When Teresa began her reform, she did not see a vision, she did not have a dream, but she had a desire to live the primitive rule. She looked back, not to live it as the monks on Mt. Carmel , but to live it in her time, in her circumstances, in her culture. When Francis of Assisi lay in his prison cell and met the living Christ. He did not see a vision of a new order of mendicants. What he did was look back to the one who captured his heart and decided to live the Gospel, not as the apostles lived it, but to live it in his time, in his culture, in the way one could live it meaningfully in the 12 th century. Looking back, the visions of Teresa and Francis became a new entity, a new living edifice that transformed the church and the world. They were cornerstones of a new spirituality that answered the needs of their times.
Carmel , like the Church is a living edifice, made of living stones. In every generation there are those living stones who become the cornerstone, the bedrock on which this living edifice continues to be built. We have known them. We have lived with them. They are the ongoing revelation of Carmelite spirituality envisioned by Our Holy Mother, Teresa.
Let us take a minute to remember these living stones who have influenced us, who became the cornerstones of Carmel in the 20 th century.
Mother Celine and Mother Mary Magdalene served the Baltimore community as Prioress and Novice Director for over twenty-five years but their lasting influence was as much from their own persons as from their positions in the community. Together they saw the building of the monastery in Dulaney Valley and the move from Biddle Street in 1961. They were deeply rooted in Carmelite spirituality, and both possessed breadth of vision, eminent common sense, and a good sense of humor. Change did not threaten them.
In Roxbury, Mary Elizabeth Stanton used this quote of St. Therese to be the guiding principle of her life: “My way of confidence and trust in God is sure and I was not mistaken in following it.” It is the text she chose for her funeral program shortly before her death. Her life was cloistered, but also apostolic as witnessed in her outreach to the neighborhood surrounding the monastery. In the homily preached at her funeral, Bishop Riley depicted Mary Elizabeth as a woman of utmost fidelity to the Carmelite ideal and way of life. Built upon a solid foundation of natural virtue and talent, she possessed a brilliant mind, a keen intelligence, a capacity for articulate expression, wise in counsel, patient and uncomplaining amid trials, ever eager to be of help to others, but always and foremost living in the belief that the world and everyone in it were in God's hands.
Mother Aloysius of Our Lady of Good Counsel co-founder of the Bettendorf / Eldridgecommunity served it in many and various offices—many times as prioress. When the young Indianapolis Carmel needed help, she came to its aid—teaching them how to pray the Divine Office, and how to follow other Carmelite traditions. One of her counsels to her Bettendorf community toward the end of her life was: “Thinking what would be my parting advice to you, this came before me. The great danger is when the first fervor has passed away, we fall into a routine in our daily exercises, join the rank of mediocre Sisters. Strive with all the fervor of your soul to make daily progress.”
Sister Elizabeth of the Mother of God from the Bronx Carmel suffered a childhood hearing loss which necessitated a hearing aid and the frustrations of its limitations. This hindered her ability to follow conversations in the group and produced painful feelings of loneliness and isolation that had to be accepted. In spite of this, she brought a cheerful presence to the community instead of her personal pain. Several months before her death she shared at the homily: “The mystery of God lives in you—there comes a time when you realize that!” After her death people remarked, “I knew she loved me.”
In her very articulate way, Mary Roman from Barre wrote: “As air envelops and penetrates me and every living thing, so God—the fact of God, the existence of God in awesome divinity and in the most gracious humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, has embraced and encompassed and penetrated and flooded my life. It remains for me to learn every day more what it means to surrender to this fact. There can be nothing now that is not filtered through faith, nothing that can destroy hope, nothing that cannot be received with ever-increasing, ever deepening gratitude and love.”
And again: “Like the monks of an old legend we struggle up the slopes of Mount Carmel, each of us carrying our bag of sand (the burden of our individual lives), supported, strengthened and inspired by the company and example of our companions, but also spiritually solitary as we experience the dangers and pitfalls as well as the consolations and rewards of this life of prayer.”
Mother Marie of the Eucharist, Sr. Catherine Marie Stapleton, of the former Saranac Lake (now Carmel Communion) seemed to have had within her “an awareness of shared weakness” and an inner strength which understood the pain of others and sought to relieve that pain. A recognition of the inner-connectedness of all of us that enabled her to be weak with those who were weak and strong with those who were strong, to be rich with those who were rich and poor with those who were poor—to share and celebrate the other. Having been prioress for many years, she had the gift of “letting go,” a woman who loved life and growth and progress, one who would sacrifice herself for others—giving her all to her sisters and to her God.
One of the most dearly held beliefs of Sr. Miriam Elder from my Indianapolis community is expressed in these words of hers: “We know from our own experience of pain, that it can free us for creative transformation, or it can embitter us to the point of rebellion by its lack of meaning. It can be destructive or creative…. One of the marks of a mature person is seeking value in the face of suffering. Never to seek the suffering, but its meaning when suffering seeks us…. Betrayal can break a person, but Jesus accepted being broken and told us plainly: “This body which is broken is give for you.”
Sister Anne of the Heart of Jesus from the Cleveland Carmel was a woman so capable in life and inspirational during her final illness. Gratefulness was the interior landscape of her being and the heart of her prayer. She looked for the goodness in others and found it even in difficult situations. Sister Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart, who entered shortly after the founding of the Cleveland Carmel, graced it for 72 years of life. Like others, she knew the passion of living through the struggle of renewal, but also the resurrection of accepting diversity with a grateful heart.
