Your Excellency, Archbishop Brown,
Sisters and Brothers from the Episcopal Conferences and National Vocations Centres of Europe,

On behalf of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, I extend a very warm and heartfelt welcome to you all. We are honoured that you have chosen Ireland as the venue for this Annual Congress of the European Vocations Service.  You come to a local Church renewed, uplifted and strengthened by an extraordinary moment of grace. Just ten days ago we concluded the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. It was a truly remarkable experience. In fact, it is difficult to put into words just what an uplifting and grace-filled experience it was. Thousands of Catholics from all over the world gathered with the Irish Church for a week of reflection, celebration, testimony and prayer centred on the Blessed Eucharist. Many people remarked on the incredible atmosphere of unity, serenity and joy there was among us. It can only be attributed to the presence of Jesus himself in our midst. Even the occasional shower of rain could not dampen our joy or distract from the profound atmosphere of reverence that marked the daily celebration of the Eucharist. I hope that your experience of coming together, and of our Irish weather, will be the same!

It was wonderful and uplifting to meet so many people who share the amazing treasure of our Catholic faith at the Congress, especially so many young people. In fact, I hope you will be encouraged in your work of identifying and nurturing future spiritual leaders when I tell you that every day people had to be turned away from the talks and workshops. There is an incredible hunger for meaning in our world. There is an incredible thirst for God and for the truth and life we have to offer. So, have no doubt that the harvest continues to be rich, even if the labourers appear to be few! Have no doubt that your work continues to be of vital importance to the mission of the Church.

Your reflection on the Eucharist as the source of every vocation over these next few days brings you to the very heart of that mission. Perhaps the most often quoted words of the Second Vatican Council are that the Eucharistic liturgy is ‘the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows’ (SC, 10). What is less cited, however, is an important phrase that follows: it goes on to say that the Eucharist ‘draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them on fire’ (SC, 10).

This ‘fire’ of course, is the fire of God’s love. It is the fire spoken of by the disciples on the road to Emmaus when they spoke of their hearts burning within them as they met the Lord and recognised him in the breaking of bread. It is the fire of Pentecost, which at the very birth of the Church blazed in the hearts of the Apostles and made the Church, through them, the sign and instrument ‘of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race’ (LG, 1).

My brothers and sisters, who among us has not heard an echo of that love in our own hearts? Who among us does not know what our Holy Father, Pope Benedict spoke of when he said in Deus Caritas Est, that ‘Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’ (DCE, 1). Who among us has not been drawn to and strengthened in our vocation to priesthood, consecrated life or the committed lay vocation by the intimate, personal encounter with Jesus in the selfless words, ‘This is my body… do this in memory of me’, ‘This is the chalice of my blood… Do this in memory of me’?

As I reflect on the people who nurtured my own sense of priestly vocation, my own sense of the centrality and importance of the Eucharist for me and for the world, I realise it was always people who had a passion for the things of the Lord who inspired me. It was always people who, in spite of everything, including great suffering and set back, had a deep, intuitive sense of God’s love and God’s presence in the Eucharist who awoke in me the fires of God’s love that, however imperfectly, has prompted my daily ‘yes’ to the service of Christ as a priest and as a bishop.

This is why we cannot separate the mission of helping others to discern their vocation before the Lord from our devotion to the Eucharist. In the words of Pastores Dabo Vobis,  ‘The service of love is the fundamental meaning of every vocation’ (PDV, 40). In the words of the Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to the Priestly Ministry, published by the Congregation for Catholic Education earlier this year, ‘every Christian vocation, is the history of an inexpressible dialogue between God and human beings, between the love of God who calls and the freedom of individuals who respond lovingly to him.’ This dialogue takes place most perfectly and most fruitfully in the Eucharist. Whatever our vocation, as the title of your programme suggests, every Christian vocation has its source and sustaining power in the Eucharist.

This was never more evident to me than when I visited the vast array of vibrant and committed movements, organisations and agencies of Catholic life active here in Ireland who had put up magnificent displays of their work at the RDS stadium in Dublin during the Eucharistic Congress. The Eucharist reconnects us to the mission of the local and universal Church. The Eucharistic Congress pulled back the veil on the enormous range of apostolic activity that goes on every day in Ireland by lay faithful of every age, by outstanding consecrated persons and missionaries and by the thousands of outstanding priests of this country and abroad.

