By Sr. Veronica Skillin, SND Following is a portion of a homily given on the occasion of the 2010 Jubilee Celebration for 17 Sisters.
Today we frequently use "heart" to signify the essence of a person. We know what we mean when we say "soft-hearted," "broken-hearted" and "hard-hearted," but what about a heart "wide as the world"?? "Wide hearted?" These words seem to imply numerous opportunities to encounter more, to love more, to be wounded more...and so it is. These Sisters know children, women and men who suffer injustices, are scarred by discrimination, endure life without shelter, food and security and are wounded in body and soul. Yet these Sisters--with wide hearts--continue to live and work in hope. Their hearts have seen evidence of God's goodness in the wonders of nature's startling beauty, in the astounding expanse of technology, in other men and women working for peace and unity, and in knowing witnesses to justice, like Oscar Romero and Dorothy Stang. Over the years as decades have gone by, these 17 women have come to live with empathy for the pain and glory of humanity, acceptance of the ambiguity and poignancy of the human condition, belief in the beauty of ordinary lives, conviction, gentle strength and grace. The Gospel gives us a lovely account of two women who lived with gentle strength and grace-the story of the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth. The young girl and the old woman, both pregnant. Luke tells us both pregnancies had been announced by an angel. Learning that Elizabeth was pregnant Mary quickly goes to visit her cousin. Not a simple stroll down a country lane, but a distance of 60-80 miles that probably took four or five days. When the women met there were no heavenly voices, flashes of light or angels. Just these two pregnant women quietly celebrating each other and what the Lord had done: one too old to be pregnant and one unmarried. Well, maybe not "quietly" celebrating as Luke tells us Elizabeth called out in a "loud voice." Was she surprised to be visited by Mary seeing that Mary was pregnant? But Elizabeth had a right to be excited. And then Mary's great prayer of praise and thanks: "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Could this have been an expression of what she was thinking about as she walked from Nazareth to Elizabeth's house in the hill country outside of Jerusalem? "My soul magnifies the Lord..." What does it mean "to magnify?" Of course, make larger, but also to make clearer, to make plainer and to make it easier to see. So Mary's whole being-body and soul, mind and spirit-rejoices because all people, in all times, will see, God's Presence, God's action in our world. - Do we not see an echo of Mary's prayer of thanks and praise in these Sisters whose lives we celebrate today?
- Have not each of us known the reality of God in our lives because of one of these women?
- Do they not continue to make clear for us the action of God's love in our world?
For their presence and their service (a total of 925 years of service!), for being in our times and in our world as living signs of the goodness of God, we thank them and honor them. | 
