APPOINTMENT OF BISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN
AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
STATEMENT BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

I am delighted to hear the news that Bishop Diarmuid Martin has been appointed as Representative of the Holy See to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva.

The outstanding work which he has carried out in Rome for many years, first at the Pontifical Council for the Family and more recently as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, means that Archbishop Martin is ideally prepared to be the Permanent Observer of the Holy Father in this important post. I wish him success and God’s blessing.

17 January, 2001

ST PATRICK’S HERITAGE ASSOCIATION & THE ULSTER SOCIETY
ST PATRICK PUBLICATION
CONTRIBUTION OF CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

It is a great privilege for me to contribute to this publication. I commend this timely initiative and thank those spearheading it.

Few countries honour the person or persons responsible for the Christian evangelisation of their country the way Ireland does. The people of this country are particularly fortunate and privileged in knowing so much about and sensing such a special bond with St Patrick who brought the Good News of Jesus Christ to our shores. In recalling the pivotal role which he played in the redemption and salvation of our people we honour St Patrick; much more importantly, however, we honour the message which he brought and the God which he preached. St Patrick could not have arrived one day too early to share the Good News of the one true God, the God who is one and three at the same time. Indeed 400 years after the death of Christ seems an unbearably long time for our forebears in this land to have lived in the darkness of not knowing their true God and Creator. With the Prophet Isaiah we can joyfully if belatedly proclaim: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.” (9:2)

When I consider St Patrick I think particularly of his wonderful sense of God. He was extremely aware of the presence of God with him. He knew the Lord in a very personal way. He sought the glory of God in all things. He knew that he himself was just an instrument. His own glory he did not seek but the Kingdom of God in all its fullness and riches he was eager to build in Ireland and to share its bounty with the Irish.

I also think of Patrick as a man of peace and reconciliation. He willingly forgave his captors. While his heart could easily have been destroyed by hatred and bitterness after his humiliating experience of enslavement, he was ready to forgive. Had his heart become hardened the self-abandoning generosity necessary to preach Jesus Christ would not have been possible for him. Rather in the Lord all things were reconciled for him. In his own life he experienced in a very real way the fruits of the death and resurrection of Jesus. He felt an irresistible compulsion to share this with others, even those who had earlier held him in bondage.

Here in Armagh where Patrick founded his first “stone church” in 445 the St Patrick’s Day celebrations are special. It is traditional for the Archbishop to celebrate Mass in the Cathedral of St Patrick and to distribute shamrock afterwards to the boy scouts and to the girl guides. Two years ago it was a great privilege for me to preach at Evensong in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral on St Patrick’s Day.

I would certainly wish to see St Patrick’s Day celebrated throughout Ireland by all traditions. First and foremost we should seek to honour Patrick by the worship due to our common God. Afterwards we are enriched by our secular celebrations, rejoicing in that which is best in our peoples and in our country and in that to which we justly and happily aspire. It would be wonderful if St Patrick’s Day were for all our people a day apart, a day of prayer and worship, colour and festive music, rest and national pride.

That St Patrick’s Day should be an occasion of division in our land seems to involve a serious contradiction. St Patrick is a symbol of unity pointing all in the direction of the same Father and Saviour recognised by all Christians. None of us must seek to monopolise the faith he brought us. None of us should feel excluded from the celebrations in his honour. We should all become acquainted with his powerful writings, his Confession and Letter to Coroticus; this would seem a very valuable and necessary beginning in a deepening understanding of our shared Patrician heritage.

Go dtaga Ríocht Dé inár measc mar ba thoil le Aspal na hÉireann.

May the Kingdom of God come among us as the Apostle of the Irish wished.

12 January, 2001

WORLD PEACE DAY
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL ARMAGH
1 JANUARY 2001

Prayer for peace never ceases in the world. It goes on all the time. The reason is that people long for peace from the depth of their hearts. Today, the Church celebrates the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. It is also the World Day of Peace. Today we unite with Catholics around the world to pray for the gift of peace and to say “Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our days”.

2000 years after the birth of Christ there is not peace in the world. In Bethlehem, the place where the Prince of Peace was born, Arab and Jew, fight each other in a deadly struggle. There are many other places of conflict. Obviously the paths which men and women follow in order to obtain peace are not always the ways of God. We must turn to Jesus Christ and listen once more to God announcing the gift of peace in him. Jesus, is our bond of peace with our brothers and sisters. He became the brother of all men and women. He constantly reminds us that we are all children of the same Heavenly Father.

In his message for the World Day of Peace, Pope John Paul II sees a growing hope at the dawn of the New Millennium. The hope is that relationships between people will be increasingly inspired by the ideal of a truly universal brotherhood. When people begin to realise, more clearly, that we are all brothers and sisters, children of God, our Father, then there is a basis for a stable peace.

In Northern Ireland, seeds of hope continue to be sown. The past year has been one of slow, but steady progress. Steady progress on the journey towards peace. The fact that the Assembly was reactivated after a period of suspension is encouraging. A programme for government has been agreed and published, a budget has been approved. Parties are engaged in the democratic process. The importance of having a local administration to deal with the day-to-day business of government is appreciated. These are the signs of hope. Confidence is growing. There is a feeling abroad that the corner has been turned. The prospect of a bright new future has been sighted. Hopefully the tide of trust will continue to flow and grow. Could we live with the shame of letting the prize of peace slip through our fingers because of something we failed to do? Unfortunately, some clouds overshadow these bright hopes. The threat of violence, indeed the reality of violence, persists in our divided society. Killings and feuding, exclusions and explosions prove once again how hard it is to settle differences when ancient hatreds create a climate of anger and exasperation. The lack of progress on the issues still to be resolved is alarming. Good faith is being called into question.

The road to a lasting peace is long and hard and torturous. There are often obstacles and many setbacks. Yet it is the road which we must all take. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”. Peacemakers know that they themselves depend on God. They are God’s agents at work in the world. They try to carry out God’s agenda. At the top of that agenda is the creation of a world in which the goods of the earth are fairly distributed, a world where no-one is forgotten or left out or left behind. A world in which nobody rests satisfied until the hunger of all has been satisfied.

In his message for peace today the Pope invites believers in Christ and all men and women of goodwill to reflect on the theme of dialogue – dialogue between cultures and nations. He says that this dialogue is the obligatory path to the building of a reconciled world. Of course the peace process here is the fruit of long and patient discussions and negotiations. It is in fact the fruit of dialogue. The United Nations has declared 2001 The International Year of Dialogue Among Nations.