While this involves a reflection on all the dimensions of vocation arising from our Baptism, it is important to give particular attention to the urgent need to foster vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.

The renewed emphasis on the vocation and role of the lay faithful encouraged by the Second Vatican Council has naturally received particular attention in the years since the Council. What was particularly striking for me at the Eucharistic Congress, however, was the number of lay faithful, of every age, who expressed concern and prayed regularly for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.

While all are equal before God, and all the baptised have their share in the common priesthood of Christ, the document on Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to the Priestly Ministry, published by the Congregation for Catholic Education in March reminds us that ‘The Gospels present vocation as a marvellous meeting between God and human beings. This is the mystery of being called, the mystery that involves the life of every Christian, but which is manifested with greater clarity in those whom Christ invites to leave everything to follow him more nearly. Christ has always chosen some persons to work together with him in a more direct manner for the realization of the Father’s plan of salvation’ (n.6).

Given the particular challenge posed by the decline in vocations to priesthood and the consecrated life in Western Europe, it is important that the work of bringing the vocation and mission of the lay faithful to full fruition in the Church does not undermine the importance and particular character of the vocation to the priesthood and the consecrated life. In parishes, in families, even in the secular world this has always been recognised and expressed in an open recognition of the special character of those who are singularly and publicly committed to intimacy with the Lord and to the universal mission of His Church in the ordained priesthood and religious life. While elitism or an exclusivist clericalism have no place in a proper understanding of Christian vocation, celebration, encouragement and active support for the particular intimacy, closeness and centrality of the role of the sacramental priesthood is an important and vital part of the life of the Church which has the Eucharist and the other sacraments as its source.

In choosing to reflect in a particular way on paragraph 17b of the document In Verbo Tuo… New Vocations for a New Europe, you have brought to the forefront of your reflection the stark reality that without the priesthood, there is no Eucharist. Without the Eucharist, there is no Church.

The document helpfully highlights a number of areas that require our attention and effort if this crisis of the Church in Western Europe is to be addressed. These include:

•    A general recovery of our confidence and joy in the particular mission and role of the ordained priesthood. As a Christian community we should not hesitate to celebrate and rejoice at the gift of a vocation to the priesthood that has been nurtured, matured and affirmed by the proper authority and discernment of the Church. The link between the priesthood, the Eucharist and the other sacraments is so intrinsic and essential that it is completely proper that the whole Christian community should actively encourage young and indeed older men to respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to discern a possible vocation to the priesthood. As those responsible for encouraging and supporting vocations to the priesthood we should be open to concern of some that we have become hesitant about speaking of the particular importance of the vocation to the priesthood for fear of undermining efforts to encourage a wider sense of baptismal vocation among the lay faithful. The two are not mutually exclusive but mutually complimentary. A proper understanding of the ordained priesthood encourages and rejoices in the full, proper and active participation of the lay faithful in their vocation and likewise the lay faithful should rejoice, celebrate and actively encourage the particular vocation and ministry of the ordained priest.

•    The document also highlights the importance of the family as the first school of the virtues of Christian life and the natural ‘womb’ of priestly vocation. I encourage you, as I encourage families to renew their sense of mission and importance as the seed bed of vocations to the priesthood, especially through their example of family prayer and concern for those who are in need.  By supporting and encouraging the fundamental vocation of parents to Christian family life, as the domestic Church, we will also provide the fertile soil of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. This is as aspect of your work and mission that I encourage you to consider.

•    The document further highlights something which we all know from our experience of young people in the local Church, in our parishes and in our schools. Young people have a tremendous capacity for generosity, for service of others and for outreach to the vulnerable and those in need. They also have a greater sense than previous generations of the potential for global unity and solidarity. They all listen to the same music, wear the same sweat shirts, they use the same mobile phones and global social networks. Perhaps for the first time in human history this makes the nature of the Church as the sacrament of unity of the whole human family a prospect that finds expression in the practical culture and experience of the younger generation. When our Holy Father, Pope Benedict speaks of our fundamental vocation as artisans, active citizens of the civilisation of love, I believe we propose something that is real and attractive to young people in particular. I encourage you to reflect, as we should throughout the Church, on the potential of the proposition of the civilisation of love to encourage greater participation by young people in the life of the Church, as well as vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

•    Finally, the document speaks of the importance of supporting the work of encouraging vocations to the priesthood with prayer. It is striking and can never be forgotten that in response to the recognition that the harvest is rich, our Lord said simply and starkly that we should pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers.

