SHM_November_2018

MESSENGER THE SACRED HEART

NOVEMBER 2018 I €1.75 / £1.60

PRAYERFUL IRELAND I HELENA CONNOLLY REALITY SPIRITUALITY I ALAN HILLIARD HIGHEST HOPES AND TRUST IN GOD I ANDREA HAYES DEATH AND CHRISTIAN HOPE I SHANE DALY SJ

RE:LINK: PILGRIMAGE I FAITH QUILLE

CONTENTS

23

4FROM THE EDITOR

9THE BOOK OF PSALMS

Donal Neary SJ

Martin Hogan

MY FIRST FUNERAL

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DAILY OFFERING Pope’s Intention

6POPE’S INTENTION Cover Photograph of Derrynane © Helena Connolly

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LOVE AND DIALOGUE: A CONFLICT? Brian Lennon SJ

18

THE ROYAL PSALMS

12

DON PEDRO: VOICE OF HOPE Donal Neary SJ

15 MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

ALL SAINTS ALTARPIECE Eileen Kane

18

REALITY SPIRITUALITY Alan Hilliard

20 PLACES OF WORSHIP

ST FLANNAN’S CATHEDRAL, KILLALOE Christopher Moriarty

23

PRAYERFUL IRELAND: CLONMACNOISE Helena Connolly

25

CAPPUCCINO Deirdre Powell

27

RE:LINK

PILGRIMAGE Faith Quille

CONTENTS

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33 31

PARISH MISSION John Scally

50 38 COOKERY

TASTY AND TRADITIONAL Marie McGuirk

33

47 IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS

JACOPONE OF TODI John Murray

50

A THRIVING BABY BOY

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36 THANKSGIVING

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51

44

Andrea Hayes

Kevin Hargaden

THANKSGIVING LETTERS

37 A KINDNESS I’LL NEVER FORGET

A SIGN OF PEACE Anon

CROSSWORDS YOUNG READERS DEATH AND CHRISTIAN HOPE Shane Daly SJ

SELECTIVE LISTENING Tom Cox

HIGHEST HOPES AND TRUST IN GOD

55

CALENDAR

56

REFLECTION

NB: Due to circumstances beyond our control we are unable to bring you our Gardening column this month. Gardening will return next month.

FROM THE EDITOR

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A few of us, seven years old or less, were watching through a chink in the drawn curtains to see the coffin of a neighbour passing on the way to church. As the lady was a Protestant we were wondering would she go to heaven! Someone with the cuteness of the five year old, came up with the answer, ‘she will if the Catholics prayer for her’. I recall this story with thanks for developments in ecumenism, and also to note that childhood memories of death are long-lasting, especially when they are the death of someone very close to us.

Maybe you can remember your first memory of death at home. For many children the death of a grandparent or family member is the first experience of death, or sometimes it is the death of a pet. These are occasions for gentle teaching about death.

One way to deal with bereavement in children is well summed up by a parent: ‘In November with our

children we can introduce the conversation of remembering through photographs, images on a phone, visits to the graveyards or a visit to light candles in a local chapel, but we can’t map ahead the conversation. We share with our children our stories of joy, love and sadness and they learn that sadness can be overcome. They learn that time, prayer, community, family and faith can help us to find a peaceful space again. They not only learn about personal peace, they experience it.’

The sharing of death in the family is important. I still regret very much that I missed my grandmother’s funeral in 1972; there is a certain emptiness that is larger than if I had celebrated and prayed at her death with my mother and her family. Death is a time of mourning in family and in communities, to remember with thanks and to unite ourselves with a new presence with our loved ones.

Donal Neary SJ

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MY FIRST FUNERAL

5

DAILY OFFERING Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER

POPE’S INTENTION UNIVERSAL: IN THE SERVICE OF PEACE

That the language of love and dialogue may always prevail over the language of conflict.

THE SACRED HEART MESSENGER incorporating the Pope’s Worldwide Network of Prayer (Apostleship of Prayer).

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MORNING PRAYER Heavenly Father, as I progress throughout this week, I look to you for guidance. Help me to use wisely the blessings you have given to me and to share them with others. I offer you my thoughts, words and deeds this day for the intentions of Pope Francis for this month. Hail Mary...

At the close of this day, I take a few moments to remember all that transpired. Did I notice anyone suffering today? Was I able to comfort them, or at least pray for them? Heal my heart, Lord, and open my eyes tomorrow to recognize those who are in need of your love. Our Father...

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POPE’S INTENTION

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BRIAN LENNON SJ works in Armagh with Dialogue For Diversity/Community Support, and has frequently contributed to The Messenger. He questions whether the language of love and dialogue has a place in conflict, and whether conflict can be a productive force in our lives.

LOVE AND DIALOGUE: A CONFLICT?

Pope’s Intention: That the language of love and dialogue may always prevail over the language of conflict.

The wording of the Pope’s intention this month is a bit confusing. Does it assume that the language of love and dialogue has no place with that of conflict? If so, I’m not sure that’s true.

There is good and bad conflict.

Good conflict will include love and dialogue, bad conflict will not.

Examples of bad conflict include: when we hurt someone unnecessarily, push our own egos on to others, act negatively out of fear, seek revenge and are too filled with pain to do anything except lash out. Examples of good conflict include: when scientists struggle with each other about some scientific problem, when two people argue about how to stop global warming and have very different ideas about how to achieve that end.

In cases of good conflict those who disagree listen to each other, dialogue and are genuinely trying to solve a problem. It would be very different if one of them was trying to put the other down or control them.

Their goal would not be solving a problem but rather dominating another person.

Our intention is very important in deciding if conflict is good or bad: am I really looking for the truth? Am I trying to solve a problem? Or am I trying to hurt someone?

The means I use also matters: am I using my power in a wrong way?

Am I being violent without a just cause? Am I listening or just trying to control?

Family conflicts can be particularly difficult. Some family members may not have spoken to each other for decades. If you asked them what the row was about they might not remember. It is also sometimes the case, however, that a relationship has broken down and not much can be done about it.

Family occasions like funerals, weddings, Christmas, can trigger old conflicts, and sometimes when too much alcohol has been consumed the worst kind of dialogue takes place. There are also situations where families get back together again through meaningful dialogue, and then love is possible.

Pain, however, can be a real barrier.

If you have been badly hurt in the past, and the pain is still there, then

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POPE’S INTENTION

Š Little Pig Studio / Shutterstock

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sometimes it may be better not to contact the other person. Sometimes it just has to be left alone.

Yet, is that not against everything Our Lord taught?

He said some very harsh things about the self-righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. Some of these may have been things early followers put into his mouth to help them in arguments against those who did not follow Jesus. Nonetheless, it seems clear that Jesus got very angry when he saw people in authority put unnecessary burdens on the poor and vulnerable.

He also called us to love all others,

and on the cross he forgave his enemies. We have to do our best to follow him in all this, but we have to use our head at the same time.

If we can enter dialogue with the person we are in conflict with, which means listening to each other and hearing each other deeply, then that is the ideal. If both can do that, then they should do it. If not, it would help if they tried to move towards freedom for themselves.

If they got some freedom from the past they might find it easier to deal with those who have hurt them, and then they might be able to start wishing them well.

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THE BOOK OF PSALMS

As we come towards the feast of Christ the King on Sunday 25 November, FR MARTIN HOGAN introduces readers to a selection of kingly psalms, noting that the king in the Old Testament was very much the shepherd and carer of the people.

Š Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock

THE ROYAL PSALMS

King David

In the preceding issues of The Messenger we have explored the main categories of psalms. These categories could be classified as literary categories because the psalms in any one category have the same literary form. However, some psalms are considered as belonging together because they have a similar

content rather than a similar literary form. One group of psalms centres on the person and office of the king and are often referred to as Royal Psalms.

What unites these psalms as a group is their common concern with the king.

In Israel the Lord was king, and so

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THE BOOK OF PSALMS

10 every historical king was meant to rule as the Lord’s representative. In practice, many kings ruled as if they were the supreme authority in the land. It was the prophets who kept reminding the kings that they were even more answerable to the Lord than the rest of the people.

Yet, the king was understood to have a unique role within the covenant people, especially in the southern kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem. According to 2 Samuel 7, the Lord, who had made a covenant with all the people, entered into a special covenant with King David and his descendants, as a result of which the king was understood to be the adopted son of God. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was regarded as the physical son of God, as a God himself. The situation in Israel was quite different. Divinity was not conferred upon the king.

One of the best known of the royal psalms, Psalm 2, belongs to this ceremony of enthronement. The opening verses of the psalm reflect the upheaval which often occurred during the period of the inter-regnum, between one king dying and another coming to the throne (Ps 2:1–3). The nations plan a revolt ‘against the Lord and his anointed’.

However, in response to such plans,

the Lord, who sits as king of the whole earth in the heavens, laughs and places his representative, his anointed one, on the throne on a particular hill, Zion (Ps 2:4–6). There follows the king’s own response to the nation’s plans. He tells of the Lord’s address to him, spoken through a prophet on the day of his coronation, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you … ’ (Ps 2:7–9).

The Lord is the real power behind the Jerusalem throne. In the final verses, the king gives a warning to the nations, declaring that if the kings do not serve the Lord, they will perish (Ps 2:10–11). The intimate relationship between the Lord and the king of Israel is striking in this psalm. After the Babylonian exile, the Jewish people came to understand this psalm with reference to the coming of a future anointed king, or Messiah. It is not hard to see why this psalm was very important for the early Christians. It is quoted in Mark at the moment of Jesus’ baptism. Jesus is understood to fulfil the vision for the king in this psalm.