Continuing his reflection, the Pope points out that people need to accept their own culture. Being firmly linked to one’s roots is important. It gives a balanced development. In this way people get a sense of their nationality. The Pope says, “Love for one’s country is a value to be fostered”. It is a value to be fostered without narrow-mindedness. It must not be such a narrow love of one’s own country that it excludes love for the whole human family as well. It is important to recognise the value of one’s own culture certainly but at the same time every culture is something human. It has its limitations. Our sense of belonging to one culture should not turn into isolation. To prevent this happening, knowledge of other cultures is also important. Then it will emerge that all cultures have a lot in common. There are values that are common to all. In the past, cultural differences have been a cause of conflict. What cultures have in common was often forgotten.

Pope John Paul II addresses another vexed question in today’s message, namely the challenge of migration. He reminds us that the movement of large numbers of people, from one part of the planet to another, is often a terrible odyssey for those involved. How migrants are welcomed by receiving countries and how well they become integrated in their new situation, is an indication of how much effective dialogue there is between the various cultures. The Irish experience is one of migration in all sorts of ways to many different countries. It brought new growth and enrichment. The Holy Father regrets that there are situations in which the difficulties involved in migration have never been resolved and tensions have become the cause of outbreak of conflict. It is clear that there are no magic formulas. However, some basic moral principles must be kept in mind. Refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants of any kind, must always be treated with the respect due to the dignity of every human person. The challenge is to combine the welcome due to every human being, especially to someone in need, with respect for the common good of the local inhabitants. Governments have the right and duty to control the influx of immigrants, since they have to protect the common good of their people, but at the same time they have to show the respect and welcome due to every human being.

I gladly pass on to you the appeal of Pope John Paul II in today’s message that we all become witnesses and missionaries for forgiveness and reconciliation. We have here in Northern Ireland a tragic heritage of war and conflict, violence and hatred. That heritage lives on in the memory of people. There is only one way to break down the barriers and that is by forgiveness and reconciliation. The Pope concedes that many will maintain that this is naïve but he insists, that from the Christian point of view, it is the only way which leads to the long desired good of peace.

The Holy Father bases his confidence on what happened in Calvary. Shortly before dying, Jesus, said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. The man crucified on his right, hearing these words, opens his hearts to the grace of conversion, welcomes the Gospel of Forgiveness and receives the promise of eternal happiness. The Holy Father is adamant that the example of Christ makes us certain that the many impediments to dialogue between people can indeed be torn down. For when we gaze upon the Crucified One we are filled with confidence that forgiveness and reconciliation can become the normal practice of everyday life.

The question is often asked what can the Churches do in addition to praying? We can work together to promote the awareness that a relationship with God the Father of all beings, brings about a greater sense of solidarity among people, when they see themselves as Children of God.

Secondly, we can engage more seriously in dialogue to discover the many and important elements which we have in common. We can also address more fully and more earnestly, what divides, what wounds and what hurts. We can work together to help people address the difficulties of immigration and we can unite in calling people to be witnesses and missionaries of peace and reconciliation.

The prayer for peace and the work for greater understanding among people of different backgrounds must continue. The St. Oliver Plunkett Peace and Reconciliation Movement is based in Drogheda. Last October the Committee initiated a National Day of Prayer to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the canonisation of St. Oliver. They phoned every Parish Priest in the country to ask their help. They were very pleased with the response and they are convinced that hundreds of parishes joined in prayer on that day.

The Pope ends his message with an appeal to young people to become men and women capable of solidarity, peace and love of life with respect for everyone. He asks them to become craftsmen of a new humanity where brothers and sisters, members all of the same family are able at last to live in peace. The challenge is not confined to young people; it is one for all of us.

REMEMBRANCE MASS FOR ALL VICTIMS OF THE TROUBLES
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL ARMAGH
Sunday, 25 November 2001
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

Christ the King: “Do this in memory of me”.

On his way to his crucifixion Jesus called those people who would renounce their wealth his disciples. When he died he hadn’t a single possession to his name. He was naked but he had other wealth, which he bestowed lavishly on people – his humanity. He made a lot of Nathaniel and won his friendship. He cured the Roman official’s son. He had room for Mathew, the tax collector, among his friends, in his intimate company. He had room too in his heart for Simon the political zealot. He joked playfully and affectionately with the Syro-Phoenician woman. He never forced his power on anybody. He was a noble person. He promised paradise to the criminal beside him on the cross.

On Calvary, one of the criminals hanging there abused him. “Are you not the Christ?” he said. “Save yourself and us as well”. But the other spoke up and rebuked him. “Have you no fear of God at all?” he said. “You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong”. “Jesus” he said, “remember me when you come into your kingdom”. “Indeed, I promise you”, he replied, “today you will be with me in paradise”.

Look how intimately and directly the wrongdoer speaks to ‘The Christ’. He has just met him and is on first name terms without any qualification. He calls him ‘Jesus’. Yes, Jesus was human to the core. He was a proper king, not a king of earthly power, control and wealth. He was the lowly Galilean, near to the worries and problems of ordinary people whom he came to serve and not to be served. He was the wandering preacher who healed the sick and proclaimed good news to the poor. The good shepherd who mingled with the outcasts and sinners in order to bring back those who seemed lost. He did not gain his victories for his kingdom by military conquest or by violently crushing his enemies. On the contrary, it was through his suffering and death that he fulfilled his mission and conquered evil. In Irish spirituality he is appropriately call Ri na gCréacht, ‘King of the Wounds’.

Over the past thirty years nearly four thousand people have died in our conflict, in Ireland and Britain, and some on the continent. We are remembering them now. We are calling them to mind, not to cause renewed distress to their relatives and friends gathered here, but to meditate spiritually on their human lives. When the news of each death was broken, families and friends reacted with shock and grief.

Neighbourhoods and communities showed their sympathy. Relatives can still feel the pain. Sometimes emotion comes back again. You knew them as individual persons, and experienced at first hand, the very texture of their lives. Their characters were absorbed into yours. You knew the depth, the very flavour of their needs and aspirations. We would want them to be happy for all eternity. That is our prayer – simple, intimate and human. “Jesus remember them in your kingdom”.

When we recall the mercy of Jesus from the cross our emphatic answer is ‘No, they are not dead forever’. This evening’s commemoration and the story of the ‘good thief’ is a reminder that paradise lies beyond the grave for all who seek God’s mercy. Every human person is important and unique to God. After all, he is our Father and we are His children. The individuals whom we have loved in time, have conversed with, eaten with, drank with, travelled with, played with, lived with – they are loved eternally now by God.

