As I grow older I grow a little wiser, I hope.  But I realise ever more clearly how much there is for which I have to be thankful.  That delights me.  I know that thankful people are happy people.  So, as we celebrate this Mass of Thanksgiving, the famous prayer of thanksgiving in St Paul’s letter to the Colossians comes to mind.  It can help us recognise all for which we can give thanks.
Paul says:

‘We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.  For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God’s people.  When the true message, the good news first came to you, you heard about the hope which it offers.  So your faith and your love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven……….and with joy, give thanks to the Father who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the Kingdom of Light’.

When I pray for my family, as I often do, those words regularly come into my mind.  ‘We always give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.’  I pray with great affection for my family especially when I think of the sacrifices they have made, and continue to make for me.  Then I realise that I belong to several families.  I owe a lot to each one of them – the family of my parish, my diocese and my school.  Then I think of all the families of religious orders which I have met and known.  Among these, the family of the Sisters of Mercy must hold pride of place.  For as I reflected on the theme of this Mass I came to realise that in every decade of my life I have owed a huge amount to the Sisters of Mercy. 

Sixty years ago I first met them in the Surgical Hospital in Cavan when my father was a patient there.  We all knew that in the loving care of the Sisters all his needs, spiritual and physical, would be met.  In the fifties I was a patient there myself and experienced that same attention first hand.

In the nineteen sixties it was my privilege to say Mass in St Felim’s Hospital and
St Joseph’s Hospital, Cavan and to experience the love and care which the Sisters lavished so generously on those in their care regardless of whether they were rich or poor.  In the eighties I met the late Sister Angela Bolster, in Rome, who was researching the life of the founder, the venerable Catherine McAuley, and preparing the documentation outlining the virtues and merits of that Holy Woman, with a view to her beatification.  That work has not yet borne fruit but we should continue to hope and above all, to pray that it will take place.

Finally in the nineties and in this decade, it was my given joy to discover the Sisters of Mercy in this diocese in Cookstown, Dungannon and Bessbrook, Dundalk and Ardee.  I come to realise the treasure they are.

And so here we are today, in Ardee, to give thanks for your presence in Ardee over the last 150 years.  As we do so we concentrate on what you are rather than what you do, not on the contribution which you have made and continue to make to society.  Yes, of course, the latter are immensely valuable.  But the most important thing of all is the kind of people you are.  You are people who, when the Spirit called you by name, you were not afraid to say yes.  At times it may have seemed as if you were passing through the sea or through rivers and yet you were not swallowed up for you are following Christ.  You discovered that you were precious in his eyes. 

At times it may indeed have seemed as if you were passing through fire and yet you were not scorched because you got the freedom and the strength to dedicate yourself totally to God; a God whom you loved supremely and by whom you knew for certain you were loved in return.  In that love you discovered that the love of Christ was true love, a love that never fades or lets you down.  There you got the patience and the confidence to dedicate yourselves to seek that perfect love.  It is a perfect love because it is built on four solid foundations.  It is a love that is not in the service of oneself, it is a love dedicated to the service of others for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.  You undertook this life for the honour of God there can be no greater call than that for the honour and glory of God.  You have given your lives to the building of the Church, the building of the Body of Christ in order to save people.  You have built up the Body of Christ with your prayer and your sacrifices, with your faith and your love, with your teaching and your nursing and above all, with your love for the poor.

The result is that you are a splendid sign in the Church; a splendid sign to the rest of us.  A sign of what you may ask? A sign of the Glory of Heaven to which we are all called but a call which too often we ignore.

Last week I was in the Servite Priory, Benburb to celebrate to end of their Chapter and the 750th anniversary of the foundation of their Order.  Something that has survived for almost eight hundred years surely has something going for it.  A lot going for it as do you, the Sisters of Mercy.  All of you are splendid signs in the Church because you foretell the Glory of Heaven.  We all need these signs to remind us and to redirect us just as we need signposts on the journey of life to head us in the right direction. 

Last week I was down in Clonmel to celebrate the Beatification of Antonio Rosmini founder of the Rosminian Order.  It took place last November in Novara in Italy.  When Rosmini died he left a spiritual legacy to the Italian writer Manzoni.  It consisted of three words:
Adore
Be Silent
Rejoice.
On the way down I visited a house of Edmund Ignatius Rice, the house where he was born.  I saw there the text of his vows and the vows of all Christian Brothers.  They began with these words:
‘In profound adoration before thy infinite and adorable majesty I concentrate myself to thee in order to procure thy glory.’

I was struck by the fact that in the lives of both of these, now blessed people, Antonio Rosmini and Edmund Ignatius Rice the idea of adoration was central.  They realised that we are placed on this earth to give praise and glory and adoration to the God who created us, the God on whom we depended every moment, the God with whom we hope to be happy forever in everlasting glory and that is what we are celebrating here today.  The fact is that you are this splendid sign of this glory. 

