Good Shepherd Sisters in the Bicol Region, students and alumni of St. Bridget School in Buhi, Camarines Sur, mission partners and friends gathered March 19, 2012 to welcome the Centennial Staff/Crook to the Bicol Regional Celebration of the 2012 Centennial.
The sisters came from the communities of the Contemplatives in Virac, Catanduanes, apostolic sisters in Legazpi City, Naga City and guests from different communities in the country particularly those in Cavite.
Here now is the homily of Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legazpi, OP, DD during the Eucharistic Celebration held at the St. Francis of Assisi parish Church.
Dear brothers and sisters, Bridgetines!
This year 2012, we feast on the centennial celebration of the Good Shepherd Sisters in the Philippines. And today, on the feast of St. Joseph, the Husband of Mary, we welcome the Centennial Staff here in St. Bridget School, Buhi, being the first foundation of RGS community in Bicolandia.
What does the staff bring us? A staff is a branch or wooden rod used mainly for walking, for journeying. The staff was both the support and the weapon of the shepherd (Ps 23,4; Mic 7,14). It was also considered essential equipment for a journey on foot, no matter what the health or age of the walker. A poor traveler in the biblical times carried nothing but a staff (Gen 32,10). And remember, God also performed wonders using the staff of Moses (Ex 4).
And so, this Centennial Staff bring us to memory and celebration the journey of the Religious of the Good Shepherd here in the Philippines, the persons, the events, and indispensably, the Divine Providence.
Looking backward to the past
There are two ways of looking at your celebration today: looking backward to the past and looking forward to the future.
Looking backward! Consider today's object of your celebration as a time of the past. To cast your eyes in memory of that historic 1912 arrival of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Batangas – and you, step by step, retrace the beginnings of your family, the Philippine Province. Then you discern the events, the people, the interplay of events, decisions taken (good and bad), successes and failures.
From all these historical materials you compose the picture of the Province – this is your family story. You are amazed by the enormity of the challenges, which your elder sisters have had to face; you are inspired by their courage and faith. So much have they done! So dangerous were their times! And today you harvest the fruits of their labors!
But at the same time, as you look at the events of the past 100 years, you realized that underneath those stirring happenings there is the never failing Divine Providence. So rightly the way you prepare for this grand celebration. In the past two years (2010 and 2011) you reflected on “Weaving compassion, embracing challenges” – the ever consoling compassion of God especially in most difficult and challenging times. How correct to look at those years through the prism of Divine Providence. For that story of 100 years is only superficially human events; they are even more a story of faith. That behind every line of the story is the finger of God directing persons and events unerringly towards the realization of His will in your behalf. In this respect, the Lord of history moves every single dramatis persona. In truth, then, God wrote your story of those 100 years.
What lessons does this form of looking at your celebration offer? You, the Sisters of the present, the Bridgetines, find many concrete achievements: the twenty-two (22) apostolic communities and four (4) contemplative communities in the country; the buildings, properties, successful alumni, etc. that all these did not appear in its present state in an instant! They are with you through hard works and praying and faith! If there is anything you should seriously avoid is to live with an attitude of living on the capital of the past. What does this mean? Living on the capital means just enjoying simply the fruits, which others planted. Please remember that you can expect little reward, in this world or in the next, if you are content to live on the capital of your predecessors. You have to pull your weight, not lay back; you have to row and not simply be passengers in the boat; do not allow the impetus of the past to carry you forward. Your elders have labored, and it is their labors you have inherited. Your feast today is not an invitation to rest on your laurels, enjoying the good things which your elders have won for you; it is a warning that only being strong and courageous and faithful can you maintain those qualities of the spirit that constitute your inheritance.
The other form of looking at your celebration is to look forward! When you look backward, you find the story as finished; the project done. Your Province has existed for 100 years… and not without toils and tears. Gracias a Dios! Now you may congratulate yourselves for a job well done! Now you may enjoy this day with dancing and singing, [with eating… after the Mass, of course.] But this anniversary celebration is a time to truly begin working seriously. Your elders did their part; now is your turn!
You are not to break with the past, but neither are you to cling to the present. You must show that the present is not enough for anyone. Scrutinize the present for any signs of the flowering of the seed of the future sown by the past in the underside of history.
What would the future look like for the RGS? This is for you to collectively discern. I am certain today you need courage and faith – the same qualities your elders showed in the past. Focus not on survival, but on the essence of the life you have undertaken. When you worry about numbers, of empty novitiates and empty coffers you are thinking survival. Communities decline and die when they become overly concerned with their own growth and survival.
When you can clearly articulate who you are in our world and how you are a gift to the Church, then you can move on with confidence into the future that is hope-filled. How appropriate then is your theme for this grand celebration – “Forging hope!” This will suggest to you the areas of your life as individuals and as a community that must be changed that must be transformed for you to become a declaration of God's reign. Then too, people will come to your door and want to be part of living in a place and with persons who point to the signs of breakthroughs of the reign of God.
Conclusion: The staff of hope
Now, how do you move on beginning this Centennial Year, how do you forge hope? From whom do you take trust and courage to the future?
My dear Bridgetines, look at the Centennial Staff! Today, the Church urges us to look at the person who, according to an ancient legend, carried a peculiar staff, the staff blossoming like a lily – St. Joseph, the Husband of Mary!
We find in today’s Gospel (Mt 1,16.18-21.24) Mary’s difficulty in safeguarding the Messiah’s earthly life. But St. Joseph, with God’s gratuitous action, announces the miracle of the Lord. Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, in reflecting on this Announcement to Joseph, and in honoring him as the Father of New Evangelization, urges us, “Let us venerate the legal father of Jesus, who look with trust and courage to the future. He does not follow his own plans but entrusts himself without reserve to the infinite mercy of God.”
So dear Bridgetines, join hands in carrying the staff! Forge the future with Hope! Congratulations, my dear Sisters! Happy anniversary, Bridgetines! *