by Bishop James Conley
This past Sunday we began a new month and a new season in the Church year, Advent! This week we lit the first candle on the Advent wreath, and begin a season of preparation for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I encourage each of you to make your preparation a time of joyful anticipation and prayerful reflection. Advent is a time of new hope and expectation as we prepare our hearts, our homes, our communities and our world to welcome Jesus, our Savior.
I had the joy of beginning the Advent season at the Carmelite Monastery of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Valparaiso. I was there to celebrate the Solemn Profession and Veiling of Sister Maravillas of Jesus.
Sister Maravillas (Isabella Braaten) is the daughter of Andrew and Carmen Braaten in Minnesota, the oldest of their nine children. It was a joy to see the radiant smiles on the faces of her eight younger siblings as they visited with their “big sister” in the speak room after the Pontifical Mass, for the first time donning her newly blessed black veil, the symbol of her final profession!
Sister Maravillas was not even born when, 25 years ago, our beloved Carmelite nuns chose to come to the Diocese of Lincoln at the gracious invitation of my predecessor, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz. And what a grace-filled 25 years it has been!
Having their roots in Guadalajara, Mexico, the cloistered discalced Carmelite nuns had to flee their monastery during the persecutions of the Mexican revolution in 1927. The nuns eventually ended up in San Francisco, where they founded the famous Cristo Rey Monastery, right across the street from the University of San Francisco.
Over the years as they grew, they eventually founded a daughter house in Las Vegas, in the early 1970s. As the city of Las Vegas grew around them, the nuns were desperate to find a place where they could enjoy the peace and solitude of a contemplative life of prayer. That’s when they found the village of Valparaiso (“valley of paradise”) deep in the Bohemian Alps of Saunders County.
Since the Carmelites arrived in Nebraska 25 years ago, they have founded four daughter houses of their own in Pennsylvania (2009), California (2012), Idaho (2017) and Australia (2019). In the 12 years since I was installed as bishop of the Lincoln Diocese, I have had the honor of presiding at 18 solemn professions for the Carmelites!
The Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Valparaiso is a remarkable story of grace and divine providence. Beginning in a farmhouse owned by the Berry family, they built a magnificently beautiful Spanish colonial monastery on the donated land of Leonard Benes. It was dedicated in 2001. There in the bucolic hills of Saunders County, they’ve been quietly living a contemplative life of prayer and sacrifice, attracting vocations locally and from across the country. God only knows the graces we have all received from the prayers of these holy nuns. Msgr. Timothy Thorburn served as their faithful chaplain for most of those 25 years, succeeded now by Father Christopher Barak in 2022.
I also wanted to share with you an extraordinary experience I had a few weeks ago at the Carmelite Monastery in Valparaiso. In early November I was able to attend the magnificent opening performance of the opera, “The Dialogues of the Carmelites,” staged by the opera department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) at the Johnny Carson Theater. This opera in three acts was written by Francis Poulenc and first performed at La Scala in Milan, Italy, in 1957, to high critical acclaim. Poulenc wrote his libretto for the opera based on the work of the same name by the French author, George Bernanos, who based his story on the historical novel “The Song at the Scaffold” by the German author, Gertrude von La Fort.
The opera is a fictionalized version of the true story of the martyrdom of 16 cloistered Carmelite nuns from the monastery of Compiègne, France, just outside of Paris during the closing days of the Reign of Terror July 17, 1794. These 16 Carmelite nuns were guillotined in the main square of Paris (what is now the Place de la Nation), one by one, for refusing to renounce their vocation. These 16 discalced Carmelite nuns are now venerated as beatified martyrs of the Catholic Church. Ten days after their execution, the Reign of Terror ended.
After attending this very moving performance by the UNL opera students, I approached the UNL Director of Opera, Professor William Shomos, to consider performing a portion of the opera for our cloistered Carmelite nuns of Valparaiso.
On Thursday, Nov. 22, through the kindness and generosity of Professor Shomos and the able accompaniment of music director and pianist, William Cotton, a member of Blessed Sacrament Parish who also adapted the entire score to English from the original French, a group of six student actors performed four duets from the opera for the Carmelite nuns. Because the “speak room” is so small and the nuns are cloistered behind the “grill,” space was very limited. There was just enough room on the other side of the “grill” opposite the entire community of nuns, for William Cotton to accompany the actors on the piano as they beautifully and very movingly performed four of the most famous duets. In the speak room I was joined by Bishop Bruskewitz, Msgr. Thorburn, and Father Barak. All but one of the student actors were Catholic, so to see their counterparts in real time was a sight to behold!
After the performance, which lasted around 45 minutes, our Carmelites sang a beautiful multi-harmonic hymn by Palestrina, much to the delight of the students. There was then a beautiful exchange of questions and answers between the nuns and the students, many of whom were similar in age. It was delightful to see the faces of both the nuns and the students as they conversed about music, the Catholic faith, and religious life in a Carmelite monastery. In one of the adjacent rooms, the nuns left plates of delicious homemade cookies and punch for the students to enjoy on their own – truly a moment of grace and joy.
As we continue our journey of Advent, let us be mindful of the moments of grace and joy like these in our lives, and may we never take these moments for granted. Let us look inward with humility, embrace penance and offer sacrifice in a spirit of love and devotion. These days are a journey – one that will bring us closer to God if we are willing to step forward and reach out to Him.
Advent is also a great time to ask Mary, our Blessed Mother, to guide us closer to Jesus. She can teach us how to prepare for His birth, just as she did, with love and surrender. Let us learn from her during this Advent lessons of grace, humility and an all-consuming love for God.
These days before Christmas can be ones of busyness, distracting us from the true meaning of the season. My hope is you will dedicate your time instead to prayer, reflection and spiritual renewal. We would be wise to look to the Carmelites as examples of those who strive to do this every day.
In “The Dialogues of the Carmelites,” before the last religious sister is killed, she proclaims, “Love will always be victorious, love can do everything.” We will learn that lesson once again on Christmas morning, when the Father bestows on us the greatest gift we could ever receive—Love Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
Rehearsal photos. Courtesy Mary Beth Shomos