Psalm 101 may also have its setting in the day of enthronement of the king. It could be understood as the king’s speech from the throne on the day of his coronation This psalm expresses the high expectations

HE TELLS OF THE LORD’S ADDRESS TO HIM, SPOKEN THROUGH A PROPHET ON THE DAY OF HIS CORONATION, ‘YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU … ’ (Ps 2:7–9).

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THE BOOK OF PSALMS which the people of Israel had of their king. He was to rule in God’s name, to show forth God’s justice and mercy. He was the representative of the Lord who was the true king of Israel. In this psalm, the king commits himself to this noble calling. The king first speaks of his personal ideals (Ps 101:2–4) and proceeds to set the standards for his ministers (Ps 101:5– 7). Finally, he promises to remove evil from the land (Ps 101:8). The king embodies a sense of social responsibility throughout the psalm.

Psalm 72 is a prayer of intercession for the king, possibly a portion of a liturgy of enthronement. The poet prays that the king would exercise God’s justice (Ps 72:1–4). There is a concern here for a viable court system in which the marginal could find reliable redress. A prayer is made that the king would enjoy a long and beneficent reign (Ps 72:5–7) and also that his reign would be world-wide

(Ps 72:8–11). The king was to embody the rule of God for the people.

That is why God is asked to give the king God’s own justice and righteousness. As the instrument of God’s rule on earth, the king is expected to embody God’s passionate concern for the oppressed and enslaved (Ps 72:12–14).

The people of Israel experienced God as one who sided with them when they were helpless and oppressed; this is the God whom the king was called to mediate and reveal. The king was expected to be the helper of those who lack normal support and helps. He was to be the channel through whom God’s blessings were to be mediated to the people, especially the poor and needy. The psalm concludes with a prayer that the king’s reign would bring blessing upon his people, upon all the nations and even upon nature itself (Ps 72:15–17).

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 Mass is offered especially 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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FEATURE

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For the opening of the beatification process of Pedro Arrupe – who was Jesuit General in the exciting years of change and challenge after the Second Vatican Council – Messenger editor DONAL NEARY SJ reflects on his life, spirituality and his influence on the Society of Jesus and the Church.

© Irish Jesuit Archives

DON PEDRO: VOICE OF HOPE

Fr Arrupe (left) in conversation with the late Fr Joe Dargan at Clongowes Ecumenical meeting in 1971.

Fr Joe, then Novice Director, would later be Director of Manresa House, Provincial and Tertian Instructor.

In snarling Roman traffic Pedro Arrupe was being driven home when he noticed an accident had occurred nearby. He recognised the lady who was standing distraught at her car. He stopped and went to see could he help. All she needed then was a shoulder to cry on, as her husband had been taken to hospital

in a strange city. He set her right as to how to get to the hospital, and he kept in touch. He was General of the Society of Jesus, and she was the wife of a former Jesuit whom he knew well.

This shows something of the man’s big heart, a man for whom people really mattered. Don Pedro,

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FEATURE as he was called, was a man of extraordinary humanity.

‘Of course you will have problems as Jesuits’ he told us, a big group of twenty-year-old Jesuit students on his first visit to Ireland in 1967, but he added, ‘they are problems within your vocation!’ That was advice which I often remembered in later years.

Pedro was born near Bilbao in Spain in 1907, a Basque like Ignatius Loyola. After some years of medical studies he changed focus and joined the Society of Jesus in 1927. His home for many years would be Japan, a favourite mission of the Jesuits after the Second World War, and the first of the international missions.

Little did he know how events would overtake him there! In 1941 he was imprisoned for a few months on a charge of espionage. The atomic bomb in August 1945 led to him opening the doors of the novitiate as a hospital and with his medical skill he helped many people suffering from the effects of radiation. In 1965, though unknown to most of us outside his own province and Jesuit contacts, he was elected General. His years as General were marked by his open encouragement of the Second Vatican Council, by his smile, his humanity in contact with people.

I recall his insistence on Jesuit education as forming ‘men for others’ (nowadays, ‘people for others’) with a constant eye on the education of the poor: education in wealthy schools should open people to the cry and needs of the poor. A famous phrase

13 of his was: ‘love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce.’

His contacts with refugees in Rome in the 1970s changed him. Pope Benedict recalled this: ‘Gathering and developing one of Fr Arrupe’s last far-sighted intuitions, your Society continues to do praiseworthy work in the service for refugees, who are often the poorest of the poor and in need not only of material aid but also of the deeper spiritual, human and psychological closeness that is very much a part of your service.’ He founded the Jesuit Refugee Service in 1980 which today is active with Jesuits, lay and religious staff and volunteers in most countries where Jesuits work.

He was a man of sincere spirituality.

We knew he prayed a lot because we were told this by those who knew him, and also because his commitment and convictions came from a vibrant relationship with Jesus whom he loved. This brought him into deeply human contact and sympathy with the world. Pedro spoke much of openness to culture. He had learned this from his time in Japan where he saw first-hand the goodness of Eastern religions. He took seriously the command of popes that Jesuits should be working among people where faith was weak and where the culture was rapidly becoming secularised, agnostic and atheistic: ‘Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and extreme fields, at the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been and

FEATURE

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Fr Arrupe walking behind Fr Jorge Mario Bergoglio (on celebrant’s right), now Pope Francis.

there is confrontation between the burning exigencies of man and the perennial message of the Gospel, here also there have been, and there are, Jesuits’ (St Paul VI, Address to the 32nd General Congregation of the Jesuits, 3 December 1974).

A serious stroke at Rome airport in 1981 laid him low for ten years.

The Pope appointed his own delegate to run the society, rather than Pedro’s assistants. Misunderstanding and tensions with Pope St John Paul II had pained him. While he was extremely reverential towards him as pope, they had very different temperaments and didn’t communicate easily. Also, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981 meant that the Pope was hospitalised for a long time, making meaningful communication almost impossible.

Don Pedro bore this with patience

and loyal love of the Church.

His smile, even in his sick room, as we often visited him during Roman meetings, was still infectious. Though unable to talk himself, he loved to hear news of people and Jesuits in our country whom he knew. His prayer, which he lived as he was bedridden for the last ten years until his death on 5 February 1991, was an expression of his deep Ignatian spirituality: More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life from my youth.

But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God’s hands.

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MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

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This month EILEEN KANE studies one of the great masterpieces of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, the All Saints Altarpiece by Albrecht Dürer. Dürer depicts all those who have found their way to heaven, and Eileen draws our attention to the many biblical figures represented.

THE ALL SAINTS ALTARPIECE Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)

In 1501, in the city of Nuremberg, a wealthy steel merchant called Matthias Landauer founded a home, called the ‘Twelve Brothers’ Home’, for elderly, needy craftsmen. He also provided a chapel, under the title of ‘The Holy Trinity and All the Saints’, and in 1508 commissioned his fellow-citizen, Albrecht Dürer, an artist of international renown, to paint an altarpiece for it. Three years later, in 1511, Dürer’s masterpiece – known as the All Saints Altarpiece, The Adoration of the Holy Trinity or the Landauer Altarpiece – was put in place.

In his painting, Dürer combined both elements of the chapel’s title.

In the centre, at the top, the clouds part to reveal the Holy Trinity, with

God the Father holding the cross to which his son, Jesus, is nailed. Above his head the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, appears in a blaze of light, surrounded by cherubs. On either side of the Trinity, and beneath, are gathered a great multitude representing all the saints in heaven.

Nearest to the Trinity, the saints are led by the Virgin Mary, at God’s right hand, and St John the Baptist, at his left, both in attitudes of prayer.

This suggests the theme of the Last Judgement, in which, unusually, it is the entire Trinity and not only Jesus who acts as judge. Here, it is important to note that Dürer also designed the carved and gilded frame for this altarpiece, in which there is a scene of the weighing of souls, and Christ

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MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

© Alamy Stock Photo

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appears as judge. In the painting, however, the Judgement is over, and all these people – men and women, Old Testament and New, clerical and lay, young and old – represent all those who have found their way to a place in heaven.

In the Trinity group, God the Father is seated on a rainbow, whose ends

we can see jutting out from behind the green cloth held up by angels as a backdrop to the crucifix. The rainbow is the symbol God himself used as a reminder of his promise to Noah, after the Flood, that never again would the waters become a flood to destroy all living creatures upon the earth (Gen 9:12–17). It sym-

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MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

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bolises the covenant between God and mankind. In the painting, the earth is represented by the narrow strip of landscape along the base of the picture. There, in the right-hand corner, Dürer has painted himself, standing beside a large tablet with the inscription, ‘Albrecht Dürer of Nuremburg made this in the year 1511 after the virginal birth’.

Almost all the women saints in the group led by Mary carry palm branches. In front are Agnes, with a lamb in her arms, and Catherine of Alexandria, with the wheel that was the instrument of her torture. In the group opposite them, led by John the Baptist, can be seen King David, with a harp, reminding us that he used to play music for King Saul, to calm his dark moods.

Beside David, Moses, represented as a very old man, with long hair and beard, holds the two stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments given to him by God on Mount Sinai.

The saints in the foreground are larger in scale than those higher up.

