Jubilee 2018

Jesus said to Peter, “Do you love me?”  She answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  A second time he said, “Peter, do you love me?”  She replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Then Jesus said to her a third time, “Peter, do you love me?”  She was upset that he asked a third time and said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”

Dear Sr. Peter, as we celebrate your Diamond Jubilee of vows, let’s look briefly at your long journey of loving and being loved by the Lord.  Let’s look at it through the lens of the number three, echoing Jesus’ threefold question.  In your long and faithful life we find the three monastic vows, the three monastic places—Stapehill, Whitland and Wrentham, the three milestones you have celebrated thus far, your silver, golden and diamond jubilees.  Then on a smaller scale there is the three-ringed circus at the gift shop every morning to which customers flock to be counseled, consoled and challenged by you.  There are also three characteristics in which you abound and which have been a blessing and joy to our community since the day you arrived here: energy, enthusiasm and effervescence.  But above all and far beyond all these three’s is the blessed Holy Trinity dwelling in you, playing with you and preparing you for the world to come while delighting in you here and now.  Here is a word from Julian of Norwich that seems very fitting in this regard: 

“Suddenly the Trinity completely filled my heart with the greatest joy.  And so, I understood, it will be in heaven, without an end, for those who come there.  For the Trinity is God; God is the Trinity.  The Trinity is our maker.  The Trinity is our keeper.  The Trinity is our everlasting love.  The Trinity is our endless joy and our bliss, through our Lord Jesus Christ and in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And now a final threefold revelation, again from Julian, one that seems most appropriate for you today, Sr. Peter:

“God showed three degrees of bliss that every soul that has willingly served God in any degree on earth shall have in heaven.  The first is the gratitude full of honor that he shall receive from our Lord God when he is delivered from pain…It seemed to me that all the pain and painful labor that could be suffered by all living men could not deserve this thanks full of honor that one person, who has freely served God, shall have.  The second degree of bliss is that all the blessed creatures who are in heaven shall see that glorious thanking, and God shall make the person’s service known to all who are in heaven.  The third degree of bliss is that it shall last forever, just as new and pleasing as it is when it is first received.  And I saw this shown, simply and sweetly---that the age of every person shall be known in heaven, that each shall be rewarded for his willing service and for his time, and especially  that the years of those who deliberately and freely offer their youth to God are exceedingly rewarded and wonderfully thanked.”

Dear Sr. Peter, this is you!  You made your way to the monastery in your early twenties, deliberately and freely offering your youth and whole life to God, never turning back.  Jesus thanks you, and we thank you too for letting God have his way in you all these blessed years.  May this celebration be a taste of the bliss of knowing how grateful Jesus has always been for your gift of self.
 
Sr. Mary Peter Shreenan
Diamond Jubilee Celebration
June 30, 2018