EVENSONG
ST EDAN’S CHURCH OF IRELAND CATHEDRAL, FERNS
28 JANUARY, 2000
HOMILY BY MOST REVEREND SEÁN BRADY
ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to you tonight at this privileged moment in history. I thank Dean Leslie Forrest for his gracious invitation to be here. I congratulate him and Father Aidan Jones and the Ferns Joint Ecumenical Committee on the initiative of inviting Archbishop Robin Eames and myself, to preach in the ancient diocese of Ferns.

As Fr. Walter Forde remarks in Memory and Mission – An Account of Christianity in Wexford from 600 to 2000 – “1400 years represent a huge sweep of history”. Tonight we honour and celebrate that huge sweep.

We are gathered here tonight in St Edan’s Cathedral. When I asked Mgr. Patrick Corish of Maynooth to tell me something of Aidan, he assured me that he was a very famous saint who brought honour, not only to Ferns, but also to his native Breifne. As a Breifne man myself, I am happy to tell you that the memory of Aidan is alive and well today in his native heath. No less than five churches and several schools are named after him.
The time of Aidan was a time of great missionary activity and energy. It was the era of Gregory the Great, the man who sent Augustine to England after he had seen English captives in a Roman slave market. Augustine landed in Kent, and made its capital, Canterbury, his headquarters.

It was a time of great missionary activity here in Ireland also – the age of Columcille and Columbanus. Columbanus studied in Devenish in Co. Fermanagh, near the homeland of Aidan. He (Columbanus) travelled on from there to Bangor and Burgundy, and ended up in Bobbio. I remember well one night, some years ago, the community of the Irish College in Rome were going to Bobbio to celebrate the feast and Fr Fintan Morris, of the Ferns diocese, told us proudly that Columbanus was a South Leinster man.

As Columbanus moved north, Aidan seems to have moved south. Of course like all the famous saints he was of noble birth. His father belonged to one of the tribes of the Kingdom of Airgialla, territory of Oriel, which was mainly Co Monaghan and part of Fermanagh. The links of Ferns and Oriel still continue with the presence of Bishop Brendan Comiskey, a Co Monaghan man in your midst.

Indeed this exchange of north/south gifts seems to have been often repeated. I know that Reverend Charles Mullan, from Co Cavan is ministering here in Gorey. In the last century Ferns handsomely repaid its debt to Breifne when James Brown of the parish of Ballymore and Mayglass, was Catholic bishop of Kilmore from 1829-1865.

There was North-South movement but there was also East-West movement as well. Before settling in Ferns Aidan studied for some years in Wales, at Menevia, now St. David’s in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. It was here at Ferns that he established his most important foundation. Obviously Aidan would have travelled around the area preaching the Christian message, baptising and founding churches. At Ferns he probably also established a school for the sons of the nobility. The missionary method at the time was to try and convert the king in the hope that the king’s subjects would follow suit.

The first millennium was the great millennium of evangelisation, preaching the Word, missionary activity, consolidation of the faith. It was followed by a millennium in which the great divisions took place. Unfortunately, most of those divisions began here in Europe. The century which has just ended has seen, thankfully, considerable ecumenical progress. That progress is a sign of great hope for the Church today. It is a sign that the prayer of Jesus that they all may be one is being heard. We thank God for the progress already made and for the much improved quality of our relationships, we pray that the remaining problems may be resolved.

The realisation that disunity was a stumbling block to preaching the Gospel brought the modern Ecumenical Movement into existence. Protestant Missionary Societies meeting at Edinburgh in 1910 came to see that divisions among Christians were greatly reducing the effectiveness of their preaching in such countries as India. The scandal of disunity among Christians blocks the work of Christ. It prevents people from believing what we say. Progress to end the scandal of Christian disunity is being made. Many theological dialogues have taken place between the Roman Catholic Church and other Churches. A joint declaration on justification, a very important declaration, has been agreed with the Lutheran World Federation and published recently. This progress is a sign of great hope and yet we are well aware that some new obstacles have appeared on the ecumenical journey both in regard to doctrinal and ethical questions.

