Sister Lillian and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
Published January 13th, 2021
Recently we have uploaded audio tapes of some talks given to our group by Sister Lillian Shank, OCSO who passed away in November 2019. I wanted to give some background as to the importance of Sister Lillian to the history of our group so here is my essay on Sister Lillian.
Her Early Life
Sister Lillian became a nun in her early 20’s at Mount St Mary in Wrentham, Mass. She said she had always envisioned getting married and having a lot of children but God won her heart instead. She had some religious experiences in her life that solidified her relationship with her heavenly spouse, one of which she shared with our group. She said she saw a tree that had red and white leaves, I believe it’s a type of maple, and when she saw this tree she felt it meant something that God was trying to tell her. She soon ran across a reading in the Song of Songs that uses these terms.
Finding Her Calling
This struck her as God telling her that she is his beloved – which she would go on to preach to us that we are also his beloved whether we are married or single or belong to a religious order. God wants to marry us – a theme that is also the subject of the book of the prophet Hosea in the Old Testament. Union with God, living in God, being Christ centered, these are all themes of which she would constantly remind us. I always considered the Gospel where Jesus tells us we are the branches and He is the Vine. We can do nothing if we are not connected to Him.
Sister was a founding member of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey in Dubuque Iowa (OLM). A group of nuns from Mount St Mary’s were given the task of founding this new abbey in the 1960’s. Sr Lillian did many different tasks at OLM including bookkeeping, candy making, farming of animals and crops. She was trained as a nurse so she also took care of the sick in the infirmary.
Her Role In South Florida Lay Cistercians
Sometime in the 1990’s, Sister’s mother got sick and she came to Florida with permission from her abbess to take care of her. While she was here doing this, she was contacted by a woman here in South Florida looking for a nun to help start a Lay Cistercian group. The first South Florida Lay Cistercian meeting took place in the Fall of 1998. Sister would go on to lead this group and two others in Florida for about 20 years.
Her Life & Death In All It’s Details
Sister was a lover of stray animals and always had one or two dogs (and one cat) living with her. Often she brought her dogs to our meetings. She was always very overweight the last 20 years of her life. She was not particularly aesthetic nor did she cease to talk or go to bed early these last years. Living alone and away from the monastery did not make her more healthy nor did it create good personal habits that one would consider monk like. But one thing Sister did get right was how to love, how to forgive and pray for people who hurt her, how to be a good example of a loving person who prays for others and strives to be a good friend to them even if she had to be up late at night talking to them on the phone.
I once saw a movie about Mother Teresa starring Olivia Hussey. Here it is on Amazon Prime.
There is a scene in this movie where Mother Teresa is gathering the street children of Calcutta and meeting them every day under a huge tree so she can teach them to read and write. She begs food from the local merchants to be able to offer them lunch to the children when they come. I have often felt that Sister Lillian was our Mother Teresa. We were ignorant, starving children of God who had little knowledge of prayer and of the great monastic knowledge that helps people to become prayerful effective members of the Body of Christ. She worked in our souls as an instrument of Our Father to mold us into becoming more spiritually mature Christians. Our lives were enriched not only by the great knowledge she imparted to us but also by the experience of knowing her and the nuns of her abbey.
After her death it was discovered that she racked up quite a few speeding tickets. She lived in Clewiston and would travel from there to Delray Beach to meet with our group, to Tampa to meet with a group of Lay Cistercians there and also to Fort Myers to meet with another group there. She must have been driving so many miles each way and back for all of those last 20 years of her life. God bless her. She was truly a selfless, loving, kind soul who struggled with everyday human problems like the rest of us but never became bitter or sour. She said that her mother always told her to do her best and that was what she felt she was doing. God bless us all to do our best as well and not give anyone else a hard time if they seem to not be living up to what we think the standard should be. Sister Lillian was a true Christian, a true saint and she produced much good fruit for God. I will always consider her my spiritual mother. I am so grateful for the tremendous blessing of having known her and been taught by her. God help me to be and produce good fruit as well. Amen.
Listen to talks 1-8 Sister Lillian gave in 2009 during Lay Cistercian gatherings
Talk 1
Talk 2
Talk 3
Talk 4
Talk 5
Talk 6
Talk 7
Talk 8
Seek a Deeper Connection with God and Join Lay Cistercians of South Florida
Lay Cistercians of South Florida, is a community of lay people who seeks to have a deeper connection with God by living a life inspired by the monks and nuns through Lay Monasticism. Learn more about what is a Lay Cistercian on our website. Anyone who aspires to do the same as us, and is a confirmed Catholic is welcome to join us! We meet every second Saturday of the month at Emmanuel Catholic Church in Delray Beach, Florida.
This Content Has Been Reviewed For Accuracy
This content has undergone comprehensive fact-checking by our dedicated team of experts. Discover additional information about the rigorous editorial standards we adhere to on our website.
ADVERTISEMENT
About The Author
Nancy Heise is a devoted Catholic and a member of the Lay Cistercians of South Florida based in Delray Beach Florida. This private group is affiliated with the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers Georgia.
