Born Marie Fadia Laham in Beirut, Lebanon, her Palestinian father had fled Nazareth at the time Israel was created in 1948 while her mother was Lebanese. After her education by French nuns, she became a hippie for 2 years while travelling in Europe, India and Nepal. While in Nepal she was overcome by God's unconditional love, and a revelation in which "God gave me a glimpse of the glory he has reserved for those who are saved." She then became a nun in the Carmelite order in 1971, and worked to help displaced families from the Lebanon civil war.