On Saturday April 23, 2022, Sister Maureen Paul Angeline and Sister Luke Mary Angeline professed Perpetual Vows as Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. The Eucharistic celebration was held at Saint Teresa’s Motherhouse Chapel. The presiding celebrant was the Very Reverend Mario Esposito, O.Carm. Also present at the altar were Reverend James Hess, O.Carm. and the Carmelite Brothers of the Saint Elias Province.
In addition to live-stream coverage of the ceremony, Carmelite Sisters, family members, and special friends of Sister Maureen Paul and Sister Luke Mary attended the Mass. Among Sister Luke’s invited guests were Sisters of Saint John the Baptist, Little Sisters of the Poor, and Missionaries of Charity. The sight of these Religious Sisters, and the witness of the commitment of Sister Maureen Paul and Sister Luke Mary, gave a wonderful testament to the beauty of religious consecration and vocation!
Highlighted excerpts of Fr. Mario’s Homily:
“The first work of every Religious is the faithful living of their religious consecration, the seeking of perfect love, and any ministry comes after that and flows from that self-giving love offered to the Lord, in our case, within Mary’s Order. We can say, “I have come to consider everything as a loss and rubbish because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Everything else is a loss if I may gain Christ, and give myself to Him who has called me using the words of St. Paul we heard today, so that by sharing in His death, that is embracing the Christian life, I may attain the resurrection from the dead, that is, to possess Christ Jesus Himself.” This life-long aspiration to possess Christ, to be one with Him, to learn to recognize Him all around me in my sisters and brothers and in the elderly and infirm, to know the meaning of Matthew 25:25 that whatever I do for the least I do for Christ Himself, this is the vocation of a Religious, and it leads to new life.”