November 15th, 2014, Mary
Immaculate College
Speaking
Notes of Bishop Brendan Leahy
This is a great moment. Just
a few weeks after convoking the Diocesan Synod, the first in the Diocese in
around 70 years, here we are already, several hundred of us, Synod delegates ready
to set out on the journey! My first word is “thanks” – thanks for the interest,
the time, the commitment, above all, for the choice you’ve made to be part of
this journey. Maybe there was a little cajoling involved in persuading you but
you still made the choice and we are all grateful for your presence here. Each
one of you here is a gift for each other.
As you may know, though I am
from Dublin, my parents were from Kerry and we would often travel from Dublin
to West Kerry – a more than six hour journey in those days. The preparation for
the journey was always both exciting and hard work! Cases, bags, pots and pans
had to be packed into the car. And it couldn’t be a question of just throwing
everything in. My father would have to carefully arrange things so that
everything did actually did fit in. We’d be in and out of our house, up and
down stairs, carrying those bags and going back to fetch those items we’d
forgotten. The preparation would take time! There was a little drudgery attached. But it was
all part of the excitement! And it was worth it to get us to Kerry!
Thankfully, there are no
bags and cases to be dragged around here today. But in a sense, this day marks
the beginning of our preparation for the collective journey called a Synod. I’m
sure there will be many moments of joy as well as challenges ahead of us! But
it’s wonderful to see over 300 present here from all corners of the Diocese,
representing parishes and other groups, lining ourselves up, as it were, for
action, looking forward to our Diocesan Synod in April 2016.
What we are about – a
Diocesan Synod – is new to us all. We are going to have to learn by doing. If
it depended all on ourselves, then we would rightly be worried! Can any of us
really say that we feel fully competent for what lies ahead of us? If there is
anyone here wondering if they are really up to it, I would say – relax, you’re
in good company! We all feel a little like that! What matters is to remember
that we must work as if it depended on us but knowing that it really depends on
God. The Holy Spirit will come to our aid. Indeed, I like to think it will be
the Holy Spirit who will be the pilot, the guide, for our journey.
A few weeks ago, I had the
privilege of going with a Limerick Diocesan pilgrimage group to Rome. Our
pilgrimage was in honour of Saint John Paul II. It was a wonderful in so many
ways. It was a chance to recall, as Bishop Donal Murray did for us during a
Mass at the altar of the saint, some of the things Pope John Paul said to us in
1979 when he visited Limerick. For instance, in Greenpark Racecourse, the
Polish Pope said, “lay people today are called to a strong Christian
commitment, to permeate society with the leaven of the Gospel, for Ireland is
at a point of decision in her history”.
The highpoint, however of
our pilgrimage was the encounter with Pope Francis. St. Peter’s Square was full
with 70.000 pilgrims but the Irish group was fortunate enough to be seated
right in front of Pope Francis. The Pope singled out our group for mention in
his greetings to the English-speaking pilgrims. I was particularly pleased to
be able to greet him personally afterwards and present to him both the history
book of the Diocese of Limerick and my pastoral letter convoking the Synod. He
looked at both with great interest and asked us to pray for him. It wasn’t
something planned but I was really happy that I was able to present him with
the pastoral letter and so tell him about the Synod. It was an important
symbolic moment, reminding me, and all of us here today, that we are a portion
of the universal Church of Christ and that we are in communion with the
successor of Peter.
In his catechesis that day,
Francis spoke about the Church as the Body of Christ. He reminded us of the
great gift of Baptism that makes us members of the Church. As he put it, “baptism
constitutes a true rebirth, which regenerates us in Christ, renders us a part
of Him, and unites us intimately among ourselves, as limbs of the same body, of
which He is the Head” (cf. Rm 12:5; 1 Cor 12:12-13).