But this evening is not only a loving remembrance of those who died and who now see God face to face. It is a remembrance for all of us. We come here to exchange among ourselves a kiss of peace – the peace of Christ the king. The peace the world cannot give. The world too often offers us pain and death, tears of the bereaved, a mountain of sorrow and suffering. We come here today for peace, God’s gift to us, peace even in worry and anxiety, peace in bereavement and healing. We come to pray for peace and tolerance and understanding in our country – peace in our communities. Peace in the most beautiful of all communities – the family. An old Irish Gaelic prayer expresses this desire beautifully.

Peace between neighbours
Peace between kindred
Peace between lovers
In the love of the King of life.
Peace between person and person
Peace between wife and husband
Peace between women and children
The peace of Christ above all peace
Bless, O Christ, my face
Let my face bless everything
Bless, O Christ, mine eye
Let mine eye bless all it sees.

Ours is a world that knows need and distress, hatred and strife, inequalities and injustice, prejudice and discrimination. All these things and many more are contrary to God’s will. We pray in the Our Father ‘thy kingdom come’. We beg for the manifestation of God’s kingdom in its fullness. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom. He manifested his own kingship when he cured the sick, called sinners to repentance, showed concern for the poor and the outcasts, comforted the bereaved and preached the law of love. Now, as the ‘firstborn from the dead’ as today’s Second Reading calls him, we ask him to bring all those who died in the ‘troubles’ into the kingdom of Heaven. Having returned to the Father he has left the work of building up that kingdom to his followers, that is, to us. As St Teresa put it ‘Christ has no body now but ours, no hands but ours, to advance the kingdom of truth, honesty, justice and love which the preface in today’s Mass speaks of. We pledge that we too will play our part in His kingdom.

May the God, who created you and recreated you in baptism, strengthen you in holiness and grace to be witnesses of love and peace of truth and honesty.

May the human Christ who leads you with gentleness and love, give you mercy and consolation on this Remembrance Day.

May the humble king, whose reign shall never cease, receive into paradise all who died in the conflict in our country and unite them with him in glory and everlasting peace.

AMEN

MIDNIGHT MASS – CHRISTMAS EVE 2001
HOMILY BY
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH

I love the story about a little boy playing the part of a shepherd in the school nativity play. He had just one line to say, “Behold, the Saviour of the world”. He had practised for weeks but when the day came, unfortunately, his mind went blank. He couldn’t remember the line but he did remember what his mother always said when she saw a new baby, “He is the image of his father.” Of course the little boy was quite right. The Christ-Child is the image of his Father. In him we see our God made visible. As a result we are caught up in love of the God we cannot see. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. That explains the great outburst and outbreak of goodwill we experience every year at this time as people express their love for each other by giving gifts, sending cards, spending money to help other people. So our response is, “Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son”.

The Christ Child is the image of his Father. This is why his coming is Good News- a God who comes to us, not in power or in wealth, but in poverty, in humility, in weakness. The result is that, whether we like it or not, we are caught up in a love of the God we cannot see.

The love in question, of course, is not our love for God but God’s love for us and whether we like it or not we have got to make some response – to give some answer to that offer.

Sometimes we hear people say, “Isn’t it terrible what’s happened to Christmas”, meaning if only we could get back to the real meaning of Christmas. Of course the true meaning of Christmas can certainly be lost in the mad rush of selling and buying. We must guard against that. But the truth is that God entered the real world, the world of flesh and blood in Jesus Christ – the working-world of people with jobs to do, animals to feed and lots of worries. Otherwise the Good News of Christmas would not be the Good News which it really is.

It is Good News because the line, which the little boy forgot, is also an important one, “Behold the Saviour of the world”, for the Christ-Child is indeed the one and only Saviour of the world. He has made salvation possible for the whole human race.

You may ask, why did the Son of God have to come to save us? From what are we being saved? You see originally God had this dream of sharing His life and His happiness with each one of us but God’s plan was sabotaged – man refused to go along with the plan, refused to play his part. Our first parents refused to believe and refused to obey. The result was that a fatal flaw was introduced into the heart of the human condition. The consequences are to be seen straight away. Cain murdered his brother, Abel. The tower of Babel introduces division and confusion. These results are still with us. We find ourselves threatened from within and from without. For all our good intentions we are tempted, even the best of us, to destroy what is perceived to be ‘enemy’, to divide by ‘taking’ rather than unite by ‘sharing’.

So God had another plan – a rescue package. He sent His Son to remedy the fatal flaw. It was for you and for me, and for each one of us, that God was made man. Eternal death would have awaited us had Christ not been born in time. Our misery would have been everlasting had he not performed this act of mercy. We would never come to life again if He had not come to die our death. We have our part to play – give up violence.

The prophet Isaiah talked about people who walked in darkness, seeing a great light. He was talking about a particular kind of darkness, the darkness experienced by the citizens of Jerusalem, who had been defeated in war by an enemy invader. As they were being led into exile and captivity to provide slave labour for their conquerors, they had their eyes plucked out to make sure they would not escape. Well God never intended His sons and daughters to treat each other in that way. That is the darkness that Christ came to dispel.

What is the darkness and the oppression of our times? Perhaps it is the tragedy of 80% of the population of the planet is trying to survive on only 20% of the income or the fact that one million, two thousand million people have to struggle desperately to try to survive on less than a dollar a day. This is happening at a time when, more than ever before; humanity has the capacity for a just sharing of the world’s resources. Again what about the plight of the world’s 22 million refugees and displaced persons? Because of war, political oppression, or economic discrimination, they have been forced to flee their homeland – some never to return. They have often endured torture or atrocity, brutality and violence. Cain continues to raise his hand against his brother, Abel. They have often lost, or just simply had to leave behind, all their possessions. They come in search of employment. They hope to find peace.

Tonight in Bethlehem there is certainly no peace. For the second consecutive year all celebrations of Christmas have been cancelled. Jesus came to tell us that this is no way for us to treat one another. That kind of behaviour does not lead to God and we must give up everything that does not lead to God. It is as simple as that. It is not a question of Christianity having failed but rather that it is a matter of it not having been tried.

We live in a world that is often fearful and fretful, especially after the events of 11 September last. The power of evil often seems to triumph, darkness threatens to eclipse the light of the Bethlehem Child. The message of Christmas is that darkness will never prevail – goodness and virtue will ultimately be victorious in our world.

We are fearful because from the human point of view the power of evil often seems to triumph. Yet, to the eyes of those who have faith, the love and the mercy of God are far stronger than the power of evil. Jesus came to tell us about that mercy and that love. He not only told us, he showed us. That is what matters.

