MASS IN THE CATHEDRAL OF ST PATRICK & FELIM, CAVAN

HOMILY GIVEN BY

CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2007

I said at the beginning, that the predominant note of today’s Mass is one of joy. Rejoice always in the Lord the Church tells us. We are waiting in joyful hope. The Lord is near. And joy, in the life of Christians, is something special. As followers of Jesus Christ we rejoice. We are glad that God so loved each one of us that he gave his only Son. We are delighted that God so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus into the world. The cause of our joy is the realisation that Jesus so loves each one of us that he suffered and died for us. That is the reason for our Christmas joy. Whenever God is revealed as our Creator and especially as our Saviour, a tremendous joy is aroused in our hearts. It is good for us to get in touch with that joy and to give it expression.

The first word of the Angel Gabriel to Mary is: Rejoice. Rejoice so highly favoured one. When we think about it, are we not all the highly favoured ones of the Lord? The Almighty has, in fact, done great things for each one of us. We all need to take the time occasionally to count our blessings so as to realise just how favoured, how blessed we are. Of course to rejoice in the midst of suffering puts a strain on our ordinary idea of joy and of enjoyment. Perhaps that is why Mary emphasises the fact that she rejoices in “God, my Saviour”. In the midst of all our trials and tribulations, she invites all of us to put our trust in the God who loves us, no matter what. She invites us to remember that our God is a saving God, rich in mercy and slow to anger.

John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, was really put to the test. Deprived of his freedom, facing death in a lonely prison cell, you would think that he had nothing more to lose. And yet, in fact, yes there was something else to lose, his dreams – his dreams of a particular type of Saviour. In his prison cell, John began to wonder about Jesus. For Jesus wasn’t exactly measuring up to John’s idea of a Messiah – a Saviour who would produce the anticipated axe and cut down the trees that bore no fruit – a Saviour who would produce the threshing flail that would separate the wheat from the chaff. And now, it was John himself who was left threshing with doubts and his difficulties. But fair play to him, he had honesty to face them and to recognise them and to do something about it. He had the humility to seek help, so he sent some of his followers to Jesus to ask, was he the One that was to come or should they wait for somebody else. What does Jesus do? He quotes the prophesy of Isaiah – the blind see; the lame walk; the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

Jesus knew that this was enough. He knew that John’s great holiness and his knowledge of the Scriptures would carry him through this storm of faith. The answer of Jesus is gentle and it is calculated to draw John’s mind back to the light of God’s goodness. Then Jesus goes on to praise John – the greatest of the prophets.

Jesus makes one thought provoking statement there where he said: “Blessed are those who do not lose faith in me”.

That phrase is sometimes translated

‘Blessed are those who do not take offence at me.
Blessed are those who are not scandalised in me’.

The commentators go on to say that those people are blessed who do not lose faith in Jesus because of his modest origins, his humble beginnings, his poverty, and who are not scandalised, even by his style of public ministry.

Perhaps there is a certain providence that we gather for this Mass of Thanksgiving on the third Sunday of Advent. It allows us to rejoice and be glad for the many people I know who did not lose faith in Jesus Christ.

Today I rejoice at the great blessings God has given me in my life. I give thanks for the members of my family, my many friends and teachers who did not ever lose faith in Jesus Christ. Today I rejoice at coming home, and I give thanks for all that family and friends, faith and the gift of priesthood have meant in my life. I have been very humbled by your kindness, overwhelmed and uplifted by your outstanding encouragement and support. So today I want to give thanks to God for the great things he has done for all of us.
A vocation to the priesthood is not just the work of divine grace. It is the fruit of a believing community. It is the result of inspiration received and encouragement given from the people around us – our parents, our teachers, the priests and religious in our community, those who serve the needy, those who serve the community in so many ways, those who are quiet, humble witnesses to faith and goodness. These are the witnesses to God’s goodness and love who inspire faith and service in others.

In his recent Encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI said:
Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by—people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way.
Today I thank God that this diocese of my birth, formation and early priesthood has such people in abundance. There have been many John the Baptist’s in my life, witnesses to the goodness of God who prepared the way of the Lord in my mind and heart. Without them I would not be here today. That it is why it is appropriate that I return to this, my first home, to the people of my birth and clan and give thanks with you and for you.
Our world today needs witnesses to hope. We need prophets to guide the profits of recent years. We need people who can check the balance of our economic and technological growth, against our growth in civility, community, faith and human kindness. We need people who can build up the civilisation of love, witnesses to solidarity and communion with God who can develop growth and prosperity with a generous faith.

I thank God for the gift of growing up here. It was here amidst the myths and legends of Breifne that I learned to hear the calm of that still small voice of God. It was here that I learned of the hope that faith can bring. Today that voice repeats to all of us:
Strengthen all weary hands,
steady all trembling knees
and say to all faint hearts,
‘Courage! Do not be afraid.
AMEN

MASS FOR THE DEAF
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
MISSION SUNDAY – 22 OCTOBER 2007
HOMILY GIVEN BY
ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

HOMILY

I begin by welcoming you all to this beautiful Cathedral of St. Patrick. – built in honour of St. Patrick. It was built between 1850 and 1875 because there were people of faith here who wanted it built. They were your ancestors. They wanted it built in order to give glory to God.

They wanted this Cathedral built, big and beautiful, so that people coming in here would have their minds turned to God, who is the beginning of all beauty. They wanted it built so that people could come here and pray because Jesus said that we must pray always to remind people that here on earth we are meant to know God. We are meant to know Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We are meant to become like Jesus by living as Jesus did. We are meant to follow Jesus. And, if we do that, then we will discover that there is real joy to be found in life, not just in Heaven, in the next life, but actually here on this earth. If we put our trust in Jesus Christ then we will discover that there is real happiness and meaning to life lived in the love of Jesus Christ.

The people who built this wonderful Cathedral, this beautiful Cathedral, built it in honour of St. Patrick. Why St. Patrick? Because he was the first one to come to tell us about Jesus. He left his family, his parents and his friends, and came back to Ireland. Patrick knew that he had something precious and valuable to give to us, the people of Ireland, his faith in God. His faith in One God in whom there are three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That is why he used the shamrock. Patrick used the shamrock to explain to us – just as there are three leaves on the one shamrock – there are three persons in God. Father – Son – and Spirit. God is a community of persons.

Have you ever noticed how Jesus was a great man for asking questions? He asked people what did they want – today he asks a very important question. When the Son of Man comes, that is, when He himself comes, will he find any faith on earth? Notice it is not IF he comes again will He find faith? The question is WHEN he comes, because he is certainly going to come, will he find faith?

The answer is, of course, he will find faith if he finds people who have faith. And he will only find faith if the faith is handed down from one generation to another. He will only find faith in every country of the earth if there are missionaries, like St. Patrick, who are prepared to go to every country of the earth. When Jesus comes again, he will only find faith if there are missionaries like St. Patrick who are prepared to make sacrifices. To leave behind their families and go to the ends of the earth. Faith comes into the human heart when people hear the Word of God. But they must hear the Word – the message – from other people.

This is Mission Sunday. We remember today all those went to Africa and China and India and to many other countries to tell the people of Jesus Christ. They went from all over Ireland – priests and nuns and religious. But they went for one reason only – they went because Jesus asked them to go. After Jesus had suffered and died, for love of us, God raised him up from the dead. Then, after forty days Jesus went back to his father in Heaven. Before he went back he called his friends together. He said: “You won’t see me anymore but that does not mean that I am abandoning you. That I am leaving you alone”. Jesus said: “I will be with you always until the end of time”.

Jesus is with us always. He is with us here in this Blessed Sacrament when we eat his body and drink his blood. He is with us here in his word which is communicated to us to tell us about himself. To tell us what he wants us to do.

He is with us here in his Holy Spirit whom he sent to each one of us at our Baptism, at our Confirmation. The Holy Spirit comes to remind us of all that Jesus said and did.

One of the last things Jesus said before he left was: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. That is, go and make pupils, followers, in all nations of the world, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Go and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Today those words ring out to the ends of the earth because there are still hundreds of millions of people who never heard the name of Jesus Christ. It is very sad to think of it because there is no other name on earth by which we may be saved. They are waiting for people to come to tell them. They are waiting like the way our ancestors waited before Patrick came to bring them Good News – to tell them there is hope. There is no reason to despair. God has great plans for them.
Each one of us must be a missionary at heart. The patroness of the missions – that is, the one under whose protection all the missionary work is – St Therese of Liseuix. She is known as The Little Flower. She lived in France. She never went to the missions but she prayed every day for the missions and the missionaries. She prayed for the men and women who were on the mission fields. By making her the patroness, protecting saint of the missions, the Church is saying: ‘Listen, everyone can be a missionary. We can offer up our thoughts, our words, our actions, our sufferings and our prayers, to help those priests and nuns and brothers, who are on the missions, who are preaching the Word of God, who are trying to persuade people to put their faith in Jesus Christ.

