15 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 15 July 2012, Mark 6:7-13

Mother Kevin

Mission

Back in January I travelled to Uganda with Trocaire as many of you know. Almost everywhere we went we came to hear of 'Mama Kevina'.

Mother Kevin was born, Teresa Kearney, on the 28th April, 1875, near Arklow in Co. Wicklow. By the time she was ten years old, both of her parents had died. She was raised from that time by her granny, who died when Teresa was at the tender age of 17 years old.

Teresa was already an assistant teacher. It was after her granny's death that she joined the Franciscan Sisters, initially for the mission to the USA. But, her journey would take her to Uganda, prompted by the request of a missionary Bishop there. She built new convents and primary schools, clinics that eventually became hospitals, women's development groups, and much else besides.

All over the country of Uganda her influence is to be found. She would eventually found two new orders of Sisters. Firstly, in 1923 she founded the 'Little Sisters of St Francis'. Then, at the age of 77 in 1952, she founded the 'Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa'. This Order was specifically to provide Sisters for the Mission to Africa. She became the first Superior General of the Order, until 1954, when she recognised that younger sisters with more energy for the mission might be better able to continue her great work. She died in Boston in 1957.

Do's and Don't's:

To be a missionary is to first be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Mother Kevin had a very simple three-word mission statement: "For thee, Lord". This very simple mission statement gives us an incredible insight into the woman. It tells us that she was obviously a disciple of the Lord. It tells us that she felt able, in her heart, to communicate with her Lord and Master. And, most of all, because what she was doing was for the Lord, it seemed as if she had boundless, unbridled energy for all aspects of her task.

The twelve in today's gospel are missioned – sent out, two by two. They are given some very clear instructions, a list of Do's and Dont's for the journey. Do wear Sandals. Do bring a staff. Do not bring a beggar's sack. Do not bring money. Do not wear two tunics.

The mission is always to people. The mission is never away from society, or away from the world. And the Do's and Dont's of the Disciples missioning by Jesus strongly affirm this. The Do's are about being prepared for the journey. Be prepared for long walks, so wear footwear. Be prepared for whatever comes at you on that walk, be it wild animal, or mountain, or whatever, so bring a staff. But, wherever you find people, stop. Where you are made welcome, stay. Be regular. Don't be bothersome. Be natural. Every person that you meet who welcomes you is worth spending time with. Don't bring your own bread, or your own money. To do so would keep a distance between you and the people you meet.

So, to be a missionary is to first be a disciple of Jesus. Only secondly can we head out on mission. And mission is about giving people an experience of the Lord. So, it is not about force-feeding religion down someone's throat. Rather, it is like sharing an adventure that you went on. Becoming religious, going to Mass and praying and receiving the Sacraments are all responses to the encounter that we have with Jesus, and usually through other people.

Reminder: We are all missionaries

It is good to remember that we are all missionaries! At the end of Mass today, in the name of Christ you will be sent on that mission and you will respond by thanking God for it.

It's good to remember today that it is not just Africa, or America, or China, or anywhere else that needs missioned to anymore than Ireland, Connaught, our diocese, our parish, your street, your house, your heart. Going on mission is a response to the incredible experience of God in our lives, and the mission of Jesus is to every dimension and aspect of our world.

"Mother Kevina is a woman of God. She is the same to us all without considering their race or colour. She belongs to us all, not only to the Christians or the Catholics"

"She is an amazing woman. The whole Department (Government) may have firmly decided that she cannot have approval for all her private enterprises. She calls on us. She is perfectly simple, perfectly charming and perfectly inflexible. Invariably she gets what she has come for; invariably she is proved to be right. She is a wonder, a woman totally dedicated to religion, she keeps us all on our secular toes."

http://www.fmsa.net/

14 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 8 July 2012, Mark 6:1-6

Where is Jesus?

Honour

"Once upon a time, in a land far, far away..." So begins many a fairytale. Our ears are so tuned in to those words that they can immediately remind us of our favourite childhood stories. If a story was to begin: "Yesterday, outside my house..." it simply wouldn't be a fairytale; there's no excitement and it just sounds wrong. So, our ears are attracted to the exotic – to the far away – to the extraordinary. In our minds we give honour to the exotic and assign shame to the ordinary. Dublin, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo – Exotic, exciting, relevant – what about Roscommon? Its good to remember that all good fairytales pass on wisdom to us that we use in our everyday lives. And its good to remember that exotic places have ordinary people living in them! And those ordinary people look at our lives and see the exotic!

Belonging

We all belong somewhere – in a family, a town, a street, a community, a sports club, a Church, maybe even a Choir! We know that we belong somewhere when we can be ourselves in that place, when we don't have to put on a mask, or create a perfect image of myself to put on show. When we belong we are at our most real. The people and places where we most belong will ground us. Like a lightning conductor on the side of a building to protect it from going on fire in a storm, so also people who know us as we really are conduct the energy from the storms of life back to where it belongs. They don't shield us or protect us from living our life, but they are there like a port on the stormy seas of life. For me, going home to visit with my family grounds me because with them I am not Fr John. I'm just John. The real me. And that's healthy and normal.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Gospel Choir

Brothers and Sisters of Jesus

We forget just how grounded we can be. Sometimes we can be grounded in a false or very 'base' place. Like when men gather together in the pub and share smutty jokes, or perhaps when ladies share the latest gossip about someone down the street or up the road. We can mistake this for being real, healthy and normal. Talking about other people in a less than dignified way means that we don't treat them like the human beings they are. And so, we cannot see that every person, no matter what they have done, or where they come from, every person is a miracle. A miracle of life and creation, a miracle of many bodily systems that keep them alive and breathing, a miracle of mind that can think and feel and analyse. And every person is a miracle that we believe Jesus makes his home. Jesus makes his home in every single person. Without exception.

