Archbishop decries buried truth in church, in the economy and in private lives and hearts.
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THAN 1,000 people took part in the “Way of the Cross” from the
Wellington monument to the papal cross in the Phoenix Park in Dublin Friday.
There were stops for five “stations”, at each of which
there were readings from the gospel, from commentaries by Pope Benedict,
while hymns were sung.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin supplied a reflection at each of the stations.
In
a reflection at the papal cross he asked: “What is truth? Where is
truth to be found in today’s world? No one wants to be called a liar or
one who is untruthful or unprincipled in his or her life. Yet we float
in spin. The truth is manipulated, it is blurred and it is buried and
covered up.”
But truth had “a unique power eventually to burrow its way out of all attempts to bury it.
“When
truth eventually burrows its way out from under the tombstones with
which we try to bury it, it emerges with renewed power and energy and
its revelations are all the more shocking in their sheer nakedness, as
we have seen within our church; as we have seen in political and
economic life; and as we see in smaller yet in no less catastrophic ways
with the secret sins and lies of our own lives and hearts.”
He
prayed: “Lord help us to understand that it is better to remain
apparently powerless with the truth on our side, than to spend endless
time and ideas and money in trying to launder the truth.
“Help us
build a society founded on truth rather than on the illusions of spin
and so much empty imagery of marketing. Help us to realise that the
crowd is not the measure of truth. The crowd will cry Barabbas when it
suits.”
In a previous reflection, he remarked how “the stark
integrity of Jesus stands out in the face of the complicity and
falsehood of those around him. Jesus stands alone . . .
“The
priests and the lawyers and the elders have their minds made up already
and push the accusations that they have collected to condemn him . . .
Witnessing to the truth can be a lonely witness.”
He continued:
“We need a real renewal in the church, we need a renewal in our
catechesis which is not about formulae or history or comparative
religion but about developing that sense of personal communion with
Christ.”
He prayed: “Lord renew your church. Renew your church as a
people of integrity which can stand out as a beacon of what is good and
true and loving in the confusion and selfishness of our times.
“Help all of us repent those fruits of lack of integrity which wounded the lives of so many who were abused with our church.”
It was the ninth year of the event, organised by the Catholic lay
organisation Communion and Liberation.
It has been led by Archbishop
Martin since his return to Dublin.
Communion and Liberation, an
international movement in the Catholic Church, was founded in Italy by
the late Msgr Luigi Giussani in 1954.
It is actively present in 70 countries worldwide.