Young woman professes final vows as Discalced Carmelite nun
By Roxanne King

As a steady rain fell the morning of Sept. 12, feast of the Holy Name of Mary, faithful gathered at Carmel of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Littleton to witness the final profession and veiling of a Discalced Carmelite nun.
Among the congregation filling the small monastery chapel were some 20 members of the new nun’s family, many of whom had traveled from Louisiana, where the 22-year-old was born and reared.
Taking the name Sister Mary Teresa of Jesus Crucified, the former Jessica Gulotta wore the brown habit of her order topped by a white mantel. Because the nuns are cloistered, the congregation watched her through a grill.

Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., was the main celebrant of the Mass. Concelebrants included the nun’s former pastor, Father Matthew Higginbotham of the Diocese of Lafayette, La.
Founded by the 16th century Spanish mystic St. Teresa of Avila, Discalced (shoeless) Carmelites live a contemplative life of prayer, silence, sacrifice and manual labor.

“We don’t find religious in the Scriptures,” Archbishop Chaput noted in his homily.
The first Christians lived their faith with such zeal, he said, they converted the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, as Christianity became accepted, “there was a diminishment of enthusiasm in the Church.

“Some became dissatisfied with the way most lived their Christian life,” the archbishop said, “and they decided to go off into the desert to live Christianity more seriously.”

The monastic tradition can be traced to those third century Desert Fathers.
“Wanting to give oneself away more radically and protesting the ordinary is in some ways the motivation for religious life,” Archbishop Chaput said.

The apostolate of Discalced Carmelites is prayer in service for the Church and the world. Their daily schedule includes Mass, the complete Divine Office recited in choir, two one-hour periods of mental prayer in common, an hour of recreation in common after dinner and after supper, spiritual reading and work.

“It’s wonderful,” Sister Mary Teresa told the Denver Catholic Register, speaking about the Carmelite life. “It’s what I expected. It’s what I came here for—to grow closer to God.

The third of nine children, the nun’s final profession came after six years spent as a novice. Prior to entering the monastery, she had attended Catholic school until fifth grade, then was homeschooled. She said she has wanted to be a religious ever since she was 6 or 7 and read about famed Carmelite St. Therese of Lisieux. The desire stayed with her and when she was 17 she entered the Littleton monastery.
“I find peace here,” she said, “and happiness and interior joy.”

During the Mass, Sister Mary Teresa knelt before the Communion window in the grill separating the nuns from the sanctuary. Archbishop Chaput approached the window and said, “What do you ask?”

“The mercy of God, the poverty of the order and the society of the sisters,” the young nun said.

“Are you resolved to persevere in the order until death?” the prelate asked.
“Thus do I hope and desire through the mercy of God and the prayers of the sisters,” said Sister Mary Teresa.
She then knelt before the prioress, Mother Gemma Marie of the Passion of Jesus, and promised obedience, chastity and poverty.

The archbishop pronounced a blessing over a black veil and sprinkled it with holy water. Helped by the prioress, he placed the veil over Sister Mary Teresa’s head, covering her face. After more prayers were recited by the prelate, Sister Mary Teresa lifted the veil from her face and a wreath of flowers was placed on her head.

“Dearly beloved,” the archbishop said, “let us pray for this handmaid of the Lord, Sister Mary Teresa, whom the Lord has chosen as his bride, that she may always serve him with her whole heart and hidden with him in God, bring forth fruits in grace for the universal Church.”

At the end of Mass, Sister Mary Teresa prostrated herself on the floor and was covered with a pall. Nuns tossed rose petals over her as they sang the early Christian hymn of praise the “Te Deum.”
“That was a sign that she was dying to the world,” Mother Gemma Marie explained after the Mass. The nun’s rising from the ground at the end of the hymn, the prioress said, symbolized her rising in Christ.

After the Mass, Sister Mary Teresa, radiant with joy, greeted a stream of visitors through a grill separating the cloister from the tiny visitor’s lobby.
“This is one of the happiest moments,” said the nun’s mother, Margie Gulotta. “Knowing your child is making the best choice she could ever make—to be the spouse of Jesus and to see her dream come true.”