I ask you to find somebody from your own parish or county or diocese, who is on the missions. I want you to make a decision to pray to God for that missionary. Pray every day asking the Lord to protect them and promise the Lord that you will offer up your own sufferings and your prayers in order to help that missionary.

There is a big harvest to be harvested. Jesus Christ is the Lord, the owner of the harvest. He is with us and He continues to guide His people.

AMEN

MASS FOR THE DEAF
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
MISSION SUNDAY – 22 OCTOBER 2007
HOMILY GIVEN BY
ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

INTRODUCTION

I welcome you all to St. Patrick’s Cathedral this afternoon. I welcome your chaplains. It is a joy for us to be able to celebrate this Mass of Mission Sunday with all of you. We are very happy to be with ou.

Mission Sunday is a Sunday in October, the month of the missions, on which we remember that we are all meant to be missionaries at heart. That is, we are all sent by God, to one another, to play our part in spreading the Good News about Jesus Christ.

There are millions and millions of people who do not know the name Jesus Christ. Today we thank God that we know the name of Jesus Christ. That we know Jesus Christ.

This is St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I want you to take a moment to look at the beauty of it. See how beautiful it is. It is called St. Patrick’s Cathedral in honour of St. Patrick. St Patrick was a great missionary, sent by God, to Ireland, to bring us the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Today we pray for all missionaries and that there may be more and more missionaries who will be willing, like Patrick, to go to the ends of the earth. We begin our Mass as always by confessing our sins………

Following Christ in 21 st Century Ireland
A sermon by Archbishop Seán Brady
On the feast of the Queenship of Mary,
Knock Shrine, Wednesday 22nd August 2007

It is a great happiness to be her in Knock and a great blessing to be here at Mary’s Shrine. Today we honour Mary as our Queen and as our Mother – the cause of our joy. Every son and every daughter loves to honour their mother. They love to sing her praises. They were delighted to recall her virtues and to admire her beauty and to salute her success.

What a privilege then to be here on this final night of the wonderful Novena. It began on the Feast of the Assumption – body and soul of Mary into the glory of heaven. Where she has gone we hope to follow.

This Novena included the Feast of Our Lady of Knock which was yesterday. It reminds us that we stand on holy ground – ground made holy by the feet of those fifteen privileged witnesses. On the 21 August 1879 it was their privilege to see the Blessed Virgin, St Joseph and St. John appear on the south gable of the parish church.

We stand on holy ground – ground made holy by the feet of millions of pilgrims – pilgrims who came here for many reasons:
To weep for their sins
To beg for mercy
To give thanks for favours received.

We all have our own reasons for being here. They are known to God alone. Perhaps you have come to say thanks – thanks for a favour received – an exam passed; a job secured; an illness healed; for a return to the practice of the faith and to the sacrament of confession either by yourself or by someone you love. Perhaps you are here begging and imploring Our Lady to come to your aid – to assist you in a return to better health either spiritually or physically. Whatever the reason, we are all here because we love Mar, our Mother and our Queen and we love Jesus Christ. We are here because we have great belief in the power of Mary to intercede for us with her son as she once interceded for a newly wed couple on their wedding day and came to their rescue by asking her son, Jesus to come to their aid.

I have been asked to speak to you today on the theme of ‘Following Christ in 21st century Ireland.’ In a different place, on a different day, this would have been a huge undertaking. The list of issues which face those who seek to follow Christ in the Ireland of today is very long. It includes the challenge of keeping our lives focused on Christ amidst the distractions of increasing prosperity. It includes bearing witness to Christ and his Church in an increasingly secular, sometimes hostile culture. It certainly includes the challenge of declining Church attendance, fewer vocations and the restructuring of Parishes and other Church resources which we all took for granted for so long.
Yet, as we gather here at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, as we celebrate the Queenship of Mary at the end this Solemn Novena, the scale of these challenges seems so much smaller. Before the example of Mary, they become only one – to say yes at every moment, of every day, to following Jesus. To say yes to putting our complete trust in God’s word and in His plan and in His power.
The challenges may change in their detail, the culture in which we live might alter from one generation to the next, but the fundamental call of the Christian disciple remains the same in every age – to say ‘Fiat, voluntas tua’ – ‘Be it done unto me according to thy Word!’
Today we ask Mary to help the Church in Ireland to reach out to those who have lost touch with it. Our great consolation, therefore, that as we face the myriad of challenges of being a disciple in 21st century Ireland, Mary is the perfect disciple today .Mary has always been the perfect disciple through the first two millennia of the Church’s existence. As she aided the Church in its birth, so she remains our Mother and Protector in the trials and tribulations of our own time. She constantly reminds the Church here on earth that ‘nothing is impossible to God’. Mary calls us to trust that, in spite of the twists and turns of human history, ‘God’s promise will be fulfilled.’
Mary reveals to us the essential virtue for those who wish to follow Christ in the Ireland of the 21st century. That virtue is Trust. Trust in the power of God to do all things. Trust that the Word of God is still alive and active in his Church in spite of the many earthly challenges which confront us in human terms.
Trust is the opposite of fear. Trust is the fruit of perfect love, because perfect love casts out all fear. This is why the call of every disciple, begins with the call – ‘do not be afraid!’ ‘Do not be afraid Mary; you have won God’s favour!’
It has been said the land of saints and scholars has become better known as the land of stocks and shares, of financial success and security. We thank God for that success. Tragically it has also become a land of increasing stress and substance abuse. And all of this has occurred as the external practice of faith has declined.
I believe many Irish people have not so much rejected their faith as become distracted from their faith. Some people are seeking to control their future rather than entrust their future to God’s promise and plan. The result is an increasing culture of insecurity and fear. What often appears to be a culture of confidence and certainty, not alone in Ireland but in Europe, is, in reality, a façade. More and more Irish people are becoming stressed out because of their efforts to bring a security to their lives that only trust in God can give. They are trying to control a future that is ultimately in God’s hands.
One of the most subtle but disturbing signs of this underlying fear in Irish life is the increasing reliance of people on practices which falsely claim to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, tarot cards, have recourse to clairvoyance and mediums conceal a desire for power over time and a lack of trust in God’s providence. They are the new Irish superstition. Those who put their trust in them or take them seriously are colluding with an illusion, promoting a fiction. Tragically this has become a whole industry in Ireland – on the internet, on premium telephone lines, on digital television, in the newspapers and even at family parties! The fact is, people who spend money on these pursuits would have more influence on the future if they gave their money to those in need. This would make a real difference to someone’s future instead of wasting money, time and energy on what is at best a dangerous form of entertainment.

In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: ‘All forms of divination are to be rejected…. They contradict the honour, respect and loving fear we owe to God alone… A sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it.’ (n. 2115/6)
Underlying this trend of ‘future telling’, is a fear of the future. It is a symptom of the insecurity that lurks behind the seeming confidence of modern Irish culture and life. It is evidence of the absence of a life without God which would address the deepest needs of the human spirit.
What more and more Irish people are discovering is that a life without God is a heavy burden to bear. This is why Jesus told us that his yoke is easy and his burden light. This is why he invites those who labour and are overburdened to come to him so that he would give us rest.
The big questions of people’s lives still remain: why am I here? What will bring me happiness? What will happen to me when I die? It is the Church which still holds the answer to these questions. The answer is Jesus – the way, the truth and the life! As Saint Peter said when others were walking away from Jesus; ‘Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the message of eternal life!’
This is why Mary always directs us to Christ. She knows that he alone can gives us everything we need. Everything we need as disciples in the Ireland of the 21st century. Everything we need as a Church.
Mary abandoned herself to God’s will. She did not ask the Angel to tell her what the future would hold. She simply trusted God’s promise minute by minute, day by day. She trusted in the midst of the joys and her sufferings. This is the attitude of the Blessed. This is the attitude which every disciple of Christ is called to imitate. It is the attitude of a perfect love, a love sustained by the Eucharist and prayer, a love which casts out all fear. This is the perfect love shown by Mary.
The truth of Jesus remains the same yesterday, today and forever! Our challenge is to bear witness to that truth more authentically, more convincingly, more faithfully. In this, as in all aspects of Christian discipleship, it is Mary who is our example and strength.
On this earth, in this time, we continue as disciples to wait ‘in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ’. In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim people of God. (n. 972)
Our Lady of Knock, pray for us.
Mary, cause of our joy
Queen of heaven, pray for us.
Hope and comfort of the pilgrim people of God… pray for us.

Amen.
In the meantime we try to know Jesus better and we try to embody, in our lives, the values of Jesus. Those values are to be found in the Beatitudes
· The value of putting our trust, not in riches but in His Kingdom
· The value of comforting and healing those who mourn and need healing
· The value of showing mercy.
Last Sunday I was in Milwaukee. We had to get from A to B for a celebration. Nobody knew the way – then someone said: “Follow that white van”. We did that and we got there but we sure kept our eyes on the van!
To get to eternal life and happiness there is only one way – ‘Follow that man Jesus’. That is why tonight’s Gospel is so brief. We will indeed be blessed and happy forever if we can embody in our lives the trust and the mercy of Jesus.
Hail, holy queen….
After their own exile…
Show unto us that man Jesus
I sometimes stay with the Cistercian monks in Collon. The last thing they do at night is to put out all the lights, except the one which lights up the sanctuary. They stand and say the Hail Holy Queen –
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy.
After this our exile show unto all of us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus, Amen

GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS

OF GORMANSTOWN FRANCISCAN COLLEGE, CO MEATH

& RE-DEDICATION OF ASSEMBLY HALL

HOMILY GIVEN BY

CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

WEDNESDAY 12 DECEMBER 2007

I am pleased to be here as you draw down the curtain on the year of celebrations to mark the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of this great College – for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland. I also look forward to the ceremony of re-dedicating your new Assembly Hall.

During the past year I am sure you often celebrated and thanked God for the privilege of belonging to a school community like that of Gormanstown Franciscan College. It is a real privilege to belong to a school community which travels together on the journey in the spirit of the Good News, brought by Jesus Christ. You do so within the tradition of the Catholic Church and specifically within the tradition of that outstanding follower of Jesus Christ, the poor man of Assisi – St Francis. I can think of no greater antidote or cure for one of the predominate ills of our society and our age – that of greed.

I did my Leaving Cert in 1957 the year the Franciscan College, Gormanstown was opened. During my time as a student in St. Pat’s in Cavan, I was vaguely aware of a place called Multi Farnham College somewhere amidst the lakes of Westmeath but that was all.

It was when I went to Maynooth in 1957 to study for the priesthood that I began to know real Franciscans. It was then I began to benefit a great deal from their wisdom and their holiness. Father Colman O Huallacháin taught us Ethics for three years and Fr Paraic O’Sulleabháin lectured in Irish. They were both men who dedicated their lives to the glory of God and, in the process they brought great honour to Ireland with their love of all things Irish and of Ireland, and honour to the Franciscan Order.

In 1960 I went to study at the Irish College in Rome to continue my studies for the priesthood. Then a new chapter in my knowledge and friendship with the Friars began. I soon learned that the Irish College had been founded by one of the greatest Irish Franciscans ever, Father Luke Waddings. He had done so soon after he had founded St. Isadores – the Irish Franciscan College in Rome. And there in St Isadores I found a group of Irish Friars whom we visited in their College for concerts and entertainment and against whom and with whom we played Gaelic football, hurling and soccer Around the corner from where I lived there was the Antonianum called after St Anthony of Padua, where hundreds of Friars lived and studied and prayed and continue to live and study and pray.

I was in Poyntzpass, Co Armagh last night, at a function. There I was reminded that the first Armagh man to lift the Sam Maguire on the Hogan stand was, in fact, Joe Lennon, formerly of the staff of this College.

That reminded me of times some thirty (30) years ago when I used to come here occasionally with football teams from St. Patrick’s College, Cavan to play challenge matches. All of that set in motion a whole train of thoughts which brought back memories of my contacts with the Franciscans and their great tradition.
It reminded me of:

v An Irish American Friar – Father Theoplan Larkin was once our Spiritual Director when I was on the Staff of the Irish College.
v Father Beniginus Millett and his phenomenal love and knowledge of Irish ecclesiastical history.

The list goes on and on: Father Edmund Dougan, Bishop Fiachra O Cealliagh

Someone may ask, what has all of that got to do with our Mass in honour of the Holy Spirit in this new academic year. Just this much. At Baptism and at Confirmation, the Holy Spirit of the Risen Christ descended on each one of us – on you and on me. That is a gift. It has happened, it cannot be undone. God is love and love is God’s first gift containing all other gifts. God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. The Holy Spirit introduces us to this wonderful thing called the Communion of Saints, which is not just a union of holy people but also a sharing of sacred things, like friendships and scholarship and education and religious orders. The kind of things that I have just been listing as they happened in my life.

One of those sacred things is the season of Advent. A time when we prepare for the coming of Christ. Christ was born when the Virgin Mary conceived him by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now this Advent, the Lord is coming once more. 2,000 years ago he surprised many people by being born in a stable instead of a palace. A lot of people failed to notice.

Because we are dead, or at least have been wounded, through sin, the first effect of the gift of love, brought by the Holy Spirit, is the forgiveness of our sins. John the Baptist who was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, belted out that message, loud and clear. ‘Repent’ he said, ‘because the kingdom of God is at hand’.

The fire of the Holy Spirit blazed in the heart of John the Baptist and made him the forerunner of the Lord. He completed the work of preparing for the Lord. He desperately wanted to have his people ready when the Lord would come. His message was blunt but clear – repent because the kingdom of Heaven is near at hand. This message was blunt, clear and relevant. Lots of people travelled out into the wilderness to listen to him.

This Advent, the Lord is coming again – in a hidden way – in a surprising way. Unfortunately, many will miss the message. This Advent the Lord will come to those who take time to pray. Now, as then, the Lord needs precursors – forerunners – to prepare the way – to get ready for his coming. He wants you to be his forerunner because he wants to come into the hearts of everyone in this parish this Christmas. It will not happen without the help of your prayers and your example. It is as simple as that.

We are all busy preparing for Christmas – the birth of Christ – but how much thought or place do we give to the Birthday Boy himself. Could you imagine going to a birthday party, where nobody remembered to invited the guest of honour?

· How could you and I help to prepare for the Coming of Christ this Christmas?
· How did John the Baptist do it?
He said that he was simply a voice that prepared the way. He was the voice of the Holy Spirit. John was the voice of the Consoler who is coming. There are a lot of people in our world who are in need of some sort of consolation. There are a lot of lonely people and they are not elderly or living alone but young and ignored and crying out for respect. Maybe that is why they turn to cocaine and alcohol to get relief from their pain of loneliness. John the Baptist came to bear witness to the light – the light of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist came to point the way to Jesus Christ – to be a signpost. There are a lot of people who are cut off from Jesus Christ. They do not darken the door of the Church, they don’t approach Jesus to have their sins forgiven. But maybe they are searching, maybe they need signposts. Maybe what they need is an act of kindness, an act of love; an act of consideration.

The season of Advent invites us to come to Christ, to confess our sins. I regard a good confession as the single most important ingredient for a happy Christmas. It costs nothing. Well that is not exactly true. It costs the effort to prepare and we need to invest some time in preparing for a good confession.

John the Baptist gave short shift to the Pharisees when they came to see Jesus. The reason was that, in their smugness, they hadn’t slightest intention of changing or repenting. But they weren’t going to pull the wool over John’s eyes. What they were looking for was cheap grace. In other words, they wanted forgiveness without real repentance; they wanted communion without confession; and absolution without personal confession; its grace without the cross. John was having none of it. ‘If he says you are repentant’, he said, ‘produce the appropriate fruit. Any tree that fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire’.

These are strong, hard words from John the Baptist. But he was the voice of the Holy Spirit and he is still the voice of the Holy Spirit, calling us to open our hearts to the coming of the Christ, the One and Only saviour of the world.

We are the temples of the Holy Spirit:

Come Holy Spirit

It is a simple most effective prayer. It is a prayer we use as we prepare for big occasions or big decisions like examinations or when making the choice of a career. Let me recommend to you, not only on these important occasions but also when making important decisions like choosing a career or a partner for life.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, you and I – children of God that we are – we can bear much fruit. For he who has grafted us onto the true vine, will make us bear the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It would be quite a Christmas hamper that would contain all those gifts. And yet, they are available to all of us. They are there for the asking if only we have the wisdom and the humility to do so. A happy Christmas to you all.

