New Year Plenary Indulgence

Via Fr Finegan:

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful under the usual conditions who devoutly assist at the singing or recition of:
The Te Deum on the lst day of the year to give thanks to God for benefits received during the past year.
The Veni Creator on 1 January to implore divine help during the coming year.

His post on Plenary Indulgences is also worth a read.

Christmas Thoughts

It was a great joy to be able to celebrate my first Christmas Mass. One thing that struck me was the fact that pretty much all the communicants at Mass were so joy-filled. May the Infant Jesus find a warm welcome in the hearts of all His people!

A couple of hours after celebrating the Vigil Mass of the Nativity, I tuned in to the Holy Father's homily at his Midnight Mass in St Peter's. If you've not done so already, I really recommend taking a few minutes to read it. This, my friends, is what preaching should be - the fruit of reflection, prayer, study and the guidance of the Holy Spirit:

In some Christmas scenes from the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the stable is depicted as a crumbling palace. It is still possible to recognize its former splendour, but now it has become a ruin, the walls are falling down - in fact, it has become a stable. Although it lacks any historical basis, this metaphorical interpretation nevertheless expresses something of the truth that is hidden in the mystery of Christmas. David’s throne, which had been promised to last for ever, stands empty. Others rule over the Holy Land. Joseph, the descendant of David, is a simple artisan; the palace, in fact, has become a hovel. David himself had begun life as a shepherd.
When Samuel sought him out in order to anoint him, it seemed impossible and absurd that a shepherd-boy such as he could become the bearer of the promise of Israel. In the stable of Bethlehem, the very town where it had all begun, the Davidic kingship started again in a new way - in that child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The new throne from which this David will draw the world to himself is the Cross. The new throne - the Cross - corresponds to the new beginning in the stable. Yet this is exactly how the true Davidic palace, the true kingship is being built. This new palace is so different from what people imagine a palace and royal power ought to be like. It is the community of those who allow themselves to be drawn by Christ’s love and so become one body with him, a new humanity. The power that comes from the Cross, the power of self-giving goodness - this is the true kingship. The stable becomes a palace - and setting out from this starting-point, Jesus builds the great new community, whose key-word the angels sing at the hour of his birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to those whom he loves” - those who place their will in his, in this way becoming men of God, new men, a new world.

Some preachers allow their learning to become an obstacle to the simple faith of many believers, whilst the Holy Father always draws us further into the meaning of the mystery.

To all my readers, I wish a Happy and a Holy Christmas, and every blessing for the New Year.

Homily for the Vigil Mass of Christmas

A homily for the Vigil Mass of Christmas. This congregation will largely consist of families with children.

Tonight we are waiting. The world has always been waiting. Mankind has always felt the need for salvation; we have always known that things are ‘just not right’ and have called out to God asking Him to intervene and straighten things out.

More than two and a half millennia ago, the prophet Isaiah spoke of this need for salvation. Politically and morally Jerusalem was in a bad way; once again, the Chosen People had turned their back on God. But the Holy Spirit spoke through Isaiah and gave him words of comfort. God would intervene to put things right for mankind – the land that was called Foresaken and Abandoned would receive a new name: My Delight and The Wedded. The Chosen People are called to trust again in the Lord. God would put things right. But how would this be done?

Would God intervene with great power – destroying the evil and rewarding the good? Would He raise up a new king of Israel to establish a state of justice and peace? Hoping for a powerful God who judges is a risky proposition – can we really be confident that we would end up in the right? And, could we ever think that any earthly king or state can put things right, when the real problems of the world are found within human hearts.

The answer that God gives is the reason for our celebration. He does not come in power and might. He does not come as an earthly king. He sends his Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary and she is found to be with child. He Himself took flesh from the Virgin. This is why the Old Testament calls Him Emmanuel - God is with us. God Himself became a little baby – a baby called Jesus, a name meaning Saviour. And how does He save us? He does not do so with brute power and might, but the strange weapons of weakness, innocence and love – the weapons by which a little baby can win our hearts.

By coming into the world as a child, God makes possible a new relationship with Him. He makes Himself small so that He is no longer far away from us. He shows us that His love for us is so great that He wants to enter into our world, into our lives and make Himself defenceless in front of us.

By coming to us as a baby He invites us to open our hearts to Him. This is where His salvation begins – by driving out hatred, bitterness and sin and replacing it with His love. During the year we will celebrate His teaching, His Passion, His Cross, His Resurrection and His sending of the Holy Spirit – but tonight our focus is on the beginning. At the beginning is the baby. We look at the little baby in the crib and our hearts open; we learn that He is our God and we realise that the whole world has been changed. We know that the world is not Foresaken or Abandoned, but that Heaven and Earth have been wedded to each other, and God has come to change us so that he might truly delight in us. We know that God has come close to us, and has poured His grace and His love into our world, and for that we give thanks on this Holy Night.

Pope Benedict wrote a letter about hope about a month ago which explains what this mystery of the baby in the crib means to us. He writes: Through him we have become certain of God, a God who is not a remote “first cause” of the world, because his only-begotten Son has become man and of him everyone can say: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20) [Spe Salvi 26]

I’d like to say a word to the children now. I’m sure you’re all very excited about Christmas, about Christmas dinner and sweets and presents and so on. I hope you all have a fun Christmas. But don’t forget what the fuss is really about – take a little time to look at the baby Jesus in the crib – at home or here in the Church. We are celebrating His birthday at Christmas; so take some time to thank Him for coming into the world to be our best friend who helps us to live good and holy lives. Adults, we could do worse than do the same.

And may their first child be a masculine child.

I was delighted to learn yesterday of the betrothal of Lucy and Drew, both of them thoroughly good eggs whom I met in Rome.
Congratulations, guys! May you have a long and happy life together.

A Homily for the Memoria of St Lucy

A homily prepared for a Mass in St Peter's Basilica marking the Memoria of St Lucy and the anniversary of a friend's admission to the Church. Those who attended the Mass received a rather confused version of the homily as I managed to leave my notes in the sacristy.

We celebrate today the feast of St Lucy. According to the old calendar, this was the shortest day of the year; you will have noticed the darkness as we made our way to the basilica. There is therefore a certain irony in this celebration because Lucy's name means light.

This virgin-martyr of Syracuse is particularly celebrated in the northern countries, which makes it is fitting that this day be the one on which we should also be celebrating with Q the anniversary of her admission to the Church because of her Scandinavian heritage.

I have mentioned the irony that we should be celebrating this feast of Lucy, the woman of light, in the depths of winter. However, the Church’s liturgical year plays itself out over the course of the solar year, and a certain relationship of harmony and counterpoint exists between the two. What better time to mark the arrival of Christ the light of the world, than the time when the light offered to us by the world is at its dimmest? Our celebration of St Lucy, the saint of light, should remind us that Christians are guided by a light which is not of this world.

Those of you who are familiar with the traditional iconography will know that St Lucy is frequently depicted with her eyes on a platter. This is because the early accounts of her martyrdom tell us that prior to being killed her eyes were gouged out. However, despite this she remained firm. The fact that the eyes of her body were dimmed casts into greater relief that there is a higher form of seeing, and another sort of vision. By her blindness, St Lucy showed herself to be stronger and more farseeing than her persecutors. By keeping the eyes of her soul fixed on the light of Christ, her perseverance and her bravery, the example of her faith and her chastity give a testimony which shone forth like a light and won the admiration of Christian and pagan alike.

And so it should be for us. We are Christians living in the world, but as Pope Benedict reminds us, the great hope of our life is not of this world. Our calling is to find the light which guides our steps in the child of Bethlehem, born into the darkness of a winter in obscure provincial town, seemingly bringing little to the world. Compared to the great men of his time and judged by the standards of the world, the birth of this baby must have seemed an irrelevance. However, these great men are now by and large forgotten, whilst the Child of Bethlehem has marked human history in a way unequalled by any other.

