Often when I introduce myself, people seem surprised. “I thought Carmelites were cloistered?” Occasionally there is a slight tone of suspicion in their voice, as if maybe we were escapees or something. I am always prompt to clarify things for them. While most...
On the day I received the religious habit, I was 19 years old and only a little more than 10 months in the Community. The experience was a life-changing one as in our early formation we knew that the Reception of the Habit was the beginning of our “spousal...
When a young woman is considering the possibility of entering Religious Life, one of the greatest fears that her parents confront is that their daughter will lose her most unique and beautiful and precious traits. They may wonder, “Will the Nuns brainwash my daughter?...
Sister Faustina, OCD What was it about Jesus that drew the apostles to leave everything and follow Him? Yes, He called them, “Come, follow me,” but what was it that made them so eager to remain with Him to the end? Was it His fascinating miracles? (Walking on water...
Several years ago a voice was heard bellowing out in an airport waiting area, “Chaste for 45 years!”The surrounding space was electrified as heads turned toward us as I stood facing a non-Christian gentleman who had asked me if we practiced chastity and then posed to...
This is the second part of Sister Mary Colombiere’s article on charism. Part One focused on charisms in general while this portion is about the Carmelite charism in particular. Click here to read Part One.Every religious community is unique because it lives...
“Sister Timothy, are you a nun?” Well, I do wear a long brown habit and I have professed three vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, in consecration to God forever. But am I a nun? My name is SISTER Timothy Marie. But am I a nun?Here is the answer. In a...
Such a puzzled look I see on people’s faces sometimes. They just don’t get it. I do understand that the vocation of being a Catholic consecrated religious woman with vows is “out-of-the-box” for many people. They have some recollection of The Sound of Music or some...
Question: Why do priests in the Catholic Church keep celibacy?I have always been surprised at the apparent vexation this discipline stirs among some Christian people, especially since it is explicitly recommended in the New Testament. Paul is very clear about its...
I hardly see Sisters in a habit any more. What happened? Why did the Carmelite Sisters keep their habit? Some questions are best answered by description. I think this is one of them. Keep reading the examples and I think you will get the idea. Yesterday, a group of...
