JUNE is a special month in Ireland this year because we celebrate the Eucharistic Congress this year in Dublin. The International Eucharistic Congress is an opportunity to welcome to Ireland pilgrims from all over the world.
Hopefully it will not be a triumphalistic affair but rather an opportunity to promote awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of every person and every parish.
The Eucharist forces us to recognise that as we share in the Body and Blood of Christ, we ourselves must become the compassion of Christ to those in need.
The theme, "In communion with Christ and with one another," highlights the social dimension by the Congress.
Archbishop Ryan wisely wrote: "A Church of communion must be indelibly marked by a spirit of solidarity with the world around us. Communion can never rest happy to live passively within a world of marginalisation."
Just as Christ identified himself with the downtrodden, the marginalised and the broken, so the Eucharist brings healing to my personal brokenness and sustains me as I try to be with, and minister to, broken people wherever they are.
For many the International Eucharistic Congress fits uneasily into a church that has yet to come to terms with its sins of the past and the present.
Sadly, the Church has at times, betrayed the word of Jesus. In the recent past many church members feel ashamed of what has happened and wonder how a church could be so blind to evil in its midst.
Yet the theme of the Eucharistic Congress, "Communion with Christ and with one another," encourages us to be people of hope, people of healing. There will be many events in Dublin based mainly at the RDS as well as a major event in Croke Park.
Most of my praying will be done in quiet places.
And if you can't find a place at the major events of the Eucharist Congress in Dublin, why not go quietly to your local church and sit in silence in the presence of Jesus.
That in itself will bring peace, a and a sense unity.
We all hope that the people who come to Ireland will experience friendship and that all of us will be inspired to go on helping the poor at a practical level because as Mother Teresa often said, "It's in the poor and broken people of the world that we find the living Body of Jesus today."