2025 Jubilee Mass Homily

Written on: October 28, 2025

Reflections for a Jubilee Celebration on the Feast of St. Marguerite 2025

By Sister Eileen White, GNSHOur 2025 Jubilarians. Seated in front: Sister Dawn Gear. Standing, left to right: Sister Mary Karen Kelly, Sister Joan Elias, Sister Ceil Cosgrove, Sister Mary Salvadore, and Sister Mary Finnick.

So, my dear Sister Jubilarians, daughters of Marguerite, this whole liturgy is rich, and so connected to Jesus and Marguerite and each one of you celebrating your Grey Nun life of consecration to God. Thank you for giving me the privilege of reflecting on them and on your lives. First, I remind us of who you have been and are:

Joan, the educator, the administrator, the beloved aunt, the chef, the Laudato Si lady, the card shark, the provider-of-anything-needed-for cooking, the ever-willing committee member, the Friday nighter, the lover of Ravens, Orioles, kids, teachers and dear friend Mary Dee, and family, and all things Grey Nun.

Mary, the forever young, the nurse, the professor, the earthquake braver, the Matthew 25 interpreter, the Coordinator, the walker, the survivor, the twin, the Patriot and Red Sox fan, the ever-present, ever-ready helper.

Karen, “La Joven”, the singer, the fastest, funniest comebacker, the teacher, the leader, the recruiter of teachers, the best speaker of Spanish, the Honduras truck driver, the Centennial Singers star, the Brigantine queen, the actor, the fun-lover, the beloved sister and aunt.

Mary Sal, the therapist, the fixer, the non-student who knows more than most of us, the there-when-you-need-her, the fit one, the lover of nature and protests and her dear friend Pat, and camping, and restoring limbs and lives, the hospitable, the pizza girl, the poet-prayer composer.

Dawn, the teacher, the principal, the administrator, the leader, the “shape up or I’ll ship you out” toughie, the organizer, the cleaner, the big sister, the wonderful laugher, the lover of Notre Dame, St. Nicholas, prayers in Slovak, worship in “the other rite”, the rejector of all things vegetarian.

Ceil, the teacher, the counselor, the Orchard Park and Ottawa girl, the trainer of priests, the fixer of all things fixable, the leader, the woman of heart and insight and all things inner, the listener, the Zoomer councilor, the Bills fan, the Phillies convert, the feminist, the lover of not-so-many-words prayer.

So, who shall find a valiant woman? Here are six of them. Who are the women who know how love never fails, how love is patient and kind and forgiving? There they are. We celebrate their 60, 70, and 75 years because in a thousand ways they have reached out to Jesus in the hungry, the homeless, the neglected, the lonely, the uneducated, the imprisoned, the sick, the addicted, the broken, the spiritually naked.

Joan and Mary, Karen and Ceil, Mary and Dawn, and Anne, who is celebrating with us, but so recently on the other side — these women are daughters of Marguerite. What they – and we — celebrate today is God’s faithful love (We’ll sing of it later — In every age, You have been our refuge and our hope). They learned of God’s faithful love from their families, their teachers, their friends, their Sisters, their students and clients and co-workers. They learned in community – which was often a joy and sometimes very hard – living with the crazies, and later in life realizing that we were the crazies, too!

They learned of God’s faithful love in Marguerite’s life. Like Marguerite, they had to learn to trust in God’s faithfulness even on the awful days, times of tears and anguish, disappointment and pain.  But they were good students – they learned well. And their lives witnessed to God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Marguerite was called to the charism of religious life in response to the messiness of her world. Her eyes, her ears, her heart were opened to see the needs of her time. Our jubilarians also experienced the call to open their eyes, ears and hearts. Our world is still messy! Their mission – and ours – is not done. Perhaps more now than in any other era, our world needs our consecrated lives.

We celebrate jubilee because the world needs our life. The world needs our life of never refusing to serve – our world needs the witness of our life, our faith, our hope, and our love. Our jubilarians, and all of us, will keep on giving that witness. May we all marvel with Marguerite at God’s Providence and respond to God’s call to us today. May it be so.

This entry was posted in Matters of Faith and tagged: 2025 Jubiliarians, Jubilee Mass Homily, Sister Ceil Cosgrove, Sister Dawn Gear, Sister Eileen White, Sister Joan Elias, Sister Mary Finnick, Sister Mary Karen Kelly, Sister Mary Salvadore