FITZROY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BELFAST
SERVICE OF RECONCILIATION
23 NOVEMBER, 1997
ADDRESS BY MOST REVEREND SEAN BRADY

I thank Reverend Ken Newell, and all here at Fitzroy, for the kind invitation to take part in this Reconciliation Service. Toward 2000, how does Jesus Christ want our Churches to relate to each other? Straight away I can say that I am sure that Jesus Christ wants our Churches to relate to each other in a respectful, friendly and truthful way. In a respectful way, by that I mean, respecting all sincerely held views and seeing the good that is in them. In a truthful way, by stating our position honestly as the only basis for any worthwhile dialogue. He certainly wants us to avoid all words and actions which do not represent truthfully and fairly the conditions of other Christians. In fact we must try and gain an authentic knowledge of the teaching of the other Churches in order to dislodge stereotyped ideas which we may have inherited about one another’s faith. We must all seek to renew our own faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of the world. For the more committed we ourselves are to Jesus Christ, the greater will be our respect for others who believe in him as their Lord and Master also.

We also reaffirm the faith common to all Christians that the disciples of Jesus are called to be agents of reconciliation and promoters of love, justice and peace. Nothing simpler to say, nothing more problematic to apply in our particular situations. For in the Christian understanding of the term, reconciliation seems to call for at least three things which are difficult to hold in a balanced relationship to each other; speaking the truth, demanding justice and showing compassion. A commitment to reconciliation which tries to be truthful, seek justice and yet show compassion inevitably exposes oneself and one’s faith community to different reactions.

But as we draw near to the Great Jubilee I am sure that Jesus would want us all to give sincere thanks for the many ecumenical activities which have been undertaken with generosity and commitment in recent years. I think of the recent visit of the Presbyterian/Roman Catholic delegation to Northern Ireland from the United States led by Reverend Hank Postel and Bishop Raymond Boland. It has been welcomed here each year, going back almost ten years now, by a joint committee of the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic Churches. Over these years much good work has been done, especially in the provision of business scholarships to students from Northern Ireland to study in America.

The last time I met the Reverend John Dunlop we were in Graz in Austria at the end of June. Dr Hutchinson, the Moderator, was also there. For a whole week the beautiful Austrian city of Graz was host to about 12,000 Christians. They represented the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Churches of Europe. This great throng of people drawn from the Urals to the Atlantic celebrated the second – and it was only the second in history – Pan-European Ecumenical Assembly. In their diversity they reflected the riches of the one Gospel of Jesus Christ and the variety of cultures generated by that one Gospel. The theme of the occasion was that of reconciliation, specifically, “reconciliation, gift of God and source of new life”.
If you think we have huge difficulties about reconciliation in Ireland, and we have our share, then you should have been at Graz. There one heard at first hand the many instances of conflict between Christians from different Churches. But there one also saw the beauty of reconciliation and the risks people are taking for reconciliation, as well as the great hopes that the Holy Spirit, who breathes where he will, is opening up for all Christians. The Churches of Europe are moving closer together at this time, in spite of the many unreconciled situations, that are almost daily the subject of media attention.

This is both an encouragement and a challenge to all of us here in Ireland. We are encouraged not to opt out of this history-making movement of the Holy Spirit. We are challenged not to leave it at the leadership level of church life, nor merely at international or continental level, but to take the message to the congregations and to the parishes as is happening here this evening.

RECONCILIATION
We are called to deepen our own understanding of Reconciliation. Reconciliation is recognition that there has been and there still exists a rupture in relationships at a deep level. It involves the sometimes unfashionable concepts of forgiveness and conversion. Reconciliation begins with the healing of victims which comes about by God’s grace. It is indeed a healing which is really a gift of God and a source of new life. Victims, healed by God’s help, can in turn bring about the healing of their oppressors, through forgiveness. Forgiveness is essential to reconciliation. Reconciliation is not essential to forgiveness. Forgiveness can be offered by one side in a conflict whereas reconciliation requires both sides to be involved. Forgiveness means being willing to let go of bitterness even before our enemies repent. But how can we possibly forgive those who have hurt us irreparably? It is truly super human, a miracle of grace, a miracle of God’s love. It has to be said that one reason why the violence in Northern Ireland was not much greater has been the way Christians and the churches have called for, and practised, forgiveness and non-retaliation. It has been practised by many victims and their families and has had considerable social and political effect. One thinks of the late Gordan Wilson of Enniskillen, of Mr McGoldrick of Lurgan. There are countless other examples.

However victims may not be able to forgive those who committed crimes against them. If that is so they cannot be burdened with the demands that they forgive. They cannot be burdened with the responsibility for progress in the peace process. Then the community at large must be prepared to engage in a process of trying to set aside the past with all its bitterness and calls for revenge. People sometimes talk as if forgiveness is all that is required for reconciliation. It is not. We all need to repent of what we have done wrong or of the good we could have done and failed to do. At the very beginning of the Gospel the message of John the Baptist is: ‘Repent for the Kingdom of God is near at hand’. We need repentance at many levels, in fact at all levels where violence has been wrongly used whether that be paramilitary or institutional violence. We need repentance for our own sins of omission and commission in creating and sustaining divisions and for our failure to do what might have helped to reduce those divisions.

