A Foundress in our Midst!

Last summer, Sister Marla Marie Lucas, a Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate moved into a guest room just off our retreat passage. She's been a friend (and frequent retreatant) of our monastery for close to 30 years. (She started coming when she was five!) During her time with us the Holy Spirit was very much at work. Yesterday, 1st June, Sister Marla Marie became the foundress of the first Maronite Rite Catholic Congregation for women, founded in the United States. She came to supper in her new habit (see above) which has the Maronite Cross embriodered on the scapular (thanks to the creativity of our own Sister Leonie Therese).

You can read all about this budding congregation here and you can visit Sister's blog here. But you can read all about Sister Marla right here ... because we've been living with her.

Sister Marla Marie is a very prayerful religious and a very "fun nun." She is always quick with a smile or a joke and when she joined our community for a meal, she fit in so well, we hardly thought of her as a guest. Despite the formidable challenge of founding a religious community in today's culture, Sister Marla never loses sight of Him for whom she works: the light in the St. Joseph Retreat Chapel is often on late at night and early in the morning. Sister is faithful to prayer and faithful to her daily Holy Hour. On top of everything else, Sister makes a mean apple cobbler.

It has been a blessing for our community to have Sister Marla Marie as a friend for these many years and it has been a privilege to support her in this exciting new mission.