Foremost in the group on the left, are a pope and a cardinal, representing religious authority and, on the right, an emperor and a king, representing civil authority. On his head the pope wears the papal mitre, a triple tiara. He also has a magnificent cope of embroidered cloth of gold, and a long, white alb.

The emperor, also magnificently crowned and dressed, wears, around his neck, the gold chain and pendant of the Order of the Golden Fleece, an order of knighthood founded in

1430 by Duke Philip of Burgundy but afterwards associated especially with the Habsburg family.

Also present among the saints are, on the left, beside the cardinal, Matthias Landauer, represented as an old man (he would die in 1515), with long hair, holding his hat in his hand.

On the right, wearing armour, is Landauer’s son-in-law, Wilhelm Heller.

The composition of this scene is masterly – Dürer conveys the impression of a great throng, stretching back, into infinity, yet there is no overcrowding. A sense of order and calm prevails. The use of colour, too, is wonderful, and very rich, with reds and golden yellow predominating.

In terms of its form – a single painting, (153 inches high by 48 wide, 135 cm by 123) without side-panels or shutters closing over it – this altarpiece was epoch-making. It broke with the long-established tradition for such works in Germany. Further, in composition and in the figure-painting, it linked with what the masters of the Italian Renaissance, such as Raphael, were creating at exactly that time, in Rome.

From the beginning, this altarpiece was greatly admired. In 1585, it attracted the attention of Emperor Rudolf II, who purchased the painting and took it to Prague. From there, it was sent to the Habsburg court in Vienna. The frame, however, remained in Nuremburg. Now, in Vienna, the altarpiece has a replica frame, so important to the painting’s full meaning, and is one of the great masterpieces of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

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FEATURE

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FR ALAN HILLIARD, continues his reflections on the Pope’s recent exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate. These are developed in his book, Happy to Be Holy? which is published by Messenger Publications.

REALITY SPIRITUALITY: CHANGE OF AN ERA

When Pope Francis spoke to the bishops of Italy in November 2015, he said that ‘we are not living in an era of change but in the change of an era’.

This captures what lies at the heart of many of our frustrations in the Church and in society today. The way the world is changing cannot be compared to getting our house done up; it is more like coming home to find a bulldozer has levelled our home and has rooted out its foundation.

When change happened in the past we relied on various institutions to guide us through the change. In our present culture, however, it is hard to know just who is making the changes, and why so much change is happening. We may fret over who we vote for, and hope that they will bring about change by reducing inequality and providing some of the basic necessities of life, but sadly we do not vote for the market forces that dictate policy to them. Furthermore it is hard to talk about the changes that are happening when those who change things are faceless, and invisible.

As we look at our world the message of Gaudete is even more profound. ‘We can forget that “life does

not have a mission, but is a mission”’ (Para 27). The document is most relevant as it alludes to the many complex problems and challenges faced by those who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, challenges that differ from those of past times. Regarding what is different we read: Politics, mass communications and economic, cultural and even religious institutions become so entangled as to become an obstacle to authentic human and social development. As a result, the Beatitudes are not easy to live out; any attempt to do so will be viewed negatively, regarded with suspicion, and met with ridicule. (Para 91) But when we look to what is the same we find great resources and insight: Those who really wish to give glory to God by their lives, who truly long to grow in holiness, are called to be single-minded and tenacious in their practice of the works of mercy. St Teresa of Calcutta clearly realised this: “Yes, I have many human faults and failures … But God bends down and uses us, you and me, to be his love and his compassion in the world; he bears our sins,

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Photo © therevhilliard

FEATURE

our troubles and our faults. He depends on us to love the world and to show how much he loves it. If we are too concerned with ourselves, we will have no time left for others”. (Para 107) When I read this letter I sensed the great challenges that Pope Francis put before me. I’d prefer not to hear many of them.

At the same time as he challenges us, however, he gives us the conviction that we can overcome these problems if we are attentive

to the gospel message. Whether we feel this is ‘an era of change’ or the ‘change of an era’ we need to find a starting point. Gaudete et Exsultate gives us plenty of possible starting points, and provides us with the encouragement to get going on the journey.

Whether we feel buoyant in an era of change or capsized by the realisation that we are living through a change of era, Gaudete et Exsultate is an anchor that will give us pause, and hold us still.

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PLACES OF WORSHIP With CHRISTOPHER MORIARTY we enter St Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe. Embarking on a journey that takes us from the sixth century to the present day, our guide points out the marks left by Vikings, saints and Cromwellians on this time-traveller’s Cathedral.

All Photos © Christopher Moriarty

ST FLANNAN’S CATHEDRAL, KILLALOE

Occupying one of the most beautiful sites of any church in Ireland, St Flannan’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Killaloe has stood above the quiet waters of the River Shannon for more than eight hundred years.

It is one of three ancient cathedrals and many monasteries built close to Ireland’s greatest waterway. That is a testimony to the river’s two functions: as a boundary between major tribal territories, and as a thoroughfare in the days when travelling on land was often difficult and hazardous.

Killaloe has long had an important

position in the history of Ireland.

This came about partly because it was the first point downstream of Lough Derg where the river could be crossed by a ford. The ancient ford was commanded by high ground that was to become famous in history and legend as Kincora, the royal seat of the O’Brien kings. Long before their time a succession of holy men established their monastic cells thereabout and came to be surrounded by worshippers. The name Killaloe is derived from the Cell of St Molua, an associate of St Brendan in

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the sixth century. His church was on an island downstream of the ford. A little stone oratory there had to be rescued when the valley was flooded as part of the Shannon Scheme. It was rebuilt on higher ground, not far from the cathedral.

Another ancient stone oratory stands beside the cathedral and was probably the central building of an earlier monastic settlement.

In common with the cathedral, the oratory also bears the name of the eighth-century St Flannan, though it was built some hundreds of years after his time. As with many other leading figures of the early Irish church, little is known about St Flannan besides his name and the date of his death. The building is a remarkable survivor, having stood there for about a thousand years.

Harold G Leask, the foremost

authority on ancient Irish churches, considers the building of the great cathedral to have begun about the year 1195. He also suggests that its style belongs to a ‘School of the West’, one of a number of great places of worship built in the twelfth century to the west of the Shannon in the kingdoms of the O’Briens and the O’Connors. The gothic style which they use had only just been introduced to Ireland at the time.

The great east window of Killaloe is the crowning glory of the cathedral.

Eleven metres high, it is made up of three slender lancets; the central one is the tallest and reaches from just above the ground level nearly to the point of the gable. On the outside, the three are separate from each other. Within, they are contained by an over-riding arch. They probably had stained glass in ancient times, but

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22 most of the ancient glass in Irish churches was destroyed by the Cromwellian puritans. The nineteenth century saw a great revival and in 1865 the Killaloe window was glazed with representations of the Twelve Apostles with Christ in the centre.

The cathedral has the usual cruciform ground plan but departs from tradition in that the four parts of the cross are nearly equal to each other in length, with the tower rising from the centre of the building. Originally a relatively low structure, the tower was rebuilt and raised twice and its present appearance dates to 1892.

Together with the other ancient churches of Ireland, St Flannan’s was taken over by the Church of Ireland after the Reformation. Dwindling congregations in the nineteenth century led to a major re-structuring of the interior, above all by erecting a screen which cuts the nave off from the chancel. The screen, inserted in 1885, is a beautiful piece of oak carving in the form of a replica of a church wall with a rose window. The south transept has been closed off and the north transept transformed to a subsidiary chapel.

The main part of the cathedral, with sanctuary and pews, is now confined to the original chancel. It has a beautiful ceiling of oak, with the beams supported by corbels

PLACES OF WORSHIP carved with charming figures. The entrance door opens into the screened-off nave which has whitewashed walls and a very interesting collection of stone artefacts.

The most impressive is the romanesque doorway on the right, a remnant of the earlier cathedral that stood on the site. It has five concentric arches, each of them exquisitely carved with no fewer than 130 different devices. They make a rich offering of the beauties of Irish romanesque art: human heads, floral designs, entwining animals and various geometrical forms.

A twelfth century Celtic cross from Kilfenora, blocked into the wall until it was released in the course of restoration work in the 1990s, stands on the left. To the right are two very remarkable pieces of stonework. One is a thirteenth century font which, possibly, was never finished. It is four-sided with just one side carved with a cross and foliage designs.

The other is an Ogham stone and, if not unique, is an extremely rare specimen. Stones with inscriptions in Ogham are plentiful enough, as are their Runic equivalents. The Killaloe stone, however, is carved with both to commemorate the Viking Thorgrimr who commissioned it.

The ancient annals have abundant records of Vikings destroying churches – Thorgrimr was an honourable exception.

FEATURE

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In this extract from Prayerful Ireland, HELENA CONNOLLY, musician and photographer, reminds us of the significance of Clonmacnoise; a monastery founded in the sixth century the remains of which still stand today. The book Prayerful Ireland is forthcoming from Messenger Publications.

All Photos © Helena Connolly

PRAYERFUL IRELAND: CLONMACNOISE

Clonmacnoise sits on the banks of the River Shannon. It was one of the most important ecclesiastical centres of learning in Ireland. It was founded

by St Ciarán, who had studied under St Enda on Inishmore. Enda advised him to build a monastery in the centre of Ireland, and this inspired Ciarán to found this beautiful place in AD545.

