Presentation Brothers Mass for Jubilarians Maiville 12 August 2016 - PDF document

+AMDG Presentation Brothers Mass for Jubilarians Maiville 12 August 2016 Br. Martin Kenneally FPM Readings: Sirach 6:18-23,32-37 Romans 12:9-21 Matt 25:31-40 (Today is a truly wonderful day for us. Brothers Eugene, John, Stephen and Aidan celebrate diamond and golden jubilees. And, of course, Br. Justinian and Terence who cannot be with us are very much in our thoughts and prayers as well.) On December 7, 1995, the poet Seamus Heaney gave a now famous speech before the Swedish Academy in Stockholm as he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature. Heaney began by referencing his childhood in the 1940’s growing up on a farm in Co. Derry. He said: When I first encountered the name of the city of Stockholm, I little thought that I would ever visit it, never mind end up being welcomed to it as a guest of the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Foundation. At the time I am thinking of, such an outcome was not just beyond expectation: it was simply beyond conception. In the nineteen forties, when I was the eldest child of an ever-growing family in rural Co. Derry, we crowded together in the three rooms of a traditional thatched farmstead and lived a kind of den-life which was more or less emotionally and intellectually proofed against the outside world. Today, as our jubilarian Brothers reflect on 75, 60 or 50 years of Religious Life they too would say that as young men they never imagined the places their vocation as Presentation Brothers would take them to, the tasks they would undertake or the experiences they would have. They never imagined the world we live in now. In Heaney’s phrase, it was not just beyond expectation; it was simply beyond conception. I believe it is of the essence of Religious Life that we don’t know where it is going to take us. When we take our vows by definition we sign a blank cheque. Thomas Aquinas said that when we make a vow, then we give our unknown future to God. Why do we do this foolish thing of making vows? Why do we try to remain faithful to this crazy way of life? We do it because God has first made his vow to us. God has 1

made a covenant of love with us – this is what we celebrate in the Eucharist – and it is part of our dignity as children of God that we may make vows to him. I am sure, Brothers, you marvel at the speed with which time has elapsed and the enormous changes you have witnessed in the world, in the Church and in the Congregation. We acknowledge that the Ireland in which you first professed vows is a foreign country to the Ireland of today. That is a statement of fact. It is neither condemnatory nor laudatory because there is much to praise and regret in both. Our first reading from Sirach encourages us to: Stand in the company of elders; stay close to whoever is wise. Be eager to hear every discourse; let no insightful saying escape you. If you see the intelligent, seek them out; let your feet wear away their doorsteps! I am not sure how many of you, Jubilarians, have doorsteps which are worn away! Yet, in truth this should be our attitude to you. You have a wisdom and a wealth of life experiences to offer us. Today we rejoice and thank God for the wonderful gift of each of you, for the wonderful gift of your vocation as Presentation Brothers. We pray during this sacred time of Eucharist and through our sharing and celebration today for a renewal of the enthusiasm and idealism that we were so full of as young men. The celebration of a jubilee is a milestone not only for ourselves but for all associated with us, because we are so much a product of the people we come from and minister to. It is a time to pause, to reflect, to give thanks and rejoice in the Lord. Brot hers, it is the beauty of Religious Life that we don’t know where it is going to take us. We cannot guess, especially today, what the future holds – and that makes the commitment and the fidelity of our Jubilarians all the more wonderful. People speak of a crisis in Religious Life, especially in the West. The numbers peaked in 1966, the year Aidan took vows and have been going down ever since. That’s not Aidan’s fault, of course! ‘Post hoc nor ergo propter hoc!’ I have learned something from my experience of leadership that I consider to be important: - that crises are with the grace of God fruitful. Don’t be afraid of crises! The central celebration of our faith – the Last Supper – brings us back to the biggest crisis there has ever been in our faith. At the Last Supper, on the night before he died, Jesus is already betrayed by Judas, Peter is about to betray him and all the disciples are ready to run away. This is the great crisis we remember at every Eucharist and at that very moment Jesus makes his vows to us – “This is my body and I give it to you”. So we should not be afraid of living our vows in a time of crisis. This is the best possible time to be in Religious Life! 2

Our second reading also gives us much food for thought at this Jubilee Mass. Paul is writing to the early Christian community in Rome, also deeply in crisis and he outlines what he sees as the marks of the true Christian life: Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. As we reflect on the lives of our Brother Jubilarians we affirm their wisdom, along with their human and Christian qualities which have brought them thus far on the journey of life. We may forget, however, that even for Paul, these qualities were hard won through engaging with the struggles and the pain of life. Grace is free but it is not cheap! Scripture scholar, Denis McBride reminds us that Paul’s letters would have been received with a degree of cynicism and scepticism by many of the early Christians. They regarded Paul with much suspicion, viewing him as a former terrorist, responsible for the persecution, torture and even killing of many of their relatives and friends. Paul’s beautiful writings to us are a reminder of the possibility of real change, of conversion, of triumph over sin and of seeing life and people in a new way. And this offers hope to all of us! Our Jubilarians are men of great accomplishment – as teachers, as school principals, as missionaries. They have served at the highest level of leadership in our Congregation. They are men of varied and wonderful human qualities. I will just take one quality which I think is common to them all – that is a groundedness and a humility born of engaging with life in all its beauty, pain, struggle and joy. In so many ways, Seamus Heaney would say life is better now than it was in rural Co. Derry in the 1940’s. He describes his youth as “ahistorical, pre -sexual, in suspension between the archaic and the modern, we were as susceptible and impressionable as the drinking water that stood in a bucket in our scullery”. Yet, in that culture, there was a strain of humility that is perhaps missing today. There was a moral ecology, stretching back centuries encouraging people to be more sceptical of their desires, more aware of their own weaknesses, more intent on combatting the flaws in their own natures and turning weaknesses into strength. People of the culture which produced our Brother Jubilarians were less likely to feel that every thought, feeling and achievement should be immediately shared with the world at large. There were no message T-shirts back then, no sympathy ribbons for various diseases, no bumper stickers with personal declarations. People didn’t b oast about their university affiliations or their vacation spots with little stickers on their rear windows of their cars. 3