On this special Feast, my dear People, the Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Patroness of the Missions and Doctor of the Universal Church, we gather together, as a Parish, to conclude our Triduum of celebrations on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Pastoral Visit to Ireland of the Vicar of Christ, Pope John Paul II.
On this day in 1979, the Pope spoke to the Priests, Religious, Missionaries and Seminarians of Ireland gathered to meet him in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. He had come to Ireland, on a Pastoral Visit, out of love and concern for the followers, the Disciples of Christ. In his own words he explained:
"I come in the name of Christ to preach to you his own message".
At Maynooth he spoke of the calling and mission of the diocesan Priest to the thousands of Priests gathered there. He said:
"A priest is called by Christ; a priest is with Christ; a priest is sent by Christ. A priest is sent in the power of the same Holy Spirit which drove Christ untiringly along the roads of life, the roads of history. Whatever the difficulties, the disappointments, the set-backs, we priests find in Christ and in the power of his Spirit the strength to struggle wearily on, helped only by his power driving us irresistibly'(cf.Col.1:29)".
He spoke to the Seminarians of the need for fidelity to their call:
"Today, Jesus Christ is making this
appeal to you through me: the appeal for fidelity".
Addressing the Religious Sisters and Brothers present, the Holy Father said:
"Remember always that your field of apostolate is your own personal lives. Your first apostolic duty is your own sanctification. No change in religious life has any importance unless it be also conversion of yourselves to Christ. No movement in religious life has any value unless it be also movement inwards to the ' still centre ' of your existence, where Christ is. It is not what you do that matters most; but what you are".
To the Contemplative Sisters, Brothers and Priests, the Vicar of Christ placed before them the example of Saint Therese of Lisieux, whose Feast we celebrate today:
"I commend to you the Church; I commend mankind and the world to you. To you, to your prayers, to your 'holocaust' I commend also myself, Bishop of Rome. Be with me, close to me, you who are in the heart of the Church! May there be fulfilled in each of you that which was the programme of life for Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus: ' in corde Ecclesiae amor ero' - I will be love in the heart of the Church'!".
To all the Missionaries gathered in Maynooth, under the mantle of the saintly Patroness of the Missions, St. Therese, the Holy Father, as the First Missionary of the Church, referring to the missionary spirit which has driven the Irish to the ends of the earth, made an impassioned plea:
"May that missionary spirit never decline in the hearts of the Irish priests, whether members of missionary institutes or of diocesan clergy or of religious congregations devoted to other apostolates. May this spirit be actively fostered by all of you among the laity, already so devoted in their prayer, so generous in their support for the missions. May a spirit of partnership grow between the home dioceses and the home religious congregations in the total mission of the Church, until each local diocesan Church and each religious congregation and community is fully seen to be 'missionary of its very nature', entering into the eager missionary movement of the universal Church".
In keeping with this appeal of the Pope for Ireland to continue to be missionary, in accord with the Heart of Christ, it is necessary that missionary awareness be fostered continually at all levels. For four years now the endeavour to increase mission awareness has been highlighted by the celebration of what has become known as 'Mission Alive', which has been held at a different venue each year. This year's event, which has as theme 'Proclaim the Message', will be held in Cork from Sunday October 3rd to the 6th. It will be inaugurated with a special Mass in the Holy Spirit Church, Dennehy's Cross, next Sunday at 11.00 a.m. The main celebrant of the Mass will be the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, from Zimbabwe. That Mass will be transmitted on RTE I.
' Mission Alive' festival, which will be held in the GAA Sports Centre in Bishopstown from the 3rd to the 6th of October, will, highlight the magnificent witness of Pope John Paul II, during his 26 years of Pontificate, as the First Missionary of the Church. The opening celebration next Sunday coincides also with the National 'Day for Life' called for by the Bishops of Ireland. On the occasion of the celebration of the ' Day for Life', the Bishops are issuing a special Pastoral Letter entitled ' Life is for Living' which will concentrate on a major problem in Irish society today, namely that of suicide. It is hoped that there will be a wide diffusion of this Pastoral Letter, especially in Second and Third levels of educational institutions. The Holy Father, before he left our shores on this day twenty-five years ago, gave us this clear message in regard to the sacredness of human life:
"And so I say to all, have an absolute and holy respect for the sacredness of human life from the first moment of its conception. Abortion, as the Vatican Council stated, is one of the ' abominable crimes' (Gaudium et Spes, 51). To attack unborn life at any moment from its conception is to undermine the whole moral order which is the true guardian of the well-being of man. The defence of the absolute inviolability of unborn life is part of the defence of human rights and human dignity. May Ireland never weaken in her witness, before Europe and before the whole world, to the dignity and sacredness of human life, from conception until death".
We salute Pope John Paul II today for his intrepid defence of the sacredness of human life, for his consistent and courageous proclamation of the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ and for the clarity of his appeals for the respect of all human rights and his work for peace in the world.
On this first day of October, a First Friday, special in the ministry of priests to the sick and housebound, we pray for our sisters and brothers who are sick, confined to hospital and to their homes. Indeed, the Holy Father himself carries the painful burden of illness and suffering and, through it all, continues to proclaim the salvific value of suffering to the whole world. As he met with the sick in Knock, during his Pastoral Visit to Ireland, he left them a consoling and uplifting message:
"Today I am happy to be with the sick and the handicapped. I have come to give witness to Christ's love for you, and to tell you that the Church and the Pope love you too. They reverence and esteem you. They are convinced that there is something very special about your mission in the Church By his suffering and death Jesus took on himself all human suffering and he gave it anew value. As a matter of fact, he calls upon the sick, upon everyone who suffers, to collaborate with him in the salvation of the world".
May we, followers of Jesus Christ in this new millennium of faith, always uphold the value of human life, understand the value of suffering in the context of human salvation and courageously proclaim, by our lives, that Jesus is the Lord of life, life to be lived to the full. Now, more than ever, in this Ireland of today, there is needed committed and dedicated Christians who will use the God-given freedom they have received to challenge the values and trends of modern society with the values of the Gospel, so that we, all together, may return to the path of upright living where love, justice and peace may permeate every aspect of Irish living. It is quite a task but, with the help of God, it can be done. The society in which we live today and that which we wish to build for the future depends greatly on the quality of family life in our Christian homes. The Holy Father, in his last encounter with the people of Ireland, spoke to them on the importance of family life. His words are very clear:
"The future of the Church, the future of humanity depend in great part on parents and on the family life they build in their homes. The family is the true measure of the greatness of a nation, just as the dignity of man is the true measure of civilisation".
Now that we, citizens of a new millennium and a new century, recall with gratitude the Pastoral Visit of Pope John Paul II among us, may we take to heart his very last words as he left our shores:
"I entrust all this to Mary, the bright 'Sun of the Irish race'. May her
prayers help all Irish homes to be like the holy house of Nazareth. From them
may all Christians go forth, as Jesus did from Nazareth. May they go forth in
the power of the Spirit to continue Christ's work and to follow in his footsteps
toward the end of the millennium, into the twenty-first century. Mary will keep
you all close to him, who is ' Father of the world to come'.
Dia agus Muire libh! May God and Mary be with you and with the families of Ireland always!
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