27 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 7 October 2012, Mark 10:2-16

http://www.chooselife2012.ie/

Choose Life!
Right throughout my life, I have been enticed by the 'A Grade.' I always wanted to do well academically. That is one of the reasons that I am back studying. I want to understand more, develop more, be more human, more alive, and to grow in passion for the preaching of the gospel. What one of us doesn't want to thrive? Survival is important, but once we are managing to survive, another impulse comes: the impulse of thriving in life.

Surviving and Thriving: A subtle lie
One version of 'thriving' in life that rose to prominence during the twentieth century was the push to 'thrive' that arose in Germany under Hitler. The people were barely surviving, and Hitler convinced the people that the root cause of all their problems, the reason why they were only surviving and not thriving was because of the Jew, the Communist, or the Homosexual in their midst. We know, now, that this is a very basic lie. But, before it was discovered as a lie, six million people had died as a result of this lie. And the lie is subtle – for you to thrive, somebody else, maybe even other people, must not survive. Another version of the lie pervades our society that says in order for me to thrive, others must barely survive. Another version of this lie is in the subtle thinking that says all foreigners must leave because there isn't enough work for us Irish. For me to thrive, others must not thrive. This is a lie.

Surviving and Thriving: Living life to the full!
The Church's understanding, i.e. what the Church teaches us, stands this lie on its head. The Church teaches us that in order to thrive, we must first survive; to be fully alive, we must first live. And the 'we' here is not limited to me, or us, but rather the 'we' that is all of humanity. I cannot really thrive unless all of humanity is at least surviving, and that they are on the way to thriving.

We can apply this 'surviving and thriving' model to many of the difficulties that are raised in our world today. It is like a 'rule of thumb' for some difficult moral questions, such as:

1. For our society to thrive, like other societies appear to be thriving, do we not need to bring in the same laws as they have? Or, to be more exact, because other countries have legislated for abortion – for the deliberate killing of the unborn – do we not need to do the same? Isn't that what progress is?

2. So, for us to thrive as a country, must not some die? This is the same idea that I proposed earlier – for me to thrive, or, for us to thrive, must some not survive?

The answer for us as Catholics and as Christians is that no-one need die for us to thrive. In fact, our thriving is bound up with the thriving of others. It is together that we thrive.

Divorce – the Gospel teaching
Today's gospel is one of those gospel passages that can grate on our contemporary ears. I think that this is the case because the gospel is written in a particular way – it is a dramatic story. It is like a three-act play. The first act is the scene with the Pharisees testing Jesus about the Law. The second act is "Back in the house" and the third act seems to move outside again.

Divorce and Discipleship
Those tough lines in the middle – about divorce and adultery, they are given "Back in the house", so they are 'Top Secret', for your eyes only, if you will. Jesus brings the disciples into the house – the house here is a metaphor for the Church – he brings them into the house, into the parlour we might say, and it is only from that inside place that the teaching of Jesus makes sense. It makes very little sense to us – until we recognise that the disciples questioned Jesus about this. Struggling with A Grade Christianity is like competing in the Olympics of life. It isn't easy. So, asking questions is good. Asking questions of the 'house', i.e. the Church, is good because it means that we are in the same company as the disciples!

Humanae Vitae – The Culture of Life
The contemporary Catholic tradition of love, care and respect for human life began decisively with Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical 'Humanae Vitae'. Here, Pope Paul VI carefully re-affirmed the Church's respect for the mystery of human life, relationship and procreation. Building on the tradition of Humanae Vitae, the Church under Pope John Paul II published 'Donum Vitae' in 1987, and 'Evangelium Vitae' in 1995.