Communal forgiveness takes what happened seriously. So seeking the truth and telling the truth is important. In the post-conflict years in other countries the full disclosure of the truth has been regarded as very important. Victims need to have their stories heard and the seriousness of the harm done acknowledged. So reconciliation is not the suppression of the memory of a history of violence. To ignore human memory like that is to ignore human dignity. So the victim is forgotten and the causes of suffering are never uncovered and never confronted.

Reconciliation is something especially difficult to achieve. It is about healing memories, offering forgiveness. It is about repentance. Reconciliation is also about changing structures in society that provoked violence in the first place and that promoted violence and sustained violence. But the problem is how do you seek reconciliation from someone who does not think he has done anything wrong?

The Churches have historically played important roles in processes of reconciliation. In order to be reconciling agents they need to be first reconciled themselves and so the Churches need to look at the ways they may have hurt each other as Churches and to ask forgiveness. We have to ask forgiveness from God and from one another for our failure to witness to Christ’s love in our attitudes towards one another, and in our language about one another. We have to seek pardon for our failure to respect one another’s convictions and for our failure to accept one another in our differences. To acknowledge the weaknesses of the past is an act of honesty and of courage. It helps strengthen faith and prepares us to face today’s temptations and challenges.

Today the Churches are being challenged to cherish what unites and to dialogue about what divides and to pray for a healing of those divisions and the repair of the damage. We are united in our faith in One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Faith of the Church – The Nicene Creed which we will all recite in a few minutes is the same Creed which is said in Roman Catholic Churches throughout the world. There we find what unites us against the practical atheism so prevalent in the world today. We are agreed about our love and respect for the Bible; it is the Word of God and a source of wisdom and guidance. We acknowledge one baptism and regard it as the doorway to our sharing in the inner life of God. We believe that in prayer we have another powerful means of communion with God. These are some of the pylons on which the foundations of the bridge of unity can be constructed. They are strong, firm pylons, robust enough to carry a powerful bridge.

THE PEACE PROCESS
As I thought about the title of this talk, “Praying for Peace in Northern Ireland” an incident in the life of Jesus came into my mind. It is described in the 19th chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel like this:
“As Jesus drew near to Jersualem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said: ‘If you in your turn had only understood on that day the message of peace’ but alas it is hidden from your eyes…….and all because you did not recognise the opportunity when God offered it” Luke 19. 41-44.
I think the Lord is depending on all of us now to have his message of peace heard loud and clear. He wants us to calm people’s fears about the peace process and to recognise the real opportunity that exists for agreement, an agreement that can lead to harmonious coexistence.

TASK FOR THE CHURCHES
In their interesting publication called: “New Pathways – Developing a Peace Process in Northern Ireland” the Faith and Politics group sets forth a task for the Churches, namely to disentangle religious commitments from political commitments. An on-going task of Christianity at all times and in all societies is that of de-sacralising political positions. For politics sometimes assumes the dimension of a religious crusade. Political positions are sometimes made absolute. Political loyalties have been put before God, the God who will have no other God before Him. So the challenge is to simultaneously relativise secular values including political affiliation, without devaluing them. Part of the process of reconciliation may be for the Churches to analyse the over-identification of religious commitments with political commitments as an aspect of social sin. When we say that Jesus Christ is Lord we mean that no earthly ruler or political structure can be absolute. Therefore we give politics and political commitments their proper place. Political compromise does not sell out a God who is beyond all our political ambitions. What God requires is new and just relationships between persons and communities.

It might be useful to establish an inter-church programme to reflect, comment, and make recommendations on a range of human rights issues: e.g. prisoners, victims, Bill of Rights, which arise from the conflict and which must be addressed as part of any lasting peace. The development of a shared language, a shared perception, and a shared practice of human rights between the Churches could make a significant contribution to reconciliation.

SOCIAL CONCERN
I am sure the Spirit of Christ is saying many other things to the Churches at this time. The Spirit would want to remind them not to neglect their work for justice and their care for the poor, the suffering and the weak. Where projects of social concern are promoted on an inter-church basis they can be a powerful witness of the caring Church before the world. There is an urgent need to adopt a programme aimed at maximising ecumenical witness, consultation and co-operation at local level in such areas as social work, Third World projects, common liturgies, pastoral care and outreach, prison visitation. Where this has been tried for example in projects like Aid to Romania and liturgies like the cross-community Harvest Thanksgiving they have yielded excellent results.

Particular emphasis needs to be given to encourage the Churches to make maximum use of their own peace education programme. These programmes are already in existence and have been ecumenically developed, piloted and endorsed. What seems important is to do everything possible to encourage a climate of agreement and to incarnate this in the local and daily life and consciousness of the Churches. As this happens new possibilities and challenges will arise.

THE GREAT JUBILEE
The celebration of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 will be a time of great joy and it belongs to all Christians. The Roman Catholic Church is quite keen that ecumenical agreements be reached with regard to the preparation and celebration of the Jubilee. The World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church have set up a group to plan ecumenical celebrations for the Year 2000. Dr. Raiser, the General Secretary of World Council has said: “The values of the Jubilee are reconciliation and pardon, repentance and metanoia, restitution and reconstruction. These values should encourage us to go beyond yesterday’s struggles in order to devote all our energies to dealing, in the light of the Gospel of Christ, with the questions of life and of survival that are arising today and will continue to arise tomorrow”. I certainly hope that we can all go beyond yesterday’s struggles. For certainly the energies of all of us will be needed to combat the culture of death and to promote the culture of life.