Although it was attacked many times throughout its history, and was eventually reduced to ruins, Clonmacnoise still stands proudly above the Shannon. From its beautiful stonework and architecture to the lasting legacy of St Ciarán and his successors, Clonmacnoise stands as a powerful testament to Christian faith in Ireland.

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24

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16–17) I wish to recall and honour the great monastic contribution that was made here on this revered spot for one thousand years and

whose influence was carried over Europe by missionary monks and by students of this monastic school – Pope St John Paul II on his visit to Clonmacnoise in 1979.

Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time if we do not give up.

(Gal 6:9)

Please remember

The Sacred Heart Messenger in your Will

On Wednesday and Friday of each week, the Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger offers Mass for all our benefactors, living and dead.

Bequest

I give and bequeth to THE SACRED HEART MESSENGER, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin D02W938, Ireland, the sum of € for the general charitable purposes of the said Charity. The receipt of the said Charity shall be sufficient evidence of payment of said sum. www.messenger.ie

FEATURE

25

DEIRDRE POWELL is a freelance writer and editor and has previously worked in publishing. Here she reflects on the contribution made by Capuchin friar Blessed Marco d’Aviano to the discovery of the cappuccino coffee drink.

Blessed Marco d’Aviana image © every effort made to find.

Coffee Photo © YKTR / Shutterstock

CAPPUCCINO

There is nothing like the sweet succulence of a frothy cappuccino accompanied by a bar of rich chocolate.

The delicious warmth of this coffee drink causes the stomach to gurgle with pleasure.

Did you ever wonder, however, how the cappuccino coffee drink came to be invented? The story may be linked to the Battle of Vienna that took place over 330 years ago in 1683. The forces of the Holy Roman Empire under the leadership of Polish King Jan (John) III Sobieski were

at war with the forces of the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna, Austria. The city was under siege for about three months by the Ottoman army, who sought to gain the city and even tunnelled under the gates in an effort to take the city from the inside. Vienna was crucial to the plan to overtake Christian Europe, and the city constituted a key trade route.

On 12 September 1683, Sobieski’s troops, in association with the famous mounted Hussars defeated

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FEATURE

26 the larger Ottoman army following a fifteen-hour battle, and so ended the Ottoman attempt to conquer Europe. The fleeing Ottoman soldiers left behind a number of items that included bags of a hard, black bean from which the Turks had made a drink called khafir.

According to legend, Blessed Marco d’Aviano, a Capuchin friar, rallied the Christian troops with prayer prior to the battle. He subsequently discovered the sacks of coffee beans that had been left behind by the Turkish forces. Blessed Marco brewed some of the coffee beans but found the resulting drink too bitter.

So he added milk and honey, thereby turning the coffee a light brown colour. The Viennese called the drink the ‘little Capuchin’ or cappuccino in honour of the colour of Blessed Marco’s Capuchin habit. Marco d’Aviano (or Mark of Aviano) was born on 17 November 1631 in Aviano, Italy, to Marco Pasquale Cristofori and Rosa Zanoni. On the day of his Baptism, the infant was given the name Carlo Domenico, and the child was initially educated at home. He subsequently attended the school in Gorizia conducted by the Jesuits.

In 1648, Carlo entered the novitiate of the Capuchins at Conegliano Veneto and, a year later, he professed his vows and was later known as Fr Mark of Aviano. He was ordained a priest in Chioggia on 18 September 1655, and became immersed in prayer and in fulfilling his duties within the community over the next few years.

In 1664, there was a change in Marco’s cloistered life as he received the ‘license to preach’ and was called to missionary activity. His mission was to preach throughout Italy, spreading the gospel particularly during the Advent and Lenten seasons. In 1672, he was elected superior of the convent of Belluno and in 1674, he was elected superior of the convent of Oderzo.

On 8 September 1676, Marco was preaching at a monastery in Padua and gave his blessing to Sr Vincenza Francesconi who had been bedridden for about thirteen years. Following his blessing Sr Vincenza was healed, and news of this ‘miraculous blessing’ spread throughout the area.

As a result, many sick people sought his presence to ask for his blessing.

He continued to preach both within and outside of Italy, and his blessing brought numerous spiritual graces to the faithful; there were often miraculous physical healings.

The Austrian Emperor Leopold I sought Marco’s help and counsel and from 1680 until his death in 1699, the priest offered the emperor spiritual guidance, together with helping the emperor to discern solutions for problems of political, economic, military and religious origins.

Marco always lived in the presence of God, throughout his missions and frequent contact with others. He died of a tumour on 13 August 1699, in Vienna. Marco d’Aviano was beatified by Pope St John Paul II on 27 April 2003.

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re:link

November’18

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Resource for Religion Studies

relink.messenger.ie

Pilgrimage Ireland’s rich religious history has made us very lucky. We live in a country full of holy wells, grottos, shrines, churches and monasteries.

Part of growing up in Ireland often includes visits to places of religious significance with family members, or on a school tour. Some places that stand out from my own childhood are Glendalough, Clonmacnoise and the Book of Kells.

You may have already been to a religious place of significance but may not have called yourself a ‘pilgrim’.

So what is it that separates what is sometimes called ‘religious tourism’ from pilgrimage? A pilgrimage is a special journey or act of religious devotion made by a person of faith to/ in a place that is considered special and held with great respect. However, a religious tourist may visit a place that is not significant to them or their religious faith while still regarding it as an important or worthwhile place to see. For example the Christ the

© SAHAS2015 / Shutterstock

WHAT IS PILGRIMAGE?

Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is visited by millions of people each year. Those people are not all Christians, yet they still marvel at the importance of this great work of art.

In this month’s RE:LINK, we will be looking at places of religious pilgrimage in the five major world religions, we will find out to which religions those places are significant and what type of pilgrimage happens there.

TOPICAL ARTICLES | Celebrity Profiles | COMPETITIONS

& PRIZES | Free Online Content | Interviews & more...

© Donal Neary SJ

Ireland

Knock Shrine KNOCK SHRINE, CO MAYO Religion: Christianity/Roman Catholicism Why is this place significant?

In 1879 the Virgin Mary appeared at this site to 15 people who were praying the rosary there.

What happens there?

People attend Mass, bless themselves with holy water, place petitions, light candles, pray for guidance, go to confession, perform the stations of the cross and the sick are anointed.

NOTE: This year Pope Francis also visited Knock Shrine, spoke and prayed the angelus.

CROAGH PATRICK, WESTPORT, CO MAYO Religion: Christianity/Roman Catholicism.

Why is this place significant?

St Patrick is said to have completed a forty-day fast here.

What happens there?

People climb to the summit of Croagh Patrick, locally known as ‘the reek’ all year round. On ‘Reek

Sunday’, the last Sunday in July, each year over 15,000 climb Croagh Patrick and attend confession and Mass there. Some pilgrims choose to do this bare-footed as some original pilgrims would have done.

Croagh Partick

© Donal Neary SJ

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LOUGH DERG, CO DONEGAL Religion: Christianity/Roman Catholicism.

Why is this place significant?

It is one of the oldest living remnants of the early Irish church, dating back to the fifth-century.

What happens there?

People give thanks, seek to overcome loss, pray for guidance, renew their relationship with God make a retreat to help them to face the challenges in their everyday lives. They fast and make an all-night vigil.

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VATICAN CITY, ROME Religion: Christianity/Roman Catholicism.

Why is this place significant?

The Vatican City is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and its government, the Holy See. What happens there?

People visit St Peter’s Basilica, the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel and museums. Pilgrims also pray there, light candles and attend Mass.

Some pilgrims get the opportunity to attend a Papal Mass or general Papal audience.

MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA Religion: Islam Why is this place significant?

The city holds the holiest site in all of Islam, the Masjid al-Haram (‘Sacred Mosque’).

What happens there?

The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey. The Hajj takes place over five days and incorporates all of the religious sites in that locality, following a specially planned out order and route.

NOTE: The Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam.

ISRAEL Religion: Judaism Why is this place significant?

The Western Wall is the last remnant of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed in AD70 by Titus and the Roman legions. The Western Wall is considered holy due to its connection to the Temple Mount.

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Because of the Temple Mount entry restrictions, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, though the holiest site in the Jewish faith lies behind it.

What happens there?

‘Jewish people may often be seen sitting for hours at the Western Wall – bent in sorrowful meditation over the history of their race, and repeating oftentimes the words of Psalm 79.

On Fridays especially, Jewish people of all ages, and from all countries, assemble in large numbers to kiss the sacred stones and weep outside the precincts they may not enter’ – Charles Wilson.

VARANASI, INDIA Religion: Hinduism Why is this place significant?

Hindus believe that one who is graced to die on the land of Varanasi would attain salvation and freedom from the cycle of birth, death and re-birth.

What happens there?

Varanasi is a city for both life and death in the Hindu belief. It’s a city where people come to bathe, wash away sins, and others come to die and be either cremated or sunk to the bottom of the Ganges River.

BODH GAYA, INDIA Religion: Buddhism Why is this place significant?

It is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have obtained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree.

What happens there?

Buddhists get an opportunity to congregate with Buddhists from all over the world and remember the foundation of their religion. At Bodh Gaya, Buddhists meditate, chant and worship to show their devotion.

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Exam Link 2017 Junior Certificate Religious Education, Higher Level, Section 5 Question 5.

i. Name a place outside of Ireland and explain two reasons why it has importance for a community of faith.

