He Calls Us Friends - Laymen and Evangelical Counsels #64582

What would it be like if we were to finally become Christians? Are we ready to embark upon this formidable adventure of holiness? Such are the questions posed to the reader by Father Antonio Maria Sicari in this book. In these pages the author, who is also a founder of the ecclesiastical movement that makes up the overwhelming majority of faithful laymen, has profoundly advanced the teachings which he offers throughout these luminous pages, finally accessible to English-speakers as well. He invites us to overcome the imagined resistance between observing the commandments – a task required of everyone – and the practice of the evangelical counsels of virginity, poverty and obedience, reserved solely for the ordained. In order to do this, one must engage in a profoundly Christian train of thought, that is one which begins with the Mystery of Christ and our close relationship with Him. Through Jesus Christ, God reveals Himself to mankind. Living according to the evangelical counsels of virginity, poverty and obedience – those which Christ proffers to all of his friends – opens up to laymen, in every aspect of their lives (conjugal, familial, ecclesiastical, professional, civil), a new Life which is, from that very first moment, filled with the Mystery of God's Reign. The counsels appear for what they truly are: a path towards freedom, joy and complete fulfillment with the Son of God for every member of the Church, which is what we are and what we must fully become. Father Antonio Maria Sicari, born in 1943 in Italy, is a member of the Discalced Carmelite Order. He is a Doctor of Theology and holds a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies. In 1993 he founded the Ecclesiastical Carmelite Movement (currently present in Italy, Belgium, Romania, Lebanon, Latvia, Colombia and the U.S.A.) which puts forward to all laymen the mystical treasures (doctrinal and experiential) of the Carmelite Charisma.