The Poor in the Bible
Lent is a time for taking a good, hard look at our lives in the clear light of the Gospel, and asking whether our lives reflect the Gospel or whether they contradict it.   It is a time for being honest with God and with ourselves, and trying to get our lives right with God.   In the Prayer after Communion on the First Sunday in Lent, we ask the Lord:
“Give us the body and blood of your Son, guide us with your Spirit, that we may honour you not only with our lips, but also with the lives we lead, and so enter the kingdom”.

The Holy Spirit says to us in Lent:
“O that today you would listen to His voice.   Harden not your hearts”  (Psalm 94: 7-8).

One thing the Bible tells us is that God speaks to us also through the poor.  To hear their cry is to listen to God’s voice.  To ignore their needs is to harden our hearts against God.  There is not much written about the poor in all the libraries of history books.   There is very much about the poor in every book of the Bible.   In page after page of the Scriptures we read how God hears the cry of the poor and asks us to hear it too.  

The first time God speaks of His plan to save His people is when he tells Moses:
“I have seen the miserable state of my people …  I am well aware of their suffering …   The cry of the sons of Israel has come to me …   So come, I send you to bring  … my people out of Egypt”.   (Exodus  3:7-10).

The Psalms
The Psalms are full of the cry of the poor and of their certainty that God will hear their cry.
“For the needy shall not always be forgotten nor the hopes of the poor be in vain …   O God, do not forget the poor …   Lord you hear the prayer of the poor,  You strengthen their hearts; You turn your ear to protect the rights of the orphan and the oppressed so that mortal man may strike terror no more”   (Psalm 9:20; 12; 17-18). 
 
“For the poor who are oppressed and the needy who groan I myself will arise, says the Lord, I will grant them the salvation for which they thirst” (Psalm 11:6).

“This poor man called, the Lord heard him and rescued him from all his distress” (Psalm 33:7).

God is shown in the Bible as the One who is on the side of the poor:
“Father of the orphan, defender of the widow, such is God in His holy place” (Psalm 67:6).

“(The Lord) is just to those who are oppressed.   It is He who gives bread to the hungry … who raises up those who are bowed down, the Lord who protects the stranger and upholds the widow and orphan” (Psalm 145: 7-9).

The Prophets
The prophets in God’s name assert the rights of the poor and denounce those who violate their rights.  Amos pronounces those men sinful who trample on the rights of the poor and those times evil when the needy are turned away at the city gate.  (cfr. Amos 5:1-13).

Isaiah pronounces woe to those:
“who refuse justice to the unfortunate and cheat the poor among my people of their rights” (Isaiah 10:2).

Jeremiah says that doing justice to the poor is what it means to know the Lord: 
“(Your father) used to examine the cases of the poor and the needy; then all went well.  Is not that what it means to know me? – it is the Lord who speaks” (Jeremiah 22:16).

The Wisdom Books
The Wisdom Books of the Bible show that true wisdom includes concern for the needs and respect for the rights of the poor.   This is true reverence for God.   Without this one cannot be pleasing to the Lord.  
The Book of Proverbs says:
“He who looks down on his neighbour sins, blessed is he who takes pity on the poor” (Proverbs 14:21);
“To mock the poor is to insult his creator, he who laughs at distress shall not go unpunished”  (Proverbs 17:5);
“He who shuts his ear to the poor man’s cry shall himself plead and not be heard” (Proverbs 21:13).

The Book of Job again tells us of the cry of the poor:
“The poor have cried out to (the Lord) and the wailing of the humble has assailed His ears” (Job 34:28).

Again the Book of Ecclesiasticus says:
“Do not avert your eyes from the destitute … to the poor man lend an ear …   And you will be like a son to the Most High whose love for you will surpass your mother’s”  (Ecclesiasticus 4:5-11).

“A plea from a poor man’s mouth goes straight to the ear of God”  (Ecclesiasticus 21:6).

The Messiah
The Old Testament is one repeated promise of a Messiah who was to come and inaugurate the final salvation of His people.  He was to set up an everlasting kingdom of justice for all men.   One of the Psalms describes the kingdom which will be established when the Christ comes:
“May the mountains bring froth peace for the people and the hills, justice.   May He defend the poor of the people and save the children of the needy …   For He shall save the poor when they cry and the needy who are helpless.   He will have pity on the weak and save the lives of the poor.  From oppression He will rescue their lives, to Him their blood is dear”  (Psalm 71: 3-4; 12-14).  

Isaiah says that the coming King will see justice done to the poor:
“(He) will give a verdict for the poor of the land”  (Isaiah 11:4).
And this will bring reconciliation and peace  (cfr. Isaiah 11: 6-9).

Our Lord and the Poor
Jesus Christ, our Lord, is that promised King and Messiah.   At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus introduced himself in Nazareth in words taken from that same passage of the Prophet, Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me for He has anointed me.   He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor …  to set the downtrodden free”   (Luke 4: 18-19).

John the Baptist once faltered in his confidence that Jesus was indeed “the one who was to come”.   Jesus sent him back this message:
“The blind see again and the lame walk …  and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor”  (Matthew 11:4-5).

So the message of the Bible comes over loud and clear.  A society where the poor are neglected is not one in which Christ is reigning as King and Lord.   A community which is not on the side of the poor is a community which does not walk with Christ.  Those who do not listen to the voice of the poor are not hearing the voice of Christ.   Jesus not only takes the side of the poor.  He became himself one of the poor.   St.  Paul says:

THE TSUNAMI: WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
WHERE WAS GOD?
BY CARDINAL CAHAL B. DALY

13th January 2005

Since the South-East Asia earthquake and tsunami, many people have been asking “Why?” this happened and “Where was God?”  I too have been asking: “Why?”, and I have found no intellectually completely satisfying answer. This I have learned, however, that answers are to be sought, not by drawing ideas out of one’s head at a desk but by searching one’s heart in humility on one’s knees in prayer. As Karl Rahner said, what the Church needs nowadays is “theology on its knees”. The tsunami and the havoc it has wrought have more of the aspect of mystery than of problem.

We can think and speak and argue – and even preach – so glibly about God, forgetting the reverence and awe which attach even to the thought of God, even to the word ‘God’, even to the name, God.  God cannot be properly named by a human name or fully apprehended by human thought or adequately defined in human language.  Jews to this day never pronounce the holy name ‘Jahweh’; it is too sacred to be spoken.  (Contrast the way some people use the holy name, Jesus.) Job in the Bible, after arguing with God about the evils he had suffered in spite of his innocence, ends by saying:
“I have been holding forth on things I cannot understand. …
I knew you only by hearsay
but now, having seen you with my own eyes,
I retract all that I have said”. (Job 42:3-8).
Nothing that I can say or write about the tsunami is completely satisfying, even to myself. No definitive ‘explanation’ can be given. We can only offer comment to suggest the complexities of the whole question. We can only point to things which we do know from science and from reason, and to things we know from faith, supported by reason. Reason itself assures us that it is God who created the universe and who made it knowable by reason and by science.  It is an evolving and developing world; evolution is the process which God uses as His instrument in creating and sustaining the world.  People of faith know that, where science is thought to be in conflict with  faith, either science is being misunderstood or faith is being misinterpreted.