The Sacraments remind us of this; that, Jesus exists in the ordinary, everyday, humdrum stuff of life –  in bread, and wine; in water, and oil; by light, and in the dark; in our everyday rituals, and in the things that we forget to do.

Jesus is present in the people that we meet everyday, in the rich and the poor, among settled people and traveller folk, in those who suffer from addiction and in those who are teetotallers, in our brothers and in our sisters, in those we have judged and in those who have judged us, in our enemies and in our friends.

Recognition

It is not that the Church has to be more relevant, nor is it that it has to be more exciting or entertaining. No, the gift of the Church is Christ. And the work of the Church is opening our eyes to see him. Everyday. All around us. And in us. In the ordinary and the extraordinary moments of life.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all who love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

From St Patrick's Breastplate

Note: Our Lady of Good Counsel Gospel Choir came to Roscommon to share their talents and Sacred Music with us this weekend. They are normally based in the Parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Johnstown, Killiney, Co. Dublin. www.johnstownparish.org

Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODBL9pN4SMc

Feast of St Maria Goretti, 6 July 2012, John 12:24-26; 1 Cor 6:13-15, 17-20

Sainthood

St Maria Goretti

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen has begun the process in Rome, but it is on record that he fell out with Cardinal Spellman over money! Saints are very real and realistic people. They are first and foremost, human beings first. What is a Saint? Well, the first requirement to be a Saint is to be a human being.

When we ponder the life of St Maria Goretti we can make her untouchable. We don't imagine children today as being saintly because we imagine that a saintly person, or a saintly child would be perfect – a kind of 'goody-two-shoes'. But if Saints are human beings, and Saints have to be human beings in order to be Saints, then St Maria Goretti was first and foremost a little girl of 11 years old. So, I would imagine that she would have liked sweets. I'm sure that she loved to play, and I imagine that she had to be coaxed into doing her homework when she came home from school! It's important to 'humanise' the Saints. Otherwise we make out that we could never be a Saint and then we've left ourselves off the hook! 'Sure, I could never be a Saint!' Ah, but you could!

Chastity

chastity here is the capacity to hold oneself, in the same manner as I must be continent – learning how to use our body in a correct manner – teaching a child to use the potty, and then the toilet – we don't simply go to the toilet where we stand – we wait, we hold ourselves until we can get to the toilet, sometimes until the point of bursting! To lose that control over our bodies is a difficult moment – one that can happen for many reasons

Chastity then is not so much a suppression of our sexuality but rather a 'holding' of our own self. I know my own deep desires and I feel them in much the same way as I need to use the toilet. But, we learn to wait for the proper place and time – the proper place being the married relationship and the proper time being the time when we have been married in public before Christ and his Church.

We can use chastity as a model for our conduct in all kinds of walks of life. There can be moments in life when we are deeply tempted to take what is not ours. And we can experience that temptation as a deep urge – and usually it is quite a private experience – 'no one will ever know'. The difficulty is that we ourselves know, and of course God knows. So, to be tempted by greed or pride or honour or lust is human – to act out on these temptations are all ways of being unchaste, that is unfaithful to the Lord of our life – and not just to the Lord, but to the Body of Christ which is the Church.

The Body of Christ

The Body of Christ as the Church – the Body of Christ as Communion – our bodies as members of Christ's Body – to be chaste is to be faithful to Christ – as a wife is to her husband, as a husband is to his wife

The Body, i.e. the Church, is not meant to be in relationship with anyone else – the Church is faithful to Christ – the Church is chaste in it's faithfulness to Christ – and is unchaste when it is not faithful to Christ

Purity

Difference between ritual purity and actual purity
Rituals – The externals of religion – dressing in a collar as a priest is a 'pure' ritual – signing ourselves with the cross is a 'pure' ritual – coming to Mass is a 'purity' ritual – receiving Communion is a public statement of 'purity' as much as not receiving may be interpreted falsely as being a public statement of impurity.

St Maria Goretti is remembered for her purity, and specifically for her sexual purity. We call this particular form of purity 'chastity'. It is a requirement of all followers of Jesus Christ, whether celibate or married or single, whether one is a consecrated religious or a member of the lay-faithful, whether one is a priest or deacon, Bishop or Pope. In the history of the Church there are many famous examples of those who have not been chaste, especially in the exalted roles of leadership such as Popes or Bishops.

So it is important, first of all, when we consider chastity to not set the standard of chastity by the failures of others or the failures of ourselves to be chaste. No, rather we entrust ourselves and others to God's grace and mercy. Then we can begin to discover with fresh eyes and ears the standard set by those who have been spectacularly chaste!

Novena

Isn't it amazing how our human minds and hearts work? We remember bad news instead of good news. And, in order to remember good news, sometimes we have to make it bad news first! We would rather set our standard by the failure of others, rather than by the spectacular successes of the Saints!

There is an incredible effort of will required of us to really hear a spectacular story like Maria Goretti's story. It is for that reason – because we have to make this incredible effort to really hear St Maria's incredible story – it is for that reason that we need the pure ritual of a Novena of preparation for today. It is only by prayer, listening to God's Word, and celebrating the Sacraments over nine consecutive days to prepare for this moment that we can really be in this moment.

So, I am jealous of you! I am already not as well prepared as you are for this moment! I have been busy with my pastoral work and so could not be here every evening for this great preparation prayer.