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Cloyne Jubilee 2000
Mallow
– May 21, 2000 – Homily.
“ I am the vine, you are the branches”(Jn.15:5).
Today, my dear Sisters and Brothers, my dear
Religious, my dear brother Priests, Deacons and Seminarians, my dear Girls and
Boys, today is a special day in the life of our Diocese of Cloyne. Today is our
Jubilee Day when we come together here in Mallow as a diocesan family to
celebrate, to thank, to share and to be together, all because God has seen fit
to bind us together in one faith, in one hope, in one love. I welcome you all in
the name of the Lord Jesus who is the source of our joy, of our celebration. “
I am the Vine, you are the Branches”(Jn.15:5).
Our celebration today, the culmination of much
work and prayer at local Parish level and at Diocesan level, is built around the
concept of a Pilgrimage Church returning to its roots, taking stock and looking
to the future as a community of believers renewed and strengthened in the Grace
of God by a personal and communal commitment to walk with Jesus, to talk with
Jesus, to live in Jesus. “ Make your home in me”, He says, “ as I make
mine in you”( Jn.15:4). The invitation of the Lord Jesus is made to each
person just as it is made to the community of believers. He is the Vine, we are
the Branches. This image of the vine and the branches was dramatically portrayed
for us at the opening of our celebration today by the “ I am the Vine
group”, a group of young people from every parish of the diocese linked into a
centre point by streamers representing the 46 Parishes of the Diocese, as a
living branch is linked to the vine. It is worth noting that it is the branches
which bear fruit if linked to the vine. The vine is life-giving; the branch is
fruit-bearing. So this our Jubilee Celebration is an occasion for us to see if
we really are linked to the vine, if we are really bearing fruit as a diocesan
church. “ Every branch in me that bears no fruit”, says Jesus, “He cuts
away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes to make it bear even
more” (Jn.15:2).
Over the past two thousand years, in this part
of God’s Vineyard, the faith of our forefathers has been handed down from
generation to generation. In times of great hardship, in times a great
persecution, the vine grew and bore fruit. The witness to the faith in this
Diocese has a long tradition of fidelity – the Mass Rocks, the Holy Wells and
the Marian Shrines bear testimony to that. Today we give thanks to God for those
who remained faithful in trying times and we entrust them to our loving and
merciful God. They handed on to us a tried tradition of devotion to the Mass and
the Eucharist, devotion to the Mother of God and loyalty to and love of the
Vicar of Christ on earth. Our two Blesseds in heaven bear testimony to this;
Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy and Blessed Dominic Collins. Countless Bishops,
Priests, Religious and Lay Faithul, since the time of Saint Colman, have
written, by their heroic witness to the faith, a proud chapter in our diocesan
history. It is because of their bearing fruit in their times that we come today
to celebrate a Jubilee of Faith. They were sustained in the faith by the same
Lord who is Jesus Christ, Yesterday, Today and Forever. ( cf. Heb. 13:8).
Priests ministered in Word and Sacrament to God’s People, Religious men and
women witnessed in their consecrated state to the Lord who called and sustained
them, Parents handed on the faith in the home where vocations were nurtured and
youthful enthusiasm was harnessed for the spreading of the Good News of the
Gospel. And yet, in every generation of faith there has always been a time when
the branch which bore no fruit was cut away and the branch which bore fruit was
pruned to make it bear even more. It has been the experience of communities of
faith over the centuries that, in times of relative affluence and well-being
many branches of the vine broke away due to their sense of self-sufficiency and
non-dependence on remaining one with the vine: “Anyone who does not remain in
me is like a branch that has been thrown away … it withers”(Jn.15:6). On the
other hand, history reveals that in times of trial, difficulty and persecution,
branches which remained one with the vine bore fruit and were pruned to bear
greater fruit. That pruning was effected by fidelity to the Gospel Message and
the faithful observance of the Commandments of the Lord: “ You are pruned
already”, says Jesus, “ by means of the word that I have spoken to you”
(Jn.15:3).
