Natural State Snapshots

September 17-23, 2018

Photo by Kay Bona

 

Marylake Monastery, East End. Founded in 1952 and located thirteen miles south of Little Rock, Marylake Monastery is a residence for Discalced Carmelite friars of the Province of St. Thérèse, which includes Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The monastery is a novitiate for the province, which is a type of religious “boot camp” for young men entering the Carmelite Order of the Roman Catholic Church. As solitude is sought as an aid to contemplative prayer, the rural site was chosen because it offered a more secluded setting than the former novitiate within the urban setting of San Antonio. It is contemplative – even if you are on the outside looking in.