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CHRISTMAS DAY 2014

At Christmas the Christian Churches throughout the world celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, it is the first day in the octave of Christmas as well “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” The Son of God became man to give us a share in that divine life which is eternally His in the Blessed Trinity. Throughout the Advent season we have waited for the coming of our Savior. Then on the 25^th of December we celebrate His birth with unrestrained joy. But as joyful as we might like to be we should remember that for a large number of people young and not so young Christmas is not a happy time. Not happy because many are homeless, because they are not able to provide for their families the way they would like. We need to remember that in many houses throughout the country things are not as good as they might be. Children are not unwrapping the presents as they may well have none. Many families are not preparing to sit down to a big Christmas dinner because they are going hungry again as there is not much food in the cupboard and the little food that they may have may well have come from a food bank or other charities such as St. Vincent DePaul and the Salvation army and we remember the charities and their outreach as well.

During the Christmas season there is an extensive exchange of greetings and good wishes among friends. These greetings are a reminder of those “good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people, for this day is born to you a Savior Who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). They are a reminder, too, that all blessings and graces come to us from Christ. During the Christmas season there is also an exchange of gifts. But with the exchange of gifts comes the responsibility to remember those who have little or nothing at all in terms of a roof over their heads and food in the cupboard

During Christmas we are reminded  of the mystery of Mary as Mother of God, mother of the Incarnated Word, and mother of His mystical body, the Church. Christmas encourages us to contemplate Jesus together with Mary, reflecting on Jesus with ‘His mother’, as recounted many times in the Gospels. Our faith cannot neglect a profound devotion to the Mother of God, as she shows us the easiest way to reach Jesus. In the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes the inscription on the mosaic over the Altar is to Jesus through Mary and the mosaic shows Mary with open arms and again at the wedding at Cana  Mary told the attendants as she tells us do whatever he tells you. These are two pointers for us in our modern day as to what we should do in order to follow the light of Christ Christmas also reminds us of the great mystery of God’s people, the Church animated by the life giving Spirit, governed by the legitimate shepherds in communion with the successor of Peter.

So, why do we celebrate Christmas? It is more than the birth of Jesus. It is a celebration of God with us. It is the realization that God’s love for us and faithfulness to us dwells among us. It is a sign that we are to carry that love and faithfulness to other people. Like the Baptist, we, too, are to witness to God’s living, breathing Word and we are called to rejoice and be faithful so let us adore the Lord Jesus in the manger the reason for the season and bring his love and joy to those we meet in the days ahead.

2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Here we are at the second Sunday of Advent as the seconds, minutes, hours and weeks continue to pass away as we hurtle towards Christmas at breakneck speed. Just think about the amount of money the various shops and many other places  and people are making but as the shops make their money I wonder how many of the people spending that money without rhyme or reason really understand the meaning of Advent and Christmas. Advent is all about WAITING and this weekend we continue our wait as we light the second purple candle on the Advent Wreath. In the gospel reading John the Baptist the voice in the wilderness takes centre stage as he calls us to prepare the way and make the paths straight for the lord. He also tells us that there is someone coming after him who is more powerful than he was and that he was not fit to undo the strap of his sandal. So are we making the paths straight for the lord as we try to make sense of all the ongoing razzmatazz or are we going with the flow, just too busy with all the secular preparations to really take notice of the importance of the preparation that John the Baptist talks about? 

We need to remember that John the Baptist was called to reawaken the sense of expectation among a people that had grown tired and distant from God as many have done in our present time.   John was called to bring renewal to the institutional expressions of religion which, at the time, had so often become fossilized into mere formulae or external ritual.  This too is what has happened to a large extent within the Church these days. However having said that at the present time under Pope Francis our Church is being renewed for the work that needs to be done in our time and place with all its problems and opportunities. The Church in every age must become like John the Baptist, an uncomfortable reminder of how we must allow the truth of Jesus to break into our lives to enlighten the darkness that can at any moment enter into our own lives or the life of the Church.

As the journey of Advent continues we prepare to celebrate the nativity of Christ, John the Baptist’s call to conversion sounds out in our communities. As we continue our preparations for the razzmatazz of Christmas let us not forget the true and lasting message of Christmas a message that has lasted for over 2,000 years and the message is that god came among us.

All of us are called to take up the Baptists call of renewal, it is the call to reawaken within ourselves the fact that Jesus is god with us Emmanuel who will make the glory of his voice be heard and seen through us in the Joy we give to others and the Joy of that is there in our own hearts.  Christianity is a religion of anticipation. We await the coming of the Lord in glory. We also await that magical razzmatazz of the Christmas season, a time of peace. So as we continue our preparation for Christmas will it be the secular razzmatazz that will take over our celebration of Christmas or will it be Jesus the Child in the Manger the reason for the season who will take his  place amongst our families friends and  all the other things? We need to refocus ourselves as we try to prepare the way for the Lord doing our best to make his paths straight, especially in the our own lives.

