Habemus Papam!

Praised be Jesus Christ!

As Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, we live deeply rooted in the spiritual legacy of our holy mother, St. Teresa of Avila. As her daughters, we are also daughters of the Church—firm in our fidelity, fervent in our love, and ever attentive to the needs of the Body of Christ. With joyful hearts and trusting prayer, we lift up our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, entrusting him to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the strengthening grace of the Holy Spirit. In these early days of his pontificate, we pray that he may be a true shepherd after the Heart of Christ, filled with wisdom, courage, and deep pastoral charity.

The life of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus offers us a beautiful reminder of how closely united the Carmelite heart is to the heart of the Church. As a young girl, she received a special grace during her pilgrimage to Rome, where she boldly approached Pope Leo XIII, asking his blessing and permission to enter Carmel. He told her to follow God’s will through her superiors and this encounter revealed Thérèse’s fierce love for the Church and her longing to give herself entirely for its good. That same Thérèse would later write of the incomparable grace of Holy Communion—where Christ gives Himself entirely to His Bride. In every Communion, she offered herself for the sanctification of priests and the flourishing of the Church. Today, we follow her example by offering our lives of prayer and sacrifice for our Holy Father, trusting that these little acts, united to Christ, bear eternal fruit.

In a particular spirit of thanksgiving and hope, our community began a novena to the Holy Spirit prior to the election of Our Holy Father and now we continue this novena until May 15 in thanksgiving for Pope Leo XIV! We pray that the gifts of wisdom, understanding, and fortitude be poured out upon him in abundance, guiding him in his sacred duty to lead the Church in truth and love. As the early Church gathered with Mary in the Upper Room before Pentecost, so too do we gather spiritually, united in our chapels, invoking the Holy Spirit upon our Holy Father. May he be strengthened in his mission, and may the entire Church be renewed in faith, charity and communion under his leadership…“In illo uno unum,”
“In the one Christ we are one,”

With the contemplative love of Carmel and the maternal heart of our foundress, Mother Luisita, we remain united to the Vicar of Christ, standing as watchful sentinels in prayer in the heart of the Church.

United in the Heart of the Church,
Mother Gloria Therese, OCD