GRAZ

I prefer to concentrate on the signs of hope. For example, the Second European Ecumenical Assembly took place in Graz in Austria in 1997. Graz was a wonderful event, only the second of its kind in history. The first was held in Basel about ten years ago. Over 10,000 people attended Graz, many of them young people from all over Europe, especially Eastern Europe. The topic was ‘Reconciliation – Gift of God, Source of New Life’ Yes, reconciliation is a gift of God, it has to be sought in prayer but once it is achieved it becomes a magnificent source of new life, new relationships, new friendships, new energy.
The Assembly at Graz recommended that the Churches, all the Churches of Europe, should produce an Ecumenical Charter. It is to help foster an ecumenical culture of living and working together and to promote reconciliation.

ECUMENICAL CHARTER

This Charter is expected to be ready for the year 2001. We have a lot in common, we say the same Creed we have received the same baptism. We read the same Scriptures. The Charter will ask that our lives actually reflect that fact. We are going to be asked to recognise the spiritual riches of the different Churches, to learn from one another, to share each other’s gifts. It is going to commit us to humbly reassessing the history of our Church’s guilt and to asking one another’s forgiveness. Probably its most challenging part is where it talks of reconciling peoples and cultures. It proposes a ban on every form of exclusion and marginalisation. It asks for openness towards the increasing number of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees. It calls for homeless persons to be given shelter and a home in Europe. The Charter will call for human rights to be defended. It asks that the environment be respected.

ARCIC

Another sign of hope for me was the historic meeting, over thirty years ago, of Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI in Rome. It led to the setting up of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission called ARCIC. That Commission issued what it thought, was going to be its final report in 1981. The official response both by the Lambeth Conference and by the Catholic Church was positive. Those positive responses encouraged the Commission to build on the progress that had been made. The result was another agreed statement on the subject of Authority in the Church. It is called The Gift of Authority published in 1998.

When the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey and Pope John Paul II met in 1996, they stated that: “Without agreement in this area, (that is the area of authority), we shall not reach the full visible unity to which we are both committed”. The Anglican communion and the Roman Catholic Church will study this document and will publish their position on it in due course.

DIALOGUE

What we are doing here tonight, namely praying together, that is the heart of ecumenism. We try to listen to God’s Word to get the light to examine our mentalities and our attitudes. We ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to see how we, as communities of believers, may have offended the Lord with our attitudes and turned our back on His grace. Yes, we belong to Christ; we have a lot in common: The Creed, Sacred Scripture, prayer, sacraments, 1000 years of common history. And yet we have differences in belief, in our teaching and in our approach to moral issues. Those differences account for the divisions among the Churches. We are trying to arrive at a consensus, a consensus based on agreement about the fundamental truths of our faith. And so, there is no alternative to dialogue.

Of course the very idea of a dialogue involves an examination of conscience. If genuine dialogue takes place, and if it leads us to see that, as a Church community, we have neglected the Word of God in any way, there is then an obligation, before God, to repent of this, both to God, to other Christians who may have been scandalized by our positions.

The joint message of Bishop Neil and Bishop Comiskey in Memory and Mission is challenging: “We should greet the fourteenth hundredth anniversary and the third millennium”, they say, “with a humble and contrite heart, conscious that in the most important area of Church life and mission, namely unity, we have failed and indeed sinned.”

Those words were re-echoed by Pope John Paul II last week. He was speaking to representatives of 23 Christian Churches. They were present, in Rome, on the occasion of the opening of the Holy Door. Archbishop George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury was there. In his homily the Pope said: “We ask pardon of Christ for all that in the history of the Church has prejudiced His plans for unity”.