Do we do enough to encourage prayer for vocations in our homes, in our parishes, in the wider Church? This must always be a question that exercises a meeting of a service dedication to the promotion of vocations.

Your work is vital to the future of the Church generally, and to the Church in Europe in particular. Saint Irenaeus, whose Memorial we celebrate today, reminded us of the link between the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the very promise of our resurrection from the Lord. In celebrating the Eucharist, he said, ‘we proclaim communion and unity and profess our belief in the resurrection of flesh and spirit’. In receiving the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, he said, we are no longer corruptible, for we have the hope of resurrection.

Our world needs confident, cheerful and generous heralds of hope – of hope in this life and hope in the peace and joy of the life to come. It would be wrong of us to believe that the current generation of young people is less open, less generous or less willing to give their lives wholeheartedly and generously to the service of the Gospel than generations in the past. What we need is to pray and to have confidence in our own vocation. We need a renewed joy and recognition of the unique identity and role of the ordained priesthood and the consecrated life. We need the courage to ask young people and others to respond to the call of the Lord, to take the step of discerning his will, and in the spirit of our Gospel, of building their future on the rock of faith. We need to hear the voice of those incredible young priests and religious who continue to come forward and give their lives in joyful service to the Gospel in spite of the many cultural and other pressures that press against their generosity and faith.

By way of conclusion, I put before you the memory of a young man I knew who spent part of his priestly formation in the Irish College in Rome. Although he was not from Ireland, he also spent some of his summers here helping out on the penitential island of Lough Derg and some local parishes. His name was Fr Ragheed Ghanni. He was ordained for the Diocese of Mosul in Iraq. Those who knew him were struck by his incredible faith, even though he had grown up in a Muslim culture. They were also very struck by his joy at being a priest and his deep commitment to returning to serve his people in Mosul in Iraq once he was ordained and had finished his studies. On the third of June 2007, only six years after he was ordained and four years after he returned to his home Diocese of Mosul, Fr Ghanni was brutally murdered along with three sub-deacons of his parish as they left the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist with their parishioners at Holy Spirit Chaldean Church in Mosul. When he returned to Iraq, Fr Ghanni knew the dangers that awaited him as a priest. He did not hesitate to face those dangers with courage and utter generosity towards the Christian people and the wider society he had been called to serve. I am pleased that his image is celebrated on the new apse of the Chapel of the Irish College in Rome. I am pleased that a copy of that image and the apse formed a backdrop to the celebration of the Eucharist during the week of the recent Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

We should never lose faith in God’s power to raise up women and men in every age who are living and courageous witnesses to his love. Our challenge is to have the courage and the faith to invite those we believe and who may have received that call to come forward and to discern with the Church what the Lord asks of them. The harvest is rich but the labourers are few. Let us pray to the Lord to send more labourers the great harvest that every day opens up before us as a great challenge, and as a great opportunity.

At this stage in the ordination of a priest, the Church usually asks the family and friends, of those being ordained, and indeed all here present, to consider carefully what exactly is taking place.  Ryan and Thomas are now to be raised to the order of priest.  We all rejoice to see them reach this happy day.  It means that they have travelled a journey – quite a long journey – an inward journey – a spiritual journey.  Along the way they learned to freely respond to the love of God who has called them.  Today we are immensely grateful to them, and to all of you who, by your love and care, have enabled them to see that love of God and achieve the freedom,  they needed to answer the call.

For every vocation comes from a meeting – a conversation.  The history of every vocation is the history of a dialogue.  It is a dialogue between God and free human beings.  Every follower of Christ is someone called. However, that calling is seen more clearly in those, called by Christ, to leave all in order to follow him more nearly and love him more dearly – namely priests and members of religious congregations.  The fact is that Christ always chooses some people to work closely together with him, in a more direct manner, to help him carry out the Father’s plan to save the world.

Ryan and Thomas, you are among those privileged ones, invited by Christ to put everything to one side in order to live a more profound communion with Him, in fact to be with Him.

