Cloistered Carmelite nun professes final vows @ Chicalim Carmel
Cloistered Carmelite nun Sr Rachel of the Good Shepherd made her solemn profession by pronouncing her final vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience on October 7, 2020, the feast day of Our Lady of Rosary at the Cloistered Carmelite Convent, Chicalim.

Superior of Ryshivana Spirituality Centre of the Carmelites, Mangalore, Fr Archibald Gonsalves OCD presided over the Eucharistic Celebration and conducted the profession rite.

Superior of the Carmelite Monastery, Margao, Fr Silvestre D’Souza OCD, who preached the homily requested Sr Rachel to look at Jesus and contemplate Him. “Let us take Mother Mary as a model to contemplate the face of Jesus.” he said. Referring to the captivating gaze of Jesus, through which the Apostle Peter and others followed him, Fr Silvestre reflected on the three gazes of Jesus: gaze of choice, gaze of mercy and a gaze of Mission.

During the Mass, Sr Rachel Rebello OCD pronounced her final vows before Mother Prioress of the Cloistered Carmel, Sr Luiza OCD.

Sr Rachel, who hails from Povação-Nuvem, is the third child of Ana Cleta Rebello and late Baltazar Rebello. She joined the Congregation of the Apostolic Carmel in 1995 and made her final profession in that congregation in 2004.

Heeding to the call for contemplative life, she joined the Cloistered Carmel Convent at Chicalim in 2016 and after much discernment, with the grace of God, she said definite and solemn ‘Yes’ to the Lord in the Order of Discalced Carmelites.

Cloistered Carmelites nuns led the choir, while Br Malvino Alfonso OCD was the commentator for the Liturgy. Fr Archibald Gonsalves OCD expressed his sentiments on behalf of the Carmelites and Sr Rachel later proposed a vote of thanks.