By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Homily by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at Mass with new religious sisters Professing their First Vows as Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary on May 13, 2025 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Parish.
We also celebrate the anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother to the shepherd children of Fatima. So, these vows are a "Mother's Day" gift to her but also to the mothers of these young women. We thank the parents and siblings for the gift of their daughters and sisters and their support of them on their vocational journey.
With the help of Mary’s prayers and your prayers, these women will be happy, faithful and faith-filled religious, as Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In one sense, in taking these vows, they will be bound to follow the evangelical counsel of poverty, obedience, and chastity and to a fourth vow of total Marian availability.
The world — and too often the faithful — see these vows as simply renunciations. However, they are more than that — for each counsel in its own unique way is a specific acceptance of the Mystery of Christ lived out within the Church. Thus, in another, and greater sense, these vows also free them – as Mary’s “yes” given at the Annunciation freed her to do the will of God and accept her mission without compromise, hesitation, or regret.
As St. John Paul II said in Redemptoris Mater, "In the School of the Heart of Mary we must rediscover the path of faith, to be formed in a pure faith, a firm faith, an immovable and faithful faith, an ardent faith and a fecund faith. As Mother Adela has often said, these are five expressions of a mature faith of a treasured and cultivated faith.
Pope Benedict XVI, once remarked: “Today, as in all ages, there is no lack of generous souls ready to give up everyone and everything to embrace Christ and His Gospel, consecrating their existence to His service with communities characterized by enthusiasm, generosity and joy.”
Consecrated life is a witness of the search for God. Religious life is not about the seeking of self but rather the seeking of God. The only reason for this choice in life is to seek to know His will, to build a community of brothers and sisters in which God is sought after and loved before all else.
Don’t doubt the power of Mary’s intercession for her daughters. She advocates for us, and she protects us. Remember on this date in 1981, Pope Saint John Paul II survived an assassination attempt. Our Lady of Fatima protected him, saving his life and his papacy. She will do no less for you if you ask her.
Sisters, today we all share your joy as you make your own the words of Mary’s Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.”
In the world, we see people who are concerned with their own autonomy, people jealous of their freedom, people fearful of losing their independence. In such a world, as religious sisters, you are — and you must be — signs of contradiction. Your existence — in the world but not of the world — points to the possibility of a different way of fulfillment of one’s life, “a way where God is the goal, his Word the light, and his will the guide, where consecrated persons move along peacefully in the certainty of being sustained by the hands of a Father who welcomes and provides, where they are accompanied by brothers and sisters, moved by the same Spirit, who wants to and knows how to satisfy the desires and longings sown by the Father in the heart of each one.”
Vatican II rightly emphasized all the baptized are called to holiness. Thus, all are equally called to follow Christ, to discover in him the ultimate meaning of our existence.
But the “consecrated” are the Church “concentrated” — as it were. Your lives as consecrated religious is at the very heart of the Church — because your radical embrace of the Gospel makes manifest the inner nature of every Christian’s calling. As the Church “concentrated,” you give us a unique witness to the implication of our own baptismal call to holiness. Your consecrated life is a gift to the Church that makes manifest the striving of the whole Church as Bride towards union with her one Spouse.
Or, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, “the ultimate norm of religious life is the following of Christ” (vitae religiosae ultima norma sequela Christi).
As I said, you are the Church concentrated. And through you and your witness, the evangelical counsels — “characteristic features of Jesus, the chaste, poor, obedient one” — are made constantly visible in the midst of the world.
On behalf of all of us here, but also as the Archbishop of Miami, I thank our soon-to-be newly professed sisters for their enthusiasm, for their generosity, and for their joy. We bring all of this to the Lord — and to his table of sacrifice. May the Eucharist — during which we are privileged to gaze upon the face of the Lord — affirm you and strengthen you in your resolve to give up everybody and everything to embrace Christ and His Gospel.
As Jesus said in today’s gospel reading: "…. blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."
