local newspaper once described our monastery as a refuge, an oasis. We had to laugh. Yes, it is true that God has blessed us with plenty of land in beautiful northern Michigan and abundant wildlife for our delight. Yes, our chapel attracts the laity from miles around as a sanctuary for silent prayer and reverent liturgy in English and Latin.

But we know better. Carmel is a desert. God is the oasis.

nd as the heroic nuns who founded our family of Carmels nearly a hundred years ago taught us, when they fled religious persecution in Mexico, we must be willing to sacrifice everything for Him. Cloistered religious life can never be an escape from “the real world”. Before entering Carmel, a young woman must embrace ordinary life with its daily trials and difficulties as well as its joys. Only then will she be able to find God in the demands of community living, and in the responsibilities of monastic work, whether she is creating art, or packaging altar breads—our means of support—or doing the dishes or even patiently cleaning up after another sister. For a Carmelite, every human experience should become an experience of God. All is done for Him and in His presence.

e have plenty of real life to offer new members. Today, after the deaths of nearly all of our older sisters, we are reduced once again to a small community, as in the early days of our foundation. If you find within yourself a pioneering spirit that longs to embrace the challenges of life in a new community, but you would appreciate the stability of an established monastery, God may be calling you to Carmel in Traverse City.