Laboure Society
“A joy comes from the Eucharist that is so far beyond any earthly happiness...”
Meet the rest of my class
My name is Madeleine McIlheran. I am called to offer my life in prayer and sacrifice to Jesus for the salvation of the world as a nun with the Discalced Carmelite Nuns, Monastery of the Holy Cross. This is my story.
I was born and raised Catholic, with my family attending Mass each Sunday. Yet it wasn’t until I was twelve years old that I really began to understand and appreciate the Faith. It was then that my parents transferred me and my siblings to a small, independent Catholic school where I began rigorously learning the teachings of the Church. I had always been inquisitive, and now, God was revealing to me the truth of Catholicism. This truth resonated with me deeply; I knew it to be true and was granted the grace to accept it as such.
As a teen, I experienced a low point in my life. Amidst my suffering, I knew that I must seek God and follow His will. In His Divine Providence, God granted me the grace to renounce my own desires and choose His law.
I eventually perceived God directing me towards teaching, and earned a degree from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. I began work as an educator, but God had yet to reveal the long-term plan.
A joy comes from the Eucharist that is so far beyond any earthly happiness that it cannot be reasonably compared. Being with Jesus in the Eucharist is like having a weight lifted off of me that I didn’t even know was there until it was lifted.
It was in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament when I first heard God calling me to be a nun. I had been asking God to show me my vocational call, having decided that I would do whatever He asked. However, I had thought that call would be marriage so I was surprised. I objected at first, but when He reminded me of my commitment to follow Him, I said yes.
Even after sensing God’s vocational call for my life, I wasn’t at all sure to which religious community He might be calling me. I asked Him in prayer and waited for clarification. This clarification came in phases over time: first the specific call to be a cloistered, Carmelite nun, then hearing guidance to look at Michigan communities, and finally a specific nudge toward the nuns at the Monastery of the Holy Cross.
In visiting a Carmelite community, I was drawn to their rhythm of life. The slower pace is in direct contrast to that of the secular world. The contemplative lifestyle of the Carmelites is lovely and peaceful; it seems healthier than the rhythm of life in the world and more to be the way of life for which we are made…or at the very least for which I am made.
I believe God is calling me to life as a Carmelite nun. The Carmelites adore Jesus in the Eucharist; I love Jesus and want to make Him happy, and I seek to focus on Him all the time because He deserves it. The Carmelite nuns offer themselves to God through their hidden life of prayer and sacrifice so that souls may be saved. I desire to join them in this mission,
Please pray for me and for my fellow Labouré classmates on our vocation journeys. Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have at: Madeleine@rescuevocations.org.
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