From Barrington , Mother Mary Cyril (Margaret of the Virgin Mary)'s life was spent directing others either as Novice Mistress or as Prioress. Hers were two great gifts: (1) to say, “I'm so sorry. I made a mistake” and (2) to say “I love you.” She was totally honest. Imbued with self-knowledge, she worked at her shortcomings and regretted them always, trying to make up for her failures. She was patient with those who were slow, waited when necessary, but when she felt the time had come, she moved relentlessly forward, saying, “We are daughters of the Church. The Church has spoken.” Her dream was for the nuns to govern themselves. The dream of her heart was that the sisters be “one in diversity.” Toward the end of her life she showed symptoms of Alzheimer's yet there was a level of being, a union of outgoing love that far surpassed her handicaps and limitations.
In one of the gems from her book Fragrance from Alabaster , Mother Aloysius Rogers from Concord wrote: “It is with the moral infirmities we may see in one another—our defects of character or temperament, our faults, our failings—that I think we should try to be watchful to exercise charity in thought, word, and deed. It is so easy and so natural to criticize; yet we cannot do so even interiorly without detriment to our soul. Such thoughts consented to, certainly retard our progress in the perfection of charity, if they do not offend God.”
And one of my favorite quotes of hers: “The little world of each of us with its persons and places, its sunshine and shadows, its joys and pain, is the one and only Holy of Holies, in which is tabernacled the Divine Will, the chosen temple in which alone God accepts our worship.” This world, the “Holy of Holies”—a good reason to Pray the News!
Mother Marguerite Marie from the Elysburg Carmel was not one who lived in the past, nor was she dedicated to preserving the “old”. She reached out or held on to only what she considered real and good—that which fostered the contemplative life. She lived for the future. She had in mind those young people who would be entering here when the Carmel of Elysburg was settled. She reminded us often that as pioneers we had to give more—to take chances so that those who would follow could find all things conducive to a real prayer life.
Mary Adele also from Elysburg, after the merger with Wheeling said: “as I look back on my religious life there are two outstanding desires or dreams that took precedence and drew me to rise above every other ambition. The first was a yearning for complete union with Christ, the Son of God; and the second was a desire to reach out in faith through Christ to touch others and draw them into the light and warmth of the Father's love for all the creatures He had made. These seemingly impossible dreams have sustained me throughout the many years of my religious commitment….
Though the end is not yet, I strain forward, shielding the eyes of my soul as I search each day to be ready for His coming. He will probably come as a thief in the night, who whenever His glorious arrival is at hand I trust I will have my arms outstretched and each string on the harp of my heart perfectly tuned, so that my whole being will be able to proclaim His faithfulness and love and together we will celebrate our nuptials before the Father throughout all eternity.”
Sr. Angela of the Eucharist (Jean Macy), a founding member and first prioress of the Reno Carmel knew the gift of surrender. Shortly after her profession, she was asked to leave the Indianapolis Carmel, by an anxious and disturbed prioress 4 days after her profession, only to be invited to return after a new prioress was in place. Angela served the community in many roles and was open to the voice of the bishop requesting nuns to serve the diocese in Reno , serving as its first prioress.
In a letter from Ann Clem of Reno to our Sr. Miriam, Ann wrote: “It seems to me as we “rest” in ancient years, how little it matters now what we were able to do in the past. Now it is all just Being for God. If one doesn't remember this or that, people's names, happenings, it doesn't matter! All is concentrated on God and all that we want is his way. That his house, his church, may be filled with his love. Everything boils down to that. Love, love that lasts forever. We'll meet before too long. I am really curious!”
The homilist at the funeral of Angela Collins in Savannah said: “Angela was full of joy because her life was full of Christ. She was forgiving with a good sense of humor, and she was in tune with the world.”
Tiny in stature, Sr. Mary of the Incarnation from Latrobe possessed a delightful sense of humor and was well-informed in current events. Her life was spent helping others particularly through her gift of nursing, which she continued to practice after she entered Carmel at the age of 51. She had a great love for the Church, especially in her prayers for priests. She inspired her sisters by her uncomplaining acceptance of total blindness and diminished hearing.
In a reflection on Mother Celine given at her funeral, Connie Fitzgerald said something that not only applies to Mother Celine, but could be applied to each of these women mentioned today. She said: “If we live a contemporary form of contemplative life today that values both fidelity to the tradition and creativity in living, if we have developed a collaborative form of governance, decision making and community life, if we interpret with imagination our Carmelite tradition and share it with others in numerous ways, if we now offer and transmit our life to gifted new members, it is because these two women were so free, so unthreatened, so able to walk into the future. They supported with trust the questioning, study, experimentation, changes in enclosure, desires for collaboration, concrete efforts toward renewal and theological education that followed Vatican II.”
These are the ones who in Sirach's words did not appear before God empty-handed. Their lives were a pleasing fragrance before the Most High and their memory will not be forgotten. They left home and loved ones for the sake of the gospel and have received the hundredfold—eternal life. But the story is not ended, it is always yet beginning. Their legacy to us is our legacy to give. As the edifice of Carmel continues to be built in the twenty-first century, it is us gathered here, living stones that are the cornerstones, laying a new foundation for what is yet to be.
Sr. Terese Boersig, O.C.D.
