ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Jubiliarians and all of you dear people of God,

What a wonderful celebration this is! What a wonderful opportunity this is, to be able to express to our consecrated Religious—to our Sisters, our Priests, our Brothers—the great love of the Church, as they observe this very special anniversary in their own lives! We are very happy to have present this morning several of the Superiors General of the different Religious Congregations. And we are also very happy to have the Provincial Superiors and the Delegates here at this Mass.

I mentioned already at the beginning, that we have two hundred and fifty Religious in this Archdiocese celebrating major anniversaries and how impressive that is, to think in terms of 13,405 years that these women and men have given in consecrated living as a prolongation of the very special charism of their Baptism in Christ and in His Church. We are deeply grateful, and this celebration of ours is one of deep thanksgiving and an expression of immense admiration and pride for all those who have been faithful to Jesus for this long period of time.

This past year, my schedule has demanded of me a great deal of travel. Such travel required waiting at times in airports. And, while waiting can be frustrating, it can also provide an opportunity to observe the complexities of human nature. I am always intrigued by watching the different people at the airport and the diverse emotions which they display. One can sense the anticipation of a reunion with a loved one, as well as the joy which is expressed so clearly on the faces of those family members or close friends who are finally reunited after a long absence. Although today, communications are faster and better than ever thought of through the Internet, the fax machines, cellular telephones, nothing can replace the actual presence of one whom we love.

This type of longing is easily understood by those who have consecrated their lives to God in a special way in the Church. All those who dedicate their lives to the service of Christ and the Church have a common desire: a longing to see God, to have the consolation of seeing Jesus Christ face-to-face. Your vocation and mine are based on the abiding hope that fidelity to our call, and all that is entailed with our "yes" to our vocation, will grant us the blessed reward of beholding the face of God.

Yet there is another important aspect of the vocation of the religious: to make present the face of God for other people. Since the very beginnings of the consecrated life within the Church, the religious has rightly been viewed as a unique and joyful representative of God. The religious was considered a person called to a special degree of union with God. The religious lived and accomplished the works of the Father. Indeed, people continue to experience, through the various charisms carried out day after day by members of the respective institutes and societies, the many blessings which God lavishes upon His people: healing, wisdom, charity, compassion, and mercy. The prayers, words, and works of the religious make God truly present to His people.

The Scriptural passages proclaimed in this liturgy offer yet another insight into the vocation of the religious as well as the priest. The wise words of the Book of Sirach and of the 103rd Psalm remind us of our primary role of service in the Church: to serve God and our neighbor by showing mercy and forgiveness, just as the Lord is kind and merciful to us. Today, more than ever before, all those who exercise a role of service in the Church must be vigilant in living lives which reflect the Gospel values, values which invite others to turn away from the world and to turn toward Christ. The joyful witness of a life full of mercy and compassion and forgiveness is a powerful weapon in combating the seductive influence of sin, materialism, and cynicism which are so glamorized by our contemporary culture.

The excerpt from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew speaks of correction, reconciliation, and forgiveness. These, too, are significant aspects in the lives of consecrated persons. People in the world must constantly be reminded of their need to turn to God in a spirit of repentance and hope. People should see the life of the religious as an offering to God, a fragrant and beautiful offering of humanity to God, and, as a special gift from God, an embodiment of His limitless love and mercy toward His children.

Similarly, the communal life of the religious, while not always perfect, demonstrates the joy of persons who live united and guided by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the same time, Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, reminds us of the importance of community living and mutual prayerful support, when he writes: "None of us lives for himself or herself, and no one dies for himself or for herself." The prayer of the Church, shared in common by those who live in harmony and peace, is efficacious and will demonstrate the loving presence of Christ Himself.

Today, there is present in the hearts of many, especially our youth, a longing to see the face of God, to know what Christ is like. In recent years, circumstances resulting from the sins of relatively few have seemingly marred that Holy Face of Christ. The pain experienced by us all is a catalyst for us to hear anew the Lord’s invitation to unite in prayer in order to make the face of Christ present even more clearly, ever more visibly. As we look to the future, we advance in a new zeal and a holy joy which will draw others—especially our young people—to seek what we have sought and to find what we have found, that Christ can and will be re-presented in the lives of His consecrated witnesses years to come.

My beloved Jubilarians, may your consecrated lives continue to give witness to the joy which comes from following more closely in the footsteps of the chaste, poor, and obedient Christ. For your many years of dedicated service to the Church, I thank you. For the continued support of your prayers and works on behalf of all in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, I thank you. For all that you will do in the days and the years ahead to continue to renew and refresh the Church and your particular mission in the Church, I thank you, in the name of the Archdiocese, and, even more, in the name of Jesus.

I entrust you today and every day of your lives to the protection of Mary, Queen of Virgins and Mother of the Church. May her love for you strengthen you in your consecrated lives and continue to encourage you toward your eternal reward. And, as you yourselves long to see the face of Christ, so may you continue to desire deeply to show the face of Christ to others, especially to the young. To show the face of Christ as a face of compassion and understanding, of love and mercy and forgiveness.

This, dear Jubiliarians, is my prayer and wish for all of you today. And for the people of God I ask that they continue to appreciate in a deep way this vocation. It is the vocation of those called to a particular mission, just as marriage is a particular vocation. But it is very important that all the people of God have this love and esteem, and, as a matter of fact they do, because you, dear Religious, have experienced this in all the years of your consecrated life—the support and the love of the people of God. And so it is meant to be and so it must be. And yet there remains always the challenge to your own lives to give the people of God this extraordinary witness. The extraordinary witness of your lives is summarized in a very special word and that is "joy." Because only joy, profound, deep joy that is nourished by an experience of Jesus Christ, only this joy can attract to religious life.

Dear friends, people of God, next Sunday we hope that as Priests and Deacons, as Religious, as Laity in the Church, married and single, young and old, we will gather together—and I appeal in a very special way to the Religious today to do everything possible to ensure their presence as we make a common act of profound faith in the Blessed Sacrament—to renew our Archdiocese in Eucharistic devotion as we render homage to Jesus Himself by our Prayer on the Parkway. And, in doing this, we will remember that the Second Vatican Council tells us that the Eucharist is "the source and summit of all Christian life." And dear Religious—dear Religious Priests who are celebrating your anniversaries, dear Sisters, dear Brothers—it is the Eucharist that has brought you to this day and it is the Eucharist that brings all of us, through the problems and challenges of life, to our final reward in Christ Jesus.

And so today, precisely because it is the Eucharist that explains us to ourselves, we gather to celebrate this Mass as a very special act of thanksgiving for our sisters and brothers who have so generously, so faithfully, so lovingly, so joyfully borne witness to Jesus Christ and His Church. Amen.