At 8:00 am on the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, July 16th, we gathered for the profession of our novice, Brother Daniel. From left to right, Brother’s grandparents John & Dot Lacourrege, his two brothers Nathan & Kurt, his sister Kelsey, Dad Ken & Ma Peggy, Pat Taylor in the back, Brs. Daniel & our newly clothed Alberto. Joseph Le, superior of our house in San Antonio was also there with his high powered camera behind Alberto but got cut off the frame of this photograph.

Our Fr. Provincial, Gregory Ross, was principal celebrant for the profession Mass. Our newly clothed, Br. Jorge read the story of the prophet Elijah praying on Mt Carmel from the first book of Kings. “Go up and look out to the sea,” the prophet instructed his servant. But there was nothing out there until the seventh time when a small cloud rose from the sea. “And with that the sky grew dark with cloud and storm, and rain fell in torrents.” [I Kng 18, 42-45]

Br. Alberto read the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the law, to redeem the subjects of the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.” [Gal 4, 4-7]

After the gospel and homily delivered by Our Fr. Provincial, Brother Daniel left his family and approached the celebrant to kneel and take his vows. “I, brother Daniel Marie of the Cross, desiring to live faithfully... a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ, with my brothers as witnesses into your hands, Brother Gregory of the Trinity, vow to almighty God … Chastity, poverty and obedience, according to the Rule and Constitutions of the Order of the Discalced Friars of … Mount Carmel. With my whole heart I give myself to this religious institute restored by Saint Teresa, to seek perfect charity in the service of our Mother the Church …through constant prayer and apostolic ministry, and to give eternal glory to the most holy Trinity.”

Daniel’s mother Peggy then came up to read the petitions for the Prayer of the Faithful. His grandparents had visited Marylake last summer when Daniel was clothed, but this was our first chance to meet Brother Daniel’s parents and siblings. They made a shrimp creole for us while they were here.

Our group picture includes from left to right: Our Father Provincial Fr. Gregory, Br. Jorge, Daniel, Alberto, Raphael, John Michael & Juan Guillermo. Daniel, after his vacation at home in Louisiana, will join Br. Juan Guillermo in our house of studies in New Orleans.

In the summer, our chapel’s Air Conditioner cannot handle the heat upstairs next to our attic which is like a sauna in the afternoons. We have converted Father Henry’s old cell in the professed section into our Vespers chapel. The clothing of our two new novices was scheduled for First vespers of Our Lady of Mt Carmel on July 15th. Since they requested to be clothed in the chapel, we sweated it out on that afternoon for the ceremony. These first pictures show us waiting for the programs to be printed. Br. Juan Guillermo and our live-in Martín Orosco were 15 minutes late with the programs due to some last minute changes that needed to be made. On the choir side from left to right: Br. Joseph Le, superior of our monastery in San Antonio; Marion Bui, John Magdalene, Brad Wagner & our novice, Daniel Lacourrege.

On the other side of the choir sit Jorge Morales and Fr. Sam Anthony from our house of studies in New Orleans. Finally the programs arrive. Martin distributes them to the choir side of our chapel.

After the entrance song, Juntos como Hermanos, Our Father Provincial asks the two postulants, Jorge and Brad, “Dear Brothers, what do you ask from us?” They respond, “We wish to try your way of life, and are willing to be tested ourselves, that we may follow Christ wholeheartedly, in this Order of Discalced Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.” The Provincial then says, “May the Lord grant you this help.”

Then comes the prayer where we find out what names the two new novices have taken: “Let us pray. Lord God, you give us the desire to hear your call. Listen favorably to the prayers of your servants Jorge Maria del Cordero de Dios and Alberto de la Madre Dolorosa as they ask to join our community. Grant that the life in common of the Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary may become a communion of love.”

After the ceremony we gathered on our back porch for some pictures. The two main photographers were Br. Joseph Le with his fancy camera, and Martin with everybody else’s camera.

So here’s our two new novices all decked out on their clothing day in five layers of wool, a reminder undoubtably that they entered the monastery in order to suffer.