It all goes back to your eminent Foundress Catherine McAuley.  Like the apostle Thomas, Catherine McAuley had her faith strengthened immensely by her contact with the wounds of the Body of Christ in the form of her helping the poor of Dublin.  Her faith was also strengthened through lots of trials which she had to endure in order to preserve her faith when it was under attack.  That same faith gave her a tremendous sense of the presence of God.  Her faith urged her to build a house for the glory and honour of God and her own faith was the corner stone of her House of Mercy.  From this followed the fact that prayer was her delight and refuge in all trials.  Shortly before her death she remarked to Sister Aloysius Scott ‘Prayer will do more than all the money in the Bank of Ireland.’  It is prayer that was centred on Christ.  For Catherine McAuley, outside of Christ there was nothing.  She once said ‘The humbled, abandoned, agonising Christ: this is my Christ.  Him will I have and hold.  Outside of him – nothing.’

Once when she was deprived of all outward aids, she was able to discern the cross in the panels of her bedroom window and in the intersecting branches of the trees.  So she had a very deep devotion to the passion and to the death of Christ our Saviour.

Catherine McAuley’s vision of service in mercy was an expression of her love for God.  At Easter 1841, the year of her death, she identified mercy as the bond of union and God’s great gift to her congregation when she said ‘The blessing of unity still dwells among us, and oh, what a blessing.  This is the spirit of the Order, indeed the true spirit of mercy flowing in us, that notwithstanding our own unworthiness God never seems to visit us with an angry punishment.’

Her love of God expressed itself in charity towards all. It was an inclusive love especially towards the poor with whom she identified, and towards her Sisters in religion.  Her charity towards the poor was seen in many ways.  In them she recognised and saw God.  She once said ‘It is for God we serve the poor, and not for thanks.’  Her sensitivity towards the poor was outstanding.  She once said ‘There are things which the poor prize more highly than gold, though they cost the donor nothing.  Among these are the kind word, the gentle compassionate look and the patient gain of sorrows.’  In her special vow formula Catherine included the words ‘The service of the poor, sick and ignorant.’ 

Her concern for unemployed young women, rejected by an unkind society, was outstanding.  It was for them she opened her House of Mercy.  Her compassion for orphans and children otherwise neglected and deprived and her sympathetic care of other neglected persons who required nursing care are indications of this immense charity towards the poor.  She trusted all who came to her for assistance and once said ‘It is better to relieve one hundred imposters if there be any such, than to suffer one really distressed person to be sent away empty.’

For all of this we give thanks today.  We pray that the Spirit of Mercy may long continue to flourish not only here in Ardee but among the Sisters of Mercy everywhere. 

In the Old Testament God is seen as a God who responds to the suffering and need of those who fought to live.  God is a helper who gives people hope.  In the New Testament Jesus sees his mission as one of compassion and healing of suffering.  He is ready to acknowledge the needs of the poor and the politically oppressed.  He shows sympathy for the social outcasts, for the weak and the abandoned.  He brings forgiveness to those who repent, healing to the sick in mind and body, consolation to the sad and sorrowful and patience towards those who of violence. 
It is a hard act to follow.  But today we thank God for the mercy of so many people in this house over the past 150 years.  The Spirit of Mercy nourished on the body and blood of the new covenant, supported by the Risen Christ in prayer and sacrifice. 

Blessed Antonio Rosmini was an Italian priest who founded the Rosminian Order.  You may remember they used to have a College in Omeath.  The Rosminian priests are at present in charge of the Parish of Faughart.  Antonio Rosmini was declared Blessed last November by the Church.  His feast was celebrated, for the first time, last week.  Before he died he left as his legacy and testament, not a huge estate, but three words, Adorare – Tacere – Gaudere – to adore – to be silent and to rejoice.  I thought these three words might serve as a framework for what we are doing here this evening.  We are here to rededicate to the worship and adoration of God this beautiful Church of St Joseph, Meigh.  We are here to worship and adore God.

Secondly, it is a good time to be silent and to think about the history of this Church – its purpose, its origins, its place in the life of this village and surrounding area.  Finally, it is a time to rejoice and to be glad at what has been done and to give thanks for all of that.
Down through the ages people have always felt the need to come together, in assembly, to acknowledge who they really are and to state, loud and clear, that they depend on God.  Our God is a God who is love.  God has been revealed as a God of love by the fact that He has created us out of love, to share His life, which is a life of love.  In God we live and move and have our being.  Each day of our lives God shows us a Father’s love.  God decided to create us in his own image and likeness.  God has set us over the whole world in all its wonder and beauty.  God has made us to praise Him, day by day, for the marvels of His wisdom and love.

When the children of God sin and wandered far from His friendship, God reunited them with himself through the blood of His Son, Jesus, and through the power of the Holy Spirit.  God never ceases to gather His people into His Church.  They gather so that they may be one, as the Father is one with the Son and the Holy Spirit. They make a House in which to gather, a place where they can hear the story of the marvels of God being recalled and recounted, and build an altar around which they can assemble to offer their gifts.  This evening we are stating a fact, that we are not independent beings but we are needy people.  We need to put our needs before God to implore his help.  That is what we are doing here today.