Imagine that you have been asked to write an information sheet for a school trip to a place of religious importance outside of Ireland.

ii. Describe an experience of worship that can be participated in or observed in the place of religious importance you have named in part 5 i) above.

Curriculum Link Mystery: Something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain.

Petition: A prayer asking God for help with one’s own needs or the needs of others.

Pilgrimage: A journey made by a pilgrim, to a shrine or sacred place.

Reflection: Thinking deeply about certain aspects of life.

Ritual: When people use symbolic objects, words and actions to express what is deeply important to them.

Sacred: object or place that is holy and set apart from ordinary life.

Wonder: A feeling inspired by a mysterious aspect of life.

Worship: The way that people of faith praise and honour God in prayer or at religious services.

C ompetition !

Write an acrostic* poem using the name of a place of pilgrimage, describing what pilgrims do at that place.

Get in touch:

Send your entry via email to relink@messenger.ie or post to RE:LINK, The Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2.

Please include your name, age & school.

Closing date: 24th of the month.

01 775 8523

Winner receives a voucher wor th €30!

facebook.com/relink

AUGUST 2018 RE:LINK WINNER: Maria G Murphy from Lucan

relink@messenger.ie @RelinkMagazine

relink.messenger.ie

* An ‘acrostic’ is a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words

FEATURE

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JOHN SCALLY remembers the parish mission of his childhood. For many of us, parish occasions are often still the focus of memories, reminiscences and sometimes dread!

© StockPhotosArt / Shutterstock

PARISH MISSION

The announcement of the Mission was greeted with some excitement.

It became a distant second to the weather as the most important topic of conversation in our parish.

‘We’ll never feel it ‘til the mission’ was the standard comment. Fr Allen tried to drum up some enthusiasm and spiritual fervour by describing it

as ‘an occasion of grace’. Not that grace was ever much in evidence on those days. Public enemy number one was sin. The preparation beforehand was a fastidious enterprise.

The trappings and ceremonial services were more elaborate and formal than normal. Even the choir’s attention to musical offerings of

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FEATURE

32 praise was better than usual, elevated from the truly awful to the simply bad.

Nevertheless, for most people, my grandfather included, the Mission was one of the parish’s great social occasions, serving as a fashion show, a community centre, a place of entertainment and two opportunities per day to meet with the locals.

The sermons went on and on. Now and again a crying or crawling child gave a bit of diversion to the rustling and waiting congregation. For all his piety my grandfather was sceptical about the real value of some of the preachers.

‘They only make the pious a bit more insufferable and the sinner more despairing. Those priests are only strolling players. There’s nobody so right as the righteous. Trying to get people to change their life by ranting and raving is about as sensible as trying to cut turf with a razor blade. But sure they are the only entertainment we get in the chapel all year.’

There were mixed reviews in the rest of the family. My grandmother said, ‘They want us to sizzle like sausages on a pan and roast us on the fires of hell’, followed by ‘and we didn’t believe a word of it!’

I could not understand how my grandfather could be so blasé about the whole thing. I found all the haranguing about sin and vice very disconcerting. The talk was a blend of threat and fear. Those terrifying sermons lingered maddeningly with me. I found it all very confusing

and very different from the pieces of the gospel we read at school.

The Jesus of the Scriptures was a loving and merciful man, the milk of human kindness especially to those on the margins, a saviour who came to call not the just but the sinners.

Accusation and reprisal were the twin characteristics of the God of the preachers, not a compassionate healer but a grim reaper. Their God purified through terror. The locals had a competition about the quality of the preaching.

Looking back with the eyes of an adult, I now see that the parishioners saw the Mission primarily as theatre.

They had enough understanding of their faith to understand that the Old Testament God of vengeance and punishment had been superseded by the loving God represented in Jesus, a God of mercy and forgiveness.

My abiding memory of the Mission was when I accompanied my grandfather to the Stations of the Cross, at six o’clock on a Friday evening.

Three altar boys journeyed with the priest as he walked solemnly to each of the stations, two carried candles and one a big wooden cross. Then the priest forcefully boomed out the chant at each station ‘O Jesus for love of me didst bear thy cross to Calvary In thy sweet mercy grant me to suffer and to die with thee.’

It endures with me today because it reminds me that the heart of my faith is that a man came who loved us so much that he was prepared to give up his life for us.

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FEATURE

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KEVIN HARGADEN, regular contributor to The Messenger, tells us of his first few precious weeks of fatherhood. Kevin works in the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice (JCFJ).

Š Filip Olejowski / Shutterstock

A THRIVING BABY BOY

My wife found out she was pregnant before Christmas last year. At that point, our son-to-be was smaller than a blueberry. As I write, he now rests asleep beside my wife, a robust and thriving little baby boy. Born in July, we spent the first half of 2018 in eager anticipation of his arrival.

His cousins drew him pictures, the Church community which was to receive him in baptism in a few weeks time prayed for him, and his parents held their breath, urging him to tighten his tiny grip on life.

All that time, he was entirely dependent on my wife for his life. She

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FEATURE

34 did not know him, and yet she was his whole world. She could not hold him, and yet his whole being was within her.

The biological mechanics of reproduction are worthy of our wonder.

The risky work of cell-division and nutrient-exchange is too easily taken for granted. My wife gave her body over to nourishing this embryonic life and reorganised her waking moments and even how she slept to encourage his flourishing.

When he was born, that dependence only seemed to increase.

Out of the womb, a human being is unable to do anything on their own except sleep and suck, and in our son’s case he needed assistance with both those tasks as well! The life of the new parent is immeasurably widened by the arrival of the baby, but it also narrows dramatically. In the first weeks of adjustment, our complex lives simplified down to five tasks: feeding, soothing, clothing, cleaning and hugging this little life who would flounder if left alone.

When Christians assert that God became man, they mean that God became a blueberry-sized embryo, and a seven-pound baby that Mary pushed into the world, and a crying eight-week-old who could not be consoled regardless of what his parents did. To say that God became man means to say that God became dependent. Jesus navigated the risks of the womb to lie in the arms of Mary and Joseph. The source of all love in the cosmos was loved into consciousness by his exhausted, sleep-deprived parents.

This, then, is a new way to think about the Incarnation, which reminds us that the default state of the human being is dependence.

Our culture treasures an individual’s independence. Of course, autonomy is a good thing in many ways. My son depends on me still for food and warmth, for affection and engagement, for everything. Whatever strength I have came from the fact that my parents cared for me in my dependence for many years.

My son’s life is a vivid expression of grace. He has done nothing that warrants the energy directed towards him. He can claim no merit. He is loved without reference to his capacities or his qualities.

He is accepted as he is. This is only a shadow of the truth of how God stands towards you. In Advent we await the birth of the baby who was God. The Christ-child is a living testimony to how God receives us all: with inexhaustible delight, just as we are, without reference to the messes we have made or the things we can or cannot do.

This truth can transform us, if only we let it. If God relates to us out of our dependence, not our capabilities, then we are liberated to be radically honest with ourselves.

Our identity is no longer based on what we can do, and we can admit to our frailty and our limitations.

Instead of prizing autonomy, we can celebrate community.

The God who babbled in the manger is a God who will welcome those who can’t make it on their own.

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Two beautiful gift books from Messenger Publications

BRIGHT WINGS, DAPPLED THINGS The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ and Photographs of Fr Francis Browne SJ With commentary by Jo O’Donovan RSM

€19.95

A beautifully illustrated collection of poems by one of the most popular English Victorian poets. Each poem is illustrated with photographs from the magnificent Father Browne Collection SJ. Jo O’Donovan provides an enlightening and thought-provoking commentary on the poems, setting them in context and helping the reader to understand and appreciate the words of Hopkins.

Available: 15 October PRAYERFUL IRELAND Helena Connolly €19.95 Ireland’s faith inheritance has made us who we are, as witnessed by the ruined monasteries and intricate high crosses dotted around our countryside, by the holy wells and Mass rocks that are often hidden from sight, and by the shrines and holy places throughout the country.

Helena Connolly’s beautiful images will take the reader on a wonderful journey through this Prayerful Ireland.

Available: 22 October

Available from all good bookshops, or from

www.messenger.ie or phone 01-7758522

THANKSGIVING LETTERS

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Every month we publish a selection of thanksgiving letters from our readers. Please be assured that receipt of a letter is fulfillment of a promise to publish. A longer ‘letter’ – a story of thanksgiving – is on the facing page, and our readers are invited to submit their own ‘A Kindness I’ll never Forget’.

ONLY MYSELF

SAFE DELIVERY

I have promised publication in appreciation of all the Sacred Heart has done for me. There are times when I think only of myself but then I remember what he has done for all of us, and it restores my faith.

An Armagh Sinner

Could you please publish my grateful thanks to the Sacred Heart for a great favour prayed for and received: my daughter’s safe delivery of a healthy baby three weeks ago. I was very worried, as my daughter is over forty years of age.

Anon

NEVER STOP Dear Sacred Heart of Jesus and your Holy Mother Mary. I don’t even know where to start I have so much to thank you for.

My son is getting married and I pray everything will go well. When he was younger he stressed me out so much, I prayed to you that he would change and you answered my prayers, we couldn’t be closer now.

Such a happy feeling as he is my only child.

Thank you for myself and my partner’s good health, and we are so grateful for our jobs. My partner used to drink a lot, and again I asked you for help and now he very seldom drinks.

Sacred Heart of Jesus you answered my prayers, I will never stop thanking you.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all of my trust in you.

Kathleen

UPLIFTING Dear Father, Thank you so much for the uplifting Messenger – I have been a subscriber for many years.

I want to say heartfelt thanks to the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady Who Unties Knots, for very important (almost impossible) graces given with their intercession.

Praise and thank you Jesus.

If possible please publish these graces given.

Dear Father, may the Lord and Our Lady continue to shower you all with heavenly graces, to help us get closer to the Lord.

Bless me and my family, TI

NEIGHBOURLY RELATIONS Thank you for solving an issue with my neighbours. Deo Gratias.

Anon

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THANKSGIVING: A KINDNESS I’LL NEVER FORGET

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In a twist this month’s contributor, who has asked to remain anonymous, tells of a time when, moved by compassion, he did a great kindness for a stranger.

A SIGN OF PEACE Many years ago, in the 1970s, my father was a patient at St Anne’s Hospital. The hospital was run by the Sisters of Charity, and was based in Ranelagh. My father was there for a few weeks due to an ulcer that took a long time to heal.

One evening I brought him in a bunch of roses.

There was an old man at the end of the ward who had an operation on his face, and was badly disfigured.

When I noticed he was coming down the ward I said to myself, I hope he does not come over here.

He noticed the roses, however, and headed straight for us.

As he came closer an extraordinary thing happened. A tremendous sense of compassion came over me.

I felt so sorry for him, his face was so bad and food was spilled down the

front of his pyjamas. He obviously had no one to bring him clean clothes.

He smelt the roses and told us he was from Donegal, and that there was a saying at home that if anyone gave you a yellow rose it was a sign of peace.

The next evening as I was going into the hospital, I decided to bring him a bunch of roses (including some yellow ones).

When I went down to him he was in bed, but I had a feeling he was not asleep. I stood there for a minute and then he opened one eye and said ‘next bed’, I said no, these are for you. I left them on his bed tray and walked away.

A few minutes later I looked down and he beckoned to me to come back. When I came to him there were tears flowing down his cheeks.

Have you something you are grateful for? Write to us about it for our ‘A Kindness I’ll Never Forget’ series at Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lr Leeson St, Dublin 2 or email k.kiernan@messenger.ie. There is a token of €40 for each kindness published. www.messenger.ie

COOKERY

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It’s getting quite cold out there! MARIE McGUIRK heats us up with some delicious dishes that are sure to warm stomach and heart.

TASTY AND TRADITIONAL

Cold winter days call for comfort foods so I have chosen a mix of traditional dishes which I hope you like.

OLD FASHIONED COTTAGE PIE (Family of 4-5) 500g/1.2lbs good quality minced beef 1 tablespoon oil 1 white onion finely chopped 1 large or 2 medium carrots peeled and diced 2 sticks celery diced 2 tablespoons plain flour 1 tbsp tomato puree A dash of Worcester sauce 1 tin of chopped tomatoes 150ml/5 fluid oz beef stock 1tsp mixed herbs 1kg/2lbs cooked potatoes 50g/2oz butter 150ml milk 100g/4oz grated cheddar cheese

METHOD

n Place the oil in a large pot and add the onion and beef and cook over a hot heat for 5 mins until the meat changes colour. n Add the vegetables, flour, tomato puree, Worcester sauce, tomatoes, herbs and stock. n Season and bring the mixture to simmering point. Cook gently for 30–35 mins. n Meanwhile cook the potatoes and

mash. Add milk and butter and beat well. Fold in grated cheese. n Pour mince mixture into a casserole dish or divide into 4 portions if living alone. n Top with the potato mixture and bake for 30 mins at 180°C/375°F until golden. n Serve at once or cool and wrap to freeze for a future occasion.

CHICKEN STUFFED WITH BLACK PUDDING AND SWEET POTATO WEDGES

4 boneless chicken breasts 4 slices of back bacon 4 sweet potatoes scrubbed clean 2 tbsps oil

METHOD

n Split the chicken breasts underneath to cut a pocket. n Crumble the black pudding and stuff it in to the pocket. n Stretch the back bacon with the back of a knife and wrap each chicken breast with the bacon making sure to enclose the stuffing. n Cut the potatoes in to wedges and rub with oil. Place in a baking dish and put into a pre heated

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COOKERY

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Photo by Ryzhkov Photography / Shutterstock

oven for approx. 20 mins until crisp and cooked. n Place the chicken breasts on a roasting tray and cook at 200°C/400°F for 25 mins or until thoroughly cooked.

n The pudding will take about 30– 35 mins to cook in a moderately hot oven. I suggest you cook your main meal and perhaps bake some potato wedges at the same time to save on fuel.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

DRIED FRUIT COMPOTE

(For one) 2 small slices of white bread buttered 2 tablespoons blueberries 2½ fluid oz milk 2 tablespoons cream 1 tablespoon sugar 1 small egg Drop of vanilla

(For one) 1oz/25g prunes 1oz/25g raisins 2oz/50g diced dried apricots 1 dessertspoon demerara sugar Rind and juice of 1 orange 5 fluid oz water 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt ½oz/10g toasted chopped hazelnuts

n Butter a small ramekin or an ovenproof pudding dish. n Cut the bread to fit nicely into the bottom of the dish. n Sprinkle 1/2 the fruit on top and cover with the second slice of bread then sprinkle the remainder of the fruit over. n Meanwhile whisk the egg and add the sugar, milk and cream. n Pour the liquid over the bread and leave aside until ready to cook.

n Place the dried fruit in a bowl and add the water and leave to soak for a few hours (preferably overnight). n After soaking transfer to a saucepan and add the sugar and orange rind. n Simmer gently for about 10 minutes until the fruit is cooked, then add the orange juice. Leave to cool and chill. n Serve topped with yoghurt and sprinkle with chopped nuts.

METHOD

METHOD

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ACROSS 1 Halving twice three months before second half of spring (10) 7 Some nose around and get burnt (4) 9 Surprised saying we will double up (4,4) 10 Not an undercover operator! (6) 11 Favourable outcome I have whilst running (10) 14 Lady, crazy person to have fruit that is hard (8) 15 Last to finish by river in Yorkshire (6) 16 Like some bread and butter perhaps that had become stuck (6) 18 Politeness whilst taking the 6.51 in large town (8) 20 Colourful factory? (10) 23 Streak round performer on ice (6) 24 Always including wrong mark on the outside (8) 25 Geraldine comes back finally for her (4) 26 Leaf-cutter (10)

DOWN 2 Brought into service and exploited (4) 3 Bread list (4) 4 US poet for whom men rose in a frenzy (7) 5 I will take something round Channel Islands although it is illegal (7) 6 Old English information first on southeast natives of a city (7) 7 Method of riding on edge of seat (10) 8 Swear the fool always had a meal (10) 12 Crazy relatives might slip on it (6,4) 13 Ended period inside on different date (10) 17 We’d arranged to release little moisture (7) 18 Cut more expensive sharing of spoils (5-2) 19 One calls for item hidden in mask (7) 21 Nearly new part of fibre diet (4) 22 Part of a leg of beef (4)

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ACROSS 1 Superheros wear it, and I would too (4) 3 A wind instrument (4) 7 When I am wearing my best outfit I am fierce, I am ________ (9) 8 A copy (7) 12 Cut grass with it or use it as a rudimentary vehicle (9) 14 A river in the Greek underworld, spooky (4) 15 Sometimes I just need to ____ up! (4)

DOWN 1 You might drink here, while writing a brilliant but misunderstood book (4) 2 Where I keep everything necessary: coins, chocolate, my phone (5) 4 You open the door to a ghost, and it greets you (3) 5 Don’t go West! Go ____! (4) 6 Reykjavik is here (7) 9 What I did when I opened the door to the ghost in clue four (5) 10 Not minus (4) 11 A noisy, black bird (4) 13 The most important question (3)

AUGUST 2018 CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS AND WINNERS

CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD: Across: 1 Cave; 3 Coin; 7 Education; 8 Sticker; 12 Expanding; 14 King; 15 Eels. Down: 1 Chef; 2 Vault; 4 Oui; 5 None; 6 Balcony; 9 Elite; 10 Beak; 11 Ages; 13 Pan CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD WINNER: Ellen McKenna, Monaghan, age 14.

CHILDREN’S PAGES WINNER: Ruth Dennigan, Roscommon, age 8.

ADULT CROSSWORD: ACROSS: 1 Cubic 4 Fish-hook 8 Prevailing wind 10 Like a shot 11 Taper 12 Till 13 Coventry 17 Dogwatch 18 Sago 22 Wreck 24 Tasteless 25 Opposite number 26 Stitch-up 27 Leeds DOWN: 1 Copilot 2 Break a leg 3 Cravat 4 Filthy 5 Sanction 6 Howitzer 7 Own up 9 Grey 14 Traceable 15 Jackboot 16 Scottish 17 Dewy 19 Of sorts 20 Asleep 21 Sequel 23 Expat ADULT CROSSWORD WINNER: Seamus Quirke, Cork.

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Sarah’sWordsearch

I B E C N E L U C C U S M D T L Y A Y L A Y C B M L E N U T M P D O Y K E L V R J F P O M R H D R R E Y E U H M T E R G S R R O C T U T A T A N E Y E C P N S L I N O D D E I T I O I I N A N L K N N T T N L T O Y F P O O Y K G I I D G L L K G H Y L K V B B D N C M

How to say the Rosary

In her article ‘Cappuccino’, Deidre Powell explains how the famous Italian coffee came to be invented. Can you find these words from her article?