To ensure that evil does not triumph is not enough that we just sit back and fold our arms and say, ‘sure God will take care of it’. No, God relies on us to play our part, to make sure that mercy and love get the upper hand and not hatred and bitterness. Here in Ireland a new light has dawned with the prospect of peace. But that peace has not yet fully arrived despite the beacon lit by the Good Friday Agreement. In fact the past year has been, in some parts of Northern Ireland, quite difficult. Yet there are definite signs of hope for better things to come. We must continue to strive for the establishment of right relationships with each other, which offer the only solid basis for a lasting peace. We must, above all, deepen our relationship with God, the source of all lasting peace on whom we depend at every moment. The God who so loved us that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ. He is our peace and the real hope of the world.

We also live in a world that sometimes seems to have lost its sense of reverence and respect for life and for the author of life. Christmas tells us there is joy at every child born into the world. I am sure that every parent here present can testify to that. But there is also a sense of wonder and responsibility. For every life is something given on trust, something to be preserved with a sense of responsibility and to be perfected in a spirit of generous service to God and neighbour.

Every life is to be protected from that which threatens to destroy or diminish it – from abortion, euthanasia, violence of any kind, from abuse of drugs and alcoholic drink, from reckless behaviour of any sort. Every life is a combination of body and soul and the life of the Spirit is also to be nourished and cared for and protected from dangers that threaten it.

The Gospels tell us that Mary treasured all the words spoken about her new-born son and pondered them in her heart. Those of you who are mothers will remember how you felt when you first set eyes on the face of your firstborn. You probably gave thanks for the safe arrival and wondered what the future might hold. Like Mary, we would all do well to ponder the crib this Christmas and see there the loving kindness of the heart of our God. He comes to set us free from fear and to save us.

MASS IN
CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, TULLYSARAN
SUNDAY 31 DECEMBER 2000
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

One advantage of the recent snowstorm may have been that we all have had to stay at home a bit more and forget about a certain amount of travel that we had planned. Perhaps you talked a bit more than usual to your family over those days. Maybe you discovered some things about your family that you didn’t know already, and if so, that is good.

I spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at home. It was delightful; I shared meals with my brother, his wife and family. We played cards, we talked, and we listened. When I left on Wednesday, the snow came lashing down. It was my brother who phoned me on the way out of concern to give advice and to make sure that I arrived safely.

The experience of those days caused me to cast my mind back and remember once again how much love I have received from my parents, God rest them, and from my family. It was there in the bosom of my family I learned to love and to be loved. It is in the bosom of every family that each one of us learns what love is and how to receive love and to give love.

Recently I attended the funeral of the mother of one of our priests. He talked about the struggle, which so many mothers had to make trying to put food on the table. Drying clothes in wet weather for a big family in the era before spin-driers was no joke. Christian mothers and fathers do all of that and much more all of the time. Today I want you to think for a moment of all that you owe in love to your family. Just recall for a while what you have received. Today I want to give thanks to God for the many outstanding families, the many outstanding parents and grandparents and children, people who do their utmost to give to their families all that is best in life. We thank God today for families, for their serene and sound faith in God as parents try to practice that faith and pass it on to their children. We thank God for parents, first of all because they are open to new life. They co-operated with God in giving us life.

The First Reading introduces us to two remarkable people, Hannah and her husband Elkanah. Hannah had a great hurt in her life. She was barren, she had no children. Her great rival, Penninah, who was the second wife of Elkanah, had children but Hannah had none. Every year they all used to go up to pray or to offer worship in the Temple of Yahweh at Shiloh. Penninah used to taunt Hannah to annoy her about the fact that she was childless. And so, Hannah wept and would not eat. Then in the bitterness of her soul she prayed for a child and she made a vow. The vow was this: that if God heard her prayer she would give the child to the Lord for the whole of his life.

Well Hannah’s prayer was heard. She gave birth to a son, Samuel, and as we heard in that reading, she kept her promise – she gave him to the Lord. In that entire story the faith of Hannah shines out. She believed that all life comes from God, she knows that human life is sacred because it is a gift from God. And so she recognises that she depends, totally, on the Creator.

That theme is continued in the Second Reading where St. John invites us all to reflect on the fact that we are all God’s children. That is a mighty privilege. Yes, whether we are Protestant or Catholic, Muslim or Jew, Buddhist or Hindu, we all have a common Father – God who is the source and origin of all life – God who is love. It can also be a blessing.

In his message for the World Day of Peace, which is tomorrow, Pope John Paul II, says “there is growing hope of greater peace in the world because of the fact that more and more people are becoming evermore conscious of the fact that a relationship with the One God, the common Father of all, cannot fail to bring about a greater sense of human brotherhood”. That is what the Holy Father believes will be essential in the search for peace.

In our earthly family we are often reminded of the love which God the Father has lavished upon us. The love which our earthly fathers and mothers show us, the gifts we get at Christmas, all of this remind us of the love which comes originally from God. God is love. All true love comes from God.

In the Offertory Procession today we will be emphasising the seeds of hope for the future. First and foremost among those seeds of hope I would place the Christian family. There we give thanks for the deep faith of so many Christian families in this parish. The Church wants you all, not only to keep that faith, but also to deepen it and to strengthen it and pass it on. We carry lighted candles to the altar often. They are symbols of a living faith, a faith that continues to shine out and give guidance and light for our lives. But that will only happen as long as there is prayer in the home. Family prayer is the oxygen of the life of faith.

The faith of adults will only survive the storms and hurricanes of our difficult times if it is an adult faith. The RENEW programme which has been going on in the parish over the past three years aims at educating us in our faith, especially to the Word of God. The life of the body can die through lack of food. In the same way our faith can die if it is not nourished by food, that is by prayer and study and reflection. And so, another seed of hope is the programme which will be put in place to continue, to follow on, from RENEW.
A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children form a family. The members of every family are persons who are equal in dignity. The fourth commandment says; ‘Honour your father and your mother’. It is God’s clear will that after Him we should honour our parents. To them we owe our life. They have handed on to us the knowledge of God.

One of the seeds of hope for the New Millennium that I would like to sow is support for Christian marriage. My hope is that people will prepare well and seriously for marriage. Many people spend a lot of time choosing and getting ready for their jobs, their career in life. But their marriage is more important. A good marriage is better than a good job. Of course they are not exclusive. Married couples need to give themselves the time and the space and the effort to enrich their marriage, to increase and improve their communication with each other as a basis for deepening their love.

You know that when Jesus chose to be a member of the holy family he was in fact choosing to share with all of us, the slow process of growing up and learning and maturing. Now we are all called to be God’s chosen ones, His family. So today I want you all to pray for all the families of the parish.
At this time of the year we make New Year resolutions but also New Year wishes. Seven is the perfect number, so I have seven wishes to put before you.

