Posted by The Editor on December 5, 2013 at 1:20 PM   
Original: http://karmelstjosef.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/te-deum-laudamus/

“Te Deum laudamus!”
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At the end of the year we want to relate the answers to our prayers through which we ended up in our new monastery, in which we are very happy and which brought us even closer to Our Lady and thus are more intimately connected to you.
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Everything started and finished especially with the helpful grace of our heavenly mother and queen: We would have never dared to venture into such an uncertain future, had it not been for specific acts of consecration to her (13 May 2011, 25 March 2012) which gave us light and fortitude which were necessary.
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Once the decision had been made that we needed to move, we started looking for a suitable property in Bavaria, especially in the Allgäu region. Intimate prayers to Our Lady, especially under the title “Our Lady of Good Success”, were offered. We also prayed every day to our good Father St. Joseph for help. In order to make the sheer impossible happen we promised him several services, if he would ensure that, later on this year and before winter, we find a house and that we manage to move. One of the promises was that every year on two of his feasts (in Carmel there are three big Feast Days to St. Joseph) we would hold a solemn procession in his honour. One sister expressed her concern that we might not be able to keep our promise, if the house which we found turned out not to have a cloister for holding proper processions. The others teased her: “Don’t you think that St. Joseph could give us not only a monastery but also a Cloister?” So the promise remained.
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In the summer there was still no sign that our prayers had been answered. The sisters therefore thought of new agreements with the heavenly inhabitants. One sister, who has a special devotion to St. Antony, came to Our Venerable Mother and asked her: “Mother, what can I promise St Antony so that he helps us find a house?” Our Venerable Mother thought for a moment and then replied spontaneously: “30 Holy Masses for the poor souls.” The whole community was excited. The condition was made clear: By the 15th August, feast of the Assumption, we had to have found the house and to have received the means to buy it. One other sister added a private promise to hold for a year a certain devotion to the benefit of the poor souls, should this condition be fulfilled. Initially we wanted to wait until the 15th August for the fulfilment of our promise, but then we advanced our mass stipends, so that the “deal” was properly done from our side.
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We would have chosen from the outset a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of our future home, but we remained silent about it, because we wanted to be led by providence. Only once, our Venerable Mother mentioned Altötting to the person helping us to search, but he quickly cut short any talk of that: “There is nothing.” After many failed attempts there was still nothing found at the end of June. Despite the many failures in the whole of Bavaria (several objects had already been visited) and being somewhat incapacitated, our middleman could not be satisfied to stop searching for the time being. “Well”, Our Venerable Mother said, “then you first go to Our Lady of Altötting and pray to her, and then look right there!” In a protest reaction to prove that our ideas were illusionary, he immediately looked on the internet ... and found immediately the “Farmhouse with courtyard, close to Altötting”! The information provided was bewildering which allowed us to hope for a really good suitability of the object.
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It was on the feast “Maria, Mediatrix of all Graces”, which is celebrated in our order in July, when two sisters went to Altötting for inspection. The sceptic who mentioned her doubts concerning the Cloister, saw to her shame and enthusiasm when entering the courtyard the future cloister already in her spirit accomplished. St. Joseph seemed to greet her with a twinkle in his eye!
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Since the property was highly sought after, a decision was quickly needed. Someone was kind enough to reserve the property for us initially. Soon we were determined to buy and we got the verbal sale commitment – on the feast “Mary, Mother of Mercy”. But we were still lacking the remainder of the money for the purchase. Nonetheless, trusting in Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. Antony and the Poor Souls in Purgatory, we fixed the date with the sollicitor for 21st August. The deadline was now the 15th August. Until then we had to leave Our Lady time to provide us with the money.
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With every thought to the Poor Souls, we always remembered very intensively the late Mr. Jacob Bichlmeier, to whom the Schnitzlehen formerly belonged. The heirs of the farmhouse told us that he always had a very strong faith. One had seen him often lying on his knees praying in front of a beautiful cross in the courtyard of his estate. This beautiful cross was not left to us by the heirs – thanks be to God, it is sufficiently appreciated and venerated by these faithful souls - but several crosses on the gables and the roof give witness of the piety which was practised here. To pray for the peace of soul of this man who died early was a deed of honour for us, a pleasant duty which gave us new hope.
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On the evening of August 15, we still hadn’t received the necessary money, nor on August 16, which brought the bank statements from the day before. What next? Had our heavenly administrators left us alone? A last attempt to solicit the missing amount was made. And just before the deadline, on a Saturday, Saturday of Our Lady, two donations arrived which let us begin the journey to the signing of the contract with relief. The confirmation of both financial aids and at the same time the demand for payment reached us again on a feast day of Our Lady: Our Lady of Ransom. At the very last moment our trust was rewarded: the right amount arrived just punctually enough for us to meet the much earlier than expected request for payment, so that the agreement didn’t fall through. On the feast of “Mary Mother of the Good Shepherd” the purchase price was paid.
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What lesson is hidden in these dispensations of God! St. Joseph will certainly never give us supplies in advance. The honour will always belong to God, Our Lady and this good householder, and also the Poor Souls and St. Anthony will prove to be efficient intercessors – all the more so if it means rescue at the last moment!
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We publish this narrative of events because of the promise we also made: that if our requests were fulfilled, we would let everyone know so that the works of God may be glorified.
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You all already know the rest of the story: On October 7 we celebrated the new beginning with the first Holy Mass in the Schnitzlehen. This, too, was not without the hand of God being apparent: When Our Venerable Mother suggested to our Chaplain the Feast of the Holy Rosary as a possible date of moving, he could answer that only up until the 6th October his flat was booked, which he intended to have as his temporary asylum in Altötting, until his rooms in the monastery were ready for occupancy.
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Our hearts are now overflowing with gratitude. So many people have suffered with us and supported us in prayers, have helped us, often under a lot of sacrifices. Our Lady has wonderfully stirred and guided the hearts and without your response to grace we would have never reached our goal. When one considers the value of each of those gifts and recalls the words of Our Lord, “And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.” (Mt. 10,42), then you may hope for abundant reward in eternity and already in this life. With each of our prayers, all your intentions will become daily present in front of our God and Our Queen of the Carmel. That these ties remain is our heartfelt prayer for the future. Our regular news will let you know how it goes with our monastery. We want you to tune in to our thanksgiving hymn at the end of the year in a never ending “Te Deum laudamus – Holy God we praise Thy Name”
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Your sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel