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HOMILY FOR GOLDEN JUBILLE OF SR. MARIA CATALINA ELUM Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Lawaan, Roxas City 15 June 2013, 9:00 a.m.

Reverend Monsignori and Fathers, Reverend Sisters especially to Sr. Maria Catalina Elum, our Golden Jubilarian, Benefactors and Sponsors, Relatives and friends, Our brothers and sisters in the Third Order, Brothers and sisters in Christ, INTRODUCTION: One day, a bishop came to hear about a group of hermits living on an island. To find out if they were true contemplatives or merely bunch of fanatics, the bishop decided to pay them a visit. He was met by the hermits on the shore. Has anyone here read THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL by St. John of the Cross? the bishop asked the hermits. Everyone shook his head. How about the INTERIOR CASTLE by St. Teresa of Avila? Again, the hermits shook their heads. The bishop then inquired at great length about the works on prayer and Christian spirituality. None of the hermits knew any of those. Truly shocked, the bishop exclaimed, This is horrible! You call yourselves hermits when none of you know about prayer or spirituality! Fuming, the bishop turned his back on the hermits. Just as he was about to board his boat it started raining heavily. This is terrible! said the bishop. I am stuck here with these fake hermits who do not know how to pray! Seeing the bishops plight, one of the hermits prayed, Lord, please stop the rain, so the good bishop can leave. At that instant the rain stopped, the sun appeared, and a beautiful rainbow arched in the sky. Sister, how many spiritual books have you read for the past fifty years? My dear friends, we gather with great joy today as we thank the Lord for the gift of vocation to the religious life to our dear sister, Maria Catalina Elum of the Carmelite Order. She has called Sr. Catalina fifty years ago (at the age of eighteen) when she entered Our Lady of Maravillas Monastery in Dumaguete City on October 28, 1961. Today, Maria Catalina stands before her spouse our Lord Jesus Christ, not anymore as a neophyte in the Order but as a handmaid of the Lord for over fifty years. In the silence of her heart, she may now repeat what St.

Therese of Lisieux had said, My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience. Yes, our dear Sr. Maria Catalina! You know it by experience. The past fifty years were years when you had struggled and persevered to remain faithful to your promises to our Lord. You have walked the way of love that you have chosen. As what your fellow Carmelite, St. Therese of Lisieux, wrote, "What a comfort it is this way of love! You may stumble on it, you may fail to correspond with grace given, but always love knows how to make the best of everything; whatever offends our Lord is burnt up in its fire, and nothing is left but a humble, absorbing peace deep down in the heart." Today, your remember with gratitude those years of grace especially when you had your first step to Carmel, this is the memory of the first love that warmed your heart. You remember your family and community who nurtured your vocation, your sisters in Carmel who accompanied you in your journey as you answer the call and grow in faithfullness. In his last homily during the 17th Day of Consecrated Life, Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI told the religious, "I invite you in the first place to nourish a faith that can illuminate your vocation. For this I urge you to treasure, as on an inner pilgrimage, the memory of the first love with which the Lord Jesus Christ warmed your hearts, not out of nostalgia but in order to feed that flame. And for this it is necessary to be with him, in the silence of adoration; and thereby reawaken the wish to share and the joy of sharing in his life, his decisions, the obedience of faith, the blessedness of the poor and the radical nature of love. Starting ever anew from this encounter of love, you leave everything to be with him and like him, to put yourselves at the service of God and your brothers and sisters." Now, my dear friends, what is life after a golden jubilee? What is life ahead after our fruitful and faithful years? Definitely, it is OLD AGE. Pope Francis reflected on OLD AGE during his first speech to the College of Cardinals after his election. He likes to say that old age is the seat of lifes wisdom. The old have acquired the wisdom that comes from having journeyed through life, like the old man Simeon, the old prophetess Anna in the Temple. And that wisdom enabled them to recognize Jesus. The Holy Father then invited his brother-cardinals, Let us pass on this wisdom to the young: like good wine that improves with age, let us

give lifes wisdom to the young. I am reminded of a German poet who said of old age: is a time of tranquillity and prayer. And also a time to pass on this wisdom to the young. Yesterday, the Carmelite Order celebrated the Feast of St. Elisha the Prophet mindful of its origin on Mount Carmel. In the First Book of Kings (19, 19. 21) we can read that Elisha came to Elijah, who threw his cloak over him and he, abandoned the oxen, followed Elijah and became his servant. Elijah received the spirit of Elisha and, among the many outstanding prodigies; he cured Naaman from leprosy and raised a boy from the dead. Later on, Elijah passed over his work to the young prophet Elisha. This is an example of what Pope Francis said as the passing on the wisdom to the young. Together with your family and your family in Carmel, we join you in this momentous day of yours. We join you in thanking the Lord for the gift of vocation and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel for keeping you as her beloved daughter. Congratulations and always keep us in your prayers! What can you ask from the Lord after fifty years of unending grace? In closing, in your journey of gratitude always keep the words of St. Teresa of Avila: Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing; God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who possesses God lacks nothing: God alone suffices.