As we celebrate today our Jubilee 2000 we look
back and give thanks, we take stock and reflect, we plan for the future and say
“ What must we do?”. As we enter this Third Millennium of Faith in Ireland
we are very conscious that, on the one hand, our Nation is going through a
period of relative affluence, of great material well-being, of a sense of
self-sufficiency unprecedented in our history. On the other hand, there is a
falling away from fidelity to the Message of Jesus Christ and to the values for
which He gave His Life; a non-observance on a wide scale of the Commandments
which are the Magna Charta of Christian living, thus resulting in a breakdown in
interpersonal relationships and trust effecting the stability of the family and
the home; an increasing disrespect for the Truth at all levels of Society and an
abuse of the meaning of love which so often today is characterised by
self-seeking rather than by self-giving. We have become a Society increasingly
more litigious and suspicious, more broken and vulnerable. Day by day we are
made more aware of our common frailty and how, if we do not maintain the
priority of love of God and of one’s neighbour uppermost in our scale of
values, we shall be like the branches cut off from the vine. “ Whoever remains
in me”, says Jesus, “bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do
nothing” (Jn.15:5).
Today, my dear friends, as we gather together in
such great numbers to witness to our faith in the Risen Lord, that faith which
sustained our forebearers through trial and persecution, we take stock of where
we are as a diocesan church. We ask ourselves: are we a dynamic church? Are we
an enthusiastic church? Are we a joyful church? Or, are we just a church which
is barely ticking over? A church which is concerned about its future with little
thought for its present? A church – and I mean, Bishop, Priests, Religious and
Lay Faithful all together – which, while it has inherited a rich heritage of
faith and culture, bears the scars
of its own brokenness and hurt that is part of its wounded human nature? Are we
a Church that is made up of individuals with their own personal devotions and
attachments but which is losing sight of the great bond which unites us all in
Christ, our common Baptism? Have we forgotten what St. Paul tells us: “ The
Church is His Body, He its Head”( Col. 1:18). Have we as a Church failed to
reach out to our young people who, in this present age, are faced with
challenges and difficulties perhaps never faced before? Have we as a Church
endeavoured to tender the hand of welcome to those who, for one reason or
another, no longer walk with us in faith or who, because of hurts inflicted and
suffered, do not wish to associate with us in faith any more? Have we gone that
extra mile which is necessary to bring about that reconciliation among peoples
for whom Jesus gave His life? Have we as a Church been truly supportive of one
another -–in the home, in the Parish, in the Diocese? In other words, are we
as a Church truly an Easter People, a redeemed People, a Christ-like People?
Taking stock today and thanking God for all the
blessings He continues to bestow on us, we are made more conscious of our common
frailty, our need for one another and our common need for God. This Jubilee Year
has been called by the Holy Father “The Great Jubilee”. Just as in other
Jubilee Years the symbol of the Holy Door is an invitation to all to pass
through it declaring Jesus as their Saviour and putting into His merciful Hands
the brokenness and hurt of the past in a spirit of sincere repentance, so this
special Year, as the Pope puts it, must have an even wider door so that all may
pass through and experience the fullness of the merciful love of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the Year in which the Vinedresser is ready to prune the branches
and that pruning involves a sincere response to the Word of God, a genuine
repentance for sin in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a coming together as a
People renewed in Grace to celebrate the Eucharist with the Risen Lord.
We have much to be thankful
to God for, my dear People. He continues to nourish us in Grace because
His love for us is neverending. He knows each one of us intimately and His Heart
is beating for each one. All He says to us is a gentle invitation: “ Come to
Me all you who are overburdened and I shall give you rest” ( Mt. 11:28). Let
us come to Him today. Let us thank Him for His presence among us. Let us ask Him
to give new life to His Church in Cloyne through the experience of His merciful
love in this Jubilee Year. Let us continue to adore Him in our Adoration
Chapels, let us continue to follow Him in our commitment to Christian living and
let us reach out to one another so that His Hand, His Heart, His Love may be
experienced by all whom we shall meet. Let us have confidence in our young
people who are represented here today by these Confirmation Children. They are
joyfully living out their Confirmation motto: “ With Christ, I am free”. Let
us use towards them the words of the Holy Father: “ Young People of Cloyne we
love you; Young People of Cloyne we believe in you; Young People of Cloyne we
trust you”.I thank in a special way all our Teachers who care for and educate
all our young people so that they may become good citizens of this world and of
the Kingdom of Heaven. I express our deep gratitude to all who are engaged in
programmes of formation and leadership in our Diocesan Youth Services.
