Homily:
In his reflection on holiness in today’s world, Gaudete et Exultate, Pope Francis helpfully points us to the ‘saints next door’[1]. Fintan of Clonenagh is very much ours. It was at Clonenagh he embraced an austerely simple life.
It was his habit, we’re told, to eat barley bread and herbs and to drink only muddy water. Not the kind of person we might want to call into for morning coffee! Yet so many men were attracted to this life that he had to build a monastery and devise a monastic rule, a rule modelled on his own strict personal practice and habits. We will come back to this attraction a little later.
There is no one here who isn’t searching for God, searching for a divine spark to soften hearts and give us that little comfort. The saints of our history do it, as do the saints of our own day, our own time. Who were the saints you learned about from the lap of your parents. I immediately think of Martin de Porres; Anthony; Jude. A saint was always someone you turned to in time of dire need. Of course Our Lady always featured. Who were yours?
Knowing and loving the saints, studying their lives and words has been an important part of my life. But then you would say isn’t it ‘my bread and butter’! In our home we had the Sacred Heart picture with its votive lamp that told us whether the electricity was on or off. The 1970’s growing up was a time of frequent power cuts, fifty years before Storm Éowyn ever reached these shores. Around the votive lamp hung TB cards, dental appointments and mortuary cards, remembering those who walked before us leaving “footprints on the sands of time”[2].
I want to return to the attraction that an austere life in sixth and seventh century Ireland had for thousands of young men. Ireland was then the crossroads of Europe. Several saints, some of whom left these shores to convert the ‘pagan mainland’, people like Willibrord, Columbanus, Aidan, Ailbhe, Brigid, Attracta, Canice, Fiacre, Killian, Senan and Fintan. Fintan’s life and rule was probably the most austere and yet attracted so many? Why?
In the intervening 1500 years have we become soft? Has our religious outreach become sanitised? Has our society become less religious? Why in the seventh century were thousands attracted to a bitterly cold monastery on the edge of County Laois? Why thirteen hundred years later are we struggling to convince people that our life – Fr. Paddy’s, Fr. Petru’s, Fr. Liam’s, my own is worth pursuing and following? A lot of questions there.
This world where great committed and dedicated priests are seeing so few following their way of life, has to be shattering. The damage that abuse revelations has done to victims, to survivors, to ministry, to good priests who populate our parishes cannot be underestimated. Apart from abuse the authoritarian nature of church and a warped view of clericalism as if it was an exclusive caste has also undermined credibility. But these men today work very hard and have given their life to follow the gospel and to preach it. Pope Francis candidly has said: “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security”[3]. My prayer and hope is that young people will begin to see in our way of life, which is very much counter-cultural, a challenge that is both attractive and appealing.
I work closely with those involved in formation in our National Seminary in Maynooth. It’s a role I put my hand up for. I like the role. There is a privilege of engaging with young people at a critical juncture in their lives. Occasionally there is mention of the fear of their parents for the choice they have made. I appeal to parents and siblings, do everything you can to support someone discerning a vocation. It is said that Fintan’s dad held a farewell party before his son departed for his monastic life. If that is true, it certainly was Fintan’s last party, as life in Clonenagh was austere to put it mildly.
Raheen, is one of two parishes in the diocese without a resident priest. Of all people, you realise that long gone is the day when the life of a parish community waxes or wanes with the personality of whoever the priest is. It’s not about the priest, it’s about all of us, working together, co-responsible for our faith and the faith life of the community. It’s about all of us living out our baptismal calling. This happens very well in the place of Fintan, Raheen.
When we are ordained, the only word that we are invited to say during the liturgy of Ordination is ‘Present’. All of us, priests and people, are called to be present in the field hospital, that is the Church today.
[1] Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, 2018, ¶7
[2] Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth: ‘A Psalm of Life’
[3] Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 2013, ¶47