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SEPTEMBER 2016 €1.50 I £1.25 MAY 2016 €1.50 I £1.25
Messenger The Sacred Heart
FR JOHN SULLIVAN SJ by Archbishop Michael Jackson FROM CAMEROON TO IRELAND Mercy Ikola MESSY FAMILIES Paul Andrews SJ POPE FRANCIS ON THE FAMILY Ronan Barry
INTERVIEW:
FR PADDY BYRNE
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CONTENTS Regular Editorial Donal Neary SJ
Pope’s Intention for September Cormac McConnell Praying with Luke’s Gospel Carmel McCarthy RSM Masterpieces of Christian Art Eileen Kane One Page Wisdom Paul Andrews SJ Daily Offering
Dublin’s Historic Churches Christopher Moriarty Gardening Helen Dillon Our Readers Write
Cookery Marie McGuirk Adult Crossword
Young Readers’ Pages
From the Archives: June 1916
Eucharistic Hymns Raymond Moloney SJ
Wild God Dream 3: Fragrance Sister Susan SMSM In the Master’s Footsteps John Murray
Serial Story: The O’Malley Hat Fiona Sherlock Liturgical Calendar: September 2016
Fragments Michael Paul Gallagher SJ
4 6 8 16 19 23 24 31 36 38 40 41 44 45 49 50 53 55 56
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Special Features Fr John Sullivan SJ Archbishop Michael Jackson
11 From Cameroon to Ireland Mercy Ikolo 14 Pope Francis on The Family Ronan barry 20 Saying Mass in Prison Joseph Nguyen Cong Doan SJ 33 A Good News Story: Pathways Eileen Houlahan CHF 46 Cover Photo: The People’s Chapel, Clongowes Wood College, also called The Father John Sullivan Chapel with, inset, a portrait of Fr John Sullivan by the artist Sean O’Sullivan RHA, 1953
re : link
Special Education Supplement Four-page centre pull-out : Pages 27 ~ 30
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4 The Sacred Heart Messenger is an official publication of the Pope’s Worldwide Network of Prayer (Apostleship of Prayer) ADDRESS: Messenger Publications 37 Lower Leeson Street Dublin 2 Ireland Phone: 01 676 7491 (or 00 353 1 676 7491) Fax: 01 6767493 (or 00 353 1 6767493) Email: sales@messenger.ie Website: www.messenger.ie ARTICLES TO: THE EDITOR BUSINESS LETTERS TO: THE MANAGER CHEQUES PAYABLE TO: THE SECRETARY EDITOR: Donal Neary SJ LAYOUT: Messenger Publications Design Department NIHIL OBSTAT: Noel Barber SJ, Censor Deputatus IMPRIMI POTEST: + Diarmuid, Archbishop of Dublin PRICES FOR 2016: Price monthly: €1.50/£1.25 Annual subscription 2016 from promoter or newsagent: €18.00/£15.00 Annual subscription by post Rep of Ireland and N.I.: €25/£21 Annual subscription to Britain: £24 Annual subscription to EU and ROW: €30/$40 Online subscription: €15.00 © All rights reserved.
Editorial Christmas Masses are usually packed. Last year I celebrated Mass with standing room only in a church which held nine-hundred. A smaller church had to ‘ticket’ the Mass to ensure that the regulars could get in! Good Friday and Ash Wednesday, though not to the same extent as formerly, tell the same story. Some who come may have written ‘no religion’ on a census form. Others who write RC may have little contact with the Church or with personal faith. But it is there, and comes alive at important times like death and birth, month’s minds and anniversaries, first communion, confirmation and marriage, and some feasts. A similar situation is evident in education. People who have little Church practice still want the Catholic school. In the divesting of schools from parish control, it is often the parents rather than the bishop or the priest who raise objections. Many people long-removed from the Church still want a Church funeral. This is nothing new – religion, like our magazine, has always been a mixture of faith, human need, culture, community and deep prayer. Even in Jesus’ time there were mixed motives. The power struggles of the religious people eventually brought him to death. Remembering that we are all at some times ‘in-betweens’ in the strength of our faith, the challenge for the regular worshipper and practising Catholic is to welcome all who are coming towards God – each in their own way – and to show and speak the love of God and the message of Jesus Christ. Much can be done in an approach from priests and other ministers and parishioners which is sincerely welcoming, respectful, human, and faithful to the gospel. The challenge for the ones who come now and then is to be grateful for the faith that draws them there, and wonder how they might further express this. Jesus called people to integrity, honesty, humility and gratitude. Integrity means being honest about our faith in strength and weakness. Humility means admitting we don’t have all the answers to religion and life, and that neither certainty nor
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5 Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have bestowed on my life. You have provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. You have surrounded me with people who always look out for me. You have given me family and friends who bless me every day with kind words and actions. They lift me up in ways that keep my eyes focused on you and make my spirit soar. I am grateful for all of your blessings in my life, Lord. I pray that you remind me of just how lucky I am, and that you never allow me to forget to show my gratitude in prayer and returned kind acts. Thank you, Lord. In your name, Amen.
sanctity is the mark of the follower of Jesus, but to walk in the path of truth and holiness. The quality of gratitude is at the basis of any faith: St Ignatius said that the worst sin of all is ‘ingratitude’. So all who are present at any ritual occasion may be grateful for their faith and the faith of each other. The centre of our Christian faith is more than practice; it is our relationship with Jesus Christ. In a homily of 15 May 2016, Pope Francis says: Christian life ‘is not just an ethical life, but is an encounter with Jesus Christ.’
Donal Neary SJ
Donal Neary SJ Editor
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POPE’S INTENTION CORMAC McCONNELL
Faith and the Common Good PRAYING WITH THE POPE Pope’s intention: ‘This month the Pope asks us to pray that each may contribute to the common good and to the building of a society that places the human person at the centre.’ Faith without works is dead. (James 2:26) Simply put, paying lip service to God rather than doing good deeds for others is not enough for a full Christian life. Blessed Mother Teresa, to be canonised later this month, wrote: ‘At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in”.’ Known throughout the world for her work with the poor, the marginalised, the vulnerable, and the abandoned, Mother Teresa contributed far beyond the call of duty to the common good, and to the building of a fairer, more peaceful society that ultimately places the human person at the centre. In undertaking her mission she encountered her own dark night of the soul and yet she kept her faith alive and the faith of many who knew her. When Mother Teresa went to Calcutta in the 1950s she
found a city plagued with poverty. Considered the ‘Saint of the Slums’, she treated lepers, beggars, and the poorest of the poor with compassion and dignity. She recognised the centrality of the human person, especially as seen through the people she embraced as her own who had been abandoned in the most demeaning of circumstances by society. Mother Teresa quickly became an inspiration to the sick, the destitute, and the homeless. Not content simply to help these people whom society had abandoned and forgotten, she endeavoured to wake the world up to this poverty. She became their advocate, attracting huge support from many sources. Her legacy continues globally with her Missionaries of Charity. In letters written during her early years in Calcutta she revealed that she herself had troubling and painful times in her life. These challenges led her to question the impact of her work and her faith. In some of her letters she compared her experience in Calcutta to a living hell. The story behind Mother Teresa’s struggles with faith is proof that we are all
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human and that having doubts and fears IS part of being human. Almost all believers experience some spiritual crisis. Personal losses, unanswered prayers, huge suffering, and natural disasters are only some of the factors that have caused people to doubt their faith. Yet it is still wonderful to witness so many people, including Mother Teresa, overcome their doubts with the grace of God and become stronger in their faith. In rediscovering our faith we ask for help from God, and pray with Pope Francis for the needs of others on the margins of society, not forgetting those near and dear to us. Just as it’s not good enough to tell someone close to you that you love them, yet never
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do anything for them, it’s also true of faith with God. Faith and performing good works for others go together like body and soul. Faith grows by performing good works for others in God’s name and giving thanks for what we have in life. Without actions faith is dead. Just like a weightlifter cannot get more muscles by merely saying that he believes in weightlifting, a Christian doesn’t get more faith by merely saying that he or she believes in God! The true believer works for the common good of all, both near and far. As Pope Francis said in his address to the UN: we need to ‘set aside partisan and ideological interests... and strive to serve the common good.’
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THE GOSPEL CARMEL McCARTHY RSM
Moments of Quiet
PRAYING WITH THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: PART 9 (LUKE 12:13-23) As you begin to pray with this passage, spend some moments of quiet awareness in the presence of the risen Jesus. Then invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you reflect prayerfully on the different ways it touches you.
Someone from the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ He replied to him, ‘Man, who appointed me as your judge or arbitrator over you?’ Then to the people he said, ‘Beware! Be on your guard against every kind of greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.’ Then he told them this parable. ‘There was a rich man whose land produced a good harvest. He debated with himself and said, “What am I to do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?” He said, “This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones. There I will store all my grain and other goods, and I will say to myself, ‘Now, as for you, you have plenty of good things laid by, enough for many years to come. Relax, eat, drink, be merry!’” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded of you; these things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.’ To his disciples he said, ‘This is why I tell you not to worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear. For life is more than food, the body more than clothes.’
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Preliminary Comment: Set in the context of the final judgment, this parable is about the attitude a true disciple should have regarding riches and possessions. The parable is so powerful in its simplicity that a child could understand it without difficulty. Recorded only in Luke, the message of this parable is as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago! ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance’: As a respected
teacher, Jesus is asked to arbitrate in a family dispute regarding
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inheritance.
‘Man, who appointed me as your judge’: Jesus’ response does not
provide a solution for the individual who approached him looking for redress regarding family inheritance. In fact Jesus doesn’t deal with the individual’s specific problem at all, but replies with a rhetorical question. This interchange becomes Luke’s springboard for introducing the parable and its teaching on riches. Luke is the only evangelist to use ‘Man’ as a form of address (four times).
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Be on your guard against every kind of greed: Addressing the
crowd, Jesus challenges some popular assumptions regarding wealth, which may or may not have been those of the individual seeking his share of inheritance. Elsewhere (9:25), Luke quotes Jesus as saying: ‘What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit one’s very self?’ Warnings against the vice of greed occur frequently in the New Testament, as well as in the contemporary secular Roman world.
one’s life does not consist of possessions: Jesus clarifies that life and
possessions are not identical. The former is a gift of God, while the latter can distort this gift if abused. a rich man: The theme of rich versus poor occurs frequently in Luke. pull down ... build bigger: This aspect to the rich man’s calculations discloses his greed, which increases according as his harvest is successful. all my grain and other goods: His only concern is that of maximising storage to ensure that he will have
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plenty of good things laid by: His
self-centeredness and greed feed off one another.