AMEN

FAREWELL MASS

TO DAUGHTERS OF THE CROSS SISTERS

DONAGHMORE CONVENT

HOMILY GIVEN BY

ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

WEDNESDAY 10 0CTOBER 2007

In the Church there are no less than seven (7) Religious Congregations called Daughters or Sisters of the Cross. They are to be found in Italy, in France, in Spain, in Switzerland, in Mexico and, of course, in Liege in Belgium.

What that tells me is, that down through the ages, women of strong faith and generous and loving character, have seen the Cross of Jesus Christ as their only hope. For, on the Cross of Calvary, Jesus showed how much he, the Son of God, loved each one of us. That love has, in turn, inspired, down through the ages, religious women to imitate Christ in a special way by giving their own lives in the service of others. So, in 1920, when Canon Joseph O’Neill of Donaghmore decided to invite a religious congregation to this parish, he turned to the Daughters of the Cross of Liege in Belgium.

Liege is an industrial city in the eastern part of Belgium not far from Maastricht. We had the Maastricht Treaty some years ago. Canon O’Neill had bought a house which originally belonged to the Lyles, that is, the Lyle half of Tate and Lyle, the sugar people.

The house was in bad shape so the first four Sisters – Sister Mary Walters from Kerry; Sister Mary Hedwia from Germany; Sister Mary Sgiberg from Abbeyfeal; and Sister Hildelidd from Lancashire didn’t wait until the carpets were down and the curtains on all the windows before they moved in. They had a bed each plus one chair. They carried the chair from bedroom to dining room to chapel and to the kitchen table. But, there was no shortage of friends.

Mr Donnelly of Carland gave the Sisters two cows which bcame the nucleus of a small farm. It supported the community until 1946. Miss O’Neill, who lived opposite the Convent, gave chickens; Other kind friends made presents of bread, vegetables and butter until the pioneering Sisters could support themselves.

Originally the intention was to open a hospital and six beds were donated by the Sisters of Mercy in Dungannon. The first patient was received by torchlight procession for the simple reason that the electricity plant had failed.

They were stirring times. On one occasion the old Police barrack, opposite the house, was burned down. The next night, the opposing forces came into the grounds, firing shots. It made the Sisters feel there was really no use in renovating as they might be burned out at any time.

Dr. Campbell, father of the late Dr Tommy Campbell, helped the Sisters with advice and a decision was taken to open a Boarding School in 1922. The first Principal was Sister Mary Hyacinth with Sister Bernard Mary as her Assistant. The school was a success from the start. Numbers increased and so additions were made to the building. In the meantime, classes were held in the parlour and sometimes even in the byre where the donkey was an interested onlooker.

The new school was completed by 1929. Sister Mary Hyacinth died that year and was not there to welcome the pupils to the new school. One month later Canon O’Neill also died. They were heavy blows to the fledgling community.

In February 1930, the school got recognition under the leadership of its new Principal, Sister Mary Xavier. Further building was made – the new red- brick building comprising of the Chapel, dining room and dormitories. They were completed and blessed by Cardinal Mac Rory in 1935. To we owe not only the buildings but the wonderful spirit of tradition which characterised Donaghmore.

It was Sister Mary Merciedles, ably assisted by Sister Mary Brogan who built the present school. Sister Merciedles was succeeded by Sister Mary Bastl who was Principal until 1984. Her successor, Mrs Helen McCrory, Principal from 1984 to 2000 had to cope with the decision to close the Boarding School in the late eighties and the retirement of Sister Patricia, the last teaching Sister in this school.

Now we are gathered here tonight to give thanks to God, in this Mass, for all the Sisters who have lived and served in Donaghmore over the last eighty-five (85) years.

We give praise and thanks for past and present Principals and staff. We bring before the Lord tonight all past and present pupils with all their gifts and virtues and needs. We remember with gratitude, the generous service of past and present members of the Boards of Governors. We give thanks also for past and present priests who served the Sisters here and who celebrated Mass for them and ministered the sacraments down through the years.

And now, as they prepare to depart, the Sisters would wish to remember with affection, all those generous young women who came into the Congregation. They came in and joined the Daughters of the Cross because of the example they saw given to them by the Sisters here in Donaghmore tonight. They saw them not just as excellent teachers, good administrators and mature women. They were all that, but they were something more. They were a sign of another world – the world that is to come. The Daughters of the Cross have been, for all who wish to see it, a sign that we have not here a lasting kingdom but we, all of us, seek one that is to come.

Tonight the Daughters of the Cross dare to ask God to inspire others to follow their example. For that to take place, girls contemplating such a step would need help. They would need to be helped to see that the Daughters of the Cross did not lose their freedom, instead they chose to exercise their freedom- to give their lives to the service of God who is totally free.
Recently I was given a book entitled: Art in Prison. It contains pictures painted by prisoners all over the world. I was particularly struck by one entry. It was a painting made of soap which came from Hungary. It depicted a jail, a bar, a casino and a road with a question mark. That picture suggests. to me at least. that there are various ways of losing our freedom besides being placed behind prison bars. In his resignation speech, Tony Blair, said that one way of resisting enslavement by the lust for power, is to give power up. We can all be enslaved by material things. But I think the presence of the Daughters of the Cross in this community has shown that we put our freedom to its highest use when we devote it to the praise and glory of God.

Tonight we give thanks not just for good education but for educators who were also good people – people who served the community in many ways. I am thinking of Sister Carmel’s wonderful apostolate to the deaf, to the deaf not just in Donaghmore and all of Tyrone but all over this part of the country.

Tonight we are celebrating the presence here of valiant women who came, not to become rich or famous or powerful. They came here because they believed that by so doing it was the only way they would remain in the love of Jesus and that was the only thing that mattered.

We are celebrating the presence of people who brought joy to the community because they were joyful people. They showed their love for one another and for all those they met by laying down their lives in the hard grind of teaching, administering the school, saying their prayers, and going about their business.

By so doing they became friends with Jesus and so were able to become friends with anyone who wanted to become friends with them. Yes, they have borne fruit – fruit that will last. The challenge is for us who remain to appreciate them properly and adequately. To appreciate the kind of people they were – the kind of faith they had – the kind of hope they had and to take that heritage and make it available to all those who come after us.

AMEN

COMMEMORATION OF
ARCHBISHOP DOMINIC MAGUIRE
Irish College, Paris, Sunday 16th September 2007

Sermon by
Archbishop Seán Brady

We have come together today to celebrate the memory of Archbishop Dominic Maguire, the immediate successor to Saint Oliver Plunkett as Archbishop of Armagh. His death in 1707 brought to a close one of the most tumultuous and decisive centuries of Irish history.

Described as at once tragic and magnificent, it was a century of war and want, persecution, and plantation, martyrdom and magnificent heroes. It began with the departure, to the continent, in 1607 of the Earls Hugh O’Neill and Hugh O’Donnell soon after their submission in1603. It ended after the Jacobite war in Ireland had culminated in the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, a Treaty which guaranteed freedom of worship and confirmed Catholics in the enjoyment of their civil rights. The Church then set about binding up the wounds of exiled Irish soldiers and their dependents on the European continent and to the comforting of the bereaved and hungry at home.

The legacy of that century resonates to this day in the cultural, political and religious dynamics of Ireland and other parts of Europe. Its significance is reflected in the number of celebrations across Europe of the 400th anniversary of the flight of the Earls.
Last Sunday I attended one of those commemorations in Dungannon, County Tyrone. Today I am here in Paris to commemorate the death of Archbishop Dominic Maguire who died here in France in 1707. He is one of a long list of Archbishops of Armagh who died in France beginning with St. Malachy,
· Roger Wauchope who died in Paris in 1551 followed by
· Edmund O’Reilly who died in Saumur in 1669 and
· Dominic Maguire who died in 1707 and, of course,
· Cardinal Tomas Ó Fiaich who died in 1990.

By the unforeseeable twists of history and fate, it was the consequences of the flight of the Earls which led to the untimely martyrdom of St. Oliver Plunkett and subsequently to the appointment of Dominic Maguire as his successor.

That the flight of the Earls is better known and more celebrated than the death of Archbishop Maguire, should not distract us from the significance of his legacy. While relatively few of his words are recorded, what we know of the difficult circumstances in which he found himself as Archbishop of Armagh, suggest we have something important to learn from him today.

I thank Fr Declan Hurley and all those associated with the organisation of this event for providing this timely opportunity to reflect on that legacy.

