During springtime each year the Diocese of Cleveland pauses and celebrates and recognizes a number of persons who received call for service from God and who responded generously to the invitation from Jesus, "Come, follow me."
On Saturday morning, April 13, a Mass was celebrated at the Center for Pastoral Leadership thanking God for the religious women and men who live and work in our diocese. Sisters, Brothers, and Priests who are celebrating their jubilees of seventy, sixty, fifty and twenty-five years of faithful service were recognized and thanked not only for what they have done and continue to do, but more significantly for who they are, the presence of God in our midst! In honoring them we as diocese were also acknowledging all the religious in our diocese and thanking God for His generosity for sharing these gifted women and men with all of us.
Earlier this week on Tuesday, the 7th of May, the diocese paused and celebrated Mass at St. Basil the Great Parish in Brecksville honoring Deacons who have served the Faithful of the diocese for twenty-five years. Again, in doing so, all deacons were remembered with gratitude for all their diaconal service. The Second Vatican Council in 1964 called for the re-institution of the Diaconate. This decision has indeed enriched the Church throughout the world, and here in the Diocese of Cleveland. When deacons exercise the three-fold ministry of the Word, the ministry of the altar, and the ministry of service especially for the poor, they are mirroring the three-fold ministry of Jesus for the good of others.
Shortly, the diocese will again pause and offer Mass at St. Basil the Great Parish to recognize those priests who are celebrating their sixtieth, fiftieth, fortieth and twenty-fifth anniversaries of ordination to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. In having this recognition for those celebrating significant anniversaries, the diocese will also be commending all the priests for their faithful service to God and to His holy people. Being one of this year?s jubilarians, I am honored to be celebrating my anniversary with my brother priests of Cleveland who were ordained in1973 and with those ordained in 1988, 1963 and 1953. The gathering and Mass will provide for all of us who are ordained to the Priesthood the best way possible to thank God through our being together in prayer.
As the Faithful of the Diocese of Cleveland we have much to be grateful for, not least of which are the gifts of consecrated life and ordained life that God has bestowed so generously upon our brothers and sisters. They live their lives with integrity and they generously share their gifts and lives with all of us.
These celebrations are opportunities for us to not only look back with gratitude, but also for us to look forward. I earnestly believe that in light of the present times there is a great need for all of us to appreciate religious life and ordained life within our experience of our faith lives and to share that appreciation with one another, especially with young men and women. We need to express the value of these vocations so that young people may feel support if they consider a life of service to God and His people.
While we rejoice with our sisters and brothers who have given of themselves so fully to the Church, we need to establish a vocation awareness that appreciates the call of Jesus