And yet, despite His importance by the standards of secular history, the true significance of God made man is not at all evident to worldly eyes. Only by the eyes of our faith can we understand and see His true significance. This is the centre of our lives as Christians. This contemplation of Christ, this allowing ourselves to be guided by the hidden light is what is important. Let us never allow the demands and noise of this world get in the way of it. This is no abandonment of the world however – rather it is central to the Church’s work of bringing sanctification and salvation to this world. She shines as a beacon bringing the light of Christ to the world the more she contemplates her Saviour. We see this written large in the martyrdom of St Lucy. Her dedication to Christ and her resolve to walk by His light alone meant that her steadfastness and bravery shone forth and was recognized by the world. Her devotion to Him allowed his flame to set fire to other hearts. May we never forget that the more we concern ourselves with the Christ who is hidden rather than with our own affairs, the brighter it His light will shine in the world.

A Homily to be Preached at a Public Mass in Convent of Augustinian Nuns

3rd December 2007 - Monday of the 1st Week of Advent (Readings)
[Please pray that this will still be understandable when I render it into Italian]

Sisters and brothers, we find ourselves at the start of the new liturgical year, during the season of Advent. This word Advent comes from the Latin verb advenio and refers to the arrival or coming of the Lord. It is a time of preparation and expectation. Despite not having the strong penitential character of Lent, it is a sober time and one during which we are encouraged to have a conversion of heart in order that we might be ready to welcome the Lord when he comes. In short, Advent is a time of hope – because the Lord is faithful to his promises, and therefore our preparations will not be in vain.
It is therefore very fitting that the Holy Father should give us as an Advent-present his new Encyclical Letter, Spe Salvi. He addresses us his words on Christian hope, as we enter this period which is built around the hope of the Christian in the Coming of the Lord.

But what do we mean by the Coming of the Lord? Has not the Lord already come? Is Advent not just the preparation for Christmas, the feast that celebrates the Son of God entering the world? This is true, but our focus is elsewhere during the first half of Advent. We are invited to reflect on the Second Coming of the Lord. The word Advent, Adventus, translates into Greek as Parousia – the word used to refer to coming of the Lord in glory and judgement at the end of times. Looking around the world, we see that there is much injustice and suffering – and if history is to make sense, then there is need for a final, decisive intervention from above. What else does Isaiah mean when he speaks of “the blast of judgement and the blast of destruction” when “Lord will come and rest on the whole stretch of Mount Zion and on those who are gathered there, a cloud by day, and smoke, and by night the brightness of a flaring fire.”

The image is terrifying – but we must not be afraid. It is not intended as a threat but it is a call to responsibility and hope. The Holy Father tells us, “From the earliest times, the prospect of the Judgement has influenced Christians in their daily living as a criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice.” (Spe Salvi, 41)
We hear the Lord speak of this same hour of justice in the Gospel when he says “many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.” Do not forget, He makes this promise in response to the astonishing faith of the Centurion. Let us take this Centurion as our model and welcome the Lord with humility. If we trust in Him and His justice, He we can be sure that will guide us through this season of preparation and make firm within us His hope.

St Ephraim the Syrian on Satan's Fear of Christ

I stumbled across this today, and was very taken by it:
Nisibene Hymn No 39

1. There have come to me ransomers from among the saints, but none has plundered me like the Son of Mary. For lo! Elijah brought a dead man to life; and even though he himself escaped from my hands, yet had I consolation after him, for the dead man whom he quickened, I carried off from him. By Elisha son of Shaphat, I was beaten as with rods, for he brought two dead men to life. By one staff I in turn bore away both the prophet and the dead whom he had raised.

R., Blessed is He Who cleft the tombs of Sheol by His voice!

2. I feared him even Gehazi when I saw, him lay the staff upon the youth. The thief took the staff away and returned; Elisha came and bowed himself; laid himself low as the child and raised himself up, and walked hither and thither. I marvelled at the new mysteries which I saw there, which restored but one youth to life. It was well with me then when those were but mysteries, and not now when the dead have rebelled and conquered me.

3. Moses when I saw the mighty splendour upon his face, I feared him: yet not according to what I feared befell it me. Nisan in Sheol he caused to spring for me; for a pasture, a pasture of corpses, of six hundred thousand fell.—This lowly and despised whom I contemned, has healed the sick and the diseased: to others He has multiplied bread, but our bread even ours from our mouths He snatches.

4. A mighty feast there was in Sheol, when I swallowed up Korah and his company. A great delight Satan made for me, when he made strife among the Levites. A fount of milk and honey, made he flow for me in a dry place, when the congregation of transgressors went down to Sheol.—Lo! the righteous have lived and come forth: Moses sent down the living thither, but Jesus has revived and brought up the dead.

5. It was well with me then, in the day of the zealous, those in whose swords I had delight. Phinehas the zealous pierced and gave me, on the head of his spear for my delight, Zimri and Cozbi both together; on the head of his lance he presented them to me. To whom then were there ever two fatted oxen, offered on the head of a spear?—But instead of Cozbi, daughter of princes, the daughter of Jairus has Jesus rescued from my hands.

6. The censer of Aaron caused me to fear, for he stood between the dead and the living and conquered me. The Cross causes me to fear more exceedingly, which has rent open the graves of Sheol. The Crucified Whom on it I slew, now by Him am I slain. Not very great is his reproach, who is overcome by a warrior in arms. Worse to me is my reproach than my torment, in that by a crucified man my strength has been overcome.

7. The lance of Phinehas again has caused me to fear, for by the slaughter he wrought with it he hindered the pestilence. The lance guarded the tree of life, it made me glad and made me sad; it hindered Adam from life, and it hindered death from the people. But the lance that pierced Jesus, by it I have suffered; He is pierced and I groan. There came out from Him water and blood; Adam washed and lived and returned to Paradise.

8. The Sadducees were as a mouth for me, and disputed with Him after my mind, that there is no rising of the dead at all. Jesus answered them in a saying, which I alone understood; He spoke aloud the hateful word and saddened me,"I am the God of him even of Abraham, and God is not the God of the dead." It was well with me then these were but words, and He had not yet showed me the life of the dead indeed.

9. Jesus son of Nun, slew thirty kings, and filled the graves and pits for me; he laid waste Jericho and filled Sheol. But this Jesus who is come, has wasted the graves of their dead, and has filled the cities of the upper world. Wherefore thus when lo! they are like in their names, are they unlike in their doings? That gave me the body of Achor, but this snatched from me the body of Lazarus.

10. Moses trod down that Egyptian, with his meekness he mingled justice. Whence has this new law sprung for me, "If one smite you on your cheek, turn to him your other cheek, and see that you hate him not?" Instead of the strong man of zeal who trod down and slew, a new man of mercy has risen for us. Samuel hewed Agag in pieces, but Jesus healed the paralytic.

11. Tender mercy which had as it were waxed less, lo! in this time has waxed great. And moreover it was then detested, lest through it one should transgress the commandment; for without mercy Saul and Ahab, were slain because they desired, to have mercy on the evil ones, and they were not slain who were deserving of punishment. In my time Jesus has changed this, by giving life to all men and having compassion on His slayers.

12. I remember Samson that lion's whelp, who broke and gave me the pillars of Philistia; also that mighty man of valor Abner son of Ner, took for me that fleet wild roe, Asahel son of Zeruiah, and smote him and cast him on the ground. Benaiah in the holy temple slew Jacob, justly as it is written.—Because justice has restrained her sword, henceforth penitents shall rejoice in grace.

13. David measured the Edomites, by line and line and destroyed them. How merciful then are You, O Son of David! David's justice was twofold, when he put to death two lines, and saved one full line alive.—Lo! the Son of David teaches us, "Forgive your brother even unto seventy times seven." There justice was measured; but here clemency is without measure.

14. Of zeal and strength David was possessed; the lion and the bear he slew together. He left that mighty lion and hasted, to meet the strong giant. With a stone he quenched his light, and his soul left him and he perished. But Jesus cried to the young man that was dead "Young man!" Even the dead to Him are sleepers. That young man He brought to life and rescued from me. The despised swine He drowned for me in the sea.