Relax, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself: His hedonistic plans are
totally wrapped up in planning for his comfort. The words he uses evoke those of Isaiah 22:13, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead’, and Qohelet 8:15, ‘human happiness lies only in eating and drinking and in taking pleasure’. You fool!: Strong language. this very night: The suddenness in the arrival of accountability is striking. The parable’s contrast between human scheming for wealth and security on the one hand, and the suddenness and unpredictability of the arrival of death is dramatic.
these things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?: This is
most likely a rhetorical question, for which there is no answer. It goes directly to the heart of the parable.
not rich in what matters to God:
This is the only currency that mat-
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10 ters in the long run. It is the climax and main point of the parable – what one does with whatever riches one has. To his disciples he said: The message of the parable is now directed to his disciples. It is crucial that his disciples understand the point of this parable and not be led astray or become entangled like the rich man.
Life is more than food, the body more than clothes: It is a question
of priorities. Trust in God’s providence must come first, so that disciples need not be anxious about food or clothes. Although these are necessary for the normal progression of daily life, they are not the most important consideration. The gift of life, and the way in which one lives it, come first. Concluding comments: In choosing to recall this parable of Jesus, Luke is true to one of his chief themes in
compiling his Gospel – his presentation of Jesus’ mission as champion of the poor and oppressed. In this regard, we need only look at how many parables, found only in Luke, have this concern as their focus. As already noted when reflecting on the Beatitudes last April, it must have been astounding to hear Jesus paradoxically pronounce as blessed those whom society considered as destitute, starving, downcast and abhorred. The paradoxical aspect to the beatitudes and to parables such as the ‘Rich Fool’, invites us as Christians to search continuously beneath their surface. This we must do (i) in order to grasp how their message was realised in particular in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and (ii) to explore how they challenge us each day in our particular journey back to God.
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FEATURE ARCHBISHOP MICHAEL JACKSON
Fr John Sullivan SJ
Archbishop Michael Jackson and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at the tomb of Fr John Sullivan SJ in Saint Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner Street, Dublin
The John Sullivan story is fascinating and inspiring for every one of us in modern Ireland. A boy from Dublin, son of The Lord Chancellor of Ireland, he entered Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, in 1873 when Dr Steele was headmaster and Portora was the place to come to study Classics. John Sullivan was a member of the Church of Ireland; his mother was a member of the Roman Catholic tradition and his father of the Church of Ireland tradition; he was baptised in St George’s Church, Hardwicke Place, Dublin. John Sullivan’s school days did not find him distinguishing himself on the sports-field, but
his prize books and medals for Classics are in the museum library in Clongowes, as also are three prizes for Holy Scripture. He seems to have spent his spare time exploring on foot and by water the unique landscape and lakescape of County Fermanagh. This instinct for travel never left him. While a Jesuit priest living and teaching in Clongowes, he endeared himself to pupils and locals alike by walking and cycling, often many miles, in County Kildare and into Dublin to see people and to be with them for a variety of reasons, many of them to do with friendship and a pastoral desire to minister to the sick and to be by their side. He
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The remains of John Sullivan SJ arrive in St Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner Street
loved interacting with local people in the simple things of life and being their friend. After leaving school and university, he trained as a barrister in London and, being comfortably off, he also travelled abroad to visit the sites he would have encountered in the Classical texts that he read in Portora and Trinity. On 21 December 1896, John Sullivan was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He took his first vows as a member of the Jesuit Order on 8 September 1902. He was ordained in Milltown Park in Dublin on 28 July 1907 and went straight to Clongowes to teach. Clongowes was effectively to be his home from then until his death on 19 February 1933, in St Vincent’s Nursing Home, Dublin, although he did spend a fiveyear period as rector of the Jesuit House in Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin. John Sullivan’s reputation for holiness grew, as did people’s attribution to him of the capacity for healing and miraculous intervention in their illnesses. He seems also, however, to have
distinguished between situations of illness where he could and could not intervene in ways that brought about change. This remains part of his deep, innocent honesty. The poor and the needy were for him the focus of human conscience and of God’s care and grace. He could not but reach out to them. Holiness and sainthood work together to honour God and to inspire humanity in godly example of godly life lived for neighbour, friend and foe. John Sullivan represents a number of things beyond what we might consider ordinary. Firstly, many of us may not be accustomed to people moving in conscience from one religious tradition to another; but people do this frequently. Crossing borders, crossing boundaries, particularly in an Ireland renowned worldwide for its religious exclusivities, and what many deservedly call sectarianism, is particularly powerful and can be dangerous as well as liberating. Churches need to ask what religious boundary-crossers teach us about the relationship between and across settled traditions.
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From left: John Sullivan as a boy; Fr John Sullivan in Milltown; a portrait of John Sullivan by Sean O’Sullivan, RHA, 1953
Churches need to ask even more urgently how welcome they make such border-crossers, and what blessing they give them on departure and arrival and what blessing they receive from them. Secondly, the contemporary significance in 2016 of the John Sullivan story is important. As a boy living in what today is the Republic of Ireland, he attended a school in what today is Northern Ireland (Portora) as a member of the Church of Ireland. He later became a priest and a Jesuit. In total, he spent exactly half of his life as a Protestant layman, and half of his life as a Roman Catholic – the lion’s share of that as a priest. Those who have long advocated his cause might argue that the John Sullivan phenomenon is a pointer to the holding together of difference; that it can signify respectful ecumenism, a form of spiritual reconciliation, in a postTroubles Ireland. We still have to learn, with one another, across borders and boundaries. Thirdly, there seems to be no trace of bitterness, triumphalism or rancour in John Sullivan in his
move from the Church of Ireland to the Roman Catholic Church – and his having lived this move out in Ireland. This can be a powerful model of tolerance when we consider what has been, and what is done, in the name of religion. The fourth, and perhaps most interesting aspect is the effect of what we might describe as the wide-open, individual personality of another to transform the understanding that people have of their own lives, such as they could not do for themselves unaided. I think of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, of whom one of his supporters at Bletchley Park said: Sometimes it’s people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one imagines. There may, therefore, in our own small and individual ways, be more hope for a number of us than we imagined! The almost silent witness of John Sullivan may help and encourage us to a saintly response to God’s call of us to discipleship. The Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson is the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin.
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SPECIAL FEATURE MERCY IKOLA
From Cameroon to Ireland Born in Cameroon, now a wife and mother of two, I graduated with a degree in Education and studied for a post-graduate degree. I also worked as a volunteer, teaching English and French to vulnerable young girls and women to enable them to fulfil their dreams of being educated. I arrived in Ireland some twelve years ago, becoming one of the early ‘new Irish nationals’. Since arriving I have continued my development, being awarded a bachelor degree in Religious Education and English from the Mater Dei Institute of Education in 2013. I was also awarded a masters degree in Chaplaincy Studies and Pastoral Work in 2014. I left Cameroon for political reasons: my mother, a member of the former parliament in the government, stepped down from the ruling party due to corruption and marginalisation of the English speaking Cameroonians. She joined the opposition party and was advocating for justice, equality and education for the minority English-speaking Cameroonians. As a result, her entire family including myself and my unborn child were attacked and brutalised. On arrival in Ireland, I decided to seek asylum. I was sent by the Justice Department to the Direct Provision Centre in Knockalisheen, Limerick. There I faced many chal-
lenges on my road to integration into Irish society. Some of these challenges were loneliness and rejection, making me think of different ways I could improve my life. Being a Catholic, I decided to continue my Christian journey by seeking help from God. I attended Sunday Mass in St Augustine’s Church in Limerick, where I eventually made some friends who supported me spiritually and emotionally, and encouraged me to continue my educational career. After being granted refugee status, I pursued my educational career, getting a place in Mater Dei as a mature student, studying Religious Education and English. As a result of this and some work, I made new friends in the community, an important means of integrating into Irish society. Student life was the beginning of my new life in Ireland. In Mater Dei we knew almost everyone; I felt welcomed by the students and teachers in the College. My self-esteem as a person grew as I also became active in my parish in Ballinteer, as a Eucharistic minister. This helped me to fully integrate into the local society. As a school chaplain and pastoral worker, I did a presentation on my experiences as an asylum-seeker in direct provision centres. This presentation
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Photo: Akturer/Shutterstock
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had an impact on the parishioners, and they decided to create an outreach project with the direct provision centre in Mosney, visiting asylum-seekers, to assist them in integrating into local society. These visits were helpful because of my experiences as a past asylum seeker or immigrant. Sharing my experiences in Ireland, I can help asylum-seekers like myself who are facing similar challenges, also encouraging parents to enrol in English courses, since communication is a difficult barrier for immigrants whose first language is not English. I know from my own experience that ignorance of the language limits communication and job opportunities, and makes social adjustment into society very difficult. I also assisted some students in my community with extra lessons for state examinations.
My role as part-time school chaplain in Our Lady’s National Primary School, Ballinteer, is also an opportunity for me to meet immigrant children and their parents, who are also finding it difficult to integrate or to get to grips with the Irish school system. Being linked to my tribal community in Dublin was of great help to me in sharing our joys and challenges. I try to link the different immigrants to their own communities in Dublin, who share common interests, problems and hopes. Thus my own experience and the support of many people enable me to be a helper to those more recently arrived in Ireland.
Mercy Ikolo, an Irish citizen, was born in Cameroon, and currently assists in Ballinteer parish and school as chaplain.
A primary school in Batoufam, Cameroon. The students are learning english.