This Church of St Joseph was built in 1852, four years after the Great Famine.  It was at once a time of great energy and activity and yet a time of great trouble and tribulation.  In 1829 the Catholic Emancipation was passed in the British Parliament, thanks mainly to the efforts of the liberator, Daniel O’Connell.  It restored to the people the freedom to practise their religion after centuries of penal laws and persecution.  There followed a period of great building of churches.  Let me quote to you what Monsignor Raymond Murray says about it in his History of the Archdiocese of Armagh.  He says, “Everywhere a miracle of church building began which never lost momentum for the next fifty years.  Sites were negotiated with landlords and these were sometimes recorded in newspapers: eg. in the Drogheda Argus of 6 December 1845, it was noted that Henry Chester had given Rev. Callan, PP, Termonfechin and Sandpit an acre, rent free, as a site for a Church.  In the Newry Examiner of 10 June 1846, we read that Captain Sever had given forty pounds, and a site on his estate near Meigh, and that the foundation stone was laid on 15 June.  On 26 January 1846, Archbishop Crolly wrote that in the previous ten years he had consecrated seventeen new churches, that five more were nearly ready for Consecration and that the Archdiocese would then have 102 churches.  Then of course there was the building of the Cathedral, which had been planned around that time and had to be suspended, due to the famine.  But that era was an era of darkness as well as light in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland.  It is dark because it is dominated by the Great Famine when the population was decimated by starvation and emigration.  The famine is the story of the degradation of millions of individuals.  All areas of our diocese suffered from famine and fever but South Armagh suffered in particular.  The Mullaghbawn poet, Art MacBionaid, has vividly described the scene in a letter of 7 January 1846, I quote: 

“I had days of woe and nights of lamentation which caused me to withdraw myself from the Communion of Men, finding myself in the decline of life, my strength prematurely exhausted by hard labour, my help quickly hurried away from me and the last spark of life threatened to be extinguished with hunger by the failure in the potato crop.” 

Daniel O’Connell, the great Liberator, died on his way to Rome, heartbroken at his failure to convince the British Government to give more help to the starving people.

Today we pause in silence before all of those facts.  We recognise the fact that, despite all of that adversity, within five or six years of the Great Famine this beautiful church of St Joseph had been built. 

Finally let us be glad, let us rejoice in the protection of St Joseph, Patron of this Church, who obviously watched over the faith-life of this community down through the years.  Let us rejoice and be glad for the people of vision, Fr Naughton and his colleague, Fr Mulvihill, and their committees who saw the need to have this Church restructured and refurbished and renewed.  Let us rejoice and be glad for the architects and engineers, contractors and workmen, for their skills and talents and hard work and dedication.  Let us rejoice and be glad for the generosity of people who backed this project, with their time, their resources, their energy and contributions. 

Recently I was in Quebec for the forty-ninth Eucharistic Congress.  The theme of that Conference was, Eucharist – Gift of God for the life of the world.   It came home to me that it was because the people of this area realised the importance of the Eucharist for their spiritual life that they were determined to build this Church in the first place, despite the adversity and the hard times.  I know that it is that same faith that convinced the present generation that the Eucharist was essential and central to their life.  So let us rejoice in the fact that, yes, we build temples of stone, timber, metal and marble, but the real temples that are to be built are ourselves.  We are the temples of the Holy Spirit; so we pray that when we gather in the Churches that our worship will be sincere and honest and faithful.  We pray that we will always recognise the purpose of the Church.  It is the place where we worship God and pray for the strength to live our lives as God would want us to live them.  May we find the strength to transform the world into a world where justice prevails and peace is secure; a world built on solid foundations of truthfulness and fair play and honesty and solidarity where everyone pulls their weight and pays their share and gives to those who are in need.

I am always delighted when I hear somebody take the name Monnine at Confirmation.  She is the great patroness of this parish of Killeavy.  Just imagine, her memory is still alive and vivid fifteen hundred years after her death.  She opened her Convent with eight maidens and one widow.  We are told the widow’s child was called Luger and was fostered by Monnine and later became a bishop.  Their life style was so poor that they lived at subsistence levels, we are told, but the fact is their name and their memory lives.  The reason is that they heard the call of God, the call of the Holy Spirit, to dedicate themselves to a life of prayer and adoration and praise.  Today, when we hear of Killeavy, many people think immediately of St Monnine.  We have a year of vocation in progress at the moment.  It is a year when the Church is inviting people to reflect on what God is calling them to be and to do.  Whether we are single or married, God is calling each one of us to adore him.  He may be calling some to lead that adoration, as a priest or as a religious.  My hope is that your newly refurbished Church will be a great centre of adoration, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  As we prepare for the next Eucharistic Conference which will be held, please God, in Dublin, with your help it will be a great success.  If you make this Church a real centre of prayer and adoration, that adoration will bring blessings on you and your children.