1. I hope that kindness will take root in all our lives during 2001. For if it does, our homes will become centres of peace and places of goodness.

2. I hope that parents will never forget the love, which gave life to their children. For if they do so they will always correct and advise their children patiently and wisely and be really thankful to God for their sons and daughters.

3. I hope that children and young people will realise clearly that they get gifts from their parents, which they can never lose – the gift of life, the gift of hope. As a result they can become really thankful people.

4. I wish all mothers and fathers the moral strength and Christian character, which they need to help their children grow in grace and true wisdom.

5. I would like to see those families that are separated by bitterness and hatred and pride, happily reunited in the love of Christ. Let us all make that a special intention this year.

6. My hope for children is that they will honour and obey their parents always. If they cheerfully help all their brothers and sisters, they can play their part in making their homes happy places.

7. Finally, I wish that those families, who lost a beloved one through death, will live in hope of being together one day in Heaven.

MIDNIGHT MASS – CHRISTMAS 2000
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light”
What is the darkness of which the prophets speak? It is everything in the world that is confusing. The confusion about what is right and what is wrong, about what is true and what is false. Jesus came to tell us that there is such a thing as right and wrong, truth and falsehood. His Church continues to teach what he taught, to be a light in the darkness.

Yesterday I met a lady in St. Oliver Plunkett hospital in Dundalk. She quoted to me a favourite phrase of the late Father Michael Hardy, who died earlier this year. Father Hardy used to say, “Jesus came to tell us that he is going to prepare a good place for all of us”. That is an example of a bright beacon of light in a world so confused about the purpose of our being here on earth in the first place. It is also a bright beacon of hope, offering something to live for and to strive after.
Jesus came to this world to reveal the beauty of God. St Augustine tells us,

God is beautiful in Heaven,
beautiful on Earth,
beautiful in the womb,
beautiful in His mother’s arms.

How many painters and sculptors have tried to catch and express that beauty in marble and in wood, on canvas and in fresco?

The light of Christ comes to us to enable us to see God’s beauty, wherever it is to be found. That beauty is often hidden, concealed in unexpected places. We need that light to see the beauty of God, especially when it is concealed in what at first sight appears to be something ugly, for example a neglected slum or a prison cell.

The light of Christ summons all of us to see the Word made flesh on the face of all those we meet. He promised that those who hunger after justice would have their fill. The hunger for a just world is one in which the beauty of all God’s children is recognisable and recognised – whether those children are our relatives or refugees, our acquaintances or asylum seekers.

The light that scatters the darkness challenges us to respect the life of every human being at every stage of its existence. It summons us to respect the processes that lie at the origin of life and not to transgress the boundaries or usurp the powers that properly belong to the Author of Life.

The prophet Isaiah had foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The town of Dundalk had only a couple of week’s notice of the visit of President Clinton. Yet, it got all its preparations carried out. Despite the fact that Bethlehem had several centuries notice, it seems to have been less well prepared for its illustrious visitor. But then would any place ever be fully prepared for the greatest event in the history of the whole world – the birth of the Son of God – the Lord of Heaven and Earth?

Perhaps it wasn’t altogether by chance that there was no place in the inn. The outcome was that he was born, not in a house but in an outhouse, surrounded by dumb beasts. His first visitors were poor, despised shepherds. They found him wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. Yet he is their Saviour, the Messiah, the Lord. There, the splendour and majesty of Heaven, meet the poverty and simplicity of this Earth. It is a great mystery, which holds deep lessons for all us. I believe that only someone with the sense of wonder of a child can begin to decipher those messages. In front of the crib is not a bad place to begin.
Peace lies at the heart of the Christmas message. On that first Christmas night the chorus of angels sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest Heaven and on Earth, peace among those whom God favours’. The peace in question is more than an absence of war. Peace involves right relationships. Jesus came to restore right relationships between his Father in Heaven and the human race. He came to ring the Father’s love and pardon to all who are willing to receive him. Unfortunately there are many who are so stubborn in mind and hard of heart that they despise the love and the pardon which he came to bring. Jesus also spoke of bringing a sword, a sword to separate the good from the bad; the truthful from the deceitful; the genuine builders of peace from those who seek not a real peace, but a sham peace; those who seek domination, humiliation and victory, which they then call peace. For true peace is built on justice and integrity and on truth, otherwise it is not built at all.

This Christmas we give thanks for the progress made in the long journey towards a lasting settlement of conflict in this country. We praise God for the improvement in the relations between those who were previously at enmity with each other. We recognise the good work done by so many courageous people, in so many areas of life. At the same time we realise that events such as shootings and bombings, expulsions and punishment beatings, illustrate the absence of right relationships in certain areas. They point to the absence of total peace. The impasse over policing, decommissioning and demilitarisation indicates an atmosphere of suspicion, distrust, and absence of goodwill. Such a situation does not give great hope of right relationships being easily or speedily established. There is a still an amount of road to travel. There is need for patience – immense patience – and a renewed commitment to the search for a lasting settlement.

Jesus is Mighty God and Prince of Peace. He is not a magician who can wave a magic wand to heal difficult situations without the co-operation, or against the will of the participants themselves. Everyone knows that the progress already made was the fruit of serious discussions and honourable negotiation. Those discussions required a certain amount of mutual esteem and harmony, for negotiation is only fruitful where there is a genuine effort to learn from each other, where people realise that it is easy to point out another person’s mistakes but it is more difficult to have the courage to hear what they can teach us.

A lasting peace can only be built and maintained by people of vision, that is, by people who have the capacity to think and work for the future. Those people need the support of all who are really on the side of peace if they are to continue to dedicate their lives and take risks for the benefit of generations yet unborn. They really deserve that support because a society that is constantly under threat from political or economic instability offers little hope to young people of what they might reasonably expect from life. They need that support now.

So, I call on all those who voted for the Good Friday Agreement, to once again renew their hope in the promise which that historic Agreement contains. The Belfast Agreement represents not alone the only hope, but in my opinion, an excellent hope of establishing once and for all those right relationships and that mutual understanding which we call, and which actually are, genuine peace. In this season of peace and goodwill, the support of prayers for reconciliation and for the continuation of the normalisation of relationships is essential. We place all our hopes before the Baby of Bethlehem. We ask him to strengthen them and bring them to fulfilment in our lives and in our times.

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, knew what it was to be homeless, what it meant to be a refugee and to have the life of her newborn son under threat. May she protect all those who are in desperation tonight because they are penniless, jobless or homeless. May the memory of that first Christmas move many generous hearts to help those who find themselves in that situation.

