Dear Friends, Family and Fellow Carmelites,

Once httpagain we celebrate the mystery of the dying, death and resurrection of our Lord. We love Easter but must always remember there can be no Easter without Good Friday. We think of Our Lord’s suffering in the garden and His surrender to the Father’s Will. His death rocked the disciples’ faith who had believed Jesus would be the one to save Israel from its enemies. They expected an earthly Messiah and Jesus’ death left them stunned. They felt ‘the sting of death’ as all their dreams and hopes died with Jesus. How could this happen and what would become of them now . . . they felt completely lost and abandoned. Then, on the third day they received the news first from Mary Magdalene and later from another group of women: “Jesus is alive! He is risen from the dead!” Yet, the disciples would not believe and had to go to the tomb themselves before they finally understood what kind of Messiah Jesus was and is. How often in life when we face our own Good Friday’s do we refuse to believe in God’s love and saving power for us? Only faith can bring us through these times of darkness into light. Only then can we understand, as the disciples did, that our plan is not necessarily the plan of God–we understood that as a community several weeks ago.

On the morning of February 25th we awoke to find that our Lord had taken our Sr. Monica Lotter to Himself. While we know death is a part of life it was still a shock to realize that Sr. Monica, who was such an active part of our community, is gone. She had cancer two years ago but it was removed and she did not have to undergo chemo or any kind of radiation therapy. The fact Sr. Monica was doing so well makes her loss all the more keen. Please keep her sister, our Sr. Mary, her brother Rudy, her niece Lorrie, and us in your prayers. A few years ago Sr. Monica gave an interview about her earlier life to a student for a school project. We will let her tell her story.
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I was born on September 29, 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts. My parents were very loving and caring of my sister, my brother and myself and a happy spirit characterized our home. They were from southern Germany, having come during their twenties to Wisconsin where they met and were married. They were motivated by high values and did their best to pass them on to us. Before we were born, our mother, though trained in secretarial work, worked as a cashier at a restaurant and at a hospital; our father was a mechanical engineer and eventually became a tool designer. Our mother loved beautiful art, poetry, and most of all Our Lord Jesus Christ and was at the same time very practical. She shared these loves with us and was always there for us. Our father loved farming, could do or fix anything, and spent a lot of quality time with us children. He was firm but very gentle. Both our parents instilled in us a respect for ourselves and others and for all God’s creation.

Because we moved several times, I attended different grammar and high schools, all of them Catholic. After graduation from St. Mary’s High School in Hudson, NY, [where she graduated as Valedictorian] I attended the College of St. Rose, in Albany, NY where I majored in Math and minored in Physics. Since my degree was in math and physics I was in the group interviewed by GE for computer programming–long ago before there was such a thing as a PC. It sounded very interesting to me and it turned out to be just that. I was at GE from 1957 to 1962. Then in 1964 I became a Carmelite nun which was a deeper desire of my heart. Our work for the Church and the world is to pray for the good of all.

Sr. Monica made her profession of Vows on January 6, 1967 and lived this ‘deeper desire of my heart’ for 46 years. She served as Prioress, Formation Director, Liturgist and organist. Sr. Monica will be missed for all the beauty she brought to our Liturgies. Sr. Monica also wrote our Chronicle and printed it for years using an off-set press. As our math person, she solved all our perplexities even though she drew blanks looks when she started talking pi. She will especially be remembered for her kindness and generosity. The floral and other tributes which began arriving at the news of her death witness to how many lives Sr. Monica touched. This was also evident from the large number of people who attended both her Vigil Service and Funeral Mass. Father Ralph Reyes, OCD officiated at her Vigil held on the evening of Sunday, Feb. 28th with Sr. Veronica Higgins, CST as organist. We were thankful that so many of our Carmelite family could attend her services: the Friars, the Sisters from Villa Teresa and members of the Secular Order. The celebrant for her funeral Mass was Archbishop Eusebius Beltran. The Very Reverend Gregory Ross, OCD, Provincial of the Oklahoma Province was the homilist. Sixteen priests concelebrated representing the Diocese’s of Oklahoma and Tulsa as well as our Carmelite Friars. Marie Connolly and Patricia Kuper provided the music. Sr. Monica was laid to rest in our cemetery.

The last months of 2009 seemed to evaporate. In December we had our individual days of recollection in preparation for Christmas. Fr John Magdalene came for the feast of St. John of the Cross, and gave us a conference on how our holy Father’s doctrine on the dark night of the spirit is analogous to the purification process of Purgatory. One of our live-ins from the summer, Eileen Crosby, visited us shortly before Christmas but had to leave a day early because of a coming massive winter storm. She lives in Minnesota and her family was afraid she would not make it if she did not leave–and they were right. The storm that threatened Minnesota also found its way to Oklahoma. On Christmas Eve it started sleeting before our morning Mass. All day a strong wind blew the mix of sleet and snow making the visibility practically zero. The blizzard dumped almost 14 inches of snow with three to four foot high drifts everywhere. Interstates and roads were closed and all Christmas Services were cancelled. We had Communion Services for several days and so had a very quiet Christmas. The next few days were cold and sunny. Sr. Ann Marie and Gabriela ventured out and built a snow man down near the lake, but the ones who enjoyed the snow most were Sam and Suzy, our Yorkies, who frolicked with delirious delight in the new white stuff.