Leaving all is not easy.  It requires huge trust and humility.  Of course the hardest thing of all to put to one side is our own will.  You cannot learn trust from a book – only with experience.  Today I give thanks to God for all those who by their advice, prayers and example, enabled your to do precisely that – to empty yourselves and trust after the example of Christ who emptied himself – taking the form of a servant.  A Christ who came, not to be served, but to serve.  A Christ who came to give his life, as a ransom for many.  That self-emptying is essential in order to be ready to answer the call.  Today the Risen Lord calls all future priests in order to transform them, in order to change them.

As a recent Vatican document puts it:  ‘the Risen Lord calls future priests in order to transform them; to change them into true proclaimers of his presence in the world and to be, not just proclaimers, but witnesses to his presence in the world’.

We can only witness to what we see:  The Church lives in the world and the Church is called to live in the present moment.  It looks, with wisdom, at history and there she sees the abiding presence of God.  There it sees the presence of a God who not only accompanies but, at all times, challenges and calls us into his friendship, even at times that might appear the least fruitful and fortunate.

Jesus sent the apostles into the world to carry on his work as teachers, priests and shepherds.  Today Jesus continues that work through the bishops, the successors of the apostles, and through priests, who are co-workers of the bishops.

Ryan and Thomas, you must apply your energies to the task of teaching in the name of Christ.  Read the Word constantly and carefully; believe what you read, teach what you believe; put into practice what you teach.

You know that at the Eucharistic Congress hundreds could not get into the lectures and workshops.  There was not enough space.  There is this huge hunger out there for more knowledge and meaning.  There is this huge thirst to know God.  There is a thirst for happiness in every human heat.  Many young people experience this hunger and thirst acutely.  And there is no-one better suited to bringing good news to young people than young people themselves.

I know that Thomas and Ryan, through the work of the Diocesan Youth Council and World Youth Days, enjoy excellent relations with so many young people and youth leaders in this diocese.  I believe that this leaves you both well placed to help many teenagers and young adults to grow spiritually into a higher level of awareness, one closer to the mind that was in Christ Jesus.  It will enable you to help people and have more faith in the actions of the Holy Spirit.  With the help of the Holy Spirit the Church continues to set before people – young and old – an enthusiastic and life-challenging faith – the sort of faith can satisfy the thirst for happiness and fulfilment in every human heart.

For this to work it will mean offering the experience of your own faith – the kind of faith that comes from your relationship with Christ.  It will mean sharing and revealing something of your own faith journey – including the difficulties.  Happily, the Gospel today for the Feast of St Oliver Plunkett is the Gospel of the Good Shepherd.  Jesus has no hesitation in saying that he is the Good Shepherd.  He proved it by dying for us on Calvary.

Today it is less likely that anyone in this country will have to literally lay down his life for his people but certainly to be a good pastor always involves a sacrifice.  Sometimes a great sacrifice.  The sacrifice of day after day putting the interests of Christ and of one’s parishioners before the interests of oneself.

Jesus said:  ‘I know my own’.  This was no mere superficial knowing.  He not only knew people by name but, as the Gospel says elsewhere, he knew what was in each one. Then he says:  ‘My own know me’ – which means that he had revealed himself to them.  How well do they know him?  Just as the Father knows him and he knows the Father.  From his profound knowledge and love of the Father, Jesus got the freedom to give his life freely for us.

Today we celebrate the memory of a man who got the courage to give his life for his faith.  It came from the sure knowledge of the Father’s love for him.  Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Oliver Plunkett – an outstanding example of a good shepherd, after the example of Jesus Christ himself.  Immediately he arrived back to Ireland in 1670, he set about getting to know the people and giving them the opportunity to know him.  In the space of one year he visited six large diocese; held a Provincial Synod and various diocesan Synods.

In his own words he says: “God knows that I think of nothing else, day and night than the service of souls.  Political or temporal matters have no part in my life; neither in my mind nor on my lips”.  Of course he had many set-backs but his serenity, in the face of adversity, was truly amazing.  Listen to his own words again:  “Sentence of death was passed against me on the fifteenth.  It has not caused me the least terror or deprived me of even a quarter of an hour’s sleep”.