Cappuccino Leopold Vienna Ottoman Succulence Bitter Honey Cloistered Healing Faithful Community Immersed

9 Hail holy Queen and Sign of Cross

8 Second Mystery and Our Father; (repeat steps 6 and 7 until all mysteries are completed) 9

6 5 4

7

8

7 Glory Be

6 Hail Mary (x10)

5 First Mystery & Our Father

3 2 1

4 Glory Be

3 Hail Mary (x3) 2 Our Father

1 Sign of the Cross

Background: maljuk / Shutterstock Difference: Rosary Bead: BigAlBaloo / Shutterstock; Girl: By Pallavi_Patil / Shutterstock

page 43

What is All Souls’ Day?

All Souls’ Day is a celebration to remember those who have died (in particular one’s relatives). It always falls on November 2 and is preceded by Halloween on October 31 and All Saints’ Day on November 1. People traditionally visit the graves of deceased relatives during this time.

Poetry Competition Test your talents and submit your own poem for a chance to

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This month’s poem should be written on the theme of:-

INVENTION

Competition Information: Please include your name, age and address with your entry and send to: NOVEMBER Competition, Young Readers’ Pages, The Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland by the 24th of the month.

FEATURE

44

SHANE DALY SJ, a frequent contributor to our pages, reflects that our grief at the death of a loved one and our faith that death shall have no dominion are not incompatible. A Jesuit, he is headmaster of Coláiste Iognáid, Galway.

DEATH AND CHRISTIAN HOPE

As a school boy, having to learn poetry was anything but a pleasure.

It just wasn’t my thing, and yet even then some poems had the power to catch my attention and fire my imagination. One such poem was Dylan Thomas’ ‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’, which ends with the titular line ‘And death shall have no dominion’.

I don’t know enough about the poem or the poet to say if he was giving expression to his own faith in the resurrection, but his opening sentence, and the poem’s title, is taken from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans and is spoken by St Paul in relation to Jesus’ resurrection. These words, ‘and death shall have no dominion’, express the heart of Christian faith: that death is not the end. They are worth recalling in the month of November as the Church remembers all the deceased, especially those who have no one to pray for them.

We all have lost somebody close to us: parent, child, sibling or friend.

Whether we are grieving over a recent death and still feeling pained or can recall the memory of a loved one with a smile, their death means that ours hearts are forever changed. The great German theologian Karl Rahner writes beautifully and poignantly:

‘That is why my heart is now with them, with my loved ones who have taken their leave of me. There is no substitute for them; there are no others who can fill the vacancy when one of those whom I have really loved suddenly and unexpectedly departs and is with me no more. In true love no one can replace another … and thus, as death has trodden roughly through my life, every one of the departed has taken a piece of my heart with them, and often enough my whole heart … could a true lover ever forget his dead?’

When one has really loved, their forgetting is only apparent: they only seem to get over their grief. The quiet and composure they gradually regain are not signs that things are as they were before.

Our grief at the death of a loved one and our faith that death shall have no dominion are not incompatible and while life itself is never the same, that does not mean we are without hope because in our Christian faith, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus has inaugurated an entirely new relationship between God and us.

That relationship is rooted in God’s love for us. We mistakenly think that it rests on our love for God, but it

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FEATURE

‘Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them’ does not. If St Augustine can write of his desire for God: ‘I pant for you. I have tasted you. Now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me and I burned for your peace’, it is because God has panted, hungered and thirsted for him first and this is our hope. God has loved us into existence. If God calls us, shouts after us, breaks through our deafness and dispels our darkness, why would God let our dying be the final word?

As we mourn for our loved ones and pray for those who have no

© By Jacob_09 / Shutterstock

45

one to pray for them, we remember that God loves us. If you continue to struggle following the death of a loved one, to regain the composure and quiet that Rahner speaks of, do not be afraid to ask God for a felt consolation of God’s love for you and for the deceased. Let us remember that our prayer, ‘Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them’ is an echo of the prayer they too speak for us in the silence of eternity. Join the other in praying for all.

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RECOMMENDED BOOKS

46

new books for advent and 2019

SACRED SPACE THE PRAYERBOOK 2019 The Irish Jesuits, €12.95 An annual bestseller, the new edition of Sacred Space: The Prayerbook will be an invaluable guide for the days of 2019. Based on the ever popular Jesuit website, this useful book comprises daily scripture readings and reflections, as well as a weekly topic with six steps of prayer and contemplation.

SACRED SPACE ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS 2019 The Irish Jesuits, €4.95 Taken from the bigger Prayerbook, this is a handy pocket book of reflections for the Advent and Christmas season. Great for personal or group use and written by the Irish Jesuits, this is a simple way to build a richer relationship with God and embrace the Advent season as a sacred space.

WAITING IN JOY: AN ADVENT JOURNEY John Scally, €4.95 Popular contributor to the Messenger, John Scally, guides us through the season of Advent as we prepare for the birth of Christ.

This book will resonate with anyone who is seeking to integrate their daily life, their aspirations and their needs, with an intimate relationship with God in this special season.

I WANT TO KNOW CHRIST

Weekday Reflections for the Liturgical Year 2018-19

Martin Hogan, €14.95 Experienced parish priest and Messenger writer, Fr Martin Hogan, once again brings us reflections on the weekday readings for the coming year. Essential reading for anyone preparing the liturgy, as well as for daily mass-goers, Fr Hogan’s approach comes from both pastoral experience and personal prayer.

Available from all good bookshops, or from

www.messenger.ie or phone 01-7758522

IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS

47

Composer of the Stabat Mater hymn, and known as Crazy Jim of Todi, Jacopone had a colourful and interesting life, as described by FR JOHN MURRAY, parish priest of Downpatrick.

To lose one’s beautiful wife so soon after marriage! If a stand had not collapsed Jacopo dei Benedetti might well have continued his legal career and earned a lot of money, and made a reputation for himself.

No one would come to hear of Jacopone of Todi or ‘Crazy Jim’ as he was nicknamed. Somehow – as St Paul says – ‘God works all things together unto good for those who love him’ (Rom 8:28).

Even what can seem like a crushing tragedy can be used

by God. Jacopo dei Benedetti was born in Italy in the little town of Todi in central Italy about the year 1230. He studied law at the prestigious and ancient university of Bologna and became a successful lawyer. The world was at his feet. He was acquiring a reputation and the money was rolling in.

Soon he added his ‘trophy’ bride in the beautiful noblewoman Vanna. It seemed that nothing could go wrong and indeed Jacopo was very happy.

However, Vanna was also a pi-

ous and generous young woman who, though she married for love, was aware that her husband was a worldly and greedy man. Vanna took it upon herself to begin a period of mortification and self-denial on behalf of her husband but kept this secret to herself.

Not long after their wedding Jacopo persuaded his wife to attend a public tournament. It was the sort of local event to be seen at – all the ‘glitterati’ of the day would be there. If there had been ‘paparazzi’ they would have been there too. In the course of the event one of the stands for spectators collapsed and Vanna was killed. Jacopo rushed to her assistance and discovered she was wearing a hairshirt beneath her outer garments. He came to realise from this – and other mortifications he had not really noticed before – that she was doing this for him, that her penance was so that he might change.

One would not have been surprised if the young lawyer – and now widower – had become angry at

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Image © Georges Jansoone (JoJan) / Wikimedia

JACOPONE OF TODI

Image Š Sailko/Wikimedia

God and moved further away from the practice of his faith which had been lukewarm at best. In our pain we often have to blame someone when things happen – and initially

it is God who takes the fall. Instead Jacopo gave up his legal practice and literally gave away all his possessions and from about 1268 lived as a wandering ascetic. Soon he joined

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IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS

49

the nascent Third Order of St Francis which was primarily for lay people who wanted to follow the rule of the great saint while remaining lay men or women.

Yet, not all was smooth in his transition to the religious life. During this period Jacopo began to gain a reputation as something of a madman – hence the nickname ‘Jacopone’ or ‘Crazy Jim’. One day he appeared in the main square at Todi wearing a saddle and crawling on all fours. On another occasion he appeared at his brother’s house this time covered in tar and feathers. In some way he was punishing himself for his wife’s death and going to extremes in order to make reparation. He really needed a wise spiritual director at this time but quite possibly Jacopo would not have been in a mood to listen or take advice even if he had chosen one.

This period lasted about ten years before he sought admission to the Friars Minor. The Friars were reluctant at first to accept him given his reputation but they gave in when he wrote a beautiful poem on the vanities of the world. He was admitted in 1278 as a lay brother.

Now followed a third period of Jacopone’s life – he continued to write ‘laudi’ or satirical poems in his Umbrian dialect which were critical of the worldliness of some of the clergy at the time. There was a movement also within the Franciscans – some wanted a more lenient and mystical attitude, while others wished for a return to the simple and ascetic way of St Francis himself.

Jacopone belonged to the second group who were also known as ‘spirituals’. Initially they were supported by the pope at the time, Celestine V, who was the last pope to resign in office until Benedict XVI in 2013. Celestine was a monk at heart and did not enjoy the trappings and office of the papacy. He was replaced

by Boniface VIII who was opposed to Jacopone and his friends and even excommunicated them. With the death of Boniface in 1303 Jacopone was restored to the Church. He retired to Collazzone, a small town between Perugia and Todi where he was cared for by a community of Poor Clares. Within a short time his health deteriorated and, having called for his friend John of La Verna, he received the final sacraments of the Church and died at midnight on Christmas Eve 1306.

