3rd March 2019 - Preparing to enter into Lent: Reflections with Fr Luke McNamara OSB

On this weeks programme the SS102fm team are joined by Fr Luke McNamara OSB from Glenstal Abbey to reflect on Lent and to discuss the traditional practises and customs to observe the penitential season which begins on March 6th. We have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as some notices, our latest instalment of catechesis on the Virtues as well as other liturgical odds and ends.  

You can listen to the podcast of the full programme HERE.

Preparing to enter into Lent

March 6th is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the season of Lent and our preparations for celebrating the Sacred Triduum this year. On this weeks  programme Fr Luke McNamara joins the SS102fm team and reflects on the meaning of Lent and especially the call to metanoia through prayer, fasting and alms giving. Lent is a season which presents us with an opportunity to reconnect with God, ourselves and our neighbours if we take the opportunity.

You can listen to the reflection with Fr Luke excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.


Lent at Glenstal Abbey

'Journeying with God's People in Exodus' - Join the monks of Glenstal over 5 of the Sundays in Lent and explore this journey, theirs and ours, through Exodus which takes each Sunday of Lent at 4.30pm, in the Library followed by Refreshments & Vespers.

Gospel - Luke 6: 39 - 45

He also told them a parable: ‘Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, “Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.

‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Centre for Liturgy
English Dominicans
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours: Psalter week 4 

Monday & Tuesday - 8th week in Ordinary time
Wednesday to Saturday - Days after Ash Wednesday

Saints of the Week

March 4th - St Casimir of Poland
March 5th - St Kieran
March 6th - Ash Wednesday, Day of Fast & Abstinence
March 7th - St Perpetua & Felicity
March 8th - St Senan also St John of God
March 9th - St Frances of Rome

24th February 2019 - Exploring what are Benedictine Oblates

On this weeks programme the SS102fm team are joined by Fr Columba McCann OSB from Glenstal Abbey to discuss and explore the idea of Benedictine Oblates. We have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as some notices and other liturgical odds and ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full  programme HERE.

Benedictine Oblates

On this weeks programme we are joined by Fr Columba McCann OSB to explore the idea of Benedictine Oblates. Oblates are people who make a formal linkage to a particular abbey and community and commit themselves to living out the Rule of St Benedict in their personal lives as much as their circumstances permit. Fr Columba takes us through the process of discerning when and how a person may decide to enter into the preparatory programme before making the final oblation to become an Oblate of the abbey.

Fr Columba makes the point that like the fact each Benedictine community is autonomous, each community will take a different approach as to how they discern and integrate their Oblates into the extended family associated with each community.

You can listen to the interview with Fr Columba excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

You can find out more about becoming an Oblate of Glenstal Abbey HERE.

Oblates: An Introduction
Benedictine Oblates of Saint Meinrad Archabbey - information including video testimonials for this abbey in the USA.
Benedictine Oblates stand at a crossroads in monastic history

Gospel - Luke 6: 27-38

‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.* Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’

Reflections on this weeks Sunday gospel:

Word on Fire
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflection
English Dominicans

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3, 7th week in Ordinary time 

Saints of the Week

February 24th - St Walburga
February 26th - Saint Faustinian of Bologna
February 27th - St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
February 28th - Blessed Daniel Brottier
March 1st - St David, patron saint of 
Wales (First Friday)
March 2nd - St Chad (First Saturday)

27th January 2019 - Benedictines in Modern Ireland: A reflection with Dom Brendan Coffey OSB

On this weeks programme the SS102fm team are joined by Dom Brendan Coffey OSB from Glenstal to reflect on Benedictines in modern Ireland and the contribution of the monastic life to the world. We have our continuing series on the Theological Virtues, our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel, local notices and other liturgical odds & ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

Benedictines in Modern Ireland: A Reflection with Dom Brendan Coffey OSB

Fr Brendan Coffey OSB, Abbot of Glenstal Abbey joins us on this weeks programme to reflect on what is means to be a Benedictine and what the example of monastic life and in particular Benedictine life can offer us is Ireland today in this fast paced and hectic space. He introduces us to the Rule of St Benedict and the life of a monk and what it means to be a monastic in the modern world.

You can listen to the reflection with Dom Brendan excerpted from the main programme HERE.





