A Better Idea!
It is said that God has three answers to prayer: “Yes.” “Not yet.” and “I have a better idea.” He certainly had a better idea in making our monastery known as we prepare to celebrate our 75th Anniversary of Foundation!
We had several reasons to undertake this campaign to make our foundation known. The first, of course, is that we depend on you for support since we receive nothing from any official organizations, either in the Church or the government. We depend on your generosity to continue our life of prayer.
The second reason also concerns our future: no one is likely to enter a community that no one knows exists. God can certainly direct applicants to an unknown monastery, but He is far more likely to encourage those to whom He gives a contemplative vocation to investigate a community that comes to their attention. We believe that He continues to call to contemplative life those who He knows are capable of accepting its challenges. For this reason, we want to make ourselves known as we are: a small contemplative community seeking to live the Carmelite charism in fidelity to the Church and her Magisterium and to our traditions. We do this through our outreach in personal contacts, through correspondence and an active online presence.
Our third reason for reaching out is the reason for which we exist: we are called to pray for the world, the Church and all those in need in any way, and we want to do what we can to make known to those who struggle that we are with you in prayer. You are not alone. You never face the challenges of life without our support and that of all the praying members of the Church. There is an ever-growing isolation rampant in our culture, and we, who live lives of silent prayer, can go into every threat of loneliness, every fear of helplessness, every despairing cry for help. We are here for you and we want to do what we can to help you know our presence at your side.
Those are our prayers, our reasons for reaching out to you in every way we can. We planned several endeavors to make ourselves known, and we began with Special Masses in our chapel. Our plans were to have one of these Masses each month, and suddenly in May, an emergency arose that forced us to cancel our various plans and focus on a sudden, new situation. This was the discovery of the mold in our novitiate.
Not all of our attempts to make ourselves known had to be cancelled. A very good friend of ours, the cousin of one of the Nuns, offered to give a presentation about our life and charism at various parishes. Many of you will remember Jennifer Halat who visited your church some weekend and told you about us. Many of you knew little about us, but you all reached out to us in gratitude and support. We owe Jennifer more than we can ever repay and she is forever in our prayers of thanksgiving!
Still, God had a better idea! The emergency of the mold in our novitiate was so overwhelming that we had to reach out asking for help. You responded with an overwhelming alacrity, not only to help us yourselves, but to spread the news about us. Those who did not know we existed, those who knew nothing of contemplative life, those who appreciate what we are here for, you all did more to spread the word about us than the best of our plans could ever have done!
One would not think that black mold throughout a building could ever be “a better idea”, but God did. When it came to spreading the word about our vocation and our community, He used what was at first a devastating discovery to enable us to learn new depths of love in our friends, to discover friends we did not know we had, and, for those who did not know we existed, to discover us as their friends and supporters.
To Him for His loving kindness that always enfolds both us and you, and to you for your continuous love and support, we express our most grateful and prayerfilled thanks!
The Flemington Carmelites