzopardi. Public questions also were entertained, which allowed for the Abbess to elaborate Buddhist practice and thought. In its formal conclusion, MASC Chairperson Dr. Edward J. Clemmer thanked Abbess Miao Duo, as he offered the audience and its distinguished guests a specific religious context for the humanity that binds Chinese Buddhist wisdom with the Christian experience of the universal Christ. 

Fr. Glen Attard, MASC Secretary, also facilitated the physical preparations for the event coordinated by the MASC Executive Committee. And in its conclusion, featuring vegetarian Buddhist and typical Maltese snacks, the MCCC graciously hosted a reception which promoted that evening’s many continued friendships and opportunities for individual discussions among the Maltese participants and Chinese guests.

Carmelite Priory, Mdina | 14 June 2019

Address by Fr. Glen Attard O.Carm., Facilitator of the Steering Committee for the setting up of MASC

Good evening and welcome all to the official launching of The Maltese Association for the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Companionship, or M.A.S.C. in short. Tonight’s event marks the culmination of sixteen months of discussions which saw us effectively give words to a core vision that we all shared in one way or another and also, with much effort, slowly but surely create a simple, democratic structure to ensure the longevity of this vision. 

Tonight’s programme will be a simple one. First I will speak to you briefly about the roots of MASC, its aims and the tasks it wishes to set forth for itself in Maltese society and in the Church, then the newly elected Chairman of the Association Edward Clemmer will give us a short presentation about the vision of MASC, then the newly elected Executive Committee will sign the approved Statute on behalf of all the members of the Association, and finally, closing this official launching, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology will also share with us a few final words. After this first official part, we can then continue our fellowship, introducing ourselves to each other, downstairs with refreshments.

So, the first question one asks is: why the need for MASC? As things currently stand, over the last decades we have seen a booming trend in the field of Spirituality, first of all with more and more people claiming to be spiritual, which has led to more and more researchers studying the spiritual and mystical phenomenon in all its complexity, which has in turn led to more and more Associations – very much similar to the one we are launching tonight – to be founded all over the world. It is our common drive – and urgent need, to a certain extent – for an intelligent understanding of spirituality and mysticism that has brought us here tonight. MASC was born thanks to the desire of many graduates who consistently asked Fr Charlò and myself about what opportunities exist out there to continue forming oneself in the field of spirituality as well as what other opportunities there are to put into practice the preparation – or as I like to call it: formation – they received in the field. This essential desire brought nine graduates together on 20 January 2018 who started a journey together of what potentially (and I hope) could become a major contribution to spirituality and companionship in the Church here in Malta. Alas, in the Gospel of Matthew we read, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Mt 13:31-32) MASC is still a tiny seed, but let us be encouraged by the fact that 2.4 billion Christians around the world owe their religious roots thanks to a tiny community in war-torn Jerusalem two thousand years ago. 

So what is MASC all about? A key factor is what could only be described as the holy trinity of MASC’s operation, namely its being voluntary, autonomous, and lay. 

(i) MASC is a voluntary organisation. Its very existence depends on each and every one’s willingness and commitment to come together, to enrich one another and, in turn, to be enriched spiritually and professionally. The academic nature of our studies is, thus, grounded in a sharing of concrete experiences whereby, in getting to know each other’s backgrounds and work, the material we study takes on a more ecclesial and communitarian dimension among peers specialising in the same field of research or work. 

(ii) MASC is also autonomous. It is being launched as an independent professional platform for research and dialogue with a strong emphasis on collaboration with other local and international institutions so as to enhance one’s ongoing formation and work in the field. The Association was set up with the distinctive aim to cater for both MA programmes – Spirituality and Companionship – so that it not only continues to provide professional help with research in Spirituality by means of regular seminars, conferences, workshops, etc, which it intends to organise from time to time, but also to provide adequate spaces by means of local fora where spiritual directors and companions could come together and discuss the particularly important theme of spiritual direction in contemporary Malta. 