15. The Levites slew because of the calf, their fathers and their brethren. Jephthah by his own hands was ready to slay his daughter. The King of Moab on the wall, was sacrificing his first-born son: In presence of his sword I rejoice.—By Jesus the sword was blunted; yea the fever was rebuked, the sister of Sheol: the mother-in-law of Simeon was healed, but the fame of her healing smote Sheol with pain.

16. This Jesus though he be the Son of the Just One, all that He preaches is grace. But to me this His grace is torment. Envy is the cause of pleasure to us, for Envy at the beginning mixed for me the first shedding of blood. Why is it guilty in the sight of the Son of Mary Who is come commanding,"You shall not be angry against your brother?" He has taken away the sword from between brethren; while in the sword of Cain I had pleasure from the beginning.

17. An honeycomb in the midst of the skeleton, Samson found—was it then a mystery? This Jesus has multiplied for us mysteries. Amid billows of mysteries have I fallen, which show me in parable the life of the dead, in all mysteries and in all types. "Out of the eater came forth meat" was Samson's parable. But to me it has befallen contrariwise; for the eater has come forth to me out of the meat, for out of Adam lo! has come the Son of Adam Who has destroyed me.

18. Just men likewise have robbed me manifold, when by them was preached the rising of the dead: but they mingled with my sorrows great consolation. By the prayer of Asa and Hezekiah, I was fed upon the dead, yea I feasted upon corpses. Elijah slew the prophets of Baal and gave them to me, who on the bread of Jezebel had waxed fat. The righteous has constrained me to devour, but Jesus has compelled me to disgorge all that I had eaten.

19. I was afraid because of the sprinkled blood, which Moses sprinkled on every door; for though the blood of the slain, it was that which saved the living. Blood from of old I feared not, save that blood that was on the doors, and this moreover that was on the Tree. The blood of the slain is a delight, and is as sweet perfume: but the blood of Jesus is to me a terror; for whenever I come and smell His blood, the savour of life that lurks therein terrifies me.

20. Priests and pontiffs, anointed men and kings, who foreshow types of the rising of the dead, have never triumphed through their crosses. Crowns and diadems were set on them; and when I engaged in struggles with them, I was smitten sometimes and sometimes also I smote. But this carpenter's son with his crown of thorns, has humbled and cast down my pride, in His shame and His dying: Sheol has seen Him, yea, and fled from before Him.

21. When the sea saw Moses and fled, it feared because of his rod, and likewise because of his glory. His splendour and his rod and his power, the rock also saw which was cleft. But Sheol when her graves were rent, what saw she in Him even in Jesus?—Instead of splendour He put on the paleness of the dead and made her tremble. And if His paleness when slain slew her, how shall she be able to endure, when He comes to raise the dead, in His Glory!

Storm in a Chalice...

It's difficult to understand why this is news:

PRIESTS fear that altar wine will put them over the legal limit, making it impossible for them to drive to conduct essential duties.
Those working alone in rural churches fear that they may be over the legal limit if they have to drive to give the last rites to parishioners.
One priest in a rural north Galway parish said he sometimes has to finish the wine left over in the chalices. He feels that this could put him over the limit if he had to drive afterwards.
According to church law, wine which has been consecrated must be consumed as part of the Mass.
"What option do I have but drink the wine, as the chalices have to be emptied before being put back in the tabernacle?" he said.
"The only other possibility would be to ask some members of the congregation to drink the excess wine. This would be unseemly and certainly not Church practice."

What a non-story... If that is a worry for the priest, then all he need do is consecrate a sip of wine for himself. Given that the administration of Communion under both species is very much the exception rather than the rule in Ireland, there's no question of people being upset that the chalice isn't made availible.
At least we can give Fr Brian Darcy credit for making one thing clear:

"Perhaps it could be enough for you to fail a drink-driving test. I don't like to use the word wine, as it is Christ's blood in the Eucharist -- but it still has all the characteristics of wine when in the blood stream."

A more serious problem, and one that is more difficult to resolve, is highlighted later in the report:

Priests in larger towns and cities may be affected too according to Fr Stephen Farragher, administrator in Tuam.
"I would often have three Masses to say in the one day and while I had not thought about the impact of drinking the wine, it is probably now a factor that needs to be seriously considered," he said.

Obviously it is contrary to Canon Law that a priest be expected to trinate on any day other than a Sunday. This is a problem for the Church in Ireland. In the planning of Mass-schedules and so on, priests need to be more careful about taking into account the Church's regulations on bination and trination, and episcopal leadership on this would be very welcome. I remember being impressed by this letter of Bishop Martino of Scranton, and think that the Irish Church would benefit from a similar reminder:

It is the Church’s ancient discipline and practice that, except for very special occasions like Christmas and All Souls Day, her priests celebrate only one Mass a day. So august is God’s gift of the Eucharist, so important is the spiritual preparation for it, so careful and attentive must its celebration be, and so essential the thanksgiving to be made afterward as priests carry forth its grace to the rest of their ministry, that the multiplication of this central act in a priest’s daily life runs the risk of diminishing the value he places on it. Such a danger imperils the whole community of faith along with its priest. The law, therefore, is not an arbitrary one. It provides an essential means of fostering the holiness of the Church’s faithful.
And yet the Church, ever solicitous for the spiritual needs of the faithful and mindful of the shortage of clergy, gives its bishops the authority to permit priests, for a just cause, to celebrate two Masses on weekdays and, for a true pastoral necessity, even three Masses on a Sunday or holy day of obligation. Our priests have had this permission and they now have it from me. However, I cannot allow the limits of this permission to be exceeded. As your Bishop, I must ask you to accept the decision of your priest when he tells you that he cannot offer another Mass on a particular day.
Appeals to practicality, convenience, or long-term contrary custom must not be allowed to derail this effort. All of us – but I, especially, as your Bishop – are gravely obliged to be stewards of the Church’s mysteries and the age-old discipline that has been fashioned to preserve them.

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit - A Homily to Be Preached to a Community of Religious Sisters

29 October 2007 - Monday of the 30th Week of Ordinary Time - Readings

Saint Paul speaks to us today of one of the great mysteries of our lives as Christians - the in dwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Through our baptism, Christ has made us sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, and so that this title might be more than just an empty saying, the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts. It is the same Spirit in whom and through whom the Son of God brought healing to many during His earthly life. With that Power at work in us, what do we have to fear?

But St Paul tells us something else; he tells us that when our soul calls God "Father", it is the Spirit who is speaking in us. He is the one who is at work in us, even in the intimacy of our most private prayer. And perhaps this seems a little shocking. Have we lost all freedom if we give credit for our prayer to the Holy Spirit, rather than to our own efforts? Certainly not, because the Spirit is the Spirit of Sonship who liberates asked from the slavery of sin and of fear, and to permits us to live the lives of sons and daughters of the Lord whose driving force is the love we have for our Heavenly Father. We cannot claim any credit for this love, but if we can trust ourselves to it we learn that it leads to true freedom.

If we do some good today, if we bear some suffering gladly, then we are becoming a little more like Christ and coming a little bit closer to the glory he promises. If that happens, let us give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit who lifts our soul and makes possible what is beyond the limits of our fallen nature. Knowing that he is at work in us, we realise that there is no place in us for a pride, but every reason for us to be joyful.

On the Fate of Origen

From Jean Leclercq's The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture (pp 95-6):

A curious document reveals the anxiety which was felt over not only the orthodoxy of Origen's doctrine but for his personal salvation as well. The nun Elizabeth of Schonau (+1164) tells us that one Christmas night, during a vision, she asked the Virgin Mary about this, at the instigation of her brother Egbert of Schonau, a Benedictine.