My prayer is that the Great Jubilee will strengthen the faith and witness of all Christians. May it renew the hope of each one of us in the definitive coming of the Kingdom of God. May it enkindle the fire of love in our hearts, a love of God and neighbour which sums up the moral life of every Christian. May the words of Peter guide us to the Third Millennium:

“Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds”. 2 Peter 1.19.
My hope is that as we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord we will all pray more frequently and more fervently his prayer:

“Father may they be one in us
as you are in me and I am in you”. (John 17:21)
and that we may continue to plant seeds of reconciliation and regeneration, that hopefully one day will grow, while not neglecting to water the seeds already planted, knowing that they too hold great promise for the future.

OPENING OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CENTRE, ARMAGH
THURSDAY OCTOBER 16, 1997
ADDRESS BY CARDINAL SEAN BRADY

I congratulate St. Patrick’s Conference, of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Armagh on the opening of these fine premises. What an excellent way to celebrate the beatification of Blessed Frederic Ozanam, the principal founder of the Society. What an appropriate day, for today is World Food Day, for a ceremony of this kind. What a happy coincidence that the new Centre is located in the house which is traditionally regarded as the birthplace of St. Malachy.

St. Patrick’s Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Armagh was founded in 1865. It was the fourth Conference to be established in Ireland outside Dublin. The Conference has currently twenty-four members and I want to commend them most heartily on the outstanding work done locally and in the region, on behalf of the poor and the marginalised.

Earlier this year I attended Poverty Hearings in Belfast where people described their experience of poverty. It was most encouraging to hear so many people praise, very loudly, the help which they had received from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. I know that the members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul will be inspired by the knowledge that their work is appreciated so keenly.

I had the privilege of being present, in Paris, on 22 August last, when, in a magnificent ceremony in the presence of some 7,000 people, Pope John Paul declared Frederic Ozanam ‘Blessed’ in the great Gothic Cathedral of Paris, dedicated to Our Lady. The attendance was composed of many young people who were in Paris from all over the world, for the 12th World Youth Day. Also present were delegations representing St. Vincent de Paul Conferences from the five continents. They had special places in the nave of the Cathedral. The presence of so many young people was quite appropriate because it was on his twentieth birthday, in 1833, that Frederic Ozanam gathered together a group of his companions who were disturbed by the harsh living conditions of the poor. They shared the same desire of service to the most deprived, so they decided to do something about it. They got the addresses of several families in difficulty to whom they would bring some bread, and above all, much friendship. The finance came exclusively from their personal savings. Such was the humble origins of the first Conference of St. Vincent de Paul.

In his homily the Pope recalled how he himself was a member of a Conference of St. Vincent de Paul before the Second World War in Poland. In an earlier address Pope John Paul had said:

“We should thank God for the gift He has made to the Church in the person of Ozanam. We are amazed at all that was undertaken for the Church, for society, and for the poor by this student, this Professor, this father of a family, of intense faith and inventive charity during the course of a life too quickly consumed”.
Last August the wonderful destiny of this exceptional man, a lay saint for our time, was honoured in that ceremony in Paris. The members of St. Vincent de Paul Society have good reason to rejoice at this time.
Ozanam learned his love for the poor from his parents. His father was a medical doctor and was particularly kind to his poor patients. His mother, Madame Ozanam, helped her husband, visiting the old and infirm patients regularly. The story is told that in their old age and in failing health, the doctor and his wife pledged each other that in their visitations neither would venture higher than the fourth floor. Yet more than once they came unexpectedly face to face with each other, far higher up on the dark and steep staircases of those old houses in the city of Lyon. Frederick Ozanam was taught to see Christ in the person of all those who bear the heavy burden of human suffering and social injustice.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul continues the best traditions of its founder. The members of the Society know that it is more blessed to give than to receive. They give of their time and of their talents and of their treasure. Each week at local Conference meetings a secret bag is passed around. Members contribute to it. Year after year the secret bag meets all the Society’s administration costs. The result is that all public contributions go in full, directly to the people in need.

All Christ’s commandments are summed up in love. Frederick Ozanam believed in that love, that is in the love which God has for every human person. He felt himself called to love especially those who have more need than others. Frederick made a special effort to seek those to whom the God of love could not be revealed except through the care and love of another person. By declaring Frederic ‘Blessed’ the Church is saying: “Frederic your road is really and truly the road of holiness”.

In his address at that ceremony Pope John Paul made a special appeal to the youth. He said that they must understand that if they want to be authentic Christians they must take the same route.
“Let them open their eyes, the eyes of their soul, to the numerous needs of so many people today. Let them understand these needs as challenges. Let Christ call each one of them by name so that each one can say ‘that is my road, that it the road I must follow”.

I know that the Society is giving thought to ways of attracting young people to join its ranks. Frederic Ozanam gave some thought to the same topic. At the age of sixteen he was disturbed by religious doubts. He was lucky that he had as his professor a man who was wise and gentle and who steered him through the storm into calmer waters. At the height of those temptations Frederic made a promise to God that should he be enabled to see the truth he would devote his whole life to its defence. He compared youth to a boat launched for the first time on the sea. “Now it speeds lightly over the wave crests now it sinks into the troughs of the sea until an experienced sailor takes the tiller and guides it safely into harbour”.