(iii) Finally, and perhaps most importantly, MASC is also lay. This Association intends to create a space for the laity in Malta who are working and studying in the field of spirituality and spiritual companionship. Throughout our discussions over the last sixteen months, this was always a particularly important point that we kept on referring to as it resonated with everyone’s core ideals of the organicity and the dynamic vision of the Church. By its very nature, MASC hopes to be a concrete expression of lay empowerment and spiritual synodality in the Church, addressing its reflections and discussions specifically towards the various dimensions of people’s spirituality in the world from a Christian perspective. 

One last question: what do we want MASC to be? A platform where any individual aptly prepared will be able to feel comfortable enough to share ideas, projects, and one’s work in the field of spirituality, mysticism, and companionship, where any one can shine by any means comfortable to him/her (whether this is in research, publication of articles, organising events, creating contacts, facilitating focus groups, and much more), where any one with the necessary preparation and qualifications, most especially the lay, can be given the opportunity to bring forward projects and different perspectives to the field particularly by means of initiatives that resonate more with the spiritual needs of the laity. I am reminded of what has been called Pope Francis’ culture of encounter. In Evangelii Gaudium he writes us these inspiring words, “The Church which “goes forth” is a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice. An evangelizing community knows that the Lord has taken the initiative, he has loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19), and therefore we can move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast […] Let us try a little harder to take the first step and to become involved. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. The Lord gets involved and he involves his own, as he kneels to wash their feet. He tells his disciples: “You will be blessed if you do this” (Jn 13:17). An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people’s daily lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if necessary, and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others. Evangelizers thus take on the “smell of the sheep” and the sheep are willing to hear their voice […] Thus, the Church evangelizes and is herself evangelized.” (n. 24).

I congratulate us all for having arrived at this important milestone and I truly augur many more years of fruitful experiences of fellowship, formation, and service to the Church and the world. Allow me also one final word of appreciation to you all for having allowed Fr Charlò and myself to accompany you throughout this journey. Prudence is key. Dream big and take one step at a time. 

Address by Dr Edward J. Clemmer, First Chairperson of MASC

M.A.S.C. – The Maltese Association for the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Companionship.  How did we get here, its history? And now, how do we get to where we’re going, its future? 

Its history and future have the same path.  And, if I were to formulate this path, as a motto for the association, for its Foundation Day, and perhaps, for its future — I suggest, that this path, or motto, has been – and would consist of – three verb phrases.

The first phrase: “to listen,” or as given in Latin, “audire” (to hear), or instead of the infinitive form of the verb, let’s turn it better into a present progressive participle, as in the ongoing act of listening, as “audiendo,” or in its verbalized noun form, we have “audiens,” by which is given, what is heard.  

We, the audience, listen [the several of us, past, present, and future]; and what do we hear?  If this were a game of Jeopardy, the answer for our category (audiendo or audiens, or listening) would be put into its question form; and our response might be, perhaps, “What is prayer?”  Or, defined more specifically, “What is desire?”  Are we listening to, and hearing, the desire of human hearts?  Is it not also the Divine human heart of Our Lord, and the desire and the will of the One Triune God?

And so it was, soon after the start of the New Year in 2018, that Fr. Charló, after hearing the desires of various human hearts and discerning the human and divine possibilities, he proposed, to the 22 graduate students (Level 7) in Spirituality or in Spiritual Companionship, our first meeting for the purpose of the Association.  Nine graduates attended that first meeting in January, also including husband and wife Pia & Stefan Attard, Jonathon Attard, Nikol Baldacchino, and Cynthia Grech Sammut; and over the next sixteen months various MA graduates attended meetings, not all simultaneously, but nineteen (19) persons in all, including Michael Merceica, Emmanuel Said, and Rita Vella Brincat, also with every person contributing according to their means and abilities.  

Sometimes, as it does, “listening” comes to one with the force of the “Word of God.” This leads me to consider the second verb phrase that seems to me to summarize the Association’s recent history, and its proximate future, namely: “to do,” or more appropriately, that is, as in the Latin “agere,” “to act,” referring to the generic task of performing any action, which is not always evident, or available to be seen, from the viewpoint of actual future, but from our presently not yet.  This action does not exclude something, which otherwise, may become clearly specific, as in the Latin “facere,” to make, or to do something specific: like producing the statutes of the Association, as we have done.  The ongoing act, in the ongoing action, in its participial form, is “agendo,”or in its noun form “agens,” namely, whatever is in the process of being made.

