First Profession of Sr. Anusha

Redemptoristines
Aug 2
4 min read

We share with you the homily and some photos from the beautiful profession ceremony we had in our community on the 2nd August 2025.

Sr. Anusha Antony from Kerala, India, made her temporary profession as a Redemptoristine Nun. We give praise and thanks to God for our newest Sister and her generous 'yes'.

Homily on the Occasion of the Religious Profession

of Sister Anusha Antony of Our Mother of Perpetual Help

Dear Redemptoristine Sisters,

And in particular, dear Sister Anusha Antony of Our Mother of Perpetual Help

1. Today we celebrate the mystery of God's love, a love that calls, attracts, consumes like fire, and transforms a woman's life into a total gift, an unreserved response. Sister Anusha, you are making your religious profession because you have felt, deep within your heart, a call and a profound love which, despite many challenges, has led you to this moment of self-giving, your “yes”. You might echo the words of Saint Augustine: “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” (Cf. Confessions I, 1, 1: PL 32, 661)

2. It is no coincidence that we began this liturgy with that beautiful passage from the Song of Songs (8:6-7): ‘Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death...’ In the Church’s tradition, religious profession has often been understood as a kind of death to the world but it is a fruitful death like Christ’s death on the Cross. Those who consecrate themselves are not fleeing from life; rather, they enter into it more deeply, returning to its very source: God.

3. In consecrated life, love is not understood as a fleeting emotion or just one path among many; it is a radical, total, and definitive surrender. The text speaks of a seal, an indelible mark. Consecrated life, especially contemplative life, is precisely this: a lasting imprint of God's love upon a soul who, in silence, has chosen him as her only Spouse, the Redeemer. "To the gift of Christ the Bridegroom, who on the Cross offered his body unreservedly, the nun responds in similar terms with the gift of the 'body', offering herself with Jesus Christ to the Father and cooperating with him in the work of redemption" (Verbi Sponsa, 1999, n. 3).

4.This is the vocation of the Redemptoristine Sisters: to be a living memory, a “Viva Memoria” of the Passion of Christ, the faithful Spouse who loves His Church, the People of God, even in their frailty. This vocation is not manifested through lofty words or grand accomplishments, but through the quiet and faithful offering of a life hidden with Christ in God (cf. Col 3:3). Redemptoristine Sisters do not seek visibility or recognition. They understand that their mission is to make present, in the silence of the cloister, the cry of the Cross. By allowing this cry to echo in their own lives, they become constant intercessors for the salvation of the world. Where a soul is wholly consecrated to the Redeemer, there the eternal love of God becomes visibly made flesh offered as a gift. There, the mystery of Redemption continues to unfold.

5. “Women’s contemplative life has always represented in the Church, and for the Church, her praying heart, a storehouse of grace and apostolic fruitfulness, and a visible witness to the mystery and rich variety of holiness” (Vultum Dei Quaerere, 2016, n. 5).

In the cloister, every prayer, every renunciation is united with the Passion of the Lord and shares in its redemptive power. Where the eyes of the world do not reach, God works wonders. For this reason, the Redemptoristine Sister, within her cloister,

becomes a living memory of Love that gives itself to the very end,

a flame burning before the pierced Heart of Christ, a silent witness that only love redeems, and that all are called to holiness.

6. In today’s Gospel (Matthew 16:24-26), Jesus speaks with clarity, urgency, and love: ‘If anyone wants to follow me, let him renounce himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’ There is no consecrated life without the Cross. Yet this Cross, borne in love, becomes light. What the world sees as loss, leaving everything behind, surrendering external freedom for the consecrated person becomes the way to gain true Life.

7. Dear Sister Anusha, today you make your profession in the presence of this community. On this special day, each sister recalls her own moment of profession and the commitment she once made. Through your profession, you become part of a great communion joined to sisters across the world, united through prayer and contemplation. You are not alone: your journey will be accompanied by the love, support, and intercession of your sisters here and elsewhere.

8. May Our Mother of Perpetual Help, together with Mother Celeste and Saint Alphonsus, accompany you on the path of fidelity. May your contemplative life be a living memory of the Redeemer in this wounded world, a world that so often forgets both God and humanity. Amen.

Fr. Rogério Gomes, C.Ss.R.

Superior General

Dublin, 2nd August 2025