Bishop Iffert thanks consecrated persons for witness, faithfulness, trust and most especially joy
Bella Bailey
Multimedia Correspondent
Religious brothers and sisters throughout the Diocese of Covington gathered in celebration, Feb. 1, with Mass and breakfast for the World Day of Consecrated Life. Bishop John Iffert was the celebrant with Deacon Eric Ritchie assisting at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington.
The gospel reading, Mark 4:35-41, is well known; the apostles awaken Jesus, who is asleep in the stern of a boat, to quell the stormy seas, allowing for the safe passage of the apostles and himself. Mark writes of this event, but Mark was not there to witness it, rather, he receives the story from the apostle Peter. Bishop Iffert says in his homily, “Mark of course is considered by many to be a disciple of Peter, who accompanied Peter for years as a secretary and coworker. The Gospel is included among apostolic writings because it is believed that Mark received the teaching from peter and that he received that teaching, and he remembered it well.”
“Remember,” Bishop Iffert continued, “it was a difficult thing to be a Christian in the times when Mark wrote. It was a challenging reality to be a Christian. If you were a Jewish Christian, you were likely alienated from family, from profession, from the honor that attaches to family. You were likely alienated from synagogue, from community.”
Mark was writing during the dawn of a new institution, Bishop Iffert said, the institution of the Catholic church. “This little community in Rome that had been considered an outcast was beginning to grow as a result of the witness of those martyrs and beginning to realize that they could not go on to think of themselves as a sect of Judaism, but that they were becoming something new.”
“In that sense,” Bishop Iffert said, “I believe the … vocation of Mark writing his Gospel, is very much like the vocation of consecrated people in this world. There are lots of folks who do not understand consecrated life. There are lots of folks who do not understand how we can make the decisions that we make, how we can make the sacrifices that we make.”
Making the devotion to consecrated life in today’s world can be difficult, Bishop Iffert said, it is not like the consecrated life of generations before. “You are consecrated religious at a time too late to be laid to rest by those armies of young, consecrated men and women coming behind you. You are consecrated religious at a time when you are selling off your mother house, at a time when you are embracing the language of right sizing, at time when you are struggling to figure out who is going to lead the institutions you have created and bring them into the future.”
Much like Mark, unsure who will take the helm of their new institution, being a member of consecrated life at a time where the numbers are shrinking rather than growing, lends to a feeling of unsureness. But, Bishop Iffert said, there is an assurance, “I know your life is filled with sacrifices to the Lord, but it is a joy to join Jesus on his cross. It is a joy to live in the assurance of God, it is a joy to let that promise direct everything in our lives.”
“Thank you,” Bishop Iffert said, “for your witness, and your faithfulness, and your trust and most especially your joy.”