Founded in Faith, Nurtured in Love

The Chapel of the Immaculate of Conception at Notre Dame Seminary was filled on Oct. 11 with the smiles, greetings and prayers of over 100 consecrated women and men as they came together to celebrate Mass for the Jubilee of Religious. Lead in the celebration of the Holy Mass by Archbishop Gregory Aymond, the congregation was inspired by homilist Benedictine Abbott Justin Brown and cantor Elizabeth Rizzo, a consecrated Virgin in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

"We come here today with the understanding that our call to consecrated life is a gift; we have done nothing to deserve it," said Archbishop Aymond. "Let us give thanks to God for the privilege of serving him through our vocations."

The Gospel reading for the Mass was the story of Martha and Mary, which Abbott Justin pointed out in his Gospel exemplifies consecrated life.

"Martha and Mary are both examples of consecrated life: the contemplative and the active," preached Abbott Justin. "There is still and always has been one source: Jesus Christ. We are all called to follow the example of Martha's service and Mary's quiet listening.We must never allow the burden and busyness of our service to come before or obscure the relationship with the one we serve."

He went on to describe the relationship of those in consecrated life with the Lord as an encounter of heart speaking to heart saying that is where, "faith grows, love is nurtured, and hope sustains us on the way.".

"In this Jubilee Year we are invited along with the whole church to be pilgrims of hope not only in this year, but in our lifetime," continued Abbott Justin.

He concluded his homily with the image of a tapestry describing how on the backside of the tapestry it seems like a mess but when it is flipped over it is beautiful.

"Hope affirms that God is at work making something beautiful out of the mess seen on the backside.As pilgrims of hope we become coworkers in that something beautiful God is making."

Following the prayers of the faithful, Rizzo lead the congregation in a meaningful offertory song repeating the verse, "take, Lord, receive. Your love and your grace, that's enough for me," almost as though each consecrated woman and man gathered was being affirmed in their religious vows and promises and in Christian hope as they prepared to receive the Lord in the Eucharist.

At the conclusion of Mass, Brother Ron Travers, who serves as Vicar for Religious for the Archdiocese of New Orleans called a representative of each religious community represented at the Mass up to receive a candle as a memento of the occasion. Archbishop Aymond closed the Mass saying, "We go forth to live our vows and be thankful for our call to bring Christ to others in our ministry."

The group then moved to Schulte Hall at Notre Dame Seminary for fellowship and a luncheon.