Who can top good news like this?

As the Christian ethos in our Churches, schools and hospitals come under attack on all sides, a sentence in a recent Sunday liturgy stood out large and clear.
"With God on our side who can be against us, since God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, we may be certain after such a gift that he will not refuse anything he can give." {Romans 8.11}

Again and again both Old and New Testaments reassure us of Gods continual care of his own people. Perhaps Psalm 121 would be an appropiate prayer for our Irish people at this time:

I lift my eyes to the mountains:_______Where is help to come from?
Help comes to me from the Lord______Who made Heaven and earth.
No letting our footsteps slip!______This guard of yours, he does not doze!
The guardian of Israel______does not doze or sleep.
The Lord guards you, shades you._______With the Lord at your right hand
sun cannot strike you down by day,_______nor moon at night.
The Lord guards you from harm,________ He guards your lives,
He guards your leaving, coming back,______Now and for always.

What Jesus wants more than anything else is our FAITH - courage to WAIT and BELIEVE that all will be well. He tells us himself through the prophet Jeremiah. {Chapter 31}
"I have loved you with an everlasting love, so I am constant in my affection for you I build you once more and you shall be rebuilt.
Is [Ireland] then a son to me, a child so favoured, that after each threat of mine, I must still remember him, still be deeply moved for him and let my tenderness yearn over him."
Again we listen to the prophet Isaiah {Chapter 45} telling us-----"No need to recall the past, no need to think what was done before. See I am doing a new deed, I will bring your offspring from the East and gather you from the West; bring back my sons from far away, my daughters from the end of the earth,all those who bear my name whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, whom I have made" Because you my dear Irish people who were so dear to my servant Patrick. are precious in my sight, because you are honoured and I love you.

Jesus himself tells us in {Luke 12} "Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God's sight. Why every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid :you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows"
And in the final words of the New Testament we read these reassuring lines---
"Then I heard a loud voice call, You see this city? here God dwells among men. He will make his home among them, they shall be his people and he will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, there will be no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past is gone. Write this: that what I am saying is sure and will to pass."

With God on our side who can be against us?
Who can top good news like this ? {Anne Frank}

3rd Sunday of Lent

Towards the end of today’s Gospel passage (Jn 2.35) , St. John shares with us the empathy he has with Jesus. He tells us: “many believed in Jesus’ name when they saw the signs he gave – but he knew them all and did not trust himself to them – he could tell what a person had in him” – or as another translation puts it …”Jesus would not give them his confidence; he had knowledge of them all, and did not need assurances about any one, because he could read all hearts”. (R.Knox).

Among those referred to in this passage, there were obviously some who were enthused about Jesus and his miracles but it seems there was no real depth to their enthusiasm; among the crowd too, would no doubt have been some of the hypocrites who so often tried to catch Jesus out in what he said and did during his ministry. How Jesus detested hypocrisy; with sinners he was always so compassionate and forgiving, but hypocrisy brought forth strong condemnations from him. How dear the quality of sincerity is to Jesus is highlighted in his words to Nathanael (Jn.1:45-51) - ‘behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile’–a beautiful compliment which utterly amazed Nathanael; truly Jesus could read his heart, as he can read all hearts, and that can be a source of great consolation because it means he so well understands our weaknesses.