FORGIVENESS

The fact is of course that sins which damage the unity willed by God for his people, demand repentance. Unfortunately they still burden us. We need to make amends for them. We need to take a long hard look at ourselves, at our Church, at our communities and ask, “How have we contributed, and how are we contributing, either wittingly or unwittingly to sectarianism and division? I suggest that we start with our own wrongdoing because these are the things that we can repent of and which we have the power to change. Such a process of honest self-criticism will at once challenge and reassure other people. If planned and carried out well it could turn out to be a great source of energy and renewal for our own Churches. It would surely lead to inner conversion and repentance for the wrongs we have done or allowed to be done in our name. It would build new relationships among ourselves and allow people to develop a capacity for compassion, that is the power to stand in the shoes of the other person and suffer their pain. Without such a capacity to feel with and understand both ourselves and other people, most attempts at reconciliation will remain superficial. It is not easy but it must be faced. It is one thing to confess that I have sinned. It is quite another to provide the details. It is still more difficult when I am asked to examine the group to which I belong and acknowledge its failures in public. It seems almost impossible to take personal responsibility for something in which I have not personally been implicated. But it is always possible and may be helpful to acknowledge that the community to which I belong did things which were wrong. Just as we frequently share a sense of pride in the past achievement of our own community it should be possible to acknowledge a sense of shame for past sins.

MUTUAL RESPECT

Closer co-operation with the other Christian Churches is an urgent requirement at this time. That co-operation must be based on respect, respect for each person in their own place, respect for teachings and universal disciplines; respect for the fact that these universal disciplines cannot be set aside at national level in the hope that such a setting aside will contribute to an easing of local difficulties. I know that when some Protestants hear Catholics talk of reconciliation, there is a fear of coercion. There are shadows of the claim that the Roman Catholic Church alone is the one true Church. Let me be quite clear on this. In the proposed Ecumenical Charter the Catholic Church, along with the other Christian Churches of Europe, commits itself to recognise and protect freedom of conscience and religion. We recognise the right of every person to seek the truth and to witness this truth according to his or her own conscience. The Second Vatican Council teaches that nobody can be forced to act against his or her conscience in religious matters.

INCREASED CO-OPERATION

When people meet and really know each other as fellow believers in Jesus Christ, they are able to appreciate and reverence each other and to thank God, for the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The task of reconciliation is immense and is going to require increased levels of real inter-Church relationships and cooperation if it is going to get anywhere. This will be needed at all levels but especially at local level.

The deep divisions of our society are both political and religious. As Churches we need to take a courageous and prophetic lead in bridging the religious divide. Of course it is often more comfortable for us to work along with the politicians on socio-political issues than it is to face strictly denominational and religious questions. Sometimes we are guilty of using the needs of the political situation to distract us from the religious division, from what is properly one of our tasks of reconciliation. What is required as a minimum, is a sustained conversation between appointed Church representatives about the divisions that exist, about the reasons for their existing and about the ways of bridging them that will contribute to reconciliation.

THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

God wills the unity of all divided humanity. The primary concern for this third Millennium must be to reach out to all of God’s people. The efforts to achieve the visible unity of the Church is part of that task.
In Ireland today we find ourselves at a number of crossroads. Together we must work to make sure that the new political structures, north and south, can become the basis for a more just and caring society.
Society in Northern Ireland is deeply wounded after thirty years of violence. It will need space and time to allow the wounds to heal and the ailing relationships to be transformed. The sense of loss is deep and the memory of suffering is very long. A new Millennium dawns. History beckons the people of Ireland to a new beginning.

I am firmly convinced that the resources exist to make that fresh start. The achievement of reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust is possible. I believe there are enough people of good will, able and equal to the task. I hope that they, in turn, will be given the time and the trust to do the job. The vast majority of people want to see the political progress continue. New relationships are being built. Of course there is also some confusion and an amount of disagreement. Mutual trust is still in short supply but the seeds have been sown. It would be tragic if the progress already made were to be interrupted at this stage. The different parties to the Agreement know clearly what is expected of them. They know what they have committed themselves to do. They know what they have signed up to do. People, north and south, expect them to honour their commitments and deliver on their promises. Let us pray this evening that they will receive the help they need to fulfil their commitments.

