Sister Mary Lavin

Did you know that God has a divine sense of humor?????

From the time I was in grade school here in Cleveland, I wanted to be a teaching sister.  I loved school, and I had an aunt and a cousin in the convent.  We lived on the same street as the convent, where I took piano lessons.  My school was also on the same block and I stayed after school to help Sister often.

In the middle of the sixth grade our family moved into my grandparents’ home which was very close to the high school I would attend.  During four years of high school I went to daily Mass before classes at the Carmelite Monastery, which was across the street from school.  I liked to pray there, but never felt drawn to entering that community.  My mother suggested I get my college degree before I entered religious life, and it seemed like a good idea.  I went to college in Cleveland, and still attended daily Mass at Carmel before classes.

After graduating I still didn’t make any move to enter the convent.  During my first year of teaching, I made a silent retreat with nine other teachers for six days.  The conferences were on the life of Christ, and I felt that I was meeting God for the first time!  I felt like a convert, overcome by God’s love for me, and by my desire to love totally in return.  God had done so much for me!  In my ignorance I began to think that becoming an active religious would not be giving enough, or my all, so I thought of contemplative religious life for the first time.  I believed in the power of prayer, and knew God could raise up many teachers to reach many more students than I ever could.

I continued to pray and teach for two years, and then chose to try the life of prayer.  I reasoned that if I didn’t have that vocation, they would send me away, and then I could join an active order.  I never considered the Carmel down the street, where I prayed for so many years, because I wanted an order dedicated to Our Lady.  My spiritual director suggested I talk to a nun there, and I discovered Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a Marian Order!  I then wrote to Carmels in California, thinking that I shouldn’t live so close to my home, but I received negative replies.

They accepted me here in Cleveland, but many of my friends predicted I wouldn’t last in Carmel a week!  I had been a camp counselor, active in several organizations, and was quite a talker.  However, I have happily been a Carmelite for fifty years now, along with my active, extroverted, sensate personality.

Did the Lord know I was going to end up here after all?????????????