Sister Brandee

"Blessed are the pure in heart,  for they shall see God."
– Matthew 5:8

I introduced my readers to Brandee just a few weeks ago. Against all odds she has persevered in her call to become a Carmelite nun. And now she has some exciting news for us. She is going to enter Carmel.



It seems to me that I already see a great change in her. We can hear the excitement in her voice and she still has that great enthusiasm that we love about her, but there is also a new calm and serenity that was not there before.

She tells us of her great desire to enter Carmel and some of the obstacles that stood in her way. We see in her a great will and determination to follow in the footsteps of St. Teresa of the Andes. And then finally the good news that the sisters of the Carmelite Monastery of Cristo Rey in San Francisco have heard her call, and they have offered her an invitation to come visit them.

We see at the beginning of the video that she is holding the book of Divine Mercy which is the diary of St. Faustina. Yes, that is the book I recommended to her in my previous article! I'm sure she will find that St. Faustina is like a big sister to her – even though she was not a Carmelite nun :)

And now I have another recommendation for Brandee. I don't think she needs to go out and buy the book, but I want her to be aware of another nun with a simple heart and a great devotion to Jesus and who was also blessed with divine revelations. I'm speaking of Sister Josefa Menéndez. I just discovered her myself. (As far as I know her revelations have never been condemned by the Church. In fact, they received the blessing of Pope Pius XII.)

Sister Josefa lived around the same time as St. Faustina and her revelations seem to be intertwined with those of St. Faustina. The book about her that includes her diaries is called "The Way of Divine Love".

On Saturday, the 20th of November, He came to her, as a beggar, destitute and asking for love. He appeared with all His wounds..."Many little wounds were lacerating His Heart," she wrote.

'Tell Me, would you not attempt the impossible to comfort Me, Josefa? . . . Share with Me for a moment the bitterness of My Heart.'

'Listen,' He said, 'I want you to give Me souls. Only love in all you do is required. Suffer because you love, work because you love, and above all abandon yourself to love. When I let you feel anguish of spirit and great loneliness, suffer in love. I want to make use of you as a tired man uses a stick to lean upon. . . . I want to possess you, to consume you entirely, but all in great sweetness, so that enduring a martyrdom of love, you thirst to suffer more.'

'I come to rest in you, for I am so little loved,' He said. 'I am in search of love and meet only with thankless neglect. Rare are the souls that truly love Me.'

Here is a video I want to share with Brandee. It's from MarysLittleFlower YouTube channel. This is where I first learned about Sister Josefa Menéndez. (See the quotes near the end of the video.)



When you get to Carmel, please pray for us Sister Brandee.

Related posts:

• Why I wanted to be Catholic?
• Divine Mercy Devotion
• O Trinity that I adore