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Welcome to Beyond the Beacon. This is Bishop Kevin Sweeney and welcome to this podcast of the Diocese of Patterson. I'm here with Sister Teresa Lee, our Chancellor and Delegate for Religious, and with the Carmelite Sisters of the Carmel here in Marstown.

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The official name, mother of the Carmel, is the Monastery of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.

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The Monastery of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, celebrating 100 years this year, right? Yes, uh, so it's a special episode of Beyond the Beacon here uh with the sisters, and uh it's not often that they are uh doing interviews or uh appearing on camera, but they're uh received permission because uh it's this special um uh anniversary centennial, and we'll uh be happy to learn more about a little bit about your life here and mission and vocation. And uh just before we begin with a prayer, we'll remember who we have here with us behind Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa, like uh the name of one of our great Carmelite Saints, right? Saint Therese of Lisieu, Mother Teresa, and behind Mother is Sister Hanna and Sister Salome Sister Salome, Sister Mariam Shahar. Sister Mariam Shahar?

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Sister Magdalena Maria.

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Sister Magdalena Maria.

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Sister Shoshana Yafat.

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Sister Shoshana Yufat.

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Yafar close. Yafar. Yafar, Yafah.

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Yafar, yes?

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And Sister Tirza.

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Sister Tirza. Welcome and thank you for being with us. And this isn't everyone, right? How many sisters live here at this monastery?

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At the moment, we are 16.

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16, 16.

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Uh, there are council sisters.

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These are the leaders of the councils work with mother in leading uh the uh life and ministry and mission here uh at uh this beautiful place of prayer, located in Morristown, right across from Friendlies. Uh just a few blocks uh a little ways down from uh uh uh our evangelization center, St. Paul, Inside the Walls at Madison, and we'll talk a little bit about an upcoming procession, right, as part of the centenary, as uh we uh are happy for this opportunity. So maybe we'll begin our time in prayer. And we place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Giving thanks to God for the gifts and blessings of each day, and in a special way, here at this holy place of the Carmel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we ask the intercession and help of Mary, our blessed mother, our Lady of Mount Carmel, as together we pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

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Pray for us.

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Saint Teresa of Avala, Saint Therese of Lesieux, pray for us, St. John of the Cross, pray for us. All holy men and women.

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Pray for us.

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Amen.

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And Saint Peter Claver, today's the face of St. Peter Claver. And I was blessed to be here as Sister and some others. Uh, yesterday was a big day here, not only because we with the church celebrated the Nativity of Mary, our Blessed Mother, but we uh had a mess for the solemn profession of uh Sister Faustina Gloria. Faustina Gloria of the Sa of the Merciful Heart of Jesus. Um, how many now would be fully professed of the 16?

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Um together with the nine.

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Um we can talk a little bit about that process of um simple vows and entering, then simple vows, and then eventually uh solemn profession. But happy that Sister Teresa is here with us and as the delegate for religious sister. Um Sister Teresa is not a Carmelite sister, but a Cilesian sister of St.

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John Bosco.

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Right. Yes.

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But we do have a connection because St. John Bosco left to us a legacy as one of our patron saints, uh, Saint Teresa of Avila, a woman who knew how to combine contemplation with practicality and action. So we do have that connection in the church, that spirituality.

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And thank you, sister. And uh, how many years now as Chancellor and Delegate for Religious? A little woman with the. Right, right. So maybe just share a little bit about uh your work in the diocese and how that connects you with Mother and the sisters here at the Carmel.

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Okay. So one of my roles and responsibilities as delegate as you know is to kind of be your liaison and to help with the communications with all the different religious communities and with Bishop. And although Bishop is very open, accessible, and hands-on, um, you can't be everywhere at every place, every time. So in your stead, here I am to work with mother and the sisters and the different religious communities, especially those who can't leave their own property or grounds, then I can become like the USPS, you know, the US Postal Service.

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And uh thanks, sister, for all that you do in your work and uh and for representing me and helping with that communication and uh such as when um a carmel uh or religious house gets hit by a storm, right? Oh yes. Sisters had a challenging, was it around July 3rd or July 4th, right? July 4th, the night of July 4th. You were in candlelight for uh a week about or so, right? Yes, yes.

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Yes.

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Um so mother, maybe just tell us about um to begin um the life and vocation of a Carmelite sister, uh uh the Descalce Carmelites, right? Uh and um so please uh just tell us a little bit about um the some of the particularities of of your vocation of the sisters here at at at the Carmel.

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So I guess the particularities would be that uh Carmelites are uh meant to be hermits living in the community. So uh basically what it means that our life embraces uh silence and solitude uh on one hand, like a good portion of our life is uh dedicated to prayer in solitude and silence. Even our work, our manual labor is uh performed in solitude, so and we keep silence most of the day. And but then also there is the community aspect, which was uh basically added to our charism by Santorisa of Avila, like a very um she was a genius of psychology, as it is uh like said today, uh, because you know she thought that women need to be able to interact, communicate in order to uh like be healthy and have a healthy relationship with God. So um that's uh so we spent um roughly what eight, nine hours in prayer each day. We uh basically gather in the our what we call choir. It's basically our chapel on the inside of the enclosure, um about seven, eight times a day, uh including uh most of the days of the year rising at midnight to pray the uh divine office uh uh for for the church. And uh then we s uh have uh about one hour maybe a day spent in the community um uh in what we call a recreation when the sisters gather together to just relax. Relax.

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Um a life dedicated to prayer, praying for the church.

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It's so yeah, we are our it's like this is also something that came with San Teresa of Avila, uh our great reformer and one of the greatest of our saints. Uh she's a doctor of the church, in fact. Um came up with this idea of um organizing our life to be in service to the church in such a way that well later on Saint Teresse, my patron, she defined our life as being uh in uh love in the heart of the church. Uh basically, uh Teresa of Avila gave us an apostolate, and that apostolate is to pray most especially for our Holy Father, the bishops, and the priests, and anyone who is engaged in the work of evangelization. That's why you know the uh proximity of the evangelization center is so very appropriate.

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Um and uh and I think the evangelization center now is maybe in its 12th or 13th year as an evangelization center. There was a high school there, uh, but the Carmelites have been here longer than the diocese uh is in existence, right? Uh so um in um 1926, I guess. Uh um uh December.

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December 1926.

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A woman from the South, I believe, right?

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Uh she was from Baltimore.

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Baltimore, right?

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That would be Sister Hannah Britt. Baltimore, right?

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Because she's the archive archivist here, and also um Monsignor Kopke was telling me a little bit about the history recently.

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Mother Mary Magdalene of Jesus Crucified.

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Mother Mary Magdalene of Jesus Crucified. Um and uh as much as the world and the church and other things have changed, um, there's a lot about your life that would be similar to the life of St. Teresa of Lizou, and so even going back to Saint Teresa of Avala. Um, but um uh while some religious communities and and and priesthood is um here in the United States has seen some challenges in terms of those numbers of those entering, uh you've been blessed with a number of vocations here at Carmel, is that right?

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It's that's correct. Ever since uh 2005, we've seen nothing but e but increase.

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So much so that uh you've expanded halfway around the world to Malta, is that right?

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Recently we made an uh uh a for a foundation in Malta, in the island of Malta.

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Uh and uh uh recently just over the last few years, right?

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Is it um so the story started in um 2014 actually, uh when uh a priest we knew, deceased, now Father Pius uh Samud, a Carmelite priest from Malta, uh served us as our spiritual director and uh he had to stay with us for uh some time because of illness. And he shared like we see seeing that we increase in on such a uh high speed uh we s we started to think of expanding because uh there is a limit to the number of sisters in a Carmelite monastery. Saint Teresa uh preferred it to be 13. Now we have permission to have as many as 21 uh because St. Teresa wanted us to be like a family rather than you know large community. Since we don't really have apostolate, it's really very uh uh brilliant too on her part. So um yeah, so the Father uh uh Pious Samut suggested uh Malta, his native island, uh for a foundation. So we reached out to the archbishop there. Um it was Archbishop um Cremona at the time, um and um he welcomed us to the uh archdiocese and so initially three sisters, then five sisters began uh formally uh the foundation in 2015. 2015 in um September we received the decree from Rome with the permission to start the foundation. So we continued there as a foundation house for 10 years, and just last year um we received again decree from Rome uh uh allowing the archbishop to uh erect, canonically erect the monastery that is now independent.

