“As I look out at you jubilarians and members of your communities, I am taken by the thought that the Church is made up of living stones, each sharing different gifts that the Lord uses to build up his mystical body on earth,” Bishop Edward Malesic told members of religious communities in the Diocese of Cleveland who gathered for the annual jubilee Mass April 23 in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.
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“Without you and your personal ministry and community apostolates, we would be less than God intends us to be as a Church,” he added.
Using the image of the Synod on Synodality, the bishop told the vowed religious that they “have helped us be a better Church that is the result of walking together with the common vision of God’s love for God’s people and a common direction toward heaven itself. You are a divine gift to us,” the bishop said.
Several dozen vowed religious attended this year’s liturgy. The event had been canceled by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, so those marking significant years of service – 25, 50, 60, 70 and 75 years – from 2020-2022 were invited to attend. Many of the congregations also host their own celebrations.
“In a day and age when lifetime commitment is a commodity in short supply, your lifetime example is an inspiration to us all,” Bishop Malesic said. “Your life is a shining example of what it means to be strong in the Lord’s love. Thank you for showing us the higher way of sacrificial love.” He said they have shown that love for sake of the other is not only possible, “but required of those who claim Christ as Lord.”
The bishop said it is important to mark their personal jubilees as a Church. “We have needed you to remind us that there is a different way of living than the way this world often proposes. There is a way of peace, justice, faith, hope and love.”
In 2014, Pope Francis said that “Religious should be men and women who are able to wake the world up.”
That is why it’s important today that we continue to pray and work for the reign of God to take root in the world, including Ukraine, Bishop Malesic said.
“I am also very aware that religious women and men have forged a tremendous legacy of service throughout the entire 175-year history of our Diocese of Cleveland. You are an ongoing part of that history and your legacy looms large, whether you are celebrating 25 years of religious life or 75 years of religious life. Your presence, prayer, good works and vocation make a difference to our Church.”
The bishop, who is marking the 35th anniversary of his ordination this year, recalled how a religious sister who worked at his parish when he was a teenager played a role in helping him – along with the pastor – to realize his vocation to the priesthood.
“She saw something in me that I would never have seen without her help. Her feminine intuition was far superior to my masculine obtuseness,” he quipped.
He said there are similar stories elsewhere in the Church, noting that somewhere there is a person who is telling the story of how a vowed religious sister, brother or priest made a difference in their lives and made them better by bringing the love of God to them. It is important to pray that more men and women answer the call to consecrated life, the bishop said, noting it may not always be an easy life, but it is a life worth living.
“I cannot say enough about how much I admire the work that you and your religious communities do. You educate our youth, heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the lonely and despairing, free the oppressed, advocate for justice and remind us of our responsibilities as stewards of planet earth – doing all this and even more with love and kindness – always reflecting the face of Christ to God’s children. But again, it is by pointing the way to Jesus that makes your way of consecrated life essential for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls,” the bishop said.
He was the principal celebrant of the Mass. Concelebrants included Father Don Oleksiak, vicar general, Father Dan Schlegel, vicar for clergy and religious, and some of the priests who were celebrating jubilees. Deacon John Sferry assisted.
Each jubiliarian received a blessed pin from the bishop.
“We celebrate and thank God for all of you, those who have surrendered your life to the Lord in service to him and the Church. We celebrate and thank God for your faith, your generosity and your love of God and the people you serve,” he said. “May your faith, charisms and community continue to grow in the Lord.”