Jesus came to give us the good news that we are never abandoned or alone. Instead we are loved and we always have available to us the power to journey towards something better. This hope for a better future is contained in all the Christmas messages which we send and receive at this time of year. This hope for a better future is what lies behind the gifts we receive and which we give. We all experience this immense desire to share our story and to love and, in return, to be understood and to be loved. That is why everyone likes to be at home or among friends at Christmas. The child, born in the stable, is a sign that God has opened the door for us. No one need be a stranger to God’s Word any longer. No one need feel lonely or alone for our God is near to us. May you experience God’s saving presence very near to you this Christmas and may it be, for each one of you, a source of great peace and joy.

AMEN

ST OLIVER PLUNKETT
SILVER JUBILEE OF CANONISATION
ST PETER’S CHURCH, DROGHEDA
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
12 OCTOBER, 2000, 7.30PM

I am very thankful to all who have organised and celebrated this Silver Jubilee of the canonisation of St Oliver Plunkett. Happily the celebration coincides with the celebration of the Great Jubilee of the Birth of Jesus. I am very pleased that the Organising Committee, along with Monsignor Donnelly, the priests of the parish and especially, Fr Paddy Rushe, have got such a wonderful response. My thanks to Tommy Burns and the Co-ordinating Committee and to the Committee who organised the book on music, launched the jubilee tours, the charity dinner and so much else.

To the schools who took part in art competitions, in the school Masses, the many competitions, I say thanks. To those involved in the ecumenical celebration for Peace and Reconciliation, I am most grateful. To those who arranged the exhibition of artefacts, to Monsignor Hanley for the anniversary lecture, which I hope will become an annual event, my sincere thanks. To the MMMs for their generous co-operation for the parish tea, St Vincent de Paul for the use of their hall and for all this, we give thanks to God. To all who gave of their time and of their talents so generously and so joyfully, may God bless you. To those who received awards, I say a heartiest congratulations. I know that you do not work for the reward which you receive of this earth and I know that you realise that you are often the representatives of a lot of other good people. Yet we rejoice with you, congratulate you on all the good you have achieved and on having your efforts recognised.

I hope people won’t mind me singling out for a special mention, the National Day of Prayer, which you have proclaimed for today, 12 October. It is of course the actual anniversary of the canonisation. This is a most welcome initiative, which has been taking place now for a number of years. In previous years Tommy Burns and the enthusiastic and energetic committee wrote to the parish priest of every single parish in Ireland. The idea was to invite them, and their people, to unite themselves in prayer on the anniversary of the canonisation. This year the Committee went one step better. They decided to telephone every single parish priest. I reckon you met quite a few answering machines in the process. The important thing is that it was done. You invited the priests, and their people, to offer special prayers at Masses and speak for a very special intention, peace and reconciliation. For all of that we are gathered here tonight to give praise and thanks to God.

Successful people generate a lot of enthusiasm and attract a lot of attention. You saw the crowds that were out to welcome Sonia Sullivan home to Cork yesterday and those who hailed the Olympics success of the British team. We cannot all be as successful as Garry Kelly or Ian Hart, cannot all be as rich as Tony O’Reilly or cannot be as intelligent as Einstein, as politically successful as successful politicians, but we can all be holy, like St Oliver Plunkett. Not only can we be holy but we are all called to be holy. We are all expected, by God, to be holy and if God expects us to be something special, and to do something special in life, God will most certainly give us the resources to become that sort of person. Think about the matter for a minute. Ask yourself. Who are the real success stories? Who have shown that they have succeeded in the really important things? Who have succeeded in winning the gold medal that really matters? The medal that lasts, not only for a year, or four years, but forever. The medal that brings happiness not just for a day or a week or a month or a year but for all eternity. We admire people who are rich, rich in money terms and property, but also rich in doing good deeds. Saints are rich in that respect. They have succeeded in resisting the temptation to take revenge and instead they are able to offer forgiveness to those who torture them. That was what Oliver Plunkett did. Oliver Plunkett was betrayed by his own. False charges were brought against him that he was planning to overcome the government of the day.

We all need to be forgiven by others, and so we ourselves should be ready to forgive. In our world there is a lot of hurt, a lot of brokenness. Broken promises, broken vows, broken dreams. There is a lot of fear and suspicion. There is a lot of hatred and division in families. Hands which should be used for welcoming and greeting have been used for harming and hurting. Feet which should be used for visiting and standing up to meet responsibilities have been used to run away from responsibilities.

I heard someone pray: “Give us this day our daily bread of encouragement and forgiveness”. For the truth is: we cannot remain a prisoner of the past forever. Individuals and indeed people need a sort of healing of memory, so that past evils will not come back again. This does not mean forgetting past events. But as Pope John Paul II has said, it means seeing past events with a new attitude. It means learning from the experience that only love can build up and restore.

Hatred produces only devastation and ruin. The death cycle of revenge must be replaced. It must be replaced by the freedom which only forgiveness can give. We all need to be forgiven by others. Because we are all sinners, we all need to be forgiven by God. That is why Jesus left us a special sacrament of forgiveness, the Sacrament of Confession. He had already spoken eloquently about the joy there is in the presence of the angels of God once one who sins repents.

Some people see Confession as a torturous procedure. Jesus meant it as a source of blessing, a means of forgiveness, forgiveness in its highest form, a free act of love.

When you, I, do wrong, we, on first impulses, want to talk to someone about it to ease the pain and to share the guilt. Until this happens we carry a heavy load. We have no peace of mind. Jesus knows human nature through and through. He knows the amount of damage and hurt and brokenness which we are all capable of inflicting on, and of suffering at the hands of, each other. If we break a leg we have it attended to.

This evening we gladly raise up St Oliver Plunkett as a model of building peace and of reconciliation. He found many situations marked by hatred and violence. He tried his best to build up a world which is reconciled and fully human. At this, yet another, critical time in the history of the peace process in Northern Ireland, we ask the help of St Oliver to look upon all people as brothers and sisters and to reach out to them without prejudice but with an attitude of trust and acceptance. May his intercession help us all to live in every situation the virtue of tolerance, understanding and respect. Our young people hold great hopes in their heart; these hopes can only be realised if they learn to live with one another in peace.

We must build bridges – not barriers. Whoever cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.