I know that educators will know the wisdom of his words when he says that young people need to see suffering in others if they are to learn to bear suffering in themselves. They need to know the meaning of hunger and thirst and of destitution. They need to see that they may learn to love.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a lay Christian voluntary organisation, working with the poor and the disadvantaged. Let me remind you of something from the Mission Statement of the Society here in Ireland:

“We seek to respond to the call every Christian receives to bring the love of Christ to those we serve in the spirit of the Gospel message: I was hungry and you gave me to eat. No work of charity is foreign to the Society. Through person to person contacts we are committed to respecting the dignity of those we assist and so to foster their self-respect. We try to establish relationships based on trust and friendship”.
Members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul help those they serve to achieve self-sufficiency in the longer term, and the sense of self-worth which this provides. They are committed to identifying the root causes of poverty and social injustice in Ireland. They work for the changes required to create a more just and caring society.

In a society where the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ continues to widen the work of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul becomes ever more important. In 1996 its 11,000 voluntary workers continued to serve the needs of over 200,000 Irish people. They spent over sixteen and a half million pounds (£16,500,000) in the process. In the Annual Report for the Armagh Diocese, a total income of two hundred and fifty-five thousand pounds (£255,000) was recorded. That it a fantastic achievement.
Here we have an example of lay men and women taking very seriously their own special obligation of building up a more just society. By their words and their deeds they make known Christ’s message. The example of their Christian life and good work has the power to draw people rightly to believe in God. It is an example of what Christ was talking about when he said: “Let your light shine before men in order that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven”. My prayer tonight is that St. Malachy’s Centre may remind all of us to see the poor as messengers from God to us, sent to prove our justice and our charity and to call us to make time and place for them in our lives. May God bless abundantly all who have made this Centre possible and all who will gather here in the future to do the work of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

25TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SERMON – VIGIL MASS – SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER, 1997
CROSSMAGLEN
BY CARDINAL SEAN BRADY

The disciples were angry about which of them was the greatest. Jesus sat down and said: “To be the greatest you must make yourself least of all and servant of all”. To drive home the point he took a little child and set the child in front of him and put his arm around the child and said: “Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the One who sent me”.

Last Monday and Tuesday I had the great privilege of being in the company of people who took those words to heart and lived their lives according to them. I was in Calcutta for Mother Teresa’s funeral. On Tuesday we visited the Home she set up for abandoned babies. We went there on Tuesday morning and saw 440 babies in their cots. They were being looked after by Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the Order set up by Mother Teresa to carry out her wish and the wish of Jesus to serve the poorest of the poor. In that Home we met a Sister who has been working there for over twenty years. She showed us round the place and we saw babies of all shapes and sizes. Babies who were well, babies who were sick, babies with AIDS, babies with disabilities. We saw half a dozen incubators, given through the generosity of friends from Germany. We saw volunteer workers from many continents of the world who went there to help the Sisters. We saw babies crying to be picked up and hugged and loved. Babies in need of love. That love was brought to them by the Sisters of Charity and by the many wonderful lay volunteers.

Later that same day I again had the privilege of visiting a Home run by the Christian Brothers. There is only one Irish Christian Brother there at the moment. His name is Brother Finn who worked here in the North of Ireland for many years but I think about twenty years ago he decided to go to India, to Calcutta. He is the only Irish man in the place, there are four or five Indian Christian Brothers and they have, I would say, about two hundred boys in their teens most of them, who are homeless or abandoned. We had the opportunity of meeting those boys and seeing Brother Finn and the wonderful relationship he has with them. They looked to him with affection and with love. Those boys were wonderfully refined and cultivated and courteous: “Good evening Father” they would say. “Thank you for coming to visit us. Welcome here Father” and they would ask for a blessing: “A blessing Father” “A blessing Father”.

They didn’t have much to start off with. They had no home but the Brothers obviously took them in and lavished care and love upon them and shared their life with them. I saw Brothers out playing basketball with them. Brothers supervising them in the swimming pool. Brothers helping them out playing football in the front and of course teaching them, educating them. No wonder Brother Finn wanted us to meet them because I am sure he is very proud of the contribution which he, and the Christian Brothers, make to the lives and the well-being of those unfortunate young people.

The Irish Christian Brothers went to India in 1848, that is almost 150 years ago. The Irish Loreto Sisters went there in 1841 and again we had the opportunity of seeing their work. They went to educate the people. They went, in the words of Jesus Christ, “to welcome those little children” because they knew that in welcoming them they were welcoming Jesus Christ and that in welcoming Jesus Christ they were welcoming God the Father.

We visited two of the Loreto Sisters’ schools. In one school there was a fantastic concert given to us by the girls. We had When Irish Eyes are Smiling, It’s a Long Road to Tipperary, Fields of Athenrye sung with a very enthusiastic Indian Loreto Sister at the piano and this community of children who have no homes, of being abandoned by their parents. They told us some of the stories of their lives which would horrify you. But those Loreto Sisters went there in obedience to those words of Christ: “Anyone who loves me, anyone who welcomes me, welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me”.

It was to them that Mother Teresa went, to those Loreto Sisters in 1928. We met there two Sisters who knew her very well. One Sister who is alive, Sister Marie Therese from Dublin, went to India seventy years ago this year I think. There is another one who went about the same time as Mother Teresa that is sixty-nine years ago, who was a great friend, she is Sister Rosarie O’Reilly. It was marvelous to see the quiet contentment of those Sisters as they shared in the proud story of Mother Teresa’s life because that funeral really was a celebration of the triumph of God’s grace in the life of Mother Teresa and the life of a religious sister. It was the triumph of somebody who took the words of the Gospel to heart and lived them truly and faithfully. These Loreto Sisters were in the background because in 1948 Mother Teresa decided to found her own Order: the Missionaries of Charity, which served immediately the poor and down and out and the outcasts and the one who were shunned.

