Men and women religious in the diocese and members of lay orders ‘live well’ the beatitudes
By Dan McWilliams
Several inches of snow curtailed the attendance at a special Mass for vocations on Jan. 31 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, but Bishop Mark Beckman complimented the handful of consecrated women religious and members of lay orders who joined parishioners for the liturgy.
Five Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., were present at the vigil Mass as were two members of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites.
“I think of the saying of the Marines: ‘the few, the proud, the Marines,’ so we’re the few, the proud, the Catholics who appear tonight in our cathedral church,” the bishop said in his welcoming remarks. “Tonight, we are blessed. We are celebrating a Mass aware of the consecrated religious life in our diocese and are so grateful for the many consecrated women and men who are present here in (the Diocese of) Knoxville. We invited many. Many were going to come, and of course the weather has kept them away, but we have our faithful Sisters of Mercy and some members of our lay religious communities as well. With gratitude for that gift to the Church tonight, we gather.”
Jackie Foster of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites proclaims the second reading at the Mass for vocations. (Dan McWilliams)
The Mass was held in advance of the World Day for Consecrated Life on Feb. 2, honoring those who have answered God’s call to the priesthood, religious life, or consecrated virginity. The cathedral’s Deacon Walt Otey assisted the bishop.
Also at the Mass was Beth Parsons, Vocations Office manager for the diocese. Mrs. Parsons said the special liturgy dates back to one coordinated by Sister Mary Simone Haakansson, RSM.
“In December of 2023, Sister Mary Simone coordinated a Mass for religious during Advent. It was a candlelit Mass with a reception afterward,” Mrs. Parsons said. “Last December, I hosted the same on Dec. 7. When planning this year, it seemed more appropriate to have it close to the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord, which is also World Day for Consecrated Life.
She said 70 men and women religious and religious-order priests were expected to attend the Mass before the severe winter weather arrived, including members of the Sts. Francis & Clare Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order and consecrated virgins.
The readings were proclaimed by Sister Marie de Paul Stokes, RSM, and Jackie Foster, OCDS.
Bishop Beckman connected the evening’s Gospel reading from Matthew 5, where Jesus on the mountaintop gave the beatitudes to the disciples and others gathered, to the celebration of vocations.
“For the Gospel of Matthew, the mountaintop is an extraordinary place where God reveals something of great importance. Just as Moses himself went up Mount Sinai, and the Lord God spoke to him and carved words on stone, so now the One greater than Moses begins to write words of God on the human heart,” the bishop said before stating the beatitudes.
Bishop Mark Beckman, with cathedral Deacon Walt Otey beside him, welcomes the faithful at the start of Mass. (Photo Dan McWilliams)
Bishop Beckman has been to the Mount of Beatitudes and said the “mountain” where Jesus spoke is actually “a very humble hilltop over the Sea of Galilee.”
“It is not a majestic mountain. It is not Mount Everest or even a Mount Le Conte,” he said. “A gentle slope that goes down to the edge of the Sea of Galilee—the very setting itself is a setting of such humility. I could not help but think that Jesus chose such a place to speak the words of the beatitudes, that by teaching on that very lowly hilltop He was communicating something about who we are called to be as His followers and what it means to be truly humble, close to the earth, like God.
“One of my priest friends notes that the beatitudes are really a self-description of Jesus Himself. They are the qualities He will exhibit in the ministry that is to come. It is He who is truly clean of heart, thirsting for that which is of God. Jesus Himself, the true peacemaker who shows mercy—poor in spirit, humble, and close to the earth, and indeed by the end of the Gospel persecuted for the sake of doing what is right and good.”
The bishop also spoke of the second reading at Mass, from 1 Corinthians 1.
“Paul notes today that God didn’t choose people—us—because we were noble or well-born or have lots of power or money or wealth or privilege, but He chose the people in this world who were kind of weak and basically in the world’s status powerless, nobodies, the kinds of folks who get pushed around in the world,” he said. “And yet, it is those little ones who God has claimed—Paul makes it so clear—for Himself. Why? Because we become like Jesus Himself.”
Bishop Beckman said that “our religious men and women consecrated to the religious life” are “in some ways . . . visible symbols of the baptismal call to holiness, to live well these beatitudes. You stand out in the Church as a living sign of those who point to the mystery of Christ Himself by attempting to mirror your lives on the very beatitudes here proclaimed in the Gospel tonight. And for that, we are grateful to you. You inspire all of us, the baptized—including me, your bishop, right? There are men and women so dedicated to Christ that they are consecrated for a particular purpose, set apart in the Church to radiate holiness.”
All of the faithful “in our own way are called by the Lord to bear witness to this new Gospel way of living,” the bishop added. “Our world is such a different place, isn’t it, than the beatitudes? If you look at the news today at what’s going on in the globe or even in our country, you see extraordinary misuses of power, and yet we have in our midst One who was crucified as Lord and sovereign over us. Our lives are patterned in a new way.
“As Jesus will tell the Apostles later in the Gospel: ‘the great ones make their authority felt. They lord it over them, but it cannot be so among you.’ The greatest among you will serve the rest. The least become in the kingdom of God the most treasured and important. The Gospel call is a whole new way of living life, grounded in God’s love, and once we say yes to that great adventure, there is no turning back. We are set on a new pathway. May the good Lord who has brought us to this moment in time, this mountaintop of encounter with Him, may those good words of the Lord Jesus penetrate our hearts tonight more and more deeply, that people when they see our faces will recognize here a reflection of the face of Jesus. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God.”
Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., pose with Bishop Mark Beckman after the Mass for vocations. With the bishop are (from left) Sisters Marie de Paul Stokes, Joan Miriam Nelson, Gianna Marie Savidge, Mary Timothea Elliott, and Claudia Marie Murray. (Photo Dan McWilliams)
Sister Gianna Marie Savidge, RSM, is the Knoxville convent superior for her community. She attended the Mass for vocations with other Religious Sisters of Mercy: Sister Mary Timothea Elliott, Sister Marie de Paul, Sister Joan Miriam Nelson, and Sister Claudia Marie Murray.
“It’s important to recognize the gift of religious life for the Church, which the Lord has given in imitation of His own life and the life of His Blessed Mother,” Sister Gianna Marie said. “It’s a privilege to witness to the Lord’s light as visible witnesses in the world of the power of the resurrection. It’s hopefully for others a witness to joy and a witness to the way in which the communion of persons in religious life images the communion of persons in the Trinity.”
Dorothy Curtis of the Chancery office staff and Ms. Foster are from the Community of the Transfiguration of the Secular Carmelites, which has 35 members in the Knoxville area. Mrs. Curtis presented the gifts at Mass along with Sister Claudia Marie.
The vocations Mass “helped us to come together as a community and be present as people consecrated to the Lord and His Church,” Mrs. Curtis said.
The two Secular Carmelites attended the Mass wearing the brown scapulars of the lay order.
“We call these ceremonial scapulars. We wear them only in special times: times that we are recognized as a secular order together or for Carmelite retreats or Secular Carmelite meetings, gatherings, and funerals,” Mrs. Curtis said.
With the memorial of St. Blaise coming up on Feb. 3, Bishop Beckman and Deacon Otey gave a blessing of throats after Mass.