Editor’s note: On the occasion of this 40th jubilee as a bishop, to have been celebrated August 11 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka wrote the following to those who were to attend and those who offered their congratulations…

My Dear Friends,

It is with a heart filled with love and gratitude that I give praise and thanks to God for all He has done for me.  There can be nothing greater than the priesthood and the episcopacy.  God’s ways are mysterious.  His ways are not our ways.  But we accept them with the deep faith which enables us to live our lives in the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.

I am most grateful to all who have joined me today in giving thanks for the opportunity the Lord has given me to serve as a successor of the Apostles for forty years.  Why He chose me is a mystery.  Through conscious of my failings and weakness, I accepted His call in faith and with total acceptance of His divine will.  He has always sustained me with His grace and love. 

I have tried to serve the Lord with fidelity and loyalty.  But I did so only with the grace and help He has given me.  It is also the prayers, the encouragement and cooperation of so many priests, deacons, religious, laity and my family which enabled me to fulfill my responsibilities.

My life, as the life of all of us, has not been without difficulties and serious challenges.  But it has been a very happy, fulfilling and joyful life.

With the words of our Blessed Mother, I pray:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant…the Almighty has done great things for me.”

His Eminence
Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka