By Sister Teresa Christine, O.C.D.
June 2027 will mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Mother Luisita and our sisters to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. At this monumental milestone in our community’s history, we reflect on God’s enduring faithfulness to our sisters. As we enter this Jubilee of Blessings, we also place our trust in God for the future of our beloved community.
In honor of this centenary, our Jubilee logo features a fruitful vine, which calls to mind the words of our Lord in John 15:4-5:
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
For us as Carmelite Sisters, this image of the fruitful vine is more than symbolic. It has become an image reflective of the grace our sisters have received in the gift of our vocation to the consecrated life. Each sister has received a personal call from our Lord, to abide on the Vine which is Christ. Our vocation in Carmel has always been to remain, to abide, and to dwell in Christ. Through the passing generations of our sisters, through seasons of growth and seasons of trial, our sisters have learned to remain on the Vine. Any fruitfulness of our community comes from this life on the Vine.
We thank our Lord for the gift of this rich heritage! Our jubilee is a time for us as sisters to rest, reflect and give thanks for the fruit our Lord has quietly drawn forth: the fruit of the fidelity of our sisters for one hundred years. We thank Him for the countless lives who have been touched by our Lord through the fruitfulness that flows from our life of prayer. The seeds of prayer have borne fruit beyond what we can see. Only in eternity will we see the true fruitfulness of God’s goodness to us.
The vine also shows the communal aspect of our life. A vine is not a single branch, but many, intertwined and drawing from the same source. So, too, we grow as sisters among sisters, our lives intertwined in Christ in our beautiful religious family. What a gift this is, to be united in Christ, supporting one another, and bearing fruit that none of us could produce alone!
The image of the grapevine also draws us to consider the wine that is the fruit, transformed through time and care, by the hidden work of the vintner. The Lord Himself is the Divine Winemaker, patiently cultivating, pruning, and perfecting the work He has begun in us.
And it also draws us to contemplate the mystery of the Eucharist, where wine is transformed into the very body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. All fruitfulness, all transformation, finds its source and summit there. This same Christ, who tells us to remain in Him, also gives Himself freely to us, so that we may truly live in Him and He in us.
With great joy and gratitude, we place our Jubilee of Blessings into His hands, confident that as we continue to abide on the vine of Christ’s love, He will continue to bring forth fruit for generations to come.
