A time for solidarity and mercy

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

At a Mass earlier this month in Rome, Pope Francis said:

“The only reasonable response to the challenges presented by contemporary migration is solidarity and mercy. Governments must be less concerned with political calculations and more with an equitable distribution of responsibilities. Many of the poor are trampled on today."

Powerful and indeed provocative words from the pope, and they have more or less gone unnoticed in the world's press.

An Italian priest, Gianfranco Formento, in 2015 posted a notice on the church where he ministers saying: "Racists are forbidden from entering. Go home.”

The Umbrian priest is currently in dispute with the new Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini of the far-right Northern League party over his migration policy.

 Fr  Formento said: “There is an evil force of racism, and Salvini has contributed to this. He’s been a magician in cultivating hate and manipulating anger. People of all ages have become racist because of the climate we’re living in."

 And then there is Donald Trump and his daily rant about migration. Add the names Orban, Farage, Salvini and some more and one quickly sees that the migration issue is a most serious problem.

 Some weeks ago, the former German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble wisely stressed how important it is for the EU to solve the migration problem because, he argued, it could well cause serious destabilisation within the European Union.

In tomorrow's Gospel we see how Jesus has pity on a large crowd. He has pity on them because "they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length." (Mark 6: 34)

In the first reading we read from the prophet Jeremiah: "Doom for the shepherds who allow the flock of my pasture to be destroyed and scattered - it is the Lord who speaks." (Jeremiah 23: 1)

Far too often and far too easily we can be inclined to dismiss as out-of-date, pious and irrelevant to our lives the wise words of the Bible, the words we hear in church.

These words will be read in churches around the world tomorrow.

They remain dramatically relevant, straight-talking words that apply to the appalling suffering, which is being experienced by the poorest of the poor as they go to great lengths to make better lives for themselves and their children.

Of course, it is important that there are rules and regulations on how people gain entry to a country. 

The world is in crisis and migration is one of the symptoms or signs of what is happening. But how is there such silence about the disparity of the world's richest?

An Oxfam study carried out earlier this year shows that the wealth of the nine richest people in the world is equivalent to the wealth of half the world's population.

Think about it: nine people own what four billion people share among themselves.

It is intolerable to see how some politicians are cultivating hate and manipulating anger around the issue of migration.

Is there a word spoken how the developed world colonised and plundered the developing world for generations? It's the descendants of those who were colonised and brutally treated, who are today landing on our shores.

The Trumps, the Salvinis and Farages have no problem with the super-rich from the developing world living next door to them. It's the poor they want to keep out or send home.

Tomorrow's scripture readings tell us a different story and one that is far more noble and life-enriching.

Right now, the dominant voice is that of the powerful and vested interests. They have found the perfect scapegoat on whom to blame all our woes and pain.

It's such a grace and joy to hear voices like those of Pope Francis and Fr Formento.

Another Italian priest Alex Zanotelli calls on journalists to write more on the difficulties people experience in Africa and points out that they are fleeing disaster.

Remember, nine people on the planet own the same wealth as the poorest four billion. Remember too, that Jesus took pity on the crowd.

Remembering the von Staufenberg plot

It was on this date, July 20, 1944 that the Staufenberg assassination plot against Adolf Hitler failed.

It took place at what was then Rastenburg in East Prussia, now called Kętrzyn, Warmia-Masuria in Poland.

There are those who argue that had Paulus' Sixth Army not been defeated by thr Red Army under the command of Marshal Georgii Zhukov at Stalingrad the Rastenburg plot might never have taken place.

Obama on liars

Barack Obama speaking earlier this week in South Africa.

“People just make stuff up. They just make stuff up. We see it in the growth of state-sponsored propaganda. We see it in internet fabrications. We see it in the blurring of lines between news and entertainment.

"we see the utter loss of shame among political leaders where they’re caught in a lie and they just double down and they lie some more. It used to be that if you caught them lying, they’d be like, ‘Oh, man’— now they just keep on lying.”

RTE and the past participle

Dave Fanning standing in for Ryan Tubridy this morning:

".......he has ran...."

