Carmel of Maria Regina

Praised be Jesus Christ!  We thought we'd take a quick moment to say hello. We hope you had a lovely solemnity of Christ the King last Sunday. This is a special Solemnity for us, as our Chapel is dedicated to Christ the King. It was extra special this year, since it happened to fall on the same day as Mary's Presentation in the Temple. Mary's Presentation (November 21st) is the world day of prayer for consecrated life, and a day in which the novitiate (the new sisters in the community) give themselves to the community in a special way. It's an event we all look forward to. This year, we celebrated both the Solemnity of Christ the King and the Presentation of our Lady at once. So how does the novitiate give themselves? Every year, beginning on the eve of Mary's Presentation (November 20th), the novitiate presents an original one-act play for all the sisters. The play is written, designed, directed, and acted out by the members of the novitiate. The theme is always on...

Blessed be God in all His loving and glorious designs!  We pray this post finds you well. Here in Carmel, we are enjoying the fall colors, and especially the rain! The woods are gorgeous right now, and we have been spending as much time outdoors as we can, admiring the fall leaves. We've also been busy putting our gardens to sleep for the winter (though, with the peacocks around, there isn't much "garden" left). We've had a lot to celebrate recently. First of all, the months of October, November, and December are laden with feasts for Carmelite Saints, the most well known being: St. Therese on October 1st, our Holy Mother, St. Teresa of Avila, on October 15th, followed by Elizabeth of the Trinity on November 8th, and then our Holy Father, St. John of the Cross, on December 14th. Sister Veronica--our last surviving founding sister On October 23rd, Sister Veronica celebrated her 93rd birthday! Decorations adorned the walls and overflowed into the hallway in the Infi...

 Praised be Jesus Christ!  We're pleased to introduce you to two of the newest members of our community...  Samson Delilah Yes, we now have 2 peacocks. Samson and Delilah. Samson came first. He entered our Carmel through the back gate one fine morning and made his home amongst the blueberries. He hollered his head off until finally, a few days later, Delilah made her way to the vegetable garden. They've been happily living in our enclosure ever since.  Delilah is a real lady, who loves the rose garden. She has been seen lying in the midst of the flowers, bathing herself, or grazing in the weeds hoping to eat the seeds that the chipmunks so imprudently planted. Occasionally they wander to the backyard to join us for recreation and eat Sister John Marie's flowers. Sometimes we find them perched on the infirmary porch, visiting with Sister Veronica. Yes, even peacocks know how to perform works of mercy! The first time Samson went for a visit, he squawked so loud that Si...

Dear Friends of Carmel, Praised be Jesus Christ, and may He always be blessed in all His glorious designs! We thought we'd write a quick update to let everyone know of some wonderful new changes to our Carmel over the last month (including this new blog).  We've been extremely blessed to receive Sister Teresa Francis, OCD, as a new member of our community. She originally came from the Carmel in Chichester, England. We couldn't be more pleased to have her with us. As soon as she entered our enclosure door, there was a huge lift in the community--something that is difficult to explain, except to merely say, "It's God's goodness." She's full of humor and good spirits, and we just love being in her company. On June 8th, Sister Teresa Francis celebrated her 65th year in Carmel! Praised be God! On May 1st, only a few days after Sister Teresa Francis arrived at our Carmel, Sister Marie Elise, OCD, celebrated her first profession of vows. Fr. Raymond Bueno, OC...