33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Last Friday night in a neighboring parish to ours (St. Patrick’s) there was a vigil of prayer and a Mass for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Over the years so many people from our parish have taken up this calling for their lives to serve in the diocesan and religious priesthood as well as the orders of religious priesthood and  religious brothers and nuns. In the world of today we seem to forget about Praying to the lord  that he will send labourers into his harvest. We also seem to forget that we should be a people of prayer. Last Sunday we heard in the second reading that we are gods building the Church so what are we doing in order to build up the Church where we are? Also earlier in the week on Wednesday evening around 300 people gathered together in our parish hall to discuss the future of our Parish. This I hear was a hard kind of meeting which was to take the parishioners views on what should be done regarding a number of issues around the buildings etc and how best to deal with the parish debt. Again while the pennies and pounds are important we need to remember that the primary thing about religion is that it’s all about people young and old and all the in-betweens and their relationship with God. If we remember that it is the people  that means you and me who are gods building the Church then we won’t go far wrong.

Our reading from the Gospel for this weekend Matthew 25:14-30 is about the servant and his one talent. The parable speaks first of the Master’s trust in his servants. While he goes away he leaves them with his money to use as they think best. While there were no strings attached, this was obviously a test to see if the Master’s workers would be industrious and reliable in their use of the money entrusted to them. The master rewards those who are industrious and faithful and he punishes those who sit by idly and who do nothing with his money.

The essence of the parable seems to lie in the servants’ conception of responsibility. Each servant entrusted with the master’s money was faithful up to a certain point. The servant who buried the master’s money was irresponsible. One can bury seeds in the ground and expect them to become productive because they obey natural laws. Coins, however, do not obey natural laws. They obey economic laws and become productive in circulation. The master expected his servants to be productive in the use of his money. If we stop and substitute the money aspect of the parable with the word faith then we get to what the parable is really about and it tells us that faith is a real and wonderful gift from God. It is something that comes entirely unbidden; as in the parable the servants are given no clue in advance what the master is about to do. Faith is also given to us according to our ability to deal with it; each in proportion to his ability, as it says in the parable. But the most important aspect of the Parable is that the Master will eventually return and the big question is will we be ready?

THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA

This weekend we celebrate the dedication of the Popes cathedral, St. John the Lateran. Although the basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of the Holy Father as Bishop of Rome, today’s liturgy focuses not on the Petrine ministry but on the place of God’s house, the temple.

We no longer look upon stone edifices is see God’s presence on earth, but upon the broken body of Jesus on the cross. He is both the high priest and the acceptable offering to God.Paul’s message continues this truth. We are living stones forming a building. This building is of living stones: it is built of our lives and in our relationships.  God’s presence according to Paul is through us. We are built on the foundation of Jesus’ message but we must be careful as to how we build. As we live out our lives we grow individually energized either by the Spirit of God or by the spirit of the world. The Spirit of God unites, forms us into a single building. The spirit of the world destroys unity and forms warring camps where each competes with other for power, wealth, influence and pleasure. So we must be careful how we build our life. The image reminds us that we are not the total building in ourselves. In connection with others we form an edifice that is more expansive, of greater beauty and majesty than one person can attain.  We are the presence of God to one another through the Spirit that dwells in us and energizes and directs us.

So, what is the answer to why we celebrate the dedication of a building in Rome? The building becomes for us a sign and a symbol.  It is a sign of God’s presence in the world, housing its peoples, providing shelter in storms and coolness in the heat. It is high on a hill that is visible for all to see and for all to take hope for its strength.  It is a symbol of those who believe and work to grow in faith and in hope and in care and concern for God’s creation, especially humankind. It rejects no one, opening its arms to embrace not only the privileged but also the ordinary persons.  Even the miserable beggar, the leper, the ones ignored and forgotten, the drunkard, the prostitute, the thief and the murderer are welcomed here and find a place where they might be healed and find life.

So today we should be able to say that we reject no one and embrace everyone as we live out our lives we grow individually energized by the Spirit of God instead of the spirit of the world.

THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS & ALL SOULS

This weekend we have the two feasts the feast of All Saints on Saturday and the feast of All Souls on the Sunday. On November 1st the Church celebrates all the saints: and the multitude of those who are in heaven enjoying the beatific vision that are only known to God. During the early centuries the Saints venerated by the Church were all martyrs. Later the  1^st  November was set  as the day for commemorating all the Saints. We all have this “universal call to holiness.” What must we to do in order to join the company of the saints in heaven? We “must follow in Jesus footsteps and try to conform ourselves to His image as we seek  to do  the will of the Father in all things In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history” (Lumen Gentium)

The feast of All Saints should inspire us with tremendous hope. Among the saints in heaven are some  people whom we have known such as Pope Saint John Paul or Padre Pio who both lived in the last 100 years.  Padre Pio died in 1968 and of course John Paul died in 2005. But there are so many ordinary people who show us how to be saints by the way they lead their lives.