There is one other matter which, I think, on an occasion like this, we should advert to at least.  There was one time the Lord got very angry.  It is described in St John’s Gospel.  Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  In the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting at their counters.  Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon sellers, “Take all of this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.”  His Father’s house is not a market, it is a place of prayer.  It is not a place we come to talk to each other but primarily we come to talk to God and therefore it is a place in which to be silent.  The words, to be silent, are very important to create the right climate, the right atmosphere, where we really can talk to God about the deepest things, about the things that matter to us.  My prayer is that through the intercession of St Monnine and St Joseph, St Joseph the silent man, this will always be a house of prayer, great prayer, deep prayer, where people can adore from the depth of their hearts.  Be silent, in wonder and awe, and rejoice. 

In the ceremonies this evening we use incense.  You may wonder what is the meaning of incense.  Let me quote you this passage from the Book of Revelation according to St John.  “I John, saw in my vision another angel who had a golden censer and who came and stood at the altar.  A large quantity of incense was given to him to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that stood in front of the throne; and so from the angels the smoke of the incense went up in the presence of God and with it the prayers of the saints.”  You are the successors of those saints.  As the incense goes up to the roof, so may your prayers ascend into the presence of God and may they be heard always.

Amen.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles captures the enthusiasm of the first disciples after Pentecost.
We are told;
“they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer”.

For generations those tasks have been the focus and inspirations for evangelisation and renewal in the Church throughout the world. In our own day it has been captured in vision and mission statements, all of them helping us “to know Christ Jesus” and to make his life and work the inspiration of our own ministry.

For almost forty years that has been the inspiration of the Mount Oliver Catechetical Centre in its various forms as centre of renewal, as catechetical centre, pastoral centre and since 1992 the Armagh Diocesan Pastoral Centre. For most of those years the work was based at Mount Oliver Franciscan Convent. Today we give thanks to the Franciscan community for the welcome extended to us over nearly forty years. Today marks the opening of our new base and a new chapter in the life of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre. It also marks the opening of a new chapter in the life of the Archdiocese of Armagh.

The opening of this centre happily coincides with the second phase of our diocesan pastoral plan. That plan originated some three years ago through the Diocesan Assemblies of Priests held in Donegal year after year. The plan involved considerable consultation and new opportunities for pastoral renewal in the life and work of laity, religious and priests for the foreseeable future. Happily that work continues to thrive through the sub-groups set up more than three years ago. I believe we now enter a whole new phase in renewal and restructuring of pastoral outreach at parish and diocesan level. The work already in place and continuing will help bring renewal and planning for the future to a new level.

I am confident that the structures already in place will give new energy and direction to the work of renewal. In recent years Sr Rhoda and her team have done enormous good work through the Rainbows, the Beginning programmes, the preparation for marriage and outreach through the counselling programmes set up to assist individuals and families in the diocese. The work of pastoral renewal and family ministry will continue under the direction of Fr. Andy McNally and with Mr Tony Hanna the implementation of the diocesan pastoral plan will hopefully bring new energy to the work of restructuring and supporting new pastoral initiatives at parish and diocesan level. The foundation for that work has been put in place by the nine groups already involved in the diocese viz. Faith development, youth ministry, safeguarding children, liturgical renewal, prayer and spirituality, the role of women in the life of the Church, ecumenical outreach and the care of priest in ministry and in retirement. This work is enhanced with the outreach of the Biblical Initiative and the vocations commission based here at the centre. All of them are making an enormous contribution to the future of our diocese.

Today we thank God for all of that and we pray that in the spirit of those first disciples our work of bringing the Good News of God’s love and care for all will continue to blossom and to grow.

In the words of St. John’s Gospel;

We pray “that all may be one, so that the world may believe”. That is our aim. That is our hope. That is the inspiration of our work together. That is the inspiration behind our new pastoral centre. I wish God’s blessing on all involved in that work.

Oliver Plunkett was born here in Loughcrew in the Parish of Oldcastle on 1st. November, 1625 over three hundred and eighty years ago. Near the old ruined pre-Reformation Church built by the Plunketts, people point to the traces of a house, said to be the home of John Plunkett and his wife, Tomassina, the parents of Oliver Plunkett. In 1642 John Plunkett owned 240 arable acres, a church, a castle, a house, a mill, 30 cabins and a bawn. Ten years later the lands and property were confiscated in the Cromwellian persecution. All of it was lost.

When Oliver returned to Ireland after his ordination as bishop in Ghent, Belgium. He came to a country going through the worst period of persecution in its history. The persecution of Cromwell was at its height, the Church was persecuted on all sides. Official Church buildings had been taken over and now the only place to say Mass was in some little chapel or more often in the open air with watchmen posted as look-outs to warn of the approach of the enemy. Church leaders had been banished. Oliver came to a Church torn with many abuses. Clergy were uneducated. There were disputes between the clergy. There were few opportunities for education. Oliver regarded the education of clergy and laity as a priority. He travelled the length and breadth of the country holding synods and Conferences for the clergy. He set up schools in Drogheda and Dundalk. A public school was opened in Drogheda with 150 boys and 25 students attending. In a short time Catholic and Protestant boys were being educated side by side in Drogheda.