Surely this is clear proof of his own profound relationship with Christ – who gave him such peace of mind.  Oliver Plunkett was executed on 1 July 1681 – the last martyr for the Catholic faith in England.   Thankfully we have come a long way since then.  Last week Queen Elizabeth made history when she entered St Michael’s Catholic Church in Enniskillen.  On the scaffold Oliver pronounced these words:

“I do heartily forgive them, (the false witnesses) and also the judges, who by denying me sufficient time to bring my records and witnesses from Ireland did expose my life to evident danger.  I do also forgive all those who had a hand in bringing me from Ireland to be tried here, where it was morally impossible for me to have a fair trial.  I do finally forgive all who did concur directly or indirectly to take away my life; and I ask forgiveness of all those whom I ever offended by thought, word or deed….”

Those remarkable words can still provide inspiration today.  On the political level the work of reconciliation is under way but unfinished.  It is work in progress and hopefully will continue.

On the ecumenical level among the followers of Christ, dialogues in progress between Christian denominations indicate progress.  They remind us of the desire of Christ that his disciples should become one flock with one shepherd.  All who listen to his voice, work to achieve that unity.

Ryan and Thomas, the Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews recalls that you have been chosen from among God’s people.  It is our privilege to act for them in relation to God.  Never let us forget how much we owe to God’s Holy People and how much we depend on them.  So let us stay close to them at all times.
Our job is to do our best to keep those faithful people together in a united family.  Our task is to lead them, effectively, yes, actually lead them, mainly by our example, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, to God the Father.

May Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the great High Priest, watch over both of you now and always.

AMEN

A phobail dhil Dé, cuirim fíorchaoin fáilte romhaibh chuig an Aifreann seo ina ndéanaimid macnamh ar an Eocairist agus ar athmhuintearas.

My sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ, it is a great joy to gather for this celebration of the Eucharist with all of you who are here in the Congress Arena in Dublin and all of you who are watching on television and the internet, or who are listening on radio. Here in the Congress Arena thousands of pilgrims have come together from over 100 countries across the world. This is the fifth day of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress. It is the day when we reflect on the relationship between the Eucharist and Reconciliation. It is also the day when we celebrate the Eucharist in the language and music of the Irish tradition. I want to welcome you all, especially those of you for whom this is the first time to hear the Mass celebrated in the original language of the Irish people. We hope that through the universal language of sign, symbol and gesture of our Catholic liturgy, which is itself a source of our communion with Christ and with one another, you will enter with us in to these sacred mysteries.

That we may be worthy to receive these sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins and ask the Lord for his pardon and strength.

Homily

My sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ,
What a great joy it is to come together to listen to God’s Word and to experience the beautiful, peaceful presence of the Lord in this Eucharist and in our communion with one another. As I have been walking around the Congress Campus, as I meet you on the streets nearby, I am moved by the great spirit of joy and peace and helpfulness to one another that are so present among us.

We should not be surprised. These are the fruits of the Blessed Eucharist. They are the simple, practical gifts of goodness, kindness, neighbourliness and joy that flow from the presence of Christ himself among us. They really do change the world. They are the fruits of the Eucharist that, every day, help us to become active citizens in building up the civilisation of love that Jesus our Lord calls us to be.

Each time we have gathered to celebrate the Eucharist here at the Congress, I am sure like me, your eyes were drawn to this beautiful icon of Jesus just behind me. You will have noticed the four words that radiate out towards us from the book of the Gospels – Ego sum, pastor bonus – I am the Good Shepherd. These are incredible words! The depth of love and devotion for each one of us that they convey is without equal. I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me. I know each one by name. I lay down my life for my sheep, so that they might have life and have it to the full.

My dear friends, there are few of us in whom the story of the lost sheep does not find an echo. Who among us has not gone astray at some moment in our lives? Who among us has not chosen our own path rather than the Lord’s? Who among us has not experienced the pain of separation or loneliness? Who among us does not know what it is to be afraid? Who among us does not carry the burden of regret for past wrongs?

Today we turn our attention to what Blessed Pope John Paul II called on his visit to Dublin in 1979, ‘that other sacrament of God’s love, the sacrament of reconciliation’. It is here that the parable of the lost sheep becomes real for us. In our Gospel reading, St Matthew tells us that Jesus, the Good Shepherd will always seek us out when we have gone astray. He is constantly searching for us. If we are open to his help, he will always lead us home to the place where we really belong. He will heal our wounds. He will calm our fears. He will restore our lost innocence. He will bring us here, to the Eucharist, to the perfect sacrifice of reconciliation. In it, through his infinite mercy and love, we are restored to communion with him and with one another.

