On 6 January 2018, the Servite Sisters of Swaziland celebrated two golden jubilees, one silver jubilee and a first profession.
Below is the text of my homily
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Every year the Servite family gather on this day to celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. It is “their” feast.
This year, the feast the marked by the celebration of a first profession, a silver jubilee and a golden jubilee. The feast is marked by vows to be made today or made decades' ago. The feast is marked by the celebration of religious life.
I believe the feast of the epiphany is a great image of what religious life is. We have these “wise men” from the East leaving behind every possible security they could have in order to find “the newly born King of the Jews”.
No cellphones. No maps. No GPS. No precise indication of the place. No physical address. No name. No surname. No nothing.
Religious life is about leaving behind what to other people seems normal: deciding on their own lives, financial security, getting married and building a family...
Religious life has that challenging dimension in the eyes of so many:
• What? You don't have a wife / a husband?
• What? You don't have a bank account on your name? You don't have personal money?
• What? You don't decide...? You have a superior?!
It is always interesting to see how many times people and even pastors would come quoting the Bible trying to justify why they should have money, power, a family of their own. They would cleverly ignore any other text that might support the choice being made by religious sisters, brothers and priests.
Like these wise men, these “wise men and women” believe that nothing is greater than Jesus and they are ready to give up everything to be with Him, to follow Him, to tell the world about Him. Religious life points to Jesus in a very special way.
Maybe two images should be underlined today:
• Religious sisters, brothers and priests are like the wise men as they look for Jesus;
• Religious sisters, brothers and priests are like stars guiding others to Jesus with their lives.
It is all about Jesus. That should be noted. That should be clear.
Religious life has its challenges though:
- One might get tired. One might forget why he / she has started this journey. Nothing moves him/her anymore. One then become like the leaders of the people who hear the news of the newly born King of the Jews but do not move a finger to look for Him. They do know the right answers but are not really touched by them. Religious then become “professionals”. They dress as religious sisters, brothers and priests but nothing moves them anymore;
- One might forget Jesus is at the centre of their call. Once you forget that, you replace it with something else. It all becomes “me, myself and I”. Money becomes indispensable. Personal accounts. Secret accounts. Obedience? Sure. Everyone should do as I say. Even the superior. They become Herod. Herod could not accept that anyone ... not even Jesus! ... could be at the centre. The love of Jesus that should be at the centre disappears and we start killing each other like Herod would do.
Today we might not be celebrating wise men but we hope we do have four wise women! We do hope we have many more than four.
We need religious life in our diocese. We need people ready to tell us with their lives that nothing and no one is more important that Jesus.
We need people ready to fool Herod and not to be fooled by him. I love the image at the end of the Gospel when the wise men fooled Herod. He keeps on waiting for them to be back and then realises he has been fooled by them.
Fool Herod! Fool all those who tell you Jesus can wait. Fool all those tell you Jesus can take second place. Keep them waiting.
One more thing. In English we say: “Blood is thicker than water” to imply that family relationships are always more important than friends. Show everyone that faith is thicker & stronger than blood.
Lead us all in the way of love.