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MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART EILEEN KANE
The Annunciation with St Emidius CARLO CRIVELLI (c1430 – c1495) Two Latin words – ‘Libertas’ and ‘Ecclesiastica’ – appear, as if carved and gilded, along the lower edge of Carlo Crivelli’s painting of the Annunciation, in the National Gallery, London. They refer to the granting of self government, within the Papal States, to the town of Ascoli Piceno, in the eastern part of central Italy, by Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84) in the year 1482. Three coats-of-arms accompany them. On the left, surmounted by a bishop’s mitre, are the arms of the bishop of Ascoli, and, on the right, those of the town itself. In the middle are those of Pope Innocent VIII (1484–92) who had succeeded Pope Sixtus, and was reigning at the time that Crivelli finished painting his picture – in 1486. These coats-of-arms remind us that the painting was commissioned by the bishop to commemorate this important event in the history of Ascoli. As the announcement of the papal grant of ‘Ecclesiastical Liberty’ reached Ascoli on 25 March, feast of the Annunciation, it was appropriate that the Annunciation should be chosen as the subject-matter. In addition, the painting was intended for the Franciscan church in Ascoli, called the ‘Santissima Annunziata’, under the patronage of Our Lady of the Annunciation. Crivelli signed the painting in Latin with the words
‘The work of Carlo Crivelli, a Venetian’ and dated it, on the bases of the two pilasters that frame the doorway through which we can see into the room where Mary received the message brought to her by the angel Gabriel, at the Annunciation. Looking into the room, we find Mary kneeling, prayerfully reading a book that lies open before her, on a book-stand. Above her head, hovers the dove that represents the Holy Spirit. Behind her, in an alcove, which can be closed off from the room by a red, embroidered curtain, is her bed with a white sheet folded down over a beautiful green coverlet, embroidered and bordered in gold. There are three cushions on her bed – one white, one green and one red. These are significant colours, representing the virtues which Mary had in abundance – faith, hope and charity. Beside the bed on a shelf are books and other items, including a glass carafe and, at the left, a candlestick with the stump of a candle still lighting in it. Above the room where Mary is, there is an open loggia, a kind of terrace-room, where people can enjoy the fresh air without leaving the house. Crivelli shows us its beautifully carved, coffered ceiling, and the oriental rug and pots of plants that have been put there to decorate it, joining in
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Carlo Crivelli, The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius © The National Gallery, London
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the town’s celebrations. There is also a peacock there, his splendid tail-feathers trailing down towards Mary’s room. The scene of Mary in her room is almost self-contained, within the overall picture. Devout and prayerful, it can be looked at on its own, but, because of the historic context of this painting, Crivelli wanted to emphasise the angel Gabriel as bearer of the message, quite as much as Mary’s response to it. He also wanted to emphasise the town of Ascoli as being the recipient of another important
message. He therefore put Gabriel side by side with the patron saint of Ascoli, the bishop and martyr, Emidius (or Emygdius), engaged with him in earnest conversation. Both are kneeling on one knee, and Emygdius, in a bishop’s robes, is carrying a model of the town, complete with its towers and encircling walls. Gabriel would normally be shown inside Mary’s house, but here, he is in the street outside. At the end of the street, framed by an archway, is a section of the battlemented walls of the town. We
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18 notice that the walls have recently been repaired. Some courses of new bricks, in a lighter colour than the rest, have been added, and trails of white run down, staining the darker bricks, where the repair has been made. Above the archway, two men are standing behind a parapet. One of them, dressed in black, like a magistrate, is reading a document that the other man has just brought to him. No doubt, this is the message from Rome, about the ‘Libertas ecclesiastica’, and Crivelli has painted a wicker-work bird-cage on the parapet, suggesting that perhaps the message came by carrier-pigeon. The outdoors, where Gabriel and Emygdius are, and the indoors, where Mary is, are distinct areas within the picture. Each is given equal space, but they are clearly linked by the wall of Mary’s house. Likewise, through a network of subtle links, the narrative of the Annunciation to Mary is shown to be the over-arching theme. Look at the dove above Mary’s head. It is in the path of a ray of light that has found its way
St Joseph’s
through a fortuitous opening in the wall, on its way down from heaven, where it started as a blaze of light surrounded by golden-winged cherubs. Directly below that is the street, with Gabriel and Emygdius and the archway. Under the archway, a man is standing on the top step of three. Shading his eyes, he has noticed the ray of light, and is looking towards the house where Mary is. As we look at him, we see, out of the corner of our eye on the left, a small child standing at the top of some steps, with two friars and a man dressed in red. Peering around the wall, the child can see through the barred window into Mary’s room, and so, once again, our attention is drawn to her. Crivelli’s handling of space and perspective, in this painting, is masterly, as is the way he conveys the difference between light indoors and outdoors. The detail, too, is astonishing, making this one of the great favourites among the masterpieces of Christian art. The archangel Gabriel, messenger of God, shares a feastday with archangels Michael and Raphael, on 29 September.
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ONE PAGE WISDOM PAUL ANDREWS SJ
Messy Families
We know about families. We have all survived them, more or less. You remember the Gospel parable about the father of the prodigal son – and here Jesus is talking about God. The boy made a fool of him by squandering the family fortune and reputation. His older son was so envious of the kid brother that he would not attend the homecoming party. God knows about troubled families. They are nothing out of the ordinary. In that lovely parable, the father enjoys the being of his son even when he is in every way a thorn in the father’s heart. Scanning the horizon from his window he sees a for-
lorn, debauched figure slouching towards home, and runs out to meet him, speechless with joy. We may dream of an ideal family with lively, intelligent, obedient children – who line up with their parents for Church on Sunday, pass their exams, compete in community sports, and visit their granny. Move away from such rosy pictures. There is no such thing as perfect parents, or perfect children. God is not the presenter of prizes at a high-powered graduation, but the one who helps us clean up the mess or live with it, and then approach the future as a friend, without a wardrobe of excuses.
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SPECIAL FEATURE RONAN BARRY
Pope Francis on The Family On our wedding day, Joanne’s granddad, Gerry, contributed some wise words. He spoke to everyone about his love for his granddaughter, his own experience of marriage, but also offered some good guidance: ‘Make sure you always talk together, do things together, and ensure that you always communicate about everything.’ Gerry’s words were a reminder that marriage is a wellworn path that many had walked before us, and that much can be learned from them. The themes of love and heart define the character of Pope Francis’ ‘Joy of Love’ (Amoris Laetitia). These themes reminded me of a comment on parenting: being a parent means walking around with your heart outside your body for the rest of your life. This document connects a deep spirituality to the experiences of parenthood and marriage today. The recognition in the document that: ‘there is no stereotype of the ideal family, but rather a challenging mosaic made up of many different realities, with all their joys, hopes and problems’, positions the loving heart at the foundation of marriage and family. The sacred pilgrimage of marriage and love is an invitation for all couples throughout all eras. Families need care and
nurturing, by the couple and by community. Each day is an event in itself; raising children in this fast-paced world is not easy. This world’s haste, rather than nourishing relationships that need time to grow and deepen, instead creates pressure on families. Pope Francis challenges married people and families to enter into this different age centred on the Gospel. Francis calls on families not just to be shelters in society, but to ‘go forth from their homes in a spirit of solidarity with others.’ He calls on families not to be apart from the world but to be places where the world is met with the ‘joy of life’, reminding us that Jesus was a family member: the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary. Jesus grew up through this family experience. Like the holy family, all families are called to help each member to see their fellow human beings as brothers and sisters. Pope Francis reminds us that the core of the sacrament of marriage is a mission. Central to mission is prayer, community, and service. If parenting can be described in terms of love and heart, then prayer is fundamental. As Henry Nouwen writes: ‘Prayer is being in the presence of God with the mind in the heart.’ Prayer is the
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language of the heart. When a married couple share from the heart, they share their prayer with each other. We know that Jesus is ever-present when people pray together; ‘where two or three gather in my name I’m also there.’ Pope Francis notes that ‘the word of God is the source of life and spirituality for the family.’ Spending quiet time reading the Word of God allows for the Holy Spirit to gift marriage with, a new heart and new spirit, every day. Prayer and attending weekly Eucharist help couples appreciate each other in a unique way. People today, like generations before, seek community; a place where they can find roots and share life with others. Pope Francis calls on parish communities, ecclesial movements, Catholic schools and other faith institutions to support family life, with a special emphasis on social outreach, as well as pastoral programmes. He asks too for special support for single parent families: ‘single parents must receive encouragement and support from other families in the Christian community and from the parish’s pastoral outreach.’ Pope
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Francis stresses the role of Catholic schools who play ‘a vital role in assisting parents as well as forming communities.’ Families are invited to be missionary families, with lay people’s involvement in the Church’s pastoral activities being greatly encouraged. The document suggests: solidarity with the poor, openness to a diversity of people, the protection of creation, moral and material solidarity with other families. Do we not meet many families who are already missionary families but never knew they were part of the Church’s work? Pope Francis encourages all families to participate actively in the Church’s mission. Marriage like any life commitment takes times to grow and blossom into its own uniqueness. The ‘Joy of Love’ affirms and encourages married couples and families never to lose heart and never stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us. Ronan Barry is a school chaplain in Willow Park School, Dublin.
Amoris Laetitia, the Pope’s text: available www.messenger.ie €5.00
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Visit
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Messenger The Sacred Heart
The Sacred Heart Messenger in ‘the Jesuits in Ireland’ marquee at the
85th National Ploughing Championships Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly
Sept 20th ~ 22nd 2016
the Jesuits in
Ireland
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Daily Offering Lord Jesus Christ, you always did the will of your Father, and you were always open to his call, faithful to the end. Through the power of the Eucharist, inspire me this day with a heart like yours, ready, open and faithful. Like Mary, your mother, may I bring your love to those I meet.
I pray with Mary and the whole Church for the Pope’s Intentions this month:
UNIVERSAL: CENTRALITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON: That each may
contribute to the common good and to the building of a society that places the human person at the centre. EVANGELISATION: MISSION TO EVANGELISE: That by participating in the Sacraments and meditating on Scripture, Christians may become more aware of their mission to evangelise.
