22 Sunday Ordinary Time, 28 August 2011, Matthew 16:21-27

The World Youth Day logo - 2011

Just under two weeks ago, 12 days to be exact, I began the pilgrimage to World Youth Day with 24 others. We were led by our Elphin Youth Ministry director, Mr Frank McGuinness, and our spiritual director was Fr Michael Duignan. Members of the inspirational Church music group: Elation Ministries, were among our number as well.

Emblazoned on the front of our group T-Shirts was the World Youth Day logo, as well as the theme of this year's World Youth Day: "Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith" coming from St Paul's letter to the Colossians. (Col 2:7)

The first big gathering was with the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid to celebrate Mass outside at Cibeles Square. There, encouraged by the huge gathering of young people and the vibrancy of the celebration, we were let in on what may be a closely guarded secret here in Ireland: World Youth Day would be one big party from the beginning to the end.

After Mass, as the crowds moved towards the Underground, our group made its way to a local cafe/bar. The musicians in our group got out their instruments and treated us to a feast of traditional Irish music on the fiddle accompanied by African drums. Some other pilgrims from London heard the sound of our music and asked to join with us.

A request came from the owner/manager of the cafe, a young, heavily pregnant woman. She came in to share with us that the child in her womb was dancing along with us in our joy! I was reminded of John the Baptist jumping for joy in Elizabeth's womb at the sight and sound of Our Lady.

The whole experience of World Youth Day in Madrid was refreshing, uplifting, full of life, and simply great fun. Gathering with at least a million others, in the blistering heat & sunshine, as the Pope was given the keys of the City by the Mayor, we danced and sang and got to know one another. There, I met a young couple from Italy – Magdalena and Samuel. We exchanged badges – they giving me one from their home diocese of Alba, me giving them a badge for the International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Dublin next summer and encouraging them to come along.

That evening, the Pope told us, English-speaking pilgrims, to make "these days of prayer, friendship and celebration bring us closer to each other and to the Lord Jesus. ... so that we may be joyful witnesses to Christ, today and always." In these words the Pope encouraged us to be full of joy, to be full of prayer and to be jubilant in our celebrating. In this place we were to encounter the joy of meeting other young people of faith, to sing and to dance, to pray and be rooted in our relationship with Jesus. And, we were to bring that joy home! Not to leave it in Madrid! But to share it with everyone – that the Good News is not dreary, bad or sad, but vital, singing, dancing: full of life and joy.

The highlight of our pilgrimage was the gathering at Cuatro Vientos, a military airport on the southwest of Madrid. There, with what turned out to be some 2 million young people, we waited for, and kept vigil with, the Holy Father.

It was the toughest part of the pilgrimage, walking almost 41/2 hours to the site in the midday sun with temperatures hovering around 40C.

As the vigil began around 10pm, a storm blew up with heavy rain and high winds. Neither of these extremes could keep our spirits down. Shortly after, the vigil continued – the Pope smiling, even as he got soaked by the rain and lost the small, white, zucchetto that he normally wears on his head. His hair tousled, the Pope continued to smile, beginning again – "Queridos jóvenes amigos" – My dear young friends – delighting in the patient joy among the gathered pilgrims.

After a short night's sleep outside in our sleeping bags, we gathered ourselves once more at one of the large flat screens and tuned in our small FM radios to the translation in English. This was what we had kept vigil for, the Papal Mass with the biggest open-air Church on earth, for that moment at least.

During his homily, the Holy Father told us: "Christ cannot be separated from the Church any more than the head can be separated from the body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12)."

He then went on to say: "Make Christ, the Son of God, the centre of your life. But let me also remind you that following Jesus in faith means walking at his side in the communion of the Church. We cannot follow Jesus on our own. Anyone who would be tempted to do so “on his own”, or to approach the life of faith with that kind of individualism so prevalent today, will risk never truly encountering Jesus, or will end up following a counterfeit Jesus."

This was especially important for us young Irish pilgrims to hear – conscious as we are of the brokenness and sinfulness of our Church. That Christ is fundamentally connected to the broken and sinful Church is something that we may find hard to take in and accept.

The Pope encouraged us: "Having faith means drawing support from the faith of your brothers and sisters, even as your own faith serves as a support for the faith of others."

He advised us that: "Growing in friendship with Christ necessarily means recognizing the importance of joyful participation in the life of your parishes, communities and movements, as well as the celebration of Sunday Mass, frequent reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation, and the cultivation of personal prayer and meditation on God’s word."

My experience of World Youth Day was an upbuilding of my own personal faith, and the common faith I share with you, and with millions of other people throughout the world. It opened my eyes, once more, to the great truths of Christianity and the wonderful diversity of cultures that make up our universal Catholic Church. The joy-filled memory of those days will help me to persevere and endure the testing moments that we are living through in the present time.

20 Sunday Ordinary Time, 14 August 2011, Matthew 15:21-28

The Canaanite Woman and Jesus

Four years ago, I had the privilege of visiting the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is called the "Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels". Almost brand new, it was opened in 2002 after the previous Cathedral of St. Vibiana was badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

The Archbishop of Los Angeles at the time was Cardinal Roger Mahoney. The fundraising for the Cathedral, which cost something in the region of $250m, was a huge project in itself. The archdiocese managed to secure a large amount of finance from the Walt Disney company, and from other such notaries as Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mention these two because neither one is rooted in Roman Catholicism. And yet, both contributed sizeable sums of money, in the millions, to the project.

The Cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels, citing a piece of Scripture that we have just heard proclaimed today – the last line of the first reading from the prophet Isaiah: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."

Nowadays, when we consider the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, we become afraid that we are, somehow, not being respectful to Christians of other denominations, churches or ecclesial communities; to people of other faiths; or to people of no faith.

We wonder if it is politically correct to tell other people about our faith. The place of faith in the workplace, in school and in third-level is hugely challenged. The implications of our shared faith, for political, cultural, social and moral life, rarely gets a mention these days. We have witnessed the privatisation of faith. Far from bringing the gospel to the public market place, we are tempted to carefully secure it's powerful message within the walls of the Church buildings our communities have inherited.

"My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."

It is interesting to reflect briefly on the terms: 'My house', as understood by the prophetic writer called Isaiah. For him, the house is three things: it is God's house, the Temple; it is the Royal House of Israel and Judah; and it is the Chosen people.

For us Christians, "God's House" is the building that we call the Church, for us it is here, the Church of the Sacred Heart, Roscommon. But that is not all God's House is.

It is also the Royal House, the Family & Lineage that each of us participate in through baptism in Christ Jesus. The House of God is the People of God.

The Church is the people, not the building. Even more, the Church is the People of God, gathered to pray, to worship and to be nourished by the Word we share and the Bread we break.

Isaiah adds another definition – God's House will be a house of prayer. God's house, people first and building second, are the core ways to enter into relationship with God in the conversation we call prayer. And then one more addition – God's House will be for all peoples. This completely redefines the role of the Chosen People in God's plan of salvation. They will, eventually, reach out to welcome all peoples into the Royal House of God, by means of the salvation offered in Christ.

It is interesting that the Canaanite woman, an outsider in Jesus' Hebrew worldview, approaches seeking his healing help. As a Canaanite woman she is entirely opposite to Jesus – she is a woman, not a man; a Canaanite, not a Jew. In terms of gender, religion and politics, she is beyond the pale. So, Jesus does not answer her.

As Jesus walks northwest from the sea of galilee, out towards the edge of Israel as we know it, almost crossing over into modern-day Lebanon, this outsider comes seeking him. He does not go seeking to connect with other people; he does not go seeking to convert. But, she recognises him for who he is – and in her vulnerable moment of need, when her daughter needs God's touch, she appeals beyond her own gender, her own religion and her own politics to the One Master, the One Lord of all.

"My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."

We may be worried about proclaiming the Good News of Jesus to people who may not share our world view. We need not worry. Our task is to simply share, gently, the joy, the hope, the love, the reconciliation, and the fullness of life that we have in Christ. We don't need to worry about the Church, or about the future. All we can offer, is real, genuine and honest witness, to the good things we share in because of our relationship in prayer with Christ. The rest we can leave to God.

19 Sunday Ordinary Time, 7 August 2011, Matthew 14:22-33

Fear

Gathering with you this morning for the first time is a privilege for me. We are, all of us, making a change. I have just moved here yesterday as Fr Kevin moved out to Rooskey. For the past year I have served as chaplain of IT Sligo, and it was with some surprise that I learned that I was to become curate here in Roscommon town. I am glad to be here with you and I pray that our getting to know each other over the time we have together will be mutually beneficial to us all.

I would like to offer you some brief biographical details – I am the youngest priest of the diocese. I was ordained in 2008 in my home parish of Riverstown, at the Church of the Assumption, Sooey, Co. Sligo. Before that, I was in Maynooth for seven years from 2001-2008, preparing for ordination to priesthood. And, before that again, I spent three years at IT Sligo studying Civil Engineering, which I still love.

I was educated at Summerhill College in Sligo, and completed my leaving cert there in 1998.
My hobbies include all things automotive, especially cars. For a number of years I volunteered as a marshall at the Sligo stages of the Circuit of Ireland Rally. And, in my teenage years I was a keen cyclist, winning an All-Ireland medal in the process, even if you wouldn't think it to look at me now!

Fear is an incredible thing. It has both positive and negative effects in our lives. It can save us from falling off a cliff, but it can also paralyse us and even stop us from taking the step that may sometimes be necessary to save ourselves.

Fear is what Mothers and Fathers drill into their children to stop them putting their hand into a fire. And yet, fear of water can paralyse a child trying to learn to swim.

Fear has both positive and negative effects on us.

Fear speaks to the Church that we find ourselves part of today. And, while we feel afraid of what is happening to our Church, we must also not allow our fear to paralyse us from taking the necessary steps to save ourselves.

It seems to me, from our gospel passage today, that the core activity of the Christian, when faced with fear, is to rely on God. And be reliance on God I don't mean that we ignore what is happening around us. What I mean is that we will find it most difficult to interpret the 'signs of the times' with 'eyes of faith' if we are not people of prayer.

Relying on God means placing our trust in God.

Relying on God means trusting that even in the midst of what can seem like a difficult and painful experience of truth, God is there. God is in the painful discoveries that we are making about our Church. And God is the reason that we continue to be people of faith.

Like the disciples out on the lake, we find ourselves afraid and overwrought, even sinking. And yet, all the while, Jesus is saying to us: "Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid."

I look forward to getting to know you all. Please pray for me as I get to know my new parish and community.