As we reflect on the positive developments of the recent past we also remember the reasons for shame and sorrow in our history. We do not lose sight of the challenges and the goals which lie ahead. And as we do so we turn to the God of hope, to the God of all consolation from whom every blessing comes. With God nothing is impossible. In God mercy and faithfulness have met, justice and peace have embraced. We gladly join with our brothers and sisters in the other Christian traditions and with all people of goodwill in looking forward with confidence to that day when God will turn our mourning into joy. We commit ourselves to use only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any kind, instead, let us be kind and tender hearted to one another and forgive one another as God has forgiven us in Christ. (cf. Eph 4:30-32).

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
MESSAGE FROM
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
1 January 2000

The Millennium for me is all about the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the fact that it is 2000 years since Jesus Christ came into the world. Now that’s what makes Christianity different from all other religions. Its belief that God became one of us in Jesus Christ. God comes in person to speak to man and to point out the way by which God may be reached. We are going through a period of immense change, very fast change and humanity and society need to grasp the question, “Where do I come from? Where am I going? How do I get there?”

One of the tragic aspects of western society at the moment is that of religious indifference. Many people live as if God did not exist, or, they are happy with a very vague superficial religiosity. The Western World is very highly developed in technology but really impoverished in spirituality. The result is that it tends to forget God or it keeps God at a distance. Another result is that we are not well equipped to come to grips with questions about truth especially in matters of hard choices or crisis.

The fundamental question today is one of faith. By faith I mean a free act by which I accept that Jesus Christ is the truth and I freely commit myself to him. The results of that kind of religious indifference, which we are experiencing here in the West, is a neglect of religious duties. We forget God. We have no place for religion in public life and sometimes even there is no place in private life. An indifference to God leads ultimately to indifference to our neighbour as well. The cause of God nowhere humiliates the cause of the human person. Some people are suspicious that the glory of God will lead to a reduction and humiliation of the human person. The existence of God and His presence in history are the foundation and guarantee of our authentic liberty. It is rather, promises, which are purely worldly, that reduce human persons to slavery, in a totalitarian fashion, as recent history has shown.

All Christians celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ in the world. So the Millennium for me will be an important year along with other Christians to look together to Christ and to renew our faith in him and renew our commitment to him. We look back at what has happened in the past one thousand years and what is happening at present as a condition for looking to the future. As we look back we will see many divisions, of course, and see that people on both sides were to blame, but out of that I would hope that there would come a deep desire to continue to pray for unity. The importance of spiritual ecumenism is vital and the hope is that the widespread discussions with other Churches would continue. Indeed this Holy Year is a call to overcome indifference and division. Not just among Christians but among believers of all nations. But this Holy Year should strengthen Christians in their belief in God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. I keep going back to the problem of religious indifference. My prayer is that the abandonment of the practice of religion will be halted, because really that abandonment of religious practice leads eventually to atheism. People, because they are really weak as regards religious and faith education, come to see religious practice as useless or senseless in their lives.

There has been a lot of talk about moving on here in Ireland in recent times. Hopefully we are moving to a new kind of society where the bitter legacy of division is going to be left behind. Certainly the problem of division, the division between Christians but also the divisions on the grounds of race, the division on politics between Nationalist and Unionist, these divisions hopefully will become less strident and more dialogical.

There is also the division between people who are spiritually minded and those who are materialistically minded. We must address all of those, awaiting for a New Year therefore a new Decade, a new Century, a new Millennium. It is a time for looking forward and a time for looking back. As regards the Church, the Church must commit itself by words and deeds and above all by prayer to creating a culture of life and love. A civilisation which will replace the civilisation of death and hatred. We look back with thanks. We look forward with hope and joy.

The coming of Jesus Christ was the dawn of a new era and yet still two thirds of the world do not know him. And so we look back and critically analyse Church life with a view to getting the energy to continue to try to carry out his command of bringing his message to the ends of the earth.

The time, as we wait for the coming of the new Millennium, the new Decade, the new Century, obviously will be a thoughtful time, a time that is tinged with sadness but nonetheless rich in memories and hopefully very rich in hope and love. Endings are sometimes sad. They remind us of our mortality, our frailty. The Risen Christ tells us that, for his followers endings are never final. God and love last forever.