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Wonderful, wonderful.

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So we have eight sisters. Eight sisters, wow.

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Wow, and uh while um uh most Carmelite sisters uh only leave maybe to go to the medical doctor, right? Or um, but sometimes uh some in leadership, like your council or yourself mother, um, have to leave for a specific specific mission, and that meant you've had to make a couple of missionary or pastoral uh journeys to uh to Malta, is that right?

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That's right, that's right, yes. That's quite nice.

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Um and um I know you've been in contact with Sister Teresa about uh a number of different uh um projects and uh and um the ministry that's uh the intentions that are uh often brought here and um and in a minute we're gonna uh meet uh someone who uh um being inside the Carmel, uh there's some contact with the outside world, and some people who live in the quote unquote outside world are uh enable that, right? We're gonna hear from Marcy, but maybe to say, uh sister, uh some of the plans uh for the uh hundredth anniversary that you've been working on with Mother Teresa and the sisters.

SPEAKER_05 14:55

Well, it started actually last December with the opening mass with Bishop here, and then there'll be a closing mass in December uh 2027, no, 2026 here. There'll be a closing mass. But in between, all throughout the year, um this monastery chapel has been open for prayer, and anybody who comes to pray here with the usual requirements can receive a plenary indulgence. So it's just continuing all the graces from the Jubilee Year of Hope that we just finished. Um we have gotten that permission from the Vatican. Also, a plenary indulgence could be obtained through the Eucharistic pilgrimage. Um, that's going the Eucharistic procession that's going to be happening in October that Bishop and Marcio will be uh talking about shortly. And anything else? Oh, they've actually opened up the cloister throughout the year for um sneak peeks and come and see and meet and greet with the sisters. So this is very, very, very special. And we thank you for uh the sacrifice and the mortification in a sense that all of this publicity entails. And I am very sure that this is how part of the vocations grow, not only your exposure to the public, but also because of the sacrifices that you're making, you know? Any of you who had any secret um desires or ambitions to be on TV before you enter, see? God hears, God hears the desires of our heart. So he gives these little um moments of consolation and says, I hear you, I see you, I know you, and I love you. So there you go.

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Um it's a blessing for me to be able to hear the sisters' vocation stories, uh uh, especially as they approach um uh solemn vows. And uh it was wonderful to hear from Sister Faustina as we celebrated Mass yesterday in preparation. She shared with me some of her long journey. Um, but her dad at one point gave her the copy of the St. Teresa's The Story of the Soul, right? And uh that uh work certainly has had an impact on uh promoting many vocations, right? Or or a lot stirring in uh a young woman's heart um the the call to the contemplative life, um which was described so beautifully by S.

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Definitely, definitely San Teresa brings a lot of vocations to Carmel still.

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Yes.

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Well, Bishop, you and I have also remarked in how many of these sisters' stories, um, world youth day experience. Yes. I gotta get that plug-in for our world youth day coming from the world.

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Some of us were together in Cologne and Sydney without realizing it.

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Australia, Poland, yes, it's amazing.

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Um well, we're gonna uh um take a pause and bring in Marcy to talk a little bit about uh the some of the details uh for the upcoming uh Eucharistic uh procession and mass that we'll be having on October 3rd as part of the 100th year celebration. So if you can stay in place for a moment, we're just gonna take a pause and Marcy will come in and join us. I'm here again with the sisters and Marcy Funk joins us. Um Marcy, maybe just tell us a little bit about how you first came to know the sisters here at Carmel and how long you've been involved with uh and helping the community here.

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Thank you, Bishop. It's really good to be here. Um I don't know how many years I've been involved with the community here, to be honest, but it started with um actually finally discovering that it was open to the public uh after driving by for a number of years and coming to be enrolled in the Brown Scapular. So attending the novena um and it was follow Father Philip Michael Trangora who was doing it that particular year, and my daughters came with me as well. They were still very little, very young. Um, and we were all three enrolled. Um and it just kind of grew from there. Um I was praying before a lady a pilgrimage statue of Our Lady of Fatima. I asked her to help me use my gifts to help serve the community. I stopped by here to drop off some food and somebody asked me if I knew how to write. And it's the rest of it's kind of history.