In accordance with the counsel I received from my brother who at that very moment was celebrating the office at our convent, I addressed her in this fashion: "My Lady, I beg of you, kindly reveal to me something concering the great doctor of the Church, Origen, who in so many places in his works has sung your praises so magnificently. Is he saved or not? For the Catholic Church condemns him because of the many heresies found in his writings." To which she answered in these words: "It is not the Lord's intention that muchg be revealed to you at this point. Know only that Origen's error did not come from bad will; it came from the excess of fervour with which he plunged into the depths of the Holy Scriptures he loved, and the divine mysteries which he was wont to scrutinize to an excessive degree. For this reason, the punishment he is undergoing is not severe. And because of the glory his writings have given me, he is illuminated by a very special light on each feast commemorating me. As for what will happen to him on the last day, that must not be revealed to you, but must remain hidden among the divine secrets.

NCPI Disbanded

There was surprising news from the NCPI's recent conference:

The National Conference of Priests of Ireland (NCPI), which has represented both diocesan and religious priests in Ireland for 31 years, is set to wind up.
According to a report in the Irish Catholic newspaper, a lack of activity in local branches meant that there were insufficient delegates to validly elect a new President at this year's AGM of the Conference.
A motion was put before the AGM to wind up the NCPI and this was agreed. Reacting to the news, outgoing President Fr John Littleton told ciNews that it was "a sad reflection on the morale of priests in Ireland".
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NCPI will now assist in the legal process of winding up the Conference.
A spokesperson for the NEC, Fr William Bermingham, said that there seemed to be "a lack of connection between the NEC and priests in local areas".
"Priests didn't seem to feel a sense of ownership regarding the NCPI," he said. This had created organisational difficulties, which the NEC had been seeking to address. However, ultimately they had decided to cease operations, in order to allow the possibility for a new representative body to emerge.

Would you believe that I have no strong opinions on this dissolution? That's because during the entire period of my seminary training and my brief priestly life to date the NCPI has made absolutely zero impression on me. I cannot recall, for good or for ill, any contribution that the Conference has made to debates within the Church or in the broader public square. The fact that I'd heard nothing from and virtually nothing about the Conference before its dissolution probably says a lot about the organization. The report continues:

However, Fr Bermingham stressed that such a body would have to emerge after a great deal of reflection amongst priests. "We have no template for an alternative body," he insisted.
He said that the organisation had "worked very well over the past number of years", but that such operations "tend to bloom and wane".
For over three decades, the NCPI has acted as the professional body for priests nationally, and has sought to promote every aspect of the priestly ministry. However, Fr Bermingham suggested that, with priests taking on increasingly specialised roles, such as school chaplaincy, the remit of the NCPI had perhaps been too wide.

Is this so? On the ground, it seems to be a movement away from these specialised roles towards an increasing concentration on bread-and-butter parish ministry.

The work of the winding up committee will include finalising all the legal and financial details, and it is expected that it will have concluded its task by the end of November.
At their autumn meeting, the bishops expressed concern at the current absence of a national representative body for priests.
"The NCPI played an important role as a forum to support the priests of Ireland, and to discuss and represent their views. Since it was founded over thirty years ago, it has promoted and organised many useful initiatives for priests - diocesan, religious and missionary - including residential renewal programmes and annual conferences," said the statement they released yesterday.
The bishops have now decided that the President of the Bishops’ Conference will invite the chairman of each Diocesan Council of Priests, from across the country, to a meeting to see what can be done.

A Sign of the Times?

I've not had much in the way of preaching duties recently, thus the paucity of sermons posted recently. However, I did think this article from the Telegraph concering the personal safety issues faced by Anglican clergy was worth looking at.

Vicars have been told to stop wearing dog-collars because they increase the likelihood of them being attacked.
Even the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, should abandon the traditional dress, according to the Church of England's security adviser.
A new report warns clergy that the collars make them an "easy target" and says they should adopt more casual clothing in a bid to give them greater safety.
It was commissioned after the murder in March of Paul Bennett, vicar of St Fagan's Church in Trecynon, near Aberdare, who became the fifth cleric to be killed in a decade.
Other safety measures proposed include disguising the whereabouts of the vicarage by taking down signs and ensuring that the front doors of their homes do not have a letter box that people can look through.
However, it is the recommendation that they should cease wearing dog-collars in public that is most controversial. They have been worn since the early 19th century and many priests are not seen without them.

Needless to say, I think this is a totally wrong-headed approach as it manages to overlook the necessity of clergy and their homes being easily identifiable, to say nothing of the spiritual and social importance of clerical dress.
The report continues.

More attacks are carried out on priests than probation officers and GPs, according to the latest figures. Between 1997 and 1999, 12 per cent of clergy were assaulted and seven out of ten were abused or threatened.
Nick Tolson, the coordinator of National Churchwatch - the organisation that produced the report, claimed that there would be no attacks on clergy if they heeded the advice.
"They haven't been streetwise in the past," he said. "They need to realise that wearing the dog collar makes them a target, especially in the case of single females. It isn't wise for them to wear it out shopping or in the car and they should never wear it when alone. The Archbishop and other bishops should give a lead in this."
The paper has been passed to the Ven Christopher Lowson, an adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will send it to dioceses ahead of a meeting next year at which the Church will decide whether to endorse the proposals.
However, the Rev David Houlding, a prebendary at St Paul's cathedral, attacked the recommendation as a "silly, fashionable idea".
"I feel much safer wearing my dog collar when I'm walking through the streets at night. There is still an air of respect to it," he said. "Most of the time I wear it every day. It's my uniform. We'd lose our presence in the community and our witness."
He argued that he is well aware of the risks of being a cleric, but that he has already made sensible changes, such as refusing to see people on their own at the vicarage.

But I wish to stray...

I owe an apology to those of you who have been expecting/hoping for more frequent updates. Anyway, today's Office of Readings from St Augustine's On the Shepherds struck me as worth sharing (courtesy of Argent):

The shepherd seeks out the straying sheep, but because they have wandered away and are lost they say that they are not ours. “ Why do you want us? Why do you seek us?” they ask, as if their straying and being lost were not the very reason for our wanting them and seeking them out. “If I am straying”, he says, “if I am lost, why do you want me?” You are straying, that is why I wish to recall you. You have been lost, I wish to find you. “But I wish to stray”, he says: “I wish to be lost”.
So you wish to stray and be lost? How much better that I do not also wish this. Certainly, I dare say, I am unwelcome. But I listen to the Apostle who says: Preach the word; insist upon it, welcome and unwelcome. Welcome to whom? Unwelcome to whom? By all means welcome to those who desire it; unwelcome to those who do not. However unwelcome, I dare to say: “You wish to stray, you wish to be lost; but I do not want this”. For the one whom I fear does not wish this. And should I wish it, consider his words of reproach: The straying sheep you have not recalled; the lost sheep you have not sought. Shall I fear you rather than him? Remember, we must all present ourselves before the judgement seat of Christ.

Can one describe the dilemma of the priest today any more accurately than St Augustine did? We find ourselves bound to the preaching of a way of life that is alien to so many of those around us, and we find that society frequently asks us to collude in the privitization of the moral life. We're told that the message we proclaim isn't relevant to the modern world, and that people should be allowed pursue their own way of life without reference to the morality we proclaim. We should, we are told, allow people to have their own 'private' lives and to not be judgemental.
It's a tempting option... to stay on the level of 'spirituality' and people's 'personal relationship with God', but Augustine will not have it so. His words are a powerful corrective to the lassitude which threatens the life and ministry of the priest. He insists that many souls are wandering and that even if they protest that they're not lost, or that they wish to be lost, we still have our duty. We have been given a responsability, and it is out of love of Christ and out neighbour and a healthy fear for our souls that we are asked to step away from the consensus of society and to continue to speak of sin, knowing that we cannot tell of the relationship between God and men without acknowledging that the conseqences of that relationship affect every dimension of human life. To speak of forgiveness and mercy is a nonsense if we do not also speak about sin.
I wish that some of our secular critics could read a little of what Augustine has to say - his words today also serve as our very up to date apologia. We're not here to judge or condemn or to make people feel uncomfortable for the sake of making them uncomfortable. We'd much rather not to have to do that. We are striving to be shepherds and the sheep are free to heed our call or not. However, we could not live with ourselves if we were silent, if we allowed the flock to wander. At least show us the same indulgence you give to climate-change activists...

