MASS OF CHRISM – THURSDAY 28 MARCH 2013
HOMILY GIVEN BY
CARDINAL SEAN BRADY
IN
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
AT 11.00 AM
Today – Holy Thursday
– as we give thanks for our lives as priests – I would like to share
with you something of the events of the last few weeks.
First of all
three remarkable events:
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Last Christmas, a priest friend told me he had a hunch that Pope Benedict would retire.
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On my arrival in Rome – I got a letter from someone, completely unknown to me, suggesting it was time for a St Francis like figure to be Pope, and
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I received a visit from an Italian priest – twice before Conclave began – to say he believed that the Church needed a Pope of Communion – that the next Pope might best be chosen from South America and drawing my attention to what Cardinal Bergoglio had said in the General Congregation.
Since his election
Pope Francis has given permission for what he said in the General
Congregation to be published where he made four points:
The Church exists to evangelise – to preach Jesus. Anything else is Narcissism – self serving and self-centred.
The Message must be
brought, not only to the ends of the earth but to the margins of
society. Not only to the poor but to the ignorant, those who now do
without God, those who are suffering and outcast and weak, to those who
are in any kind of misery.
That will take zeal.
Of the 7 billion inhabitants of the planet, only 2 billion have heard of
Jesus Christ. It will take strength of faith and the fire of love – the
sort of strength that comes from contemplation and adoration of Jesus
Christ.
That sent a lot of
people scurrying off to see what this man from Buenos Aires had been up
to. A study of their Pastoral Plan reveals again four basic points:
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Build open and fraternal communities
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The laity must be in the forefront, provided they are educated and directed in their faith.
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The Good News of Jesus Christ is for all – without exception. Therefore it must be brought to all.
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Priority should be given to the poor, the sick and the weak.
Finally, one
journalist has dug out the homily preached by Cardinal Bergoglio in
Buenos Aires last year. He began by reminding his listeners that, as
priests, we share in the same Mission – the same task entrusted by God
the Father to his son Jesus and I say: ‘Please let us never forget that,
especially in our moments of discouragement and despair’.
On this day, Holy
Thursday, we come together to renew our commitment to that Mission. In
other words, we renew our determination to devote ourselves to play our
part in proclaiming the Good News – by word and deed – not only to the
ends of the earth but to the margins of the society in which we live.
Not only to those we like but to those who disagree with us and bother
us. And today, we gather with priests all over the world to ask the Holy
Spirit to rekindle the fire of love in our hearts – for only the fire
of love will give us the courage and the energy to go where the Spirit
is asking us to go right now.
That fire was first
lit on the day of our Confirmation when we were called to bear witness
to Christ. It continued to burn brightly enough in our hearts to help us
decide to give our lives to Christ as priests. That same Spirit today
hovers over the head of every priest in the world – the same Spirit that
hovered over the head of Jesus in the Jordan. The Spirit says to each
one of us ‘You too are my beloved son.
Thank you for all you have done –
continue to be my witness, I need you’. Think of the 5 billion who
still do not know that I am the One and Only Saviour of the World. Do
not doubt, for one moment, that we have the Message of Eternal Life but
what is more, we now have the technology to send that message over the
Iron Curtains and stone walls into the hearts that are hungry and
thirsting to receive it.
The texts of today’s
Mass invites us to follow the example of Christ and preach the truth –
To do good to all, and to gladden the hearts of all who listen’.
What truth? You may ask.
Last year the now
Pope Francis made the point that the truth that shone out most brightly
in the parables of Jesus is the truth about the mercy of God. A God who
reveals himself as a Father who never stops hoping that his son – no
matter how prodigal he has been – will, one day come to his senses and
come home. We are to preach the truth at all times with the
compassionate heart of the Good Shepherd – ready to leave the 99 to find
the lost and carry it home on our shoulders.
This is a topic dear
to the heart of Pope Francis. It is in his motto and his advice to
Confessors to always be patient and merciful. I beg and implore you,
dear Fathers, to preach this message all through Easter-time begging
people to come to confession and enjoy the fruits of Christ’s victory
over sin.
Last year Cardinal
Bergoglio urged his priests to think about the lovely images used by the
Prophet Isaiah to announce the Year of the Lord’s mercy. Basically, it
is a question of consoling all those who mourn – who mourn some loss in
their lives –
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the loss of someone they love,
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the loss of something they cherished, or
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the loss of an innocence they prized.
The challenge that
faces us pastors is to give them a crown to replace the ashes of grief –
to substitute the mourning robe with the oil of gladness and to change
despondency and despair into a hymn of praise. It is a tall order but
not an impossible one.
For the gladness and
the consolation we bring to others must first be present in our own
hearts. When there is gladness in the heart of a priest it is, according
to Pope Francis a sign that his actions are inspired by the Holy
Spirit. When there is gladness in the heart of the people it is a sign
that they too are intimately linked to that same Holy Spirit. The Spirit
who sends us out is a Spirit of Consolation – not the Spirit of
Indifference.
Pope Pau VI once
said: ‘The modern world will only listen to teachers who are also
witnesses. Lo and behold, Pope Francis has recently raised the bar a
notch or two higher. He says: ‘The modern world will not listen even to
Good News from sad and tired preachers, preachers who are anxious and
impatient. They will listen to those whose lives radiate the fervour
they have within them”.
In other words, they will listen to those who
themselves have witnessed the gladness of Christ. It is not enough that
our sermon be orthodox or our pastoral work be well managed for, without
the gladness of hearts, truth becomes cold – like that of many
fundamentalists. Words taste like ashes if they do not contain the
glorious sweetness of the truth of Christ – a truth that lights up
everything with its glory.
I wish you all, and
your people, gladness in abundance this Easter – gladness that comes
from contemplation and adoration of our crucified and Risen Christ. For
love of us he was led, like a lamb, to the slaughter but God raised him
to the glory of Eternal life. May our celebrations of these three days
draw us all nearer to the attainment of that glory
AMEN