Humanae Vitae (E) – "On Human Life" which deals with regulating birth
Donum Vitae (CDF) – "Respect for Life" which deals with the Church's teaching on IVF
Evangelium Vitae (E) – "The Gospel of Life" which deals with Murder, Abortion, Euthanasia

You can see that the common word here is: 'Vitae', which means 'Life'. In a way, these documents all deal with 'Life' issues.  As such, the Church's tradition is well established that "from the moment of conception (until the moment of natural death), every human life is beautiful, every human life is precious, and every human life is sacred." (Irish Bishops, Day for Life, 2012)

Further Notes:

The Day for Life – celebrated each year since 2001 here in Ireland
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae in 1995 asked that a 'Day for Life' be celebrated each year that would highlight these issues.
Day for Life 2012 – Choose Life!
Day for Life 2011 – A call to solidarity and hope in difficult times
Day for Life 2010 – The meaning of Christian death
Day for Life 2009 – Suicide
Day for Life 2008 – Mental Health
Day for Life 2007 – The sacredness of Human Life
Day for Life 2006 – Celebrating People with Disabilities

So, this Sunday the Bishops of Ireland, our bishops and leaders in faith, are asking us to engage in a number of ways:
1. Pray the 'Choose Life' prayer each day from today until the Feast day of All Saints on Tuesday November.
2. Visit the website: http://www.chooselife2012.ie/
3. Get a pamphlet
4. Get involved in discussions! Make your view heard.

26 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 30 September 2012, Mark 9:38-48

We all like to get our own way! There was a great ad on TV a few years back. It was for Vicks First Defence and its slogan was: "Attack is the best form of defence", a debatable catchphrase. Anyhow, the bit about the ad that I remember was that it was set in a supermarket aisle. A Mother and her young son are walking down the aisle when the boy picks up some crisps and sweets off the shelf. Looking at his Mum, he realises that she is not too keen on him getting all these goodies, so he begins the first stages of a tantrum. At which point, the mother throws herself on the ground, and has a full-blown tantrum, after which she gets up off the ground, having won the day. Her son, realising that he has lost this battle of the wills decides that he had best put the goodies back on the supermarket shelf. Then they join hands and away they go. "Attack is the best form of defence."

I love getting my way. In fact, when I was in training for priesthood my family had a nickname for me that emphasised this. Unfortunately I can't share the nickname with you. But, suffice to say that it emphasised the specialness of what I was doing with my life, and, of course, how my Mum would look after and spoil me when I came home from college. I'm sure you can imagine what I mean.

I think we all like to get our way. Certainly the disciples in the gospel liked to get their way. So much so, in fact, that they were disturbed by someone who wasn't doing things their way! "Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name: and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him." Another way of putting this is: Because he doesn't follow us, because he doesn't do what we do, we tried to stop him. This is a more challenging way of putting it. What it highlights is that, in the Christian community, in the Body of Christ, there are always those who are less interested helping people to follow Jesus and more interested in getting people to follow themselves. So, this is a critique of the abuse of power in the early Church. It is also a critique of the abuse of power in the contemporary/modern Church. This happened among the apostles, whom we remember from last Sunday were more interested in discussing which of themselves was the greatest rather than listening carefully to the bad news that Jesus was breaking to them about his passion and his death.

To emphasise the point, Jesus sounds out a number times, notes of positive encouragement and then, four times he reproaches the disciples for their attitude, simply because they don't get it. Jesus is clear. There is only one Way. And it is Jesus' Way. God's way, not man's. It's not my way, or your way, or our way. It is Jesus' way. To get the attention of the disciples, Jesus throws a hissie fit.

"You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off;... And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off;... And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out;..."

This tantrum that Jesus throws is with the disciples – attack is the best form of defence. Jesus wants to show them, and to show us, the futility of power for power's sake – he wants to show them that the most important people in the Kingdom of God are the little ones: the ones who we perceive have no power, no authority, no voice. It is they who are in first place in the Kingdom of God.

And how we know that we have not lived up to this instruction of Jesus. How we know now how the contemporary Church was involved in the abuse of those with no power, with no authority, with no voice. So, the Gospel is fresh, and new, and full of new life. Because the Gospel is Jesus' way, not our way.

A quick note as I finish today's homily. We can be tempted to read or hear today's gospel passages to do with cutting off hand or foot or tearing out our eye; we can be tempted to read them in an individualistic sense which would mean that we do not hear or read the Gospel as it was intended. It is a clear criticism of the Body as the Body of Christ – as the community of faith. So, to cut off a hand or foot or whatever should be heard as addressed first of all at the community not at the individual.

