Dear Friends in Christ,
Happy Feast of St. Patrick. While this is a wonderful day, St. Patrick’s Day does not bring me the joy that it once did. As you know, I am of Irish ancestry and very proud of it. For me, my Irish heritage and my Catholic faith are intertwined. Each strengthens the other. Today, sadly, the state of the Catholic Church in Ireland is in disarray. I dare say, it is no one’s fault but the Irish themselves. Historically, the Irish prided themselves in their loyalty to the Catholic Church. That was perhaps the problem, pride. I can see a lot of contributing factors and there is plenty of blame to go around. I remember my first visit to Ireland, every church was packed, and the seminaries and convents were full. People proudly reported they had 100% Mass attendance in a village. Missionaries from Ireland went to every corner of the globe. Families practiced their faith without a second thought. While there are still many wonderful and faithful Irish Catholics, those halcyon days are gone!
From the broader perspective, while the current state is incredibly sad and disheartening, there can be good to come from it. The Irish, and especially those of us of Irish ancestry, often took pride in our loyalty to the Catholic faith, but we all should have known, and we know now, that “pride goes before the fall!” Our pride was absolutely misplaced. We trusted in ourselves and took pride in ourselves, when we should have been focused more on God and realized that our Catholic faith is a gift not of our own making. The gift of faith can be squandered and lost if not embraced and practiced daily. This is true for everyone, Irish or not. The good news, of course, is that when we are weak, God is strong! It is precisely in this suffering and weakness brought about through our pride and arrogance that we can turn humbly to God and cry for His mercy and heavenly help. We cannot do it on our own.
God hears us in our weakness and poverty. He sees us in our self-inflicted misery. God is always present and opens His arms to us to reach out and save us, if only we let Him. To let God come into our lives with His strength and His mercy, we first must let go of our pride. We have to humble ourselves and accept that our way doesn’t work. We have to stop thinking that we can do it all ourselves. We have to repent for our arrogance and self-centeredness. We need to acknowledge that we have sinned and there is no one to blame but ourselves. Confessing our weakness and our sins is the first step to our recovery and conversion. The second step is trusting in God and following Him and His commandments, statutes, and decrees. We have to want to follow God on God’s terms and not on our own. We have to accept that God really knows what is best for us and want to follow His will for us in all areas of our lives.
Too often, we believe our own press! We like to say that we are true believers, faithful Catholics, nice people, loving parents, a devoted spouse, good neighbors; and that we are virtuous, charitable and have integrity. In reality, we are not. We cannot be any of the above when we live on our own terms. We cannot be any of the above and not follow Jesus and abide by His commands. We don’t like to hear such talk, but the truth is something that none of us can escape. We can deny the truth, but we cannot escape the truth. The good news is, as Jesus teaches: the truth will set us free! The truth is when we accept and follow Jesus whole heartedly, and without reservation or condition, we can experience the fullness of joy that we long for and that Jesus desires for us!
St. Patrick went to Ireland, a place of his former slavery, to preach a gospel of liberation to those who were more enslaved than he was. He brought not his own gospel, but the Good News of Jesus. Centuries ago, the Irish heard the gospel preached by Patrick. They repented and began to follow Jesus. They can do so again. Will we?
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy