17th March 2009 :: St. Patrick's Day
You hear it said quite often that one of the few advantages of the recession is that it might enable people to turn back to God again, or to start going to Mass again. I wonder will that be the case. Today is the Feast of St Patrick and this day is naturally and rightly marked with pride and celebration not only in Ireland but throughout the world. We give thanks to God today that Patrick brought the light of the gospel to Ireland, and because of that Ireland used be known as the land of Saints and Scholars. But today how is Ireland viewed by its own natives and by people living outside it? I suppose for many it has become a land where in recent years greed and rampant capitalism stalked the land. It may also be known as the land of the Syringe and the bullet where so many of its children have succumbed to the lie of drugs, or to the finality of the bullet. It is not that long since the vision of DeVelera had the maidens dancing at the crossroads, not that long since people did not have to lock the doors of their houses, not that long since the fear of God kept society from spiralling into lawlessness.
What has happened, how almost overnight have things changed so radically? Gangland crime has almost ceased to shock us, it now does not make the front of the paper, or the first news item on the six one news. Where has the soul of Ireland gone? When and where did it all go wrong? That is not to say that the past was all rosy, it was not. However it was a simpler time and in the eyes of many a much happier time. One could become very pessimistic, I have two young nephews and I pray daily that they will stay safe and law abiding as they get older. I think one of the solutions to a better future must be a renewal of faith and belief in God. Our lives must once again be more gospel based, we must learn the commandment of love again, and rediscover that no man or woman is an Island, we must look out for one another, we must once more build community. It is said that when he escaped from Ireland that St Patrick heard the cries of the Irish saying to him, 'come and walk again among us, holy youth'. Maybe it is more than time for us to repeat that cry. Amen.
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Homilies Archive
17nd May 2009
26th April 2009
3rd Sunday of Easter
12th April 2009
Easter Sunday
9th April 2009
Holy Thursday
29th March 2009
5th Sunday in Lent
22nd March 2009
4th Sunday in Lent
17th March 2009
St Patrick's Day
15th March 2009
3rd Sunday in Lent
8th March 2009
2nd Sunday in Lent
1st March 2009
1st Sunday in Lent
25th February 2009
Ash Wednesday
22nd February 2009
8th February 2009
1st February 2009
25th January 2009
18th January 2009
11th January 2009
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
6th January 2009
Feast of the Epiphany
4th January 2009
2008 HOMILIES ARCHIVE
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