A world where continents did not move and where tectonic plates did not impact on one another – in other words, a world without earthquakes – would not be the world which science knows. A world where earthquakes in maritime regions do not cause tsunamis would be a world where science is impossible; for science presupposes an order of nature where effects invariably follow causes and where patterns of regularity and sequence apply. Furthermore, there are good scientific reasons for believing that the environmental conditions applying on our planet are those which are required for the coming into existence and the survival of human life. These conditions have not been found to exist anywhere else in the universe. It would seem that if God wished to create humans in His own image and likeness, as we believers know He did, then the present earth is the kind of earth that He “had” to create.

In my boyhood home there was a picture representing Jesus Christ, his side pierced by the soldier’s lance, his Heart open to love and its pain.  His right hand is holding up a fragile globe, representing our earth. This picture, which some might call naïve, gave, I suggest, a symbolic representation of creation which in many ways is closer to the truth than many of the notions of creation reflected in the recent debate about the tsunami. For its coming into existence and its continuance in being, the world depends totally and at all times on God’s upholding power; if that were withdrawn, the world would immediately crash into ‘smithereens’, – or rather into nothingness. Yet everything in that upheld world has its own inbuilt patterns of cause – effect relationship, of order and of inter-connectedness with the rest of nature. All of it is subject to the “laws of nature”. It is as though in creating the world God freely self-limits His almighty power, in order to create a world where physical laws prevail, a world also where human beings with reason and free will can exist; and this is a world where the human species can flourish and a world where science is possible. God’s power is directed by His reason, and His power and reason are guided by His love. Christians believe in miracles; but miracles are by definition extra-ordinary and, in the modern jargon, “one-off”, suspensions of the laws of nature, not their abolition.

We read in the biblical account of creation that God entrusted the earth to the care of the human species, bidding them to “cultivate and take care of it”, to “conquer” and “subdue” it. An evolving and unstable earth often needs to be “conquered” and “subdued”, and science provides many ways of doing this – including recording and prediction and warning systems, as well as engineering and architectural systems, which at least mitigate the destructive power of natural disasters. But these are least developed or non-existent in poor countries. God created an earth with abundant resources, but left it to humans’ reason and free will to share these resources fairly and justly among all members of God’s human family. Instead of asking, “Where was God when the earthquake happened?”, it might be more appropriate to ask, “where were the rich and powerful of the earth when the tsunami struck and there was no regional warning system and no advance preparation?”

After writing all this, I am still asking: “Why?”. But I am also remembering the many “Why’s?” addressed to God in the Bible by people of faith and prayer. Many of these are in the psalms. We find them particularly in the group of psalms lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple at the hands of the Assyrian invaders:
“Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?” (Psalm 73).
“Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” (Psalm 78).
“Why have you broken down the walls (of your vineyard)?” (Psalm 79).

But the most amazing ‘Why?’ of all comes from God Himself, God made man, Jesus Christ, dying in anguish on a cross, and almost despairingly crying out: 
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. (Matthew 27:46).

He was praying Psalm 21; these are the opening words of that Psalm. This is the only time in all four Gospels that Jesus does not address God as ‘Abba’, ‘Dearest Father’. The Son of God feels literally ‘God-forsaken’!  But soon after, he is again addressing God as “‘Abba’, ‘Dearest Father’, into your hands I commend my spirit” (a verse from Psalm 30). In spite of everything, Christ’s trust in God’s love never wavered, even when God, his Father, seemed to have abandoned him.

It is possible to believe totally in a person that you love, even when you don’t understand that person’s behaviour in a particular situation.  You know that you are seeing only part of the picture; one might say, ‘hearing only one side of the story’; and you know that when the whole picture is seen, all will be made clear.

So it will be with us who believe in God and who trust Him now in the darkness and amid the chorus of all the “Why’s?”. On the eve of His Passion, taking leave of his disciples, Jesus said:
“You are sad now
but I shall see you again
and your hearts shall be full of joy
and that joy no-one will take from you.
When that day comes you will not ask me any questions.
  (John: 16: 1)

There will be no need for questions; for on that day all will be made clear; and, in spite of all the appearances to the contrary, it will be seen that, as Mother Julian of Norwich said: “Love was His meaning”. God so loved the world as to send His only Son to join the huddled masses of innocent sufferers, so that in the depths of their suffering, the sufferers might hear, from their own midst, the voice of a fellow-sufferer who is God and yet is one of their own; and he is saying to them: “I am with you … I am with you all days, Yes, to the end of time.” Hans Küng once wrote: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ begins where the Book of Job ends”.

THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE LOAVES
HOMILY IN THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LADY
KEADUE, CO ROSCOMMON
BY CARDINAL CAHAL B. DALY
Sunday 31st July 2005, 10.00 am
(18th Sunday of the Year A)

The Gospel today is St.  Matthew’s account of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. This account is found, with minor variations, in the three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke; it is, clearly, seen as a very important part of Our Lord’s life and teaching.

In all three gospels, the account is part of a whole section of the life of Jesus, which shows him teaching the crowds, healing the sick, and giving signs of his divine power. In other words, the Lord was leading them to faith, preparing them to become members of the group of disciples who were to be the first members of his Church.

After the long time they had spent with the Lord, the people were now hungry; but the place was a desert space, far away from any village or any shop where they could buy food. Jesus then asked the disciples to give the crowds some food. But they had brought very little food with them – in fact, only five loaves and two fish; and what use was that to feed so many? There were no less than five thousand men, not counting the women and the children. Jesus said to the disciples: “Ask the people to sit down and bring the loaves and fish to me”. The fish, by the way, were to be cut up in little pieces to be placed between the slices of bread, so as to make what we would call sandwiches.

Jesus then took the loaves, raised his eyes to heaven, said the blessing and then broke the loaves and then handed them to the disciples, who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted.

Do these words remind you of anything? Have you heard them in any other context, apart from this gospel? Remember what the priest does and says at the Consecration of the bread and the wine in every Mass. Using the very words that Jesus used at the Last Supper and doing the very things that Jesus did at the Last Supper, the priest takes the bread of the Eucharist into his hands and says (and if one puts the two sets of words in parallel columns, the point is made clearer):

Eucharistic Prayer 1
The day before he suffered
he took bread into his sacred hands
and, looking up to heaven,
to you, his almighty Father,
he gave you thanks and praise.
He broke the bread,
gave it to his disciples and said,
Take this all of you and eat it.
This is my body
which will be given up for you.
Multiplication of loaves

(Jesus) took the five loaves …

raised his eyes to heaven

and said the blessing,
and breaking the loaves,
he handed them to his disciples,
who gave them to the crowds.

