Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: John Joe Conneely Market St., (Anniv).
11.00: Mary Mullin (Month's Mind) and Tom Tierney, (Anniv).
6.30: Ellen Reynolds, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

On Friday week, Britney Spears turned up at a Hair Salon in California, and demanded that the shop's owner shave the star's head. Then Spears grabbed the clippers and did the job herself, as shocked passers by watched through the windows. The salon's owners are now auctioning the star's hair on a website, where they will accept minimum offers of $1,000,000. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, the vendors claim.

And there will be a demand for it, as there will a demand too for the pop star's leftover tin of Red Bull and her cigarette lighter, which is also open to offers. "This is the Ultimate Britney Spears Experience!" screams the ad. (I wonder!) However, in the world of celebrity memorabilia, everything has a value - from the desk at which a best-selling author sweated, to the boot which scored the cup-winning goal. Here, trivia is treasure.

Speculators apart, what's going on here is an expression both of admiration, and of the dream of a brush with fame, however slight. It's a quest for connection. We pursue it at a much more intimate level: we might wear the locket of a longgone relative, use the same Gold Sovereign Granny used at her wedding, hold on to those battered packets of fading holiday snaps. With these tangible objects, we're asserting that certain connections remain, and they're still important.

On a religious level, 'tangible connections' abound. Ash Wednesday and the 'Kissing of the Cross' on Good Friday draw great crowds. These tactile rituals connect us with something very deep and very human. And our ancestors did this too!

In the 2nd century Polycarp, whose feast we celebrated on Friday last, was burnt to death for refusing to reject the Christian faith. His relics were described by a contemporary as 'more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold.' The 'Veneration of Relics' has a long tradition. And the practice is by no means dead. In 2001 the relics St. Therese were taken to 144 locations throughout Ireland. The 'pilgrimage' lasted for 80 days. Hundreds of thousands turned out to 'greet' the saint.

On a personal level, I am very uneasy with the whole 'relics tradition' for a few reasons. First, the practice drifts dangerously close to the world of magic; second, down the ages, an unhealthy troupe of charlatans attached themselves profitably to the pious practice! However, genuine Catholic devotees will insist that this is not a substitute for their own living relationship with God; but, as they honour men and women who had lived lives of particular devotion, so they were honouring the God to whom they had given those lives.

I couldn't argue with that. Does not the Lenten Ash serve the same purpose? These material objects help us to connect with some of the deeper truths of our reality: 'Remember man, you are but dust'. And I remember that in truth, like most Christians, I also need other physical things - water, bread, wine - to help sustain the most valuable connection of all.

-Dick Lyng

Items of Some Interest

Our Lenten Programme

Our Lenten Sessions with the parishioners of St. Nicholas' Parish will begin at 8.00pm on Tuesday next in the Augustinian. (If the numbers demand it, we will use the Church rather than the Priory.)

We are attempting to get some input from the Orthodox and Moslem communities on 'Fasting' and 'The Penitential Season' in their respective traditions. Patrick has opened negotiations with the local Imam and matters are proceeding cautiously. So the following Programme is subject to some change:

This is the night on which the Jewish People throughout the world will celebrate. Passover is an eight-day long celebration. The highlight of the Passover celebration is the ceremony of Seder performed on the first two evenings of Passover. In 2007, Passover will begin at the sunset on Monday, April 2nd and will ends at the nightfall on Tuesday, April 10th. In Israel, Passover is celebrated for seven days only, where the first and last days are observed as holidays and no work can be done on these days. However, at other places, the first two and the last two days are observed as holidays by the Jewish people of the Diaspora. Work can be done on the intermediary days.

This celebration will demonstrate in a practical manner the the extent to which our Christian traditions, both Protestant and Catholic, are dependant upon our common Jewish origins.

The Sessions, lasting no more than an hour-and-a-half each, will begin at 8.00pm. They will follow the pattern set last year: (1) a brief printed Introduction to aid personal reflection; (2) short small-group discussion; (3) a 20-minute presentation, shared by Dick Lyng and Patrick Towers (or the Imam); (4) a 20-minute discussion within larger groups; (5) and a general Open Forum where questions and observations will be explored.

If you plan to attend, it would be good (but not essential) to notify us since we are preparing material for each individual participant.

March

Dear March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat-
You must have walked-
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,
I have so much to tell.

-Emily Dickinson

A Brief Reflection

Lent pursues the goal of authenticity. The issue is not one of being sinless or perfect - but of being self-aware and integrated. Jesus had no trouble with life's failures, those lost on the margins, or locked in their bad habits. Because it was for them he came. It was with the hypocrites that he lost his temper.

The question that Lent, the season of truth, asks is: "How much reality about yourself can you bear?" Are you aware of your ambiguous motives, your rampant ego, your inner envy, your urge to power?

Most of us try to live the Christian life without ever entering those raw and searing cellars of our own unbearable darkness. This avoidance is easy, but costly. Beyond the surface habits of a passionless piety there is a fierce intensity about Lent that relentlessly examines the integrity of our innermost heart.

It is a Lenten grace when we are able to hold within us, as Jesus did, the tension of the paradoxes of our lives. The greater the soul, the greater the shadow. Lent teaches us that we must befriend that shadow, even at great personal cost. Otherwise our soul disintegrates, loses connection.When the small gods go, God arrives. Heaven, in the end, is where we belong.

-Fr. Daniel O'Leary.

A 24 Hour Fast

You will still find the Trocaire Boxes at the end of the Church this morning. In addition, we usually hold a 24-hour Sponsored Fast for Lent and the proceeds are forwarded to Trocaire also. The Fast takes place in two weeks time, on the weekend of the 9-10 March. So line up your sponsors and contact Cathal Cunningham.

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