Dear Sisters of the Precious Blood, dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

When a Diocesan Church looses the presence of contemplatives, it loses MUCH !

A theologian once said that "Contemplatives are the lungs of humanity. They allow us to breathe ... like the Amazon forest (does) for our planet."

This is a sad day for our Diocese. I could see it coming, but still I cannot reconcile myself with it. The last thing I want to do, however, is to lay a guilt trip on the Sisters of the Precious Blood whose presence has been a source of many blessings to all of us for more than seventy years.

Giving thanks

Together with you, Sisters, we are gathered to say thank you to the Lord and to you in this church tonight. The word of God which we have just heard gives deeper meaning to our gratitude.

First, we thank you for being for many of us in this diocese what Eli was for Samuel in the first reading. You are women of prayer who have helped us to discern God's presence in our lives, and to respond to His call.

Discerning God's presence and responding to His call

There is much talk today in the world and in the Church, but you choose to reamin silent in adoration before Him. In the "stand-still" of the trees at sunset on a summer evening, after the heat of the day has passed, you come to experience God's presence.

As Adorers, you have chosen to give yourselves totally to love. Thus the God of love shines through you and takes on a face for each of us to see. Your faith-filled prayer leads to you to penetrate the mystery of God's presence and enlightens your hearts.

Because you know Him, absence is never total absence, nor night total darkness. What you see in life is not of your own making. As contemplatives, you see people and things from a different and deeper perspective. Although you lived for so many years, cloistered in North Bay, you did not live in another world. You were always present in our world, present to the life of this city and to our entire diocese. You are simply led to see things from within, and no longer from without ... the way God sees them!

I was always amazed to realize that you knew everything about everyday life in North Bay and beyond. I continue to be surprised by the number of people who have requested your support and your prayers in various circumstances. Through your contact with so many peole, you came to a different understanding of what was happening outside the Monastery.

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We also thank you for reminding us, as Paul says to the Philippians in the second reading tonight, that perfection comes from God. There is no instant winner. Each of us has to keep running.

Perfection comes from God

Theresa of Avila reminds us that love hastens our pace in a very realistic way. She admits that there are days when we could move mountains for God, but there are others when we could not even crush an ant, out of love for Him.

God always takes the initiative in calling to himself ordinary and real human beings with their ambiguities, resistances and weaknesses. What a blessing this has been for so many of us!

We thank you dear Sisters for teaching us by your lifestyle that we are all dependant on God, and that whatever life brings is a moment of grace, an opportunity to grow up.

Theresa, the Little Flower, wisely writes that when we are small, we can tread our way anywhere. In small things, done with great love, we can always be pleasing to God.

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Finally, we thank you for helping us to understand the answer of Jesus to all who wish to folllow Him. The first priority in our lives of faith must always be God.

No matter what else we do, or who else we meet, our lives must always be focused on God, and there is only one direction: forward, en avant, avanti ... toward our ultimate fulfillment, when we will all see Him face to face in glory!

Focused on God

You have given us the witnessing of true freedom. You have sought to always be free of every day demands, and thus to totally belong to God; to be undivided in self-giving commitment; to be mature enough to live without the support and consolation of family, the affirmation of social prestige, and even in the absence of having an active apostolate.

You have been witnesses of the freedom to love and praise God and others above all worldly ambition. Your commitment reminds me of the mission and motto of Elizabeth of the Trinity: "NESCIVI - To know nothing outside God".

Conclusion

I want to borrow the words of Hans Urs von Balthasar, who once said, "Contemplation is work, dialogue, a welcoming of Truth, participation and anticipation".

We sincerely thank you, dear Sisters, for the work you did for us, and the sense of anticipation you leave us with.

I will continue to encourage our priests and parishes to obtain their altar bread from you. While you bake the hoses in Hamilton for the Diocese of Sault Ste-Marie, please continue to pray for us.

As your Adoration and prayer before the Eucharist builds up the Body of Christ, may it always unite the faithful of this diocese into one body where all can experience God's presence and come to know and belong to Him.