After rejoicing  with the saints on the 1st of November then on the next day we  pray for all those who, in the purifying suffering of purgatory await the day when they will join the company of saints. Daily in a special Memento in the Eucharistic prayer of the Mass, the priest remembers all those who have fallen asleep in the Lord, the priest implores God to grant them a place of happiness, light and peace.

So this weekend we pray with and remember the saints in heaven and we remember all who have died. Many parishes will have a special remembrance Mass for the parishioners who have died over the past year and their families. We remember our families and friends in a special way and we remember all those who have died whoever they are throughout the whole month of November which is known as the month of the Holy Souls.

May all our dead relations and friends rest in the peace of God.

30th SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Well here we are at the 30^th Sunday of ordinary time as we are fast approaching the feast of Christ the King (34^th Sunday) and then we begin all over again with the Advent Season.

The Pharisees in the Gospel Reading for this Sunday are all out to get Jesus because he had silenced the saducees. In an attempt to do this they asked him this question Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Many people say that as they grow older their relationship with God becomes much more central in their life. There is a sense in which we could say that it takes a lifetime of practice to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, to live the first commandment, putting God before all else. To direct us all our lives to love God with our heart soul and mind, God has given us guidelines, the Ten Commandments.

So many people in the modern world have decided to turn away from God and from spiritual things. The Church has to face up to this fact it also has to face up to the fact that the Church of yesterday is now seen for what a bit of it was and that was a sham! Having said that tribute has to be paid to all those who remain despite the horrible things that were done in the  Church of the past those who stand by and are with the Church and that is the vast majority they are the Church of the future.

How do we love God with all our heart, soul and mind is the question for today as is was in the past and I think will be the question for the future. Is it possible to love God above all else? Well this question isn’t so easy to answer. Instead like so many other Faith based  questions we are simply asked to try to love God and he will do the rest.

Mission Sunday 19th October 2014

This Sunday we celebrate the international day that remembers the missionary effort of the Church throughout the world. Today we celebrate Mission Sunday. Here in Ireland for many centuries there have been many great Irishmen and women  who have gone to foreign lands to bring the faith of our fathers to those who might not have got the faith otherwise. This Sunday celebrates the great missionary spirit that has brought the faith to all corners of the world over so many years.

The Pontifical Mission Societies (The Society for the Propagation of the Faith) have chosen this year to focus on the words from St. Matthew’s Gospel, “I Will Build My Church” (Matthew 16:18) by highlighting the outreach of local churches through priests, religious, and laity among the poor and marginalized.

Today we remember all those who have gone into the mission fields members of the religious orders such as the Columbans, Mill Hill Fathers, St. Patricks  Fathers the Medical Missionaries of Mary and all the other religious orders with the Lay Missionary movements who have brought Christ and his message to the far flung corners of the world.

We too are called to be missionary people bringing the Joy of the Gospel to those around us and this is not always easy. We have in our parish a welcome group which lets mew people coming into the parish who we are and where we are and this is a particular and much needed missionary activity in our modern church on 2014. We see missionary action taking place in  the world through  lay led organizations such as the Apostolic Work and the Viatores Christi movements these are just 2 of the many lay missionary movements that I can think of.

We must pray to the Lord of the harvest for the strength to persevere in our missionary activities whether they are led by Lay people or Religious here  at home or abroad. In a special and particular way, we commend the priests, brothers and sisters who are often engaged in extremely difficult missions all over the world to the prayers of everyone. May they find the strength to carry on in spite of the odds being stacked against them in so many places. Mission Sunday gives all of us a chance to reflect on the Mission of the Church locally and throughout the world and it is my hope that as missionaries  lay and religious we will be able to bring the Joy of the Gospel into the hearts and minds of the people who live in the places where we live.

A REFLECTION ON FAMILY ON THE FAMILY

THE HOLY FAMILY

Over the last few days in Rome there has been a meeting of the synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church. This meeting has been called by Pope Francis to look at the all  aspects of Catholic Family Life.  All of us belong to a Family be it the family that we were born into, the family of Faith or the family which is the community where we live. All of us have ties to a family  of brothers and sisters with mum and dad at the head or at least that was the way it was when I was growing up. These days the idea of the family as a specific unit has changed beyond all recognition. In many cases the idea of having a Mother and a Father that is a  husband and wife committed to one another in the sacramental bond of marriage has given way to people living together and in recent times we have seen the whole idea of Civil partnerships taking root. But if we look to the Holy Family for our inspiration as Catholic people we won’t go far wrong. The Holy Family was a family with special grace but yet a family with trials. Every family has particular graces and blessings and every family also has  many difficulties and crosses. As a matter of fact many families have more than their fair share of crosses to bear and it is as a result of the family members supporting each other the crosses are much easier to bear.