Gospel - Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events
that have been fulfilled among us,
just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning
and ministers of the word have handed them down to us,
I too have decided,
after investigating everything accurately anew,
to write it down in an orderly sequence for you,
most excellent Theophilus,
so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings
you have received.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy
English Dominicans

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3, 3rd week in Ordinary Time

Saints of the Week

January 28th - St Thomas Acquinas
January 29th - St Dallan Forghaill
January 30th - Bl Margaret Ball and Francis Taylor
January 31st - St John Bosco
February 1st - St Bridget of Ireland
February 2nd - Presentation of the Lord (Candlemass) - World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life 

O Antiphons - 2018 - December 21st - O Orien ( O Morning Star, O Dayspring)

O Oriens, splendor lucis æternæ, et sol justitiæ: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Morning Star (DaySpring), splendour of eternal light and sun of justice, come and illumine those seated in darkness and the shadow of death.

Advent Reflection 
(Repost from 2014)

Br Martin Browne OSB

Today’s date is special: December 21^st – the Winter Solstice – the day when the sun is at its lowest in the sky… the shortest day of the year… mid-winter’s day.

The ancients often feared nature, and worried that if the days kept getting shorter, and the nights kept getting longer, they’d end up in total darkness and everything and everyone would die. In our age of electric light and central heating, such fears may sound strange, but they were real. And for such cultures, the Winter Solstice was a real turning point. After it, the nights got shorter and the days began getting longer again. The sun, which had been sinking lower and lower for several months, began rising again… The solstice was a sign that God had not abandoned humanity. Spring would soon come and life would continue for another year. As Robert Browning’s Pippa said: God’s in His heaven — All’s right with the world!

We are blessed in Ireland to have the 5,000 year old Newgrange, in County Meath – a Neolithic passage tomb – a huge mound, built over a sixty-foot passageway, leading into three central burial chambers. On December 21^st, and only on December 21^st, at dawn, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage into the chamber and illuminates the chamber floor… It’s a magnificent, magical moment. Tens of thousands of people apply for the meagre ten or twelve tickets available for space inside the passage tomb on this day each year. What a feat of engineering to have built such a structure so precisely 5,000 years ago!

Why did its builders design Newgrange to do this on the Winter Solstice?  Well, they wanted, in a sense, to trap the sun in the depths of the burial chamber on the shortest day of the year, for fear that it would go away altogether. They didn’t want the light to leave them and abandon them to darkness and death.

O Orien
Duke University Chapel

It might seem unusual to some people, but the Winter Solstice isn’t just a pagan thing… Christians mark it too! In the Prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours, in the antiphon before the Magnificat at Evening Prayer on this day, we pray the ancient text, O Oriens. Just like the Neolithic people trying to trap the sun on the darkest day of the year, the Church cries out:

O Rising Sun, you are the splendour of eternal light and the sun of justice.
Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

It’s a powerful and beautiful prayer. Of course, we worship not the physical light, but Jesus as Light of the World. And in the bleakness of mid-winter, we address him as ‘Rising Sun’ and call out to him to save us. It’s a primal, visceral thing. Just as we light candles in our homes, and put up all kinds of fancy (and sometimes crazy!) lights outside, we don’t want to let the darkness beat us. Instinctively, we almost want, as Dylan Thomas famously wrote, to rage against the dying of the light. And of course, on Christmas morning, we will hear those powerful words from Saint John’s Gospel:

What came through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The darkness has not overcome it… Appropriate words for us to meditate on when we consider the many injustices and areas of conflict in our world today. Powerful words to give us hope when we think of all those who live in poverty, or hunger, or trafficked slavery…

The human instinct towards greed and the will to power is not the last word. God’s vision for his world is for flourishing, and for liberation. The Father’s will is, as Isaiah prophesied, that the people who walked in darkness would see a great light. The fulfilment of that prophecy is the good news of Christmas: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. God is with us! He humbled himself to share in our humanity so that we might come to share in his divinity. That indescribably generous gift is the Christmas present which beats all others. To those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God.

On this important date in our calendars, let’s look at the calendar more closely: The Church celebrates John the Baptist’s birthday on June 24^th – the longest day of the year, when the sun is at its brightest. You might recall that John said that he must decrease, and Jesus must increase. Well, every day since June 24^th, the days have indeed been ‘decreasing’. They’ve been getting shorter, right up until today. But with the Saviour’s birth, they become longer again, and so John’s desire that he must decrease and Jesus must increase is mirrored in the beautiful rhythm of the Church’s year.

