Union native professes first vows for cloistered, contemplative order

FLEMINGTON – At the end of a long driveway in rural Hunterdon County, framed by peaceful, rolling hills and towering trees, sits a stone monastery in which a dozen religious women have taken up the mission to lead others to the Lord through their fervent prayer.

On Sept. 16, the ranks of that community — the Carmel of Mary Immaculate and St. Mary Magdalen — were blessed by the addition of Sister Talitha of the Trinity at a Mass where she professed her first vows as a discalced Carmelite nun.

Befitting their choice to live a cloistered, contemplative religious life, the nuns who live there were separated by a steel grate from the congregation of family and friends. Though they were, by choice, unseen by their visitors, the joy in the nuns’ prayers, music and professions of faith during the Mass was clearly audible and reverberated against the stone walls and floor. 

Dominican Father Ignatius John Schweitzer, a New York City-based cleric who had acted as Sister Talitha’s spiritual advisor, presided at the Mass and gave the homily.

In his homily, Father Schweitzer reminded Sister Talitha, “With this profession, building on your consecration which began at your baptism, and strengthened at your confirmation, you make a new step to give all of your mind, body and spirit with faith and love.

“The queen of your old self has died, and the handmaid of the Lord is coming to life,” he continued. “The Carmelites are spiritual mothers who lay down their lives for others through their prayer, penance, and their whole life offered to the Lord, just like Our Lady did… As you begin this next important step as a Carmelite nun, allow the fragrance of the bridegroom to draw you. God wants a love that endures. You will bear fruit that will last.” 

The first profession of vows ceremony began with Sister Talitha placing her hands in those of the Mother Mary Eliuzabeth, prioress, saying, “With all my heart, I give myself to this family begun by St. Teresa with the grace of the Holy Spirit and the help of the Mother of God. May I serve the Holy Mother Church in continual prayer and evangelical self-denial [and] glorify the blessed trinity for all eternity.”

Sister Talitha’s emphatic, yet peace-filled answer to what she sought — the mercy of God, the poverty of the order, and the society of the sisters — left no listener in doubt that she had found her life’s goal, the avenue to her soul’s rest and fulfillment in Christ.

The prioress held the vows penned by Sister Talitha, then placed them atop the altar. Still kneeling, the newly-professed nun’s white headpiece was adorned with a flowered crown to signify the order had welcomed another spirit-filled traveler of faith.

One might wonder how a 28-year-old native of Union and self-proclaimed “Jersey girl through and through” decided to serve the Lord as a discalced Carmelite nun. In a telephone call preceding the ceremony, Sister Talitha recalled how she decided to earn a degree in biochemistry at Seton Hall University, South Orange, then postpone medical school.

“I wanted to become more involved with my faith, so I went to Rutgers [University, New Brunswick], learned about St. Paul’s Outreach and became a missionary for three years,” she explained. “As I grew to feel more involved in my faith and love of the Lord, the more I wanted to share it. I read about St. Teresa of Avila and investigated the Carmelites.”

She soon realized traditional missionary work could not serve everyone.

“I can’t serve the poor in all areas. If I am in India, I cannot serve also in China, but I can save the whole world [from the monastery,]” she said.

Though prayer is the centerpiece of the Carmelite, Sister Talitha insisted, “I am not on my knees all day. Life consists of serving one another. We model ourselves after Jesus, who came to serve, not to be served.”

The nuns’ daily schedule is full —arising at 5:30 a.m., followed by the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass; individual, silent and group prayer; chores, meals, recreation and spiritual reading until they retire at 11 p.m. The sisters may meet with family and friends for 12 hours each year.

Not surprisingly, the former pre-med student explained her deep sense of joy and fulfillment in life as a discalced Carmelite nun in both physical and spiritual terms.

“The heart of the Church can’t stop beating, like the heart in a body would die if it stopped,” Sister Talitha said. “We have constant faithfulness to our Lord… So may we search for life and love. Where else can be find it but in the Lord? I will give my whole life to Him.”