The Church of Christ must recognise the confusion and the desperation which are found in so many lives and give them new hope and direction. We live in a world that is waiting and searching. The Church must always be a voice for the voiceless. We live in a world that is searching for something new. That search is really for happiness which will last forever. It is a search for fullness of life. A world, dominated by buying and having, eating and drinking, promises everything but knows well that it cannot give true happiness.

Instead it offers a wide variety of substitutes such as superficial amusement, hectic activity, drugs, alcohol, lots of material goods, craving for prestige and power. That is not really what satisfies. We believe and we know from experience that Jesus Christ is alive and present in his Church. That life and that presence is a source of immense hope for the world. We are all called to play our part in announcing that news. We are all called to bring that good news. We are also called to celebrate that hope and that life in our liturgies, in our prayer life, in our community life. We are called to serve that hope by our solidarity with the poor, with those less well off, with the homeless, the asylum seekers. We are to be in solidarity with aids victims, those on the margins of society. The civilisation of love and life has to be built by the followers of Christ. It must be built on the foundations of justice, truth, freedom, solidarity and peace.

My hope for the New Millennium is that civil society would respect its duty to honour the family as the basic building block of society and protect the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the family. Another hope is that the threats to peace and the causes of war, namely injustice, excessive inequality, envy, lack of trust and pride, be tackled and eliminated. My hope is that the potential of the sacrament of Reconciliation, as a source of pardon and forgiveness and peace, be rediscovered.

ECUMENICAL PRAYER SERVICE
IN
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
31st DECEMBER 1999
ADDRESS BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

There is a lovely story told about King Edwin of Northumbria. In the year 627 he was trying to make up his mind whether to accept the Christian message or not. One of his counsellors stood up and said:
“Your Majesty, when you sit at table with your guests, in the winter when the fire burns warm and bright, and the snow storm is howling outside, it sometimes happens that a little bird flies into the hall. For the few moments that it is inside the hall it doesn’t feel the cold, but as soon as it leaves your sight, it returns to the dark of winter. Now it seems to me that the life of each one of us is like that. We do not know what went before, we do not know what is going to follow. If this new doctrine about Jesus Christ can speak to us with certainty about these things it is well for us to follow it”
The king followed the advice of his friend.

Over the last 2000 years countless millions have asked the same question: Who am I? What is the meaning of life? What is this creature that comes into the brightness and warmth of this human day, hurrying from the mystery of its origins to the mystery of its destiny?

And, over the past 2000 years Jesus Christ has certainly spoken clearly about these things. He has told us that, out of the fullness of His love, God the Father, created us. He sent His Son into the world that we may have access to the Father through him, and become His friends and share His everlasting life, and happiness.

Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks. He is waiting for us to open that door. This is beautifully illustrated in Holman Hunt’s famous painting – Christ, the Light of the World. Christ stands with a lantern outside a door that has no handle. The handle is on the inside. It is up to each one to decide whether to open the door or not.

The beginning of a new millennium is a time for hopes and dreams. My hope is that we all become so convinced of God’s love for us and so secure in that love, that we will be able to reach out to others and assure them of our love for them. My hope is that when we realise that Christ has already reconciled us to the Father and to each other, we will see that he is calling us to become a community of reconcilers.
My dream is the dream of the prophet Isaiah, which we are about to hear in the next reading. He speaks of the nations of the world, coming to the light of Jerusalem. Jesus is the light, not only of Jerusalem, but also of the world. And yet, only one third of the world’s population believe in the name of Jesus. My dream is of a new springtime of missionary activity so that many more faces may grow radiant, and hearts throb with delight, at the name of Jesus.

