Nowadays every GAA referee has to have a whistle, a watch and a black, yellow and a red card.  The decision to use black, yellow or red cards provokes a lot of controversy but nobody says we can do without it.  It may be some consolation to the referees that Jesus recommends a similar sort of warning system with three tiers. 

There is a prayer for today which I would recommend to be said often.  It goes like this:

That parents, and teachers, priests and bishops
May have wisdom to know what things to correct and what to ignore
And have the sensitivity to make their corrections at the right time
And with tact.

Sports people talk about the need to get a result.  This is one area where a result is vital.  This prayer acknowledges the need to correct.  There are some things that absolutely need correction.  For children it falls, first of all, on parents.  It also mentions teachers, priests and bishops – but sometimes this is the job of friends and colleagues.  This is very clear from what we have just heard.

Now mortal man – I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel.  You must pass on to them the warnings I give you.

These words are from the First Reading of the prophet Ezekiel.  They remind us of the job of a sentry.  The job of a sentry is a lonely one but is vital for the safety of everyone.  The sentry stands at the gate of the town to look out for robbers and enemies.  It stands at the gate of the barrack to protect the lives of those within.  Even wild geese, we are told, when the flock feeds, have sentries who keep guard. 

So, when I read those words that God had appointed Ezekiel as Sentry to the House of Israel I said, we already have a lot of sentries.  We have been getting warnings these days about roads that are flooded and bridges that are broken. We are used to getting warnings telling us that smoking damages your health, certain foods – junk foods – are bad for you.  These are all good and helpful.  They help us on the journey of life.  We expect them and if we are wise we listen to them.

Jesus Christ is concerned about anyone who strays from the community of those who believe in him.  But bringing back strays is not easy.  I was talking to my nephews recently.  They live on a farm.  Sometimes their cattle stray out on to neighbours land and sometimes the neighbours’ cattle strays on to theirs.  But it is not always easy to bring back the strays.  The owners of the strays do not like being told the bad news. It is a reflection on their poor grass or their poor fences.

Out of the love which he has for all of us Jesus Christ is concerned when we stray.  He relies on his other followers to try and bring back the strays.  Generally we are reluctant to take on that responsibility and that is nothing new.  In the first book of the Old Testament after Cain had killed his brother, Abel, God asked him – Where is your brother Abel?  He answered:  “I don’t know”, which was a lie and he then asked God “Am I my brother’s keeper”?

Well, in a sense, we are all goal keepers for our brothers and sisters.  If we really love them we will not want anything to happen which would damage their well-being.

It is clear to me that in this Gospel is asking us for three things:

Firstly, the humility to realise and accept the fact that, like anyone else, we can all make mistakes.  We can make mistakes about smoking too much or eating too much or drinking too much.  But we can make mistakes about more important things in life – in other words, we are all sinners and we sometimes need correction.

Secondly, we need wisdom to see that sometimes it falls to us to correct others in areas that need correction.  If we don’t do it, we are shirking our responsibility.  If we don’t do it, we share in the guilt.  We need wisdom to know how to do it – to do it tactfully and sensitively and in such a way that it will have an effect.

Thirdly, we need courage to confront someone. If we saw someone we love careering down a hill and over a cliff I think we would find the courage to do something and do it pretty fast. 

It is never the will of Our Father in Heaven that he should lose anyone of these little ones as Jesus said.  If any one of us saw our brother or our sister heading in a direction in which they the risk of being lost, what would you do?  You would try and warn them. 

I wonder what would our parish look like if each one of us was on the lookout for the genuine good of all our neighbours.  I don’t mean looking out in an inquisitive way, poking our noses into each other’s business.  The question of having to confront someone who is doing wrong is a big challenge. 

The problem is that sometimes we haven’t the courage to say to someone’s face which we have no problem discussing behind their back.  Of course if we talk about somebody sins behind their backs, we damage their good name but we also damage ourselves by our back-biting. 

I have found that people are willing to take advice on how to correct their driving better on the road or on the golf course or even how they preach their sermons but it is far more risky when we come to correcting our personal lives.  Yet, if we ar honest, the times we have listened to good advice offered by someone who really loves us, these are probably the moments that were most important in life.

Supposing your child is about to drink a draught of weed-killer thinking it was Coke Cola, surely we would bust ourselves to stop it happen.  How important to intervene decisively when it is the question of eternal life that is at stake.  When something disastrous takes place, how often we hear people say:  ‘If only I had done such and such a thing’. 

The problem of how to correct a straying brother or sister is very hard.  It is hard because none of us like being corrected ourselves.  When it happens – the little tyrant inside each of us screams – ‘how dare you point the finger at me’.  ‘People in glass houses should not throw stones’.  It is hard to know how to do it tactfully and effectively and sensitively.  It is hard but yet, how can we afford not to try.  How can we close our eyes?

The answer is Love .  If we really love someone we will want all that is best for them.  If we really love someone, well no matter what the cost, we are going to make sure that nothing bad happens to them.  If we really love someone we are going to do all in our power to make sure that they are not going to be condemned to eternal punishment and lose eternal life. 

The first thing is love.  The second thing is prayer.  No-one should try to take on this difficult task without, first of all, praying about it.  There is a mighty promise at the end of today’s Gospel.    “I tell you solemnly once again”.  I tell you solemnly – this is nothing flippant or frivolous which the Lord is saying and he has said it before.  He is making a solemn promise.  If two on earth agree to ask anything at all it will be granted to you by my Father in Heaven. 

Imagine if a husband and wife agree to speak to their son or daughter, and they first ask in prayer for help to do so sensitively and patiently and tactfully, well then there is that mighty promise that the help will be given to them. It is the same if a brother and sister agree to speak to their sibling in an effort to correct them.  Jesus said, where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.  They could be meeting for prayer, they could be meeting for study, they could be a meeting of a parish pastoral council but again that is a fantastic promise that Jesus is there with them.

The first approach, as you try to bring the care of Jesus Christ to the person who has gone astray is that of personal contact.  It can be very confidential.  It requires gentleness and a vivid awareness of our own weakness and frailty and limitedness.

If that approach fails the next approach is that the responsibility be taken on by a small group of concerned people.  If one person does the confronting, it can be easy to dismiss or side-step the evidence of one person – as a mere personal opinion – it would not be so easy to dismiss the evidence of a small group of people who love the other person and have his/her interests really at heart.

It all must be accompanied by prayer.  Whoever has to do the confronting should pray a lot beforehand.  They should ask for the light of truth.  They should beg for a courageous heart.  Above all, they should ask for a tactful heart that will heal rather than hurt, pull rather than demolish and alleviate and enkindle the flame of hope rather than promote the tears of bitterness. 

This is the sort of sacred work that needs the prayers of others – of as many as possible – but they must be sought in a quiet confidential way that respects the good name of the person involved.  It is work of compassion of healing.  It is a job that needs love, prayer and courageous and wise action.  It is sacred because it is a question of reconnecting people with the community which is the body of the Church. 

God grant that we will not be blind to the needs of this work, nor afraid to undertake it.

AMEN

Last Sunday I was down in the West of Ireland.  I met there, Brian and Mary, a couple whose wedding I celebrated almost twenty years ago.  Mary was holding in her arms their beautiful daughter, Ciara.  Mary’s mother was also there and she said to me, “You know that child is greatly treasured.  They waited fourteen years.”  Indeed, I could easily see the joy on the faces of those parents at the presence of their beautiful and long awaited daughter.

Today, we celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.  I am quite sure that Mary’s parents Joachim and Anne, were truly delighted when their child, Mary, was born.  I am sure her arrival brought immense joy to their hearts.  They would have thanked God sincerely and often.  For, along with the rest of the people of Israel they too had been waiting.  They were waiting for God to keep his promise – the promise he made to Abraham and to his descendents.

Mary was the bearer of that promise for each of us and for all of mankind. Speaking of this feast of her birth, one of the Fathers of the early Church said: “Let the whole creation sing praise and dance and unite to celebrate the glories of this day. Let everything that is, in the world and above the world, join together in rejoicing, for today a Shrine is built for the Creator of the universe.  The creature is made ready as a divine dwelling place for the Creator.”