An apology

.... is due to both my readers for the decided lack of content on th blog. I've been away from my computer recently, and will be for another week or so.

Mother Teresa's Dark Night and the meaning of Faith

The whole issue of what faith is intrigues me, and thanks are due to Amy Welborn for pointing me towards this little article by Anthony Esolen which deals intelligently with Mother Teresa's experience of doubt. The whole thing is worth reading, but the following extract contains the meat of what he's saying:

It is not a mysterious thing, after all, that a young and enthusiastic person should become disillusioned after a month or two of the squalor of the Black Hole of Calcutta. People lose their faith all the time -- and people gain their faith all the time, and often they are the same people. What is mysterious is that after her visions of Jesus ceased, after all the inner consolations were taken away, after the locutions, what my evangelical brethren call "words of knowledge," fell silent, still Mother Teresa clung to Christ. She retained her faith without the emotional accompaniments (and here let married Christians take heed). She continued to serve the poor of Calcutta even though the nagging little viper at her shoulder must have whispered to her, constantly, "This is all absurd." Let us be absolutely clear about this: outside of the ambit of Christian culture, no one goes to Calcutta. What Mother Teresa did, no one does, not even for a year, without having been influenced by the message and example of Christ. And to live there for good, no one does at all without the virtue of faith.
[...]
Dubiety is inseparable from the human condition. We must waver, because our knowledge comes to us piecemeal, sequentially, in time, mixed up with the static of sense impressions that lead us both toward and away from the truth we try to behold steadily. The truths of faith are more certain than the truths arrived by rational deduction, says Aquinas, because the revealer of those truths speaks with ultimate authority, but they are less certain subjectively, from the point of view of the finite human being who receives them yet who does not, on earth, see them with the same clarity as one sees a tree or a stone or a brook. It should give us Christians pause to consider that when Christ took upon himself our mortal flesh, he subjected himself to that same condition. He did not doubt; His faith was steadfast; yet He did feel, at that most painful of moments upon the Cross, what it was like to be abandoned by God. He was one with us even in that desert, a desert of suffering and love. Nor did the Gospel writers -- those same whom the world accuses on Monday of perpetrating the most ingenious literary and theological hoax in history, and on Tuesday of being dimwitted and ignorant fishermen, easily suggestible -- refuse to tell us of that moment.

Now, the question of whether one can validly speak of Christ having faith is a whole 'nother ballgame... I'd quibble with Esolen on that point, but I think his point holds good.

O Doctor Mellifluus

Fr Mark has a wonderful meditation on St Bernard and the liturgy of his feast-day:

Zeal, then, characterizes Saint Bernard. A burning passion for Christ and for the Bride of Christ, the Church, consumed him. In Chapter 72 of the Holy Rule, Saint Benedict distinguishes between two kinds of zeal. The first he calls “an evil zeal rooted in bitterness, which separates from God and leads to hell.” (RB 72:1). Evil zeal always leads to rancour and strife in a community. Good zeal “separates from vice and leads to God and to eternal life” (RB 72:2). The Holy Spirit infuses the grace of good zeal. It is gentle and sweet. It is warm and attractive. It inflames others but it doesn’t scorch them. It attracts souls by means of a gentle, steady radiance.
Burning and Shining
The Collect goes on to say that the grace of prophetic grace caused Saint Bernard to burn and shine in the Church. Here, there is an allusion to Saint John the Baptist. In the 5th Chapter of Saint John, Our Lord, speaking of the Baptist, says, “He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light” (Jn 5:35). Saint Bernard was, and remains even today, a burning and shining lamp in the Church. By burning, he enkindled others; by shining, he enlightened others.
Those who read Saint Bernard know that his fire has not been extinguished nor has his flame become less bright. When the Holy Spirit sets a heart aflame, nothing earthly can extinguish the blaze. “Love is strong as death,” says the Canticle, “the lamps thereof are fire and flames. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it” (Ct 8:6-7). Many waters and great floods have come and gone, assailing the Church and sweeping away the grandest monuments in their torrents. Still, after the nine centuries that separate us from Saint Bernard, his fire burns with the same intensity and his light is undimmed.

The whole thing is worth meditating upon.

Fr John Sullivan SJ

From CatholicIreland.net, information about this well-known Irish Jesuit:

After the sudden and unexpected death of his father, Sir Edward Sullivan, Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1885, John seems to have retreated from his familiar world in Dublin's fashionable society and went to London to continue his legal studies. Little is known of this period of his life and so we could refer to this time as 'the hidden years'. But while WE may know very little about his spiritual journey, we do know that during a visit to Greece he visited the monastery of Mount Athos and he remained in contact after he returned to England.

We also know about his regular visits to Glencar, Co. Kerry and how he used to eavesdrop on the catechism lesson of one of the young ladies of the house! This was at a time shortly before he made his decision to become a Catholic. On 21 December 1896 he was received into the Church at Farm Street, the famous Jesuit church in London. We can only imagine the reaction of his mother, Lady Bessie Josephine Sullivan.

After becoming a Catholic there was a dramatic change in his lifestyle. He removed all material comforts from his room in Fitzwilliam Place. His ward-robe was changed drastically. From his reputation as one of 'the best-dressed men around Dublin', his clothes were of the simplest and plainest style.

He became a regular visitor to the Hospice for the Dying in Harold's Cross, Dublin. From this time onwards he was to become known for his devotion to the sick, to the poor and to anyone in need. This was to be part of the driving force for the rest of his life. And, as they say, the rest is history.
[...]

From the time of his arrival in Clongowes, he was always known as a friend to the poor and to anyone in need. His ministry radiated from the People's Church and he was usually to be found there, praying, unless he was away on some errand of mercy. His confessional became a haven of peace for many. Those who were ill sent for Father John. People had great faith in his prayers. He could bring comfort and peace where others failed. Why?

An old lady who lived near Clongowes and who knew him well probably penetrated the secret: 'Father Sullivan is very hard on himself'. Is this the healing that the Lord promised which comes through prayer and fasting?
In our own time many of his faithful friends visit his tomb in Gardiner Street church in Dublin. His crucifix is in constant demand for the blessing of the sick. There are many accounts of healing and favours received through his intercession.

Through intercession to this Servant of God we see the healing power of God at work in our lives. This is all part of the Good News announced by Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Sacred Heart: 'He laid his hand on them and he healed them'. The Master sent his disciples into the world in his name to continue his healing work on earth. Father John Sullivan was such a disciple.

Let us pray together that the example and prayer of Father John will continue to inspire many to draw near to the Lord and that, in our different needs, we also will feel the healing hand of the Master upon us.

Typhoon Problems at Filipino Seminary

From ciNews:

Young Filipinos – many of them future priests – may be forced to leave a leading seminary amid increasing fears over the safety of buildings ravaged by a string of typhoons.
Students at St Gregory the Great Seminary, in the Philippines, have already had to abandon almost half the buildings and now the rector has announced that unless repair work speeds up, growing structural problems mean some pupils will be withdrawn from the school.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, seminary rector Fr Nic Bilono explained that funds were desperately needed to finance the building work.
He said: “If we cannot do some repair work, we will have to cut the number of students.
“Our facilities are not safe enough to continue accommodating as many as at present and there is nowhere like St Gregory’s where they can go instead.”
The seminary, in Legazpi, 250 miles south of the Philippines capital Manila, was just one of countless buildings devastated by three typhoons late last year, ruining people’s lives in parts of South East Asia.
Immediately after the freak weather, ACN provided emergency assistance to an appeal for help, but the repair bill still stands at over £60,000.
With many of the buildings out of action, the shortage of dormitories mean that students are sleeping in bunk beds.
Classrooms are doubling up as halls for large gatherings. Food is now prepared in an out-house 20 metres from the main building. Many of the library’s books were lost.
Fr Bilono stressed how at least a quarter of the 12 to 16-year-olds at St Gregory’s go on to priesthood and that the college was essential for laying the foundations for seminary formation. He went on to highlight its leading academic credentials.
He said: “In the Philippines, we are still a very Catholic country. We have plenty of vocations but not enough seminary places – that is why we are in hurry to repair St Gregory’s.”

