Homily by Fr. Bill Lies, C.S.C., for Final Vows (August 29, 2026)
2026 Final Vows photo by Peter Ringenberg
Brothers and sisters, today we’ve come here to witness something both beautiful and astonishing. Keenan, Andrew, Jacob and Tim, you are standing before us, and you are going to say “Yes”… Yes to God. Not just yes to a way of life, or to a career or a position, or even a community. You’re saying it to a Person. You’re saying yes to Jesus Christ. And you’re saying it with your whole lives.
That’s why the Gospel you chose for today is so fitting. Mary is visited by an angel and given a vocation she could never have imagined. She asks her questions. She struggles to understand. And then, finally, she says those extraordinary words: “Let it be done to me according to your word.” That is the heart of every vocation. And perhaps the most important word that sums up this entire liturgy is that little word: yes.
Jacob, Andrew, Tim and Keenan, you have said yes many times along the way. But today, in your perpetual vows, you say it again, freely and publicly, and you say it for forever. And what does that yes mean?
It means poverty: “Lord, I trust you enough not to make possessions the measure of my life. Everything I have is gift. Everything I am is gift. And I want my life to become a gift to others.” It means chastity: “Lord, I give you my heart, my affection, my capacity to love. Teach me to love without possessing, to love generously, to make my life available for your people.” It means obedience: “Lord, my life is not finally about getting my own way. I surrender my will to yours. I will listen. I will discern. I will allow myself to be led.” And none of these vows is an end in itself. Instead, they are what we embrace in our journey of yes to God.
That’s why St. Paul tells us today that what we proclaim is Christ crucified. The world often thinks wisdom means power, success, independence, control. But Paul says that the wisdom of God looks very different. It is found in a crucified Christ and from his Cross… from whence comes our hope. And religious life makes little sense unless we are willing to embrace that wisdom. Because when the world says, “Get more.” Jesus says, “Give.” When it says, “Protect yourself.” Jesus says, “Give yourself away.” And when the world says, “Make sure you are in control.” Jesus says, “Follow me.”
And Jeremiah gives us perhaps the most beautiful promise of all: “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts.” That is what we pray for you today, Tim, Jacob, Andrew and Keenan. Not simply that you will keep your vows, but that over the years, your vows will become written on your hearts. There will be days when poverty is hard, when obedience is trying, when chastity is difficult. There will be days when community is tough, ministry is exhausting, prayer feels dry, and you wonder what in the world you have gotten yourself into! On those days, you will need to remember that you did not make your vows because religious life would always be easy. You made them because Jesus is worth it.
And you will need one another. You will need your families and your friends. You will need the brothers who stand beside you today, your community. You will need the Church. And you will need the grace of God, because no one lives a vocation like this by sheer determination. Mary didn’t say, “I can do this.” She said, “Let it be done to me.” Those are two very different things. It’s not the confidence of someone who believes she has everything figured out that carries her. It is the trust of someone who knows that God is faithful.
So, Jacob, Keenan, Tim and Andrew, today we do not ask you to promise that you will always be strong. We ask you to promise that you will just keep saying yes. Yes when you understand, and when you don’t. Yes when the road is joyful, and when it’s not. Yes when you feel God’s presence, and even when – like Mary – you must walk forward and trust a promise you’ve yet to see fulfilled. Because the great mystery of a vocation is this: Your yes becomes God’s yes to the world.
Through your poverty, Christ will remind people that God is enough. Through your chastity, Christ will remind people that love is greater than possession. Through your obedience, Christ will remind people that true freedom is found in surrender to God. And through your lives together, Christ will continue to make himself visible in a world desperately in need of him.
So today, we rejoice. We thank God for your vocation. We thank your families, your communities, and all those who have helped bring you to this moment. And most of all, we thank God for the grace that brought you here.
My dear brothers, the Lord has called you. And today you answer. May your yes be written upon your hearts. May it endure through every joy and every trial. And may the words of Mary become, every day of your lives, the prayer of your own hearts: “Let it be done to me according to your word.”
2026 Final Vows Homily by Fr. Bill Lies, C.S.C.
Published September 30, 2026 by the Office of Vocations