My other dream is that the new millennium will see the great religions of the world join hands to help the developing countries so that the people there can live their lives in dignity and peace.
As we move into the new millennium we rely on the Risen Christ, to calm our fears and give us hope. Love drives out fear. May God’s love be with you, all and always, during this New Year.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
BBC RADIO ULSTER
BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
WEDNESDAY, 29 DECEMBER, 1999

One of my late father’s favourite prayers was, Thanks be to God. Being a farmer those words were often on his lips around harvest time as the last load of hay was pitched into the hay shed, as the last stack of corn was built in the haggart or as the last potato pit was sealed against the rain and the frost. I suppose they were an expression of gratitude to a bountiful God who each year repeats the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes on the farms and in the oceans of the planet.

Of course not all endings in this life are happy. The end of a friendship, the end of a marriage, the end of a life are often sad and sometimes bitter. Endings remind us of our frailty and of our mortality. Yet there are also many endings in life which are happy. We can all remember the joy of the end of the school term, the end of waiting for results. The rejoicing at the birth of a newly-born baby comes at the end of the mother’s pregnancy.

With God, with Jesus, endings are never final, for God and love last forever. He tells us that at death, life is changed, not ended, for those who believe in Him. As we approach the end of this year and this decade, I am trying to remember some of the things for which I have to thank God over the past year and indeed over the past decades. There are the obvious things, like the historical accommodation reached between unionists and nationalists in recent times. It’s rich in promise for a society more happy in itself, more reconciled to its differences and more accepting of the benefits of working together for the common good. Each one of us will have our own reasons for being grateful. Personally I am forever thankful that during my years working in the Irish College in Rome, it was my privilege to officiate at a huge number of weddings. It is always a special moment when a couple say to each other those marvellous words, I take you for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, all the days of my life. I like to say to them that none of us knows what the days of our life will bring. One thing, of which we can be absolutely sure, however, is that they will always bring us the unchanging love of God. It is this thought which gives me most strength and consolation as I face into the new millennium. Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and history, came to reveal the Father’s love. All time belongs to him and all the ages. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will lead us safely into the Third Millennium. Have no doubt about that.

He will bring light into our darkness, joy into our sorrow, hope into our hearts and his special peace into our world. A very happy and peaceful and blessed new year to you all and to all who are dear to you.

EASTER 1999
MESSAGE BY
ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

The Resurrection is the crowning truth of our faith in Jesus Christ. Some people are surprised by the statement that Easter is the most important of all Christian festivals. After all, they ask, does not that distinction belong to Christmas?

Of course, Christmas is a very significant feast because it celebrates the birth of Jesus. But Easter marks the most significant event of all, when Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead.

He passed from death to life. He set the world free from the slavery of sin and from the fear of death. He led us all into a freedom that will last forever. He is the Saviour of the world. St Paul’s frank assertion to the Corinthians proclaims a compelling truth: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain”.

Easter means that through the Son, God the Father stoops down to every woman and man and offers each one of us the possibility of freedom from sin and liberation from everlasting death.

When we celebrate the Easter ceremonies, commemorating the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, we are placing our own bodies and sufferings under the sign of the cross. It is our way of saying to Christ: “We want to share in the mystery of your bodily dying and rising”. It is our way of expressing the hope that one day God will raise up and transform these poor, sick bodies, and our divided world as well.
Easter is a time of new life and new hope. The earth is waking from its winter slumber; buds are on the trees and the flowers of spring are in full bloom.

The light of the Easter candle is a powerful reminder to us of the sure hope that the Spirit of the Risen Lord continues to act in our lives and in our world. This is a time when we realise that what we yearn for in the depths of our hearts can become a reality.

We long for a safe and peaceful world where people can live in peace with God and with each other. A world where people can live with dignity, free of fear and intimidation. A world where everyone is made welcome – especially the sick, the weak and the old. At Easter, we do not simply commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as an event which occurred many years ago. The Risen Christ is with us here and now. His victory over death gives real grounds for hope that our deepest human hungers can be satisfied. One of the challenges of Easter is to confront honestly the weaknesses inherent in the human condition. At Easter we name the forces of darkness present in our world and in our own lives. We ignore these dark forces at our peril.

