It is my task today to respond on behalf of the nine of us. Essentially that means expressing our thanks to a lot of folk. First of all we thank all of you who have honored us by your presence. It is a tangible sign of your love and support. We also want to thank all those who arranged both the Eucharistic Liturgy and this reception and dinner. They know who they are and we do as well, but rather than single out one or two persons, I will leave it at that. We know the organizing of events such as this takes a lot of time and talent and we are grateful. We are especially grateful to our province leader, Brother Jim Moffett for his care and concern and for Jack Driscoll for his toast to US.

Last year when I was on the program in the role that Jack played today, I recalled the poignant moment a few years ago when Brother Pat Doyle who was already riddled with cancer spoke at his jubilee about "the joy" that had been "in the journey," and I am sure that each of us feels that way today.  These fifty years have not been a marathon or a sprint, but indeed a journey. We are grateful to our parents who gave us both life and love, and to grandparents who made us feel important and to our sisters and brothers and cousins and their families who have and who continue to nurture us along the way, - that task is assumed today by nephews and nieces and their families. Many friends of our youth have remained with us all these years and I know that many are here today.

Besides giving us life, our parents also gave us examples of faith in God and sent us to schools where that would be emphasized. In those schools each of us came into contact with the Christian Brothers and four decided to join the high school division of formation for the brothers; four entered when we completed high school and one after college and military service. Certainly, we were attracted by men who were good educators and who had a sense of mission. Each of us was probably influenced by quite different brothers, but they passed on to us examples of happiness and indeed holiness -although we probably didn't name it that at the time. Many of these men have gone before us to our West Park cemetery, but some are still with us and we thank all of them for being instruments of God in gifting us with a vocation to the Christian Brothers.

There were some who entered with us who also have joined the community of deceased in West Park awaiting the general resurrection. I have to believe that they join with us in the communion of saints in a special way today. I think of Brothers Joe Egan, Peter McKernan, Matt Shea and Mark Clark. We are especially pleased that Mark's sister, Marge Clark Lennon and her husband Jerry are here with us today.

Throughout our years of formation, we were influenced by many brothers, but I win only mention two. Brother Victor Chapman became novice master in 1950 at the age of 38 and remained in that position for the next eighteen years. I had the honor and privilege of writing his life for our congregational records the summer before last. It was like making a retreat. Many brothers contributed their recollections. Our former Superior General Brother Gabriel McHugh, who is with us today, called him "a man without guile." He also said: "of all the virtues he lived, I would place simplicity, sincerity, and integrity at the top of the list." No one can say more than that. Vic lived for many years after his duties as Novice Master were completed and died at the age of eighty-seven. The other man I will recall because he touched each of us is Brother Pat Reilly who was vocation director in the years we entered. Pat was a bundle of energy and enthusiasm and conveyed that to us. We lost him too early in 1977 at the age of 64, but his two sisters -Sister Lalande and Ceil Reilly are with us here today and we appreciate their presence. They have remained part of the Christian Brother family.

Our generation is a pivotal one in the North American mission of the Christian Brothers. The first lasting community came to St. John's, Newfoundland, an important city on the shipping route from Waterford, in 1876. It wasn't until thirty years later that four brothers came to the United States to All Saints Parish in Manhattan. Those of us who entered the congregation in mid-century had the privilege of knowing many of those pioneering Irishmen as teachers and later on as confreres. We absorbed by a type of osmosis a missionary spirit. These men had come by ship to a new land without any expectation of seeing their native land soon again. Two world wars intervened which made their lives here even more separated from their loved ones. Thank God we have a few Irish-born brothers still among us and we salute a those faith-filled men, living and dead, from whom we learned so much.

For a number of today's jubilarians, their early assignments were in Newfoundland or in the states of Washington and California, again at a time when travel was quite different from now. There was an excitement to it all. We saw the North American venture grow to three provinces with missions in South Africa, the West Indies, Argentina and Peru. We learned much more about our heroic and saintly founder, Edmund, and recognized that his spirit dwells not only in us but in many men who shared the life of brotherhood for a time and then felt called to other paths. Many of those Edmundians, as we now call them, are here to celebrate with us today, We thank them for their love and friendship.

As you can see from your programs, we have had a variety of assignments. In each we developed relationships with colleagues on the faculties and staffs, housekeepers and maintenance personnel each of whom showed us kindnesses. A number of these women and men have become formerly joined to the congregation as Associates of Edmund Rice. Some of these friendships have lasted for many years and I know that there are representatives of that group who have also come to celebrate with us. Thank you.

Education is about learning and there is generally a teacher or mentor and a student. But students grow older and the relationship changes from mentoring to friendship. It is a wonderful experience and we have many former students here with us. We thank them as well for teaching us. Some of you have joined our brotherhood and that makes us enormously proud.

A commitment to religious life is an act of faith and it is God who has sustained us in the journey and who continues to bless us. In a life of a recently deceased Irish brother which I read this past summer, the writer said: "Christmas Day, 1925 was a red-letter day in Aidan's life. Having taken annual vows for a number of years, he at last took final vows and nailed his colors to the mast."  An interesting exercise -nailing one's colors to the mast -- a sign of commitment,, a sign of identity, a sign to accompany us on the journey. There might be fear that with far fewer women and men entering consecrated life at present that God has forgotten us. Will we ever have large groups of entrants as we did in the middle years of the last century? Is this group of nine the largest we will have? God's will was laid out for us millenniums ago in the simple call to our ancestors Abraham and Sarah - "Come to a land which I will show you." God will always be faithful to the covenant. With our colors of commitment nailed firmly, the routes the journey to God might take are not important. So we offer our gratitude to that wise God who has been and is a caring and loving guide. As Edmund, our blessed founder said: "Providence is our inheritance."

There is a legend about the boy who gave up his five barley loaves and two small fish so that Christ could feed the multitude. It tells how the boy hurried home, after all the fragments had been  gathered, and told his mother about the exciting incident. With eyes big with wonder, he told her how his five little barley loaves and two dried fish had multiplied in the Savior's hand until there was enough to satisfy 5,000 hungry people. And then with a wistful look, he added:  "I wonder, Mother, whether it would be that way with everything you gave him!"  Again we thank you.  May you live to be a hundred years with one extra to repent.