On the day he left Ireland on October 1^st 1979 Pope John Paul II much of his homily in Limerick was giving encouragement to families and in particular to parents and at this point in time with the Family unit being under continuing attack it is worth reminding ourselves about what he said  in October 1979.The Pope reminded us that the family is primary and has been our greatest resource and due to the particular  challenges of today the family unit is more important than ever  before.

The Holy Father said the following among many other things:

“To all I say, revere and protect your family and your family life, for the family is the primary field of Christian action for the Irish laity, the place where your ‘royal priesthood’ is chiefly exercised. The Christian family has been in the past Ireland’s greatest spiritual resource. Modern conditions and social changes have created new patterns and new difficulties for family life and for Christian marriage. I want to say to you: do not be discouraged, do not follow the trends where a close-knit family is seen as outdated; the Christian family is more important for the Church and for society today than ever before.”

 Ireland must choose. You the present generation of Irish people must decide; your choice must be clear and your decision firm. Let the voice of your forefathers, who suffered so much to maintain their faith in Christ and thus to preserve Ireland’s soul, resound today in your ears through the voice of the Pope when he repeats the words of Christ:

 “What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16 :26). What would it profit Ireland to go the easy way of the world and suffer the loss of her own soul?

Your country seems in a sense to be living again the temptations of Christ: Ireland is being asked to prefer the “kingdoms of the world and their splendour” to the Kingdom of God (cf. Mt4 :8). Satan, the Tempter, the Adversary of Christ, will use all his might and all his deceptions to win Ireland for the way of the world. Above all, hold high the esteem for the wonderful dignity and grace of the Sacrament of marriage. Prepare earnestly for it. Believe in the spiritual power which this Sacrament of Jesus Christ gives to strengthen the marriage union, and to overcome all the crises and problems of life together. Married people must believe in the power of the Sacrament to make them holy ; they must believe in their vocation to witness through their marriage to the power of Christ’s love. True love and the grace of God can never let marriage become a self-centred relationship of two individuals, living side by side for their own interests.

(Homily of Pope John Paul II in Limerick, Monday October 1st, 1979)

Today the choice is so very clear for us as Catholics we need to re-establish Family life in its most honest and true  form with a father and mother at its head. The Christian family is the world’s greatest spiritual resource. Modern conditions and social changes have created new patterns of life and living  and as a result of this new difficulties for family life and for Christian marriage have arisen. All of these problems  have to be dealt with head on; the Christian family is more important for the Church and for society today than ever before.” The idea of a family without a mother and a father runs as opposite to what I and so many others believe in. But to believe in something means that you have to stand up and be counted and above all else we need to pray that Family life will be restored.

27 TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

This week saw the beginning of the month of October and there are two aspects to this month. It is the month of the rosary and the feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on Tuesday 7^th  and it is also the month when we celebrate the missionary effort of the Church throughout the world with World Mission Sunday on the 19^th .

Well here we are again this weekend back in the vineyard and our first reading and the Gospel are all about the grapes and of course the wine that comes as we all know from the grapes. But of course it isn’t really about the grapes or the wine. The parable is also the story of the “tenants” and here again we are invited to feel with them. We must however understand their frame of mind correctly. In many cultures today “tenants” are poor people who are harshly treated by their landowners – the historical Jesus would have been on their side. The tenants in the parable are quite different. In the original context the tenants represent “the chief priests and elders of the people”.

In the parable the “tenants” become angry when they are reminded that the vineyard has been leased to them and they must be accountable for what they have done or not done with it. Their anger grows ever more violent as the story develops, the root of their anger is revealed – they want to own the vineyard rather than to work there and help the vines grow and produce grapes that aren’t sour but sweet.

Through the parable of the vineyard Jesus reprimands the “chief priests and elders of the people” gathered around him.  He focused on the unfaithful people who, by their sin and failure to listen to the prophets, had brought God’s anger down on them. Jesus’ reference to the killing of the King’s only Son was not lost on the Pharisees. They had already decided to kill this Jesus who claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus’ words enraged them, and their hearts were further hardened against Him and it all ended up at the Cross of Calvary on Good Friday. So today we too are called to go out into the vineyard to be the workers rather than the owners to nourish the vines of other people’s faith by our words and deeds so that as a result of our efforts they may produce much good sweet wine.