Do we have any opportunities for doing anything like that? Yesterday evening a lady called upon me to talk to me about Faith and Light Communities. What are Faith and Light Communities? Well they bring together people with learning disabilities, people from the families of people with learning disabilities and people who would like to be their friends, particularly young people. The communities meet together in the belief that the person with a learning disability is really important. They know that the person with a learning disability has something to give to the Church and to society. The communities meet regularly. They form deep bonds of friendship and welcome as they share more of their lives with each other. They share the difficulties and sufferings as well as the good times.

This is just one example of putting Jesus’ words into action. Jesus came especially for the poor, the weak, the disadvantaged. He came to give life and to give us all the opportunity to grow and to develop. Many people in the world today have a learning disability. Very often they are pushed aside and seen as valueless and unable to make progress. Surely they are one of those little children that Jesus was talking about and he has promised that anyone who welcomes one of these little children in his name, welcomes him. Jesus doesn’t make false promises, empty promises. And if we meet him as he promised, in those little ones, in those weak people, we can meet God and we too then may realise just how blessed we are, how fortunate we are.

I was struck, as I said, by the number of people in India, poor people and weak people who asked me for a blessing. They know that life is fragile, life is precarious, they see death all around them, so they asked to be blessed by God. They believe firmly in a God who blesses, who wants to bless His people.

The First Reading talks about the godless. You know it is easy to become a little bit godless. We might be shocked to say that. Yes, we say we believe in God but how do we show it? Do we have respect for God’s name?, the kind of respect that God’s name deserves to get. How often do we find people using the holy name of Jesus carelessly, disrespectfully. Are we shocked by that? Are we appalled by that?

It is not enough to say “I believe in God”. It is not words but deeds that count. Do I see God where He is to be seen? In what sense do we remember to keep holy the Sabbath day, the Lord’s day? Is Sunday really a holy day apart from the while we spend at Mass? Is there any other thing in this day that will mark it off as the Lord’s day? Do we think of the Lord or is it a godless Sunday apart from Mass? Is it a day on which we ask for the Lord’s blessing? The Lord’s Name, the Lord’s day, the law of the Lord. Is the law of the Lord a powerful force in my life? Is it the guiding force, the guiding light of my life, the Commandments? They are signposts given to us to lead us to heaven. We all say we want to go to heaven but unless we follow the signposts we won’t get there. Coming here this evening I had to follow the signposts otherwise I would never have got here. I would have ended up in Ballybay or Castleblaney or Newry maybe. Is there a certain godlessness in our lives then if we disregard the Lord’s name, the Lord’s day and the Lord’s law? The word of the Lord for example, the word of God, ‘Thanks be to God’ we say. The word of God, is it really God’s word for us? When do I see God? If I got a solicitor’s letter accusing me of being Godless – how would I set about proving the charge to be false? One way is to see God and welcome God in the person of my neighbour, especially the neighbour who is weak.

THE MILLENNIUM AND ITS PREPARATION
OUR LADY’S SHRINE, KNOCK
THURSDAY, 14 AUGUST, 1997
SERMON BY THE MOST REVEREND SEAN BRADY

2000 years on from the birth of Christ what in fact are we celebrating? There will be celebrations, have no doubt about that, mighty celebrations. The plans are already being made, it is up to those who believe in Jesus Christ to make sure that Christ is not overlooked in those celebrations. It is up to us to make sure that the message of Jesus finds as much space as possible in these celebrations. In other words, that we keep reminding ourselves and others whose millennium it is and who should be at the centre of it. Yes the Great Jubilee celebrates the 2000th birthday of Christ. It is fitting that we should celebrate that Great Jubilee in a special way here at Knock, the national shrine of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In this year of preparation we concentrate our attention on the person of Jesus, our faith in him and on Baptism.

The faith of the Christian is founded on Jesus. That faith looks to Christ for an answer to the big issues in life. He and he alone has the answers to the questions that rise up from the human heart in face of the mystery of life and death. Because faced with the mystery of life and death, people act in many different ways. A secretary came home from the funeral of a colleague, and said: “We have lots of questions but no answers”. As a Boeing 737 jet airliner suddenly lurches from 35,000 feet to 10,000 feet, a young nurse begins to pray aloud. An old man grasps her hand and begs: “Say one for me because I cannot pray anymore ” . Several of the people on the recent flight from Manchester to Knock Airport, that developed trouble, said that their first reaction was to begin to pray. Christians look to Jesus for an answer to the big questions. Only from Christ can come answers that do not deceive or disappoint.

So we are celebrating a jubilee then. The jubilee of the birth of Christ. I suppose the most familiar jubilee is a marriage jubilee, a golden jubilee of marriage where a couple who have lived the commitment they made fifty years earlier celebrate how their love has grown and how their lives have been enriched and blessed by God. There is at once a looking to the future asking that God’s blessing may continue; there is also a looking back because they are used to trusting God’s caring and compassionate love for them. They also hope that the blessings that have been manifest in their lives wi11 be manifested in the lives of their children and grandchildren. So in this jubilee of the year 2000 we celebrate God’s love for us. Out of sheer love God wants everyone of us to share His own blessed happiness. For this reason at every possible opportunity God draws close to us. He comes searching for us, to know us and to love us. Yes, we had been scattered and led astray by the evil one and divided by sin. Despite all that, God never ceases to call us all into the unity of His family, the Church. To accomplish all of this God sent His Son to become one of us. Through that Son God invites us to become His children. He calls us to become His heirs, the heirs of His blessed life. That is the basis of Christian faith, that is what this Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 is all about. That is the Good News Jesus brought. It is a cause for real joy.

