a sense of unworthiness of receiving the Blessed Sacrament. So she
stepped out of line. But then something marvelous happened in that
moment. As she recounts, “Then all of a sudden, I felt a force behind
me to get back into it, and I did. And I went to Holy Communion, and
my whole life changed that minute.”
“I mean, the Eucharist was just so real. . . . It was just a complete
changeover.” In fact, the experience was so deep and profound that
within a week she decided to join a religious order and dedicate her
life to God. And it was all because of the Eucharist.
Fifty-seven years later, living in the Poor Clare monastery on
Cleveland’s East Side, the intensity of that encounter hasn’t faded
from her memory nor has her great love for the Eucharist. In fact, one
can see the joy and delight radiate from her face as she speaks about
the Eucharist. She speaks enthusiastically of Jesus in the Eucharist as
being like a spouse. Indeed, she has nurtured a relationship with Jesus
over the course of a lifetime of prayer in the presence of the Blessed
Sacrament. As she says, “He means everything.”
“You know all our life . . . we would like to spread the faith. We would
like to spread love for the Eucharist. When you think you receive Jesus
himself, it’s Christ himself! He’s within you. It means everything. . . . They
often talk about mystical marriage. . . . I would say it’s that. Consequently,
all that you do is for him.”
Art Enriched by Faith
This mystical dimension that Mother Mary Thomas speaks of comes
across profoundly in the other great love of her life: painting. Her
unique calling to serve the church as a contemplative nun in a religious
order dedicated to perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
did nothing to dampen her fervor for painting. Instead, her art was
enriched by her faith and given greater focus and direction.
She dedicated her life to painting, filling churches and religious
spaces