St Munchin’s Parish

1 January 2006

WORLD DAY OF PEACE

When Mary agreed to become the Mother of God she was making a decision that she could never have imagined having to make. It was going to overturn everything she had ever expected. But she responded without any conditions or limits: “Let it be with me according to your word”. As Simeon made clear, that response was going to lead to a great deal of suffering in her life – “a sword will pierce your soul”, he told her.

She must have thought about that decision and about Simeon’s words when she stood by the Cross and saw her Son dying an unjust and cruel death, a death that was inflicted only on the worst criminals. She saw him being mocked by people whom he had loved. She saw him deserted by nearly all of the apostles whom he had chosen as his trusted friends.

And yet, in spite of the pain it brought her, we know that it is because of her choice at the Annunciation that we pray, as we did in the Opening Prayer, that her response would draw the Spirit to rest on God’s people, as of course it had on her.

The angel spoke a message from God. Having chosen her to be the mother of his Son, God waited for her consent. She agreed that it should be with her according to God’s word.

On the first day of a New Year, World Peace Day, we look to the future with anxiety. The world is threatened by violence and terrorism. No one knows what the coming year will bring, but, in many parts of the world hopes for peace seem fragile, not least in the land where Mary and Jesus lived.

The theme that has been chosen for this day, “In truth, peace”, points to the meaning of Mary’s consent. She accepted that the plan of God, indeed God’s whole being, is love. Whatever pain it would bring, it is a plan of infinite love and peace. In his message for today Pope Benedict reflects on a phrase of Vatican II – “the truth of peace” ( 3 ). Peace is the fruit of the order and purpose which God’s loving plan gives to human society. Peace can only be built by recognising and accepting the truth about God and about ourselves. That was the attitude Mary showed at the Annunciation; it was the attitude expressed in the Psalm, “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light to my path” ( Ps 119:105 ).Only God can lead us to the fulfilment he has in mind for us.

That plan of God is not imposed on us from outside; it is expressed by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us: when we don’t know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words ( Rom 8:26 ). The longing for peace lies deep in the heart of every human being where we recognise ourselves as members of one family, sharing a common destiny to which we are called by our one Father ( 6 ).

When Mary wholeheartedly accepted the plan of God, she became the mother of the Prince of Peace. Today’s feast points out the path of peace for us. It is to accept the truth of God’s plan; it is to realise that every other human being is a member of my family; every other human being is called to the same destiny that I am; every other human being is loved by God as I am. That plan may often overturn our expectations and our own plans as it did with Mary’s and make demands we would never have anticipated.

There are two dangers to which the Holy Father directs our attention. There is the danger of nihilism, of believing that there is no truth to be found, no plan of God who invites us to seek him, and that, therefore, there is in the end no law other than self-interest. And there is the danger of fundamentalism, which believes that truth can be imposed by force. Neither attitude respects human beings or God himself. The first denies God’s existence; the second creates a god in its own fanatical image ( 10 ).

God asked Mary to accept his plan . In other words, there is a plan, a truth, which we have totry to recognise and live; but it is a plan that can only befreely accepted. God did not impose his will on the Blessed Virgin, but asked for her free consent.

As we give thanks for God’s love in this Eucharist, we will also recognise our responsibility to live that faith. It is up to us to reflect on ‘the truth of peace’ and what it asks of us in our own parish and our own situation. As it was with Mary, responding to God’s word may make unexpected, perhaps painful, demands on us. Might there be people in our city who feel excluded or looked down on? Might there be people, even in our Christian community, who feel lonely and unappreciated? Do the younger members of our community realise how much we need them to play their full part in the life of our community and how much we want to welcome and encourage them in doing that? Do we respect the beliefs of others and see them as part of their journey to the truth or would we like to force everyone agree with us? Are we in danger of becoming too accustomed to pictures of famine and suffering in our affluent world? Do we seriously pray for peace in the world? As Pope Benedict put it, “peace is above all a gift of God, a gift to be implored incessantly” ( 16 ) “God, and God alone, brings to fulfilment every work of good and peace” ( 11 )

As we prepare during the coming week to celebrate the feast of St Munchin, the patron of this parish and diocese, we will be giving thanks for the faith, for the truth, that he helped to teach in Limerick. His faith lives on today a millennium and half later. It was a faith that was founded on the truth revealed in Christ, the truth about God and about ourselves. In other words, it was a faith founded on the wisdom that knows and lives that deep truth. Munchin and his monastery at Mungret were known far and wide for their wisdom.

The challenge for us, in a very different world from his, is to be people who call down God’s blessing of kindness and peace on our own parish and on the world. We do that by living as heirs of St Munchin, responsible in our day for the heritage of truth and wisdom that has come down to us through the centuries. More importantly, we are heirs and children of God. In us the Holy Spirit cries out “Abba, Father”. The path to peace is to listen more attentively to the Spirit crying out in our hearts and to recognise, with ever greater, clarity, consistency and conviction, the same cry coming from the hearts of all our brothers and sisters, and to respond to the truth of peace, however unexpected or demanding it may be.

+Donal Murray
Bishop of Limerick