With sincere appreciation to our promoters, readers & benefactors
Through the generosity of our Promoters, most of our readers are able to receive the Messenger at the lowest possible cost. THANK YOU. Be assured that the Lord will bless you for your help in making better known His name and the love of His heart. Thank you also to all of you who sent donations during the past month for the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart and for other good causes, especially the Jesuit Education Mission in Assam, NE India. You are all remembered in our prayers and Masses. – Donal Neary SJ
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ARCHITECTURE CHRISTOPHER MORIARTY
Church of the Annunciation DUBLIN’S HISTORIC CHURCHES
The Parish of Rathfarnham was one of the largest in the diocese, extending from the summit of Kippure to Newlands Cross and including Crumlin and Terenure. Its parishioners had worshipped for generations at a ‘chapel’ on Willbrook Road, which is marked on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map beside a school on the right bank of the Owendoher River. The village of Rathfarnham stood at the top of a ridge which
separates the Owendoher from the Dodder and a short distance from the great house and demesne of Rathfarnham Castle. A small ancient church nearby was replaced in 1795 by the presentday Church of Ireland church, whose graceful spire continues to be a conspicuous landmark. The old maps show a very thinly scattered population in the parish. There was little employment besides service in the big country
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houses and work on the farms and in the many flour mills and cloth or paper factories, which used water power from the two rivers. This situation began to change rapidly towards the end of the 19th century as more and more people were able to buy houses with gardens in the suburbs and the farmland came to be gradually replaced by the homes and gardens of commuters. A large church had been built in Rathmines as early as 1824, but that was a long way from Rathfarnham. Henry Hodgins, a local landowner, presented the parish with a portion of his estate of Beaufort House. According to one map the site had been occupied by an inn called the Yellow House at the end of the 18th century. Used both by the insurgents and government forces, it was destroyed by the latter in 1798. The inn was rebuilt across the road on its present site. The services of the distinguished architect George Ashlin were enlisted by the parish clergy and, on 29 March 1875,
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Cardinal Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, laid the foundation stone for a Church of the Annunciation. Just a few years earlier, Ashlin had designed another church in the south suburbs, St Kevin’s in Harrington Street. He had followed his teacher and associate Welby Pugin as a leading exponent of the gothic revival and chose for the Rathfarnham building the French style developed in the 14th century. It was opened for worship on 25 March 1878 by Bishop McCabe, a few months before the Cardinal died. The work cost £9,549 and 7 shillings. The building is long and narrow with a high, steeply-pitched roof and an octagonal bell tower above the porch. The walls are of grey granite quarried in the nearby mountains, but the window and door frames and decorations use the white Portland stone from the Isle of Wight which was very popular at the time. The plan is essentially simple, a broad nave flanked by side aisles which are separated off by arcades supported by pillars of polished
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26 red Aberdeen granite from Scotland. The three altars and their surroundings are a lavish display of white marble. There are separate entrances to the nave and to the side aisles. The approach through the nave is through a great west doorway but the aisles have smaller doorways, in porches which stand out from the main building. A single remnant of the former church is preserved at the right hand side of the entrance of its successor. There an inscription on a brass plate on the wall above the relic reads ‘Font used in Mass House of Penal Times in Parish of Rathfarnham from AD 1732’. A large piece of granite, roughly carved on the outside but smooth and polished within, it is likely to have served for very much longer than three centuries. The archaeologist and historian Paddy Healy believed it was a bullaun stone, originally fashioned for grinding corn and of unknown age. The lower storey of the west front of the church is centred on the main entrance, a triple-pointed arch of Portland stone, the middle member decorated with a vine motif. On the next storey, a pair of large windows flank a statue of the Virgin. Above her the steeple rises from an octagonal bell-ringer’s chamber with square windows, surmounted by an open bell chamber and topped by the pointed spire, which bears an ornate metal cross. The interior of the church is bright and beautiful. It is lit by ten
large windows on each side of the upper storey and decorated on the lower by three double stained glass lights. Created by Maison Eugene Denis of Nantes in Brittany, they are dominated by intense red and blue tones. Most unusually, their subjects are the Stations of the Cross. The high ceiling is of dark wood panelling. The nave and the two aisles all have apses which, again, have bright stained glass windows. The south aisle is devoted to the Annunciation and the north to the Sacred Heart. At the base of the elaborate high altar is a relief depicting the Adoration of the Lamb – another unusual theme in 19th century churches. The church has remarkable associations with the foundation of the state. Within the parish was St Enda’s School, the creation and home of Padraig Pearse. Another parishioner was W T Cosgrave, President of the Free Sate, whose state funeral took place there in 1965. His son, the former Taoiseach Liam T Cosgrave was actively involved in church work there. About the same age as the church are the splendid specimen trees that line its North side. At the time of building, the demesnes that nearly surrounded the building had pockets of woodland and this may have inspired the architect or the clergy. They chose conifers, amongst them three giant redwoods – trees that can live for a thousand years and more, and make a great symbol of permanence.
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Sept’16
re:link
Resource for Religion Studies relink.messenger.ie
Certificate RE, munities of Faith’ for Junior As a part of ‘Section A: Com what their and mbers of faith communities you may examine various me ponsibilities they roles involve as well as what res faith community r you of may have. One member will have seen ple peo st Mo is your local priest. ool, and even met a priest at mass or in their sch Confirmation, a priest at their Communion and opportunity the but how many of you have had about their m the ask to speak with a priest and daily life? students’ I have taken some of my own l area, which I questions to a priest in my loca hope will help you to life of gain an understanding of the faith. Fr Paddy Byrne of nity a priest in your commu is, which is in the is a priest in Portlaoise, Co Lao . diocese of Kildare and Leighlin of social justice and ion mp cha a is dy Pad Fr his tweets . an active user of Twitter To find e. yrn dyb search for @frpad book All Will On 1st September, Fr Paddy’s Be Well is being released.
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www.messenger.ie : SEPTEMBER 2016 When and how did you know that you wanted to become a priest? As I was growing up, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but even now as an adult I often ask what am I doing and I think that’s a very healthy thing. I suppose that deep down I had a commitment to my faith, I had a friendship with the Lord and I had a very positive connection with the Church on the ground with my local priest and I felt attracted to that way of life. During my Leaving Cert, I thought about it. It wasn’t the cool thing to do. I percieved it as something strange. Most people my age certainly were not thinking about entering into the priesthood or religious life, so I decided I would stay quiet, and after the Leaving Cert I went to Trinity College, where I studied BESS (Business Economics and Social Studies). During that time I grew in my own personal confidence and realised that this business thing was not for me at all and so I started to get into the business of the Lord. Where did you train to become a priest? I studied in the seminary in Carlow College, which is now a wonderful lay institute where you can study many different subjects, including theology and social studies. What is involved in the training to become a priest? I suppose it is really about training yourself: finding out who you are and what makes you tick. You learn where your qualities are, where are your struggles and you discover the gospels and theology of the Church. You also grow in your understanding of the communication of all of these things. You also do practical work in parishes, as that is where you will be working, so you spend a lot of time on pastoral placements. The Jesuits had a
big influence on me during my training, as I did a 30 day silent retreat in Manresa, where a man called Fr Michael Drennan was my spiritual director. This, and many other experiences during my training, helped me to learn to listen to the spirit in a reflective manner, about what is going on inside of me as a person. How long does it take to become a priest? Really it takes until the day I die, as every day I am ‘becoming’. God reveals Himself every day in a new way. For ordination, training takes up to about six years. What does your typical day involve? My typical day is a very diverse day. No two days are the same. This morning I got up early and wrote an article for a newspaper. Today’s article was a reflection on life tips by Steve Jobs, given to local parents about kids, which I tried to connect with in my own context. Then I attended a parish team meeting in the parish centre to plan the week. After that I had a school ministry and I had a lovely lunch. After lunch I was preparing younger students for the sacraments. Then I went back to a local secondary school to meet some Leaving Certificate RE students. I am doing this interview now. Later I am celebrating a school graduation mass at 7pm and then I am on duty at the hospital, which means I call to the local hospital and that is just a flavour of an average day. There is great diversity. What is the most difficult part of your job? I don’t see priesthood as a job, it is a way of life. I think that it is important that we don’t mainstream it into the category of a job. It is a way of life that is accessible to most people. If I was to see it as a job, I would become frustrated because compared to many other jobs, there are
www.messenger.ie : SEPTEMBER 2016 a lot more demands. I am self-employed. I direct my day to the demands of my people. The most important thing is that you are generous, you have a generous spirit and that service is to the fore. It can be difficult to say no to people; so sometimes you can be pulled in different directions. You have to mind yourself. Take space. Mind your mental health. Be able to unwind.
am. Christ’s grace allows us to live this life and without a creator God, I wouldn’t be able to do this job. I would also say have courage to speak about it. It’s okay to think that you might like to become a priest. There’s nothing wrong with you. The vast majority of priests are happy men, men who have been fulfilled in the ministry over many years and are men who smile often.
What is the most rewarding part of your job? You receive so much. Every day is an opportunity to begin again. No matter how often we fall or I fall, there are always opportunities to begin again. What kind of qualities make a good priest? The most important thing is generosity. A radical embrace of the gospel. Not to be caught up in black and whites. Thankfully, due to the vision of Pope Francis, we are no longer custodians of the sacraments of the Church. We are bridges somewhere in the sacramental life between God’s grace and the people. Priests need a radical orientation to the poor and social justice. We are most relevant in our local community, in our hospitals, with our homeless people and in our parish centres. To be a good priest, you must be an honest man, accept your mistakes and your wounds. You have to be real and accept people where they find themselves, because this job is all about people and all about Christ, and He gives us the grace to live this way of life.
What are your key roles/duties in your community? I think you have to be aware of your community. You have to be aware of the issues facing your community. You also have to be the face of your community, often at vulnerable moments, such as bereavement and sickness. We are present at private moments in our community and at all events, but I think most importantly my role in my community where I serve, is to bring the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ to the fore, especially in school communities. I think schools are wonderful places. I think schools contain the vibrancy of youth and the optimism of the future and I think that priests must connect with that. We as priests should also be advocates of social justice. I am delighted to be able to speak out against direct provision, I am a keen supporter of Portlaoise Action to Homelessness and I am delighted to support the integration of different cultures here in Portlaoise. I think we need to get outside of saying ‘Hail Marys’ and go to where people find themselves to be.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about becoming a priest? Go for it! It is a wonderful way of life. It is an alternative way of life. I’m 41 and when I look at my married friends, I don’t see them as being any happier than I
What are your hobbies/interests? Sometimes I think I have a dull life as I don’t have too many hobbies, but one thing I like is to go to the movies. I like my Netflix, I look at movies on that. I like to chill out and I achieve that by watching
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30 films. I love horse racing, I enjoy following horses and seeing where they come from, and generally all sports. I am not captivated by any one sport in particular but I enjoyed the Olympics this summer. I love music, and I went to a Stone Roses concert during the summer. I sometimes go on holiday to chill out also. Do you ever get lonely? Not hugely. I am a twin and I am very connected with my twin brother and he often comes to stay with me. Of course sometimes I get lonely, but that is part of the longing for Christ, in that emptiness. So I do get lonely. Who/what are you inspired by? I am most inspired by Jesus Christ. His patience in me, His love for me and His confidence in me as a person. I am also really inspired by Pope Francis. I think that he is a gift from the Spirit to a Church that
needs to listen to him. I am inspired also by the many broken people in the world, particularly by those in recovery. I know a number of good people who I have helped or listened to and I accompanied them in their struggle with addiction and into new life. What is the difference between a Christian Brother and a priest? We are all one brand of the different vocations, just like some people are married, others are single, some people are religious and some are priests. The difference is what charism or what gift we have focused on. What is your favourite scriptural reference? My favourite scriptural reference comes from Matthew’s gospel: ‘I have come not for the healthy but for the sick’. Christ comes to us in our vulnerability. Christ is the giver of life to those who have no life. Christ’s light is brighter than any darkness. Pope Francis explained this in a wonderful image when he said that the Church is a field hospital in a battle. God cares for the sick. I am witness to that every day firsthand as a hospital chaplain.