The desire for God is written deep in the human heart. Faith is our response to God. That response has to be freely given. God has far too much respect for each one of us to try to manipulate us or to buy us. And for a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One He sent. God tells us to listen to His beloved Son. We are free and therefore responsible. One can accept it – believing in God the Father and in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit – or one can reject all of this – writing as John Paul II says in large capitals GOD DOES NOT HAVE A SON.

People often discuss what was the greatest discovery of the last 2000 years. Some say it was the discovery of penicillin, or of the Americas, or of electricity. But for me it is the discovery that only in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will we find the truth and the happiness that we all desire.

It is the knowledge that God loves us eternally and wants to raise us up to be His special possession. We are God’s special possession because God chose to have it that way. God seeks us, moved by His fatherly heart and His fatherly love.

Of course the desire for God can be forgotten or overlooked or even openly rejected. People can have doubts. Obstacles to faith can have different causes. Some people revolt against the suffering and evils of the world and proceed to blame God, other people are just plainly ignorant and indifferent to their faith. We all have a duty to nourish our faith by prayer and study. Faith is a gift of God, freely given, and freely received. Peter could not accept that Jesus would be scourged and crowned with thorns and finally crucified.

Jesus says in today’s Gospel that he came to bring Good News, Good News is a call to rejoice. He came to bring Good News for everybody. These days exam results bring good news for some, but not to all. He came to tell sinners that they are sinners no more, provided that they repent and ask pardon for their sins. He came to announce liberty to captives. We can be enslaved by the false gods of greed and pride, we can be enslaved by hatred and bitterness.

So today we are celebrating the Good News that death is not the end. Jesus said that he came to bring new sight to the blind. We are celebrating the new insight brought by Jesus to the fundamental questions, the big issues in life, Who are we? Where have we come from? Where are we going? We are celebrating the fact that Jesus came to bring us life so that we might have life to the full. And life to the full means that it must last forever. We know that our present life doesn’t last forever. So Jesus must have been talking about some other life. Yes, indeed he was, as he himself proved by rising from the dead. So death is not the end; but many are still blind to this truth.

Distraction is the root of sin, I read somewhere recently. People who do not want to face the difficult questions of life love distractions. So we engage in a frenzied search for more and more diversions. ‘Football is our religion’ a television advertisement boldly proclaims pointing to that escapism. Sunday used to be the day when people broke from routine of work and the drudgery of life to stop and stare and think and figure out the answers to these fundamental questions. Now it is more likely to be filled with more and more distractions, which act as substitutes for religion.

I love the wisdom of the author of the Psalms on this point. “What can bring us happiness many say”, the psalmist asks and then prays “let the light of your face shine on us O Lord. You have put into my heart a greater joy than they have from abundance of corn and new wine”. Earlier in that same prayer the question is asked: ‘O men how long will your hearts be closed? Will you love what is futile and seek what is false?’

Yes, the distractions invite us to love what is futile and to seek what is false. But we know in our hearts and souls that there is an emptiness even about the abundance of corn and new wine. The light of God’s face was seen in the face of Jesus Christ. He is absolutely original, absolutely unique. He is not just a wise man or a great prophet, he is the one mediator, the perfect mediator, the perfect go-between, because he is both God and Man. And before he returned to the Father he gave his friends one last command: Go, make disciples of all nations. They were to help people to believe that he, Jesus Christ, is the Son of God, so that believing they might have life in his name. But believing in his name doesn’t mean that we stand looking up to the skies, that our religion is ‘pie in the sky’ when we die. It means discovering the Jesus is living next to us, in the brothers and sisters with whom we share our daily existence. His face is to be seen in the poorest of the poor. Often they are victims of an unjust system. Wherever profit is given first place there the human being becomes a means rather than an end.

Believing in Jesus Christ means drying every tear in his name It means reminding whoever feels lonely that no-one whose hope in placed in him is ever alone.

How can we best prepare to celebrate the Millennium? First of all we begin by clearly identifying what the Millennium is all about. It is about the birth of Christ, the Son of God. It is about seeing that birth as the greatest proof of God’s love for the world. God so loved the world that He sent His Son. There is only one proper response to love: that is love. “If you love me keep my commandments”.

But that happened 2000 years ago some may say. What has that got to do with us? It has everything to do with us. By baptism we are united to Christ. When we were baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we were united in a hidden, but real way with Christ, in his death and in his resurrection We share his life. We become his brothers and sisters. By virtue of baptism Jesus Christ is present in each Christian. In the early years of the Church they used to say the Christian is another Christ.

So, another way of preparing for the Millennium is to try and grow in an appreciation of the place of baptism in our lives. We try to see more clearly how it unites us, not only to Christ, but to Christians everywhere. Ecumenically this is very important because as we look to Christ, our one Lord, we are called to deepen our commitment to become One in him. Remember his prayer to the Father that they all may be one.

