Sister Puri celebrates 50-year jubillee

"This is a day of gratitude to God, to Sister Puri, to her sisters, to her family, to all religious that take consecrated vows,” Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey said to Sister María Purificación Palis, OP at the Jubilee Mass commemorating her 50th year in service to the Church.

Sister Puri, as those who know and love her call her, celebrated her Golden Jubilee on May 25 at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Corpus Christi.

Bishop Mulvey told Sister Puri that much has changed in the 50 years since she took her initial vows, but one thing has not changed, “that you remain consecrated to God, to the Lord Jesus Christi in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Sister Puri joined the Dominicans of St. Dominic and was soon sent to Taiwan to learn Chinese. Upon her departure she told her mother that she did not know when they would see each other again. Her mother burst into tears. “Missionaries returning home in the 1960s was unheard of,” Sister Puri said.

After nine years in Taiwan, she was sent to Oxnard, California where she helped start a convent and taught at the high school level. Her next stop was in Corpus Christi where, Sister Puri said, “the warmth, friendship, of the dedicated catechists and parishioners inspired me.”

In her 10 years in Corpus Christi she prepared young people for the sacraments, visited the sick, the elderly, the shut-ins and the dying. Eventually, her health deteriorated and she was sent to Rome for a year to study and to recoup her health.

After Rome she went to Santa Paula, California and then Alice in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. In Alice she was involved in education ministry and the religious formation of young people.

“As I reflect my life’s journey I am filled by gratitude for the abundance of God’s blessing poured forth upon me,” Sister Puri said.

“In mission work there is another form of language: a smile, a gesture of friendship, a good deed. It’s called the ‘pastorate of presence,’” she said.

Bishop Mulvey explained that consecration is to make holy with God, to belong to God, to set aside for God. People, as well as, churches, halls and cemeteries can all be consecrated, or set aside for God.

“All of us are called in different ways and different circumstance to follow Jesus Christi and to be consecrated to Him,” the bishop said. “Sister, we are here today to acknowledge and to thank you and to help you to reconsecrate, to continue to put yourself at the service of the Lord in as loving way; of fashioning yourself again in your mind to Jesus Christ.”

Bishop Mulvey said that all religious make three expressions expressed to dedication to Jesus called vows. These are poverty, chastity and obedience.

Poverty is a reflection of the image of Jesus Christ. Chastity calls for an exclusive relationship with Jesus Christ, a total union, a union of prayer. Obedience, the bishop said, is the greatest and most difficult of the three vows. It takes humility. It takes love to be obedient. It takes a constant search to do God’s will.

Bishop Mulvey cited a passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that says, “We cannot be in touch with Jesus Christ unless you are touched by the Holy Spirit.”

He said, “Vows are not antique.” God is still calling young men and women to religious life, the bishop said. He encouraged vocations in parish, and in families.