With Bishop Báez de Nicaragua, Carmelitas Descalzos celebrate 75 years in Dominican rep.

With the presence of the Nicaraguan Bishop Silvio Báez, in exile since 2019, the barefoot Carmelites celebrated the 75 years of their arrival in the Dominican Republic, “a path of faith, service and love in the style of Santa Teresa and San Juan de la Cruz.”

Who is Bishop Silvio Báez?

Mons. Silvio José Báez Ortega is auxiliary bishop of Managua (Nicaragua) since 2009. He is 67 years old and is Carmelita.

On April 23, 2019, being one of the most critical voices of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua, he left his homeland in the face of the persecution of the regime. He has been in exile for more than six years.

“This Saturday, August 9, I was invited to preside over the celebration for the 75 years of the arrival of the Carmelites to the Dominican Republic. With great participation of the people of God, I offered a conference and presided over the Eucharist. Congratulations to my Carmelite brothers!”, The prelate said in his X account.

Mons. Báez also shared that this Saturday concluded “the week of annual spiritual exercises that I preached to my Carmelitas brothers of the Caribbean in the Dominican Republic. Very rich days of prayer and listen to the Word of God. Thank you, brothers, for their Christian testimony and their fraternal welcome!”.

The 75 years of barefoot Carmelites in the Dominican Republic

The San José del Caribe Commission of the barefoot Carmelitas reported in its social networks That the celebration of August 9 was held at the Educational Center of the Salesians in Santiago de los Caballeros, where hundreds of faithful, religious and laity arrived, from different parts of the country.

After a few initial words of welcome, Mons. Silvio Báez was in charge of a conference entitled “Our mission as prophets.”

“The Lord is the one who holds the prophet in his mission; he does not hold on his own. Prophet Elijah, our father, is the best example,” said the Nicaraguan Bishop. In that sense, he explained that there are three essential aspects for this task.

1. Familiarity with God: to be “strong friends of God”, live in intimacy with Him and “assume the feelings of Christ to defend the weak and give voice to those who cannot be heard.”

2. Centrality of Crucified Christ: Put the eyes in Jesus, entering – as Santa Teresa said – on “the side of those who suffer”, and letting communion with him “transform our prophetic mission.”

3. Night experience: accept that the prophet is tested, judged and persecuted, but that in the dark you learn to listen to the voice of God more clearly.

“God is not a treasure that is possessed, but a mystery that is sought,” recalled the bishop, stressing that prophetic life feeds on silence, prayer and discernment.

After noon, Mons. Báez presided over the Eucharist and meditated on the gospel of the prudent virgins, which keep their lamps on; and the reckless: “The faith lamp needs charity oil. No one can live the spiritual life on the other; each one is responsible for keeping their lamp on,” he said.

Mons. Báez stood out later that the oil is a symbol of faith that illuminates and stressed that “the best is yet to come” for those who trust and prepare for the encounter with God.

The meeting concluded with a thanksgiving of the friar Carmelita Sandy Antonio Fernández, OCD, who expressed his recognition to all parishes, communities and people who have made possible the Carmelite mission these 75 years.

The barefoot Carmelites arrived at Dominican soil on August 25, 1951 and settled in the town of Sabana de la Mar and from there extended to the rest of the country.

His arrival coincided with the celebration of the 700 years of the delivery of the scapular of the Virgen del Carmen to San Simón Stock.