Amnesty International drop Abortion Neutrality

As a youngster, I remember questioning an Amnesty Internatial speaker at my school about whether the organization was doing anything to protect the human rights of the unborn. As I recall, he was rather taken aback by the question, but did make me aware of the charity's position of neutrality. Now, however, that policy has been changed, as this BBC News story explains:

Amnesty International has confirmed its controversial decision to back abortion in some circumstances, replacing its previous policy of neutrality.
The human rights group will campaign for woman to have access to abortion in cases including rape and incest.
[...]
The decision in April by Amnesty's executive committee to support access to abortion for women in cases of rape, incest or violence, or where the pregnancy jeopardises a mother's life or health was greeted with an outcry by churches.
Roman Catholic leaders in particular accused Amnesty of betraying its commitment to human rights, and a senior Vatican official called on Catholics to stop funding it.
But Amnesty's international council - meeting in Mexico - has overwhelmingly supported the decision, insisting it was upholding the ability of women to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights free from coercion and violence.

Personally, I find that more and more of my charitable giving is going to Aid to the Church in Need which does some splendid work.

A Homily to be Preached on Sunday 19th August 2007

Homily – 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) (Readings)

We have an unsettling Gospel today… Christ’s words are pretty scary. He tells us of a fire that is to come. He warns us that he comes to bring division, rather than peace. He speaks of families divided against each other. It doesn’t really sound like Good News, but these are words that we need to hear if we are to make sense of the Gospel and of the world around us.
The Alternatives
It is a mistake to believe anyone who promises us a quick-fix, enlightenment without effort or pleasure without any strings attached. You’ll find that kind of promise easily enough. The drug-peddler will offer you a high without any ill-effects. Advertisers will try to sell you a life-style where all our problems can be solved by spending money. New age religion pushes guilt-free spiritual highs, whilst brushing the realities of sin, death and the need to love one's neighbour under the carpet.
The Realism of Christ
Christ doesn’t do that. He’s realistic. He brings us the fire of the Holy Spirit to free us from our sins and to transform the unjust world around us, but doesn’t hide the fact that this liberation, this transformation isn’t always going to be an easy process. So great and so urgent was this work of salvation that He underwent the Cross to accomplish it. It should therefore be no surprise that our vocation as Christians, our attempt to welcome this salvation into our lives will lead to struggle and conflict – both with ourselves and with the world around us. Can we really claim to have received the fire of the Holy Spirit if we do not feel the need to struggle with our own sins?
Looking at the World
I’m sure too that many of you look around with confusion and dismay at many of the changes that are happening in Ireland today. Society seems to be becoming more and more hostile to Gospel values. It is therefore clear that being a Christian will increasingly mean standing apart from mainstream opinion. This affects everyone, but we should particularly think about the difficulties that our young people face – for them to follow Christ is to enter into a very clear conflict with the society and values around them.
Not a Reason for Despair
But these struggles are not a reason to lose faith. It is when we become satisfied with ourselves and the society around us that we should become worried that perhaps the fire of the Holy Spirit has been extinguished within us. We will not find perfection in ourselves or in the world around us in this life. However, there is comfort for us in the Letter to the Hebrews. No matter how bleak things look, no matter how much we are tempted to give up the fight, there is always the example and presence of Christ. We are told,

Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to
perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured
the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his
place at the right of God's throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition
from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage.

We are not saved despite the struggles and trials we undergo, but because of them.

Chinese Via Crucis

Biretta-doff to The Hermeneutic of Continuity

A Homily to be Preached on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the BVM

Today we celebrate the Glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast expresses our joy that “the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” (Pius XII – Munificentissimus Deus) She did not experience death as the rest of the human race does, but has been welcomed, body and soul, into Heaven, where she reigns as Our Queen and intercedes for us as Our Mother. And so, we rejoice because of the great privilege that has been shown to Our Mother Mary, and we also see in this mystery a reason for our own hope.

You see, the Church teaches us that Mary is the perfect example of the Christian life, and in the mysteries and events of her life, we recognise the right path for our own lives.

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. First of all, we recognise Mary as one called and chosen by the Lord. The Lord has great plans for all of us, but just as Mary was addressed by an Angel, and asked to participate in God’s saving plan, so too we must recognise that God does not force Himself into our lives, but humbly invites us to make a home for Him in our hearts.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy Word. The great response of Mary! A response that we are asked to make our own. Mary is our example of humble obedience. Great things were accomplished through this simple statement. The Glory of God shone out throughout the world, because of the “yes” that Mary made to God’s call. We too are invited to let God’s glory shine out in our lives by being faithful to whatever way of life he has called us to.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt amongst us. Because of Mary’s ‘Yes’, Jesus, the Son of God, walked amongst us. He is Truth and Goodness in person, and the one through whom the universe was made, but His entrance into the world as Man required the co-operation of Mary. We too are called to a similar co-operation. As members of the Church, by our words and actions, we are asked to make Him present to all mankind. This we can only do if we make the effort to listen to His Word and follow him in the great and little events of our lives. St Augustine put it well, when he told people that just as Mary was the physical Mother of God, every faithful soul that does the will of God is spiritually the Mother of God because it makes His image present to the world.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. And here, perhaps, we encounter the great meaning of today’s feast. Mary is present, body and soul, in heaven praying for us. But what is she praying? She is praying that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. What are those promises? Why, they are nothing less than the total victory over sin and death. By her Immaculate Conception and her sinless life, Mary teaches us that the power of Christ has defeated sin. By her being taken body and soul into heaven, she shows us that Christ has defeated death. The preface of today’s Mass describes her as the beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection, and a sign of hope and comfort for your people on their pilgrim way. As Mary is now, body and soul, in heaven, so we hope to be one day. After all the stuggles and difficulties of the Church on Earth, when the Resurrection of the Dead comes, we will be like her. Just as her life of perfection is the model for all believers, so her heavenly glory today is sign of Christ’s victory and a promise of the glories of the world to come.

Pray for us, o Holy Mother of God, that like you, we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

A Homily to be Preached on Sunday 12th August 2007

Homily – 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

Distorted Perspectives on Faith
The accusation is frequently made against people of faith that they are small-minded and mean-spirited. Newspaper columnists and commentators rarely seem to miss the opportunity to dismiss faith as being an ignorant and irrational narrowing of horizons, a force that does more harm than good. But, in reality, this is not so. Today’s readings provide a very different picture of what Christian faith really is. After all, the evidence is all around us. Faith builds Cathedrals and churches, hospitals and schools. Faith leads people to leave their native countries and devote their lives to helping the less well off. Faith raises up men and women of the calibre of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, St Charles of Mount Argus, Pope John Paul II, and countless others. Our sinful human nature may lead us to be small-minded and mean-spirited, but our faith always calls us to be big-hearted and generous in spirit.
You see, faith is not just about believing the right things. It also involves trusting in the promises of God. This is why the Letter to the Hebrews sets Abraham before us as our model of faith. The Lord promised a great inheritance for him and his descendents, and so, despite his age and childlessness, he set away from the security of his homeland and lived as a stranger in the Promised Land. There’s nothing small-minded or mean-spirited about taking what seemed to be such a gamble, but Abraham understood the power of the Promise of God. His example shows us that living by faith means understanding that we are not restricted to survival based on our own resources and strength. Trying to do that really is a recipe for living a grasping and narrow existence. However, if we trust ourselves to the promises of the God who is ever-faithful, we will have the courage to live a life of true generosity and open-heartedness.