Clearly, Jesus already had the Eucharist in mind when he multiplied the loaves. What he said and did then was intended to prepare his hearers for the great gift of the Mass, which we receive this Sunday morning. No wonder it is called the Day of the Lord, Dé Domhnaigh, or, as some Christians call it, the Lord’s Day.

The Manna in the Desert
But the multiplication of the loaves reminds us of something else as well. It points back to the Old Testament story of Moses, as well as forward to the Mass. After leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, the people of Israel found themselves in a vast desert, where there was no food and there were no villages where food could be found. They were famishing with hunger and began to complain bitterly against Moses for bringing them there to die from starvation, and they grumbled against God for forgetting His promises. Moses prayed for help and God answered his prayer. Next morning, the people found the ground covered with a scattering of little grains like coriander seed, which could be boiled and eaten like porridge or baked and eaten like wafers of unleavened bread. The Israelites did not know what this strange food was and they asked one another, ‘What is it?’ (in Hebrew, ‘M?n h?’): hence the term ‘Manna’. In the evening, the sky was black with flocks of birds called quails, which the people were able to catch and cook for food.

There was a peculiarity  about the Manna: each one was able to gather as much as he needed or wanted; if he took more and tried to store it, he would find in his store only what he needed, no more and no less. If took two days supply, when he went to his store he would find there only enough for one day. The exception was the Sabbath Day (which was the Jewish Saturday, corresponding to our Sunday). No manna could be gathered on that day for that was a day for the Lord, a day of rest and prayer. The Sabbath day’s supply was gathered on the Friday. There was no need to be over-anxious about tomorrow. The Lord gives us each day enough for that day, and he will do the same for us tomorrow, if we trust Him.

Let us now go forward again to the Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves. The Gospel tells us: “They all ate as much as they wanted”. As with the manna, so also with the multiplication of the loaves, and so also with the Eucharist. Each person receives from each day’s Mass and Holy Communion, as much as each one wants and needs for that day. Each Sunday, each person receives from that Sunday’s Mass as much as each one wants and needs for the coming week. There is no need to worry anxiously about tomorrow or about next week: the Lord will provide for tomorrow and for next week if we trust Him.  This is why Jesus himself taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread”.

The Mass
The Mass is our sufficient supply of energy-building spiritual food and spiritual “vitamins” for today; tomorrow there is always another Mass. Each Sunday the Lord gives us a sufficient supply for that day and for that week; and next Sunday there is another Mass. From each Mass we receive as much as we need and as much as we want. But how much do we want from Mass? How much do you want from this Mass? How much do I want from this Mass? Mother Teresa’s nuns display in each of their sacristies over the bench where the priest vests for Mass, a notice which says:
“Dear priest of God,
celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass,
your last Mass,
your only Mass.”

The same applies to each of us. The words, “We get from this Mass as much as we want”, also means: “We get from this Mass as little as we want”.  Some people are heard nowadays to say: “The Mass is boring. It doesn’t do anything for me”. Are you sure that the fault is not with you, rather than with the Mass?. Have I tried hard enough to deepen my faith, so as to understand the Mass better?  Do I pay enough attention to the readings, to the sermon, to the words spoken by the priest? At Mass, the priest speaks the words of Jesus Christ and acts in the person of Jesus Christ. The priest may have, as I have and as we all have, his particular character and his mannerisms and his foibles, but, at Mass, he acts in the person of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is acting through him. Remember that you will get from Mass as much as you want to get from it; if you want little, you will get little.

But “little” won’t do. That’s the way of spiritual anorexia; when what we need is spiritual vitamins, and we need them perhaps more today than people ever did in history before. Not only is there very little in our newspapers or television or radio programmes today that will support our faith; there is much that conflicts with it, criticises it, tries to ridicule it; or at least, which offers us a way of life that has no need for God, no place for God, no time for God. To give just one example, behaviour which, until recently, was regarded by all Christians and by very many non-Christians as morally wrong is now presented to us as modern and liberal and progressive and civilised and normal and supported by law and seen as part of the life-style expected of modern and enlightened people. To question this behaviour is to be usually met, not with reasoned argument or debate, but with outrage and name-calling: one will be called a fundamentalist, a reactionary, someone who is harking back to a backward and ignorant Catholic past. This, I have said, is not the language of reasoned debate but is simply propaganda, and indeed a form of spiritual and moral conditioning or brain-washing. It resembles the tactics of some skilled advertisers: attach favourable adjectives to your preferred brand-name so as to bring about “pro-attitudes” to the brand; and, sometimes, add negative adjectives to the rival brand and arouse “anti-attitudes” to it.

What is clear is that we do need spiritual health-supplements nowadays to stand firm against such criticism. We need the Mass as never before. We need to deepen our faith, to strengthen our hope, to increase our charity. But, whatever happens, we have the certainty, which nothing can take away from us, that Christ is with us.  We have the assurance of Christ’s own words: “Do not be afraid. I am with you”. As St.  Paul puts it in today’s second reading:
“I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power or height or depth nor any created thing can ever come between us and the love of God, made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Amen.

THE POPE IN IRELAND
MEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS:
25 YEARS ON
BY CARDINAL CAHAL B DALY
[For the ‘Irish Catholic’]

My memories of Pope John Paul’s pastoral visit to Ireland 25 years ago are still very fresh.   I spent  most of that September working in Rome with the group which prepared drafts of the Holy Father’s addresses.  The group was composed mainly of priests working in the Holy See’s Secretariat of State.  Since the Holy Father was proceeding directly from Ireland to the ‘United Nations’ Assembly in the United States, there were two sets of texts to be prepared together, with some 60 addresses in all to be delivered. 

The first and the final version of each address came from the Pope himself.   He wrote a preliminary draft for each address, read and revised each subsequent version personally, and made the final text his own.  I remember his insistence that his Irish addresses, and particularly the address in Drogheda, should be direct and specific.  The Drogheda address is in fact the one to which he delivered particular and personal attention.   It was clear that he was closely informed about the conflict then raging in Ireland, that he was fully aware of its complex underlying causes, and that he saw the need for political and economic responses to the violence.   He was strongly convinced of the moral wrongness and futility, both of recourse to violence and of such forms of excessive military response to violence as violated justice and human rights. 

I was struck by the long working hours of the priests who cheerfully worked all through the days and often far into the nights at their drafting and redrafting task.  I often wondered what they did for sleep.  But it was the Pope’s own activity which impressed me most.   Once a week, and sometimes more often, during the weeks of preparation, there was a working lunch at which the Pope discussed the various drafts in turn and asked for amendments.   His energy, physical as well as mental, was phenomenal.  When one looks at photographs or at recorded television coverage of the 1979 visit, and compares these with the television images of the visit to Lourdes last month, the contrast is startling between the dynamic, athletic stride and posture of the Pope of 1979 and the wheel-chair bound and enfeebled man of today.   The contrast can touch one to tears. 

