Email received from Cami Murphy Director of Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother
A beautiful story that will make your heart sing with Thanksgiving
www.sorrowfulmother.net
And Mary said, "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Lk 1:38)
(LifeSiteNews) — As Americans celebrate
Thanksgiving, now more than ever is a good time to take stock of the fact that
Americans, and people of faith throughout the world, still have so much to be
thankful for. I am so happy to bring to you a story that I know will make
your heart sing with Thanksgiving.
All we seem to
hear about today is bad news from the Church and politics. The timeless values
of self-sacrifice seem to be lost in a sea of pride and selfish ambition. But
it is not so everywhere. There are still awesome souls who are willing to leave
everything for Christ, to offer themselves up to the Lord forsaking all else to
do the heavy lifting for the work of salvation, to spend their lives totally
focused on prayer to Almighty God.
At LifeSite,
we've already featured a few stories in recent years of how God has been
providing a steady flow of young women in Fairfield, Pennsylvania who are eager
to give themselves to Our Lord as his spouses to become cloistered, Carmelite
nuns even though that means leaving behind all the comforts and aspirations of
worldly glamour and success.
LifeSite video
producer Jim Hale brings us this beautiful testimony from the newest
sister-to-be for the Carmelites. She is truly something special. May her
testimony inspire us all to a selfless love for Our Lord, and to be truly
grateful for all His benefits to us.
Rebekah Siegler
is an aspirant nun to the Carmel of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Fairfield,
Pennsylvania who will be entering the monastery on December 4.
Siegler also highlights how her family has been supportive and willing to “pick up this cross” with her.
After many
years of asking God for a vocation, and even once discerning marriage with her
former fiancé, they both through prayer chose a different path. “There came a
point where we felt like Our Lord was inviting us to essentially offer up our
love for one other for a greater good, for eternity, for souls.”
Rebekah looks
at this as a blessing for her and all part of God’s Providence. “I don’t think
it is a coincidence that Our Lord has called me at this time, to leave
everything, and to enter a vocation of prayer and sacrifice for the world.”
“We are seeing
evil throughout the world and in our country today, and it is because God has
not been loved, adored, and invited into public squares,” Rebekah says.
On this new
road in her life as an extern Carmelite nun, she does not fail to look to the
heavens in praise of this “beautiful gift from God.” She prays in gratitude “to
God just for the peace that He has given me and the consolations of knowing
that this is His Will.”