C ompetition ! €40
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In less than 200 words:
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GARDENING HELEN DILLON
Time for Change & Renewal www.dillongarden.com
Dahlias, Cosmos, and Agapanthus in September
I love September. For me it’s the beginning of the garden year, time for change and renewal, time to sort out parts of the garden which could do better, time to have the courage to dig up what’s not working. I find that the less somebody knows about gardening the more they will not, or dare not, remove some large plant that is squashing everything else. I was chatting to a gardener friend the other day who agreed with me: for some time he has looked after a garden for a client who wanted more plants in the front garden. But the whole front of the house was shaded by a very tall, stout holly, taking all the available space and light. My friend suggested taking it out,
to which the answer was ‘but my wife will have a fit’. However, the deed was eventually done, and now everyone is delighted with the new light-filled garden. This is the month to begin sorting out which plants are squashing their neighbours. If you wait until next spring, you won’t remember all the various moves that need to be done. Here are some really good plants for autumn colour: Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ is one of my favourite large lemon-yellow daisies, wonderful for illuminating an autumn border. Agreed, it multiplies fast, but you needn’t bother dividing it often, just chop a couple of hunks off in November and give them to the nearest friend. Aster ‘Little Carlow’ (they’ve now
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32 changed the name to Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow’), an excellent mauve-blue Michaelmas daisy in flower for some time, deserves a sunny place in every garden. Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’ is another old-fashioned favourite which never, ever gets mildew and blooms for two months. Look out for the lovely September bulb, Nerine bowdenii. These bulbs need a particular place in your garden, ideally under a sunny south-facing wall where the soil is dryish and there’s a minimum of six hours of sun. You may already grow Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ another wonderful plant which should be in every garden. It blooms with scented mauve flowers almost the whole year, but after about two years it gets exhausted and needs replacing. The reason it is so magnificently generous with flowers is because the plant is sterile, and cannot set seed, so it never stops flowering. It is a member of the cabbage family which should be grown in new soil, otherwise cabbage diseases may develop. Therefore always position the young plants somewhere different. Get fresh broad bean seeds for sowing in late October for an early crop next June, and seed of sweet pea ‘Matucana’ or ‘Cupanii’ for sowing in early November. Autumn-sown sweet peas last for weeks longer than springsown. You’ll need cold frame or cold greenhouse protection to over-winter them. Chiltern Seeds are good, they don’t charge for
an excellent catalogue – I’ve been buying from them for forty years or so. I also sow mizuna, coriander, parsley and winter salad in September. Now to mention a couple of self-sowing flowers, which present you with great colour for little effort. You may think forget-me-nots are masters of the art of colonising the whole garden. But next spring you’ll be thrilled by the grand patches of cheerful blue easy little old-fashioned plants, which are happy in sun or light shade. Buy trays of small plants and spread them along the front of the beds now. Love-in-a-mist is another favourite. Sow outdoors where it is to flower in autumn or early spring in a sunny position. Deadhead regularly, but leave on a few of the fat seedpods to provide next year’s plants. If your roses have been attacked by black spot it’s very important to gather up and throw away (not on the compost heap) any leaves displaying the disease, especially those leaves which have already fallen and need careful collecting from under the bushes. NB – this is a nasty, prickly job – tempting to put off for another day. Don’t start cutting back herbaceous plants until early November. Your plants need their top growth to nourish the plant. Beginners are sometimes so keen to get the place tidy again that they set to with the secateurs and cut everything down far too soon. Except for tulips, the earlier you can plant spring bulbs the better.
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JOSEPH NGUYEN CONG DOAN SJ
Saying Mass in Prison
On 12 December 1980, in Saigon, five Jesuits were put in jail under accusation of anti-revolutionary propaganda. On 8 January 1981, I was picked up gently by ‘convocation’ to the Central Office of the Police ‘to answer about my brothers’. I began my life as prisoner in the special jail of the Police of the City. All I could do there was pray in silence like a hermit and offer all the sufferings of the prisoners as sacrifice in union with Christ’s. It lasted
two-and-a-half years before we were brought to court. I received a sentence of twelve years. Then I was transferred to the common jail ‘among the criminals’. Here my only visit was a monthly visit from my family, when I received some food. I arranged to ‘smuggle’ some wine, hidden in the fish sauce. We slept on the floor, each one with his mat and mosquito-net. Every night, after 9pm, forbidden to have a pillow, we had to lie down under our mos-
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34 quito-net... my altar was a folded blanket… I put some drops of wine in a small plastic box that served as a chalice, a piece of host in a handkerchief; both hidden under the ‘altar’ to prevent them from being seen by the guard outside the iron bars. I lay down on my belly to celebrate mass, without a book or ornaments. In order to give communion to other Catholic prisoners, I kept the Blessed Sacrament in my backpack hung on the wall as a tabernacle. Some of the prisoners who worked in the corridors served as ‘lay ministers’, delivering communion to others. A year-and-a-half later, I was transferred to a labour camp, seventy miles from Saigon. Catholics there were joyful meeting a priest. Many times I heard them reminding me: ‘Father, your presence as a priest among us is enough to comfort us; don’t try to do anything, otherwise they will take you away and we would miss you’. That reminder helped me to be careful, but did not scare me from being a priest among prisoners. In this labour camp, we were about forty people in one barracks. Sleeping on an upper bunk, I was less visible from outside. On weekdays, I continued my night Mass, sitting under my mosquito-net. Catholics in other barracks wished to ‘assist’ from their barracks. The camp, far in the forest, had to use a small powerhouse from 7pm to 9pm. After that we had only an oil lamp in each barracks for the night. So I began my Mass when the power went off, imagining we
were in a big cathedral, people sitting behind big columns without seeing the altar! On Sunday, while others had tea, coffee and a cigarette, I gave a small homily on Gospel verses and general absolution. I had the plastic-chalice in an upper pocket of my shirt, the bread in a handkerchief, in the second upper pocket, and some ‘diplomatic cigarettes’ in the lower pocket. If I saw a guard moving in our direction, I would offer him coffee and a better-than-usual ‘diplomatic cigarette’. The man would accept with pleasure and chat with us. After he left, I continued my Mass. My ‘Sunday congregation’ was always a joyful one. The camp authorities were not blind to what I was doing, but as the ‘coffee table friends’ were trouble-free prisoners, they closed their eyes. Other priests in the camp tried their best to be ‘chaplain’ among prisoners. As it was not possible for any priest from outside to help the prisoners, the only way to act as chaplain was to be a prisoner oneself. On my release, it was hard for me to leave ‘my folk’ behind, and also for them to see me ‘taken away’ from them. The last one was released after 38 years in 2014. He had been sentenced to death, and then commuted to ‘for life’. I baptised him in 1986. His first public testimony was: ‘I forgive all to everybody’! Joseph Nguyen Cong Doan SJ lives in the Jesuit community in Jerusalem, where he is one of the Vicars of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
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New wineskins for new wine. Petition
Lk. 5:33-39 First Friday: 2nd September 2016
........................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................... Petitions may be sent to us on this form, or on any piece of paper. All petitions received are placed on our Sacred Heart Altar, and Mass is offered for them once each week. SEND TO:
The Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
God You’re Breaking my Heart: What is God’s Response to Suffering & Evil? is a new book by prolific Jesuit writer, Brian Grogan SJ, author of the bestselling, Finding God in All Things and many other titles on Ignatian spirituality. The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. It is easy to denounce evildoers, but more difficult to understand them. This means that we, who are at best imperfect, have a hard time understanding ourselves as well as others. What does this book offer? This book offers the reader a challenge, but ultimately, hope.
€9.99
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OUR READERS WRITE : LETTERS OF THANKSGIVING MEDICAL ISSUE
Dear Father, Thank you to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, his Blessed Mother, St Padre Pio and all the angels and saints. I was feeling very anxious and worried over a medical issue. I prayed every day to help me get a good result and thank God I did. I am eternally grateful. With thanks, A wife and mother
SERIOUS ILLNESS
Dear Rev Father, I want to write to express my most grateful thanks to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus for many many favours. Especially for getting me over a serious illness in the last four months. I never gave up hope and placed my trust in the Sacred Heart. I feel almost fully recovered. Also for protecting my family and helping them, and just last week my car passed the NCT. I continue to place my trust in the Sacred Heart, all the Saints on earth and in heaven, all the angels, and Saint Benedict for keeping evil away from me. Oh Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in thee, please watch over me now and always. Amen. Eternally grateful
HOUSE SALE SUCCESS
Dear Father, I promised to publish my thanks to the Sacred Heart, Our Blessed Lady, and Saint Martin, for the success of my daughter selling her house, and a lot of other favours received over the years. Yours sincerely in prayer. Co Down
CLOSE LOVING COUPLE
Dear Father, Thank you most Sacred Heart of Jesus for all your help to me in my life this far. Thank you for caring for and looking after my husband. Please direct us, keep us safe and keep us a close loving couple. Kildare
ALWAYS THERE FOR ME
Dear Father, I am writing in thanksgiving for all the blessings I have received in the last 80 years. Whenever I am in trouble, the Sacred Heart is always there for me. I will always pray to the Sacred Heart and Our Lady for a special answer to my prayers. Thank you, God bless. Anon
LONG OVERDUE PUBLICATION
Dear Father, Sincere thanks to the Sacred Heart
www.messenger.ie : SEPTEMBER 2016 and His Blessed Mother for all the favours and blessings bestowed on my family and me over the years. My mother’s best friend was the Sacred Heart. He was her constant companion. As a widow, she reared five small children, from when the youngest was only 11 months old. She passed that trust on to us her children. There were times I could not have made it without Him. I constantly seek his help for my brothers, my husband and six children. I now continue to ask Him to get my son to renew his former close love and friendship with me. Keep all of us close to each other and to Him. Jesus I trust in You. Stay with me. Anon
SICK GRANDDAUGHTER
Dear Father, I want to thank the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Lady, St Jude and the Holy Saints for a very special request for my granddaughter’s return to good health. Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in thee. Anon
PRAYER ALWAYS HELPS
Dear Father, Sincere thanks to almighty God and the intercession of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart and the Holy Souls for healing the ulcer on my leg. Please keep it well and make me well also. Prayer helps one all the time
37 and I trust in the Sacred Heart and Our Lady and St Martin through the Holy Souls to help all my family, keep them safe, give them good health and help one family member to pass her exam very soon. A Grateful Friend
REMARKABLE RECOVERY
Dear Reverend Father, No words can adequately express my sincere gratitude to the Sacred Heart for the many blessings my family has received since my father died over seventy years ago when we were very young. Our mother’s trust in and prayers to the Sacred Heart and Our Mother of Perpetual Help were answered and many difficult situations were resolved. In my adult life I have been blessed with a devoted, considerate husband and caring children who, thank God, are all happily married. Recently I was diagnosed with a very serious health problem, which required very invasive, delicate surgery. In spite of my age I made a remarkable recovery thanks to the Sacred Heart and a wonderfully skilled surgeon. This is just one of many occasions when problems that seemed insurmountable have been resolved. All praise and glory to the Sacred Heart and Our Blessed Lady who intercedes on our behalf. A very grateful and unworthy sinner. Anon
‘Like’ The Sacred Heart Messenger facebook.com/sacredheartmessenger www.messenger.ie : JANUARY 2016
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COOKERY MARIE McGUIRK
For the Busy Cook RECIPES FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER We usually still enjoy the end of summer weather in September so the Caesar Salad would make a tasty light packed lunch for those who have to work or go to school! The slow roast chicken is a very healthy dish with little preparation and is ideal for the busy cook.