My dear People, let us stand shoulder to
shoulder today and always as a family of God in Christ Jesus. Let us be to each
other a support and a consolation. Let us open our minds and hearts in the
measure of the mind and heart of Jesus and let us not exclude anyone from the
welcome we give in the name of the Lord.
My dear Priests, to you today I pledge myself in
the name of Christ to walk every road with you, to be with you in your joys and
difficulties and in all the circumstances of your priestly ministry. In the name
of Christ and of the whole People of God in Cloyne, I thank you most sincerely
for your tireless and generous giving of yourselves in the Ministry of God’s
Word and Sacraments. May you always find in your Bishop, in each other and above
all in the people you are called to serve in His Name a ready support in prayer
and deed so that you yourselves may bear even greater fruit in the vineyard of
the Lord.
My dear Deacons and Seminarians, may the whole
people of God give thanks with you for the call you believe God is offering you
and may you continue on the road of formation so that, if it is His Will, you
may be ordained Priests for service in this part of His Vineyard.
My dear Religious Sisters and Brothers continue
to be the “ICON” of Christ in
the world which is so much in need of your witness.
I greet in a special way all those Priests,
Religious and Lay Faithful of our Diocese of Cloyne who are working among
God’s People in distant lands: in England, in Kenya and South Africa, in
Mission lands throughout the world, as well as in Rome and in the Diocese of
Down and Connor here in Ireland. We are with you in spirit and prayer and we
commit ourselves to supporting you in every way so that your witness to Christ
may continue to bear fruit.
I greet here present our sick Sisters and
Brothers who are at the heart of the pastoral ministry of the Church. May you be
uplifted by the Sacrament of the Sick you received today and may you continue to
render to the life of the Church, through your patient bearing of the Cross of
Suffering, that service of love which the suffering Christ gave when He offered
His life for our salvation.
I thank sincerely, in the name of the whole
Christian community, the doctors, the nurses and the home-helps who give daily
such excellent care to these our brothers and sisters in need.
My dear People, let us rejoice, let us go
forward renewed in faith, hope and love in this Jubilee celebration. Let us
leave behind here today the “Baggage” that has accumulated in our lives and
which at times burdens and shackles us. Let us walk together with Christ in
freedom and love, in trust and confidence, in joy and enthusiasm. Only three
days ago the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, celebrated his 80th
Birthday and instilled into all those Priests from around the world who
celebrated with Him the Jubilee of Priests a sense of life and joy, a spirit of
dedication and commitment to their priestly ministry. In speaking to the
Diplomatic Corps from around the world who came to wish him a ‘Happy
Birthday’, the Holy Father had these words: “ The gift of life!”, he
exclaimed. “ Yes, life is a gift which comes from an act of love. It is
therefore with love that we must receive it, respect it, cultivate it and
promote it in all manners and defend it when it is threatened. My 80 years have
been lived in a century which has known attacks on life like never before, but
also sublime witness in its favour”.
( VIS.).As we salute to Holy Father and pray for
him, let us commit ourselves, the Church in Cloyne, to always defend and give
thanks for the gift of life from the moment of conception to natural death. If
we are to be credible to the world and to ourselves as a community of Disciples
of Christ our motto and determination must be always: “ Defend Life”.
Let us then, my dear friends, be truly an Easter
People bringing into our daily lives, at all levels,the Good News of Jesus
Christ, who is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever. ( cf.Heb.13:80).