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.

Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist, 24 June 2012, Luke 1:57-66, 80

The Holstee Manifesto

Who were you named after? I'm named after both of my Grand-fathers: John on my Mother's side, Patrick on my Father's. So, I am John Patrick. At least, that's how I understand it. It's an interesting question to ask of ourselves: 'Who am I named after?'

Naming a child is a very significant moment. We take it for granted, so much so that we rarely spend a bit of time wondering about why we have a name, and why we bother to name other people.

Maybe it's only when we reflect on situations in history where people have had their name taken from them that we realise the significance of being named. Prisoners in the concentration camps in Nazi Germany were assigned numbers, which were tattooed on to their arms. Their name was removed from the forceably. They were known in the camps by the number assigned to them. We can feel revulsion about this, especially if we put ourselves in the prisoner's shoes. What is it that makes it so horrendous? Perhaps it's the last straw in terms of our dignity as persons. If we aren't recognised by a name, then we lose our standing as human beings. We become sub-human.

Naming a child bestows the dignity of humanity on that child; it affirms them as created in the image and likeness of the creator God.

Our gospel story today is built around a controversy about what to name this newborn baby. The controversy is not among the parents, but between the community and parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah. Zechariah is deaf, struck down in the temple when he didn't fully believe the angel of God. So, he cannot hear his wife's insistence on the name John. The miracle occurs when Zechariah writes the name John on the writing tablet. The creator God, the Lord, has acted in an amazing fashion:

Elizabeth, in her old age, has conceived and borne a son – which was clearly seen as God's blessing upon her, upon her husband, and upon their family.

And then God acts in the naming of the child. A prophetic act occurs – Elizabeth insists on the name of John, and the deaf Zechariah also insists.

The Lord's role in naming John indicates for the community the prophetic person that John will be. Even before John himself discovers what his calling will be, the community are already primed to find out.

As named human beings, and as baptised Christians, each and every person has a vocation and a calling in life. We have a contribution to make, something that no other person can do. Our own relationship with God is dependent on us listening carefully for what our call is – and it is only in the answering of that call, the writing of God on our hearts, that we can become the best version of ourselves that we were meant to be.

Each one of us ignores the deepest call of God in our hearts. And this is perhaps the most significant sin of our lives; that we do not listen to what God is telling us about ourselves, and so we become deaf like Zechariah. It takes courage to continue listening for God's call when we find ourselves numbed and deafened by life.

If all of life is about a preparation for our inevitable departure from this life when we die, and if we allow this to shape our whole existence, then answering God's call becomes much easier. And no doubt, John was aware that his prophetic words and actions would bring him close to the fickle sword of this world's authority. Being rooted in the authority that is beyond this world allowed John to answer fully the call of God.

"Ruah" Input for Elation Ministries - 25 May 2012

http://www.elationministries.com/

 

I want to set the scene for a moment. I promise you that I won't stay with the doom and gloom, but I think its important to situate ourselves concretely in the here and now.

Last July, the Taoiseach spoke in the Dail at length about the Church in the wake of new revelations in a diocese here. He accused the Vatican of undue interference in Irish affairs. Following this watershed moment, the Minister for Foreign Affairs closed the residence of the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See. He claimed that it was for financial reasons, although it later transpired that the saving would amount to just over €700k per annum which doesn't seem to stack up as a good reason.

Having said all that, if the closing of the Ambassador's residence was genuinely for financial reasons, then I would accept it. However, I don't believe that it was for financial reasons that it was closed. I believe that it was closed because it was politically expedient to do so. We may not be Soviet Russia where people were murdered by the ruling elites for political expediency, but what is happening to the Church here is a form of politicide.