But it should arouse us much more to admiration.  Pope John Paul II sees his present condition as a new and even more powerful way of proclaiming Christ’s message.  Speaking to Swiss Catholics in Berne in June, he said: “It is wonderful to be able to offer oneself until the end for the cause of the Kingdom of God”.   He declared: “It is the duty of announcing the Gospel of Christ that pushes me along the ways of the world”. 

In his Apostolic Letter of 1984 on the Christian meaning of suffering, Pope John Paul declared that suffering in union with Christ is not just passive acceptance of suffering; it is active continuance of Christ’s mission in today’s world.   It is actively helping to accomplish Christ’s own messianic programme.   It is “releasing love” in the world and helping to create a “civilisation of love” in a world often convulsed with hate.  We need that message in Ireland now. 

In 1979, Pope John Paul II showed us the way out of the wasteland of violence.  We need him now to show us how to avoid being tricked by misleading signposts into following ways that would lead to a new and still more deadly wasteland, a wasteland of the soul.  In Limerick, the Pope asked us: “What would it profit Ireland to go the easy way of the world and suffer the loss of our own soul?”   We need to hear that challenge from his own lips again.  

SYMPOSIUM AFRICA/EUROPE

ROME:  10/13 NOVEMBER 2004

General Considerations:
Financial help from Europe to Africa is a continuing necessity, both at the level of the Church’s ongoing missionary task and at the humanitarian level.   It is important, however, to ensure that the African Church be not seen as financially dependent on the Church in Europe and that Africa be not perceived as the perpetual ‘poor relation’ of Europe.  

It is important therefore that, the ‘exchange of gifts’ between the Church in the two continents be more widely interpreted, that the European “gift” to Africa be seen as including services like cultural exchanges, training courses in scripture, theology, liturgy, etcetera, and also in technology, telecommunications, etcetera; and that Africa’s reciprocal “gift” to Europe be seen in cultural and in spiritual terms, where for example Africans are enabled to share their communitarian skills with a European continent which has become more individualist and seems to be losing its sense of solidarity and inter-dependence.   The emphasis should be, not, as hitherto, on how Europe can help Africa, but on how Europe and Africa can help one another.  

For this purpose, exchange of observers between CCEE Conferences of Bishops and SECAM Conferences should be fostered.   This could facilitate greater knowledge and understanding between the respective Episcopal Conferences, and can be a constant reminder to each Conference that it is part of a world-wide Church and must not be solely concerned with the problems of its own island or its own continent.  

Ireland’s Missionary Tradition
Ireland is privileged in being a country with a strong missionary tradition, both in its first millennium and in the closing centuries of the second millennium.   Irish priests and religious congregations of women and men have been sending priests, brothers and nuns all over the English-speaking world for two centuries.  Successive waves of emigration have sent Irish men and women all over the world, to make a new life for themselves in North America, in Australia or New Zealand, in South Africa etcetera.   Irish-descended people overseas far outnumber Irish people living in our native island.  All this facilitated the strong missionary commitment of the Church in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  

Despite the sad decline in missionary vocations in the last few decades, Ireland’s missionary outreach is still very strong.   There is still a significant number of Irish-born missionary bishops in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world, as well as many more of Irish descent.   There are many parishes in Ireland still which have a native son or daughter ministering in Africa as priest or Sister of Brother, or as lay missionary worker, or as development worker.   Furthermore, many Irish diocesan priests have served in Africa as ‘Fidei donum’ missionary priests.   All this can provide a springboard for more systematic exchanges of gifts and experiences between the local churches in Africa and in Ireland, based on existing living links between Irish parishes and African mission centres.   

Many Irish parishes have already set up informal relationships with particular African parishes or mission stations, usually centred on a native of the Irish parish who is ministering in Africa.  Such relationships can be developed and their purview expanded.  Hitherto, the ‘exchange’ has been mostly one-sided, with funds being collected in an Irish parish for the support of an African mission station or project.    This can be extended to include exchange of visits, which in turn can facilitate exchange of lived experiences between different life-styles sharing a common faith.  

Poverty
People in Ireland now, generally speaking, have little if any experience of real poverty.   Many seem to have forgotten what frugal living means; and yet frugal living is surely part of what living according to the Gospel of Christ entails.   A visit to Africa can be a life-changing experience for Irish people.  They can experience for themselves the kind of contentedness, of community, of solidarity, of sharing, even of joy and song and celebration, which can come from having little and appreciating what one has.   The experience of Mass in Africa sheds a completely new light on liturgy for Irish people, accustomed as many are to largely silent and sometimes, sadly, uninvolved congregations.   The African system of catechetics, with much of the responsibility being taken by trained lay catechists, is something which we in Ireland can learn from.  

Opportunities should be created in particular for young people to visit Africa and spend some time there, preferably engaged in some organised activity, whether directly missionary or developmental, or both.   All kinds of skills are relevant in African conditions, and new skills are acquired by living in Africa.   Trocaire and many other aid organisations can supply information and other assistance in setting up such projects.  

Irish missionary congregations of men and women can advise about ways in which lay volunteers can assist in their missionary activities in Africa.   Doctors, nurses and health-care workers generally, teachers, building and construction workers of all grades, architects, engineers, agronomists and agricultural scientists generally, and many others, can give great help to missionaries on the ground, as well as deriving enormous personal and spiritual benefit from the experience themselves.   The virtues and values which we Irish acquired in the past through the poverty of our ancestors are now at risk of being lost in our present affluence.   We are beginning to appreciate better the value of qualities of life which we are in process of losing.   Time spent in Africa, however short, can help us to regain some of the positive qualities of a way of life which we have nearly forgotten.   It can also help Africans to see that other people care about them, respect them and wish to work with them for a better and more just and more Christian world.  

Towards a More Just World Order
Work for justice in the world is a task for all Christians, as Pope John Paul II is constantly reminding us.   One of the great needs of our time is for more young people with integrity and a passion for social justice to become actively engaged in politics.   Politics for Christians cannot be confined to one’s own local area or even to one’s own country; it must have a more universal outreach.   Poverty in Africa is our problem too.   We are causally contributing to it because of our role in the EU and in the UN and because of our place in the world market, where we belong to the rich nations trading block and enjoy, and in some measure create, trading conditions, agricultural subsidies and other advantages for our own trading group which disfavour Africa and other poorer nations and contribute to their continuing poverty.   Christians in politics have an obligation to make themselves aware of these conditions and to work to try to change them.  We are party to solemn international commitments to Overseas Development Aid, but we are shamefully slow to honour our part of that commitment.  All Christians as citizens have an obligation to do our part as voters to ensure that our political parties include these  objectives in their agendas.  