CRANBERRY, OATMEAL AND CINNAMON SCONES
6oz/175g self-raising flour 1tsp baking powder 1tsp ground cinnamon 3oz/75g butter 3oz/75g caster sugar 2oz/50g oatmeal 3oz/75g dried cranberries 5-6 tbsps milk Beaten egg to glaze METHOD n Grease a baking sheet. Place flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a food processor, add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. n Add sugar and oatmeal and blend briefly. n Add the cranberries and milk and blend briefly to form a soft dough. (Alternately this can be done by hand – rub butter into flour and add remaining ingredients.) n Turn onto floured surface and roll out ¾ inch thick. Cut into rounds with a scone cutter. Brush with beaten egg and place on baking sheet. n Bake in a preheated oven for 15 mins at 200°C/Gas 7/400°F.
SLOW ROAST CHICKEN WITH VINE TOMATOES AND BEANS
4 chicken breasts (with bone and skin) 1lb/400g baby tomatoes – yellow and red 4 fat cloves of garlic 1 onion sliced 1 tin cannelloni or pinto beans Large handful of basil leaves Coarse sea salt Olive oil METHOD n Drain the beans and wash away the brine. Sprinkle on the base of a casserole dish. n Sprinkle with tomatoes, onion slices and whole garlic. n Lay the chicken breasts on top and drizzle with olive oil. n Sprinkle with sea salt and cover. n Place in a pre-heated oven 150°C 300°F No 3 Gas and cook for 1-1¼ hours or until cooked and crisp. Remove the cover for the last 15 minutes of cooking. n Serve with herby crushed potatoes. n (If using boneless chicken breasts reduce the cooking period by 15- 20 mins)
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CAESAR SALAD WITH AVOCADO AND BACON For the salad 1 little gem lettuce, leaves separated, chopped 1 avocado, peeled, stone removed, chopped 2 bacon slices, cooked until golden and chopped For the dressing ½ lemon, juice only 150ml/5fl oz olive oil ½ garlic clove, crushed ½ tsp Dijon mustard For the croutons 3 tbsp oil
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110g/4oz bread, cut into chunks
METHOD n For the salad, place all of the salad ingredients into a bowl and set aside. n For the dressing, place all the vinaigrette ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add to the salad, and mix well. n For the croutons, heat the oil in a frying pan and, when hot, add the bread cubes. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until golden. n To serve, add the croutons to the salad bowl.
In Loving Memory
The names sent to us of all those who have died are entered on our
List of the Dead.
They are placed on the Sacred Heart Altar in our oratory and remain there for two months. Every Wednesday a Mass is offered specially for them, that they may have eternal rest with the Lord, and that their families and friends may be consoled in their loss.
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The prize is €100 for the first correct solution opened. Judge’s decision is final.
ENTRIES MUST REACH US BEFORE THE 24th OF THE MONTH.
Send to: Adult Crossword 609, Messenger Publications, 37 Lr Leeson St, Dublin 2, Ireland
_________________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________
Name: ____________________________________________
WIN €100! ADULT CROSSWORD
ACROSS 1. A bear at port first causing commotion (10) 6. Star, say, in Virginia (4) 9. Modern cubist? (5) 10. Jack at home before ten was unlucky influence (4) 11. Some cliquiness of one child of five (4) 13. Leader of the House? (4,2,3,6) 14. It was fragrant at another party before period of fasting (8) 16. Made more orderly when I’d drawn out (6) 18. Goad upsetting father first at temple (6) 19. Prison officer has to control soldiers (8) 22. Rogue in a red suit (5,2,8) 24. Young man with youth leader, female (4) 25. Hissing sound from Buck’s drink (4) 26. Set the tone and brought into harmony (5) 27. Singular garment, a Roman garment (4) 28. Light-coloured earth where travelling show might be found (10)
DOWN 1. Her rash developed and became more severe (7) 2. Bailey loses energy going round country (5) 3. Recognised information in a record (12) 4. Officer getting the bird (8) 5. Made a piggish noise (6) 7. Learning rugby version outside (9) 8. Andy, one involved became cross (7) 12. Craftsman at No.10 (12) 15. Ruthless cannibalistic competition? (3,3,3) 17. Artillery weapon with zero displaced (8) 18. Allow fish to precede crumpet (7) 20. Desired otherwise to have dwelt for a time (7) 21. Father in charge in car club on the continent (6) 23. Mixed you an alcoholic drink (5)
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CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD: WIN €30!
ACROSS 1. Part of something on the side of your head. (4) 5. In a sneaky way (5) 6. Blood sucking insect (4) 7. Three-dimensional (5) 10. Really cold (4) 13. One of baby’s first words (4) 14. Important in a church (5) 15. Sparkles from afar (4) 16. Can be a phone, or a top student (5) 17. Make something cosy with wool (4)
Name: ________________________________Age:________ Address: __________________________________________
DOWN 1. Country between Russia and Lithuania (6) 2. Used to make a sand castle (6) 3. A collection of songs or photos. (5) 4. Insurance ––– (5) 8. Used by a relay team (6) 9. A snowman’s nose (6) 11. Not helpful on a wheel (5) 12. Vegetarian but not vegan (5)
________________________________________________ Send to: September Children’s Crossword, Messenger Publications, 37 Lr Leeson St, Dublin 2, Ireland
MAY ADULT CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS
ADULT CROSSWORD: ACROSS: 1.Workshop; 6.Barium; 9.Merlin; 10.Charlady; 11.Here and there; 13.Flirt; 14.Ceasefire; 17.Quizzical; 19.Truth; 21.Stepchildren; 24.Backyard; 25.Magnum; 26.Hearth; 27.Deletion. DOWN: 2.Oven; 3.Kilohertz; 4.Hungry; 5.Pickaxe; 6.Brandish; 7.Ralph; 8.Underwrite; 12.Illustrate; 15.Fortnight; 16.Mishmash; 18.Alluded; 20.Primal; 22. Poker; 23.Juno. ADULT CROSSWORD WINNER: Teresa Cawley, Coothill, Co Cavan. CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD: ACROSS: 1.Awesome; 7.Pig; 8.Hindu; 9.Nest; 10.Disk; 13.Scent; 15.Oak; 16.Goodbye. DOWN: 2.Wages; 3.Soho; 4.Man; 5.Spanish; 6.Cupcake; 11.Ivory; 12.Stud; 14.Ego. CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD WINNERS: Ciara O’Shea, Limerick, Age 13. Róisín O’Neill, Tipperary, Age 11. ART COMPETITION WINNERS: Joshua Dunlea, Cork, Age 8. Aoife Fennessy, Kildare, Age 12.
JUNE ADULT CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS
ADULT CROSSWORD: ACROSS: 8.Uninjured; 9.Overt; 10.Ventilate; 11.Crave; 12.Tea and sympathy; 15. Ruby; 17.Below; 19.Scar; 21.Starvation diet; 23.Lurid; 24.Drumstick; 26.Not on; 27.Inelastic. DOWN: 1.Inject; 2.Unsteady; 3.Quill-nib; 4.Text; 5.Forceps; 6.Pedantic; 7.Steelyard; 13.Salmi; 14.Grassland; 16.Biarritz; 18.Windmill; 19.Skittish; 20.Evident; 22.Tuck in; 25.Runt. ADULT CROSSWORD WINNER: Maura Doherty, Portglenone, Co Antrim. CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD: ACROSS: 1.Itch; 3.Spud; 7.Coriander; 8.Forgive; 12.Alligator; 14.Aloe; 15.Brie. DOWN: 1.Inch; 2.Cargo; 4.Pod; 5.Dirt; 6.Baggage; 9.Voter; 10.Lava; 11.Free; 13.Leo. CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD WINNERS: Olivia Connolly, Roscommon, Age 10. Laoise Toland, Dublin 15, Age 11. ART COMPETITION WINNERS: Mia Martin, Dublin 12, Age 13. Elle Smith, Dublin 12, Age 12.
Sarah’s Wordsearch
Y H P A R G O E G A O
H F E N G L I S H R B
F Y S W J V X H X T V
R R A H H S I R I E N
E O I N T S U W A O F
N T Z L S A U R I M B
C S Z L X F M G I U N
H I M N Q K I W N S H
D H N C F L R L T I J
H P L N E Q Y H K C P
I J B R F R J V F Y L
There are nine school subjects hidden in this word search. How many can you find?
SCRIBBLE BOX
Jokes!
Why did the M&M go to school? Because he wanted to be a Smartie. Who is king of the pencil case? The ruler.
150km/h and another man drove from A man drove from Cork towards Dublin at they meet? Dublin towards Cork at 200km/h. Where did In gaol. Why did the 5 and the 3 skip lunch? They already 8.
SEPTEMBER CHILDREN’S COMPETITION: WIN €30 DRAW OR PAINT A PICTURE
THE BEST ENTRIES EACH RECEIVE A PRIZE OF €30 TOPIC: MUSIC AND DANCE
September Competition, Young Readers’ Pages, The Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland OR your scanned entries by email to competitions@messenger.ie *Remember: entries for all competitions – including the crossword – must reach us no later than 24th of the month. Please remember to include your age.
