In the latter half of August, Fr. Michael, Br. Moses, and Br. Nathanael had the opportunity to attend an international gathering for Carmelite Friars involved in formation—both those being formed and their formators. The gathering took place at Lisieux with the theme of St. Therese. It was a tremendous grace to be so near Therese in preparation for the 100th anniversary of her canonization!

Many noteworthy experiences awaited us before we even arrived at Lisieux. Limited in space, however, we will note only a few. Within our first few hours of arriving in Paris, we found ourselves standing before the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Although we were unable to get inside the church due to the on-going construction to repair the Cathedral after the tragic fire of 2019, nevertheless, we were able to stand outside, in awe of the restoration process which is almost complete. It was nothing short of awe-inspiring to see this great symbol of the Catholic faith rise again, in some ways not unlike Our Lord, restored and gloriously beautiful. Arriving in Paris, of the many sites we visited, we were perhaps most moved at the Picpus Cemetery where the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne are interred. The entire community had been guillotined at the time of the French Revolution, their bodies buried in a mass grave with other victims of the Reign of Terror. What a grace to pray before this grave, to consider our sisters' self-offering to Jesus, to contemplate the witness they gave to Him, to ponder their joy when, as a community, they entered before His Throne and heard those words, “Well done, my good and faithful servants…come, share your Master's joy!”

From Paris we journeyed to Dijon to visit our sister in Carmel, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. We visited her parish church, Saint Michel, where we rejoiced to have considerable time to pray at her tomb. We visited other sites in Dijon important to St. Elizabeth and to Carmel, such as the facade of the original Carmel of Dijon, founded by Blessed Anne of Jesus in 1605. Expelled during the French Revolution and the monastery seized for public use, the nuns did not regain this original building when they returned in 1865, though its facade remains untouched to this day. Leaving Dijon, we had a peaceful and prayerful stay at the guest house of the Carmelite nuns in nearby Flavignerot, to which the Carmel of Dijon had moved.

Finally we arrived at Lisieux. Our time there was blessed doubly by St. Therese as well as by over ninety of our brothers in Carmel from all over Europe, with representatives also from Lebanon and parts of Africa. Each morning, following mental prayer and Mass in the Chapel of the Lisieux Carmel, we had presentations on St. Therese and discussions in language groups. In the afternoons we visited sites important for St. Therese: the Cathedral of St. Pierre, her childhood home at Les Buissonnets, the monastery in which St. Therese lived, the Basilica of St. Therese with the tomb of Sts. Louis and Zelie, and the home of the Martin family at Alençon. “It was an unforgettable grace,” Br. Nathanael recalls, “in which we felt the special closeness of our sister in Carmel, St. Therese.”

“With so many sights, it is hard to pick a ‘favorite,’ and yet, there is one site that stands out for its noble and simple beauty,” says Br. Moses. Part of the itinerary for the international gathering was a tour of the Carmel of Lisieux where St. Thérèse lived and died. During this tour, we paused for a moment of prayer at the laundry room used by St. Thérèse and her community. Perhaps I was so drawn to this site because of the countless hours which I spent as a novice at Holy Hill in our laundry room. There, on one of the concrete walls next to the industrial dryer, one will find a picture of St. Thérèse and her community doing their wash. With that picture burned into my memory, I found myself now standing at the very site where this scene played out in the life of St. Thérèse. For me, it was a powerful moment of recognition that if God walks amid the pots and pans, saints can be made even in the laundry room. Indeed, the reality of the Incarnation extends the possibility of intimate union with God even to the most mundane task of doing the wash.