The Millennium Development Goals
0.7% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was adopted by the so-called “developed nations” as their contribution to aid to the “less developed” nations.  It is a modest target; and yet, several ‘development decades’ later, most of the rich nations have not yet attained it.  Ireland, to its shame, has still not come up to that mark in terms of overseas aid, even though we are ourselves much richer now than we ever expected to be when the commitment was first made.  

The United Nations marked the new millennium by a series of millennium goals.  These read very impressively.   In the year 2000 the “developed nations” undertook to eradicate extreme poverty everywhere in the “less developed” world, to establish universal primary education, to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health, to combat diseases, including Aids, TB and Malaria.   These nations committed themselves to reduce by one half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.   These commitments were solemnly renewed at Monterey and again at Barcelona in 2002.   These are noble commitments.   And yet, on present performances, it will be 2115 instead of 2015 before the millennium development goals are met, and many millions will have died because of poverty in the meantime.  The Governor of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, said recently (Shanghai 2004), that it is “nonsensical” that the international community is spending $900 billion per year on military expenditure, more than $300 billion on agricultural  subsidies, and only between $50 and $60 billion on overseas development.  This is no kind of example for the international community to set.   This is no kind of message for Europe to give to Africa.   We must urge our governments to do better.   We Irish bishops must urge the Irish government to do better. 

Trocaire the Irish Episcopal Conferences overseas development organisation,  has urged the Irish government to turn promises into action, to improve the poverty focus of EU aid and make it more efficient, to commit to trade justice, to work for reform of the international financial institutions and for increased debt relief, and to build a political culture of sustainable development, especially on the occasion of EU enlargement.   This would represent a programme for an EU which is not simply bigger but more just and which is a factor for justice in the world of the third millennium.   Meanwhile, however, Irish government policy has, to its credit, targeted aid towards genuinely low-income countries, with a priority for Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia; and it is encouraging to note that considerable progress in reducing poverty has been registered in most of these countries.    This Africa/Europe Symposium can make a significant contribution to mutual understanding of these problems and to deepening a spirit of communion between African and European Bishops.   

ONGOING PRIESTLY FORMATION
BY CARDINAL CAHAL B. DALY

For Worldpriest.com
October 2004

Priestly formation begins in the seminary; it does not end there. Properly understood, is a life-long process. It is a process involving every aspect of our priestly lives and ministry. We are priests from the day of our ordination; but we grow into priesthood progressively, just as we grow into personal holiness. We grow into priesthood through our cooperation with divine grace, which culminates for us in the sacramental grace of our ordination. The Synod of Bishops on priestly formation in 1990 stressed that the foundation of all priestly formation is “contained in the dynamism of the Sacrament of Holy Orders”. We create space for God’s grace to expand into all aspects of our personality through our prayer, our celebration of the Eucharist, our prayerful reading of holy scripture, our fidelity to daily praying of the Prayer of the Church or the Liturgy of the Hours. We create this space also by our pastoral care of our people, our relations with our bishop and our fellow priests and with our lay collaborators and friends and with our own family. We enlarge that space also by our reading of theology and what used to be called our ‘spiritual reading’.

Life-long learning is now seen as essential for adequate performance in almost any or occupation. Although priesthood is a calling which is unique and which cannot be simply classed with other careers or professions, nevertheless ongoing formation is equally essential for effective exercise of priestly ministry.

Of all the qualities required in priestly ministry, and therefore also in formation for ministry, the most essential is personal holiness. All programmes and resources for priestly formation should be such as to conduce to personal holiness. This includes reading and refresher courses in theology and in sacred scripture. Theology is itself a fruit of the prayerful study of God’s self-revelation, and of the prayerful reflection on holy scripture practised by the Church across the ages: this latter is what we call tradition. Karl Rahner said that what the Church today needs above all is “theology on its knees”. Theology is the servant of faith. Theology is a search for the mind of the Church which is one with the mind of Christ.

This was the kind of theology which, through Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar and others inspired the Second Vatican Council and led to one of the great periods of renewal in the Church’s history. That renewal is still in progress. That kind of theology is still active and fruitful in the Church . No other kind of theology is truly life-giving. Personal reading in theology is imperative. Sharing of such reading with one’s colleagues is helpful. Many refresher courses in theology and sacred scripture are available at diocesan and national or international level. Informal meetings of clergy, whether at vicariate or deanery level or under the auspices of one or other spiritual movement or fraternity of clergy, are very helpful.

We neglect ongoing formation to our own spiritual loss and to the spiritual loss our people. If we are not growing into greater personal assimilation of our priestly identity, then we may be growing out of priesthood in everything but name. The post-synodal document, Pastores dabo Vobis, speaks of “a sort of internal fatigue” which can set in in the life of a priest in mid-life. The document sees ongoing formation as particularly relevant to this condition. Nowadays, when priests are fewer and older, the possibility of fatigue and stress and ‘burn-out’ increases; and, consequently, the need for ongoing formation is greater than ever. On the other hand, older priests can themselves be the best “formators” of younger priests, by their own example, their own love of priesthood, and their own enthusiasm for the priestly ministry. ‘Peer-group ministry’ has its greatest opportunity among priests themselves, whether through the sacrament of reconciliation ministered to one another, or through spiritual direction or in more informal settings. This is one great field for the exercise of what has been called the “contagion of holiness” among priests themselves.

Pastores dabo Vobis concludes by placing all priestly formation under the patronage of Mary, “the human being who has responded better than any other to God’s call”. She is the one who continues to “keep vigilant   watch over the growth of vocations and priestly life in the Church”.

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2004
VATICAN RADIO
Friday 24th December 2004

The Divine Child whose birth we celebrate at Midnight is Prince of Peace. We pray that peace will come from him to peoples all over the world; for, as the prophet tells us, “wide is his dominion in a peace that has no end” (Isaiah 9: 6-7). His very name is Peace. So we Christians all over the world should be joining in intense prayer at our Christmas Morning Mass and throughout the Christmas season for peace in the whole world.

In his Message for the World Day of Peace on 1st January next, our Holy Father pleads with us, in St Paul’s words: “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good”. The Pope speaks of the appalling evils and injustices inflicted on the poor and the innocent of the world by war and violence. He refers in particular to the millions of victims of wars and conflicts in many countries in the “beloved continent of Africa”; to the lethal spiral of violence and reprisal in Palestine; to the tragic drama in Iraq; and to the scourge of terrorist violence which “appears to be driving the whole world towards a future of fear and anguish”. We in Ireland will be praying also for the consolidation of the fragile peace we now enjoy in Ireland, a peace which will remain brittle until there is agreed devolved government, winning allegiance from all political factions and until there is universal political acceptance of the police force.

“To attain the good of peace”, the Pope tells us, “there must be a clear and conscious acknowledgement that violence is an unacceptable evil and that it never solves problems”. To reinforce this statement, the Holy Father quotes from his historic address in Drogheda in 1979. The twenty-five years which have elapsed since then have given us in Ireland abundant proof that indeed “violence is a lie” and that it destroys what it claims to defend, “the dignity, the life and the freedom of human beings”.