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Um the group uh um the um the name of uh the the helpers, right?

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There's it's another um uh so we're volunteers, we're just uh Carmelite volunteers. Um there's a group of us uh that do whatever the sisters need on the outside, whether it's photocopying, whether it's helping with taking somebody to medical appointments, answering phones, being here for pilgrims that are coming.

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And planning for events on the 100th anniversary, right?

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That was a little bit of a special one, but yes, now it's also planning for 100th anniversary.

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Uh you've been working hard with Sister Teresa and with Mother Therese and others, I'm sure, um, to plan um a Eucharistic procession uh from St. Paul's Inside the Walls uh to uh here at the monastery, followed by Mass. Can you tell us about the plans? Uh Saturday, October 3rd, right? First Saturday of um October.

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So it is the first Saturday of October, it's October 3rd, and the idea graciously came from you, Bishop, actually, um, in speaking with mother and suggesting a pilgrimage. Um so it is October 3rd at 10 o'clock. It leaves from St. Paul Inside the Walls. Uh October 3rd is also the traditional Carmelite feast day for St. Therese. So it's got a nice um tie-in with that as well. Um it will begin promptly at 10 uh at St. Paul Inside the Walls with another uh stopping point for people to join if they don't want to walk the entire two miles from there at St. Thomas More in Convent Station, and then also here. There's an option for people who want to join in with the pilgrimage but are not able to walk to start here at the monastery and to join the sisters in praying the rosary as they'll be joining us as we're processing here.

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Great. Um that's I didn't make the I should have uh October 1st is the feast of St. Therese on the church's calendar, but Mother, the uh community celebrates her on October 3rd as well, is that right?

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That's correct.

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Wonderful. And uh I love those first few days of October, the month of the Holy Rosary, right? The month of Our Lady, uh, and uh October 1st, St. Therese, October 2nd, the Guardian Angels, and then October 4th, uh St. Francis of Assisi. October 4th will be a uh a Saturday this year, but we're uh in um in solidarity and prayer with our Franciscan sisters and brothers who are Pope Leo gave us a Jubilee here for um St. Francis because it's the 800th anniversary of his passing. Uh and he actually died on October 3rd as the Franciscans called it the transitist and is feasting on October 4th when all the animals are blessed. You have a few animals here that we could be blessed, right? The sisters have a few dogs, right? Six dogs, right, right.

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Quite a few turtles and some chicken chicken.

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Turtles and chicken wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. So you got a little Franciscan heart with the God for the gift of his creation, right, right. Carmelite through and through, right? So um Mother Marcy mentioned uh the clothing with the brown scapula, right? Um uh not maybe everyone would be familiar with that. Uh that's something that sometimes uh people come here to the caramel and and do. Could you say a word about that mother?

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So um back in the 1200s was it St. Simon's talk had a vision of the Virgin of Carmel with coming to him with the scapular with a piece of cloth saying that whoever will wear the scapular and live piously according to the state of their life and and die wearing the scapular will not go to hell basically. And we believe like in Carmel this is our belief that every Saturday the Blessed Mother goes to the purgatory to redeem the souls from there. So we in fact dedicate Saturday to the Blessed Mother every Saturday is dedicated to her and it ends with a very special devotion to the Blessed Mother where we meet in the chapter room at her altar it's the oratory dedicated to our Lady of Mont Carmel. We sing Salve Regina then processing from there to the choir to sing Vespers of the first Vespers of Sunday we sing the uh litany to the Blessed Mother carrying candles because it's it's all about her going to the purgatory you know and taking the souls out of there.

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So yeah that's like a right right um we'll uh share some information so people can learn about that beautiful devotion obviously Marcia was an uh impactful for yourself and your family it was and and to this day my daughters still also wear their scapular we do so right um as we celebrate the hundredth anniversary we uh also understand that uh there's a somewhat famous well known about to be beatified uh uh archbishop uh who preached uh famously in in in New York City and on television um but was a visitor here um uh Archbishop Fulton Sheen had a relationship with the convent with the Carmel here is that right that's that's right uh we know that for sure that he celebrated he preached uh homily or the first homily preached in our chapel was by uh then Monsignor uh Fulton Sheen right yeah he was a Monsignor so um um we are planning to uh that that on that day the bishop will lead procession from St.

