Homily for Sisters of the Cross, 20^th Anniversary in the Diocese, 18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time: August 3, 2008

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

In this year dedicated to St. Paul, we focus our attention on this apostle (not one of the twelve) totally dedicated to Christ. We can only admire his complete fidelity to the will of God in good times and in bad. Nothing that happened to him could separate him from God’s love. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: “Five times…I received forty lashes less one; three times I was beaten with rods; I was stoned once, shipwrecked three times….I travelled continually , endangered by floods and robbers.” But nothing could separate him from God’s love.

Sometimes people can think that if they are in pain, if they are suffering or filled with anxiety, that they are being punished by God. But it is not so. Nothing that happens to us can cut off God’s love for us. In fact, with the power of God’s love we can get through any situation. When things are going well we must indeed give thanks to God but we must never think that we are blessed in some way that other people are not.

These thoughts bring us to the mystery of the cross. Christ in his death on the cross offered himself to God for our salvation, so that we might enjoy eternal life. Even though he felt abandoned by His Father, Jesus remained faithful to the will of God for our redemption. Nothing could separate Jesus from the love of God His Father and in his suffering He was strengthened to the end. How many times do we see people with great tragedies in their lives and they seem to be coping quite well. They will tell you that without their faith they do not know what they would do, how they would keep going.

We are very grateful to God for the presence in our diocese for these past twenty years, the Sisters of the Cross who have brought to us a spirituality of the cross. It is a spirituality which finds in the cross a profound and unfathomable love of God for us. God has given all for us. With hearts on fire we then love God and live for God, offering our lives to God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The foundress of the Family of the Cross, Conchita, was on fire with her love for God and gave us a spirituality of the cross which can be only understand in the language of love. The way of the cross is the surrender of ourselves to God, living for God in the world of our everyday experiences. Through the cross we will come to the glory of eternal life.

Evil forces remain strong in the world. Violence continues to destroy humanity. But God’s love is stronger. The way of the cross will transform the world. As St. Paul says: “In all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.”

Twenty years ago through the good auspices of my predecessor, Bishop Donald Montrose and several of our Catholic people, the Sisters of the Cross arrived from Mexico in Modesto as a contemplative community who would pray 24 hours a day before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in adoration for the people of our diocese and for the priests and their bishop. The Eucharist is the cross of Christ in His death and resurrection sacramentally present through the celebration of Mass and reserved in the Blessed Sacrament for prayer and adoration.

How privileged we are today to thank God for the gift of the Sisters of the Cross. Their presence has deepened our conviction that nothing, absolutely nothing, is “able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Last Update August 6, 2008