We have come to an ending.
What lies ahead?
What does God have in mind?
Who can say?
That God of beginnings is also a God of surprises.
We cannot possibly imagine what God may have in mind for the beginning which will emerge from this ending.
We can see some small signs; we can detect some seeds being planted.
The Dominican presence at Lourdes in Waterford has been intensified.
Once these dedicated women provided the young with skills for life.
Now Dominican women will be available to provide to these children, now grown old, skills needed for their journey into the fulness of life.
They can be a blessed presence for that Final Journey.
And here, in this very place, there is a group of Dominican Associates.
You will no longer have some buildings to retreat to, to claim as comfortable as "home."
You will not have a place.
But you will have a people.
You will have one another - to pray for and with, to strengthen and support, to encourage.
You have been trained well.
Now it is for you to continue, to keep alive the message and the mission of Dominic wherever you are.
And you are to do so in such a way that you encourage and invite still others to join you in this work.
You, the Dominican Associates, hear God saying to you, "I trust you and entrust to you!"
And so Be Peace!
And the Dominican Sisters of Peace - you continue.
In whatever places you find yourselves,
in whatever circumstances you find yourselves,
you continue.
And you seek to bring a message to this fractured, tear-filled world of ours,
Peace is possible!
You show by word and deed the beauty of the way of peace.
Beyond that - well, God's plan is mystery.
But we can hope and trust and know that our future is in the hands of the God Who loves us.
Tomorrow - The Closing Homily: A Final Thought
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