Oliver is remembered as the great reformer. He is also remembered as a man of peace. One major problem he had to face was the rapparees, a group of fighting men who had been dispossessed of their lands and undertook a hit and run campaign of robbery and destruction in the hill regions of Tyrone and Armagh. To remedy this state of affairs the Bishop of Meath and the Vicars General implored Oliver to find some way to address the problem. Oliver undertook the role of mediator. He went to the rapparees in their hideout and spoke to them in Irish and he persuaded them to give up the fighting. Meanwhile the authorities agreed to a general pardon for all and released the prisoners. It was a masterly achievement and one that was hailed by communities the length and breadth of the country. Oliver was a messenger of peace, a firm advocate in a time of trouble.

For years people have gathered here at Loughcrew to remember Oliver, the reformer, the peacemaker. Year by year you have prayed here for peace in Northern Ireland. Your prayer campaign and the work of many intermediaries have thankfully brought us to the day when Northern Ireland has begun to take responsibility for its own administration. In recent times we have witnessed gestures of reconciliation unthinkable only a few years ago. A whole new chapter has opened up in the struggle for peace and reconciliation. It came about after enormous loss of life and at a very high price. Recently I was browsing through one of the saddest books I have ever read . It is called “Lost Lives” and it records in detail the 3,637 people who lost their lives during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It is a book that makes for sad reading. But it is only one part of the sad story of division, death and destruction over nearly forty years in Northern Ireland. The author of the book does not set out to detail all the effects of the troubles, the some 40, 000 people maimed or injured in the troubles, the effects on families, the destruction of the live of a whole generation, the lasting effects in the lives of numerous people not just in Northern Ireland but throughout the whole island of Ireland. Hopefully all of it is a chapter that will never be repeated in our country.

Today Northern Ireland is a changed place. People have begun to pick up the pieces of lives destroyed. Some kind of normality has returned to the lives of people. But a whole new form of violence has raised its ugly head. The day of the bomb and the bullet have sadly been replaced in areas by a form of sectarianism that threatens the good of society and of the local community. We have seen Chinese people evicted from their homes in Belfast. The enemy is no longer a political enemy but anyone who is seen as a competitor in business or trade. That is just one side of the story.

The political struggle has been replaced by drug wars not just in Northern Ireland but now in the Republic. Political war has been replaced by turf wars between drug lords over the control of areas. Day by day we hear of stabbings, attempts on other people’s lives, children exploited by the drug barons to do their dirty work. It is a sinister development. Again it is only part of an ugly scene that has become part of life North and South. In recent times we have seen a spate of young people stabbing young people. Thirty years ago Pope John Paul I on his deathbed heard of one university student in Rome been killed by a fellow student. He said; “There is something sick about a society where the young are killing the young”. In recent days we have seen it in our own country.

Recent statistics from the Gardai and the Central Statistics Office tell of a whole new scenario where people are afraid in their own homes. We hear on the daily news bulletins attacks with knives, screwdrivers, machetes, baseball clubs, machine guns, bayonets, syringes, hand grenades. The list goes on and on. The most recent statistics show that, in the Republic, crime has increased by 6 per cent over the past year. There was some 4% increase in burglary in the past 12 months and thefts and related offences increased by 3% in the same period. Today personal security has become a high priority. We know of the fear old people have in their homes, the dread of a burglar, the dreaded footstep outside the door at night.

Only a month ago Justice Paul Carney in the Central Criminal Court said the number of fatal stabbings coming before the Court was increasing and was likely to continue to do so.

A recent spate of burglaries in Parochial Houses has left many priests afraid. Only a few weeks Cardinal Sean Brady had to issue a circular to all priests about personal security and the threat of robbery and injury. One case recently involved the house keeper being held at gun point while three men got away with money that was in transit for the bank. Happily the offenders were caught and arrested. Today many people feel they are being terrorised in their own homes. It is a far cry from the words of the Prophet Isaiah; “My people will live in a peaceful house, in safe homes, in quiet dwellings.

Earlier this Summer the Irish Bishops published a document on Violence. They called it “Violence in Irish Society – towards an ecology of Peace”. The document makes for serious reading. It also challenges all of us to play our part in addressing thes new phenomenon of violence in our community. The causes are multiple. Many feel excluded from society. Sociologists tell us there is a clear link between social deprivation and crime. Day by day we see crime glamorised and peddled on our television screens. One channel on television is dedicated exclusively to boxing, kick boxing, extreme wrestling and martial arts. All of it is bound to have an effect on impressionable young people.

But there are other factors I believe that contribute to the wave of violence in our community. Many feel they are outsiders looking in on the affluence of others. They look with jealousy on those who flaunt their new-found success. They know they will never have a chance to share the same style of life. They look on in despair.