Forgiveness is at once our deepest need and our highest achievement. It was precisely because Oliver could say, “Have mercy on me God in your kindness, in your compassion blot out my offence”. That he could also offer forgiveness to those who have betrayed him. Forgiving from the heart can sometimes be actually heroic. Oliver was heroic. So also was Rabbi Leo Beck, a Jewish leader in Germany at the time of the holocaust. He was arrested five times. Finally sent to a concentration camp, sentenced to death. On the day planned for his execution the Russians arrived and the Germans fled. Rabbi Beck could have fled but he stayed behind to plead for mercy with the Russian soldiers on behalf of the German camp guards. The Russians handed the guards over to the inmates and Beck managed to persuade them not to take vengeance, the vengeance they had been thirsting for.

We asked God just now to help us by the prayer of St Oliver, to follow the way of reconciliation, which he showed by his example. What example are we talking about? The fact that Oliver Plunkett was arrested for his faith and that in fact in his trial he was betrayed by some of his own. And yet on the day of his execution, he was brought on a sledge to Tyburn. In his speech he refuted his accusers, point by point, but went on to forgive all of them including the judge and those who had given false evidence against him. He said, “I beg my Saviour to grant them true repentance. I do forgive them with all my heart”. And then he went on to ask forgiveness of all those whom he had ever offended by thought, word or deed. Of course in doing this Oliver was putting into practice what Christ commands all of us to do when He said, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you”. He knelt down said the act of contrition and died.

Precisely because Oliver was sincerely able to say, “Have mercy on me God in your kindness, in your compassion blot out my offence”, that he was able to forgive his enemies. We all need to be forgiven by others. So we must all be ready to forgive. Asking and granting forgiveness is often difficult. Yet it is something which is profoundly noble and worthy of the human person. Sometimes it is the only way out of situations which have been marked by age old hatred. Let’s not cod ourselves. Forgiveness doesn’t come spontaneously or naturally. Two people, forgiving from the heart, can sometimes be very heroic.

JUBILEE CELEBRATION FOR TEACHERS
St John The Baptist Church, Moy, and
Franciscan Missionary Sisters For Africa, Mount Oliver
21 & 22 NOVEMBER, 2000
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

You have only one teacher, the Christ. In this evening of celebration for teachers we give thanks to God for the way, you teachers have been chosen by God to carry out Christ’s command and are in fact, carrying it out. I am talking about the last command which Christ gave to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. He said, “Go, make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe what I have commanded you, and baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. We know that the disciples didn’t do very much about that until Pentecost came. Then the Holy Spirit gave them new courage and new strength. Then they went out and began to preach and teach and baptise. Gradually they realised that they couldn’t do it all on their own. They also realised that they did not have to do it all on their own because the Sacrament of Baptism made those who were baptised sharers in the teaching office of Christ. And so this evening we praise God for the generations of teachers who over the last 2000 years, 1500 years, I suppose, in this case, handed on to the children entrusted to their care what they themselves had received.

We thank God for parents, the first and often the best of teachers, for Boards of Management, for Boards of Governors, for Trustees and for all who play a part in what, I like to call, the Glorious Enterprise that is Christian education.

Last week the priests of the diocese were gathered in Bundoran. We were thinking about last Sunday’s gospel. You may remember that it talks about tribulations and trials of this world and then it spoke of the signs of hope, symbolised by the fig tree with its new leaves, new buds. Among the trials which one priest mentioned was the number of modern homes where the parents have never bothered to put up any sign of their Christian faith to inspire or excite the interest of the child. And among the signs of the hope mentioned was the wonderful band of countless enthusiastic hard working teachers. I can identify with that sentiment from my own visits to classrooms which are busy places and lively places and very spiritual and religious places. I am thinking of the lovely decorations, religious symbols, the prayer life, the preparation for the Sacraments, First Confession, First Communion, Confirmation. Tonight we celebrate all of that and much more, your constant efforts to hand on all that is best to your pupils.

What a lovely icon you have chosen for this evening’s celebration, the Icon of the Most Blessed Trinity. An empty space at the table of the Trinity is reserved for you and for me. It is a place where each one of us can sit, as Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his words. I suppose that icon is a reminder to all of us who preach or teach, that before we do so we must sit and be ourselves a disciple. We must listen and learn. We have only one teacher – The Christ.

The poet says: Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

God has a dream for you and for me. God’s dream for us calls us to discover the true faith, that is the true face of God. Our teachers help us to interpret the dream.

God’s dream is a prayer that we will discover the true face of God in Jesus. “When the fullness of time came God sent His Son, born of a woman”, to reveal to us His true face. This face looks lovingly at us no matter what mistakes we make. It is a face reflected in the face of all who look at us with love. It is a face that calls us beyond rivalry and jealousy into community and to everlasting friendship. Tonight we give thanks for all those teachers who have helped their pupils discover God’s dream for them, who helped to discover the depths of goodness that lie, like buried treasure, in their hearts. For in so doing they help them to discover their God. We thank God for all those creative and imaginative teachers who helped their pupils wake up to the miracle and beauty, that is life. We give thanks for those teachers who help their pupils prepare for the sometimes painful and heart-breaking contradictions of life by telling them clearly that there is more to human life, than comfort, entertainment and the avoidance of suffering.

There was another verse in the first reading of last Sunday’s Mass. It goes as follows:

“The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as stars for all eternity”. What a wonderful promise is contained in that vision from the book of the prophet Daniel. In that vision there was revealed for the first time the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead when it says: “Of those sleeping in the dust of the earth many will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace”. Tonight we think of the many past teachers of this Archdiocese who lie sleeping in the dust of the earth of the graveyards in Louth and Derry, Armagh and Tyrone. There they await the call to arise in glory and shine as bright as stars for all eternity. For those who have instructed many in virtue will shine as brightly as stars for all eternity. And so I hope our celebration this evening will send us out determined to continue to instruct people in virtue. Pope John Paul II decided that this Jubilee Year would be filled with celebrations of different categories of people.

Last Sunday, for example, was the Jubilee of the Police and the Armed Services. The previous Sunday it was the Jubilee of farmers. Tonight we are celebrating the Jubilee of teachers. Really what we are doing is celebrating the part which different professions of people play as followers of Christ in building up the Kingdom. When he came he said: “The Kingdom of God is near”. As teachers you have a very important part to play in building up that Kingdom.

At present a very important debate and consultation are taking place here in Northern Ireland about our system of education. You teachers have a very important contribution to make to that debate. The Catholic Church has a long history in education. As Catholic educators I know that it is your primary concern to care for your pupils in such a way that all their physical, moral and intellectual talents may develop. I know that you are concerned about the formation of the whole person, so that your pupils may reach their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of the society to which they belong. I hope this Jubilee celebration will, once again, renew the joy of all teachers. I hope it will arouse in all of us a sense of gratitude for the outstanding teachers who know that they have been called by God to do a very special task, preparing citizens for this life and for the next.

