Maryann Summa, OP
Foundation Day Homily
Seventh Sunday After Easter May 4, 2008
Good morning and happy anniversary! We are also happy to welcome our new associates and their families who have joined us on this special day.
It has been 132 years since Alice Thorpe and her two companions received the approval of Cardinal McCloskey to officially establish the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary. Today, between the feast of the Ascension and the feast of Pentecost, we celebrate that new beginning which has brought us to this day.
As we consider these two feastdays which envelop our foundation day, we find the followers of Christ going through many mixed emotions. The one they followed and revered had risen from the dead, was present to them for forty days and then leaves them, with the assurance that He will always be with them in spirit. While his words might have brought some comfort, his followers, frightened and unsure of the future, returned to the room where they had shared the last supper with him, to pray for direction. We know that their prayers were answered in an unusual way. The Holy Spirit came to them and blessed them with the strength they needed to go forth and proclaim the gospel message.
Moving forward to the 1800’s, we encounter a young woman, who accompanied by her sister, leaves her home in England because God was calling her to do something different with her life. “She left all things to follow him” – even though following him meant coming to the United States to begin a ministry of service to women and children in need of assistance. In three short years, Alice Thorpe, now known as Sister Catherine Antoninus, established this congregation, suffered through some very difficult times and just when her little community began to feel secure, she was taken from them. Their fear and insecurity was evident and in some cases their trust faulted, causing some sisters to move on to another congregation that seemed to be more firmly established.
We ask ourselves, “What does the history of the early church and the history of our congregation say to us today?”. Jesus says to His Father in today’s reading: ”I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do”. He did what He had been asked to do and His work was now completed. There are times that this happens to us as well. We go to a particular place, giving of ourselves completely to the ministry we have been called to. Then it is time to move on. We have all experienced this in our own lives and we have also shared this with members of our community. There are times when it is very clear that our ministry in a particular place is completed and we must move forward to embrace a new challenge. And then there are times when we struggle to find that clarity.
It was very clear to Jesus that the time had come for Him to return to the Father. It was now time for those who followed Him to continue spreading the Good News through the teachings He had shared with them. Each day presents each of us with unlimited opportunities to preach the gospel with every step we take, every person we meet, and every word we speak. By the way we live out our lives, God’s goodness and love are revealed.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles speaks of the Upper Room where the followers of Jesus joined in prayerful anticipation of what was yet to come. If you go to your computer and Google the Upper Room where the Last Supper was celebrated, you will not see anything very unusual. It is a plain stone room that was probably very ordinary for that time in history and yet extraordinary things happened there. In the chaos of the rushing wind, the Spirit of God came with an energy far beyond their imagination. Attitudes were changed and the apostles were motivated with enthusiasm and hope. They moved from being weak and discouraged to being people with new vitality. They discovered the dynamic power of love and a new determination to live what Jesus had proclaimed.
In the Upper Room of our hearts and souls, extraordinary things can happen when we are open to God’s love for us. It is a matter of taking time to be silent, to be mindful of God’s presence in our lives. Then extraordinary things will indeed happen as we deepen our relationship with God and with others. Our Pentecosts will rarely be large, powerful gales. Rather, they are usually little breezes that change our lives a little at a time. Like the rushing wind of Pentecost, they can be unpredictable and unexpected. We just can’t take them for granted but must be willing to be attentive to the work of the divine in us.
Then, in the spirit of faith and hope, we can move forward to whatever, wherever God is calling us, recalling the words of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words”.
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