Human Passions
St James gives us something of a shock when he asks us where these wars and conflicts come from and replies that ultimately they arise from uncontrolled passions and desires fighting inside our own selves. (James 4: 1) and from the “bitterness of jealousy and ambition” in our relationships with others. In Northern Ireland we have good cause to examine our own feelings and attitudes towards those people and communities from whom we differ politically and religiously. We all deplore sectarianism and denounce bigotry and we have good reason to do so, for these are detestable facts of life in Northern Ireland. But perhaps there are traces of sectarianism in some of our own ways of thinking about “the other sort”, as we sometimes call them. We can easily identify sectarianism in others; we are slower to recognise it in ourselves.

St.  Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that as Christians we are called to a new way of living and to new ways of thinking and speaking about others. These new ways come from the Holy Spirit, sent to us by Jesus Christ from the Father. The Spirit of Jesus prompts us to avoid harmful words and to use only helpful words, the kind that build up and do good to those that hear us.
And do not make God’s Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God’s mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free. Get rid of all bitterness, passion and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ. (Ephesians 4: 29).

That’s the true message of Christmas. May the Holy Spirit help us to hear that message this Christmas and to live it.

A holy and peaceful Christmas to you all. May the Holy Spirit remove all bounds to your love and your ho

YOUTH 2000 RETREAT MASS
GREENHILLS SECONDARY SCHOOL, DUBLIN
HOMILY GIVEN BY
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
SATURDAY 15 DECEMEBR 2007

I thank Youth 2000 Ireland and its national leader Paul Rooney for the invitation to come here. It enables me to share in your Christmas Retreat in Greenhills. I want to praise God for the existence and work of Youth 2000 in Ireland today. By this point you should then know them.

Before leaving Armagh I spoke to Sister Mairead in Siena Convent in Drogheda where two former Youth 2000 girls have entered as novices. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I met another former lady from Youth 2000, originally from Belfast.

I have been asked to speak on how Our Lady helps us to come to know Jesus. We could begin by reflecting, for a moment, on how Our Lady helped Jesus to come into the world. Let us see how Our Lady and her mother, Anne, must have cared for the baby Jesus when he came into the world as he was growing up. Perhaps we could reflect on how our own mothers and grannies looked after us when we were young and taught us to pray and cared for our every need. I want you to thank God for the love which they brought to your life; for the care which they took of you and the sacrifices which they made. I am sure that they often deprived themselves of things so that you might have enough. I want you to remember maybe some Christmas when your mother or your father had to do without something which they themselves could have used, so that you could have the wherewith to celebrate Christmas – to get Christmas presents or Christmas toys.
From the beginning the Church has been attracted to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. That attraction continues to the present day. Just think of the crowds that go to Marian Shrines – to Lourdes; to Fatima; to Knock; to Skovoa. The people of God, time and time again, turn to Mary because she is an example of someone who lives in response to the Word of God. Mary is the model of the One who listens for the Word. When she hears it, she responds in trust and in faith; in silence and in wonder; in generosity and in hope. In responding to the Word she becomes the first disciple of her son. So, from the very beginning of the Church she has a central place among the disciples. She is called the Mother of Disciples. There are many in today’s world who wish to receive the Word of God as Mary did. I think you are among those who seek to have Mary as your model and your inspiration.

Three times the Gospels speak of her as receiving the Spirit:
· Firstly, at the Annunciation.
· Secondly, at the foot of the cross;
· Thirdly, at Pentecost.

The Spirit came upon Mary when she responds to the word of the annunciation. In response to her acceptance of the word, Mary is told that a “Spirit will come upon you”.

From that moment, Word and Spirit work hand in hand in the drama of salvation. This will be the constant feature of the Gospel story as it unfolds – Spirit and the Word working hand in hand. Note also her ability to listen and discern. We too have received the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prompts us, inspires us to listen to the Word and to think about what Jesus said and respond to it. Her ability to say yes, adds to the mystery.
Then we have her silent and sorrowful presence at the death of her son, Jesus. This shows her final surrender to God’s will. Here is the climax of her life – lived by one who lets it be done unto her, according to the Word.

Just as Eve, the woman of the Garden of Eden, became mother of all the living, so Mary, the woman of Cana, becomes the mother of the beloved disciple and so becomes the mother of all disciples. As Jesus, on the cross, leaned his head forward and handed over the Spirit to the infant Church, so his mother is at the foot of the cross. She is at the centre of the new community, formed by his Spirit.

Recently a well-known American singer/song writer* was interviewed on radio. The interviewer noted that all her songs were love songs. “Do you know love?” he asked. “I know heartbreak” was her reply. How true. To know the heartbreak is to know love. To know the pain of love it to know its depth and its price. To know the depth and price is to know self-giving and loss. Christmas speaks to us of love. It is the love of God for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave us his only son” (John 3:16). And the baby speaks of the heartbreak of God, of the self-giving of God, of the emptying of God to become human. “His state was divine…He emptied himself to become as humans are, taking on the condition of a slave, and he was humbler yet”(Phil 2:6). And the wood of the manger would one day be exchanged for the wood of the cross, the price of love.

Lastly, we have Pentecost. The Spirit came upon the disciples as they were gathered around Mary at Pentecost. The Word of the Lord calls forth the community that is shaped by the Spirit. To welcome that Word we need both the Spirit and the community.

Mary is the model of faith, of trust and enquiry. In the first chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, Mary as a young woman, is open and ready to respond to God’s invitation to surrender to an unknown future. She listens to God speaking through the angel. Her faith and trust show themselves in her obedient welcome as she responds: “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word”. She shows us the way of honest enquiry as she wonders anxiously how can this be? Answering the question, she discovers the depth of her faith. In the same way, I understand that many of you are undertaking courses of study at Maryvale Institute and other similar institutes. It is continuing that spirit of enquiry, of asking questions about the faith.

Mary sets out to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. It is a sign of her compassion for her cousin but Elizabeth, in turn, declares Mary ‘blessed’ for believing that the word spoken to her would be fulfilled. Years later, when he was told that his mother and brothers were close by, the answer of Jesus was to emphasise the centrality of Mary, the real reason for her blessing. He said: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it”.

Here we see, once again, her ability to listen for the Word of God, to discern what is God’s will and to carry out God’s will. Listening to the word, followed by discernment and leading to action, that is the process which those who are in authentic relationship with Jesus all follow.

So, responding to the word, Mary journeys to meet her cousin. Her meeting with Elizabeth is the occasion of her magnificent song of praise which we call the Magnificat.

The word that she has received becomes a witnessing proclaiming and praising and thanksgiving word. Mary made the word her own as she speaks the prophetic word of truth about what Jesus is doing in, and through, her life. “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my saviour. The almighty does marvellous things for me”. There is nothing wrong with enjoying ourselves when we give praise to God. Rejoice was the command of the angel to Mary. Enjoyment is one of the reasons for us being here.