We are drawing near to the end of this year 2000, the year of the Great Jubilee. This evening as teachers we come together to celebrate 2000 years of our faith history, 2000 years of telling and teaching, retelling and learning the story of that history. This is a holy year, a sacred space.

It is a space in which to pause at the threshold of the future. It is a time to look back, to look back and celebrate the story of our own people, of what we are. In that story the local school and its teachers always have a treasured and special place. We need to look back in order to understand where we now stand. As someone looks back in a climb up a hill or up a mountain to review the progress made and the distance travelled. We need to draw breath, the breath of the Holy Spirit, so as to understand where God is calling us, where God wants us to go for the future.

We face the future with confidence. We rely not on our own wisdom but on the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. We face the future with the Words of Christ ringing out loudly in our ear. “Heaven and Earth will pass away. My Words will not pass away”. I was a teacher myself for 13 years. I was always very conscious of the huge act of trust which parents place in those to whom they entrust the education of their children. It falls to the lot of the teacher to help their pupils open their hearts to the gift that is our Church and our Sacraments. To help them open their eyes to see in the Church and the Sacraments – the healing touch and the Human Face of the Risen Christ for our time.

It is your wonderful calling to help children open their ears to hear the voice of God as He speaks His dream for His people, in the Sacred Scriptures.

This dream nestles in the heart of each one of us, longing to fly free and live life to the full. “Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly”.

You have only one teacher – The Christ. As the words of our opening hymn said:
Longing for the light we wait in darkness,
Longing for truth we turn to him.
Make us your own, your holy people,
Light for the world to see.
Amen

SERVICE FOR THE ‘DISAPPEARED’
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
SUNDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2000
ADDRESS BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

We come here today to remember, to remember people who have suffered an immense sorrow. We are here to be with you as you remember the terrible wrong that was done to your dear ones. We really only have a slight idea of the hurt you have endured. We have only a hint of the trauma you have suffered, not only in the loss of someone you loved but in the difficulty you met in finding people to talk to about your sorrow; people who were willing to share your grief. We are here to make sure that you and your beloved ones are not forgotten, that your suffering is remembered. We come to pray that out of that remembrance may come the strength to accept and even to forgive. We are here to show our support for one another.

We gather today to bind up hearts that are broken with sorrow and with loss. We do so with our presence and our prayers, with our sympathy and our support. We are here to be with you, you who have been devastated by the loss of someone you love. We have come to comfort you who mourn the disappearance of your dear ones.

We have come to pray. We acknowledge our own helplessness. We turn to God, the God of all consolation. He comforts us. He comforts us in all our sorrow. We know we ourselves have been comforted by God in our times of sorrow. So, we have the possibility to offer others, in their sorrow, the consolation which we ourselves have received from God.

As Christians we share the same baptism. But Christians also share responsibility for one another. When they are sick, Christians have a responsibility to do all they can to help the sick return to health. In the same way we are all called to offer consolation to those who have suffered the loss of someone they love. Christian consolation is rooted in hope. It is built on the hope that comes from believing, believing in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he has risen from the dead, we hope that we too shall rise from the dead.

A Christian community gives consolation to a bereaved family in many ways. It does so in a special way by taking part in the funeral rites of the deceased. Funerals have always been important in the lives of a community. They provide the opportunity for the bereaved to commend their dead to God. They raise up our hopes in times of sorrow. Funerals are very important for those who believe in Christ. They give us an opportunity to express our own faith that we are destined to rise from the dead with Christ, our Risen Lord. A Christian burial is very important in the context of allowing people to heal, and to overcome their sorrow, and their shock. A grave gives us a focus for grief. It is a place to visit where flowers can be brought and prayers offered. That is why it is so important that the search for the location of victims’ remains should continue.

Today we pray for guidance for those involved in that search. We pray for people who may not have yet done so, to have the courage to come forward and provide information, which may be of help, in the search for the bodies that have not yet been located. Families have a need to know the truth about what happened. They have a right to know that truth. It is essential for their peace of mind they should receive the information that will set their minds at rest and enable them to get on with their grieving. Otherwise they are liable to be haunted by the memory of this tragedy.

I have been told that your deepest desire is to fulfil your sacred duty to your loved ones by laying them to rest. I believe that this is true. I believe that you have no desire to engage in recrimination or prosecution.

You have been carrying an immense cross of suffering. You have endured that cross with wonderful courage. That endurance has given you strength, strength of character. It deepens your faith. That strength of character has given you hope. You are an inspiration to all of us.

In the Gospel, which we have just heard, Jesus spoke solemnly to his friends. It was the night on which he was going to be betrayed. He asked them to put their trust totally in him. He promises to come back and take them with him so that where he is, they also may be. Today we commend our sister, and our brothers who have disappeared, into the hands of the Father of Mercies. We do so in a sure and certain hope. Our hope is that, together with all who have died in Christ, they will rise with him on the last day.

We belong to God. Every moment of our existence we are in His gentle, loving care.

The memory of the disappearance of these people saddens and shames us. It should also spur us on to do all in our power to ensure that such things can never happen again in our society.

The Gospel speaks of trust. The seeds of mutual trust planted in recent months must be given a chance to bear fruit. The relationships that were only beginning to be built up must be given time to grow. Those relationships and only those relationships, can help us understand each other’s hopes and fears as well as the hurts and difficulties. Without that understanding, other attempts at peace-making and bridge building will, I fear achieve little.

The words of Nelson Mandela, seem particularly appropriate at this moment.

“Our deepest fear” he says “is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Now if we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”.

I say these words are appropriate because if we let our light shine and create together the kind of future which we really want, instead of accepting a future shaped by the fears and suspicions of the past, then I believe that future to be one of great hope. Despite the recent setbacks, I am convinced that the conditions and the goodwill still exist to deliver a lasting peace.

Among ancient sailors it was the custom to send forth birds to look for land. Noah, you may remember, had no success with the first bird. It had to come back. The second was a dove and it had a little more success. It brought back an olive branch in its beak. The olive branch was a sign of peace, it signalled the end of angry judgement. It gave hope. Then finally, the third bird didn’t come back and Noah knew he was safe. Despite everything, I think that the dove with the olive branch can be seen on the horizon. Let us all work and pray that this may be so. It would ensure that those who have suffered such terrible suffering did not suffer in vain.

We gather in a Cathedral, devoted to St. Patrick. His family had the experience of him disappearing at the age of sixteen and not returning until he was many years older. May his intercession gain for us the grace of an end to the sorrow and the prize of a lasting peace.
AMEN