About Us
“In the Heart of the Church, I will be Love.”
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles
We are women in love with the Gospel, called together by God to a communal life of prayer and service.
Our life and zeal are drawn from the prayer that fills our days, standing in the Presence of the Living God. Contemplative prayer is both the goal of our lives and the source of all our works. Called to a life of total consecration to God through vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience, we respond to God’s invitation to live a life of radical discipleship.
Faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, our life is structured according to the ancient tradition of the Discalced Carmelite Order, which imitates the prayer life of Mary, our Lady of Mount Carmel. The love we experience in God’s presence impels us to serve, making known to the world the personal love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Our charism, which blends the contemplative nature of Carmel with active apostolic works in service of the Church, is the unwavering bedrock of our life. This unique charism was a gift of the Holy Spirit to our foundress, Mother Luisita, whose cause for beatification is well underway. Since our founding in 1904, our Sisters have served the Church through our apostolic works of education, spiritual retreats, and healthcare.
Rooted in Prayer
There is a love worth living for.
Our lives as Sisters are rooted in prayer – from morning to night, we return again and again to the source and summit of our faith, as we encounter God in the Blessed Sacrament.
In the Eucharist, we come into direct contact with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. His Heart is the embodiment of God’s love for the world. He is on fire with love, drawing souls to God and interceding for them at the right hand of the Father.
Carmelite spirituality seeks to encounter this Heart, to be enflamed with His love so we can set the world on fire.
We are called in a particular way to pray for priests, and to offer our lives in prayer that all might encounter God’s personal, healing love.
Rooted in Prayer
There is a love worth living for.
Our lives as Sisters are rooted in prayer – from morning to night, we return again and again to the source and summit of our faith, as we encounter God in the Blessed Sacrament.
In the Eucharist, we come into direct contact with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. His Heart is the embodiment of God’s love for the world. He is on fire with love, drawing souls to God and interceding for them at the right hand of the Father.
Carmelite spirituality seeks to encounter this Heart, to be enflamed ourselves with His love so we can set the world on fire.
We are called in a particular way to pray for priests, and to offer our lives in prayer that all might encounter God’s personal, healing love.
Love in Action
Love is never stagnant
Ever since Elijah encountered the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, the Carmelite Saints have always been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.
Anyone who embarks seriously in a life of discipleship of Jesus Christ discovers a growing need within the heart to give oneself in love.
For those consecrated to God in the religious life, this return of love to God is expressed in our service of one another in community, and freely given to all those we encounter in our apostolic service.
Whether our Sisters are serving students in the classroom, accompanying retreatants to grow in their faith, or walking alongside the families we serve in healthcare, our goal is always to bring them closer to God.
Love in Action
Love is never stagnant
Ever since Elijah encountered the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, the Carmelite Saints have always been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.
Anyone who embarks seriously in a life of discipleship of Jesus Christ discovers a growing need within the heart to give oneself in love.
For those consecrated to God in the religious life, this return of love to God is expressed in our service of one another in community, and freely given to all those we encounter in our apostolic service.
Whether our Sisters are serving students in the classroom, accompanying retreatants to grow in their faith, or walking alongside the families we serve in healthcare, our goal is always to bring them closer to God.
consuming itself in the love of God and zeal for souls.”
Venerable Mother Luisita
Our History
During the virulent religious persecutions in 1920s Mexico, Mother Luisita remained a beacon of light and hope. She established and administered schools, hospitals, and orphanages and remained undaunted in her work despite the scrutiny of the government. The escalating violence ultimately drove Mother Luisita from her homeland and the people she had so lovingly served. In 1927, leaving everything behind and dressed in disguise, Mother Luisita together with two companion sisters embarked on a perilous journey to seek refuge in the United States. It was against this dramatic background that a new religious community was established in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The very persecution which sought to destroy her work only helped spread it to the United States – loving apostolic service that continues strong nearly a century later, seeking to make known the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
A Religious Family is Born
Establishment as a Pontifical Institute
The Charism Continues
Persecution & A New Home
90 Years of Prayer & Service
1904
A Religious Family is Born
The life of Mother Maria Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament is no ordinary story. It is a story filled with that complete trust in God which makes life a daring adventure, the kind of adventure one encounters when one dares to love God above all things and to place one’s life completely in His hands. It is a story where trust in God and obedience to His manifest designs bursts forth into great sanctity. Mother Luisita is a model of holiness in the single, married, widowed and religious state.
Maria Luisa de la Pena was born in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco Mexico on June 21, 1866, the first surviving of fourteen children. Although she felt drawn to the religious life, at the age of fifteen in obedience to her parents, she married Doctor Pascual Rojas, a prominent physician who was twice her age. Their life together was happy, a mutual growing in love of God and neighbor. God did not grant them children. They trusted and decided together that the poor would be their children. They built the little Hospital of the Sacred Heart to serve those less fortunate. After fourteen years of married life Maria Luisa was left a widow. On his deathbed, Doctor Rojas told her that he had no doubt what she would do after he had died – she would serve God as a religious.
Eight years later, on December 24, 1904, Maria Luisa entered the Cloistered Carmelites and became immersed in the spirituality of Carmel. THis is considered the founding date of our Congregation. After seven months she was asked by the Archbishop to return to her work at the hospital which needed her guidance. Again, she trusted God’s manifest designs. Along with the hospital she opened a school and orphanage. Many others attracted by her spirituality and love for our Lord began to join her.
The Archbishop re-appeared and told her that she would have to join an existing religious Congregation. Obediently she left all her works behind and joined the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Four years later the Archbishop asked her to return, she was needed at the hospital and with the children. She obeyed. More women joined her. This time the Archbishop himself suggested that she found a Religious Congregation and the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart were established on February 2, 1921. On that same day, Mother Luisita and five sisters received the Carmelite Habit and began to live the Carmelite rule. Her charism “to unite the spirit of Carmel to the active apostolate” unfolded.