The Challenge of Faith
This is why Christ challenges us in this Sunday’s Gospel. He tells us that there is no need to be afraid because God has promised us His kingdom. If we are willing to accept that, then we need have no fears about being generous. If we believe in His Word, then we can find reserves of calm in an increasingly difficult and turbulent world. If we trust in Him, and keep our eyes fixed on His Kingdom, only then can we understand the true value of the things of this world. Above all, living according to faith is, in a very real way, the beginning of eternal life. How can we entrust ourselves to the love of God in the next life, if we did not try to trust and love Him in this life?

The Call to Watchfulness
So, Christ invites us to watchfulness in order that we are ready for the Master’s arrival and do not miss out on the great promises that God has made to us. True, we are told what will happen to the servants who become complacent because they do not expect the Master to come. But this watchfulness is not about dodging a God who is determined to catch us out for not living by the rules. Instead, we know He tries to lead us in love into that kind of life which is the beginning of eternal joy. The Master who is to come, after all, feeds us in the Eucharist and offers us His forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. He gives Himself to us as our strength and is the very reason that we can live the kind of life that He rejoices in. In short, He challenges us to live in His friendship. The concrete details of how this is done will vary from person to person – but, if we live a life of faith and truly believe in His promises, we will have the strength to do this.
Perhaps we’re being called to faithfulness in marriage and to raise a family. Perhaps there are signs in our life that we are being called to priesthood or religious life. Perhaps we are realising the need to forgive someone or to find the courage to ask forgiveness. Maybe we are being called to break free from some particular sin. Maybe we are too concerned with money or pleasure or entertainment and have realised that there is something hollow about the life we are leading. Whatever it is, we are all being called by God – and He promises us that following that call will lead us to eternal life. Accepting that challenge and trusting in His promises is not small-minded or mean-spirited. Indeed, it is the only way that we can possibly live a truly free and human life.
In the words of Pope John Paul II: “Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.”

The Sisters of the Gospel of Life

The Sisters of the Gospel of Life, based in Glasgow, are some of the most encouraging and upbeat people I've ever had the pleasure to come across. I'm therefore delighted to see that they've started a blog. It's terrific to see the Holy Spirit at work in the Church, by raising up a new congregation of active religious whose devotion to the Gospel of Life represents a charism sorely needed today.
Sr Roseann explains their origin and work in this video and Sr Andrea explains the vision of the sisters in this Podcast.
Any young woman in Britain or Ireland who is considering a call to the active religious life should give the Sisters serious consideration.

A Homily to be Preached on Sunday 29th July 2007

Homily – 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) Luke 11:1-13
28th July 2007

Have you ever wondered about the smirk on a camel’s face? Well, the Arabs have a story to explain it. You see, Muslims speak about the 99 Names of God. They talk about God the Merciful, God the Creator, God the All-knowing, God the Wise and so on. But, they say, these 99 names are not enough and that He has a hundredth name which men don’t know. However, the camel does know, and that is why he has a smug self-satisfied look on his face.
However, despite having 99 Names for God – speaking of His Power, His Mercy and His Goodness, nowhere amongst them is found the name Father. Maybe this is a surprise to us, because we’re so used to calling Him Father, but it is something uniquely Christian. Indeed, for the Christian, Father is the most important name we use when we talk about God, and when we talk to God. It says more about Him and our relationship with Him than any other name we can give Him.

God the Father - A Uniquely Christian Doctrine
It is from Christ Himself that we learned to call God Father. We read in the Gospels that God the Son invites us to share in His Sonship, and make our relationship with God the Father the centre of our lives. We read today that the disciples were fascinated by Christ’s prayer. They must have seen Him spend many hours in conversation with the Heavenly Father, and finally worked up the courage to ask Him to teach them to pray.
Being taught how to pray is no small thing. The disciples are asking Jesus what to say to God one-to-one. In prayer before God, there is no room for pretence or falsehood, and so the prayer that Jesus gives us tells us who God really is, and what kind of people He wants us to be.
And so, He tells us to call God “Our Father.” What a revelation this is! It’s one thing believing that God created us and the entire universe; that He is Good and All-Powerful. It is quite another to learn that He wants us to call Him Father. He wants us to know that He has a Father’s love for us, and that we should not be frightened to consider ourselves His sons and daughters.

Growing as a Child of God - The Centrality of Trust
In the words of the Our Father, there is a whole course in Christian living. Whole books have been written about this prayer, but perhaps one of the most important things that the Our Father teaches us is the great virtue of trusting in God the Father. After all, the relationship between parent and child is marked by the fact that a child flourishes by trusting his parents. A child thrives and grows into a well-balanced adult by knowing that his parents want the best for him, and that whatever goes wrong, home is a place where they can return for comfort and even forgiveness.
If this is true of earthly parents, how much more is it true of Our Heavenly Father. By inviting us to call Him Father, He is reassuring us that we can trust Him and rely on Him. He asks us to trust Him for our daily bread, and to know that He is a God of forgiveness. Like the father of the prodigal Son, we are reassured that He will be quick with His forgiveness if we stray.
As a Father, we can also trust that God wants us, His children, to grow; and so He gives us a way of life. We are called to imitate Him in our forgiveness of others and in our concern that His Kingdom should prevail on Earth, as well as in Heaven. This, however, is only possible if we learn to trust Him first. We can only have the courage to put our own interests aside and be forgiving, if we know that we too are forgiven when we fall. We can only live a life of Christian love, if we first realise that God loves us first.

The Adult Faith of a Child of God
We must also have an adult understanding of what it means to be a father. I’m sure that the parents here know that being a good father or a good mother means sometimes saying ‘no’ to their children, and that to grow, sometimes children have to learn some difficult lessons. So, as God’s children we will face trials that seem to make no sense to us and may even cause us to doubt the existence of a loving God. This is why we need to cultivate a keen awareness of God as Our Father. We can only face the genuine difficulties, and struggles and sorrows and set-backs of life, if we know that God is our loving Father, and that whatever happens to us will be for the best and will lead us to the happiness of His Kingdom. He does not give us scorpions instead of eggs.
This trust is not always easy, but the Father has made known His goodness in many ways. Above all, He has sent us His Only Begotten Son to show us the path of Sonship and to encourage and strengthen us, and has poured God the Holy Spirit into our hearts to guide us along that path, and to fill us with the Divine Love that makes it possible to grow as His sons and daughters.

Blessed be the name of the Lord – Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

A Homily Preached at a Cemetery Mass

As we gather here for this graveyard Mass, it is well for us to remember what it is we are doing when we gather in a cemetery and when we care for a graveyard. The monuments and crosses scattered about us remind us that this is a place of memories. Indeed, many of them bear the inscription In Loving Memory. Buried all around us are our departed ancestors, relations and friends. From them we have received so much and it is only right and just that we continue to be grateful to them and show our respect by caring for their graves. Rememberance of the dead is a mark of basic human decency.
Maybe we honour parents or grandparents who did so much for us when we were young, passing on their wisdom, their values and their faith. Perhaps we remember the kindness of departed friends and relations. Perhaps we’re here as a mark of respect to ancestors that we have no personal memory of, but about whom we’ve heard from our elders. We should also remember the many unknown and forgotten people here in this graveyard, many of whom lived lives of hardship and struggle that we today cannot fully understand. Our remembrance of the dead bears witness to the fact that a person’s good deeds and the memories of a life well-lived are of lasting value.

As Christians, however, a place like this is not simply about memories. It is not only about remembering with affection those who have gone before us. We also remember them with hope. Christ promises us that those the Father has given Him will be raised up on the last day. At every Sunday Mass we finish the Creed by saying We believe in the Resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting, Amen. We remember the Risen Christ appearing to His disciples in His glorified flesh and we believe that His victory over death is such that not only do our souls survive but that at the end of time, both body and soul will be re-united and restored in an extraordinary way that we cannot comprehend on this side of the grave. However, the respect we show to the remains of the deceased and out visits to the graves of our departed loved ones is a very concrete way of expressing our faith in this mysterious resurrection of the body. By coming to the very place where a loved one’s mortal remains were laid to rest, we are saying that we trust that some day both body and soul will be glorified, and the relationships which have been interrupted by death, will be restored in the paradise that Christ Himself has promised to those who die in His peace.