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Paul's inside the wall it will be October 3rd so that would be after uh uh Fulton Sheen is made blessed because yeah it's a verification right right uh he's made blessed on the 24th of September so we are planning to actually erect a small shrine in his honor and that shrine will be uh enclosed into the uh lectern like the place where the preach priest preaches you know that's wonderful wow wonderful he was the first preacher so he will be the kind of like a patron saint of that place and the any priest who comes to preach here.

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And we're gonna have Father Brendan coming in with us in a moment who uh is often here celebrating Mass with you and preaching and uh so uh he can share a little bit with us uh as well and Marcy uh how many um helpers would there be that uh you work with and work with the sisters and I'm really glad you brought that up because if I had to close with anything it this is a real group effort um and all of the volunteers are involved in this um oh there must be somewhere between 10 to 15 of us uh working on putting the pilgrimage together the procession together um so it always takes a village both inside and outside to to bring this together and and it's going to be very special as well um because there's other organizations that are coming together with us uh including the Knights of Columbus uh who will have a color guard uh to lead us in and again the connection to Malta um both leaving St. Paul inside the walls of Malta but also the Dames and Knights of Malta will be processing with us as well as well as members of the Third Order and uh other organizations and of course the public the faithful um for the monastery here.

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And we have a flyer that we'll include in the show notes I think it's on our Dawson website and uh it is um we hope that many will come and it'll uh be a uh an opportunity for uh people to come here and pray with you sisters and at the Carmel and and and at Mass and and learn a little bit more about your life and ministry here and uh and um uh an opportunity also for uh people to bring intentions I'm sure you get uh I know you get intentions on a regular basis from people asking for prayers for themselves or their families right and that's an important part of your ministry and and apostolate right it is it is every day we find many intentions in our little slot in the um entrance room but also uh many people bring their intentions through the internet so we have one one of the volunteers um checking the intentions every day and bringing she brings them to us as and they can find you on the web at your well we'll put the website on the website through from the website yes they can and they can send it directly to one of the emails that is served by one of the volunteers. Great great um well Marcy thanks very much for for being with us and for all that you're doing the work with and help the sisters and uh we're looking forward to the procession and and and mass on and Rosary um uh on October 3rd thank you bishop thank you very much well hang on we're gonna have when we come back uh Father Brendan Murray who uh will be able to share a lot about uh celebrating mass and and uh being with the sisters here um uh uh as as as one of the priests who serves um uh and ministers here so we're gonna have Father Brendan Murray coming in after Marcy thank you Marcy thank you we're back for our third segment here with the sisters and you might notice the veils have changed in the background so we went from Mother's Council to some of the younger sisters and the most recently uh professed Sister Faustina right yesterday uh Sister Faustina made Sister Faustina Gloria of the merciful heart of Jesus um originally from Ghana um and uh the spirit and our Lord directed you here at Carmel right and uh we had a beautiful celebration yesterday and your mom and family were here and uh we'll be praying for you please pray for us especially as you now have become fully professed and um and made those solemn final vows uh um and we'll introduce the other sisters who are with us be Mother the white male male means that they're still in the formation process moving and discernment moving towards solemn vows. So behind mother we have Sister Abigail Abigail and then Sister Talita Sister Talita Sister Zapora Sister Zaporah Sister Rahel Sister Rahel Sister Naomi Sister Miriam Sister Miriam thank you for being with us and uh and we have the sisters know Father Brendan right Father Brendan uh welcome uh maybe you could introduce yourself where'd you grow up you were ordained for for our diocese in 1968 right uh maybe tell us a little bit about yourself well I was I was born in Morristown in this town and uh my mother and father lived on Lake Road in Morristown part of St.

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Margaret's parish and family legend has it that I had entered the enclosure here as a baby and that they put me on the turn and turned me around. I don't know if that's true but that was the family legend. But then uh and I I didn't have you made your first pilgrimage here to Carmel. My first pilgrimage here in my first year of life. And um then I I was connecting with Carmel more by letter. I did not necessarily end so I'd been here they came and visited sometimes but uh not terribly regularly after I was a priest I was busy in the parishes and um but I wrote I would always ask for their prayers because I I count on their prayers. I I expect I know that my life is different because they pray for me. So I write them a letter telling them a weekly letter is that right mother?

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You said that's a highlight of Father Brendan's letter?

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With a joke at the end.

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With a joke at the end right lately about German shepherds. And about German sisters and uh we mentioned the puppies uh early earlier segment segment but you raise is it white German sisters and Father Brendan often includes them in the joke at the end of the letter and he writes not now uh in recent years on not only here but uh you write to Malta as well.

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I do yes well that happened because one time uh mother and one of one of the sisters was coming back and um they were they were outside and the other sister was keeping enclosure so she saw me but she didn't say anything but mother saw me said oh this is father Brendan this is the one who says jokes to us all the time and then I said one I I said one at the time I it was because then Malta was on the phone and on and so we're talking back and forth and I I said okay well I'll I'll write to you too they said but he never writes to us so I said I'll and I said something about um what's good about Switzerland and I said well really I don't know either but their flag is a big plus and the sister who was there doubled over laughing which which said to me what it saw it reminded me of something I think it was Sister Iath Stein Sister uh Teresa of the uh of the cross blessed by the cross Benedict of the cross um that she never laughed so hard when she before she came to the recreation moment the hour of karma right she never laughed so hard as that because and I find that so true I find their their prayers are a great help to me. I am I love them and I'm grateful for them. I s um you know but it's it's that's that's been a very great help and I started writing asking for prayers I don't know how long ago but a long time ago and um and then when I retired they said aha so I ended up after Father Pius who was living here at the time for medical reasons in the guest house um when he left then I ended up coming twice a week.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

What year did you retire again?

SPEAKER_02 34:43

I retired well let's see it's seven seven years ago eighteen and nineteen yeah seven years ago whatever that is I can't think you can't remember 2019 right is that what it is 2019?

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Okay um uh oh could it be connected with you of course because it's the same time Bishop retired right that's right yes um and you were your last assignment of many assignments um uh in your priesthood was pastor of um uh Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary Heart and Holy Rosary in Dover yeah uh and then you moved to the current where you currently live in our uh retirement home for priests uh in Nazareth village in Chester I do not down around not around the corner from here and tell me again what time is master usually during the week uh what time is 6 30 a.m 6 30 a.m how many times a week do you come from twice a week I hear twice a week yes an emergency and never late and oh yes an emergency i've gotten I've gotten calls at 6 30 oh the priestess well it's like Mary saying Jesus they have no wine I get a call from mother and they have we have no priest so then I end up coming again you know coming quickly if I can um and uh you've been doing that faithful name now all these seven years and uh uh uh there are times when uh I'm happy to come and celebrate uh a mass even during the week and uh mother is kind enough to say okay we can have Mass at 8 o'clock instead of uh and Father Brendan is is often here but um uh you mentioned Father Brendan um sister uh Saint uh Teresa Benedict of the Cro of the Cross uh Edith Stein a great philosopher in her time and um uh uh raised in a Jewish family um and converted uh and entered the Carmel and then um was uh killed in a concentration camp during the Second World War in in Germany. Um uh you we never know what the Lord might ask of us. Um there the also um the famous or well known on some circles uh uh the dialogue of the Carmelites right the there were martyrs in the in the French Revolution that went to the guillotine and offered their lives in sacrifice um well we never know what God has in store hopefully with things will remain calm here in Marstown but uh um but uh uh Father Brendan um what is it what's the experience like celebrating mass here for the sisters um I'm happy to do it again as often as I can but but you're here twice a week uh as you said you rely on their prayers for your own priesthood and ministry as and you have over all these years um but uh what's the experience like uh celebrating mass here on on a regular basis?

