"It is my Father's Will that whoever sees the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life" (Jn.6:40).
My dear friends in Christ,
Many times throughout our lives we pose to ourselves the question: "What is God's Will for me?" Sometimes we may be approached by others who are endeavouring to discern for themselves the Will of God. Our discerning requires that we step back into a space where we are not encumbered by the pressures of the world, a space where the Spirit of God has free reign and then the Will of God becomes quite clear. For Jesus the Will of the Father was clear and He had come to follow that Will. In today's Gospel reading Jesus says: "I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of the one who sent me"(Jn. 6:38) and He goes on to explain the Will of the Father: "Now the Will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me"(Jn. 6:39).
So here we are today, my dear friends, gathered around the mortal remains of one who endeavoured throughout his long life to fulfil the Will of God in his regard. This Will was revealed to him gradually as he emerged from the Baptismal font and began to walk with Christ. Born into this world in 1916, the young Daniel O'Mahony soon came to learn the tenets of his faith. His home was a cradle of love and faith but very soon in his young life he was to taste the harshness of the cross. At the tender age of four years he was to lose his mother in death. His father, John, cared for the family of six children and instilled into them a commitment to the faith. After his primary and secondary schooling, Dan responded to what he believed was the Will of God in his regard. He presented himself to the Bishop of Cloyne because he believed he was being called to Priesthood. He was sent by Bishop Roche to the Irish College in Paris in 1935 to begin his studies for Priesthood and he would have met there other young men who were also following the Will of God. Among them were two who are concelebrating here this afternoon: Canon Seamus Corkery and his classmate Canon John Finn. His term in Paris was to last only four years when, due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the students from Ireland were transferred in 1939 to St. Patrick's College, Maynooth to continue their studies to Priesthood. On the 22nd day of June 1941 Bishop James Roche ordained to the Priesthood in St. Colman's Cathedral, Cobh four young men for service in the Diocese of Cloyne. They were Daniel J. O'Callaghan, Eugene Kennefick, John Finn and Daniel O'Mahony. After his ordination Father Dan served in eight different appointments covering the entire Diocese. He started his Priestly Ministry as Hospital Chaplain in Youghal before moving on to Dungourney in the Parish of Imogeela in 1942. After four years of service there Father Dan was on the move again to an appointment as Curate in Glantane Parish and Chaplain to Nazareth House. There he spent some five years before moving again to be Curate in Conna where his term of office lasted only three years. Then in 1952 Father Dan was moved to be Curate in Liscarroll where he spent fifteen most happy and fruitful years of Priestly Ministry. In 1967 he moved back again to East Cork to the Parish of Midleton and this was to be for him his last Parish as a Curate. By 1978 Father Dan, with some thirty-seven years of Priestly Ministry behind him, was appointed Parish Priest of Aghinagh Parish. Here he had the opportunity to call on all the priestly experience he had accumulated and to lead, as a Pastor of souls, the people of that Parish. After six years guiding and caring for the people of Aghinagh, Father Dan was appointed in 1984, by Bishop Ahern, Parish Priest of this Parish of Grenagh. He resigned that office on the 16th of June 1995 and so great was his commitment to his Priestly Ministry among the people of Grenagh that he requested to continue on serving them as a Curate. This he did for a further three years until February 1998 when he agreed to step down from his Pastoral labours and to take a rest. Father Dan spent fifty-seven years of active Priestly Ministry in this Diocese of Cloyne doing what was, for him, clearly the Will of God. What a debt of gratitude is due to him from the entire Diocese! What an example of total dedication to ministry Father Dan has given. The Lord whom he served so faithfully gave him a further five years of Priestly witness during which he had the great joy of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of his priestly ordination in June 2001.
What was it that kept Father Dan going? He himself said, on the occasion of his Jubilee, that it was commitment to parish duties and the need to be pastorally engaged with his people that spurred him on. He was a man of faith, a man of prayer and dedication was the hallmark of his priestly life. His devotion to his daily Mass, to his Breviary and to the Rosary marked him out as the servant of the Lord and nothing would deter him from reaching out to his people. I personally remember here in this Parish, when I was on visitation of the sick and housebound with Father Dan, when we got stuck in the mud so bad was the weather. Nothing would stop Father Dan from completing the round no matter how bad the conditions were. He once said to his nephew a few years ago: "If I am unable to call to the sick and the elderly I would prefer to be dead". Father Dan himself was no stranger to sickness. He had so many operations and had to be admitted to hospital so many times, particularly in recent years, that it could be said that suffering was very much part of his priestly calling. His suffering was always borne with the utmost of patience in the sure knowledge that he was thus contributing to the salvation of his people. In the last few weeks of his life here amongst us, Father Dan was made aware of the seriousness of his illness by his doctor. Father Dan, true to his conscientious priestly commitment and values and anxious always to do what was right and correct, told the doctor - "You do whatever you think is best". It was his way of saying that he accepted the Will of God in this situation and would proceed accordingly.
Father Dan loved his priesthood and shared his priestly joy with all whom he met. He loved to visit the children in school and to share his faith with them. He was an uncomplicated man. If anything had to be done he would do it, no matter the cost. He was a man of his word and became upset if others were not likewise. He was always on time and time was a commodity he had plenty of when it came to being with people. Given his simple lifestyle and matter of fact nature Father Dan endeared himself to people in all of the Parishes he served in. He will be remembered by them with deep affection and gratitude. Particularly the people of Grenagh will remember Father Dan as a true Pastor of souls and one who was consistent in all things. They know where they stood with him. They felt at home with him and he with them. His interest in sport was well known and indeed I know that the people of Courtbrack would like to thank Fr. Dan O'Mahony for his great interest and help in the development of their Community Park and sports field.
Above all Fr. Dan was a family man. He loved his family gatherings and reunions over the years and each generation of the family was precious to him. His nieces and nephews have many memories of their Uncle Dan coming to them and comforting them in times of sickness, deaths in the family home and in times of trouble. Father Dan was always there for them. His family played a big part in his life and he treasured them. The family were of great support to him and I would like to acknowledge this and to thank the family, especially his niece Vourneen and her husband Seán for all the love and care they showered upon him. Their home was a home from home for Father Dan. Thank you and all the family members for your care of him. It meant so much to him.
Father Dan is a priest forever. We now pray that he may be admitted to the table of the Lord in heaven just as he celebrated faithfully for sixty-two years "in the Person of Christ" at His table here on earth. The ministerial priesthood continues in the O'Mahony family through the ministry of Fr. Dan's nephew, Father Donal. To him and to all the family, nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews go our prayers and sympathy today and always. As we confide the noble soul of Father Dan to the merciful embrace of the Lord he loved and served, it would be his prayer that other members of his family, and indeed of families he touched during his priestly life, might also seek out the Will of God and respond generously and courageously, at this time, to the call to priesthood and the religious life.
The priests of the Diocese will miss Father Dan. Among them he was known as Dano and the bond with his priestly brothers was very precious to him. Canon John Finn, his classmate, enjoyed many occasions with him and with Father Con Casey. They were great buddies. Canon John spent some time with Father Dan the night before he died and he told him as he left: "Goodbye now, Father Dan, and may God bless you. We will meet again in heaven. If Father Dan could have responded he would have said, as he was always known to say: "John, le cunamh Dé, le cunamh Dé, with God's help".
As we say goodbye to Father Dan we thank all those who cared for him in his illness. The doctors, nurses and the Sisters of the Bon Secours. May the Lord reward them all. Thank you Father Dan for following so faithfully the Will of God in your life. May He now grant you what He has promised, for it is His Will "that whoever sees the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life"(Jn. 6:40). Rest in Peace!