ROCKFORD—The annual Jubilee Mass for priests in the Diocese of Rockford was held May 12 at St. Rita Parish.

Bishop David Malloy celebrated the Mass and joined his priests at the luncheon that followed in Wahl Hall.

In his homily, the bishop spoke to his priests about giving thanks for the jubilarians and “for our own ordination day.”

He spoke of some of the graces in ordination, including the gift of preaching, of confession including the grace to quickly forget the sins confessed, the grace of endurance “that perdures through thick and thin.”

“The celebration of jubilees is no accident,” he said, calling it “a strength beyond ourselves.”

Bishop Malloy encouraged the men to thank God for the “gift of fidelity, of happy fidelity.” Pointing to examples in the first reading of the day, he asked them to give thanks also for “people who have had (that) endurance, even to heaven … because of the service that you and I have given as priests.”

The priesthood, he concluded, is “beyond anything we could have imagined … A moment like this is the ultimate reminder (of Christ’s statement): ‘You have not chosen me, I have chosen you.’”