It is politicide because the Church has held political power in three ways: in the areas of health, of education and of sexual morality. We have lost our moral authority to speak on sexual morality. This was the first step in the politicide of the Church, although here the greatest wounds were self-inflicted by means of the abuse crisis. Now the continuing annihilation of the Church in the political, cultural and social life of Ireland has created a power vacumn where the Church once stood strong. The focus of the current politicide of the Church has now shifted to the eradication of the Church from the area of education and it will gradually focus on the removal of Church influence in our health system.

Meanwhile, since the mid-1960s the institutional Church has been greatly depleted by rapidly falling vocations, not to mention the number of clergy and religious who have left ministry and/or religious life. So, to use an analogy of the military, the standing army that the bishops and superiors once stood as Generals of, no longer exists. What remains is a skeleton crew, taking turns at keeping watch, hoping against hope that the cavalry will come riding over the hill to relieve the situation.

So, here we are. What are we to do? We don't have enough 'troops' to fight off those who are stripping us of our power, although this is not stopping us from trying to use lay-people in this way. They are, understandably, wary of being ushered into the trenches where certain annihilation appears to be just over the next parapet. To stand and fight appears to be the only option because there is nowhere for us to fly to.

I think that it is important to tell the story like this, because that is what it feels like to be a priest or a Catholic in Ireland today. At times it feels like being hung, drawn and quartered, but of course, not physically but rather emotionally and therefore spiritually. And so we do not know where we are. Has our God abandoned us to the wolves? Where is the Chief Pastor, the one who promised to be there with us, to protect us? For faithful and committed Catholics it can feel as though God and Church have abandoned them.

So, how are we to chart a course forward? We have only a sketchy map and instruments that we have not used for generations. These are the ancient ways. They are to be found in the Gospels, in the letters of St Paul and in the Acts of the Apostles. They, in turn, draw deeply on the Scriptures of what we call the Old Testament. First and foremost in this is that the Christian Way leads all of us, at some time or other, to the Cross. And second is that no person has ever volunteered for the Cross. Even the Lord himself, we are told, struggled with the prospect of what was ahead of him, and sweated blood.

So, we have to be ready to sweat blood also. This means that when we contemplate what the future holds for us, we have to be real about it. Being a Christian can be a very painful experience. There is no point to hiding that from ourselves. So, if we are looking for virtual religion, then we are in the wrong place. What happened to Jesus can, does and will happen to us.

This is one of the key weaknesses of our Church today. We operate in the world as if the Cross never happened. We are surprised and 'saddened' when the world moves in a way that is not in-keeping with the Church's beliefs. And yet, from the ancient ways we know that all of this has happened before. None of it is new.

What should be the focus of the Church's mission now? For many years the focus has been on upholding the Church's total power in the areas of health, education and sexual morality. And, it is good to be clear about this, the Church did hold almost total power in these areas. So, I think we have to at least propose that it is not such a good thing to hold total control over any area of public life. A brief look at any authoritarian or totalitarian political system gives good reason for this. That there are other viewpoints and perspectives in the world challenges us to understand ourselves more and more.

An example of this is that up until the present time in the field of education, Catholic ethos was not articulated, but was simply presumed. This created a situation where the majority of schools were Catholic in name but not clearly in identity. So, there is already some good coming out of the current moves by the State to propose change in the patronage of schools. And, already some parents are beginning to articulate their desire to have their children educated in a specifically Catholic school. This is good. It gives freedom of expression to schools that are Catholic to be explicitly Catholic in their identity, outlook and ethos.

So, what we should be convinced of now is that the Church's total power in any area is not a good thing. It breeds complacency and commands the resources of the Church to uphold a false total structure. As that 'totality' is usurped we are coming to realise that now the Church can choose the mission it wants to focus on. And that mission is surely the one that Christ entrusted to those whom he had gathered around him. It is the mission of evangelisation.