We know that drink, drugs and corruption have a large part to play in recent developments. We ask what can be done to address this spiralling trend of violence. There are no easy solutions. Imposing heavier penalties is only one small part of the solution. The problem cannot be solved by better policing and longer terms of imprisonment. The causes are deeper and they have to be addressed. Long-term it calls for a whole renewal of a sense of trust, of community and of responsibility to the community. The main responsibility has to lie with family life, with the imparting of values like respect, co-responsibility, and care for society. It’s an enormous challenge to family and to the education. Young people need to be given clearly defined boundaries for their behaviour. The first call is on family to lead by example, to provide a loving secure background where young people feel appreciated and are taught values that will influence the rest of their lives. Our President Mary McAleese put is succinctly. She said; “what’s engraved in childhood is engraved in stone”. It’ s a thought that bears serious reflection.

There are no quick-fix solutions. Law enforcement can do so much but the law need the support of family and community. The challenge for all is to support family; to be a voice for respect and regard for other people, for their lives and for their property. We build for the future by the attitudes and example of today. My hope is that we would continue to form attitudes that respect others, their lives and their property. It involves every family, every person. It’s a life-long work.
St. Oliver preached peace and reconciliation. If we do not face the threat to both peace and reconciliation in today’s world we are failing our people. It’s a radical call to all to work and live for that. I believe it is the challenge of our day. It’s one we dare not avoid.

We gather today to commemorate those who fought and died for Irish independence in the 1916 uprising and especially to remember those buried in the cemetery here at Arbour Hill. Ninety one years later we look back at the ideals of those men and women who fought for Irish freedom, the sacrifices they made, their hopes for the future, the legacy that they have left to us and we ask some pertinent questions about the society of our time and how it measures up to those ideals.

It is well known that the events of Easter 1916 set in train a whole series of events that eventually would lead to Irish freedom. Easter 1916 became the catalyst that would awaken, in the minds of Irish people, the will and determination to campaign and fight for freedom and democracy. It changed an apathetic people into a formidable force for change and for freedom. The leaders of 1916 were agents of change. They were instrumental in the foundation of the Irish Free State. The importance of the Rising cannot be underplayed.  It was a serious attempt at insurrection by people whose beliefs were soon to move from the fringe of political life to its very heart. In the words of William Butler Yeats;
‘All changed, changed utterly,
A terrible beauty is born’.

Today we are the inheritors of the aims and objectives of the Rising. Ninety years on we look back to the aims and objectives of those involved.  The Proclamation was written at a time of widespread poverty, under-nourishment among the poor, considerable hunger and low life expectancy.  Housing in certain areas was amongst the worst in Europe, unemployment was high and emigration to England and the U.S. was the only alternative to destitution for many people. Young people from all over the country had little option but to emigrate. Coupled with this the overall standard of education of the majority of the population was low which meant that when people did emigrate they did so to poorly paid and low skilled jobs. 

Ireland of 2007 presents a very different picture.  We currently have a confident economy, low unemployment and a good standard of living for many. Today we have a mainly confident and educated people.  For some the country is awash with money, more mobile phones than people in the Republic of Ireland.  Yet the affluence of many is full of anomalies.

October last year the Irish Bishops went on their ‘ad limina’ visit to Rome. The message of Pope Benedict at the conclusion of the visit spelled out some of those anomalies. He said;

‘The present time brings many new opportunities to bear witness to Christ and fresh challenges for the Church in Ireland.  After centuries of emigration, which involved the pain of separation for so many families, you’re experiencing for the first time, a wave of immigration.  Traditional Irish hospitality is finding unexpected new outlets.  Like the wise householder who brings forth from his treasure ‘what is new and what is old’ (Mt.13:15) your people need to view the changes in society with discernment and here they look to you for leadership’

Indeed, Ireland, as we well know, has had an unprecedented influx of people to our country.  People come here with buoyed up hopes for themselves and their families. They see Ireland as the land of opportunity; a place where dreams can be fulfilled. They feel welcome and most feel secure.  For many Ireland is the new land of promise and opportunity. Some come here to escape from tyranny and poverty in their own country, others come to seek a livelihood, an opportunity to return home with new confidence and new financial security.  Others come to a place they want to call home.  They see Ireland as the land of welcome, the new land of promise for themselves and their families. ‘Failte Ui Cheallaigh’will hopefully live up to its name.

In the church context we know that migrants make a positive contribution to the Church to which they belong. For many their faith and their attachment to the Church give support and encouragement. They come with their own gifts. Already we have experienced much of this; their vibrancy in liturgical celebration, their harmonious musical tradition, their distinctive mode of celebration, their strong family involvement in every liturgical celebration, their popular piety, their support for each other. They have enormous strengths from which all of us can learn.   

That presents a challenge to all of us. If I may quote words from the late Pope John Paul II when he was talking about the hopes for unity between the Orthodox Churches in the East and Rome, he said that we each have gifts to exchange.  Equally I believe that with the recent phenomenon of migrants to our country we too have gifts to exchange. We have much to give but equally we have much to receive.

There are some 420,000 new migrants to Ireland at present making up 10% of our total population. We have large numbers of migrants from the UK, Poland, Lithuania, Nigeria, Latvia and several other countries.  Many of the migrants are contributing to the workforce of our country and many are making a significant contribution to our economy and to our culture.  They bring their distinctive cultural, religious and spiritual gifts to our people.  The important factor in all of this is that we are challenged to encourage and allow diversity. They do not come to be subsumed into our way of life. They come to make their own distinctive contribution to our country. . 

