In a recent interview, Fr. Desiderio García Martínez O.Carm, Prior General of the Carmelite Order, reflected deeply on his personal vocation story, the Carmelite charism, and the spiritual needs of today’s world.
Fr. Desiderio shared his humble beginnings as the son of Spanish migrants, born in Orange, France, and later raised in Onda, a town with a strong Carmelite heritage dating back to the 1400s. It was there that he met Fr. Rafael María López Melús O.Carm — his spiritual guide from the age of 11 until 45. “To know him was to know the Carmelite Order,” he recalled.
From a young age, Fr. Desiderio felt drawn to Carmelite life. After ordination at 25, he dedicated more than 18 years to the formation of novices, served as a formation counsellor, spiritual director, Provincial of the Aragón–Castilla–Valencia Province, and later assumed many responsibilities in Carmelite initial and ongoing formation.
Reflecting on his election as Prior General, he described his feelings as “bittersweet — joy for the confidence of the brothers, but a sense of fear before the responsibility.” He entrusted his ministry to Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, accepting the role “as an act of love to God, the Church, and the Order.”
Looking toward the future, Fr. Desiderio expressed a conviction that the Carmelite charism offers a prophetic message for the world today: a return to the interior life. Inspired in part by the life and death of Fr. Jadwilk (Jad “Jad” Welk) O.Carm, he emphasised that the Order is called to accompany people in rediscovering contemplative depth and inner transformation.
“Our mission,” he said, “is to help the world cultivate the interior life — to rediscover contemplation as a path of transformation toward union with God in love.”
He highlighted three essential dimensions of Carmelite identity:
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Community life — fraternal living, sharing prayer, lectio divina, and daily life.
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Interior life and prayer — personal and liturgical prayer, silence, and contemplative presence.
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Apostolic service flowing from contemplation — especially spiritual accompaniment and ministries rooted in compassion.
“We are not monks hidden away. We cultivate contemplation in the midst of the people,” he said. “Prayer is not a method — it is an attitude. A relationship of friendship with Christ that leads us to the Father in the Holy Spirit.”
Fr. Desiderio’s message is both a renewal and a challenge: to rediscover the true heart of Carmel — contemplation, fraternity, and service — and to accompany the Church and the world by nurturing the inner life.
