It is almost thirty years since an extraordinary son of Poland stood not far from here and spoke to the people of Limerick and of Ireland. Pope John Paul’s homily on that occasion issued a great challenge:  “Ireland must choose”, he said; “The Irish people have to choose today their way forward”; “Now is the time of testing for Ireland. This generation is once more a generation of decision” .

The readings of today’s Mass put the same challenge to us. In the first reading Joshua says to the people:  “If you will not serve the Lord your God, choose today whom you wish to serve”. Many of the disciples of Jesus deserted him and he said to the Twelve: What about you, do you want to go away to?”

But Pope Benedict pointed out something about the nature of the choice that is put before us.  It is not just about our choice to do things that are in our power; it is our choice to accept Jesus Christ and his gift to us. 

The Apostles knew that very well.  There would be no point in going away and trying to create a meaning and a purpose for their lives.  “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life; and we believe and we know that you are the Holy One of God.”  John wrote about knowing and believing, in another place.  He said “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (I Jn 4:16).  That was the verse with which Pope Benedict began his first encyclical, and he added “In those words, the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life” .

The people in the first reading also knew that they had no hope without God; “Was it not the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery, who worked those great wonders before our eyes and preserved us all along the way we travelled and among all the peoples through whom we journeyed.”
The choice that they faced is the same choice that Pope John Paul set before us in Limerick.  And that is the choice that Fr Szymon has put before the Polish community for the last three years – the choice which is the fundamental decision of the Christian life.   The Polish people who have come to Limerick and to Ireland have been such a vibrant part of the Catholic population in Limerick in recent years.  Fr Szymon has worked very hard for you and with you in order to put the choice before you. 

A day like today is an occasion for reflecting together on the purpose, the choice that every Christian is called on to make.  Every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, the same question is put to us as a community and as individuals: Do you accept Jesus Christ and his gift to you – his gift of himself in his whole life, his gift of his death for us, his gift of the new life that begins in his rising from the dead?”
That was the question that Jesus has been asking in the Gospels,  What he said caused many of his disciples to leave him.  They thought that what he was saying was absurd: “This is intolerable language”, they said, “how could anyone accept it?”

But what those people who walked away did not understand is that the choice that Jesus puts before us is the greatest gift.  It offers to us all that we have ever hoped for and much more. It is a gift of the great Love which is the meaning of everything,  We have never fully accepted that gift.  If we had we would love each other as Christ loves his Church – with endless generosity and hope and readiness to give ourselves for one another.  And we would be ready to love God with our whole heart and soul and might.

Today we express our thanks to Fr Szymon who has given himself so generously to the Polish community, and I know that they have great gratitude and affection towards him.  He has also given himself generously to this diocese of Limerick.  He will always be welcome here; he will always have a place in Limerick’s heart and I hope that Limerick will always have a place in his heart.