CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2016

St Ninidh’s Church Derrylin

The theme of Catholic Schools Week this year is: ‘Challenged to proclaim God’s Mercy’. The theme of God’s Mercy was chosen because this year is the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

 Pope Francis inaugurated the Year of Mercy on 8th December last by opening the Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. We launched it here in Kilmore diocese on the following Sunday when we opened a Holy Door in the Cathedral of St Patrick and St Felim in Cavan. There is also a holy door in St Anne’s Church, Bailieboro, St Patrick’s Church, Ballinamore, and St Clare’s Church, Manorhamilton.

Each of these churches is a place where everybody is invited to go on pilgrimage during this year. You are invited to enter through the holy door and to join in the prayers, the Mass, Confessions, whatever is happening on the day you go. We pray that, when you do,  you will experience God’s Mercy in a very special way and will want to put that into practice in your own life by showing mercy to others. You’ll find more information about it the events on the diocesan website.

How do we show God’s mercy to others? How do we proclaim God’s mercy? There are a million ways to show mercy, but for now we’ll stick to the kind of things that Jesus talks about in today’s gospel, the parable of the Last Judgment. We proclaim God’s mercy by feeding the hungry, by giving clothes to those who are in need, by giving shelter to the homeless, caring for the sick, visiting people in prison. Those actions are called ‘the works of mercy’. They are all there in the Gospel today. It’s a sobering thought that Jesus is telling us that, in the end of the day, we’ll be judged on how we helped the poor, the needy and those on the margins of society. And Jesus teaches  us also that the way we treat them is the way we treat him: As long as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.

            So how would you as a young person get involved in doing some of these things? Well, you have already got involved by coming here today, by taking part in this Mass, by preparing a hamper that will be given to some needy family in your area. You could continue to be involved by joining some parish group that helps others, e.g. doing the St John Paul II Award; joining St Vincent de Paul Society which is dedicated to helping the needy; doing a fast or fundraising for Trócaire during Lent. Trócaire does great work around the world for people in need – and has been doing it for 40 years or more. Remember that Trócaire means Mercy. So, in this Year of Mercy, we should make an extra effort to support the work of Trócaire through the collection in Lent.  

These are all good things to do. We admire those who do them. But you have to make sacrifices to do them. Doing them takes time. It may take money. It takes those qualities you see on the board that was brought up in the procession: generosity, kindness, patience, goodness, self-control – all those fruits of the Spirit which were planted in you at Confirmation. In short it takes love.

St Paul tells us in the second reading that love not just a nice feeling you get when you ‘fall in love’. It more about decisions than feelings. Love, St Paul says, is patient and kind. It’s never jealous, never boastful or conceited, rude or selfish; it does not take offence and it is not resentful. It’s truthful and enduring.

If we want to proclaim God’s mercy, we must learn to love, really love in an unselfish way, in very practical, down-to -earth ways. I still remember with shame and embarrassment being asked to help out as a steward at a competition in my   parish when I was a young man. It wasn’t a hard job and I was on holidays, but it would take up a whole day and I was just too selfish to do it and made an excuse. I thought only about myself, not about the benefit to the community. I didn’t love. I didn’t show mercy.

            I think most of us are naturally selfish, self pre-occupied. If you doubt that I ask you to think of the last time you looked at a group photo that you were part of. What was your reaction? You may have thought – gosh, I look well in that photo. More likely you thought: look at the cut of me, I look terrible; my hair’s in a mess. But whatever your reaction was, who was the first person you looked at? Probably yourself.

In this Year of Mercy Jesus invites us to conversion, to look at others rather than at ourselves, to think first of others rather than of self, to become other-centred, rather than self-centred.  That’s a revolution for us. It is symbolized by going through the holy door. It’s making a new start. Entering a new space. Turning over a new leaf. If we do that we will be able to rise to the challenge of proclaiming God’s mercy in word and deed. Can I leave you with a thought from Pope Francis: ‘A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just’.