In the Association’s recent agenda, no one was lost for words in its formation.  There was no one lost for charity, either, both in their dedication, and in their service to the future Association, for those who were called to this task, but also in relationship to their ongoing life requirements, whenever and however the discernment of the Spirit so moved them. Sometimes, in their “doing,” more so it was like one’s “being acted upon,” as each person is called, and says “yes” to the “Word of God.”

Respectively, there were five different ad hoc secretaries for those Association formation meetings: Pieriena Mercieca, Patricia Micallef, Claudio Laferla, myself, and Fr. Glen.  After the third meeting, after everyone had listened, in May 2018 the formation of the Association was placed in the hands of its three administrators, who also chaired that process: thereafter, Pieriena Mercieca, Christopher Bezzina, and Fiona Catania.  They formulated and quantified an Association questionnaire, which results we reviewed with them, that defined the Association and its legal requirements, and led to the drafting of the Association statutes.  Those three persons, accompanied by Fr. Glen, chaperoned us to the conclusion of the formation phase, until the election of the Executive Committee.

And so it is, in the MASC Executive Committee, we now have five persons by election: these include myself, Edward Clemmer (from Spirituality, 2017), Chairperson; Martin Azzopardi (from Spiritual Companionship, 2014), Deputy Chairperson; Fr. Glen Attard, Secretary; Ms. Fiona Catania (from Spiritual Companionship, 2018), Treasurer; and Tyrone Grima (Theology Ph.D., 2018), Assistant Treasurer.  And as our representative for the Association on the Faculty of Theology, and external to the Executive Committee, we have Fr. Charló Camilleri. 

By way of a simple introduction, on behalf of and for each person of the Executive Committee, let me say one brief descriptive sentence for each: 

(1) As for myself, at 71-years-of-age: after twenty years of university teaching, since 1996 I am retired as a social psychologist; but subsequently, for twenty-three years, I have been married to my wife, Jane Zammit, the polyglot former tourist-guide, current actress, and Director of her theatre company; also, in the US, I have four sons and three grandchildren from a first marriage. And beyond my American formative experience with the Crosier Fathers, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Jesuits, the Augustinians, and the Benedictines, I am being reformed, now, in Carmelite Spirituality.

(2) Martin Azzopardi is a “multi-plex” person; a member of MUSEO; who directs religious instruction at St. Margaret’s College, Verdala Secondary School, Cospicua.  His ecumenism extends to oriental religions, and to catechesis in China and his active learning of Chinese; presently, he is also living with and caring for his aged parents; as he informs us in his MA Thesis on the Experience of Guilt: following Meister Eckhart, the will of God is accomplished without guilt by “Purity of Heart.” 

(3) Fr. Glen, as Secretary to the Provincial and Carmelite Community Archivist, is also now our Association Secretary; and with his specialization on Eastern Orthodox Christianity, I believe, soon now, he will be publishing his recent doctoral thesis on Spiritual Friendship in the theology of Pavel Florenski.

(4) Fiona Catania is our Association Treasurer: with her B. Comm. degree, she now has been employed in the banking industry for seven years; but within her own spiritual journey, and in her MA Thesis on Adrienne von Speyr, Fiona has taken to heart Speyr’s integrated feminine view of the Trinity within its spiritual appreciation for Christian marriage, which vocation Fiona will soon take up.

(5) In Tyrone Grima, we find a person of dedicated contemplative action, inclusive of his work in theatre: he is now head of pastoral care for Pia Ossana, and its extension Dar Mamma Margherita – a Salesians residential home for homeless persons, whom are given definition with Tyrone’s script and forthcoming production of “Zayden,” July 25-28, in Valletta.  Tyrone’s spiritual context, “on detachment and the relational,” is defined within his doctoral thesis on Simone Weil.  

This brings me to my third, and final, verb phrase, in the form of a motto, towards a vision of the present and future Association: “journeying together,” where the Latin does not work for me, but where I feel I need Spanish and Maltese: first, for the first word, in the Spanish, with the verb form: “caminar,”and/or in its noun form, “el camino.” We travel, generally on foot, and by agreement with one another, and that “journey” is laid out ahead of us, on the “beaten path,” where we follow in the Lord’s footsteps, in the adventure that is the voyage of the Cross. For me, the journey is like “El Camino del Santiago,” or with others on the road, from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the Resurrection, with the other disciples and with the Lord, who becomes visible to us in His words and in his signs.  