When we sin, we not only disrupt our innermost self, we also disrupt our relationship with Christ and with one another. The work of reconciliation embraces all these dimensions of the consequences of sin – the personal, the social and the impact on the Body of Christ, which is the Church.

This is why, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the effect of personal sin on us and on the whole Church is considered. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest acts in the name of Christ. He also acts in the name of the Church.

It is through the power of Christ that the Sacrament of Penance mends the broken bonds between individuals and God and between individuals and the body of Christ, the Church. It also helps to restore the bonds of mutual affection, peace and accord within society. In the words of the Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation which we are about to pray, it is the Lord who changes our hearts ‘to prepare them for reconciliation’: it is the Holy Spirit who moves human hearts so that ‘enemies speak to each other again, adversaries join hands… hatred is overcome by love, revenge gives way to forgiveness, and discord is changed to mutual respect’.

Jesus has willed that his Church should continue this work – his work of healing and forgiveness, and shepherding –  especially among her own members.

He knew well that the life he came to give – life as a child of God – can be weakened and even lost by sin. That is why he left us the Sacrament of Confession where we can get pardon from God’s mercy for the sins we have committed.

My brothers and sisters, in our First Reading Saint James warns us of the danger of deceiving ourselves, of knowing God’s word and not putting it in to practice. He compares this to looking at ourselves in a mirror and then quickly forgetting what we look like. How easy it can be to forget God’s commandments and to live as though God does not exist. When we sin, we distort God’s image within us, the image and likeness in which we are made.  Sin is not a very popular word in our culture. Evil is often thought of as something rare and extreme, if it is believed to exist at all. Yet history tells us time and time again, that a loss of a sense of sin, or the belief that evil is just an extreme to which I have no connection, can have serious consequences.

Jesus spoke of sin as something that causes us to stumble, something that trips us up on the journey of life. It suggests the image of a loose stone on a path, or a jagged rock on a mountain climb. It reminds me of this stone which I have in my hand. It is a small stone. Yet if this stone could speak it would tell a story of the most incredible and dramatic evil. It would tell of how it felt the cold, weary feet of frightened children, women and men of every age as they were walked to their death at Auschwitz, where this stone was found. This stone reminds me of how the simple idea, that ‘God is dead’, had enormous and profoundly evil consequences. It was put forward by the philosopher Nietzsche. It later gave rise to the evil idea that a whole race of people should be eliminated, the consequences of which were one of the most tragic events in human history.  

There is a much larger stone that sits in a place of honour here before this altar. It will serve as a reminder of those children and young people who were hurt by a Church that first betrayed their trust and then failed to respond adequately to their pain.  The words of the Gospel echo in my mind: ‘It is not the will of your Father that any of these little ones should be lost’. May God forgive us for the times when we as individuals and as a Church failed to seek out and care for those little ones who were frightened, alone and in pain because someone was abusing them. That we did not always respond to your cries with the concern of the Good Shepherd is a matter of deep shame. We lament the burdens of the painful memories you carry. We pray for healing and peace for those whose suffering continues.

I want to take this opportunity of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress to apologise for the times when some of us were blind to your fear, deaf to your cries and silent in response to your pain. My prayer is that one day this stone might become a symbol of conversion, healing and hope. I hope it will become a symbol of a Church that has learned from the mistakes of the past and strives to become a model for the care and well-being of children. What this stone represents, what has happened in the Church in Ireland and in other places in the world, is a stark warning to all that there can be no passing by on the other side, no room for half-heartedness in our care for the vulnerable and the young.

Every moral choice we make, no matter how small, has consequences. The smallest act of kindness can bring good far beyond our expectations. The smallest act of selfishness can contribute to a wider culture of evil and death that has harmful consequences far beyond our intentions. So every time I choose good, instead of evil, ‘I somehow raise up the whole world’ (RP, n.16).  As Pope Benedict said, ‘Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone’ (Spe Salvi, n.48).
The human heart is a place of great beauty and compassion. It is a place from which the greatest acts of human love can flow. Yet, disturbed by sin, the heart can also be a place of turbulence and darkness. It is a place where the smallest and the most terrible acts of evil can also be born.
The importance of conversion as a journey has a long and honoured place in the Irish Christian tradition. The inner journey of conversion has often been symbolised by undertaking a difficult, penitential walk with others. Many of you here will be familiar with the Camino in Spain.

