Homily of Br. Edward Dailey on the occasion of his 50 Anniversary of Profession of Vows

             "Come. Follow me."  It was the Lord Jesus calling me.  I was already his, because I bore the name of Christian.   I had been washed in Baptism and confirmed in my belief and given the Eucharistic nourishment in memory of him.  But there seemed to come a time when the Lord was calling me to take some further step.

            I heard a summons to give over my life in a more, explicit way.  It was a call to serve all people, believers and unbelievers alike.  I would serve them out of my own faith that the Lord had loved us and died for us and risen for us and that he offers us a share in his life, a life more powerful and enduring than any sin or death.

            I asked how I might follow, and I found many footprints on the road.  A great band of men had passed this way, men who had made and lived by their vows, men who had walked side by side in their following of the Lord.  They beckoned me to fall in step with them.  They were the men of Holy Cross.   I wanted to be part of the family they formed in order to share in their life and their work.

            This is perhaps the best way I can explain the origins of my vocation as a Brother of Holy Cross.  This call grew very strong during my secondary school days.and it was largely in part due to the example of the Brothers of Holy Cross who taught me at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, one of the first schools administered by the Brothers after their arrival in the United States from France in 1841.

            So, on January 26, 1957, a cold and snowy winter morning, after a special year of religious formation, as an eighteen year old, I found myself kneeling in the chapel sanctuary at St. Joseph Novitiate, pronouncing my vows of poverty, celibacy, obedience and the additional vow to go anywhere in the world that the superior general of my congregation wanted to send me.  This latter vow was referred to as the foreign mission vow. 

            Little did I realize that four and a half years later and after earning two academic degrees that the Lord would take me at my word!  I fully expected to live out my ministry as a religious brother by teaching in one or another of our secondary schools in the United States.  But the Lord had other plans for me.  God tells us in the scriptures: “My thoughts are not your thoughts; my ways are not your ways.”  A month after receiving my Masters degree in 1961, I was on a plane with another Brother heading to Ghana, West Africa, to begin teaching French to Ghanaian students at St. John’s School.  Six years later, I was called back to the United States where for eight years I taught French and served as department chair for modern languages In our largest secondary school (over 1,400 boys) in Cleveland, Ohio.  This was a particularly rich period in my life because during this time I was introduced to the Charismatic Renewal and the Cursillo movement.  And it was also a preparation because during this time Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and uttered again those same words, “Come, follow me.”  In 1974, I was on a plane back to Ghana, but this time to serve as a teacher, administrator and spiritual counselor at St. Theresa’s Minor Seminary in the archdiocese of Cape Coast.  There then followed two years in Monrovia, Liberia and five years back in the United States were I served as a teacher, religious superior and was deeply involved in parish and family retreats.  In 1986, God called me again through the invitation of a newly elected superior general who asked me to go for a walk with him shortly after his election.  This brought me to Rome where I served for 12 years as secretary general of the Congregation of Holy Cross.  Here too, these twelve years were extremely rich in my religious and spiritual growth and much of it was due to being a part of Lumen Christi.  At the expiration of my mandate as secretary general, I returned to the United States where I joined the administrational team for my province.  It was then that there was another call – a totally unexpected e-mail from the present superior general asking me to return to Rome and re-appointing me secretary general, and assistant for the postulation of five causes under study in the Vatican, four for beatification and one for canonization.

            This brief account certainly does not describe adequately these past fifty years as a religious of Holy Cross.  There is another side to my life as a religious brother.  So, at this point, I would like to develop a few of thoughts relative to my experience as a religious and in doing so, I will draw upon our constitutions as a religious congregation because they parallel very much my experience in religious life and as a Brother of Holy Cross.

.           Our constitutions state that we accept God’s call to pledge ourselves publicly and perpetually as members of the Congregation of Holy Cross by the vows of consecrated celibacy, poverty and obedience.  Without going into detail about the nature of each of these vows, I can say that their point is quite simple.  These vows are an act of love for the God who has loved us first.  In professing our vows we commit ourselves to a single-hearted intimacy with God, to trusting dependence upon God and to a willing surrender to God.  We state that we wish to live in the image of Jesus, who was sent in love to announce God’s kingdom and who beckons all to follow him in their chosen state of life. 