There is not one of us who would wish to be included in the group in whom Jesus had no confidence, no trust – yet many of us realise when we reflect on our lives that we have failed his confidence, his trust, perhaps many times – the wonderful fact is, Jesus, who is madly in love with each of us does trust us again and again – he forgives all our failures small and great endless times, in fact as we read in the prophet Isaiah (Is.30.18) in today’s Liturgy – ‘the Lord waits, yes waits, to be gracious to us; he exalts himself to show mercy,’ and he longs once again to tie the bond of loving friendship with us ever more strongly. Not only does he forgive and forget our failures but he longs to come into our very hearts and be completely one with us, again and again, in the precious gift of Himself in Holy Communion What immense joy and peace this gives to us when our hearts are weighed down with a deep consciousness of our failings.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity encourages us in the words of St.Paul: “where sin abounded Grace did more abound” and she goes on to say ‘never let yourself be cast down by the thought of your wretchedness, it seems to me that the weakest soul, even the one that is most blameworthy, is the one that has the best grounds for relying on God’s mercy – by forgetting itself and throwing itself into the arms of God, it glorifies him and gives him more joy than by all its falling back upon self examination that makes it live with its infirmities, whilst all the time it possesses at the centre of itself a Saviour who wills to purify every moment’.

Let us then take new heart and encouragement as we continue our Lenten journey, knowing that Jesus will most certainly entrust himself to every sincerely contrite heart; let us respond to his loving invitation in the Gospel – ‘Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and you will find rest for your souls’.

Dominican Family Vocations Day - March 24th 2012

Young women interested in attending this informative event are very welcome to contact me at maireadop@eircom.net as soon as possible.

Participants will have an opportunity to hear vocation stories from a member of each of the four branches - a friar, lay Dominican, apostolic sister and contemplative nun.

As prayer is central to this day, we will pray Lauds/Morning Prayer together shortly after arriving and we will have the celebration of the Eucharist before we leave.

More information about this day is available from the Friars Vocations Blog here.

To view/download poster in .pdf format, click here.

Lent Week 2 - Monday

A few words on to-day’s Gospel – Lk 6:36-38:
It opens with the words: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.’ Perhaps the most important words in this passage are: ‘as your Father’. God is our Father! As the Christmas Preface puts it: “the wonder of our making is only surpassed by the wonder of our coming to life in Christ” (old translation) – i.e. by our Baptism we are inserted right into the heart of the Blessed Trinity – into the family and inner life of God. We are sons and daughters of God the Father, sisters and brothers of Jesus, the Son of God and we have the Holy Spirit living in our spirit- thus making us cry out ‘Abba, father’ and to proclaim Jesus as Lord. So that is why Jesus can ask us to have the beautiful attitude He annunciates in this Gospel passage - being compassionate, not judging, not condemning, granting pardon and giving. These attitudes do not come naturally to us – they must be desired and prayed for, cultivated and practised – then the light of Christ will shine forth in our life and actions and so glorify our Father in heaven.

2nd Sunday of Lent - The Face of Christ

This morning’s Gospel account of the Transfiguration is so rich and full in ideas and teaching (as is every event in the life of Christ) that it is difficult to pick one out for reflection. We all know the story so well – Jesus becoming radiant – aglow – transfigured in the presence of the three chosen Apostles, Peter, James and John – then Moses and Elijah appeared in glory also and were talking with Jesus about his ‘passing’ which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.

There is one little detail I want to say a few words on – “His face shone like the sun” this is in the account given by Matthew and Luke not in Mark from which today’s account is taken.

I have been struck very, very often by the number of times the word ‘face’ comes into the Psalms, the Hymns etc. in the Liturgy, e.g. “how long will you hide your face from me?” “I will behold your face in righteousness” and in Psalm 26 “Of you my heart has spoken, seek his face” – “It is your face, O Lord, that I seek, hide not your face” – “Turn your face against my sins” - and Psalm 41 – The Psalmist longs to stand once more in the Temple, to appear before God’s face – “when can I enter and see the face of God?” Ps.69 – “Hide not your face from me” – “I diligently seek your face”.

The face or countenance is so important a part of every person. We know we cannot see the Face of God. In Exodus 33.20 the Lord says to Moses: “You cannot see My Face, for no one can see me and live”. But God has now become incarnate in Jesus Christ and Jesus’ answer to Philip in St. John’s Gospel 14.9 is:“to have seen Me is to have seen the Father”

In today’s Gospel we have seen the face of Christ in glory but as we move through Lent and especially nearer to Easter when we move towards Jerusalem, we are going to see the Face of Christ, the abandoned, the rejected Christ until once again at Easter, we see the Risen Christ’s Face, glorious and radiant.