Mary ponders over the various happenings in the early life of Jesus. They are happenings which will cast long shadows over the unfolding of her personal story. We are told that Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. She is a woman of silence. She has an inner life – a spiritual life. She is one of those who has been taught wisdom in the secret of her heart. From that place of stillness and reflection and suffering, Mary receives the strength to do, in loving surrender, what God asks of her when a sword would pierce her own soul.

St John’s Gospel describes the signs which Jesus did so that we might have life in his name. The first of those signs took place at the wedding feast of Cana. We are told that the mother of Jesus was there. She performed a central role in the miracle.

She is a bridge between the Old and the New Testament in this highly significant wedding feast. At the wedding feast she is the one who is alert. She recognised the plight of her neighbours. Out of a sense of charity and compassion she takes action as she declares, to her son, “They have no wine”. Today she is also the one who sees the spiritual need. She issues the directive: “Do whatever he tells you”. She puts her total trust in God’s plan and the result is that Jesus performs his first sign.
The Word of God needs to be listened in the lives of believers in every age. The world in which we live is a noisy world. It militates against hearing God’s word or perceiving the presence of God in ourselves. But this Gospel picture of Mary as a model and mother of listening to the Word of God is compelling. In times of personal ill-health; family problems; bereavement or other trials, many men and women are sometimes at a loss to understand why their burdens are so heavy. They often ask the question: Why is this happening to me? And as they struggle to understand, they accept with courage and generosity, like Mary, and say: “Let it be done unto me according to your will”.

In the midst of modern injustices, whether they be those concerning the displacement of persons – migrants, poverty issues or the exploitation and trafficking of children or women for the sex industry, the life and values of Mary provide inspiration. There are many religious congregations that have Mary as their patron who campaign bravely for issues of justice – both locally and globally.

It is often said that we must go through Mary in order to reach Jesus – to know Jesus – to love Jesus – to serve Jesus – to model and embody in our own lives the virtues which Jesus lived and exemplified.

We hear the Word of God but we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to understand the word and to apply it wisely and correctly to our own lives. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to see and know and understand ourselves as God’s Holy Spirit sees and knows and understands us.

Mary was in the middle of the community that received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. It was the infant Church really. It is interesting that it was to a community and not to an individual that the Holy Spirit came.
May your community be always open to receiving God’s word and ready to meditate on it with the Holy Spirit and willing to discuss it and to respond to it as a community.

AMEN

MONTH’S MEMORY MASS FOR THE LATE TOMMY MAKEM

FRIDAY 31 AUGUST 2007

ST. PATRICK, CHURCH, KEADY

HOMILY BY

ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

I welcome you to this Month Memory Mass for the late great Tommy Makem.

At the Months Memory Mass we recall the memory of the person who has died. We sing his praises and remember his gifts. But I think that Tommy himself would be the first to remind us that on an occasion like this, we pray for the eternal rest – for the repose of the soul – of the person who has died.

Yet, many ask,

· What could prevent someone who has died from enjoying eternal rest?
· What could possibly keep perpetual light from shining upon the souls of the dead?
· What could possibly prevent them from resting in peace?

The answer – sins and sins alone is the only thing that keeps us separated from God. So, at this Mass we ask God to pardon Tommy all his sins; and to take away any debt of punishment that may yet remain to be paid.

Tommy Makem was a very gifted man – he had the gift of music and song in abundance. He was a Master of Kindness. He was always generous with his time, his talent and, most of all, he was kind with his good humour.

All of life is a journey, a journey of going back, going back home to our God and to our Creator. Because we are human, sometimes we grow tired and weary along the way. We need help to make our trail easier, to give us strength and to enable us to find meaning in life.

Tommy found meaning first of all in his faith, in his family and in his Irish heritage. He expressed that meaning in his stories and in his songs. Tommy was well aware of the great gift of faith in his life. He was thankful for that gift of faith and for the gift of music. He was thankful for the gift of music given to him by his parents, especially his mother, Sarah; a gift that was developed in Keady choir under the watchful eye of Canon Pentony.

Tommy Makem was grateful to God for his wife Mary and for his daughter Katie and for his three sons: Conor, Rory and Shane. That grateful heart made him a happy man. He expressed that happiness in his music and in his song and, in the process, he brought happiness to many others. That is why, at the great Irish Fest in Milwaukee two weeks ago, people stood in their thousands to bear their tribute to Tommy Makem – a tribute that was repeated on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at a festival that attracts some 90,000 patrons.

You see, deep in the depths of the human heart, there is this hunger for beauty and truth and love. The music and song and story of Tommy Makem went some way to satisfying that hunger but ultimately that hunger will only be satisfied fully in God.

Tommy Makem knew that and that is why, a couple of years ago, he spearheaded the efforts in his parish of Dover, New Hampshire, to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the building of the Church of St. Mary.

It was a church built by emigrants, for emigrants, from Keady and Armagh who simply could not, and would not, live their lives in a situation where they could not attend Sunday Mass. They so felt the need to be nourished with the Word of God and the Body of Christ and the Bread of Life that they simply were not prepared to carry on – no matter what the wages were – without being sustained by the Bread of Life. They were going to give it all up and come back home rather than do without the Mass. Luckily they did not have to do so. They built their Church, they got their priest and they stayed on.

Tommy was so impressed with the beauty and the truth and the love in that story that he composed a special Mass to commemorate that anniversary and to give praise to it. His grand-daughter was confirmed that weekend and it was a great celebration.

Singing, dancing, laughing and even weeping, all expressed the meaning of Tommy’s faith in God. In song and story he expressed his faith in God and in this goodness of other people, encouraging them to work together for peace and justice in the world. “He sang not to have a life of leisure” – his Parish Priest said at the funeral Mass, “but to give joy to people and to give them something that would strengthen their minds a little”.

He was once asked if he planned to retire. “Yes, of course” he said “I retire every night and in the morning I realise how lucky and privileged I am to be able to continue to do the things I love to do”. The Parish Priest told that one at his funeral and he went on to say. “They say they have choirs in Heaven and we can be sure that they make beautiful music there all the time”.

Tommy Makem did retire one last time on Wednesday the first day of August. When he woke up the next morning we can be sure that he found himself in Heaven and that he was all ready to join the heavenly choir and to be with his dear wife Mary and his mother and father, Sarah and Peter, and all who have preceded him on the journey of faith.

Embraced in God’s love, we can pray that Tommy Makem will continue to be lucky and privileged in Heaven. We can hope that he will be adding his deep baritone voice to sing with the saints throughout eternity. It is our prayer that Tommy will be able to do the things he loved to do all through his earthly journey with his music to bring joy and happiness to the lives of others.