Above all we try to deepen and strengthen our own faith. Recently I heard a comment: “Our faith is never in the bag, sure today but worried tomorrow”. Yes certainly we are celebrating our response in faith to the love of God. In all of this there exists two possibilities: the possibility of the triumph of love which is accepted and the possibility of the tragedy of love which is rejected. God neither bribes us nor manipulates us.

Recently we saw the tragedy of the American relay athletic team who lost the golden opportunity in the World Championships. It is agreed that they have the best sprinters in the world. They were often tipped to win the gold and even get new world records. But the baton was dropped at the change-over and that was the end of that. What happened? Why? A golden opportunity was lost. There was great disappointment. What went wrong? It has been suggested that because they were so superior in sprinting that they took victory for granted and didn’t bother putting in the tedious hours of practice that is necessary to ensure transfer of the baton.

There may be a lesson here for all of us in this. The best way to hand on the baton of faith and to make sure that it is handed on is to practice that faith faithfully and committedly in our own life, day in and day out. The best ways to grow in our knowledge of our faith come through the hard work of reading, listening to sermons, listening to talks, going to courses. No renewal of the Christian life will take place without a renewal of our knowledge of our faith.

Of course Mary plays a central role in all of this. The Fathers of the Church refer to her as the second Eve. They compare Mary with Eve and call her the Mother of the Living. On Calvary she is the woman to whom Christ entrusted not only the beloved disciple John, but the whole human family. Mary is the mother of believers. She was blessed because she believed in the promises which were made to her.

Jesus promises great things to us in today’s Gospel. He promises to bring us Good News, the news that God’s kingdom is close at hand, that if we repent we have our sins forgiven. The joy of every jubilee is above all a joy based on the forgiveness of sins. Jesus came to set the down-trodden free. As long as our sins remain unforgiven we are down-trodden by guilt and shame, by fear and anxiety.

Tomorrow we celebrate one of the great feasts of Mary, her Assumption. We celebrate the fact that after her death she was taken, body and soul, into Heaven. Where Mary has gone, we hope to follow. Mary already enjoys the perfect happiness and perfect fulfilment, that we all hope for as the outcome of our lives. Even now Mary has achieved the state of glorification.

We believe also that just as Jesus rose from the dead, we also will rise. We believe too that the Risen Christ is present with us in his glorified body. In the same way we believe that Mary is even now present with us, also in her glorified body. The hope which that conviction, the conviction that death is not the end, could give our shattered world is immense. Death is not the end. The resurrection of Christ proves that. The Assumption of Mary does likewise. Holy Mary pray for us sinners. Holy Mary, help us to recognise Jesus the blessed fruit of your womb under his many guises in our world, in the Church, in the Scriptures, in the Eucharist, in our neighbour, especially in the poor. That recognition, by us, in our own lives, will be the best possible way of celebrating the Millennium

Pray for us O Holy Mother of God that we may be made worthy to celebrate this Millennium in the way which is most pleasing to your Son.
AMEN

SILVER JUBILEE OF THE EPISCOPAL ORDINATION
OF BISHOP FRANCIS MCKIERNAN
CATHEDRAL OF ST. PATRICK & ST FELIM, CAVAN

SUNDAY DECEMBER 14, 1997

HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

O give thanks to the Lord for he is good
For his love endures forever.

We come together today to celebrate. To celebrate the silver jubilee of the ordination of Bishop McKiernan’s, as Bishop of Kilmore, on 10 December 1972. We gather to give thanks to the Lord for he is good and has been particularly good to his people here in Kilmore over the last twenty-five years. We come to give praise to the Lord for the favours he has done down through the years in this diocese.

We celebrate this jubilee in the shadow of the Great Jubilee of the year 2000. Then we shall be giving thanks and praise to God for the greatest event the world has ever known – the birth of its Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The custom of jubilees began in the Old Testament. They continue in the history of the Church. The Jubilee year was time dedicated, in a special way, to God. During the Jubilee year the land was not ploughed or cultivated; slaves were set free; and debts were cancelled.

I know that Bishop McKiernan would gladly have cancelled the debt of thanks and praise which we have come to pay here today. In fact when the idea was first suggested to him he remarked: “It will be like having to endure one’s funeral ahead of time”. Well this is certainly no funeral and nothing like a funeral but rather a celebration of life, the life of one particular diocese, and the celebration of God’s love for His people in that diocese.

Bishop McKiernan is well known for his love of history, especially for his love of the history of the diocese of Kilmore. He knows much better than I that this month he joins a small number of bishops who have served the people of this diocese for twenty-five years or more. Earlier this century there was Patrick Finnegan, a native of Corlurgan in this parish, and bishop from 1910 – 1937. The Wexford man, Bishop James Brown was here from 1829 – 1865. Bishop Denis Maguire, a native of Killesher, Co. Fermanagh was bishop from 1770 – 1798. Bishop Eugene MacSweeney came from Donegal and laboured here in tough and troubled times from 1628 – 1669. In his history of the diocese of Kilmore Philip O’Connell lists five others going back to Simon O’Rourke, who died in 1285, Conor McConsnamha who died in 1355 and who was a native of Drumkeeran. There were three others, Nicholas McBrady, probably from Castletara, bishop from 1394 – 1421, Tomas McBrady, also from Castletara, 1480 – 1511 and Richard Brady, a Franciscan, who was bishop from 1580 – 1607.

So today we congratulate you most heartily, Bishop Frank, on joining that small but distinguished club of ten who between you have given 250 years service to the leadership of the Church in Kilmore over the last 700 years.