Ciarán Bartlett | Chapter
Eve is excited that her recently-separated parents are talking and seem to be working things out, and she enlists the help of her secret spider-boy friend Herman to find out more…
Herman couldn’t believe he’d agreed to this! Hanging between two humans, not a great idea for a money spider. As he got closer, he heard Eve’s dad say: ‘So, when suits for me to come back?’ Her mum spoke softly, smiling. ‘Some time this week I suppose, when you have the chance.’ Just then, Herman let out a little howl of joy, unfortunately within earshot of the couple. Eve’s mum saw Herman and screamed and her dad lifted a magazine, rolling it in two seconds flat and started swiping at Herman, who scrambled under the sofa. Eve heard her mum shouting and ran inside the living room. Her dad swiped at Herman just as he made it away under the couch and he slipped, falling on top of her mum. They both laughed. Eve shouted, ‘What’s wrong?!’ ‘Oh don’t worry, it’s just a spider!’ ‘Don’t kill him!’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Because that’s my friend, Herman!’ Mum and Dad looked at each other. Mum spoke first. ‘What do you mean, he’s your friend?’ ‘Well, Granny gave him to me for my birthday.’ ‘You’ve been keeping a spider for a month?’ ‘Yeah, but he’s really a little boy. He’s sort of like a big brother really.’ Her dad looked a bit worried. ‘Eve, you can’t be saying stuff like that about a spider, can you? You’re ten
now, a bit old to be making up big stories like that.’ ‘I’m not making it up. Watch! Herman, come here.’ She put her hand at the bottom of the sofa and he came out, jumped onto her hand and she held open the matchbox for him. He crawled inside. ‘See! Watch this.’ Eve scratched and knocked the little matchbox and sure enough, zip, zap, bing, bang, Herman appeared. ‘How are yas?’ Herman put his hand out. Eve’s mum fainted. Her dad shook Herman’s hand, then fainted, and the two of them were out cold on the sofa. ‘They seem nice.’ ‘Yeah, sorry about that. I suppose they’ve never seen a spider turn into a person before.’ ‘Take nothing for granted, eh?’ ‘That’s it.’ Herman looked a bit sheepish. ‘So here’s the thing,’ he began, ‘I can only turn into a boy once more for you after today. It’s a sort of curse I suppose. You get a month and then you have to decide if you want to keep me around. Otherwise I’m just a spider until you give me to someone else. All you have to do is convince your folks to keep me and the spell is broken!’ ‘They have to adopt you!? This is information that would have been useful to me a month ago, Herman!!’ Eve fumed. Herman took a sandwich out of his pocket. ‘Aye, well I didn’t like to impose.’
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FROM THE ARCHIVES 1916
The Knockrigg Health Crusade By M Power Chapter IX
Care of the Eyes and Ears The human eye is a most beautiful and delicate organ, set in a deep four-sided cavity in the skull called the orbit. The edges of this cavity are so prominent that they protect the eye to a great extent from injury. The space behind the eyeball and between it and the bone is filled up with loose fat, which supports it, as it were, on the elastic cushion. The eyelids, which are largely composed of skin and muscle protect it from the excess of light and from the entrance of foreign bodies, the eyelashes help to exclude dust, and other irritants. Nature has thus done its part towards protecting our vision, but something remains for us to do. In the care of the eyes the greatest cleanliness should be observed. They should be carefully bathed and gently dried, never rubbed roughly. Should particles of dust or an eyelash or insect get inside the eyelid it should be carefully removed with the corner of a handkerchief screwed into a point, or better still, with a clean camels hair brush. The human ear is no less delicate and sensitive than the eye, though perhaps less liable to injury. Great cleanliness should be observed with regard to it, and after washing, the
inside should be very carefully dried with a soft towel. On no account should a sharp-pointed instrument be used for the removal of wax, or for any other purpose, as there is a great danger of perforating the drum and causing complete deafness. Should there be an accumulation of wax in the ear a few drops of warm sweet oil may be poured in while the person lies on his side with the affected ear upwards. This helps to soften the wax, which can afterwards be removed by syringing with warm water to which some bicarbonate of soda has been added – two teaspoonfuls to a tumbler of water.
Poultry Keeping Twelve Short Lessons By L Murphy Munster Institute, Cork
No.9: Ducks For Profit Ducks have extraordinary power of resistance to disease and are more easily reared than chickens. Further, when a good strain is chosen, they give as many eggs as good laying hens, and the eggs are usually somewhat more valuable than those of hens. Under certain conditions, however, ducks are not profitable. They should never be kept in confined runs, as in this case they cost too much to feed. Moreover it is not advisable to keep them without having water for them to swim in. A certain amount of doubt appears to prevail as to the suitability or otherwise of a running stream. We have always found a slow stream most suitable, and the ducks do not travel too far; but any water, pond, lake or stream will be found their natural element, and without a swimming place it is almost impossible to get fertile eggs.
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SPECIAL FEATURE RAYMOND MOLONEY SJ
Lord Accept the Gifts EUCHARISTIC HYMNS
The Mass as offering by priest and people is the great truth being expressed in the preparation of the gifts and their presentation to the Father. It is what we celebrate in this modern hymn, which suits the Offertory Procession, especially when this is carried out by a number of those present. The hymn comes to us in three verses, deepening our notion of Eucharistic transformation. In the first verse the transformation of the gifts is a model for how the Eucharist can transform us. The second verse relates this transformation to the nature of the signs which we are bringing to the Lord. In the third verse we look further afield. The Eucharist is not only for each of us but for others also. Its strong and confident score brings home to us so clearly the dedication of will and strength of purpose to which our sharing in Christ’s sacrifice call us.
Lord Accept the Gifts Lord accept the gifts we offer at this Eucharistic feast, Bread and wine to be transformed now, through the action of thy priest, Take us too Lord and transform us, may thy grace in us increase. May our souls be pure and spotless, as the host of wheat so fine, May all stain of sin be crushed out like the grape that forms the wine, As we too become partakers in this sacrifice divine Take our gifts Almighty Father, living God eternal true, Which we give through Christ our Saviour pleading here for us anew. Grant salvation to us present and our faith and love renew.
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SPECIAL FEATURE EILEEN HOULAHAN CHF
A Good News Story: Pathways
It is consoling to have a ‘good news story’ to share in the present climate of falling church attendance and often disenchantment with the Catholic Church. Pathways: Exploring Faith and Ministry, is one such story. Pathways is a unique adult faith development programme; it has been running for many years and its popularity keeps growing. A recent review of Dublin Parish Pastoral Councils under ‘Faith Development’ said: ‘There is an urgent need for baptised Catholics to be awakened in faith and to encounter the love of God in Christ Jesus’. Christian living is a lot like falling in love! God loves us, draws us and invites us to respond. Pathways shows how we can do that, because it is dynamic, rich in content and process, welcoming and enjoyable. It attracts men and women of all ages and from all walks of
life. The programme, which began in All Hallows College, now runs under the auspices of the Dublin Archdiocese in Clonliffe College, on Thursday evenings from September to May, over two years. A parish priest commenting on his parishioners who had completed the programme wrote: What was the greatest gift they got from their time there? It was confidence. Their life experience was validated. What happened in our parish? They came back here and simply grew. They could share faith. They could talk. They found their voices. To catch some of the flavour of Pathways, let the participants speak for themselves: Comments from Participants Q I was very nervous when we started, but Pathways has given me the confidence to discuss my
www.messenger.ie : SEPTEMBER 2016 faith and to be open to other people’s views. Q The variety of people from different backgrounds sharing their experiences was eye-opening. Everyone should do it! Q The course has been a highlight in the week for me over the past two years. No regrets: it was well worth the effort. Q Through Pathways I have had the privilege of listening to inspiring speakers as they unpacked their subject matter in a friendly, relaxed and accessible style. Q Participating in Pathways has been a transforming process for me. The talks linked with real life and the challenges I face. Q I had been too busy in Church activities. Pathways was a way to take time apart and to learn how much God cares for me. Q I have been reminded of how loving and forgiving God the Father is. That’s something I didn’t always remember through my journey with mental illness. Q Pathways gave me a wonderful opportunity of coming to a clearer understanding of my faith. Q Pathways has opened my eyes to the difference between real faith and what I had learnt at school, which was ‘Do anything wrong and you go to hell!’ Q The retreat days are excellent and provide a space for time away from everything. I loved our liturgies and the ways I was helped in my prayer. Q A presentation I found most
47 helpful was ‘Jesus – the Man and his Message’, because it was about family, friends, life, Jesus’ life and his humble beginnings. His credentials were himself, and he was true to these until death. He lay in a borrowed grave yet all the kings, armies, navies and parliaments since have not affected the life of humankind as powerfully as Jesus. He is still the central figure of the human race. Q I am thankful that at times throughout my life I have profoundly felt Our Lord’s presence. Pathways was another of those times. Q For me, the talks on liturgy stood out, and now I can see the connection between the three readings at mass. Q During our session on ‘Praying with Scripture’ there was a real sense of presence. Q I loved the visual aspect of Christ and the Trinity... I have found it very helpful to see an image and pray. How to get in! All you need is a desire to explore your faith with others and an openness to fresh ways of living it out. No previous study in theology or spirituality is needed; no required written work, no exams! For further information contact: Eileen Houlahan, CHF, PhD Director, Pathways Programme Phone: 01 837 9253 Ext 294. Email: pathways@dublindiocese.ie Web: www.evangelisation.ie
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Wild God
Fragrance Dream 3
O
by Sister Susan SMSM
ne Sunday, God dreamed of flowers. The flowers had a delicious smell and when God awoke the smell of flowers was still in God’s nose. Time passed, a long time, then one Sunday, God had a dream of fruit. God picked the fruit and put it to his nose, because it smelled a little bit like the dream flowers. God said: ‘I need to figure out “flowers” and “fruit”.’ Time passed, and one evening while God was taking a walk, a seed appeared on the path. ‘This precious little seed needs a home,’ he said. The next day, God planted the seed in rich dark soil. Time passed… One day when God visited the seed, God saw a small green shoot coming out of the soil. God wondered: ‘What will this shoot become?’ God kept visiting, a long time passed. The green shoot became a tree. One day God smelled the fragrance of the dreams and ran to the tree. It was covered with flowers. God spent all day smelling the flowers! Time passed, the flowers were carried away from the tree by the wind. God missed the fragrance of the flowers. Then one day God went to visit the tree and discovered it was covered with shiny red fruit – just like in the dream. God picked one piece of fruit and smelled it, then took one big juicy bite.
It was delicious!
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IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS JOHN MURRAY PP
Something Beautiful for God MOTHER TERESA Almost fifty years ago, a motley crew of denimed students, who would normally feel more comfortable at a pop concert, stood waiting – on a nun! Malcolm Muggeridge, the journalist and television commentator, helped to tell her story to a British and Irish audience. Something beautiful for God is the title of his 1971 documentary about the life and the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I recall still the ‘miracle’ the film crew had experienced when ‘impossible’ footage shot in the twilight hours of the House for the Dying turned out to be radiant and transparent. It was indeed something beautiful for God. The story of Agnes Bojaxhiu began very humbly in 1910 in the South-east European country of Albania. It is ironic that this tiny nation which boasted at one time of being the only officially atheistic nation in the world and which suffered a horrendous Stalinist regime for almost 50 years under Enver Hoxha was able to give the world one of the greatest saints of the 20th century. A vocation to religious life blossomed in the young Agnes and she joined the Loreto order and did her training in Rathfarnham in Dublin. Upon its completion, she was sent to India to teach and she did this for a number of years.