On New Year’s Day Fr. Paul Donovan celebrated Mass with us and many of our friends who had intended to come on Christmas. In the evening we drew our traditional New Year’s billets. For Epiphany we were given St. Joseph as our king this year. On January 6th a bitterly cold arctic cold front moved in with high winds and single digit temperatures for two days. The power lines were twirling like jump ropes. Our electricity went out for 12 hours, but our generator kicked in and we were able to keep warm. Our “Christmas blizzard of 2009” broke all records and the freezing temperatures that followed resulted in the snow drifts remaining for three weeks. Our Christmas season was topped off on the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord with a very delicious dinner and the joyous company of our Friars from Little Flower. In early January a young woman interested in religious life came to visit. Brooke Harris is from Chickasha and has now visited several times. She hopes to make her live-in soon but wants to finish her work with her First Communion class. Please pray that both Brooke and Eileen can follow their vocations. As we are talking about vocations–we are happy to announce that our postulant, Gabriela, will be receiving the Carmelite habit on April 14th. Please also pray for her as she takes this important step.

The last week of January we were looking forward to the silence and solitude of our annual retreat. Our newly ordained Carmelite Friar, Fr. Juan Cabrera, OCD was our retreat master and decided to commute as he lives at Little Flower. We enjoyed his talks but on Wednesday a freezing rain began and sleet followed so he gave us two conferences in case he might not get back the next day. It snowed all day Thursday and Father faxed the rest of his talks! For the second time in two months a snow plow was needed to remove ice and snow from our parking lot. We got our peace and quiet—just not in the way we expected!

We seemed to have more company than usual in February. We had people drop in that we have not seen in ages and we wondered if that was God’s gift to Sr. Monica as He knew she would shortly be with Him in heaven. Shortly after our retreat ended Michael Reardon and Patrick Lane arrived and spent a few days with us. They proclaimed the Book of Revelation on February 7th and the next evening gave the community tips on how to proclaim the Word of God during Mass. The next morning, with yet another snow storm looming, they left early in hopes of avoiding the storm on their way to Arizona. It did not work but they said once through the storm the rest of the trip went well.

The weekend of February 13th the crew from Hartshorne came to help clear brush near our creek. We appreciate so much the work Don and the men do and have been done for us in the past. They not only work hard for two days but then fix us a wonderful fish supper as well. Their visit is also a chance for us to see the two blood sisters of our Sr. Therese: Catherine McCaslin and Sr. Teresa Ranallo, CST. Their visits are becoming fewer so we look forward to them filling us in on what is happening within the extended Ranallo clan. On the morning of February 15th Brother Kevin McGuire, OSB from Shawnee dropped by for a short visit and gave us a very unique blue bird house. He is also a mechanic and the base was a tire rim. On February 22nd Fr. Bill Ross was here for dinner and the next day Fr. Paul Donovan came for a visit.

We had two visits from animal guests as well. On the evening of February 20th we looked out our south side windows and what to our wondering eyes should appear but 8 deer lying under a spotlight! Our guests stayed for about two hours before leaving. We decided they knew they were in a safe haven. Our other guest is not so welcome–a beaver. It is making its home near our culvert and we are in the process of trying to relocate it to a more hospitable environment.
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On the afternoon of March 13th Fr. Donovan brought Sister Florence for a visit. Fr. met her while in Nigeria as a missionary. She is in the U.S. making a visitation of her community’s houses and will remain until the end of the month. That evening the youth from St. John’s in McAlester OK and St. Joseph’s, Krebs, OK presented the Stations of the Cross. Their pastor, Fr. Leonard Higgins, has been presenting the Stations throughout the State for about five years. The young people portray each station while a meditation and prayer is read. It is very simple but beautiful.

As mentioned previously our Sr. Monica died on February 25th and the next days were spent preparing for her burial. Since then so many people have checked to make sure we are doing all right and we want to thank all of you for your kindness and prayers for us. Like any family who has lost a loved one we are adjusting to seeing an empty chair and a smiling face. Just like the disciples on Good Friday we feel a sense of lost yet we know that Sr. Monica is enjoying eternal happiness. With her we await the time of our resurrection when we will be reunited in heaven. We want everyone to know that we will be having music not only on Sunday but also during Holy Week thanks to Marie Connolly. Our special prayers are with the people of Haiti and Chile as they strive to recover from their recent earthquakes.

May you all have a blessed Easter. Love and prayers