What emerges is that, above all, Archbishop Maguire was a reconciler. Confronted with the deep distrust, anger and division which followed the betrayal of Oliver Plunkett, he stands out as a ‘healer of memory’. He was a man who set people free from hatred, revenge and suspicion. Following the trauma of the martyrdom of St. Oliver, it was he who set about the task of restoring the unity and hope of the people and clergy of Armagh. This was no easy task. As the Seanchas Ard Mhacha explains, ‘The execution of St. Oliver Plunkett, and especially the sad reflection that he had been betrayed by his own, left the Irish Church appalled.’ As a result, when appointed to Armagh in December 1683, he had to contend, as he explains himself, ‘with the almost infinite distractions and innumerable difficulties in which the clergy of Armagh are caught up and tossed about… I could not tell you,’ he goes on, ‘how I have daily tried by the sweat of my brow to restore the primitive decorum and beauty of this diocese from the disturbed and almost schismatic state to which it had been brought by the sad loss of its leader.’ ‘This, with God’s help’, he went on to say, ‘I hope to achieve.’

By all accounts, before his untimely exile after the Battle of the Boyne, he had gone a long way to fulfilling this hope. Morale and unity among the clergy had been significantly restored. The threats to religious liberty which had led to Oliver Plunkett’s martyrdom were redressed in large part by his efforts and good standing with James II. That he played a significant role in negotiating the Treaty of Limerick is testament to his commitment and skill at resolving conflict.

His legacy resonates to this day. Events of that time, such the battle of the Boyne, continue to affect politics in Ireland today. This is testament to the living power of memory. The use of memory has a critical role in the healing of conflict. The reason is that all conflicts leave an indelible mark on the memory.

Without memory, we cease to be ourselves, we lose our identity. How that memory is celebrated determines whether the power it unleashes is directed positively or negativity. In the words of holocaust survivor Elie Weisel: ‘It is important not only that we remember, but how we remember – with love or with hate, seeking reconciliation or going after revenge. Salvation,’ he goes on to say, ‘does not lie simply in memory; it lies also in what we do with our memory.’

As Christians, it is the Eucharist which cements and sanctifies our memory. The capacity of our memory to become a source of destruction is transformed in the Eucharist. It is here that we experience the immensity of God’s mercy. It is here that we encounter what St. Paul described in the second reading as the ‘inexhaustible patience’ of the ‘love that is in Christ Jesus.’ It is here that we encounter the one who seeks out the lost sheep, who searches relentlessly for the drachma, who rejoices over the repentant sinner.

It is in the encounter with the boundless mercy and compassion of God that the healing of our most destructive memories becomes possible. Confronted with the boundless mercy of God we are reoriented towards the liberating power of mercy. We too can forgive. That forgiveness, even when it is not asked for, can set us free from the destructive power of the memories which hurt us and compel us towards anger and revenge.

This liberation, this healing of the destructive power of memory, can take place at both the personal and the collective level. This is why, in the Eucharist, we confess our sinfulness as an individual and as a community.
This invites us to look again at how we celebrate our memories of the past. Do these commemorations encourage a constructive and healing approach to our historic identity or do they deepen the sources of division and distrust? Do they say what we want to say about ourselves, our values and our identity at the beginning of a new millennium and what we hope will be an era of greater understanding and peace?

These questions take on a particular importance as we prepare to celebrate the centenary of the Easter Rising and the Somme offensive. They were determining events in the memory of the people of Ireland. It is important how we tell these stories to a new generation. The fact is that people, especially young people, are greatly influenced by the imagination and by experiences which are handed down from one era to another.

I am asking that we be sensitive and sensible about how we conduct these commemorations. It will hardly do for us to totally avoid telling our stories. It certainly won’t do to say it was all about religion, because it was certainly not all about religion. The danger is that if we leave these stories untold or if we tell them in a superficial, triumphalist, selective or partisan sort of way, the hurtful experience of the past may live on. It could then become a deep well of hate and bitterness. In that case, that hate and bitterness, will simply wait for future generations to tap into its destructive power.

We all have a responsibility to try and repair the disasters of the past. As followers of Christ, we know ourselves to be citizens of a broken world. But we are to play our part, here and now, in healing that broken world. We can do so with such things as our love, our respect and our pardon – our respect for each other. That respect entails us seeing ourselves and each other as children of the One Father. Of being willing to pardon and forgive in the sure knowledge that there are areas of our own lives that need pardon.

For many of the countries of western Europe there are also the new stories of those who have recently migrated to our respective lands. They too have become part of our national memories. Their story, the story of how they have come to our countries, will be in the future. All of that is going to be of huge significance. Our ability to both hear and believe these stories, of migration and settlement, will have consequences for our societies. For, who we will be, and what we will look like, in ten years, as a country, as a European Union, will depend to a large extent on how we conduct these conversations and these celebrations now.

What strikes me about the life of Dominic Maguire was that it was one of persistent uprooting and migration and travel and turbulence. I imagine that he often offered this sort of prayer:

God, our Father, your son knew what it was to be excluded from his homeland,
Be mindful of those who must live far from the family and their country.

We are reminded from this of the need to have sensitivity, to have compassion, for the millions of people who are uprooted and displaced in the world today. The Maguires and the O’Neills and the O’Donnells are today’s Sudan and Darfur and other oppressed regions of our world.
Today I give thanks to God, to the people in Spain and France, London and Brussels, who welcomed Dominic Maguire and Irish people like him down through the ages and continue to do so today.

With courage and trust in God’s mercy, Dominic Maguire took on the challenge of dealing with the hurt, division and anger that followed the despicable events which led to the Martydom of St. Oliver Plunkett. I am sure his Dominican brothers of former days from Coleraine and Goa would have offered this prayer for him:

Lord bless Dominic, our Bishop.
We pray that his faith may not fail and that he may strengthen his brothers and sisters.
In order that they can draw good out of every situation,
No matter how disastrous.

In commemorating what God has done in the life of Dominic Maguire, let us all learn from the past, from our successes and our failures, and live very much and very realistically in the present. Because of God’s infinite mercy towards all of us, let us look forward to the future with confidence and hope.

CHRISTMAS VIGIL MASS
HOMILY GIVEN BY
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
IN
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH

Recently a well-known American singer/songwriter was interviewed on radio. The interviewer noted that all her songs were love songs. “Have you known love”? he asked. “I’ve known heartbreak” was her reply. How true. Sometimes to know heartbreak is to know love – and to know the pain of love is to know its depth and its price.

Christmas speaks to us of love. The love of God for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave us his only son” (John 3:16). The child in the manger speaks of the depths of God’s love, 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). The wood of that manger would one day be exchanged for the wood of the cross, the price of love.

This is the agony and the ecstasy of Christmas, the depth of love and its price conveyed in the simple beauty of the characters and in the simplicity of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the Christmas story.

It is a reminder that Christmas is not a happy time for everyone – that, precisely because of love, it can also be a time of loss, or feeling out of tune with the celebrations and the season.

This Christmas I am conscious of the many people who know the ecstasy and joy of Christmas in their celebration of new births in the family, new marriages begun, fortunes made and won, new jobs secured and qualifications achieved.

I am also conscious of those who know its pain. The families left bereaved through accidents on our roads, through the abuse of alcohol, cocaine and the cocktails of other drugs which sully our streets. I am conscious of the parents separated from their children because of migration or deportation. I am conscious of the number of homeless people for whom Christmas is about surviving in the cold while others are carried along by its warmth.

Christmas also speaks to us of wonder – the kind of wonder that leads to the adoration and joy that are at the heart of Christmas. “Ah, Christmas is only for children” the cynic says. Yes and No. We all need the eyes of a child so that we are amazed and made to wonder at what we hear tonight.

The genius of St. Francis and the Christmas crib is that in its simplicity, it captures the mystery of Christ. It creates the wonder that is calling us to say: “Come let us adore Him”. Only those with eyes to see the adorable one are actually able to adore.

The joy of Christmas is real but it is not superficial. The angels announced news of “great joy” “ a joy to be shared by the whole people” (Lk 2:10). That is why, when we have enjoyed our joy, the real Christmas begins. That work is captured in the Christmas poem of Howard Thurman:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among others
To make music in the heart.

Whether Christmas is for you a time of ecstasy or pain, I pray that because God is with us in the child of Bethlehem, it will be a time when we will all know music in our heart.

Jesus came to lead humankind from exile into the kingdom of Heaven. In other words, he came to lead all of us out of exile to our real home in Heaven. That is probably the reason why we all love to be at home for Christmas. I welcome those who have come home to Armagh this Christmas.

But what or where is home?
· Home is where those we love live.
· Home is where the most beautiful and important things happen to us.
· Home is where we hear the truth about ourselves, whether we want to listen to it or not is another thing.
· Home is where we are accepted and understood and loved just as we are.
Our best memories are of home and the good things that take place there. Where gifts are given and accepted as signs of our love and affection for each other.