On Tuesday and Wednesday past, our Papal Legate, Cardinal Ouellet visited Saint Patrick’s Purgatory on Lough Derg. It is there that thousands of people every year fast and pray and walk around the island and penitential beds, often barefoot. The Congress Bell down beside the lectern, was carried by a group of young people from the Diocese of Tuam to the top of Croagh Patrick. Over 100,000 people every year make this two and a half thousand feet rocky climb, sometimes in their bare feet, as an outward sign of an inward spiritual journey of repentance and reconciliation.

Various groups have walked around Dublin and from outside Dublin in penitential pilgrimage in preparation for and during this Congress. I am thinking of the inter-denominational pilgrimage to the seven Churches around Dublin.

I am thinking too of the pilgrimage that set out two weeks ago from Bangor, Co Down: Bangor, a place renowned for its association with Saint Columbanus and Saint Gall. I am thinking also of another pilgrimage that set out from Old Mellifont at 4 a.m. this morning: Mellifont associated with Saint Bernard and Saint Malachy. These penitential pilgrimages symbolise the journey which we all must make from the place where we deceive ourselves in to thinking we have no sin, to the place of conversion. This conversion is the journey of a contrite heart, drawn and moved by God’s grace, a journey to respond to the merciful love of God who has loved us first.

We give thanks for the reconciliation that has already taken place in so many hearts here today. One of my hopes for this Congress is that more and more enemies will begin to speak to one another, more and more adversaries may shake hands and more and more opponents may try and meet and simply talk. Another and great hope is that more and more people will meet Jesus the Good Shepherd in Confession, for he is the Word that makes peace, the hand that is extended to all, the way by which the Father shows his mercy to the world.

For in every Mass the body and blood of the Lord is given to us, that we may live like him in our time and place, bringing his compassionate love to all those we meet. A supreme example of this is the story of a British soldier who was involved in the liberation of a concentration camp. He tells of how, walking through the camp, his attention was drawn to two packing cases covered by a worn red curtain. A young Polish priest was clinging to this makeshift altar with one hand, while celebrating Mass. Between his feet lay the body of another priest, who had died during the night. No one had the energy to move the body.

Although an Anglican, the soldier had a working knowledge of the rituals of the Mass. Telling the story in his own words, he said:

Still supporting himself against the altar, the young priest did his best to distribute the consecrated elements. Some recipients were able to stumble over the rough, scrubby ground of the camp. Others crawled forward to receive communion and then crawled back to share it with others unable to move. Some almost certainly passed on to another – probably better – world before sunset. Whatever one’s race or religion – the solider said – one can only be uplifted and impressed by that truly remarkable proof of the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

Every celebration of the Eucharist is indeed a ‘truly remarkable proof of the ultimate triumph of good over evil’. Every Eucharist rolls away that heaviest of all stones, the stone in our heart that keeps us back from friendship with Christ and with one another. Every Eucharist proclaims ‘Christ is risen – Our God is alive!’ He lives in you and in me. Through His Holy Eucharist he continues to reconcile us to one another. In the memorial of his passion and death, made present in every Eucharist, he continues to reconcile the whole world to himself. Let us therefore be reconciled with God. Let us bring that reconciliation to others. For in this is our peace; in this lies the greatest hope for our world.

In ainm an Athair…

In response to the announcement today of Archbishop Alan Harper’s intention to retire, please see below the statement by Cardinal Seán Brady, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh:

“I have known Archbishop Alan Harper since he was Bishop of Connor.  Since his election as Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh in 2007 I have enjoyed the warmest of friendships with Alan and his wife Helen, who have been the most hospitable of neighbours.  I have always appreciated their wisdom, support and deeply held Christian values.  

“In addition to his international role in the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Harper has made a significant contribution to society in Ireland – North and South.  His personal compassion, and commitment to social justice, has exemplified his resolute response to the crisis facing our people in recent years: his support for the quality of family life, the disadvantaged, and the unemployed.  

“No doubt part of Archbishop Harper’s pastoral legacy will include his contribution to the very positive and strong relationships which exist today between the Christian Churches on the island, and, to the continued progress of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

“I wish Archbishop Alan, Helen, their four children and grandchildren every good wish and blessing for the future.”