Homily for the Final Profession of Sister Ghia: February 8, 2009

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

This past week I had the opportunity to attend a meeting for the New Evangelization of America. Evangelization refers to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone in the world. This mission has been entrusted to all of us as members of the Church and means not just teaching or preaching about Jesus but also proclaiming Jesus Christ by our words and our actions. Every activity of the Church is meant to be evangelizing, that is to bring people to faith in Christ and to transform the world through her social ministry. All this is done in fidelity to Christ and in respect for the conscience and religious freedom of all people. It was Pope John Paul II who said that the Church needed a new evangelization to meet the needs of our times. He meant that there needed to be a new ardor for carrying on the mission of Christ, new ways and methods that work in our times, and new expressions that bring the gospel into the various cultures of the world. Much of our meeting was devoted to the technologies of the digital age and how to utilize them. You probably know that the Pope is now on U Tube. One of the participants said to me: think of it this way. Individually you may be speaking to 300 people, but by television it can be 300,000. I responded: Ah, yes you are correct and we must make use of the new technologies which are at hand. But we must never forget or underestimate the power of God working through one individual in a particular situation. The technological can never replace the warmth and love of personal presence. Neither must we judge by numbers, thinking that thousands is better than one.

When Simon Peter told Jesus that everyone was looking for him, Jesus said that He must go to the neighboring villages so that He could preach there. It was the powerful personal presence of Jesus preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee. Paul, his great apostle to the Gentiles, in the same vein wrote to the Corinthians: IF I PREACH THE GOSPEL, THIS IS NO REASON FOR ME TO BOAST, FOR AN OBLIGATION HAS BEEN IMPOSED ON ME, AND WOE TO ME IF I DO NOT PREACH IT.

This evening Sister Guia makes her final profession as a member of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacro Costato and of the Sorrowful Mother. In doing so she is freely consecrated in the Church to Jesus Christ. In a deeply personal way, in imitation of Christ, she commits her life to God and to the evangelizing mission of the Church. Each religious congregation in the Church, in accord with its own charism seeks to bring people to faith in Christ and to transform the world into a more loving and just human family. The charism of the Sacro Costato sisters is that of love and reparation for sin in the world.

Sister Guia makes three simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The vow of poverty does not demean the value of this world’s goods as if that which is material is bad. Rather it says that all belongs to God and that we are to be God’s stewards of the goods of this earth. The one who is vowed in poverty claims nothing as her own, lives for the glory of God, and uses this world’s goods as a testimony to simplicity and charity.

Consecration to chastity in no way diminishes the beauty or purpose of human sexuality but lifts up the virtue of love as the gift of oneself to others and in this particular vow the gift of one’s life to God. A chaste life radically recognizes the ultimate meaning and purpose of life as to be lived for God no matter where we find ourselves in this world, no matter what our work be, no matter who we are.

Obedience to God is an obedience of faith. The vow of obedience, while indeed lived out in a practical way in the Religious Congregation, is far more than accepting an assignment, going where you are sent , or living within the Constitutions of the Congregation. Obedience is a life lived in the presence of God, seeking to be faithful to God’s will, joyfully accepting the mercy of God, and praying for the grace to persevere to the end.

The life of a consecrated Religious, indeed in our own way the lives of each of us, preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ and brings healing to our sinful world.

Jesus was up early to pray and quick to move on to the neighboring villages to do that for which he came. May the same greatness of soul in Jesus which drew the people to him, and the same human touch when he grasped the hand of Peter’s mother-in-law and helped her up, fill the heart and life of Sister Guia, and of all of us.

Last Update February 9, 2009