Home is where we can really be ourselves. We can be at our best and become the kind of people we really want to be. The trouble is that we sometimes spend so much of our time trying to mould ourselves into the kind of people others think we should be. Young people especially are sometimes quite unsure of who they really are so they desperately try and make themselves into the person whom others think is cool or clever. If you know who you are – you may be quite dissatisfied and so you try to change that too.

Christmas is a time spent with family. Where you are accepted for who you are, regardless of how objectively cool or clever you appear to be. Of course, at times, your family may seem awfully irritating, or out of touch, or unreasonable. The great thing however is that they are always there, to accept you as your are, to understand and to help and to love. And the great thing about Christmas and home is that it is a time when you can relax and stop trying to shape yourself into something you are not and enjoy the experience of being with people who love you unconditionally.

Christmas is also a time when, hopefully, we can come to know who we really are in the eyes of God. For like our families, God also loves all of us unconditionally. God loves each one of us as we are, without any “ifs” or “buts”. God sees through the masks and the facades we put on or put up. Christmas is a time when we get in touch with our deepest desires – which usually can be summed up as follows:

· To know the truth,
· To see the beautiful and
· To do what is good.

Of course, the amazing thing is that what we most profoundly desire for ourselves is exactly what God wants for each one of us.

God so loved the world that he gave His only Son. Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full. Christmas is usually the time, and our family is usually the place, where we achieve the fullest amount of life and love possible on this Earth.

May your cup of happiness fill to the brim this Christmas.

It is still hard to beat this sermon of St Leo the Great although it is more than 1,500 years old. This is the day our saviour was born. What a joy for us – my beloved. This is no season for sadness, this is the birthday of life, the life which annihilates the fear of death and instils joy – promising, as it does, immortal life. Nobody is an outsider to this happiness. Let us then be quit of the old, sinful self and the (bad) self that went with it otherwise it will all be in vain and we will not see His glory.

As we stand before the crib, turn your thoughts to Mary. Think of the joy that was in her heart on that holy night. Let us congratulate her and rejoice with her in the depths of our heats.
To Mary, Dearest Mother,
with fervent hearts we pray.
Grant that your tender infant will cast our sins away.

Tonight, unfortunately, the Little Town of Bethlehem is a city filled more with fear than with hope. In fact, it would be quite impossible for Mary and Joseph to go this night from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Shepherds on the hills around Bethlehem would find their road to the stable strewn with roadblocks. But the only hope for the Israelis and the Palestinians still lies in the sentiments of that lovely carol – In the Spirit of Christmas.

Where children pure and happy,
Pray to the Blessed child,
Where misery cries out to thee
Son of the Mother mild,
Where charity stands watching
And faith holds wide the door
The dark night wakes
The glory breaks
And Christmas comes once more.

May Christmas come abundantly to you and to those you hold dear, wherever they may be this Christmas.

AMEN

SERMON FOR HOMECOMING MASS

By

Cardinal Seán Brady,
Archbishop of Armagh

St. Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh

Thursday 29th November 2007

Your Eminence, My brother Bishops, Lord Mayor, Minister, distinguished clergy of the other Christian Churches, honoured guests, my dear people and clergy of the city and Archdiocese of Armagh,

The last few days have been among the most extraordinary, the most privileged and the most joyful of my life. I have been carried along by an immense sea of goodness, by an unending stream of kindness and faith on the part of so many people.

Tonight I want to thank you all. I want to thank you for your incredible kindness, your outstanding generosity and your invaluable support. I want to thank President Mary McAleese, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and all the other political representatives who came to Rome or received me formally on my return. I want to thank Archbishop Harper and all the leaders of Christian Churches and other faiths who have been so generous in their good wishes and support. I want thank the people of County Cavan and the Diocese of Kilmore, who remain so close to my heart and some of whom, including my own family are here this evening. I want to thank the thousands of others from across the country who wrote to me, phoned me or came to Rome to offer their prayers and support. I want to thank the media for their generous reporting of these events.

I have been quite simply bowled over and very humbled by the wave of good will and joy which has followed the news of the great honour Pope Benedict has bestowed, not so much on me but on the whole Church in Ireland.

I want to pay tribute to you all, to your faith in Jesus Christ, which is at the heart of all that we celebrated and enjoyed over these last few days.

Tonight I want to pay special tribute to the people of the Archdiocese of Armagh. Shortly after the announcement I was to be created a Cardinal I was greeted by a wonderful lady who has seen all eight Armagh Cardinals. Her joy was so great she came up to me in St. Malachy’s Church and gave me a big hug. That said it all.

The people of the Archdiocese of Armagh, the historic See of St. Patrick, the historic See of St. Malachy and St. Oliver Plunkett, the home of eight previous Cardinals, they feel a particular joy that Pope Benedict has bestowed on them, once again, the honour of a Cardinal. That is why, as I walked through the streets of Armagh tonight, as I prayed with people in so many of the Parishes earlier today, as I look out across the sea of faces before me here this evening, that is why my heart is so full of Christian joy. Eleven years ago, you the people of Armagh welcomed me, a Parish Priest from the Diocese of Kilmore. You made me feel so at home and I will be forever grateful for that. Tonight, indeed since the very day of the announcement, my greatest joy has been for you, the people of the Archdiocese of Armagh. I rejoice in your joy that the Holy Father has honoured the See of Patrick. I know how devoted you are to the legacy of our national Apostle and the founder of our faith in Ireland. I know how loyally you honour the faith of St. Malachy, the Martyrdom of St. Oliver Plunkett and the memory of the Archbishops and Cardinals of this historic See.

That is why I am pleased that, with characteristic thoughtfulness and symbolism, Pope Benedict has assigned to me the care of the titular Church of St Cyricus and Julitta in Rome. Mother and child, Cyricus and Julitta were, like my predecessor St. Oliver Plunkett, martyrs for the faith. They will be a constant reminder to me, just like the colour red I wear as a Cardinal that I must be prepared to give up everything, whether by shedding my blood or by personal sacrifice of my will and desires, for the one who has given up all for me – Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Church of Sts Cyricus and Julitta also contains the mortal remains of Andrew Plunkett, a nephew of St Oliver Plunkett. It is said that on one of his visits to Rome the saint left a stipend for Mass to be celebrated there for his nephew. The Church is also close to the site of the former Irish College and may contain the tombs of students of the Irish College from the time when my grand-uncle, Fr Bernard Brady, former Parish Priest of Belturbet was Vice-Rector of the College. Close to the Forum and the Arch of Titus the Church is in the heart of classical Rome. Perhaps the Holy Father thought it would be a reminder to me of my more carefree days as a teacher of Latin and Roman Art and Architecture in St. Patrick’s College Cavan!

In the near future I will formally receive the Church of St Cyricus and St Julitta as part of my responsibility as a Parish Priest of the diocese of Rome, which every Cardinal must be. I hope that many Irish pilgrims will visit the Church. I hope that they will pray for Andrew Plunkett, for the Irish seminarians buried there and for the Church in Ireland. I ask also that they would pray for me.

I pray that I will have something of the zeal and courage of my predecessors as Archbishop of Armagh, St. Patrick, St. Malachy and St Oliver Plunkett. I pray that I will have something of the faith of St Cyricus and Julitta as I take up my new responsibilities in the Universal Church.

In our first reading the Prophet Ezekiel gave us a beautiful description of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. He described how the river which flowed from it teemed with life and brought health and healing wherever it flowed. This is a symbol of every Church in which the new and everlasting Covenant of the Eucharist is celebrated. Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full. He came that we might have joy and that our joy should be complete.

This is why I can never fully understand people who approach the question of faith as if it were a negative – as if it were an imposition or a mere collection of prohibitions. What brought to me to this day was the discovery, very early in my life, of the joy of following Jesus Christ, of the beauty of the message of love which Jesus taught and which brought meaning and purpose to my life. I learnt it from the simple acts of kindness and neighbourly service of my parents. I learnt it from the faith and dedication of the priests and lay people who taught me and inspired me. I learnt if from the generosity and service of so many of my friends, my neighbours at home and the people I have worked with as a priest over the years. I learnt it from the many outstanding witnesses to Christian life I have had the privilege to meet, pray and work with in the other Christian Churches over the years. I thank so many of them for their presence here tonight.

Faith has never been a negative in my life, it is has been the source of my greatest satisfaction and joy.

Tonight I thank God for that faith and I pray that others might discover the fulfilment, life and joy which full participation in the life of the Church can bring. I pray that even one person will be tempted to lift the Scriptures again and be touched by the Word of Life, that someone might come to Mass again and be uplifted and strengthened by the Bread of Life, that someone might kneel beside their bed again in prayer and be touched by the love of the God who created them and continues to care for them.

