A request for Sister Ann:
“As we will be celebrating your 50th Jubilee at Easter Mass, I’d love to feature a blog about the significance of the Jubilees to the Sisters.”
A response from Sister Ann:
Yes, no problem! I began to write.
This year the Sisters of the Holy Names in the Tampa Mission Centre held their annual celebration in honor of their Jubilarians during the all-school Easter Liturgy in the Brady Center on April 16th. Sister Lillian Schneider celebrated 60 years as a vowed religious, while Sister Elizabeth Crean and Sister Ann Regan celebrated 50 years as vowed religious.
Sister Ann, Sister Lillian and Sister Elizabeth following Mass.
Oh, a small problem, what do I say next? Probably, for most people anyway, the words Jubilee and Jubilarians are mysterious. I have learned from students that when you are in doubt, just Google. I did, and here is what I found:
- Comes from Hebrew yobhel, “ram’s horn,” which was used as a trumpet to proclaim the jubilee, a year of emancipation and restoration (every 50 years).
- A specially celebrated anniversary, especially a 50th anniversary.
- The year of Jubilee in both the Jewish and Christian traditions is a time of joy, the year of remission or universal pardon
It was then that I realized I could not speak to the significance of jubilee for all the Sisters. I could only reply for one. For me, jubilee has been an experience of deep reflection on the past. Time spent celebrating wonderful memories of joy. Time spent repenting for sins of the past. An acknowledgement that the title Sister certainly is not the same as the title Saint. Although many times my student abbreviated my name as St. Ann; I did not correct them!
For me jubilee is a time of emancipation and restoration. I remember my years at the Academy and realize that I am not the same person who came here to teach junior high students in 1974. During those years I have gone form 20/20 vision to bifocals to cataract surgery. The school, too, has changed. The chapel where the Sisters gathered for morning Mass and evening vespers now is used for class Masses and sometimes Taize Evening Prayer. The dining area where over 20 sisters enjoyed community and Sister Lauriana’s home cooked meal is now a kindergarten classroom.
Emancipation is a freeing process. It brings true joy. The Sisters do not have to be in the chapel praying each morning and evening. God is there as a blessing to all who enter. The laughter and stories that were part of our community meals are still echoing in that first floor room. Now they are the laughter and stories of five-year-olds. God is there among us blessing all we do in His Holy Name. Emancipation has given me the freedom to know my place. I have to show up each day, but God is there working the miracles.
What is the significance of jubilee for this Sister? Jubilee has been a time of restoration, a time for remission, forgiveness and joy. My life has been spent working in the field of education—education in the faith. To celebrate my jubilee at the school Easter liturgy, what more could one ask?
- Sister Ann Regan, SNJM