Among the Laudi which Jacopone is alleged to have written is the beautiful poem of Lent and Holy Week especially ‘Stabat Mater Dolorosa’ (The Sorrowful Mother Standing) which has been put to music by many composers including Palestrina, Rossini and Dvorak.

Although Jacopone has never been officially declared a saint by the Church he has been honoured and revered as such by his Franciscan fraternity and within their ranks he is called ‘blessed’. No less a person than the great Italian poet Dante praised Jacopone in his preaching by including him in his epic poem The Divine Comedy in the third section entitled ‘Paradiso’.

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FEATURE

50

FR TOM COX, parish priest of Clonmacnoise, Offaly, encourages us to remain open to others, and avoid becoming closed off from what those who are different to us have to say.

SELECTIVE LISTENING One problem for the people who think like hearing-impaired us, in social media is that crowded terms we can mute situations, even a or block those meeting where we do not want more than one to hear from. person speaks We are at once, can resistant and overwhelm we don’t want their hearing a new world aid: not one but opened to us. many sources of Sometimes we sound come at are content to them at the same keep things just © adriaticphoto / Shutterstock time. the way they are.

Sometimes we’re It’s easier that way as hearing but only selectivechange hurts and we may ly listening. There are many jokes feel that we have changed enough about the selective listening of men. already.

I think of the joke about the man We can be judgemental, shutting who had his hearing completely our eyes and ears to the poor while restored, thanks to a new hearing welcoming the rich. When we make aid. One month later he was with distinctions among ourselves we his GP who remarked that his family close ourselves to the gift that each must be pleased with the restoration person is. of his hearing – he confessed that he Being closed off shows itself in hadn’t told his family, just listened to stubbornness, addiction, fixations, their conversations and changed his anger, hostility, restlessness and last will and testament three times! complacency. God will have none As the quantity of communication of it. He opens what is closed and in our world has increased the quality clears what is blocked. These are has decreased. We increasingly live many of Jesus’ miracles. He opens us in ‘echo chambers’ of communicaall to the mystery of healing. tion. Where we interact only with And we are the happier for it.

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FEATURE

51

ANDREA HAYES, a Bethany Grief Minister and Irish Radio and TV presenter, shares a time of grief in her own life. The strength of her church community helped her find her way through a difficult time.

HIGHEST HOPES AND TRUST IN GOD

Photo Š Olimpik/ Shutterstock

I have finally reached my milestone three months and I know I should be basking in happiness and that wonderful pregnancy glow, but instead I am feeling very anxious and almost nervous of what tomorrow could bring. I have lost three pregnancies, each very different, and with every loss my heart broke and my spirit plunged into sadness. My past experiences have left me fuelled with

fear and I feel I have been robbed of that wonderful bliss I felt with my first child. Although I am deeply grateful and my heart is buoyant with joy, I am afraid to celebrate, and it makes me very nervous sharing my good news as I know my heart cannot cope with any more loss.

Our journey to this point was not an easy one. Every step along the journey with my current pregnancy

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FEATURE

52 just reminded me of the pain I felt this time last year as I went with high hopes to Holles Street for my routine eight week, early prenatal scan.

As the cold gel touched my belly I looked to the screen to see my baby. The picture looked funny, like a big black mass. I remember her just silently searching the screen as she moved the wand over my stomach. Praying everything was ok.

Then she asked me if I had been in any pain or if I was bleeding.

I answered ‘no’.

The silence in the scan room was deafening – no sign of life, no tiny heartbeat. A primal gut wrenching pain ripped through my body and I knew something was very wrong, but I could not begin to guess just how wrong it was.

Sadly we miscarried and my placenta was sent to pathology for further tests and the results confirmed that I had a complete molar pregnancy – Gestational Trophoblastic Disease, which can be very dangerous and lead to a rare form of cancer. I would need close monitoring of my condition to prevent any complications and, in the worst scenario, cancer.

Physically, I looked absolutely fine.

Emotionally I was a complete mess.

Not only had I gone from being pregnant to suddenly not being

pregnant but then the added worry and complication of the disease.

In my personal life I am a trained Bethany Grief Minister. We are a voluntary community and a parishbased, free service. We are there to walk the grief road with a person who is mourning any loss, trained to listen and support. I have had many losses and challenges over my own life and understand that any loss, from the death of someone you love to the loss or decline of your health, the end of a friendship or relationship and even retirement is a type of grief, and the process of mourning and adjusting to your new reality is a normal, healthy response to loss.

Despite my training I felt I couldn’t heal because I was living in a limbo. For the next couple of months I needed to return to the hospital weekly for monitoring.

Each step toward the big doors reminded me I was missing something; instead of my tummy growing bigger I felt I was getting sucker-punched.

Each step in the direction of the hospital was another blow that reminded me of the hell and deep loss l was living in.

I would regularly walk down the street silently crying knowing each step would bring me closer to

FOR ME, PRAYER AND THE SUPPORT OF MY BETHANY COMMUNITY HELPED ME GET THROUGH THOSE DARK DAYS; KNOWING I HAD PEOPLE IN MY CHURCH AND COMMUNITY PRAYING FOR ME GAVE ME HOPE.

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53

seeing the very thing I craved and had so sadly been stolen from me.

It seemed new life was all around.

I watched as parents brought new babies out in car seats while growing bellies and familiar faces greeted me and probably wondered why I was there week after week with no physical sign of life blossoming.

Healing mentally after these three pregnancy losses felt almost impossible. For me prayer and the support of my Bethany community helped me get through those dark days; knowing I had people in my church and community praying for me gave me hope.

I let go and let God take my troubles away. My sacred place is my local church in Shankill. My private road to recovery was long and unpredictable, but the support and friendship I got from my Bethany

I shall raise them up on the last day.

Jn 6:37-40

First Friday: 2nd November 2018 ................................................................ ................................................................ ................................................................ ................................................................ ................................................................

friends inspired me to stay hopeful.

Sometimes we just have to trust in the process of life and keep moving forward, despite the knockbacks, blindly hoping it will all come good in the end. One thing I know for sure is that time can be a great healer; under the roof of the church, all life is played out, from beginning to end and everything in-between.

For me my trust in God gave me hope and my endless faith never allowed me to give up. Despite appearances, miracles can manifest, and with support from my Bethany family I healed and so did my body.

We welcomed a healthy baby girl ‘Skylar Grace’ into this world on 1 May 2018 and she is my gift from God. Information on Bethany groups available at www.bethany.ie

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NOVEMBER 2018

Card Type: Visa q Mastercard q Maestro q Laser q Tick As Appropriate

Mk 12: 38-44

19

Lk 17: 1-6

Jn 18: 33b-37

Yes I am a king

25

Christ the King

Mk 13: 24-32

Lk 21: 1-4

26

He saw the rich people

My words will not Let me see again Lk 18: 35-43 pass away

18

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

12

Lord increase our faith

The poor widow gave away everything

11

St Josaphat Bp R Mt M

Lk 14: 12-14

Invite the poor

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk 12: 28b-34

The first comandment

Lk 21: 5-11

27 The end is not soon

Lk 19: 1-10

20

He was anxious to see Jesus

Lk 17: 7-10

We are merely servants

13

21

8

Rejoice I have found the lost sheep. Lk 15: 1-10

9

Lk 16:1-8

The value of astuteness

Dedication of Lateran Basilica

Jn 6: 37-40

Lk 21: 12-19

28

16

Lk 17: 26-37

15

Lk 17: 20-25

Lk 21: 20-28

29

Lk 19: 41-44

22

Jesus shed tears over Jerusalem

St Cecilia V Mt M

23

30

Mt 4: 18-22

Come after me

St Andrew Ap Patron of Scotland

Lk 19: 45-48

The people hung on his words

St Clement I St Columban B

The kingdom of To keep your life God is among you You must lose it

Men will persecute Hold your heads high you

Lk 19: 11-28

Jesus was near Jerusalem

Presentation of the BVM

Lk 17: 11-19

Your faith has saved you

14

Lk 14: 25-33

7

Mt 5: 1-12a

2

3

St Winifride V

SATURDAY

24

Lk 20:27-40

The dead rise again

St Andrew Dung-Lac P Mt & Co Mts M

Lk 18: 1-8

God will see justice done

17

Lk 16: 9-15

God knows your hearts

10

St Malachy B St Leo the Great Pp Dr M

I shall raise them Take the lowest place Lk 14: 1. 7-11 up on the last day

u

All Souls

FRIDAY

St Margaret Scotland St Elizabeth Hungary St Francis Xavier St Laurence OToole B St Albert Cabrini V R M the Great Bp R Dr St Edmund of Abingdon B Ss Hilda & Hugh of Linclon

Lk 14: 15-24

6

St Willibrord B

1

Happy the peacemakers

=

All Saints

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

‘Please accept my A disciple gives up apologies’ everything

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

5

All Saints of Ireland

St Martin de Porres R

4

TUESDAY

MONDAY

SUNDAY

NOVEMBER 2018

u First Friday = Holy Day of Obligation

The light breaking through a November sky.

In mist and darkness The sun unseen is not absent.

God leads his people in the pillar of cloud.

Text & Photograph: Donal Neary SJ ISSN 1649-4450

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