Evangelisation comes from the greek word for the good news: "evangelion". So, to be evangelised means to be "gospelified". It means to be completely immersed in the gospel. In an ideal world evangelisation would come before the ritual and sacramental baptism where we are literally immersed in water. We were all sacramentally baptised and initiated into the Way of Christ. The question is: were we all sufficiently evangelised beforehand? I wasn't, mostly because I was baptised as an infant. So, we don't live in an ideal world. We live in the real world. So, here in the real world, sometimes the cart does go before the horse, and sometimes, perhaps most of the time, our evangelisation occurs after baptism. Indeed, it often occurs after we have been baptised, confirmed, received holy Communion and the Sacrament of Penance, maybe even been married or ordained as a priest!

So, we must be careful that we do not evangelise people into contaminated water. The water that we use to baptise people symbolises both the death and the resurrection of Christ. We are to be baptised into Christ. We must be clear that at one and the same time as we were baptised into Christ, we were baptised into his Body, the Church. There is no gap between these two. We cannot be baptised in Christ, and not be baptised into the Church. Similarly, our evangelisation draws us deeper into the love of God, and also into love of his Body, the Church. While the water of Christ is pure, the water of the Church can be impure and contaminated. This is the human side of the divine institution that the Church is, and it was so from the very beginning. If we briefly consider Judas' betraying role in the story of Jesus' life, then we know how our human weakness very often determines the direction the Church takes. And also, the Church at times can be contaminated with the desire for power, which the Lord specifically condemns in Matthew's Gospel:

Jesus called them together and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28)

These are just a couple of examples of what can distort Christ's mission in the world. Each one of us must be aware of ourselves. Do we perceive that the Church is under attack, and therefore must be defended at all costs? Or, do we recognise the call to journey to the Cross that is at the heart of the Christian journey of life, not forgetting that the Cross leads to the Resurrection?

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, which is the time when we commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and to the Church. What is the Holy Spirit? There are some stock answers: the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the creator Spirit that we read about in the book of Genesis:

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2)

I think, however, that on the feast of Pentecost we are celebrating the Spirit of Christ, which is at the same time the creator Spirit of the Old Testament and the third person of the revealed Holy Trinity. I say this because the gospel for the Vigil of Pentecost reads:

He [Jesus] was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:39)

To say that there was "no Spirit as yet" means to say that Christ's Spirit had not yet passed to his adopted brothers and sisters. They were not yet imbued with his Spirit. So, as Christians, compared to all other non-Christian peoples, we are promised to be imbued not simply with a vague "Holy Spirit", but rather the Holy Spirit of Christ – the Spirit that through him, through his life on this earth, we came to be part of. It was that Holy Spirit which came upon Mary enabling her to conceive the child Jesus; that same Spirit that awoke in Elizabeth when John jumped in her womb as Mary greeted her. And yet, there is some characteristic difference for all of us who follow on after Jesus walked on this earth. And this is the Spirit of Christ that we are exposed to, for it is through Christ, through Jesus that we are gifted with the Holy Spirit. Christ is the lens through which we encounter the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of Christ is also in some sense Christ's soul – it is that which animated him while he was on the earth. And in giving his own Spirit to the Church, Christ imbues each one of us with his own self. And it seems that not one of us gets exactly the same bit of that Spirit – some of us are beautiful singers and musicians, some of us are teachers and preachers, others are involved in ministry to priests and to the liturgy, more of us are making discoveries every day about who we are and what we are called to be and do in the Church and in our world.

So, in short then, as people of faith we are called to be converted and converted and converted, over and over again. That is to say that we are to be immersed in Christ, which is to be evangelised or gospelified over and over again. Our sacramental baptism and our sacramental confirmation are not ends in themselves but rather are beginnings. And, like an inspirational song, we have to tune in all the time to that one true Spirit that Jesus promises us. It is his Spirit. And it is to be found in Scripture, in the Sacraments, in the Church understood as the gathered people of God, in other people, in people that we minister to, and in people that minister to us. The Spirit of Christ is real, perhaps it is the most real experience we ever have in life – the most true experience that we ever have in life. And Christ's Spirit is with us always, we simply have to open our eyes and ears, reach out and touch other people, pray, sing, be gospelified, evangelised, converted, whatever you want to call it. And Christ's Spirit always draws us together – gathers us into the "ekklesia", the great gathering unto Christ that the Church actually is.