So, why did John the Baptist need to decrease? Because, as the Gospel says: he was not the light, but came to testify to the light. But we can’t consign that role to the past: John the Baptist’s mission is shared by all Christians: we are all called to bear witness to Jesus… to testify to the light. We are called to work and to pray that his Kingdom may come – on earth as it is in heaven. And so the beautiful season of Christmas, soon to dawn on us, is a lot more than carols, gifts, feasting and decorations. It is also a challenge to each of us. It is a challenge to live, speak and act in such a way that we truly are voices crying out in the wilderness of our culture, and bearing witness to Jesus, the Light of the World. It is a challenge to act with honesty, integrity and generosity, so that in the darkness of mid-winter, his light may shine ever more brightly.

The Winter Solstice is a turning point in our planet’s year. If we let it, it can be a turning point for each one of us too. How will you testify to the light this Christmas?

************************

O Oriens, and an Unexpected Dante Reference 

Are You Ready To Be Charged With the Grandeur of God ? 

The Anglo-Saxon O Antiphons: O Oriens, O Earendel  

Thinking Faith - O Oriens 

O Oriens A Fifth Advent reflection with music

Advent at the Abbey 2018 - "Tuning into real time" - Reflections available online

The Advent at the Abbey series continues during this Advent every Sunday evening at 4.30pm. 

The first two Sundays are now available to listen to online:

1. Watch and Pray - Reset your clock - Reflection by Fr Luke McNamara
2. John the Baptist - A Prophet for our time - Reflection by Dr Jessie Rogers on the role and place of the joyful prophet John the Baptist.

Advent at the Abbey - Tuning into real time

25th November 2018 - Advent at the Abbey

On this weeks programme Fr Luke McNamara OSB joins John and Shane to reflect on Advent season which begins Sunday week as well as telling us about the "Advent at the Abbey" series of reflections which are being carried out on the Sundays of Advent at Glenstal Abbey. We have our regular reflection on this weeks Sunday gospel as well as liturgical odds & ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

Advent at the Abbey - "Tuning into real time"

Fr Luke joins us to reflect on the season of Advent which begins next week. Advent - Adventus - is the season of preparation ahead of the festival of Christmas and in the modern world, now more than ever, we need a reminder, a tool if you will to allow us a time out - a sacred moment - to prepare. Advent is a period of waiting both for the Second Coming of Christ but also the coming of Christ at Christmas. Fr Luke takes us through a reflection on the need to make some real time of preparation and also invites listeners to the Advent at the Abbey series as part of the preparation that one could make in this busy season.

You can listen to the interview with Fr Luke excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Gospel - John - Solemnity of Christ the King

Book of Kells - Christ Enthroned

Pilate said to Jesus,"Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your ownor have others told you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world.If my kingdom did belong to this world,my attendants would be fightingto keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world,to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

This weeks feast celebrates the Kingship of Christ, the feast was erected at the end of the 1925 Holy Year by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas where he sought to give due honour to the Divine Kingship of Christ.

Bishop Malcolm McMahon OP noted,

"The Church's year ends with the Feast of Christ the King. Jesus is portrayed as a triumphant king reigning over all creation. This is the same Jesus, son of Mary and son of God, who has preached the Good News and declared the imminence of God's kingdom. The obedient Son suffered and died for us, rose from the dead, ascended into glory and sent his Spirit so that we may have another comforter and someone to speak for us. Creation has been restored, and we have been saved from our sins and foolishness. The cycle is now complete. Although the enormousness of God's saving work has yet to impress itself on most people, nevertheless we believe that there will be a moment at the end of time when the Son will come again in all his glory, and creation will reach fulfillment. That is why we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, we rejoice in what Jesus has done for us, yet at the same time we look forward to its completion........".

But for many people, the idea of Kingship of Jesus is somewhat alien. Jesus was of the royal house of David born in the royal city but he was born in a stable and laid in a manager. He was a King who entered into the Holy City - Jerusalem - through the royal gate to the acclamation of the people not in a military procession or from the back of a state coach but on the back of a humble donkey. He was enthroned not on some fancy cathedra but rather on a gibbet outside the city walls in the midst of the city dump, proclaimed mockingly as King as he died opening his arms on the cross to embrace the world and all of humanity.

He came as a Servant Leader as he explained to the disciples at the Last Supper when he washed their feet. We are all called to be servants to one another, assisting and helping in fraternal love and friendship. Where leaders lord it over us in civil or religious spheres truly then we have lost our allegiance to the true king.

He redefined what it means to be a leader amongst those that dare to call themselves his followers reminding us that the first will be last and the last first.