If we desire to honour the man we admire, let us each try to live and care for one another as Tommy did. I believe that he followed the advice that St Augustine give us in the 4th century:
Love God first, then love your neighbour

St Augustine tells us that
· “many may sign themselves with the sign of the cross
· All may say Amen,
· Many may sing Alleluia,
· Others may come to church and line the walls of the basilicas
But there is nothing to distinguish the children of God from the children of evil

Except unselfish love
It means that we must love and reverence the God within ourselves and in each other and that is what Tommy Makem did when he used his talents of music and song on his journey of life.

MASS OF THE CHAPTER

ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH

HOMILY GIVEN BY

ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2007

Jesus has come into our world. He came, and he still comes, in different ways. But he always comes to seek out and save what is lost. In other words, he comes to save people, people who have turned away from God, people who are neglecting God, people who are living their lives as if God did not exist. Jesus came to bring them back – the kind of people who, if they don’t change their ways, will be lost. In other words, Jesus came to reconcile people through the mercy of God.

I read a marvellous story of reconciliation recently. It happened at a murder trial in Green Street Court House, Dublin. Two young friends fell out in a drunken brawl. One pulled a knife and stabbed the other fatally. All four parents gathered in the courtroom for the murder trial. Two in one corner, two in the other. An old Kerry Garda came in and saw the scene and said to a barrister friend I am going to try and reconcile these people. You haven’t a hope. “Well, I can only try” he said. So he approached them in turn. At first they stiffened and bristled at the idea but then they approached and hugged each other and burst into tears. “How did you know it would work”? asked the barrister. “I didn’t” said the Garda. Somehow or other the mercy of God was already at work in the hearts of all concerned there to bring about this reconciliation. It just needed the courage and concern of the Garda to trigger it off.

I have received many messages in recent days. One of the most pleasing came from a past student to whom I taught Latin in the 1970s. He was a high-spirited young man and high-spirited young men were wont to get into trouble sometimes and secondary school. But he wrote now he said because I counselled him once when he needed counselling, although he probably would have been slow enough to admit it at the time. He now says that I stuck up for him at times but, he says, and this is the important bit, it all came out right in the end. He married an understanding wife twenty years and they have three wonderful children.

Now let us come to Zachaeus, the rich tax collector. I think it is hard for us to realise how despised tax collectors were in ancient Israel. Probably as despised as drug dealers are today. First they were collecting on behalf of the Romans, the foreign power who were occupying the country. Secondly, they competed and tendered for the contract to lift the taxes. But once the contract was signed they were more or less free to exhort as much as they could. So it wasn’t exactly the most popular profession but it certainly was one of the most lucradic

Zachaeus was the senior tax collector. He had been around for a long time. Fairly tough-skinned, I would say and definitely seriously wealthy and yet, definitely not very happy. Not at all a happy man. Why do I say that? Well he was anxious. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was. So anxious, in fact, that he was prepared to run the risk of ridicule if he was noted. Could you imagine anyone of us climbing a tree down on the Mall the night President Bill Clinton was here so that we could see what kind of man he was. And yet, that is how it was with Zachaeus. Despite all his financial security, all his vast property, his second home; his stocks and shares; Zachaeus was not a happy camper.

I just wonder how many people are there like Zachaeus in the world today? How many in our world today, despite all the tearing around from post to pillar, are anxious people? Maybe they don’t know what they are anxious about but, what they do know is that there is something missing. They have achieved all they set out to achieved but there is still something missing.

Zachaeus stumbled on it when he noted the desire he had in his heart to see what kind of man Jesus was. But I wonder how many of our successful young people experience some similar sort of desire. The desire to have a relationship that will last with something or some person that is not temporary, that is not fragile, that is not going to break up. I wonder how many people there are who, like Zachaeus, really want to see the kind of man Jesus is but they don’t realise that that is what they need.
Anyway, Zachaeus stumbled on it and decided to do something about it. Of course there will always be obstacles to be overcome when you want to make a move like that. Zachaeus was too short. The rest of us can think we are too short of time for that kind of thing. Zachaeus ran on ahead over and climbed a tree, partially out of curiosity, partly out of a response to something deeper. He found a spot on the sycamore tree just to catch a glimpse of Jesus and, hopefully, nobody would catch of glimpse of him. A glimpse of Jesus would do him. But that was what Zachaeus, despite all his shrewdness and cuteness, got all wrong. He got it all wrong through no fault of his own. How was he to know that when Jesus reached the spot he would look up and see him. Not alone that, Jesus could have winked at him and passed on but not at all, horror of horrors Jesus spoke to him. Spoke to him by name – Zachaeus. He gives him an order: “Come down out of that. Hurry for I must stay at your house today”. Amazing isn’t it. Jesus is inviting himself to stay. Inviting himself along. Zachaeus hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. Now all the anxiety and depression is gone. There is joy and welcome.
Zachaeus found Jesus there waiting for him and Jesus, who knew him by name, who, in fact, was searching and looking for him also because he was a Jesus who has come to look for those who have lost their way.

Greed for money has caused a lot of people to lose their way in life. They lose their respect for people but his meeting with Jesus set Zachaeus free from his slavery to greed. He is going to turn over a new leaf – give half his property to the poor and pay back four times to the people he had cheated.

There is a great note of humility there in recognising the fact that he had cheated people. How often do we find that in people? There is a bit of Zachaeus in all of us – anxious to know more about Jesus yet not always prepared to pay the price or make the effort. And yet, when we do so, we find that Jesus is already waiting for us.

One person who was certainly single-minded in his searching for Jesus was St Malachy. We celebrated his feast yesterday. St Bernard, who knew him, says ‘Malachy was acceptable and well-pleasing to God’ and that is what we are all trying to do. He was poor towards himself but rich to the poor. He was a father to the orphans and a husband to the widows, the protector of the oppressed. A cheerful giver, he never asked for anything and it embarrassed him to receive. It was with deep concern and great success he laboured to restore peace between enemies.
· Who was as tender as he in compassion?
· Who was as ready with help?
· Who was as fearless in correction?

While he could be weak with the weak, was, nevertheless, mighty with the mighty. He withstood the proud, he beat down the tyrant, he was a master at director of kings and princesses. As if he were the father of all, so did he live for all. He made no distinction between persons. He never failed anyone for his heart overflowed with sympathy for them all. Malachy was like that because he not only knew the kind of person Jesus was, he knew Jesus personally and he tried, with the help of Jesus, to be Christlike.

Introduction

Even though the whole world is like a grain of dust, in God’s eye, the Lord is merciful to all.
· The Lord can overlook our sins so that we can repent.
· The Lord spares all things because, in the long run, all things belong to God.

This is the Good News we hear today. St Paul prays that God will make us worthy and fulfil all our desires for goodness.

We also hear a man admit that he is a cheat but he promises to repent.

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Malachy – native son of this City – patron of our diocese.

We welcome the Canons of the Cathedral Chapter who have joined us for this Mass.