Many saints and holy people have written widely on devotion to the Holy Face especially a Carmelite Nun, Sr. Marie of St. Peter of Tours in France. Her writings were approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1885, and in 1958 by Pope Pius XII who declared the feast of the Holy Face of Jesus to be kept on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Shrove Tuesday). Sr. Mary of St. Peter was beatified by Pope Benedict on 30th May 2010. The prayers given by Jesus to Sr. Marie of St. Peter were primarily against blasphemy, abusing the Holy Name of Jesus and making reparation for all the attacks against religion and Holy Church. We surely need that prayer today!

The devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus so inspired St. Thérese that she added it to her name. Our Lord said to Sr. Maire - “Every time my Face is contemplated, I will pour out my love into the heart of those persons, and by means of my Holy Face the salvation of many souls will be obtained” – and again: “I firmly wish that my Face reflecting the intimate pains of my Soul, the suffering and love of my Heart, be more honoured! Whoever gazes upon me, already consoles me”. St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde also received wonderful promises from Jesus for those devoted to His Holy Face. Pope Pius IX said - “This salutary reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus is a Divine Work destined to save modern society”.

Of course, we are all familiar with the Holy Shroud of Turin since it was exposed to the public as recently as 2010 – there we see a living face, its expression a mingling of majesty and sorrow, of peace and calm power, in strange contrast with the cruelly tortured body. It is a face that bears the impress of a superior spirit, unbroken by suffering and unconquered by death. “After 19 centuries human eyes could again look upon the likeness of the Saviour as He was in death, still bearing the emblems of His sacrifice and with the expression in which His Face was moulded by the hand of death”.

Pope Paul VI as a very young priest in 1931 said “It seemed so true, so profound, so human and so divine, such as we have been unable to admire and venerate in any other image”. And again, Paul VI said in 1967 – “Perhaps only the image of the Holy Shroud gives us something of the mystery of this human and divine Face”.
The French writer Paul Claudel said of the Shroud – “Something so frightening and yet so beautiful lies in it that a man can only escape it by worship”.

Pope John Paul II in 1998 wrote – “What counts above all for the believer is that the Holy Shroud is a mirror of the Gospel. The Holy Shroud invites modern man to wonder on the mystery of suffering and to deepen his knowledge of the causes. It is the Icon of suffering of the innocent of our times. The Holy Shroud not only pushes us to stop being so selfish but it brings us to discover the mystery of suffering that ,sanctified by the Sacrifice of Christ, engenders salvation for all humanity. Believers in front of the Shroud have to exclaim ‘Lord, you cannot love me more’ and immediately realise that the responsibility of this suffering is linked with sin, to the sins of every human being”.

In May 2010 our present Pope Benedict XVI went on pilgrimage to pray before the Holy Shroud and said: “This is the power of the Shroud from the face of this “Man of Sorrows”, who carries with him the passion of man of every time and place, our passions too, our sufferings, our difficulties and our sins Passio Christi. Passio hominis from this face a solemn majesty shines, a paradoxical lordship. This face, these hands and these feet, this side, this whole body speaks. It is itself a word we can hear in the silence. How does the Shroud speak? It speaks with blood and blood is life! The Shroud is an Icon written in blood, the blood of a man who was scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and whose right side was pierced. The image impressed upon the Shroud is that of a dead man, but the blood speaks of life. Every trace of blood speaks of love and of life. Pope Benedict concludes – “Let us always praise the Lord for his faithful and merciful love. When we leave this holy place, may we carry in our eyes the image of the Shroud, may we carry in our hearts this word of love and praise God with a life full of faith, hope and charity”.