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Well there's two things one is I think even when I came here before I was here for mass long you know all those times I walking in this church is one of the one of the places where I feel holy I feel God's presence as soon as I walk in the chapel um and it's just the the prayer of the sisters is like there's maybe one other place in the diocese that I can immediately feel that experience that uh but uh this is the one I most experience it and so when they're celebrating mass I experience it even all the more and um you know uh sometimes um sometimes I'm celebrating mass and the choir is very beautiful they sing and then and it's even happened on occasion that have had two choirs the sisters and in the background the puppies the puppies when one of the dogs is in heat the male dogs are we uh we we just celebrated the feast of St.

SPEAKER_06 38:26

Gregory the Great and Gregorian chant uh uh Mother the the singing um is very much a part of your uh prayer I guess for the liturgy the hours uh throughout the course of the day but also at Mass maybe to say a word about um uh that experience of raising your voices in in song and prayer together as a community we studied once upon the time about singing one of course it's the famous uh saying by Saint Augustine that the singing is praying twice twice yes well he or she sings praise twice yes so so but also uh we learned that you know the singing the divine office is the battle cry of the militant church so we wanted that battle cry to be uh loud and beautiful for the Lord so we we took the most uh um and you work at it you right there's uh I'm sure there's a practice right and many of the sisters play instruments every yes uh uh uh every single sister has an instrument and plays the instrument so we have a little orchestra too uh and it's yeah it's a it's a miracle that you know they learned because many of the sisters came to the monastery not knowing even music so they learn it in the novitiat how to read music but then also instruments you know sometimes people spend uh years to learn how to play an instrument and they have no teacher none of them you know they just get the instrument and maybe a little CD you know to watch to how to hold it right right and then there's the music and that's how you play. So they yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

And it um uh in recreation it comes is an opportunity for to sing as well right even some non-liturgical songs that the sisters have shared with me uh some these days right uh so uh Hakuna Matada was a very good version of I remember yes yes yes um so um uh maybe as we come towards a conclusion um I know Father Brendan over the years uh you've worked with uh young people discerning their vocation uh um uh maybe men to the priesthood or other um uh religious communities um uh maybe uh you've had the opportunity to um work with a young woman uh um considering God's call and possibly even to the caramel and uh maybe mother after Brendan shares some of his experience as a spiritual director and uh just as a parish priest working with those can open and considering God's call. But then Mother maybe you could say as well um if there's a a young woman out there um who maybe thinks they have a call to the contemplative life or or or a vocation to uh the life in Carmel um uh what what advice you might offer and and maybe also how they could make contact but maybe you can think we'll hear we'll hear from Father Brendan first in terms of uh well the the discerning and hearing and responding to God's call.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

Yeah mostly mostly I think it's been in preaching like even this morning the reading about uh living single for the Lord that St. Paul talked about and I mentioned to people how how it's an exciting life. You should always offer it to young people. You know you should suggest it to them. I don't mean taking an engaged person and forcing them that's the Lord does that. But I do mean z saying it a lot to young people and encouraging them to Pop Leo likes to speak about an adventure right if you're following the Lord I agree with that it's full wholeheartedly it's a big adventure all kind of adventuresome things happen to me. In fact when but when blessed when he is blessed Fulton sheen in a couple of weeks um just the advent I served mass for him once in in the North American college in Rome. He came and I served mass for him so I can when he is beatified I'll be able to say to the people as I did for John Paul II at the end of Mass I can say I have present for you here today after mass now that he's canonized or beatified in this case a third class relic of Archbishop Sheen that you can kiss at the end of Mass. Me. But um but I find here uh you know that that it is an adventure and and you never know you never know it's gonna happen. I mean I don't know how many times you've done this bishop but I I was part here of a solemn procession once that went out inside the inside the enclosure a solemn procession to bless a chicken coop. So I never know and and then there's other things that other people come to me with problems and and you know I I can bring them here um and and have them pray for those people and uh you know the adventure of serving people and loving people it's it's just in and and when in here it's it's supported by this this ministry inside here where they are they know what I'm they they have up they things you know my for my famous letters they know what to pray for and uh and for me anyway and so they they are I know they do that and so I'm I'm just grateful for it. And I it's an adventure. It's a big adventure. So if anyone has has here's a vocation uh here's the Lord calling them and oh maybe this is many young women maybe this is for you well then do think about it. Think about it and um and and then make contact. You know do something take steps. Doesn't mean you you you don't the step is it takes a long time to discern of course but if you don't take the first step then there's not no other steps will come.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Right, right right don't be afraid as St. Pope John Paul II would say right uh I'm remembering now that I was here on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel uh just a couple of months ago on July 16th and uh was happy to celebrate mass and as Father Brendan reminded me bless uh uh some of the uh parts of the uh grounds here and including uh A uh cement place where a new generator was gonna go, right? In case the And it is in place, is it in place?