He also referred to chapter
37 of the Book of Ezekiel that he recommended we read. In that chapter the
prophet describes a vision that is unusual but the prophet wants us to be
encouraged by it. At the time of the prophet Ezekiel, the people of Israel were
going through a devastating time. They had been exiled away from the Holy Land
to Babylon and were losing hope. In the account of the vision, God shows the
prophet a valley full of bones, separated from each other and dry. It is a
desolate scene. In the vision God asks the prophet to invoke the Spirit upon
them. At that point, the bones move, they begin to come together. First nerves
and then flesh grew on them and in this way they form a complete body, full of
life (cf. Ez 37:1-14). The Pope commented, “See, this is the Church! This is
the Church, she is a masterpiece, the masterpiece of the Spirit who instills in
each one the new life of the Risen Christ and places us, beside one another,
each at the service and support of the other, thereby making of all of us one
single body, edified in communion and in love.”
At this point I’d like to read the text itself of the
prophet Ezekiel chapter 27. It’s what Pope Francis asked us to do:
The hand of the Lord came
upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the
middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all round them; there were
very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Mortal,
can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to
me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to
enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh
to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall
live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ So I prophesied as I had been
commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the
bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them,
and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no
breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal,
and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds,
O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied
as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on
their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the
whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost;
we are cut off completely.” Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the
Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves,
O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you
shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from
your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall
live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the
Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.’
Yes, the Spirit breathes
life into us. I’ve always liked a sentence the late Orthodox Patriarch
Athenagoras used to quote:
Without the Spirit, God is
far away, Christ remains in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church
is a simple organisation, authority a domination, mission a propaganda, worship
mere evocation, and Christian action a slave morality. But in the Spirit… the Risen Christ is
present, the Gospel is the power of life, the Church signifies Trinitarian
communion, authority is a liberating service, mission is a Pentecost, the
liturgy is memorial and anticipation, human activity is deified”.[1]
We need the wisdom of the
Holy Spirit to guide us. How can we have this wisdom? I would like to suggest
four keys for opening the doors of our hearts and minds to the Spirit.
Firstly, we must ask for the
gift. That might seem obvious but we can so easily take it for granted. I
invite you to invoke the Spirit often along this journey: “Come, Holy Spirit,
help me how to listen to this person or group”; “Come, Holy Spirit, give me
wisdom in what I have to say”; “Come, Holy Spirit, help me understand what is
the right thing to do”.
Secondly, to have wisdom, it
is important to love. And to love with the art of loving that we find in the
Gospel. In other words, take the initiative, be the first to love, don’t wait
to be loved. St. Paul tells us that while we were still sinners God loved us
and now we too are to go out of ourselves to love others. And to do so with the
universal love that Jesus had – to love everyone – those from my parish but
also from other parishes; those from my group but also from other groups. Why
not take as a goal today to really get to know people here that you haven’t
ever met before.
Thirdly, the Holy Spirit
will be particularly active among us if we have Jesus among us. In the account
of the disciples on the road to Emmaus we read that there hearts were “burning”
within them as Jesus walked among them along the road. The Risen Jesus is
always with us. He promised to be with us until the end of time. But how we
sense his presence and let him be active among us with his liberating Spirit
depends on how much we love one another. He promised us, “where two or three
are gathered in my name – and that is, in love for one another – I am there
among them” (Mt 18:20). The First Christians really took mutual love, love for
one another, to heart. In the First Letter of St. Peter we read: “above all,
maintain constant love for one another” (1 Peter 4:7). And that means listening
and learning from one another, giving and sharing our views, helping and
receiving help from one another. And this includes listening and learning from
the wisdom in the teaching of the Church throughout the centuries.
Finally, there is an
important way to have the Spirit alive in our hearts and in our mind – it is
love of the Crucified Christ when we encounter difficulties, misunderstandings
or discouragement. Those moments inevitably come in life, including during a
Synod. When they do, it is important to go deep into our hearts and call him,
the Crucified Christ, by name: “this difficulty is you”; “I want to love you in
this disappointment or setback”; “I offer you this misunderstanding”. Let’s
remember that as he was dying on the Cross, Jesus breathed forth his Spirit.
United to him in any big or small challenge we might face, we too can breathe
forth the Spirit around us.
With these few words, I wish
you a good Synod day. A Synod is an event of the Church. I believe there is a
grace attached to it. It is a work of God. Let’s do the work of God together
and let’s do it well.
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