By Father Michael Owens
Special to the Herald
I’ve known the Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of the Holy Trinity monastery on the grounds of St. Stephen Diocesan Center since I entered the seminary there in 1975. I celebrated my first Mass with them the day after I was ordained. We’ve become so close that I think of them as family. They are my big sisters and I am their little brother. For about 10 years I was blessed to minister to their spiritual needs.
Of the original seven Carmelites, I knew Sister Mary Angel Wong and Sister Marie Tang, who died June 30, the least. They believed their English wasn’t good enough to communicate with visitors, even though this wasn’t true. We didn’t speak much when we worked together, but we got to know each other through our actions.
The late Msgr. Daniel Dever, another St. Stephen resident, used to call Sister Marie “the smallest Carmelite in the world,” imitating the great reformer of Carmel, St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila) who called her co-founder of the Discalced Carmelite Friars her half-friar. Both were physically small, but both were spiritual giants!
Sister Marie was humble and hidden, but was a backbone of the community. It’s appropriate she was given the title “of the Child Jesus,” because she possessed and shared the childlike purity of heart that every contemplative strives for. She was innocent like a child, filled with trust and faith. She gave her all to God and Carmel.
Unfortunately, she had to spend some of her later years in a care facility along with Sister Teresita Tam. Neither ever complained about being there. In fact it was the complete opposite. They resonated joy!
Once I went to visit them. They weren’t in the same room, so I saw Sister Teresita first. When I reached the doorway, I felt someone tugging at my sleeve. I turned around and saw a teenager smiling and laughing at me. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. The person, still laughing, said, “Oh Father, you forget! It’s me!” At that point I realized it was Sister Marie. I could claim I didn’t recognize her because she wasn’t wearing her habit, but that wouldn’t be true. She was glowing, overflowing with joy. I felt like Peter at the Transfiguration. That day was the closest I have ever come to seeing someone with a halo! Maybe that’s why her favorite color was yellow.
Although the two sisters never complained, it was easy to see that they missed the monastery. The Carmelites at the monastery also missed them greatly. Time and again, plans to bring them back fell through. This must have been upsetting for them, but they accepted it as God’s will. Unfortunately, Sister Teresita died at the care facility, but happily the day came when Sister Marie could return. It was one of the happiest days for the Carmelites.
Home and family are so important. Remember the Lord’s parable about those who built their houses on sand and those who built on rock? I believe the words, “home and family” could easily be substituted for “house.” “If the Lord does not build the ‘home and family,’ in vain do the builders labor.”
When we who are from the Islands return from a trip to the Mainland, we get very excited when we hear the pilot announce that we will soon be landing. That excitement creates an energy that spreads throughout the cabin, refreshing everyone after the long flight. When the doors open and the tradewinds gently brush us, we know we are home where we belong.
As I spent some time with Sister Marie before her death and afterward, it dawned on me that she had left her family home in China to enter Carmel, which then became her home and family. She must have been very special at the Carmel in Hong Kong to be chosen to establish another Carmel in Hawaii, which she again made her home and family. She did the same at the care center and then once again when she happily returned to Carmel. Finally, she left this world at the call of her Beloved, to be home with Him, the former members and friends of Carmel, and all her deceased relatives. She never has to leave home again!
One of the most important aspects of the Carmelite reformation begun by St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross was the mandate that Carmel communities be small so that the members would become family and create a home, just like the Child Jesus experienced in his hidden years, at home with Mary and Joseph in Egypt and Nazareth.
In the infirmary at Hawaii’s Carmel, I couldn’t help noticing markings on the wall probably caused by furniture being moved around. They looked like shafts of wheat. With Sister Marie lying there on the bed, I couldn’t help but think of another Gospel passage, “Unless a grain of wheat dies and falls it bears no fruit, but if it does it produces fruit abundantly.”
After she died, Sister Marie’s body was wrapped in a sheet. It was hard to believe that she was there in the folds of the sheet. Instead it looked as I’ve imagined Christ tomb did after his resurrection. In my heart, I heard the words spoken by the angels to the women when they discovered the empty tomb that first Easter morning, “Why do you seek the living among the dead. He is not here. Go and tell the others that he is risen as he said!”
May each of us, like Sister Marie, be transformed into little children, filled with faith and trust, radiating the joy of God’s love, who is creating a home for all — for we are family!
These poems were written for Sister Marie Tang, who died on June 30, by fellow Carmelites
Hands
Dedicated to Sister Marie Tang of the Child Jesus
They touch in life
quiet as she was,
as if listening to hidden requests.
They tend to others
as she did,
without needing notice.
They hold one another warm,
as were her fingers
when she left for home.
In Heaven, no bells or horns —
only supple hands
giving love to one another
as in Carmel we
love Our Lord,
whose wounded hands
give us Life always.
Hidden Light
Written July 4, 2018
Small and Simple
Hidden and unknown to most
Tucked away in the thicket
of love.
She built her nest in Solitude
with the Spirit’s breath
she lived in obscurity
beneath the Mantle of Our
Lady of Mt. Carmel.
With constant trust she
dwells in the bosom
of our
Father
while under His gaze offering
her loving
FIAT.