SPEAKER_06 44:46

And it's working.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Thanks to the Columbus and some other uh friends and benefactors, right? Right, right. Oh, Christ the King in New Vernon, right? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_06 44:55

And uh Assumption.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

And Assumption Parish. Wonderful, wonderful. Uh and yes, it's wonderful uh the relationships between some of our parish communities and the monastery here, right? And some very faithful and generous people who are benefactors and donors. So we're grateful for them, and we hope many of them are going to be part of the procession on October 3rd as well. Uh so mother, maybe just as we come towards a conclusion, uh uh if there's a young woman out there or a family out there whose daughter might be uh considering or sister or um someone they know, um, what what what advice would you offer to uh a young woman um who's thinking, feeling maybe that the Lord is calling her to uh not only consider a uh the a vocation to consecrate a life but possibly a vocation to the contemplative life in the Carmel.

SPEAKER_06 45:46

So the you yourself mentioned that John Paul II to be not afraid. No, do not be afraid to open the door for Christ.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_06 45:57

Because uh just to that's one of the things I always tell uh young women who come here to discern discerning vocation is not the same as discerning a career, like professional career. Because when we discern professional career, we need to consider our strengths and our weaknesses, you know what I'm good at, whether you know I can be a dentist, whatever. But um concerning vocation is basically just listening inside your heart if the Lord is calling you. Nothing needs to be like here in Carmel, we actually uh literally tell the young women to bring nothing with them when they enter, just come their own little selves. Uh but um it's true, truly so, like even spiritually, we could we don't need to bring anything with us, no you know, special talents, no uh abilities, not even virtues, because if he calls, he will give everything we need. So be not afraid. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

And it's a response to a call, right? The Lord calls and we try to be open to that, to his not not what we want, but if it be God's will, right? And but so uh so often the spirit works through those mysterious experiences. Again, the uh experience uh again as I shared with uh uh Sister Faustina, uh um, yes, Sister Faustina, um uh hearing about your dad giving you uh the story of a soul uh was uh um uh uh inspiring to hear how the Lord was working in your life at that time and that long journey that you took that that brought you here. Um uh and eat for each of the sisters um there's a uniqueness, yes, things in common, um, but but a uniqueness that somehow the Lord called and and and uh uh with God's help and the help of others, we try to have that generosity to respond, trusting, as uh St. John Paul reminded us so well, to not be afraid and uh and to open our hearts and wide to the to Jesus. And um, and so um if there were someone interested, I'm sure they can contact you easily enough uh online, right? And we'll put uh uh information available.

SPEAKER_06 48:14

Um there is some information on the website, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

They can start there, right? Yes, start there. Just write them in the website. They come for a visit, come for a visit, right? Right?

SPEAKER_06 48:24

Yes, usually they call and they find directions as to how to proceed. Usually visit is the initial um step.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

Right, right. And you've had, I guess, um um young women come from all different parts, right? To uh make contact and then visit.

SPEAKER_06 48:42

Yes, we have women from all over the world here.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Right, right, wonderful. United Nations.

SPEAKER_06 48:48

United Nations, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Um well, thank you, mother, and thank you, sisters, thank you, Father Brendan, and uh please uh pray for us and uh and uh uh we look forward to being together on October 3rd uh and um uh wish you a happy feast day on October 1st for St. Therese, and uh we'll be together to celebrate on October 3rd. Uh and Marcy will give us more information as this Teresa, and we'll be in great shape. Um, Father Brennan, thank you very much for being with us. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

And and please just don't forget the white veils will be very jealous of the black vales if you don't give them a blessing.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

Well, we're happy to give a blessing. So we thank everybody for watching and listening, and uh stay tuned for the next episode of Beyond the Beacon. Thank you, sisters, and God bless you.

SPEAKER_06 49:39

Thank you.