Ireland without the Christian faith will not be a better place. That is already becoming clear. Ireland with a humble, compassionate faith could be a beacon to the rest of the world of all that is truly human and truly good. I pray tonight for a renewal of that faith – the faith of Patrick, Brigid, Columbanus, Malachy, Oliver Plunkett and so many others of our kith and kin who discovered the ‘pearl of great price’ which is faith in Jesus Christ.

I pray also for the continued peace and prosperity of our country. These are blessings from God which we are called to nurture and sustain in a just and generous way. They offer to this generation an unprecedented opportunity for hope. Let us ask God to show us how to make the best of this opportunity, for ourselves and for the good of the whole world. I believe Ireland and its people, of all traditions and backgrounds, have a critical role to play in leading the world in concern for the poor, in building a more just society and in building the civilisation of love.

Pope Benedict, just before he placed the red biretta on our heads reminded every Cardinal ‘that in entering the College of Cardinals, the Lord asks of you and gives to you the service of love: love for God, love for his Church, love for our brothers and sisters, with a total and unconditional dedication, “usque ad sanguinis effusionem” [even to the shedding of blood].’

If there is one thing I have learnt with certainty in my life as a priest, it is the importance of the smallest act of kindness, the simplest word of encouragement, the most hidden act of compassion and understanding. These are the building blocks of the civilisation of love. Tonight, in fidelity to the first and greatest commandment of our Lord and to the words of Pope Benedict to every Cardinal, I commit myself to seeking to build that civilisation of love with each and every one of you, through what St. Thérèse of Lisieux called ‘the little way of love’. By doing that, I think we can bring real hope to our world at this time.

For my part, standing in this historic See of St. Patrick, and standing before you, the people of the Archdiocese of Armagh, who bear his memory with such devotion and pride, I conclude by making my own his prayer:

But what can I say or what can I promise to my Lord,
as I can do nothing that He has not given me?
May He search my heart and my deepest feelings….
may God never permit it to happen to me that I should lose His people
which He purchased in the utmost parts of the world.
I pray to God to give me perseverance and to deign that I be a faithful
witness to Him to the end of my life for my God.’
(From The Confession of St. Patrick)

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

AMEN.

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF

OUR LADY, QUEEN OF PEACE CHURCH, AUGHANDUFF

HOMILY GIVEN BY

ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2007

We are here today because a certain man once said: “Do this in memory of me”. It was the night before he was crucified. Jesus had just taken bread and changed it to his body. He had taken a cup of wine, changed it into his blood. In other words, he had just celebrated the first Mass. Then he gave this command to his followers: “Do this in memory of me”.

Do what I have done to remind yourselves that I, your Lord and Master, have loved you to the end. I, your Lord and Master, love you so much that I am prepared to give my life for you. I, your Lord and Master, am going to give my life, not in some heroic glorious gesture of courage and defiance. I, your Lord and Master, am going to humble myself, even to accepting death, death on a cross, the horrible death of a criminal, preceded by an even more horrible scourging as Mel Gibson’s film The Passion illustrated so vividly. With that command he gave to his disciples the power to do what he was commanding them to do.

Of course, none of this makes any sense unless we remember that it was all done out of love. The love of God for sinner like me and you. So the Church has never, ever forgotten that Last Supper. That last command – Do this in memory of me.

That is why that for many years before this beautiful Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace was built, Mass was celebrated in Aughanaduff School. It was located, on the top of the hill, where John and Nellie Mackin now have their house. Parishioners came from surrounding townlands to the school to attend Mass which was celebrated on Sundays and Holy Days at nine o’clock. But the building was quite small and conditions were cramped for those attending Mass. People were very grateful to have Mass celebrated in the school but it was clear for many years that a new Church would have to be built to meet their needs. Indeed there was a lot of discussion, I understand, about the building of a new Church. When John O’Neill was appointed Parish Priest in 1946, Cardinal D’Alton wrote to him. He said he was glad that he, Father O’Neill, had already realised the necessity of building a church that will serve the needs of the people of this district. The Cardinal went on to say that: ‘Saying Mass on Sundays in the school was out of keeping with the sublime dignity of the holy sacrifice. It was a poor substitute for a church because a church would be a permanent for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and a centre of devotion for the people. Since this was 1946, the Archbishop suggested that the new Church might be dedicated to Our Lady Queen of Peace. It would be an act of thanksgiving to God and of homage to his blessed mother that in the recent World War, which had just ended in 1945, the people of this area were preserved from the ravages of war. Archbishop D’Alton ended his letter with the hope that Father O’Neill’s appeal would meet with a generous response. He said: ‘God will richly reward all who make a contribution whether great or small’.

Well that is exactly what happened. The appeal to have a new church met with a terrific response. We are having commemorations of all sorts of events in the past.

Two weeks ago I was in Dungannon for a commemoration of the Flight of the Earls. A sad event really in the history of our country. Last Sunday I was in Paris for a celebration of the death of Archbishop Dominic Maguire. He was the Archbishop who came after St Oliver Plunkett, who was appointed in 1683/4 but in 1691, after the Treaty of Limerick, and the defeat of the Battle of the Boyne, he had to leave Ireland and spend the last sixteen years of his life in Paris, in exile. That was also a sad commemoration. But today I am glad we are having a joyful celebration.

We are here to celebrate the fact that the people of this community, fifty years ago, took on the ambitious project of building a new church. Building a new church at any stage is a big challenge for a parish. It was a huge undertaking in the 1950s because it was a time of high unemployment and emigration. But, to raise funds for the new church a local committee was set up to help the priests of the parish – Father O’Neill and Father Brendan McDonald. The new Church Committee had two functions
1. To organise events and activities to raise funds for the building of the church and secondly,
2. To oversee the construction work.

This Sunday’s Gospel is about God and money and really I can’t think of any better example of how people could use their money and the example of the building of this Church here in the 1950s.
The Building Committee worked tirelessly over five years. Its tremendous success was due, in no small measure, to the energies of the Chairman, Owen Murphy and Vice Chairman Francis Quinn. May the Lord have mercy on their souls. The Secretary was Michael Murphy, and the Treasurer was Peter McDonnell Snr. The Committee was: Father McDonald, Francis Loy, Patrick Campbell, Arthur Garland, Pearse McGeough, Jack Murphy, Tommy McVerry, James McVerry, and Thomas Walsh.

Down through the years the membership changed of course and I understand that the only surviving members of the Committee are: Louis McDonnell, Michael McKinley, James McKinley, Peter McParland and Emmett McCreesh. All the others are now deceased. May they rest in peace.
One thing I noticed about the Committees in the 1950s only men were appointed to committees. That doesn’t mean that it was only the men who worked hard to ensure the success of the many events. The women were involved, up to their ears, in organising raffles, selling tickets at Bazaars, cooking at the dances and card playing as well as organising guest-teas. The Committee met every Monday night and after the meetings they went for tea to the home of the McKinleys where the debates and heated arguments continued on. The methods chosen were from the collections – house-to-house collections; bazaars; carnival dances and marquee dances; raffles and sweeps; guest teas; card games; local appeals for donors; appeals to emigrants – mainly in America and England. There is a record of a decision of the 18th October 1954 when Mr P Campbell got eight packs of cards at a cost of £1. Some of your may remember the big raffle of 1955 when the 1st prize was an Austin A30 car.
In early 1954 it was decided that the Church would be built here in Aughanaduff and a site was acquired from Bernard McKinley, father of Michael and James McKinley who served as members of the new Church Committee. The Architect was Mr Simon Leonard from Dublin. Work began on 5 July 1954.

There was also a wonderful Ladies Committee presided over by Miss Mollie McKinley and helped by Misses Mary McDonnell; Marie Murphy; Josie McCoy and Anne McCreesh.

There was loud praise too for the help from the American exiles especially Peter and Mollie Murphy in New York, Dr P J and Michael Hughes in Pennsylvania, who gave the bell; Misses Brigid and Katie Faughey who gave the altar and the altar rails and there were many others including Sister Bernadette Owen who was in the Mount Carmel Convent in New York.

The foundation stone was laid at the end of May 1955 and the Church opened in June 1957 in the presence of Bishop O’Callaghan of Clogher, who was a native of the neighbouring parish and Bishop Austin Quinn, Bishop of Kilmore, the Bishop who confirmed me and sent me to Maynooth to study for the priesthood and therefore has a special place in my affections.