But we must not let these forces determine and control the course of our lives. Our prayer must be that the light of Christ, rising in glory, may dispel the darkness in our hearts and minds. Only the light of Christ is powerful enough to drive out hatred and anger from our hearts, hatred and anger nourished on the memory of ancient wrongs powerful enough to sour and embitter us. Only the light of Christ can enable us to move hearts hardened by bigotry and prejudice.

At Eastertide we celebrate the victory of Christ over those very forces of darkness. We celebrate that victory with joy because it points to God’s final triumph over the power of evil. Only Christ gives hope that does not deceive.

The light of Christ can help us to see ourselves as we really are. It can also help us to see and respect others as they are, not as we would wish them to be. They, like us, are equal and precious in the sight of God. We are all sinners, sinners to whom the real possibility of becoming saints is offered.

In the tomb Jesus conquered death with death. The continents of our planet are constantly being studded with fresh tombs. The culture of death would have us believe that death is the end; that there is nothing beyond the tomb which awaits each one of us. But all who look to the empty tomb of Jesus Christ, and the stone rolled back, are filled with resurrection faith.

May Christ’s victory over death fill you with resurrection faith this Easter. May the greeting “Peace be with you”, pronounced by the Risen Christ on Easter morn, become a powerful reality in your life now.
March 31, 1999

CHRISTMAS 1999 AND THE NEW MILLENNIUM
MESSAGE FROM CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ARMAGH

Dear People,
We are about to celebrate the greatest Christmas of our lifetime. May it also be, for everyone, the happiest. This Christmas, we thank God for the coming, 2000 years ago, of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world. For 2000 years he has inspired countless millions of people, and influenced, more than anyone else, the course of history. The calculation of the passing years begins with the year of his coming into the world. It is very pleasing that so many people are accepting the Church’s invitation to rejoice and to celebrate. There is a lot to celebrate. We have a lot to be grateful for. We celebrate, not just what has been done in the name of Jesus, we celebrate Jesus himself. We celebrate the One who came from God to reveal to us the truth and to show the Father’s love for us.

To mark this special occasion Pope John Paul II has announced the Great Jubilee. This coming year will be a holy year. It will begin in every parish with the solemn lighting of the special Jubilee Candle at midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. That lighting will take place with a candle brought from Bethlehem on the occasion of the recent Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The little light of Bethlehem reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world. He offers us light to see God’s loving plan for all of us. He gives us strength to return that love and so become what he has created us to be.

On New Year’s Eve the sun will set for the last time this century. It will be a thoughtful time, tinged with some sorrow, rich in memories and hope for the future. Thoughts will inevitably turn to other endings, to our own frailty and mortality. My hope is that the light of the millennium candle in the home will remind us that for Christians, endings are never final, life changes but does not cease. The Risen Lord proves that God and love last forever. Let His light shine brightly in our hearts and have us know that He is God among us.

In a special way the joy of the Jubilee is that of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is probably easier to forgive than to accept that we need forgiveness and to ask for reconciliation. Forgiveness is, of course, a great grace, but in the love of God there is something more. Reconciliation opens the door to deep joy and freedom. It repairs damaged relationships and restores friendships. I hope that the Sacrament of Reconciliation will, this year, play an important part in preparing for the coming of Jesus.

Many celebrations will be organised for the year 2000 in the Archdiocese. The Jubilee is not a series of functions to be held. It is an experience to be lived. It is an inward journey to be travelled. That journey moves us away from whatever is contrary to God’s law. It enables us to accept Christ fully, live our faith in him and receive his abundant mercy.

I invite you all to pray fervently to the Lord for a gracefilled celebration of the forthcoming Jubilee. I ask, both priests and people, to open their hearts to the promptings of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not fail to arouse enthusiasm and lead us all to celebrate the Jubilee with renewed faith and joyful hope.

The recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land ended with Mass on Mount Carmel in the Star of the Sea Basilica on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Two thousand years ago Mary of Nazareth offered to the world the Word made flesh. May she now be the star that leads us towards her Son, who is the true light that enlightens everyone.