On Saturday, May 15, Latin Patriarchal Vicar for Jordan Bishop William Shomali celebrated Holy Mass at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Tla' Al-'Ali during which the Union of Religious Congregations celebrated silver and golden jubilees of clerical ordinations as well as permanent vows of a number of priests and nuns.  

The Holy Mass was attended by Patriarch Fouad Twal, Franciscan Fr. Rashid Mistrih, parish priest Fr. Dr. Rif'at Bader, Chancellor-General of Rosary Sister Michelin Maalouf, the celebrating nuns, and a number of the faithful.

Sister Cecil Hijazin, president of the Union of Religious Congregations, said that the celebration before the altar of the Lord is designed to mark the golden jubilee of the ordination of Fr. Farah Hijazin and the profession of vows by Sister Carmela Dal Barco. She added that the celebration marks the silver jubilee of Fr. Rif'at Bader, Fr. Bashir Bader, Sister Clara Mu'asher, consecrated Sawsan Qub'ain, Sister Majida Haddad, Sister Nadine Sha'ban, Sister Hanadi Jouri, as well as the pronunciation of the permanent vows by  Sister Athar Shima, Sister Afaf Jamal, and Sister Sawsan Yousef.

 In his homily, Bishop Shomali focused on a verb "choose" noting that is repeated 19 times in the Holy Bible's New Testament as the Lord chooses the Church to be "the salt of Earth and the light of the world".

He added: “Humanity is also chosen because Lord Christ died for all just as Lord Jesus chose the twelve disciples, loved them, taught them, and sent them to sow the seeds of His teachings. In today's reading (Acts 1: 15-26), the apostles prayed together so that God would choose the one among them who would take the place of Judah. Later, it became clear that the Lord wanted Saint Mathew who was remembered yesterday."

He continued saying that we meet today to thank God and praise Him for the free grace of choosing us as He made for everyone of us a path leading to free salvation. Therefore, let us ask Him to protect us in this world, so that by our righteous journey we would be through our righteous journey witnesses of His resurrection and love, and builders of His Church.