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.

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.”

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.