The second word of my third verb phrase is “together,” which in Latin might be “in unum,” in one, or in unity, or in Association, but my feeling, for the best expression for this element, is in the Maltese, “flimkien,” where we never travel alone, and we always travel “together,” both in each other’s company and in conjunction with one/another.  We don’t act alone or individually, but together: in unity with the Spirit of God, which is Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; in spiritual companionship with God, and with Mary who is our universal spiritual Mother, and with one another; and in our encounters and relationships with presently undefined others, as our Brothers and Sisters in the Body of Christ, who show us, and lead us, to the face of God.  So, “In our listening and acting, we journey together,” and as we are, we are transformed in God; in this, we assist the spiritual journey of all who seek to see, ultimately, the face of God, and God in each other.  So, let’s hit the road.

On 31 May 2019, at the Carmelite Priory in St Julian’s was held the first Annual General Assembly in which was elected the first Executive Committee. The Meeting was Chaired by Glen Attard O.Carm. and Edward Clenmer was Secretary ad hoc.

First, as per article 7.7 of the Statute of the Association in effect, the election process was divided into two phases. 

• Phase 1: whose aim is the compilation of the Nominees’ List.
• Phase 2: whose aim is the election of the five members of the Executive Committee

As per article 7.8, a list was distributed to the members present containing the names of all eligible members to being voted, and were told to mark a cross (X) next to the names of five members whom they wished to potentially elect to the Executive Committee. The election was carried out in a secret ballot. The secretary ad hoc read the results, which were the following:

• Catania Fiona – 9 votes
• Attard Glen – 8 votes
• Mercieca Pierina – 8 votes
• Bezzina Christopher – 6 votes
• Camilleri Charlò – 6 votes*
• Cutajar Carmen – 4 votes
• Attard Yeon Pia – 3 votes
• Azzopardi Martin – 2 votes
• Clemmer Edward – 2 votes
• Grima Tyrone – 2 votes
• Laferla Claudio – 2 votes
• Vella Brincat Rita – 2 votes*
• Attard Stefan – 1 vote
• Baldacchino Nikol – 0 votes

The results were accepted as valid. By verbal consent, (fr) Charlò Camilleri and Rita Vella Brincat, withdrew from Phase 2 of the election process. As is stipulated in Article 7.8 §E of the Statute, the top ten highest scoring members were validly nominated to the Nominees’ List and could, therefore, proceed to Phase 2 of the election process. Excluding (fr) Charlò Camilleri and Rita Vella Brincat, the top 10 nominated candidates consented to passing on to phase 2.

The new ballots were printed out and distributed to the members. The members present were told to vote again by marking a cross (X) next to the names of five members that they wanted to elect to the Executive Committee. The election was carried out in a secret ballot. Then, the secretary ad hoc read the results, which were the following:

1. Azzopardi Martin – 10 votes
2. Catania Fiona – 10 votes
3. Clemmer Edward – 10 votes
4. Attard Glen – 9 votes
5. Grima Tyrone – 7 votes
6. Laferla Claudio – 7 votes
7. Bezzina Christopher – 1 vote
8. Cutajar Carmen – 1 vote
9. Attard Yeon Pia – 0 votes
10. Mercieca Pierina – 0 votes

The results were accepted as valid. Thus, Azzopardi Martin was elected as the first member of the Executive Committe, Catania Fiona was elected as the second member of the Executive Committe, Clemmer Edward was elected as the third member of the Executive Committe, and (fr) Attard Glen was elected as the fourth member of the Executive Committe, after having each of them accepted their election. With regards to the election of the fifth member, as there was a tie of 7 votes, lots were drawn, as had been announced beforehand, between Grima Tyrone and Laferla Claudio. As a result of this, Grima Tyrone’s name was drawn by lots and thus, after having accepted his election, was elected as the fifth member to the Executive Committee. As per article 7.11 of the present Statute, it was then left to the newly appointed Executive Committe to decide how the offices of the Executive Committee should be distributed between the five members elected.