This evening, here in St. Malachy’s Church, Armagh we are very well placed to sing praise in honour of the Virgin Mary’s birth. We are joined by the Charles Wood Singers and by those attending the annual Charles Wood Summer School for music.  We are also joined by members of the Ulster Orchestra under the direction of Conductor, David Hill. The Church Organist this evening is Daniel Hyde co-director of the Cambridge University Chamber choir.

Charles Wood, a native of Armagh, was also closely associated with Cambridge University. It was as professor of Music at Cambridge that he pursued his life’s work. It culminated in a legacy which included over 250 pieces of sacred music plus a large number of hymn tunes. One of those tunes remains popular today in the famous carol which runs;

Aye- maiden child of
Joachim and Anna.
Archangels chant Hosanna!
Come weal, come woe, our
hymn shall never vary.
Hail! Blessed Virgin Mary!
Hail! Blessed Virgin Mary!

Charles Wood was happy to acknowledge the debt we owe to Mary for her part in the great symphony of salvation. His life overlapped by some quarter of a century with that of Cardinal John Henry Newman. While still an Anglican, Cardinal Newman wrote this of Mary:

She is doubtless to be accounted blessed and favoured in herself, as well as in the benefits she has done us. Who can estimate the holiness and perfection of her, who was chosen to be the Mother of Christ? What must have been her gifts, who was chosen to be the only near earthly relative of the Son of God, the only one whom he was bound by nature to revere and to look up to; the one appointed to train and educate him, to instruct him day by day, as he grew in wisdom and in stature?

Cardinal Newman paints a very human picture of the daily intimacy between Mary and Jesus. This must have been such an important influence on our Lord’s early life. It made me wonder about something that I had never asked myself before. Would Jesus have celebrated the birthday of his Mother Mary? I am fairly certain that he did, even though it is not mentioned in the Scriptures. I am sure that, on the birthday of His mother, he would have thanked his Father in heaven for having given him such a wonderful example of what it is to be human, to be gentle and to be generous in the service of others.  I am sure He would have prayed for her that her faith in Him would never fail despite the temptations and the trials and tribulations which lay ahead.  I also wonder did Jesus always remember Mary’s birthday or did He sometimes forget? I wonder did He always make sure to be present in Nazareth with her on that day? 

I also wonder what part Jesus’ grandparents Joachim and Anne played in his early life? Grandparents have always been an important part of that intimate circle of family love which provides the most nurturing and stable environment  in which children grow.

Recently I received a letter telling me that a Sunday has now been set aside at our National Shrine to Mary at Knock here in Ireland specifically to honour grandparents. In an age when the traditional family unit is facing such pressure and change, it is grandparents who are increasingly called upon to provide the only realistic and affordable source of support for parents and children alike. It is often grandparents who are the sole voice offering children and couples wisdom and values beyond the prevailing mores of a materialistic society.

There are so many stars in our world – pop stars, film stars, sports stars. In his recent encyclical on hope, Pope Benedict reminds us that the real stars are those who have shown us how to live our lives well.

As we were reminded in our Office Hymn, since the early centuries of the Church, Mary has been known as a ‘star’ – the morning star – the ‘Stella Maris’ – the star of the sea.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, close friend of St. Malachy, once wrote of this Star:

“If the winds of temptation arise; If you are driven upon the rocks of tribulation look to the star, call on Mary; If you are tossed upon the waves of pride, of ambition, of envy, of rivalry, look to the star, call on Mary. Should anger, or avarice, or fleshly desire violently assail the frail vessel of your soul, look to the star, call upon Mary.”

Today, in spite of their new technologies, sailors will often look to the stars for guidance. As we look for guidance amidst whatever darkness, storms or challenges we face in our own lives, let us call upon Mary. The feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary invites us to hold a steady course as this Stella Maris beckons us to the light of her Son, the eternal light of our heavenly home. Her birth is the prelude to the great symphony of salvation. Its crescendo is the union in her womb of the Divine Word and human nature.

We ask the help of Mary that this union will bear fruit in us.