I believe we are part of an overall process that involves different stages. The first is the stage of welcome assuring them a truly fraternal welcome. In the words of St. Paul; ‘Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you’ (Rom.15:7). At this stage they will depend greatly on local social services and support agencies. The key document on the Pastoral Care of Migrants from the Pontifical Council in Rome reminds us that mere tolerance is not enough. The next stage is the invitation to be part of the community through local projects, offering advice and opportunity, becoming involved in community, sharing their skills and their strengths with the local community. They seek affirmation and they seek to make their contribution to our society. The third stage is integration within the local community and the Church community. It is integration without being subsumed or forced. Ireland of the future, hopefully, will reflect the gifts of all, the culture, involvement and the contribution of all.

Those who arrive here have rights that go far beyond mere welcome. These include the right to provide for oneself and one’s family. It includes the right to a quality of life comparable to the rest of the community, the right to work, the right to protection in the workplace, the right to family life.

The Irish Bishops Conference at its March, 2007 meeting in Maynooth said;

‘We can readily see the invaluable contribution which has been made to our country and particularly to our economy by the thousands of migrant workers who have come to our country over the last decade.  However, we must realise that those who have come here are not just workers but persons who have dignity and must be treated in ways that are just and fair. They are persons who have rights and entitlement not only in the workplace but in all other aspects of life, not least the right to family life’.  This of course would include major issued like integration, recognition of a multi-faith society, a multi-cultural community, migrant identity and diversity.

I believe that all of us Church and State are challenged by this new situation.  The Gospel message is clear. Jesus himself was an asylum seeker in Egypt, fleeing from the wrath of Herod. Mary was a migrant. The lack of welcome extended to her brings to mind the increasing number of women migrants worldwide who are victims of exploitation and trafficking.  Christ’s sermon on the Mount challenges all of us;

I was hungry and you gave me to eat
Thirsty and you gave me to drink
A stranger and you made me welcome’.

In the Church we all have an indispensable part to play in that welcome.  We can be key people in giving the feeling of belonging, to assure our visitors that they are participants and decision makers.  Integration implies involvement, participation, joy in sharing, making a real contribution to society and to the Church without being subsumed by either.  Mar a deireann an sean fhochal; ‘Ar scath a cheile a maireas na daoine’.

Ireland has, for generations, been familiar with the whole concept of emigration. Gaelic literature is full of stories of Irish emigrants heading out into an uncertain future. There were the traditional farewells, the ‘American wake’ as it was often called, the farewell that was for life. The emotional taking of leave is rehearsed many times in our Gaelic literature. Many of you will remember, from your school days, Mici Mac Gabhann’s ‘Rotha Mor an tSaoil’, Padraig O Conaire’s ‘Deoraiocht’, Seosamh and Seamus Mc Grianna’s short stories and many others writing about the pathos of it all, the grieving that was involved.  Of course many will also remember the letters home, the clothes parcels and the registered letter that ensured that those at home were not forgotten.  Today thankfully things have change greatly. For the most part those who emigrate from Ireland do so freely and not out of compulsion. The mobile phone ensures that there is constant contact but the journey of the heart is still painful. It is no different with the migrants to our country.

There are currently some 100 religious services in place in Ireland for some 14 ethnic groups with 41 chaplains providing these services.  We now have priests and religious full-time or part-time ministering to the Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Latvian, Filipino, African and other ethnic groups.  Some of those ministering to our migrants are from the migrants own countries, others are native Irish priests, religious and lay people conversant in the different languages. These Church services provide a space for people to gather. People come, not just for the religious event, but also to build bonds of friendship and community. Much of this work is part of the journey towards integration. When that integration comes about hopefully our migrants will feel that they are part of our community. They will be the Irish with their own distinctive culture guaranteed and shared with the community.  Many Government schemes including the National Action Plan Against Racism are doing invaluable work. Other State groups like the Social Services, the Gardai, the Vocational Education Committees and the Health Boards are instruments of welcome and of integration. The Bishops’ Commission for Emigrants and Migrants together with numerous voluntary groups within the various Churches and communities are making their own distinctive contribution.

I believe that Ireland is making its own distinct efforts to address this new situation. At many levels across the country there are positive efforts to cultivate a culture of welcome. There are still bridges to cross. We are challenged to raise people’s sights to what is ultimately fulfilling, recognising the giftedness and uniqueness of every one. It is a life’s work. I believe that it is also a recognition of the aims and objectives of those who struggled for independence more than ninety years ago. Mar a deireann an sean fhocal;  ‘Ni neart go cur le cheile’. There is real strength when we work together.  It is the only way forward and it is the way of the follower of Christ.  

Today the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) is an appropriate day to gather here at Knock for our diocesan pilgrimages. We gather here in Mary’s month with resonances of Canon Sydney McEwan’s memorable hymn
“O Mary we crown the with blossoms today,
Queen of the angels and queen of the May”.
It is also the day when in our own dioceses we have the May procession with the boys and girls who have made their First Communion taking a prominent part. In many dioceses it is also cemetery Sunday when we remember those who have gone before us and who have influenced us by their goodness and their wholeness.

