by Sr. Mary Theodore Therese, O.Carm.

When Our Lord, Jesus Christ, turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana, the headwaiter said, "...you have kept the best wine until now." That's how I feel about my life here in Carmel at Our Lady of Grace Monastery. God has blessed us exceedingly with his merciful love, grace and compassion to be able to live lives of consecrated devotion to Christ and our Blessed Virgin Mary in service of the Church and all humanity.

Simply, it's a miracle that I am here! It is the realization of the grace God planted in me at the moment of my childhood conversion at the Billy Graham Crusade in Indianapolis, Indiana, when my devout parents took my older sister and me along with them to hear Billy Graham preach. I was about seven years old and was so deeply moved by what I heard that I was ready, "to do whatever He tells you."

I will always be extremely grateful and indebted to my parents, Ralph and Catherine McWilliams, for their great love for God and the conscious living of their Christian faith. Their witness in sacrifice and love still lives on in my heart, shaping and influencing my path. In hindsight, I can now see how each twist and turn in my life was creating an important piece of this sacred puzzle that is still continuing to be shaped, formed and fitted together according to God's will and grace.

One such turn was becoming the caregiver of my mom which meant moving back to Indianapolis, and leaving my job in New York. I was taking a huge, frightful leap into the unknown. As it turned out, it became the most important "leap" that paved the way to the Catholic Church and to Carmel. By being in Indianapolis, I ended up with a firm which on a long-term project brought me to Austin, Texas.

One huge factor in my Catholic conversion was my love for Blessed John Paul II and his insistent call to holiness. In the spring of 2005 when Pope John Paul became ill for the last time, I was devastated and daily watched, prayed and cried along with the rest of the world
out of gratitude for all he meant to us.

I entered Austin's Saint Mary Cathedral for the first time to attend the Pope's funeral via satellite TV immediately it seems that a connection was made between me and the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, shrouded in darkness nearby. At first, I thought it was my imagination yet the feeling of her warmth and compassion was very real. I found myself returning often to the Cathedral for Mass services. Within the year, I began attending their RCIA class and came into the Church Easter, 2006. Several weeks later, I saw a flyer for a vocation retreat. Calling to get information, I found out about the First Profession of Vows for a Carmelite Nun that was to take place in Christoval, Texas. I was invited to attend. Rounding that corner and seeing the beautiful steeple of this holy place rise up out of God's earth as if it had been hidden for all time, I instantaneously knew that this was the place I have been searching for all my life!

Bishop Michael Pfeifer, O.M.I., was there. After the ceremony, he greeted me with such joyful liveliness, I felt right at home. Shortly thereafter, I visited again and to my surprise, the Bishop had come for a visit as well. I felt it was a confirmation from God that this is where he wanted me to be.

Still, it took a lot of discernment and questions to myself like "Have you completely lost your mind? After all you've worked for in life, you're going to give it up to become a nun?" Then the childhood memories came flooding back. The times when I told my Dad that I wanted to be a nun—and we weren't even Catholic! Where did that thought come from? How God works his wonders in us from the very beginning without our being aware!
Since I was a new convert, I was asked to wait at least two years and I am thankful I did. The Catholic faith is such a rich and deep treasure that those few years gave me more time to develop a greater hunger for the Word of God and to experience life as a Catholic.

Carmel! The Garden of God—the deep well of refreshment in His Presence, the challenge to open one's heart and surrender to his will and design.

Carmel, the desert—often barren and arid where only faith and hope provide deep roots as one waits to see his face.

Carmel, the wellspring of the great saints who tell us to trust, to trust and to wait, that God is ever-present beyond our deepest sensing and closer to us than our own breath.

Carmel, the place of true community and service so that not only we but all humanity can feed from the love of God that "has been poured into our souls by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

In summary, I am becoming a cloistered Carmelite nun so that, in poverty, I can become rich in grace; in obedience, attain true freedom; and in chastity, perfect purity of heart so that I can try to show God with this great love that he has given me how much I love him by living for him alone and serving and loving his people and his Church!

* Carmelite Preview  Fall 2011/Winter 2012

This year Ireland will host the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) which will take place in Dublin from 10-17 June 2012.The theme of the Congress is “The Eucharist; Communion with Christ and with One another”.

For the first time ever there will be a dedicated Youth Space at the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) “Go! Be Church, with Christ and with one another”. The Irish Carmelites are on the organising committee of the youth space and it promises to be a great week for young people (aged 17-25 yrs) with lots of different activities from contemplative prayer to social justice workshops. There will be opportunities for discussion and dialogue, meeting new people, and celebrating our faith together.

They are expecting over 2,000 youth and young adults from all over the world. To book your place at the Congress please see www.IEC2012.ie/youth (Please note online booking closes on 9th May).

The Irish Carmelites are offering a limited number of basic accommodation spaces to some Carmelite Youth – please contact Marie on Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. for more information.

From the 9th to the 12th of January, 2012, the Prioresses and Directors of Novices of the six monasteries of Nuns in the Antilles, (Porto Rico and the Dominican Republic), came together in the Monastery of Maria Madre de la Iglesia, La Vega, in the Dominican Republic, for the Second Meeting of the Prioresses and Directors of Novices, coordinated by Fr. Rogelio Mur, O.Carm., Delegate for the Nuns of the area.