Ave Maria, gratia plena – Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb – Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us now – and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your warm welcome here today to Ballinasloe.  Some time, late last year, Bishop Kirby told me that in August 1858 the new St Michael’s Church in Ballinasloe had been opened.  He went on to say that the Preacher on that day was none other than Cardinal Nicholas Patrick Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster, England.  Having heard that, it wasn’t difficult to guess what the next question would be – would I like to come here today and join all of you on this happy occasion as you celebrate 150 years of your venerable and beautiful Church. 

I have to say that I was very happy to accept that invitation for many reasons.  First of all, out of respect for Bishop Kirby himself, whom I have known for 51 years, ever since we were students together in Maynooth.  In more recent times, of course, as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Trócaire, Bishop Kirby has shown tremendous commitment and dedication to alleviating the needs of the developing nations of the world.  I am also glad to come here also out of affection for my many classmates, in Maynooth, from the diocese of Clonfert. 

When we went to Maynooth 51 years ago, in September 1958, my classmates on that day included:
•    Fr Christy O’Byrne, PP, Laurencetown,
•    Fr Benny Flanagan, PP, Carrabane,
•    Fr John Naughton, PP, Eyrecourt
•    and the late Fr Paschal Donohoe. 

I moved to the Irish College, Rome, in 1960, so also did Paschal, and for the next four years we walked the streets of Rome and tramped up and down the Seven Hills together.  The late Paschal used to take great delight in regaling us with stories of life in the West, in Galway, in the diocese of Clonfert in Garbally Park.  His descriptions of rugby and hurling contests had us believe they were equal to anything that took place in the Circus Maximus or the Roman Coliseum and, of course, there were some tall stories from the marts and fairs of Ballinashoe.

During my 13 years on the staff of the Irish College, Rome, from 1980 to 1993, it was my privilege to celebrate the weddings of a great number of Irish couples in Rome.  Many of those couples are from the diocese of Clonfert and they were always gloriously happy occasions.  Many is the time that the walls of Roman restaurants shuddered to the strains of the Fields of Athenry.

I feel greatly honoured by the decision of the Urban Council to grant me a Civic Reception.  Your agreement to this proposal, ladies and gentlemen, to mark my visit here today, to your lovely town, is a most gracious and delightful one.  I am well aware that you are honouring me in my capacity as Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and successor of St Patrick.  I am very proud to accept this honour.  I thank you most sincerely for it.  I am pleased to bring you greetings and good wishes from the City of Armagh and indeed from the diocese of Armagh.
I wasn’t lucky enough to be born in Co. Galway, a county so famed in song and story, in history and poetry, but I come from a county where there is huge respect for the citizens of this noble county.  Of course the displays of Galway teams in Croke Park, both in hurling and football, on so many occasions have added to that respect immensely.  Your footballers gave another such display last Saturday and were rather unfortunate not to have won.

I have a lot of admiration for people, like yourselves.  People who put themselves forward for local government elections.  Members of my family, on both sides of my family, were elected to such positions.  I think such willingness is essential for the survival of democracy.  I wish you well in your deliberations, great wisdom in your decisions and, of course, I wish continued success and prosperity to the citizens of Ballinasloe.

Every time I read or hear that Gospel – I am a little bit shocked.  Shocked at the way Our Lord behaved towards the Canaanite woman.  At first he refused to talk to her.  When he did talk to her it was to remind her that she was an outsider – a Gentile – a pagan – not a Jewess and therefore not his first concern.  Mind you, that was after the disciples had advised him to send her away or give her what she wants.  She was following them, making all this noise and generally getting on their nerves.  They wanted her to clear off.

•    But she was a mother with a sick child. 
•    A mother who loved her sick child
•    A mother who was determined to leave no stone unturned in her efforts to get help for the daughter whom she loved.

She is totally focussed. ‘Son of David’ she cried out. ‘Have mercy on me’.  Jesus answered:  ‘I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel’.   Before his death the mission of Jesus was to gather all Israel – God’s chosen people.