Finally, we remember the words of scripture that it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be released from their sins. Above all, an occasion like this is an opportunity to pray for our dead, and assist them in their final purification. Perhaps we don’t hear enough about purgatory and the importance of praying for the dead any more. Perhaps we make the mistake of thinking of the idea of purgatory as being a gloomy kind of idea. It is no such thing. It is one of the most merciful doctrines in the Catechism. To those who die in a state of grace, but have some residual imperfection or some outstanding reparation for a sin is given the chance of a final purification, so that they are totally happy when they meet their Maker in His glory. Were they not to receive this time of preparation, their joy in the presence of God would be marred by their shame at their imperfection and unworthiness. They would be like guests who found themselves at a wedding wearing the dirty old clothes they use for work about the farm. Purgatory is like the chance to clean up and get changed, so that they are ready for the great wedding-feast of heaven. Lord knows, we might all be grateful for the opportunity. I remember once hearing of a distinguished theologian who told his students that the Holy Souls are happy souls. They know that they are on the threshold of seeing God face-to-face, and it is a great mercy to speed them through this last period of preparation, so that they can worthily and joyfully see God face-to-face.

We therefore pray here for our dead – not in sorrow, but in anticipation. We also pray that this cemetery will continue to be a worthy place of remembrance and a place of prayer. Whether we are going to end up buried here or somewhere else, let us also ask the Lord to bless those who care for graveyards and ask Him that future generations will not neglect to care for our resting places and will not forget to assist us with their prayers for the dead when will have need of them.

Homily - First Mass of Thanksgiving (9th July 2007)

The word Eucharist means thanksgiving and this is, for me, a particularly special moment of thanksgiving for all the goodness the Lord has shown to me, especially in the support and goodness of so many of His servants as I prepared for ordination. And, whilst we give praise and thanks to God in every Mass for all the many gifts he has given us, this Mass of Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest, gives particular thanksgiving to God the Father for the great mystery of His sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our one and only Eternal High Priest.

We hear in this evening’s Gospel of the piercing of Christ’s heart. This heart should be very dear to us. This heart is a human heart that burns with divine love for each and every one of us. And from the Gospels we learn that Jesus Christ, is the Son of God who became man for us and who lived a life of perfect love. Because of the love that burned within that Sacred Heart, Christ’s earthly life was a life of perpetual worship, a life of transparent love for God the Father and for all mankind. His heart was moved by compassion by the suffering of those around him. His heart knew moments of rejoicing and sorrow. But above all, His heart loved.

May we never forget that the Sacred Heart is the heart of the Son of God who became man for our salvation. And how was that salvation accomplished? The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became a helpless child, grew up, lived a fully and perfectly human life and finally, offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins on the Cross. The whole life of Jesus Christ was one of sacrifice and obedience to God the Father. His whole life was lived for the reconciliation of God and man. As perfect God and perfect man, and He was the only One who could offer a life of perfect sacrifice to God the Father for our sake. With his death on the Cross this life of self-emptying reached its consummation and fulfilment. The sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is the completion of the only perfect act of human worship, and is the greatest revelation of God’s love for us.

And so we read in the Gospel according to St John that having completed His sacrifice, and giving up His spirit, the side of Christ is pierced and out flowed blood and water. It is as if this heart of Christ, having spent itself totally in compassion for sinful man, has one last treasure to give in death. This is the final act, the completion of Christ’s total gift to us and to the Father.

The Fathers of the Church saw a great mystical significance in this. They saw that just as Eve came forth from the side of Adam, so the Church was born out of the side of Christ on the Cross. But what does this mean? They saw the Blood and Water as symbolising the Sacraments – Eucharist and Baptism in particular. By Baptism we become part of the One Body of Christ, and in the Eucharist, we are joined to Christ Himself and his great sacrificial priestly action. Because of the Cross and because of the Sacraments, we are granted salvation, made into God’s own chosen people and allowed to share in Christ’s divine life.

The Letter to the Hebrews teaches us that Christ is the One Eternal High Priest, who has offered this saving sacrifice for us, and who continues to plead for us at the right hand of the Father. And from all of this – His Incarnation, His sacrifice and His Eternal life with the Father – we have the great mystery of Christ’s priesthood. This priesthood is something that Christ alone accomplished. Only he could and did offer the reconciling sacrifice that enables man to overcome his sins and live in harmony with God.

And, not only does He win our salvation, but He also shows us God’s love. His love for us is God’s love for us and by his example we are shown how to respond to this love. What is more, by the grace he continues to grant, we have the strength to follow this example. He offers each and every Christian a share in His Priesthood.

His saving sacrifice is more than just a dead example for us. It is not something trapped in the past or between the pages of a book. The Lord of History does not allow the distance in time and space to cut us off from his redeeming work. His great priesthood does not leave us untouched. As St Augustine teaches, the God who made us without our help does not save us without our cooperation. Christ offers us a share in his saving priesthood. He is our example of humble obedience. He is our assurance of God’s love. And He is the way in which we can find the strength to follow the example of His loving heart. He offers us the chance to be transformed, if we are willing to welcome his sacrifice and his example into our lives. This is especially true when we consider the Eucharist.

The night before he died, Christ instituted the Eucharist. This is my body given up for you, this is my blood poured out for you he told his disciples, reassuring him that what would happen on Good Friday was not some brutal accident of history, but was the Lord of Heaven freely giving His life for His brothers and sisters. Do this as a memorial of me he told them. In the celebration of the Eucharist, His example and His strength, His very presence would be present to the Church until the end of time. By learning from the Eucharist and receiving Christ’s Body and Blood, we are transformed. God himself teaches us how to love as He does, and how to make all the joys and sorrows a form of worship.

Remember! The whole life of Christ was a priestly offering – and that life had moments of joy, sorrow, laughter, tears, frustration, success, and disappointment. And so, everything that happens in our life can be offered to the Father. Our joys, our sorrows, our laughter, our tears, our successes and our disappointments – they can all be offered to the Father in union with Christ. The One High Priest shares his priesthood with the whole Church and gives each and every one of us the possibility of living our ordinary lives in the extraordinary way of Christian love and sacrifice.

This was made very clear to me just 5 weeks ago. On Trinity Sunday, Fr Ragheed Ganni was celebrating evening Mass for his parishioners in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul. Extremists has already bombed his Church and injured his sister. He had been threatened by sectarian terrorists, narrowly escaped kidnapping and had seen his church attacked on several occasions. As he left the Church, he and his subdeacons were stopped by Muslim extremists. Separating them from a number of women who were travelling with them, these men killed Fr Ganni and Companions out of hatred for the Christian faith.
Fr Ganni was studying in the Irish College when I started there in 2001. In 2003, he returned to Iraq despite the dangers. How was such a decision possible? He continued to minister to his people despite receiving several threats. Where could he find the strength to do that? He knew his life was in danger, but he continued to do his duty despite his fears. How can this be explained? He answered this question himself in 2005:

“There are days when I feel frail and full of fear. But when, holding the Eucharist, I say ‘Behold the Lamb of God Behold, who takes away the sin of the world’, I feel His strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really He who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in His boundless love.”

This is the power of the priesthood of Christ – something we all share in by our baptism, and which is renewed in us each time we participate in the Eucharist.

And so we give thanks for the priesthood of Christ. In offering Himself to the Father he offers Himself to us. He invites us to join in His offering of love and gives us the strength to follow Him. He shows us God’s love by His priesthood and asks us to unite our sacrifices, and all we have to Him.

May Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest be praised, now and forever.