By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami
REDLANDS � Right now, it’s nothing but five acres of brown mud in the far western reaches of the Redlands. But Archbishop Thomas Wenski called it “an expression of our hope in the future.”
“After 10 years, it’s time for you to find a permanent home,” he told the 11 Discalced Carmelite nuns who will live in the new Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity once it is built.
A model of the future Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity.
Mother Blanca Flor de Jesus Sacramentado points the way to the front for Father Armando Tolosa, parochial vicar at St. Louis Parish in Pinecrest, as Mother Ana del Corazon Misericordioso looks on.
Retired Archbishop John C. Favalora poses with, from left, Mother Ana del Corazon Misericordioso, Mother Erika del Espiritu Santo and their superior, Mother Blanca Flor de Jesus Sacramentado.
Archbishop Wensk and the Carmelite nuns pray during the ceremony.
Archbishop Wenski preaches the homily during the ceremony.
Mother Teresa Lucia del Sagrado Corazon listens as benefactor Robert Koffler speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony.
Mother Maria Alma de Jesus holds up the monastery's logo before placing it into the marble box that served as the cornerstone at the groundbreaking.
Norelia Jacinto, an aspirant to the community, holds up a drawing of 25 nuns as a petition to God that the monastery will continue to have vocations always. Mother Maria Isabel de la Trinidad, who has made temporary vows, holds up a folder with the names of all the priests who have celebrated Mass for the nuns before inserting it into a marble box that served as the cornerstone at the groundbreaking.
Mother Maria Isabel de la Trinidad, who has made temporary vows, holds up a folder with the names of all the priests who have celebrated Mass for the nuns before inserting it into a marble box that served as the cornerstone at the groundbreaking.
A marble box filled with historical and symbolic artifacts served as the cornerstone during the groundbreaking ceremony.
Carmelite nuns sing during the ceremony.
Mother Maria del Carmen de Jesus Sacramentado, left, the oldest in the community, and Mother Blanca Flor de Jesus Sacramentado, current superior, sing during the ceremony.
Knights of Columbus stand guard as Archbishop Wenski blesses the marble box that served as the cornerstone for the new monastery.
Knights of Columbus stand guard as Archbishop Wenski blesses the marble box that served as the cornerstone for the new monastery.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Dingbaum, right, and Sister Maria Iris Quinones, of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, were among the religious who took part in the groundbreaking ceremony.
Carmelite nuns sing Te Deum at the end of the groundbreaking.
The nuns arrived in the archdiocese in 2001 and have been living in a two-story convent on the grounds of Immaculate Conception Church in Hialeah for the past few years.
But they needed a bigger place, as three women already have been added to their original community of eight, and more have expressed an interest.
The nuns live a cloistered life, apart from the world, devoting themselves to constant prayer for the Church in general, and the archdiocese and its members in particular.
Fittingly, their new monastery will sit in wondrous isolation in the midst of Redlands farms and fields � not exactly “the ends of the earth” but close enough in South Florida.
In his remarks, Archbishop Wenski noted that prayer is a sign of hope, for those without hope do not pray. Unfortunately, there are many people today who live their lives that way, without hope, because they do not believe that God matters.
“The lives of these nuns are a testimony to the fact that God does matter,” he told the nearly 300 people who attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new monastery Sept. 7.
Serving as the cornerstone was a white marble box which the nuns filled with important papers, including: the letter from Archbishop John C. Favalora, archbishop emeritus of Miami, inviting their community of Querétaro, Mexico, to establish a new monastery in the archdiocese; the permission from their bishop and the Vatican to do so; a book containing the history of the foundation and a small bag with sand from Querétaro; the monastery’s logo, rules and constitution; the names of their benefactors; and even the program for the groundbreaking ceremony.
The occasion was remarkable in that it marked one of the few times the nuns were able to step out of their cloister and interact with friends and benefactors without any physical separation.
“I am so happy. This is something very beautiful that exceeds all our expectations,” said Mother Teresa Lucia del Inmaculado Corazon, who served as superior of the community when they first moved to Miami and found the plot of land where she is certain the Lord was calling them to move.
“We don’t sense the presence of God in our lives because we don’t open our eyes to everything that surrounds us with which the Lord has gifted us,” she said, pointing out the beauty of the day and the surroundings.
Among those present at the groundbreaking were Archbishop Favalora, Bishop Manuel Cruz, auxiliary bishop of Newark, N.J., Msgr. Tomás Marín, who serves as prefect of the monastery, members of other religious orders in the archdiocese, local priests, and a good number of the nuns’ admirers and financial supporters.
Among the latter was Julie Williamson of St. Martha Parish in Miami Shores, a real estate attorney whose firm, Ackerman Senterffit, worked pro bono to help the nuns acquire the land and obtain the necessary zoning permits.
“I was there the day they bought it,” she said. After the closing, “we drove out here and they sprinkled holy water on the ground. There was no way I would not be back here today.”