In our lives today, do we make the effort to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned? Be it those who are in physical need but what about those hungry for a consoling word of recognition of their humanity and dignity as people; those whose very souls and minds are ripped naked and torn from the insults and humiliation they experience, the sick of mind and spirit, those imprisoned in the expectations of society as well as those incarcerated by mental illness and stigma? Have we not only assisted them, have we gone past our comfort zone to really be present to those in need, really aware of them as the face of Christ for us in this world?



Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Reflections on this weeks feast and gospel reading

Word on Fire

English Dominicans

Centre for Liturgy

Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours: psalter week 2; 34th week in ordinary time

November 26th - Blessed James Alberione
November 27th - St Fergal
November 28th - Saint Catherine Laboure
November 29th - St Brendan of Birr
November 30th - St Andrew the Apostle
December 1st - St Simon of Cyrene

Welcome to Glenstal Abbey - A new video

For whom does the bell toll?

It's morning when I go to sleep

In the distant dawn a church bell rings

Another day is coming on

A baby's born, an old man dies

Somewhere young lovers kiss good-bye

I leave my soul and just move on

And wish that I was there to sing this song

 - Jon Bon Jovi

Glenstal rings bells for feast day of St Benedict

July 11th 2018

The Benedictines at Glenstal Abbey celebrated the feast of Saint Benedict with the ringing of new bells.

“Thanks to a generous gift, we are installing a set of four brand-new bells this week,” stated the monks as they issued an open invitation for the public to attend the celebration.

The set of four bells has been manufactured by the Jan Felczyński Bell Foundry in Przemyśl, Poland. The bells have been cast in bronze and, following tradition, each one has been named:Benedict, Scholastica, Joseph and Columba. The obverse side of each bell is adorned with an image of the saint whose name it bears. In the cases of Saints Benedict, Joseph and Columba,the images are based on the carvings of the saints in the abbey church. A short phrase connected with the saint or with the bell’s function of calling the people of God to worship is placed beneath the image. These phrases come from the Rule, the Psalter, the Missal and the Antiphonale. The inscriptions are in Latin, apart fromthat for Saint Columba, which is in Irish. The reverse side of each bell is adorned with the abbey coat of arms, the title of the abbey and the year.

They were hoisted into position on the library on July 11th (feast of St Benedict), from where they rang out to call the monks and all others who heard them “to give honour and glory to God in the sacred liturgy,” the monks stated.

Fr Brendan Coffey, the sixth and current Abbot of Glenstal, spoke during the Mass, stating that bells have the important task of calling people to pray. “But bells do more than just summon, they ring out a particular message, and for us that message is summed up in the life of [St] Benedict of Nursia,” he said.

“As we face the challenges and difficulties of living in the 21st century, our temptation today is to rely more than ever on power – something which is conspicuously absent from Benedict’s list. Our leaders tend to be powerful people with big personalities. We can see it around the world today,” he said.

He highlighted how all over the world people spend huge sums of money to keep “safe” and “to keep the stranger out”. But this goes against the second beatitude: “Blessed are the gentle”.

He explained that that this is a world view built on fear, and which is not a very happy place in which to live.

“Benedict’s world is built on hospitality, the search for God and mutual well being and in the end it is a much safer place to live,” he said. “Change begins with me. This is the Christian message which rings out from a Benedictine monastery, the call which summons the Christian people everywhere to pray, the clear pure resounding chime of peace.”

The details of the new bells of Glenstal:

Benedict
Weight:290 kg
Diameter: 78 cm
Pitch: C
Inscription- Mens concodet voci (That the mind may be in harmony with the voice)
From the Rule of Benedict, ch. 19 –‘On the Manner of Saying the Divine Office’.

Joseph
Weight:150 kg
Diameter: 61 cm
Pitch: E
Inscription - Magnificare praeconiis (To give you fitting praise)
From the Roman Missal, Preface for the Solemnity of Saint Joseph.

Columba
Weight:90 kg
Diameter: 51 cm
Pitch: G
Inscription - Téanaigí,a chlann ó agus éistigí liom (Come, children, listen to me)
From Ps 33 [34]:12. (In ch. 23 of bk 3 of the Life of Saint Columba, Saint Adomnán records that these were the last words written by Saint Columba before he died. The verse is also quoted in the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict.)