Even though the times were different and their backgrounds were very varied, nevertheless the task that confronted each one of those remained fundamentally the same; that of carrying on, with the help of the priests, the work of Christ, the eternal pastor. It is the splendid task of being faithful to the teaching of the apostles and of building up the Church as the body of Christ. It is the noble work of sustaining the people of God strongly in their life of faith and love and of leading them confidently and hopefully in the ways of holiness. It means teaching people the Good News about Jesus Christ, and the News brought by Jesus Christ. But it means being, first of all, one who listens to that News oneself and lives it in one’s own life. It means praying for others and for oneself. It means being a witness to the light.

For his work of teaching the new Bishop of Kilmore had, by 1972, served a long and rigorous apprenticeship. I refer to his ten years teaching in St. Patrick’s College, Cavan and ten years in St. Felim’s, Ballinamore. I remember him as our well-prepared, enthusiastic and dedicated teacher of Irish in 1952/53 and again in 1954/55. He knew his pupils well and was interested in our progress, something which is of enormous value in fostering the potential of every pupil in the pursuit of excellence. His love of history was soon apparent. He gave us a sense of our identity – of who we were. I remember his trying to broaden our vision by recommending that we should read books like Daniel Corkery’s ‘Hidden Ireland’ – It was excellent advice of course but me thinks it sometimes fell on deaf ears.

When he was appointed Principal of the new St. Felim’s College, Ballinamore in 1962 he was responsible, along with the Principals of the Vocational School and of Meanscoil Fatima for a revolutionary idea of pooling the resources of three small schools in order to provide a full, comprehensive range of education for the children of the Ballinamore catchment area. It was not only a revolutionary idea but a visionary one. The vision was translated into reality to the advantage of all concerned and especially of the pupils who profited immensely from the development.

After his ordination as Bishop in 1972 he retained his interest in education and became a member of the Bishops Commission for Education and was, for many years, its spokesperson. This was at a time when the Government was taking more responsibility in the field of education, Bishop McKiernan played a very important role in negotiations which reconciled the parts of Church and State in education, especially in the post-primary sector. Painstaking negotiations, great diplomatic skills and sensitivity and deep convictions were required to ensure that the rapidly developing post-primary sector preserved a religious ethos. This was hard, demanding work, requiring understanding and common sense, patience and sensitivity and above all the clear conviction of the necessity and the value of integrating the old and the new. It was work that went without publicity but work that will endure.

In 1979 when Pope John Paul decided to visit Ireland Bishop McKiernan was appointed Chairman of the Organising Committee. It involved a huge amount of work, with a relatively small staff, in a short space of time. Bishop McKiernan carried it out with great tact and efficiency. He delegated others and trusted those whom he delegated, but carried the responsibility for the whole effort with modesty, without any desire for publicity or recognition and with considerable success.

I have mentioned these episodes as some of the highlights of a long and distinguished career but they are the easier ones to identify and describe. His more valuable and lasting contribution is something different and very precious. Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and they know me”. Bishop McKiernan certainly knows the people of his diocese, the lay faithful, the religious and the priests. He has acquired that knowledge through years of patient parish visitation, hospital visitation and school visitation. That intimate knowledge of the diocese, of its people and of its history and its traditions is a great driving force in his life of loving dedication and commitment to their well-being and progress. He is well aware of the high honour and heavy responsibility of being bishop of the ancient See of the Ui Briuin. Keenly conscious of how much we, of the present day, owe to the past, he has always devoted his time and energy and talents to increasing his own knowledge of our rich inheritance of faith that he might the more effectively live up to that heritage and hand it on to future generations and inspire others to devote their lives to this noble task.

We Christians believe that we have been put on this earth for a purpose, to share in God’s life. We believe that we achieve that purpose by giving rather than by receiving. By giving ourselves to God and to our neighbour in loving service. This is only possible if we meet God, a God who comes to us, who comes in search of us in His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe that the spirit of the Risen Christ is the eternal source of every gift that comes from God and that the Holy Spirit acts within the Church in the sacraments and in the variety works and gifts which are inspired for the good of the Church.

Today we thank God for the work of Bishop McKiernan over the last twenty-five years. We thank God for his strong faith, a faith nurtured on the word of God, nourished by prayer and the sacraments and enriched by a tender devotion to Mary the mother of God. We thank God for his wisdom and understanding, wisdom developed through study and reflection. We thank God for his courage and vision manifested in his leadership and decision-making. We thank God for his piety and his reverence which have inspired and edified many.

The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control. Many of us will have our own particular memories of those fruits so evident in the life of our Jubilarian. I am not going to embarrass him by reciting them in public. Many have experienced his kindness and goodness, especially in times of trouble or sickness, and have noted his humility and faithfulness.

In his apostolic letter for the millennium Pope John Paul says that: ‘in the Christian view of things every jubilee is a particular year of favour for the individual concerned’. A jubilee is a measurement of time and every one of these measurements of time is marked with the presence of God and his saving activity. So as we rejoice to celebrate this well deserved tribute we pray that this year will be one of particular grace not only for Bishop Frank but also for his Co-adjutor, Bishop Leo, and for their loyal and generous co-workers, the priests and religious of the diocese. But not only for those. Let it be a time when the presence and saving love of Christ may be really strong in every parish and in every home, and in every heart, from Kilmainhamwood to Kinlough, to the glory of God forever and ever

AMEN.