1st Sunday of Lent - Desert Experience

In this morning’s Gospel St Mark tells us that “the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert and he remained there and was put to the test by Satan” (Mk 2:12f)– a very stark picture at first glance!

Immediately before this passage we read about Jesus’ Baptism when He, the sinless One, took on the burden of our sins and was baptised by John. The heavens were opened and the Spirit descended on him and the voice from heaven declared: “You are my Son, the Beloved, my favour rests on you.” Strengthened in the conviction of being the Beloved of the Father, at once the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert…..

In the Old Testament the desert symbolised both the place of testing and the place of intimacy with God. We read in the Book of Deuteronomy:

“Remember the long road by which the Lord led you for forty years, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart – whether you would keep his commandments or not …learn that the Lord was training you as a man trains his child.”

For the Old Testament prophets the desert symbolised the place of intimacy with the Lord as we read in the Prophet Hosea:

“I am going to seduce her and lead her into the desert and speak to her heart …there she will respond to me”.

Hosea continues:

“when that day comes I shall make a treaty for them with the wild animals …and I will let them sleep secure.” (2:21)

and there follows these beautiful lines:

“I shall betroth you to myself forever
I shall betroth you in faithfulness and love
And you will come to know the Lord.”

For me these lines throw light on Mark’s description of Jesus being with the wild animals but the angels looked after him – the Father’s care for those who trust in Him.

The monastic way of life had its origin in the desert and in monastic spirituality the desert symbolises both the place of testing and the place of intimacy:-
The place of testing whereby we experience our own sinfulness and poverty and thus come to share and carry in our hearts the pain, the suffering and anxiety of all our fellow men and women as we journey through the desert of this life to our Father’s house.
The place of intimacy with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – a silent witness which is a reminder to all of the truth of God’s existence and is worthy of the gift of our whole lives and at the same time is an invitation to everyone to enter “that space in the heart where every person is called to union with God.” (Verbi Sponsa).

This Lent may we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit into the desert of our own hearts – we need not be afraid of the wild beast or whatever obstacles we meet on the way for we are never alone – Jesus has already travelled through the desert for us and has conquered Satan and accompanies us every step of the way.

Lent and Vocation Discernment

A few thoughts for the beginning of Lent.

I have always found Lent to be a very fruitful time for Vocation Discernment.

I think it was because since I was a small child the high point of Easter for me was Holy Saturday night when, having intensely lived all that God had done for us in Christ (during the Triduum) I renewed my Baptismal Promises. I think part of the attraction was that it was a real, public, solemn, formal commitment to God that I could make before I was old enough to make my First Communion. So I always saw Lent as a time to prepare to make this re-commitment. To examine my life and see where I was failing to live as a Christian; to give more time to God (prayer, ‘holy’ reading, daily Mass etc.) and also to do things for others – Jesus said [Mt.25:40] “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me”. This meant that my renewal of Baptismal Promises would not be just words but something I was living. Lent showed that I was serious about what I was saying, and of course it was meant to expand out to the rest of the year. But it is good to have that set time to stop and take track and re-centre my life on God.

I think this 'way of doing Lent' really helped my Discernment during the years when I was discerning my Vocation. Since every Lent was a preparation for a solemn re-commitment and inherant in that commitment was my determination to do God's will, whatever it was. So not only was I spending more time with the Lord (prayer, Adoration, Mass), which is vital for Vocation Discernment, but that time was being spent as a preparation for making a commitment and God responded by showing me more and more clearly with each Lent where this commitment was to lead me. Most of my major 'breakthroughs' regarding where God was calling me occured during Lent e.g. realising I was called to be an Enclosed Contemplative, when I had been planning to become an Apostolic Sister. Even now that I'm a Sister, Lent is always a very fruitful time for those extra little 'nudges' that God gives (I'm sure he gives them often but during Lent I'm finally back in 'listening mode'). So for those of you who are discerning your Vocation, embrace Lent this year as a particularly graced period for discernment!