Scholastica
Weight:70 kg
Diameter: 46cm
Pitch: A
Inscription- O potensvistus amoris (Oh, the power of the power of love!)
From Antiphonale Monasticum,Vespers Hymn for the Feast of Saint Scholastica, Te beata sponsa Christi. (The line refers to the account in ch.33 of bk 2 of the Dialogues of St Gregory the Great, when, three days before her death, in response to Saint Scholastica’s prayer, a sudden storm prevented her brother, Saint Benedict from returning to his monastery after their annual meeting. At the end of the story, Gregory comments, ‘She was more powerful who loved more).

Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter - Fr Martin Browne OSB, Glenstal Abbey

Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter
Fr Martin Browne OSB

Glenstal Abbey

The Church treats the entire week after Easter Sunday as if it were a single celebration. The mystery is too big for us to simply pack it away and go back to normal life the day after Easter Sunday. And so, Mass was festive and solemn all week. The hours of the Divine Office were almost identical every day. It has been a single feast. Some denominations call the third day of the Triduum ‘Easter Day’, whereas we call it ‘Easter Sunday’, and I think we’re right, because every day this week has been ‘Easter Day’. Easter Sunday was followed by Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, Easter Wednesday, Easter Thursday, Easter Friday and Easter Saturday.

In the Gospel readings at Mass throughout the week, we’ve been hearing of some of Jesus’s appearances to various groups of his followers after his resurrection – followers who were often ‘foolish… and … slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had declared’. Today, on the last day of the Octave, the second Easter Sunday, the Gospel begins on the evening of Easter Sunday, where we left off a week ago. Last Sunday’s reading ended with that heart-jolting tender encounter between Mary Magdalene and the Risen Jesus in the garden, when she mistook him for a gardener until he called her name. Then when she responded by addressing him as ‘Rabbouni (which means Teacher)’, he commissioned her to announce his resurrection to the disciples – to be the Apostle to the Apostles. Last Sunday’s reading ended with the glorious announcement by Mary; ‘I have seen the Lord’. Today’s Gospel reading begins at the very next verse: ‘When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week…’

It’s hard not to wonder: Did they not hear what Mary had announced to them? Did they not believe what she told them? Or were they just confused by it all? Because the scene at the start of today’s Gospel doesn’t suggest that they were filled with resurrection joy and singing alleluias…. ‘the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews’. Because we hear these two readings on two different Sundays, it’s easy to forget that they are consecutive passages. It’s a striking detail, and one which is easily overlooked: even when they had heard that Jesus was alive, the disciples were afraid.

And as they huddled in fear, somehow, Jesus ‘came and stood among them’. They might have barricaded themselves in for fear of the authorities, but no door was going to keep out the One whom neither a tomb nor Death itself could contain. Like the scene with Mary in the garden, this encounter is a tender one. He could have complained and berated them for their stupidity and unbelief. But no. He simply said, ‘Peace be with you’ and showed them his hands and his side. The hands that were pierced by the nails that bound him to the wood of the Cross… and the side that was pierced after his death, releasing a saving torrent of blood and water. And that was it. Then, ‘…the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord’. 

The Gospel doesn’t give us many details of this encounter. But it does tell us that Jesus said ‘Peace be with you’ twice. In a story that is so short on details, that this detail is reported surely means that it is important, and invites us to consider it with care. ‘Peace be with you’… Some might say it was just a greeting – a stylised way of saying ‘Hello’, like we find in other parts of the New Testament. But here, ‘Peace be with you’ is more than a greeting. It echoes words Jesus spoke to the disciples at the Last Supper just days before. ‘Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid’.

As he prepared for his crucifixion, Jesus bequeathed peace to his disciples, encouraging them to not be afraid. Now, risen from the dead, he brings the same blessing. Peace. A peace that dispels fear. He repeated the phrase after they had recognised him and rejoiced. It’s clearly more than a nice greeting. Peace be with you - a prelude to sending the disciples in his name. Peace be with you – a prelude to Jesus breathing on the disciples and giving them the power, comfort and fire of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you – a prelude to their continuing his mission in the world. It is an important ‘word’ from the Lord at an important moment. No wonder he said it twice! By it, the disciples’ timidity was transformed into joy. And just like Mary last week – or rather, ‘like Mary earlier that same day’, they weren’t allowed to simply luxuriate in the joy of the extraordinary news that Jesus was alive. Instead, they were sent out to continue his ministry – ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you’. Like Mary earlier in the day, their encounter with the Risen Lord Jesus was both a moment of joy and a moment of commissioning.

