Carmelite nun professes solemn vows
SALT LAKE CITY — With Latin hymns, somber prayers and a ceremony steeped in tradition, Carmelite Sister Marie Rose of St. Joseph professed her solemn vows to her superior and received the black veil of her order from Bishop Oscar A. Solis during a Jan. 18 Mass at the Caramel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Salt Lake City.
Concelebrants at the Mass were Father Mark Kissner, O.C.D., of the California-Arizona Province of St. Joseph; Fr. Vien Nguyen, S.C.J., an assistant professor of Scripture Studies at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology; Fr. Francis Li. O.P., from the Dominican community at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center in Salt Lake City; and Fr. Tai Nguyen, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Kearns.
Fr. Vien was the homilist.
Drawing from the day’s first reading, which spoke of the prayer life of the prophets, Fr. Vien said, “Prayer has been the key that has led Sr. Marie Rosa to this place, to this day, and prayer has been a crucial component of her discernment, and an important component of the Carmelite spirituality.”
Speaking to Sr. Marie Rosa, he said that with her perpetual profession she promises to carry on the mission of the Discalced Carmelites, “and you vow to spend your life in contemplation, praying for the Mother Church, for priests and for the salvation of souls of God’s people.”
He also focused on the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. By embracing each of these evangelical counsels, Sr. Marie Rosa will imitate Jesus Christ, he said.
“These evangelical counsels are a beautiful gift to you,” one that is designed “to bring you closer to God and to help you become an authentic witness to the Gospel,” he said.
The final profession of vows is not the end of Sr. Marie Rosa’s spiritual struggle, he said, and he urged her to go to Jesus Christ so that she could draw closer to God.
At the close of the Mass, Bishop Solis expressed his congratulations and blessing to Sr. Marie Rosa.
“We know that we are happier today because another soul will be praying for us intently every day, every hour,” the bishop said. “What a beautiful grace it is that we have the Carmelites here in our diocese, who perseveringly and continuously and faithfully pray for all of us, for our Church, for our Holy Father and for our needs.”
During the solemn vows and veiling ceremony, Sr. Marie Rosa sat with the congregation in the chapel, rather than in the cloister with the other nuns. This was a change from past ceremonies, but Mother Therese Bui said other Carmels in their association have been following this procedure.
The local Carmel has 12 nuns, including one novice who is in her canonical year, the second year of the nine years of preparation before the final vows.
Three years ago, Sr. Marie Rosa came from Vietnam, where she entered the Carmelites after completing high school. She felt drawn to the order after reading a biography of St. Teresa of Avila, who reformed the Carmelite order in the 16th century, she said.
“I feel that God wanted me to offer myself for God in the contemplative life,” she said.
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