Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace

News - April 17, 2010

Nine Jubilarians Celebrate 470 Years of Ministry

Jubilarians from the Eastern Region

"All Are Welcome in this Place" filled the chapel at St. Michael Villa in Englewood Cliffs, NJ as the Jubilee liturgy began. Sister Margaret Byrne, CSJP, Congregation Leader of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, greeted those assembled with these words,

" It is humbling to think of the tremendous treasury of service our Jubilarians represent, of the people and the places their lives have touched. Today we rejoice and thank our God that they have been able to serve God’s people with such generosity and creativity. And on behalf of all of us here – Sisters and Associates, family, friends, colleagues – all here and those who would wish to be here, I offer you, Jubilarians, my congratulations and very sincere thanks."

Some excerpts from CSJP Associate Fr. Terry Moran's homily:
If you asked practically anyone to draw a symbol of the religion of the followers of Jesus Christ, of Christianity, they would very likely draw a cross. And therein lies a profound misunderstanding. The cross is a symbol of the Roman empire – of a gruesome instrument of torture and repression. It was not the symbol Jesus himself chose. The symbol that Jesus chose as the enduring sign in history of his gospel is - the meal.

There’s even a book called Eating Your Way through the Gospel of Luke. In Luke’s gospel Jesus is always at table, coming from a feast or going to a feast. In the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the disciples do not recognize Jesus when they see him; they do not recognize him when he teaches them; but when he sits at table with them and breaks bread, their eyes are opened. The meal is the setting where Jesus is most clearly himself, the activity that is most characteristic of him, the place where he is most at home and his spirit shines forth with the most radiant clarity. Jesus wanted us to know God’s presence not in some abstract spiritual way, but in a way that we can feel in our stomachs, in our guts; in the delirious joy of knowing abundance after a lifetime of deprivation.

Being hungry and being fed also have so much do with the history of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace – and I’m not just referring to our fondness for parties. Mother Francis Clare Cusack became renowned in the English speaking world because of her organization of relief efforts for victims of the Irish famines. She famously remarked, “I could not offer a gospel of talk to starving people.” “They accused me of being interfering in politics. God help me, the only politics I cared for was to feed the hungry.”

We celebrate today 9 jubilarians who have dedicated their lives to that gospel of Jesus – 470 accumulated years of inviting people to sit and feast at the table of God’s abundance. They demonstrate the wonderful diversity of gifts that Paul speaks about – wherever the Spirit is at work there is diversity. We rejoice that in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, each of them found a place where her diverse gifts could flourish.

Let’s celebrate them now in a litany of blessing. I will mention each jubilarian’s name and some small insight into her rich life and I invite you to respond…

We have known Jesus in your breaking of the bread.