Sr Maureen Coyne's Golden Jubilee

Let us always have love burning in our hearts (St Angela Merici)

There was a real sense of love and great joy today as the Ursulines celebrated with Sr Maureen her fifty years as a nun. Sr Maureen renewed her vows:

I stand before you with my heart full of thanksgiving for all I have received from you during the last 50 years as an Ursuline.  I am truly grateful also for all the love and support of for my family, my sisters, my friends and my priests, I now joyfully renew my vows chastity, poverty and obedience which I made  50 years ago on the day of my religious profession as a daughter Angela in the Roman union of the order of St Ursula. Relying on your faithfulness and abiding love for my own fidelity I desire to live as Urusula teachers and I ask for  the help of Mary our Mother, and all the saints and the prayers of everyone here today Amen

In his homily Canon Stephen spoke of the gift we are all given by God that of time - 86,400 seconds each day.  The marvellous thing is that we all get this gift every day.  We are free to choose how we use it.  Both the Canon and Sr Anne (an Ursuline who recently celebrated her own Golden Jubilee) and who spoke after Mass, recalled lots of examples of how Sr Maureen has used her time wisely sharing God's love and responding to her calling as an Ursuline nun. 
The response to the psalm today was How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?  Canon Stephen suggested Sr Maureen should continue as she has for the last 50 years, or should that be 1,577,836,800 seconds?


It is clear Sr Maureen has done her best to live out St Angela's call to:

Live and Serve together in Union with Christ in the Midst of the World

What does 86,400 seconds look like?  Click here for a clock that has a dot for each second ...  The challenge for us all is how we will spend our gift of time.