Jesus did not want to go beyond the mission given to him by the Father.  He would preach to his own people first.  After all – it was they who were expecting a Messiah – and they might reasonably be expected to welcome the Messiah when he came. 
The thing that shocks is that not only the disciples, but Jesus himself, seems at first, to exclude.  “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to dogs” he says.  When Jesus referred to her people as dogs he wasn’t the first to make use of this taunt.  It was in common use among the Jews as a derogatory, disrespectful description of those who were not Jews.  Jesus knew that well.  The woman also probably knew it too.  Jesus was not implying that he looked on Gentiles, pagans, as dogs. 

Well what was he saying?

Perhaps he was saying, to this woman pleading for her daughter, that she was asking a lot.  She was asking for the miraculous healing of her daughter.  But more even than that – she was asking Jesus to give to her gifts that were, by right, not hers to ask.  She had addressed him as Son of David – the King of Israel.  There he was, the long-awaited Saviour of Israel – then Jesus, and the benefits of his kingdom belonged surely, firstly, to those who suffered in Israel, not to Gentile outsiders.

The woman is very quick to pick up the image in the answer given by Jesus and turn it to her own advantage – but without arrogance.  Her courageous humility bests her.  Perhaps it is right then, with this outsider who refuses to go away, that the real embarrassment of this story lies. 

Remember St. Matthew was writing from the inside, from Israel, from Jesus our people.  His audience is a Jewish people – the people who had been given the law and the prophets and the covenant.  And yet, it was this same people who took smug delight in their way of life – their fidelity to the Sabbath etc., who failed to see, in Jesus, their long-awaited Saviour. 

Then this outsider – this pagan – this probably poor woman with her sick daughter, simply refuses to go away from Jesus.  She simply refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer.  She flings herself down crying ‘Lord – help me’.  She has a sense of honour and she wins the debate. 

Even dogs are allowed a few crumbs from the children’s bread.  ‘O woman – great is your faith’ what else could he say.  What an immense compliment.  Maybe that is the real scandal of today’s Gospel.

Great is the outsider’s faith – so great a faith in fact that it puts the rest of us to shame.  What about our faith?  What about those of us on the inside who are heirs to a century’s old faith. 

I was in Nigeria two years ago and I saw people travel for days to attend a three hour ordination ceremony.  And for some of us for whom the Mass and our faith is our birthright, how little it takes to keep us away from Mass.  How little it takes to leave us skipping our prayers.  But this pushy, stubborn determined pagan woman saw in Jesus the help her daughter desperately needed.  Her persistence is an embarrassment to those of us who are more faith-healed.  She was hurting – she saw and she simply refused to be packed off empty handed.  ‘O woman, great is your faith’. 

This woman reminds me a lot of St. Monica.  She was married to a man called Patrick.  He was described variously as a pagan, a nominal Christian – a bad tempered man.  Her mother-in-law lived in the house and added to the difficulties.  Monica overcame her own tendency to heavy drinking.  By her patient perseverance Monica won over her mother-in-law and her husband.  He was frequently unfaithful but never struck her or physically ill-treated her.
It is as the Mother of St. Augustine that Monica is especially famous.  He was a wild man in his youth for many years.  Once again her patient treatment of him over many anxious years, ended up in his conversion.  She is regarded as the model of Christian mothers.  When Augustine was young she had him enrolled for baptism.  His irregular life-style caused her so much grief that, for a while, she refused to let him live in her house.  But she soon relented when advised that maybe the time of his conversion had not yet come. 

So she gave up arguing with him or asking others to do so.  She turned instead to prayer, fasts and vigils – pilgrimages – I suppose.  She was hoping that those would work where arguments had failed.

Augustine cleared off to Rome – from his native Africa – even deceiving his mother about the time of his departure so that he could travel.  He went to Milan but the bold Monica followed and caught up and enlisted more help.  To cut a long story short, he was baptised in 386 – at the age of 32 and he was totally and morally reformed.

Shortly before her death she told her son: ‘Nothing in this world now gives me pleasure.  I do not know what there is left for me to do or why I am still here.  All my hopes in the world are now fulfilled.  All I wished to live for was to see you a Catholic and a child of Heaven – God has granted me more than this in making you despise earthy happiness and devote yourself to His service’.  Another great woman of great faith.