On May 31, 2025, Good Shepherd Sisters, partners in mission, family and friends, gathered in profound thanksgiving for the Jubilee of Religious Profession, honoring both Silver and Diamond Jubilarians. The celebration, held on the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was a tapestry of the unique stories of God’s love with the 12 Jubilarians. The liturgy’s theme—“Thanks and Praise… For God’s Love Endures Forever!”—is a testament to the fidelity of God who called them and the sisters’ constant “Fiat”
During the introduction to the Mass, Sr Lulu Fabia highlighted how the day is a two-fold, three-fold celebration as it is happening in the Jubilee Year of Hope, the Bicentennial Jubilee of the Contemplative Sisters, and more significantly on the same day itself the 100th anniversary of St John Eudes canonization. The short personal reflection of the sisters were also shared at the begining of the Mass:
Mary and the Jubilarians
In his homily, Fr. Percy Juan Bacani, MJ, drew a parallel between the Jubilarians’ journeys and Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth. Mary, he noted, did not hoard the joy of carrying Christ but “hurried to share it,” embodying a love that breaks through every limit. Likewise, the Jubilarians have lived their vows not as chains but as wings—freeing them from the world’s claims so they can serve with unreserved love.
Fr. Percy reflected on poverty, chastity, and obedience as transformative choices rather than renunciations. Poverty, he said, is a “love affair with enough,” freeing the heart from excess to make space for the sacred. Chastity is not the burial of desire but its redirection into radical, selfless love. Obedience is the surrender not of will, but of the illusion of control—trusting God’s dream over one’s own.
25 and 60 years of Consecration to God
To the Silver Jubilarians—Srs. Laarni Bongato, Malou Castro, Juanita Daño, and Veronica Nobleza—Fr. Bacani recalled their first hesitant steps 25 years ago, guided not by certainty but by trust. Today, he affirmed, their lives proclaim that “vows are not limits, but wings,” and the best is yet to come.
To the Diamond Jubilarians—Srs. Mary Tarcilla Abaño, Mary Concepta Bellosillo, Mary Therese Iitsuka (who celebrated in Japan), Mary Clare Leones, Mary Marcelline Riosa, Mary Angelina Sanchez, Mary Rose Tapia, and Maria Rosa Villoria—he offered gratitude for six decades of unwavering service. Their lives, he said, are “living scripture,” their hands and hearts making the Good Shepherd visible in the world. Like diamonds, their love has proven unbreakable, luminous, and eternal.
The Jubilarians renewed their vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and zeal, each one re-committing herself to the mission of the Good Shepherd.
United in Joy and Celebration
The celebration concluded in joy and fellowship at various receptions in the Good Shepherd Compound in Quezon City (HMV, GSC and EC) that brought together communities, friends, and mission partners. The the day stood as a living Magnificat—a proclamation that God continues to do great things in and through those who give themselves entirely to Him.
Sr Mary Therese Iitsuka from Japan celebrated the day a Eucharistic Celebration with the sisters of Toyonaka Community. She and the community were also present via Zoom during the Mass in Quezon City.
7 Proclamation of Thanks
In her thanks giving message on behalf of the Jubilarians, Sr Tarcila enumerated 7 proclamation of thanks: 1) for all the 12 jubilarians; 2) to the 580 years of fidelity to consecration; 3) for the gift of life from God with oldest jubilarian being 93 and the youngest 52; 4) for the mission assignments, local and foreign, where the Jubilarians experienced deep relations in community; 5) for partners in mission sharing their capacities and gift; 6) for their families; and, 7) for the priest presiders.
In the words of Fr. Percy’s closing prayer: “Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd… fill them with joy as they guide the lost, and grant them the peace that comes only from Your love.”