The preacher said: “that the dedication of any Church has always been an occasion of great spiritual joy and thanksgiving”. But he said: “the sacrifices which you have made are indeed great and today is an occasion for rejoicing because it is a day which has seen the fulfilment of the hopes and dreams of many generations in this district….. Your ancestors, in this parish, had to endure great sufferings and persecution in order to preserve the faith”. He said, “Let us remember our ancestors and ask God to instil into us the great spirit of faith which characterised them. Let us ask God that we may always preserve it and pass it unsullied to the generations to come”.
That is, I think, one of the great merits of today’s celebration. We recall the fact that this Church was built with tremendous local effort. There was a lot of direct labour, a lot of voluntary labour given. All sections of the community were involved. It took a huge effort. In the process, I am sure, it built up a great community spirit and that is part of the joy of dedicating a church. And now, the challenge is to preserve that faith and to pass it on to the generations to come.

Let me quote the words again of the preacher of the day. He said: “This little Church stands as an example to all. May Our Lady obtain for us all the graces so that we may realise the necessity of doing penance, not just for our own sins but for the sins of the world. Let us be ever faithful to the recitation of the family rosary. This is a great devotion to our Blessed Mother to which Irish people had always been faithful in the days of persecution. When it wasn’t possible to assist at Mass, they resorted to the Rosary and their fidelity obtained for them graces to endure their trials”. He said that “the new Church would bring blessings to the people of this parish as this Church would stand as a lasting memorial to the faith and generosity of the people”.
We cannot omit to mention the work of refurbishment and re-dedication done in this Church during the time when Father John McGrane was Parish Priest here. It was re-dedicated in 1986 by Cardinal Ó Fiaich.

My thanks go to Frank McCreesh whose has compiled this wonderful history and I would love to see it being developed into a little booklet because it is a glorious history – a glorious chapter – in the history of this historic region of Fews in South Armagh.

Today we thank God for the faith and the example of those people. We ask God’s Holy Spirit to help us to, first of all, know Jesus Christ ourselves, personally, and to imitate him so powerfully that everyone around us will want to imitate Him in the same way, and that is a big challenge.

The Church is, first of all, a House of Prayer, a place where Jesus is present. Where people come to adore Him and to praise Him and to thank Him and to make their petitions. One petition I want you to make constantly here and I would love to see is a time of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament each week or each month, dedicated to this intention, that we renew our faith in the reality of those who are ordained for the service of the people either as bishops; as priests or as Deacons. Those who are ordained and those who are married, receive these sacraments not primarily for their own use or perfection but to serve you, the people.

The men and women who built this Church had a wonderful idea of that call to service – to serve each other. That is why they met and they planned and they worked. We must try and revive that spirit.

I am sure that they got great joy and satisfaction just seeing this wonderful Church. Our job today is to rebuild the monument of faith – the faith of ourselves and of our neighbours in Christ Jesus present in our midst. We must do that through our devotion to Mary, Queen of Peace, Mother of Jesus and our mother too.

AMEN

10TH ANNIVERSARY OF MONASTERY CHAPEL, SIENA CONVENT, DROGHEDA

HOMILY GIVEN BY

ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER 2007

There is a story told that things were not going for the devil in hell and they called a summit meeting. They wanted to find a better marketing slogan. One proposed was that ‘we will tell them there is no Heaven’. That was debated up and down for quite a while and eventually rejected. Somebody else proposed: ‘We will tell them there is no Hell’. Again this was debated at length but finally rejected. Finally they agreed that the winning slogan would be: ‘We will tell them there is no hurry’.

The people gathered in their thousands to hear Jesus. They were in danger of trampling on each other but they risked the danger because they knew that he had the words of eternal life.

He began talking to his disciples. He tells them to be on their guard against hypocrisy. We must beware of saying one thing and doing another; proclaiming one set of values and actually living out, in the privacy of our own lives, a totally different set. It is an appeal for consistency between our eternal lives and our inner thoughts. Remember, he once said: “This people honours me with their lips but their hearts are far from me”.

One great way we have of guarding against hypocrisy is to examine, not just our conscience, but our consciousness, in order to see how we feel at the different moments of the day about the events of our life. We take a look back to see how our prayer life impacts on these feelings.
There is one very good reason for us to try to eliminate the inconsistencies and contradictions that may be creeping into our lives. It is all going to come out eventually. All will be revealed. We may as well reveal it ourselves, to ourselves, and not be fooling ourselves. We need to face the facts and then he says: “do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more”.

Today the Church celebrates the memory of the American martyrs – eight brave Jesuit Missionaries. They certainly had no fear of those who can kill the body and do no more. Listen to the words of one of them – St John de Brébeuf, he said: “For two days I have felt a great desire for martyrdom and have been eager to endure all the torments which the martyrs endured”. “My God” he says, “I will take, from your hand, to cup of your sufferings. I take a vow never to fail, on my side, in the grace of martyrdom if you offer it to me some day”.

On Wednesday last we had St Ignatius of Antrio saying to the Romans: “I am trying in earnest about dying for God”. Please let me be a meal for the beasts. It is they who can provide my way to God. I am like wheat ground fine by the lion’s teeth. It is they who can provide my way to God”. It is a fantastic saying.

But, just in case all of this too daunting, especially at this early hour, we also celebrate today St. Paul of the Cross who says: “It is an excellent and holy practice to call to mind and meditate on our Lord’s Passion since it is by this path that we shall arrive at a sanctifying union with God”. So, there is an Honours Course and a Pass Course. By meditating on our Lord’s Passion, we shall arrive at a sanctifying union with God.
We must not worry too much about those who threaten to murder us – and can do no more. But we must fear and beware of the Evil One – Satan – the Devil who, after he has killed the body, has the power to us cast into Hell by luring us into temptation and sin. That, and that alone, namely, unrepentant shameless ones, can lure us and send us to Hell and nothing else. That is the one thing we must fear and avoid.

Yet we must not be overcome by that fear but remember that the Evil One has been defeated, once and for all on Calvary. At times his power and his reign can appear daunting but it is only swish of the tail of the fish, doomed to die.

We take confidence from the power and the love of Jesus of God to look after and protect us. We are all precious in his sight. Not alone that, but every living thing is precious in His sight. The sparrow is worth less than a halfpenny, but in the eyes of God, the sparrow is precious. Yet not even one sparrow is forgotten. The Lord cares for his creations. Jesus says, “Why every hair on your head has been counted”. Well, he would have less counting to do on some heads than others. There is no need to be afraid, “each one of you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows”. How much more precious is each one of us in the sight of God?

Since we are talking about the one who has power to cast us into Hell, we must recognise the presence and activity of the Evil One in the world. We must remind ourselves, and those dear to us, of the importance of the Guardian Angels and of the saints and especially of the Holy Spirit in this regard.

I was in Fatima at a meeting of bishops from all over Europe. We were discussing marriage and the family and its state of health, and it is a depressing picture. We need to mobilise in its defence.

I am sure that this community of Siena is well aware of what happened in Siena on Shrove Tuesday 1366. Catherine was praying in her room. Jesus appeared to her. He was accompanied by Mary, his mother and a crowd of the Heavenly Host of angels and saints. Taking Catherine’s hand, Our Lady held it up to her Son. She placed the ring on her hand and espoused Catherine to himself. The scene is often depicted in paintings. Jesus said to her to be of good courage for she was now armed with faith to go out and fight and overcome the assaults of the Evil One.

The world would wish us to believe hat there is no such thing as the Evil One. But Jesus warns us to fear the one who can kill both body and soul.

You know the story of Catherine of Siena better than I do. She was summoned before the General Chapter of the Order but the charges, if any, were dropped. Her reputation for holiness and wondrous grew. Three Dominican priests were deputed to hear the confessions of those whom she persuaded to amend their lives. She had great success in healing feuds. I reckon there are many feuds to be healed in our country; our homes; in our parishes. How many feuds cause the breakdown of marriages? She had at least two secretaries. Her spiritual betrothal marked the end of the years of solicitude and preparation. It was revealed to her that she was to go out and promote the salvation of her neighbour.
You too are contemplatives. One definition of preaching is to hand on what we have contemplated to others. Sometimes we preachers don’t get time to contemplate enough. We depend on people like you to share with us the fruits of your contemplation.

Catherine came to Rome to help the Pope with her prayers, her exhalations and her letters. She came to win fresh support for the Pontiff. You too, with your prayers and your letters to your families and friends, can exalt and encourage them to become more active in the Church. ACCORD for example is looking for new volunteers, that is, the Catholic Marriage Advisory Service. We need healing of feuds. I ask your prayers and your help in all of this.