On the evening of December 26, 2018 Sister Maria Lubov Petroka of the Sacred Heart Monastery, Middletown, New York, USA was called home to the Lord in the 94th year of her life. She lived a monastic life serving God for 75 years.
Kindly pray for the soul of Sister Maria Lubov Petroka. May she rest in God’s loving arms.
“God grant her Eternal Memory!”
During the night of December 26, 2018, Sister Maria Lubov Petroka, OSBM, passed from this world to eternal life. Her contemplative Sisters surrounded her with prayer during her final four days and nights in the hospital in Middletown, NY.
Sister Lubov was born on September 27, 1924 in Palmerton, PA. On September 21, 1943, she entered the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great in Uniontown, PA, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Province, where she was professed in 1951. She served for many years in various teaching assignments in parish schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. On September 8, 1967, she entered Sacred Heart Monastery in Astoria, NY, the contemplative branch of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great. Between 1972 and 1975, at the request of General Superior Mother Emelia Prokopik, Sister Lubov spent time helping the contemplative nuns in Albano, Italy, and then writing the Monastery Directory for the Astoria contemplative nuns while at the Generate in Rome. The majority of her contemplative life was spent in Middletown, NY, where the contemplative community relocated in 1992.
Sister Lubov loved music and would sing at any opportunity. She loved the Divine Office, and even when ill, wanted to be present to pray it. She had a deep reverence for the Holy Eucharist, as well as a great devotion to her guardian angel, the Mother of God, and all the saints, especially St. Michael the Archangel. She had a love and reverence for priests, and faithfully prayed for them. At communal prayer in the evening, she always prayed by name for the deceased Sisters from Uniontown. She had a special love for the holy souls in purgatory, and in the “Heroic Act of Charity,” offered the merits of all her prayers, works and suffering for them.
Sister Lubov struggled with many health issues in the past few years, including a number of hospitalizations and then months at a time in rehab. Yet she never complained, but always accepted the suffering as God’s will and offered it for souls. On December 26, Sister Lubov’s fervent and frequent prayer was answered as she went “home” to the God she so loved and had faithfully served during her 75 years of monastic life. She died as she had lived, seeking to pray always. Even as she struggled to breathe on Christmas Day, her whispered prayer was, “My God, my God! I love You.”
May her memory be eternal!