The main purpose of this meeting, involving the representatives of the different communities, was to study and discuss the ways in which the Ratio Institutionis Vitae Carmelitanae Monialium, is being applied since its publication in 2007. There is a proposal to hold this kind of meeting every two years with a view to increasing mutual assistance in the different areas of interest that are shared by the monasteries of the Antilles.

During the Assembly of the Provincial Commissariat of Bolivia (Mel) held on 24-27 January 2012 were elected:

• Commissary Provincial:  Fr. Garvin Grech, O.Carm.
• First Councilor:  Fr. Albert Brincat, O.Carm.
• Second Councilor:  Fr. Milton Murillo Ortiz, O.Carm.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the confidence of things not seen," says the author of Hebrews (11:1)  This feast of the Great Encounter is a celebration of centuries of confidence in things not yet realized but promised by God, salvation and complete union with God.  This feast celebrates the fact that God keeps His promises!  Not only does God keep His promises to a chosen people through a purified lineage and a virgin mother but also to particular individuals.  God revealed His plan to a "prophetess", Anna, who as an eighty-four year old widow never left the temple "worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day" (Luke 2: 37), and a "just" man, Simeon.

Scriptures apply the word "just" to a person who has faith and experience of God, and to God, the Son, the Holy and Just One (Acts 3: 14).  Thus throughout the Bible certain persons are set apart and called just, righteous, or upright most particularly: Noah in Genesis 6:9; Lot, 2 Peter 2:7; Joseph, foster father of the Lord Jesus, Matthew 1:19; John the Baptist, Mark 6: 20; St. Simeon, Luke 2: 25; St. Joseph of Arimathea, Luke 23: 50; and Cornelius, Acts 10: 22.   In three of his epistles St. Paul links faith with the just: "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1: 17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

Luke's Gospel speaks of Simeon as a just man "waiting for the Consolation of Israel" and for his personal consolation: "And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." (Luke 2: 25-26)   In response to his meeting with the child Jesus and His most pure mother Mary are the words of Simeon's Canticle which are sung at Vespers:

Now You shall dismiss your servant, in peace O Lord according to your word:

for my eyes have seen your salvation, which You have prepared before the face

of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people

Israel.

One of the stichera of the feast projects Simeon's haste to rest in peace:

Dismiss me now, O Master, that I may tell Adam how my eyes have seen the

Eternal God made man without undergoing change, and bringing about the salvation of the world. (BDW, p. 629)

I find these words comforting acknowledgement of the community of saints who always rushes to encourage and support one another by prayer and deed. Anna, also, "gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Luke 2: 38).

This feast called "Hypapanty" (Hypapante), a Greek word meaning "meeting" is the first encounter of Jesus, our Savior, with His people.  Christ comes into the midst of the temple, the gathering place of all the people of God and even of some Gentiles assembled to pray and to fulfill the laws of God handed down by Moses.   Jesus, too, wishing to be like us in all things, save sin, that He might sanctify every aspect of human life, enters the Temple carried by His mother and accompanied by St. Joseph to make the customary offering of two turtledoves or pigeons (see Leviticus 12:2-5). Mary, the all pure Theotokos, submits to the rite of Purification as an act of obedience to the customary laws. Jesus submits to the laws of God and customs so that He might illumine all human life for He is the Sun of Justice as the Troparion of the feast declares:

Hail O Woman full of grace, Virgin and Mother of God: from you has risen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, enlightening those who stand in darkness. You, too, just Elder Simeon, rejoice, for you carried in your arms the Redeemer of our souls, our Resurrection. (Byzantine Daily Worship, p. 627)

Simeon then prophesies "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against..." (Luke 2: 33), the fall of unbelievers and the rising of believers through the waters of baptism.  Christians are people of the Resurrection and the Eastern Churches emphasize this continually by standing at the Liturgy on Sunday, which is a celebration of the Resurrection, and in the "risen" bread of the Holy Eucharist.

Yet Christ is also "a sign which shall be spoken against," a sign of contradiction through the Cross.  To die on a Cross, the shame of a social outcast or a criminal, was the way Our Savior brought about our salvation.  In the opposing directions of the Cross,  Christ gathers all peoples without discrimination "as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings" (Luke 13: 34). Christ comes to save all, to bring us back into unity with God, without exclusion.

This feast is important today as a message of hope and a message of encouragement.  In a society of instant products, faith in promises, confidence that God has a Plan and it is in progress is not easy.  We need the messages of faith and hope shown in the feasts to remind ourselves that God is still in charge of the world no matter how much evil there is in it.  We need the reminder that in the fullness of time God is acting.  When we fail to celebrate the separate events of the journey to salvation we may miss the message.  Let us therefore meet in the assembly of the Church to celebrate our unfailing hope in the promises of God: "I leave you not as orphans...We will come to him and make Our home with him...the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you" (John 14: 18, 23, 26).

by Mary Grace Ritchey