ORLANDO  |  A small group of Lay Carmelites gather in Sts. Peter and Paul’s chapel in Winter Park for Liturgy of the Hours followed by morning Mass. Laden with their large brown scapulars bearing the initials of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they renew their vows. It is July 16, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Their brown scapulars set them apart — symbolizing their commitment to and promise from Our Lady of Mount Carmel to St. Simon Stock to protect them from danger and spare them from “eternal fire.”

Among them is Maria Balisado, coordinator of the Third Order Carmelites or T.O. Carms, also known as Carmelites of the Ancient Observance. Balisado is excited to have several men and women in formation, some soon to profess final vows. The seclusion imposed by the COVID pandemic limited the ability to secure ongoing formation and nearly wiped the order out.

After the church reopened, pastor Father Derk Schudde indulged Balisado asking her to please work to bring the Carmelites back. He wanted them active at Sts. Peter and Paul.

He expressed his confidence in her and she took it to prayer. Two years ago, she went to the Holy Land and visited the Basilica of St. Elijah of Mt. Carmel, part of the Stella Maris Monastery in Haifa, Israel and the Carmelite world headquarters. “As soon as I entered the basilica, I felt electric. I felt goosebumps,” recalled Balisado. “Even now I feel goosebumps because I looked directly at the Blessed Mother, and it felt like she was looking at me.” Upon her return she told Father Schudde she would work to revive the community. She now assists with guiding six devoted people in formation.

It was Balisado’s godparents who encouraged her to join the community. Observing her commitment to daily Mass, even after working the night shift, they were moved by her beautiful faith. She attended a couple of meetings, contemplated and joined them.

Over her 25 years as a Carmelite, she experienced much “disaster” in her life emotionally and physically. “And the Blessed Mother was with me the whole time,” she said. She recalled she went through 22 years of a grueling relationship. She battled cancer and said the chemo damaged her heart, lungs, nerves, and affected her brain. “And the Blessed Mother and Jesus are always with me, so I’ve never wavered. I trust them implicitly with my life,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Becoming a Carmelite changed her life. “I am closer to God, and I realize I can do nothing without Our Lady of Carmel. She always protected me and guided me. It has changed everything.”

Carmelites follow the Rule of St. Albert of Jerusalem which requires “meditating day and night on the law of the Lord” (Rule of Albert, 10 [VII, viii]). The Carmelite charism encompasses contemplation, community and service. Through the development of a deep interior life with Our Lady and Christ, these elements animate the religious community. T.O. Carms pray the Liturgy of the Hours, worship at daily Mass when possible, spend time in contemplation of scripture, and live their love of God and Our Lady through service to others.

“Even just a smile or a ‘Hello’ brings hope. We never know if that person is having a hard time,” Balisado said. “Being a Carmelite embodies that. Really saying ‘Hello’ and meaning it makes a difference for people.”

Her community is growing with the help of formator Charles Mayheu and Kathleen Richardville of St. James Cathedral. Richardville is the Provincial Visitation Coordinator overseeing visitation to the communities in Florida, North Dakota and south Minnesota.

Richardville became a Lay Carmelite 27 years ago, a feat as her children were all young and very active and formation takes six years. Like those early days, Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s feast day kept Richardville darting from one parish to another. Catching up with her after Mass at St. James Cathedral later that day, she shared there are seven active communities in the Diocese of Orlando — Ascension Parish in Melbourne, Holy Family and St. James Cathedral parishes in Orlando, Nativity in Longwood, Annunciation in Altamonte Springs, Sts. Peter and Paul in Winter Park, and Queen of Peace in Ocala.

“Although we don’t have a founder, per se, we have a mountain which gave us our name, Mount Carmel. And we have a patroness, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, without which the order would not exist,” Richardville explained. The Carmelites received their name from the famous mountain upon which Elijah slew the priests of Baal.

“It means that we model ourselves after her absolute allegiance to Jesus Christ and to fulfilling the will of God in our lives,” said Richardville. “It has intensely deepened my relationship with Jesus Christ because the whole spirituality of Carmel is the development of an inner fire, an inner cell, a tabernacle of the Holy Spirit within you which manifests itself in service to the parish, to the community and however God is leading us.”

Michelle Castiblanco is in her second year of formation and agrees. Like Richardville, she answered the call when her five children were young, ages 5 to 16. “I just have to prioritize, similarly to why I was drawn to Carmel in the first place,” she said. “If I don’t prioritize my prayer and commitment to it, then I am not able to do well at anything else I try to do. Then I kind of watch it fall apart. It’s really a glue for me.”

Castiblanco is a convert and said the Carmelite way resonated with her because of the interior life it helps develop. She already admired famous Carmelites like St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Avila who helped influence her Catholicism. “I felt as a mother and a person in the world, if I don’t align my interior, then I’m not going to be able to be a good mother. I can’t pull from them something that I haven’t found in myself,” she said.

Richardville echoes this idea in her invitation to others. She tells them, “If they have a fascination and deep love for Jesus Christ and want to come deeper and more intimately into friendship with Him, sometimes in vocal prayer but most often in silence and solitude, in the beauty of Scripture, and the quiet of Adoration — and if they want to become Carmel — which is breathing into the world the message of Christ — through who they are and their relationship with Christ, then the Carmelite way is their way.”

If you are interested in the Lay Carmelite Order, contact Kathleen Richardville at 407-421-7769 or krville@cfl.rr.com. For information on the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, visit ocdswashprov.org/florida-region/.

Watch more about the Lay Carmelite Order here.

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, July 24, 2025