130 years ago here at Knock Mary appeared to some fifteen people men, women, young people. For 130 years people have reflected on the image of the apparition on the gable wall. It is an image that speaks of God’s love, of Mary’s intercession and of our redemption. Mary spoke no words. The apparition speaks for itself. It is full of symbolism. It has a clear message. Those who shared the apparition tell of the altar the Cross and the lamb in one tableau and then Mary, Joseph her husband and John the Evangelist forming the other panel. No words are spoken but the apparition brings together images from the Old Testament and from the Gospels central to the history of our belief in the love of God for each and every one and the promise of salvation given by the life, death and Resurrection of Christ. It points to Christ as our redeemer and our saviour.

Let us look at the two tableaux. There is the altar, the Cross and the Lamb at the centre of it all. Christ himself is the Lamb of God. In the Old Testament the sacrificial lamb in the story of the sacrifice of Abraham is a symbol of Christ himself giving his life for our redemption. At Mass we are reminded that Christ is the lamb of God; ‘This is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’. The altar and the Cross are reminders of Christ’s saving sacrifice every time Mass is offered.

I was in Lourdes last week with the Armagh diocesan pilgrimage and I couldn’t help notice the various tableaux from 20 Marian shrines who have come together to share their own reflection on Mary’s message in her apparitions. There are the well-known shrines like Lourdes, Fatima and others from all over Europe. Prominent among them is the apparition here at Knock. In all of them Mary is not the centre piece of attention. The message she brings whether in words or in symbols points to Jesus Christ as the key person in the message given. He is the one who saves, who continues to save, who brings a message of God’s love and salvation. That is authentic Marian message. The focus is on Christ himself and on God’s love. That is why in the apparition here at Knock the lamb and the altar are at the centre of attention.

Here at Knock the Mass is at the centre of our devotion. We come for the ceremonies. We come to express our thanks to God for his favours and blessings. We come to pray for the sick, for our own needs, the needs of our families and friends, we join in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament as pilgrims together on our journey of life and we receive the absolution of the priest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in Confession. Our pilgrimage is a truly sacramental one.

When we look at the other panel we see Mary, Joseph and John the Evangelist. It can be interpreted as Mary in Heaven leading the choirs of angels, the saints and all of the faithful in the liturgy of giving adoration, praise and glory to God. St. Joseph, a holy man chosen to be the husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus stands with hands joined in prayer. He stands as if in prayer focussed on the Lamb of God. John the evangelist who introduced Jesus to the crowd in the words; “Behold the Lamb of God” was the one chosen by Jesus to care for Mary. At Calvary Jesus said to Mary ”Woman, behold your son” and to John “Behold your Mother”. John wears the liturgical vestments of a bishop and is seen preaching as if he is drawing attention to Christ the Lamb of God and to Mary the Mother of Jesus.

The message of Knock is the message of God’s love and our redemption by Jesus Christ. The altar is at the centre of the message. It puts the Mass at the very centre of our life as Christians. That challenges all of us. It challenges us to put the Mass at the centre of our daily lives; an opportunity to ask for God’s favours and blessings, to thank him for his favours and to receive Christ himself in the Eucharist. The real question is do we see it that way? Is our Sunday Mass a lived experience of a loving God who cares for us and who invites us to get to know him better. That challenges us as priests and as laity. It challenges us to celebrate our Mass with meaning and with reverence. It challenges us to be involved in the Mass not just as passive spectators but as active participants. That challenges us to be involved.

It is interesting that the apparition at Knock included a six year old boy, an eight year old girl, a 16 year old teenage boy, a 26 year old woman and older men and women. It was an inclusive group. The message is surely that Mary had a message for all. I believe that she had a message for young people as well. We live in a world where there are many pressures on young and on old. In particular young people are challenged by the changing attitudes of their peers. There are enormous pressures to conform to today’s world; the pressure of instant gratification, the pressure to have every dream fulfilled, the pressure to succeed at any cost. Recently Pope Benedict spoke to young people on his visit to Toledo in the North of Italy. He spoke of the generosity of many, their awareness of world problems. He talked of their generosity of spirit and then he talked of the enormous pressure to conform to a way of life at times at variance with the Gospel message. His message was simple. His directions were clear. He said;

“Go against the tide. Do not listen to the voices that would peddle a different way of life. Do not be afraid of seeming different and being criticized for taking a stand on what you really believe. The way forward, he said, is the way of courage”. They are challenging words. They are words that apply to all of us.

Today here at Knock we pray that the message of the apparition of 130 years ago may be heard with a new urgency. We pray that all of us may be challenged by the message of God’s love, his forgiveness and of Mary’s care for all of us. We pray in particular for the sick here today and those who need to hear the message of God’s love and care. We pray that our pilgrimage today may be a lived experience of God’s love and Mary’s care for all. Our Lady of Knock pray for us.

+ Gerard Clifford.