But something else called her to look beyond the convent walls to the incredible poverty she saw on the other side. On 10 September 1946, while on a train journey from Calcutta to Darjeeling, she received what she called a ‘call within a call’, which was to give rise to the Missionaries of Charity family – of sisters, brothers and priests. In time, with the permission of the local bishop, she began in small steps the new order and at a time when religious orders were beginning to wane, the missionaries attracted thousands of young women, both from India and from further afield. Her motivation was taken from the words of the dying Jesus on the cross – ‘I thirst’ – a desire to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the cross for love and souls by labouring at the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor. In 1971 she had 50 houses all over the world. With Muggeridge’s film, further development followed and her order was able to visit and set up in countries previously closed to her – Yemen, Russia and Egypt. In 1979 she received the Nobel Prize for Peace, and in Oslo spoke powerfully and without embarrassment on behalf of the unborn child and the voiceless. Bob Geldof in his story of ‘Live
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Poor and jobless men waiting on the street for a job on April 13, 2014 in Calcutta, India. India has the largest number of people living below the poverty line of $1.25 per day. Photo: Shutterstock/ Hung Chung Chih
Aid’ – the great humanitarian effort of 1985, with its live pop concerts in several world venues – tells of meeting more than once a feisty but saintly woman who did not generally take ‘no’ for an answer. If she arrived by invitation in a country to set up a clinic or house, she would see what she wanted and ask for it, even if the regime had less salubrious accommodation in mind. I think back myself to another occasion when I saw her personally. A priest told us that the woman who would speak to us could make grown men cry. As I sat among 7,500 priests at a great gathering in the Paul VI hall in the Vatican, I recall my cynicism. Yet 30 minutes later, I was wiping away the tears from my eyes as this little woman – she was only 4’10” tall – shared
story after story of love and mercy of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta and elsewhere. ‘There is more poverty in London and New York than Calcutta’ she said. People are distant, lonely in the great metropolises of the world. Walking through the streets of London, a hand shot out of a doorway looking for money. She did not carry any, but instead took the man’s hand in hers. Then from his lips came these words – ‘such a long time since I held the warmth of a human hand, such a long time.’ I am reminded of that story now every time I pass someone in the local street selling The Big Issue. What is their name? Where do they come from? What is their story? Indeed as I write these words, I am preparing for my next funeral in the parish – of a young
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52 woman found dead in the doorway of a shop in the centre of Belfast. Of course Mother Teresa had her critics. There will always be criticism of the saints. People will either want to join them or persecute them. Christopher Hitchens did a ‘hatchet-job’ on her in his book. Why did she not try to change the system, which made people poor? Was she not simply condemning them to unending poverty and degradation by saying nothing? Was she only interested in their souls and not their bodies? Mother Teresa would always say that she spoke for those who had no voice, those who could not speak on their own behalf – the poorest of the poor. Her task was to recognise Jesus in the ‘distressing disguise of the poor.’ There was criticism too about fifteen years ago when her letters of over forty years were published. They showed that she had suffered for decades from a real inner ‘dark night of the soul’. To some this illustrated that there could not really be a God if one of his saints lived her life in so much darkness. To others it was but a further sign of her sanctity that even though her inner life was bereft of joy and peace she did not let this be seen. Always there was the smile on her face.
Dominique Lapierre, the novelist, experienced this firsthand when he went to Calcutta – like Muggeridge before him – to make a documentary. He arrived and announced himself. A sister brought him to Mother and he found her feeding a man who seemed scarcely alive – just skin and bones. The old nun acknowledged Lapierre and then handed him the bowl and wandered off. He had expected her to drop what she was doing and attend to his needs. But now the old man looked at him in silence and then at the bowl. Lapierre then – slowly – began to feed him. Twenty minutes later Mother returned. By now Lapierre had realised what she was all about. The constant travelling took its toll. After a summer of travel to Rome and also New York, she returned to Calcutta in July 1997 and died there on 5 September. It would not have been her wish, but the nation of India gave her a state funeral and her frail body was carried on a gun carriage, which had borne the bodies of the nation’s ‘greats’ – Gandhi and Nehru. Soon the Church will honour her – on 4 September – with the ultimate accolade by calling her a saint, but to the world and especially the poor, she will always be simply ‘Mother Teresa’.
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SERIAL STORY
The
O’Malley Hat
by Fiona Sherlock
CHAPTER 5: NEXT GENERATION – 1975 I didn’t have a clue what I was going to wear. As soon as my husband told me we were invited to the British Ambassador’s Garden party, I picked out my grandmother Mary’s hat. I remembered how she told me it was the first hat she tried on when shopping for her wedding day, and she just knew it was the one. But the hat has some stories to tell between that day and this…
The next person to borrow the blue pillbox hat from my grandmother was my mother Deirdre. She too wore it for her going away outfit, when she got married in 1975. Grandad had passed away in New York, so the family moved back to Ireland. Meath, March 1975 Mary sat wrapped in thick woolen blankets, huddled beside the fire. It was a Saturday morning, a few days before St Patrick’s Day. Margaret Thatcher was on the nine o’clock news arguing against Britain joining the EEC. The house was freezing. In the
kitchen Mary could even see her own breath. She had ordered a fill of oil from Leinster Petroleum, but the cowboys were yet to appear. You would never get that in New York, she thought to herself. When they were young and just married, she and Eamon had suffered through icy houses and drafty bedrooms. But they had each other for warmth. This bitter house felt stonier without him. He had died five months ago, the same day as Erskine Childers. It was a heart attack at the traffic lights two miles from their house in Long Island. He was buried in St John’s Cemetery across the numbing grey waters of the Atlantic. After Eamon died, Mary found out they were broke. It was three weeks before Christmas, and the streets were slushy with snow and ice as she pulled her brown Jaguar XJS up to their lawyer’s office. He
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54 explained that Eamon’s investments nosedived, and he had even remortgaged their house to claw back some of his losses. Mary put the house on the market just after Christmas, sold their cars, pulled the kids out of their upstate private schools and made for Meath. She stood up to look at herself in the mirror over the fireplace. She had no makeup on, but still looked handsome, young even. She was angry and felt cheated; they had only been married for twenty years. The pictures of the pair with grey hair quoting Yeats to each other at the fireside were extinguished. Still in her forties, Mary was yet to find a first silvery strand. She encased herself in the thick scratchy blankets and shuffled out to the hall. The hand-painted architraving was plugged with thick, mushrooming mould. Mary had notions; when they moved home she still wanted them to have a country home. The mahogany steps in the hall sloped, worn from decades of footsteps, from footmen to aristocracy to priests and cleaners. Half of the balustrades were loose or missing. She called up the stairs, ‘Dee, are you coming down for some breakfast?’ Deirdre had come back to Ireland to study English in Trinity College a few years ago, and she wasn’t long losing the fullness of her American accent. ‘Coming Mom,’ she shouted down. Mary always wanted Deirdre to
have the best of everything on her wedding day. Now? Well now she couldn’t afford to pay for anything but her dress and maybe the flowers. Wearing a thick Aran jumper, jeans and woollen socks, Deirdre had her sleek black hair swung up into a high ponytail. Her cheeks flushed peach and she wore a bright white smile. Mary thought her truly American looking. ‘You look tired,’ said Deirdre, hugging her mother. ‘We can’t all be as beautiful as you! Will you have some sausages?’ asked Mary. ‘No, just some Alpen, I’m watching my figure!’ said Deirdre, as she sat down to the scrubbed white table. ‘Are you sure about the goingaway outfit?’ said Mary, biting her lip as she took the foil off the glass milk bottle. Her daughter was to wear Mary’s own going away outfit, a powder blue suit with satin flowers winking in the shining creases, her crown topped with the sky blue pillbox hat, dotted with pearls and delicate white widow’s veil. ‘Of course,’ said Deirdre. ‘I need to take up the hem a good six inches at least though.’ ‘I applaud your thriftiness, if not your modesty,’ said Mary. ‘It’s all the more special that it is yours. Please Mom, stop beating yourself up. Money doesn’t make the world go around,’ said Deirdre. ‘Well maybe one day your daughter will wear that hat,’ said Mary.
It is always the right time to do good. Lk.6:6-11
St Ailbe, B
Pray before making decisions. Lk.14:25-33
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
26
27
Help the poor. Lk.9:51-56
Pray for missionaries. Lk.9:46-50
The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Lk.16:19-31
25
Vincent de Paul, Pr
Ss Cosmas & Damian, Mm
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
20
Listen to the word of God. Lk.8:19-21
19
Ss Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong & Comps., Mm
Pray for grieving mothers. Lk.7:11-17
13
1
8
28
Your opportunity is now. Lk.9:57-62
St Wenceslaus, M
29
God cares for our world. Jn.1:47-51
30
Now is the time to repent. Lk.10:13-16
St Jerome, PrD
‘My Father, how difficult it is to believe.’ Lk.9:18-22
23
22
16
Thank God for your friends. Lk.8:1-3
Ss Cornelius P, & Cyprian, B MM
9
Look at your own faults first. Lk.6:39-42
Peter Claver, Pr
21
What is God calling you to do? Mt.9:9-13
Do you have a clear conscience? Lk.9:7-9 Ss Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, Archangels
2
New wineskins for new wine. Lk.5:33-39
St Pio of Pietrelcina PR
15
Mary understands our grief. Lk.2:33-35
Our Lady of Sorrows
Ask for Mary’s help. Mt.1:1-16, 18-23
Birthday of the BVM
Fall on your knees before Christ. Lk.5:1-11
St Matthew, App
God loves the world. Jn.3:13-17
14
7
‘Your reward will be great in Heaven.’ Lk.6:20-26
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
10
17
24
Open your mind to his message. Lk.9:43b-45
Our Lady of Ransom
‘Welcome the word with joy’. Lk.8:4-15
St Robert Bellarmine, BD
Be a true disciple of Christ. Lk.6:43-49
23rd Week in Ordinary Time
‘Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath’ Lk.6:1-5
3
22nd Week in Ordinary 22nd Week in Ordinary St Gregory the Great, PD Time Time u
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
St John Chrysostom, BD Triumph (Elevation) of the Cross
6
Spend some time in prayer. Lk.6:12-19
TUESDAY
No one can serve two masters. Be a beacon of light for others. Lk.16:1-13 Mt.5:16-18
18
25th Week in Ordinary Time
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
12
Lord, I am not worthy. Lk.7:1-10
God rejoices for the repentant sinner. Lk.15:1-32
11
5
23rd Week in Ordinary Time
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
4
MONDAY
SUNDAY
September 2016 u First Friday
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Fragments Jn.15:18-21
than his master.’
by Michael Paul Gallagher SJ
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A Mutual Explosion
But God is at work in us (as St Ignatius insists). Grace transforms. So it is not all up to us. Just the initial opening of a door, the honest asking. Even here the Spirit is prompting us like an artist. Then a flow of love enters, takes over, explodes, and becomes mutual. The impossible becomes possible. ‘Not I that live’ takes on reality, fire. An intimacy beyond words calls you to rest there, learning how to live and love.
all creation’. Mk.16:15-20
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ISSN 1649-4450
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