After Mass, Father Ralph ceded the presidential chair to Father Gregory, since our constitutions state, "It pertains to the Provincial to accept novices, with the consent of the community to which they were entrusted." [C 114] Gregory intoned Midday Prayer for the feast of St Bonventure, which is the eve of our greatest Carmelite celebration of the year, July 16th when we celebrate the solemnity of Our Lady of Mt Carmel. This timing allows Brother Javier to take his vows on this day next year provided he perseveres in his novitiate which lasts a year and a day.

After praying the psalms, our postulant Javier Gonzalez stepped forward and was asked by our Father Provincial, "Dear Brother, what do you ask of us?" (That’s Frs Joseph and Ralph seated on either side of Javier’s empty chair in choir.) Javier answered: "Drawn by God’s mercy, I have come to learn your way of life. I ask you to teach me to follow Christ crucified and his mother Mary, and to live in poverty, obedience and chastity. Teach me to persevere in prayer and penance, in the service of the church and of mankind. Teach me to be one with you in heart and mind. Help me to live out the gospel every day of my life. Teach me your Rule and help me to learn to love the brethren as Christ commanded, living in allegiance to Jesus Christ and serve Him faithfully." Father Provincial then said a prayer, revealing Javier’s new name in religion, "Javier of Santa Teresa de Jesus."

Javier was then handed his new habit which he held while Father Luis Joaquin assisted in blessing the habit: "Lord God, you clothed your Son with mortal flesh in the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary, our patroness. Pour out your abundant blessings on these garments, and grant that your servant, by wearing them here on earth, may prefigure the future resurrection and be found worthy to be clothed with the blessing of immortality."

The first garment is the tunic. Javier is shown here just after he received the tunic. Luis holds the scapular and white mantel, while Fr. Provincial prepares to give Brother his belt.

The next garment is the scapular, which symbolizes Mary’s special protection of the wearer. "Since we belong to a family specially dedicated to Our Lady, we wear the habit of her Order as a sign of our consecration." [C 79] (That is Brother Joseph Marie in the back who is studying for the priesthood in New Orleans.) Fr. Provincial prepares to give Javier next the capuche, commonly called "the hood." It’s named after the long pointed hood worn by Capuchins. Often we are Carmelites are mistaken for Franciscans because of the similarity of our habits. Our hood has no point though. When St Teresa designed our habit, she cut off all extra material to symbolize our poverty.

The final part of our habit is the white mantel which is worn on special feasts. It symbolizes the famous mantel of the prophet Elijah who served as inspiration for our Carmelite forefathers who took up residence in the caves of Mt Carmel in Israel where Elijah had lived centuries before we started our hermit life there in the 13th century A.D. Part of the problem in taking pictures of clothing ceremonies is that a lot of the time is spent with the candidate’s face buried under all these clothes. The temperature that afternoon rose to about 102. After the ceremony, we kidded Brother that he had entered Carmel to suffer.

Once Brother was fully clothed, he was embraced with a fraternal hug by each member of the community to which he had now entered. "Where charity and love abide, there God is ever found." The ceremony continued with a reading from sacred scripture and a short reflection by our Father Provincial. We ended by turning to Our Lady’s statute and singing the traditional latin chant, Salve Regina. Translation: "Hail holy queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope..."

Today began with Mass at 9:00 am. This is a rare thing in the monastery because Mass is usually at 6:30 am. Our Father Provincial did not arrive until about midnight last night after an eight hour drive from New Orleans to Little Rock. So we gave him a break. The last time you saw us at Mass was around Christmas time when we were having it down in our refectory. Well we are back in the upstairs chapel now. This room used to be the orchestra loft for the grand ballroom below when this place was a Masonic country club. On our side of choir are Luis Joaquin Castañeda. He's our vocational director. He drove Javier, our postulant, from Oklahoma City to Marylake the other day. Next to him is Br. Luis Gerardo Belmonte who was up at the crack of dawn making a big breakfast for us this morning which was served after Mass and the Divine Office. Luis Gerardo is a wonderful cook. In back by Our Lady's statue is Brother Bernard, our regular cook, gardener, and general handyman. Bernard welcomes a new cook with open arms, although Luis Gerardo will leave on his vacation soon, so we are enjoying his presence while we got him. Reading the gospel at the lecturn is our Father Provincial, Gregory Ross. After the gospel, our superior Fr. Ralph gave the sermon from the presidential chair behind the altar. Ralph delivered most of the sermon hidden behind the flowers from my place in choir. I had to time my photo op carefully to catch him leaning back in the chair.

Our community has now grown. Yesterday, Javier Gonzalez arrived with Fr. Luis Joaquin, our director of vocations. Luis will act as Javier's novice master until Fr. Raphael returns from vacation in Minnesota. Also arriving yesterday was Br. Luis Benedicto [photo left] who has just returned from his studies for the priesthood in Rome. Our Father Provincial is due to arrive tomorrow. We expect to clothe Javier in the Carmelite habit on Saturday, so I'll take pictures and post something for the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel. We appreciate all prayers for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.