            The vows we profess are not just a matter of the relationship between God and myself. I profess my vows, as do all my confreres, for the sake of the mission of Jesus.  St. Luke tells us that in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus read from the scriptures this passage from Isaiah:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.” This mission announced by Jesus, is also the mission of every Christian.  Because of our dying and rising with him in Baptism, each one of us becomes his follower and are sent to hasten the kingdom that Jesus has just proclaimed.  As a Brother of Holy Cross, I, along with my brothers in the congregation, seek to dedicate myself in a more explicit way to living out this mission and to be a prophetic sign of this coming kingdom through the profession my vows.  We believe that :”prophets stand before the world as signs of that which has enduring value, and prophets speak and act in the world as companions of the Lord in the service of his kingdom.  We, as religious of Holy Cross, pray and strive to live our vows well enough to offer this witness and service.”

            Another extremely important element in my life as a religious and one of great value to me is community.  Our constitutions state that our calling is to serve the Lord Jesus in mission not as independent individuals but in a brotherhood.  Our community life refreshes the faith that makes our work a ministry and not just an employment; it fortifies us by the example and encouragement of our confrères and it protects us from being overwhelmed or discouraged by what we are doing.  Community life is very important to me personally because I have come to experience just how much it does indeed sustain my life of faith and ministry.  I know for a fact that I could never have accomplished all I was asked to do if it were not for the nurturing support and encouragement of my community.  I have experienced this through my own religious community, and I have also greatly benefited from the community life of several groups I have been associated with.  I have been part of several praying communities both in the United States and in Africa.  I can say also that the community of Lumen Christi has played its part in my religious growth.  Lumen Christi was a particular gift to me from the Lord coming into my life as it did back around 1993.  When I asked Fr. Bill Hogan about the prayer group, his response was simple.  “Come and see,” he said.  So I came; I saw and I stayed.

            Finally, there is a third element of my life as a religious I want to share briefly with you and that is the presence of the cross.  My community, the Congregation of Holy Cross, takes its name from a section of the city of Le Mans in France known as Sainte-Croix, or Holy Cross.  The literal translation of the congregation’s name is the Congregation from Holy Cross.  The cross was very much a part of our founder’s life experience and through him  it has become part of our spiritual heritage.  Fr. Moreau gave us as a motto the words taken from a liturgical hymn, “Ave, crux, spes unica.” (Hail, O Cross, our only hope).  This explains the emblem that I wear - the cross with the anchors and anchors being the symbol of hope. 

            Our constitutions speak eloquently of the role of the cross in our lives, which is in fact the role of the cross in the lives of all Christians.  “The Lord Jesus loved us and gave up his life for us.  Few of us, will be called to die the way he died.  Yet all of us must lay down our life with him and for him.  If we would be faithful to the gospel, we must take up our cross and follow him … Jesus entered into pain and death that sin inflicts.  He accepted the torment but gave us joy in return… we must know that we too shall find the cross and most importantly, the hope it promises   It is for this reason we do not grieve as people without hope because Christ the Lord has risen to die no more.  He has taken us into the mystery and grace of this life that springs from death…  We know that we walk by Easter’s first light and it makes us long for its fullness.  For this reason, we are people with hope to bring.  All is swallowed up in victory.  The Lord has nothing but gifts to offer.  It remains for us to find how even the cross can be borne as a gift.”

            Fifty years of religious life … they have been fifty wonderful and grace-filled years.  Yes, there were trials, challenges, tears and even pain, but the graces, the joys, the gifts and the blessings of these past fifty years far surpass any of the painful and difficult moments.  I am grateful, deeply grateful, to the Lord for having called me to religious life as a Brother of Holy Cross.  I am thankful for my religious family of Holy Cross that has supported and nurtured me is so many ways over these past fifty years.  I am deeply grateful for the many gifts The Lord has showered on me and right now, here in Rome, I am filled with gratitude for the gift that each one of you has been and still are in my life.  So, for this reason, I wish to stand before you and state once again that

I, Brother Edward Dailey, in the presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and my Lord and in your presence, do hereby renew and confirm my vows of consecrated poverty, celibacy and obedience and the vow to go anywhere in the world my superior general may wish to send me.  May the God who allows and invites me to make this commitment strengthen and protect me so that I may be faithful to it.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.