The story moves on, with the arrival back to the group of Thomas. He has been saddled throughout history with the unfortunate title of ‘Doubting Thomas’, but when you read this text carefully, you see that he is no different to the rest of the disciples. He’s just a bit more direct. One poet describes him as the ‘Courageous master of the awkward question, [who] spoke the words the others dared not say’. Thomas is famous for not believing the other disciples’ story of seeing the Lord. But the other disciples didn’t believe Mary Magdalene either. When Jesus appeared among the barricaded disciples on Easter Sunday he did exactly as he did with Thomas eight days later: He showed them his hands and he showed them his side. The description of the encounter with Thomas is a bit more detailed and graphic, but the action is the same: the greeting ‘Peace be with you’, followed by the manifestation of his gloriously transformed wounds.

Today’s Gospel shouldn’t be known as the Gospel of ‘Doubting Thomas’. It is the Gospel of ‘Revealing Jesus’. It is Good News. And here is more Good News: Today, in our midst, in his Word and in the gifts of bread and wine over which we give thanks, the risen and glorified Lord Jesus is present and is revealing himself again. He greets each one of us with his peace, empowers us with the Holy Spirit, and sends us forth to continue his work in the world.

Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord, alleluia, alleluia!

Easter Vigil Homily of Fr Abbot Brendan Coffey OSB - Glenstal

Glenstal Abbey

Easter Vigil 2018

Fr Abbot Brendan Coffey OSB  

1 Apr 2018

Three women, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome; three women stumble across a discovery which will literally shake the very foundations of the earth. They were on their way to perform a simple and traditional act of compassion. They felt sadness and they felt sorrow, as we so often do in our own lives. What they did not know was that everything was about to change.

On this Most Holy Night all around the world, from Sidney to San Francisco, from Boston to Bodyke, Christians gather under the Easter Moon in the light of the paschal flame. This, the most significant event in human history, began in the depts of the tomb, hidden and unseen; just like creation itself. Everyone had either gone back to their homes or had run away! We have listened to the story of salvation from the very dawn of creation until this moment. We have listened to the fulfilment of promises and covenants, for this is the night!

        The Resurrection opens our eyes to behold the truth of the account of creation, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good”. Everything revolves around that great moment and those brave women. They had followed Jesus, they had listened to his words, they had felt understood by him and they had accompanied him to the very end, to the cross. They arrive at the entrance to the tomb and see that the stone is rolled back. This is the supreme moment. The women face their fear, they enter the tomb and it is empty!

        Something new has happened. “Do not be alarmed;” said the young man in the white robe, “you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” These three women do not get to see the Risen Lord at this moment. Instead the young man asks them to remember; remember Galilee and it is precisely this loving remembrance of the Master that eventually enables them to overcome their fear and bring the message of the Resurrection to the Apostles.

        Easter tells us that God has done something. Time is changed, as is history, we now call it Anno Domini. He is our history and so we tell our long story. “In Abel he was slain; in Isaac bound; in Jacob a stranger; in Joseph sold; in Moses exposed; in David persecuted; in the prophets dishonoured.” He is our tears and our hidden joy. He is the beggar to whom I give a coin and he is the secret rich reward which returns to the giver. He is in our suffering and misery as in our victory. He is in our weakness and he is our strength. He is even in the midst of our sin as mercy, patience and life. Caro cardo salutis, the flesh is the hinge of salvation.

        The Resurrection as an event belongs not only to the past but also to the present. The three women did not need to see him in that tomb, because I can meet the Risen Christ for myself here and now; just like Saint Paul, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the apostles and so many, many others through the centuries. Christ rose again, twenty centuries ago, but he is the Risen Christ as long as time continues. We do not discover the Gospel beginning at the beginning and it does not unfold as a story which one can believe or disbelieve. It begins when I meet the Risen Lord. He it is who lives on every page I read. He it is who is present here tonight with us.

          In a few moments we will move to the font, the Church’s womb, and bless the Easter water; the water of life. Then we will arrive at the altar and we will eat and drink and He will once more be present among us as he promised. This is the night when I can behold his light in darkness, hear the story of my salvation in his word, be touched by the cleansing waters of baptism and sit at table with him as He breaks the bread. If I meet him here tonight, then I will leave here a changed person and I will see the world and my brothers and sisters differently under this Easter Moon. The presence of the Risen Lord has become the blood marking the doorposts of our hearts. Open your heart, open your life and let the Risen Lord enter in. He has been waiting since the dawn of creation for this moment to give to you the gift of life.

Now that we have visited the tomb with the women, let us also go back with those women to our homes and places of work and bring this encounter with us as we proclaim the Resurrection.

          “Christ my hope, has risen: he goes before you into Galilee.”