Someone at RTE should explain the perfect tense and how to use the past participle to their highly-paid presenters.

Ideology is the enemy of discernment

Wise words from Australian Jesuit priest and author Richard Leonard:

Ideology is the enemy of true discernment. 

It predetermines the outcome to every conversation, cuts across a spirit of curiosity and humility towards new opportunities, and leaves no room for the Holy Spirit to prompt and move us to new responses to new contexts and issues.

Dublin to West Kerry on a motorbike

This week's Independent News & Media Irsh regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

Have you ever driven a motorbike?

Last Friday week, more or less on a whim, I jumped up on my motorbike in Dublin at 17.15, destination Castlegregory in West Kerry.

It was sort of crazy as I had to return the following day. It meant covering approximately 700 kilometres in 24 hours.

Leaving Dublin at peak rush hour was unwise. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper, which was made worse with road widening works between Naas and Newbridge.

No doubt you have seen motorbikes zoom in and out between cars in long traffic jams. They make it look easy and are the envy of those sitting in stationary cars. 

I tried doing that on Friday but failed miserably. I attempted zigzagging but quickly grew scared and decided to drive sedately right on the edge of the hard shoulder. I’d say I looked sort of pathetic. I’m no Evel Knievel.

South of Newbridge it all changed and I was as free as a bird. But a motorway is always a motorway, it’s boring. There is the mouth-watering countryside to be seen and on a motorbike the vantage point is much better than in a car but a motorway always remains a motorway. 

No, not to save the toll fee, rather for the peace and quiet of slower roads, I left the motorway before Portlaoise. It was surprisingly quiet with little or no traffic. It made for perfect motorbiking. I could sit up on the bike and scan the fabulous Irish scenery, though it was striking how burned the countryside looked. That lush greenness was not in evidence.

I had been dreading how hot and uncomfortable it would be wearing all that motorbike gear. But I was surprised, once out on the open road with my jacket partly open, how fresh and cool it was. I am reminded of this anonymous quote: ‘Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.’

South of Limerick panic sets in. Petrol gauge is off the red. That sensation of running out of petrol on a motorbike in late evening is not pleasant. You look at the gauge and shout out an expletive. 

With your head encased in a helmet all your words remain silent. 

I was in a bit of a fix. A car pulls up outside a shop. I drive up to the parked car, raise the visor of my helmet and ask the driver how far away is the next petrol station. For a millisecond or so he looks at me, then smiles and says ‘two or three miles, in Clarina’. 

Sounding apprehensive I ask him is it two or three. He gets the message and realises that I’m nervous. At that he says: ‘You drive off and I’ll follow you.’ I was flabbergasted. I got to the filling station, the man turned around and drove back to where I met him. What a lovely act of kindness.

The views along the Shannon were spectacular. I could see over to Clare, the stacks at Moneypoint power station. There is an elegance about wind turbines that adds to the makeup of the Irish landscape. 

All the different smells, something you miss in a car. And then the setting sun. It was sensational. And certainly an experience of living in the now. 

It was my first time to see a cruise ship at Foynes.

With a few stops en route I arrived in Castlegregory close to 22.15 as high as a kite. Great fun and highly recommended.

 

Trump and his empty gestures

This is a briliant piece on President Trump and all he stand for.

It appears in The New Yorker.

The Trump-Putin summit, a meeting without an agenda, is the latest example of the ultimate innovation of the Trump Presidency: the deliberately empty gesture. 

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-and-the-triumph-of-nothing-over-everyone

'Many of the poor are trampled on today'

The Three Patrons' newsletter for this week.

By Michael Commane

There was an interesting article in last week’s English newspaper The Guardian. 

An Italian priest, Gianfranco Formento, has crossed swords with the new Italian interior minister and leader of the far-right Northern League Matteo Salvini.

Back in 2015 the priest placed a sign on the church in Spoletto in Umbria, where he ministers, saying: “Racists are forbidden from entering. Go home.”

Salvini saw it and wrote on his Twitter account: “Perhaps the priest prefers smugglers, slaveholders and terrorists? Pity Spoleto and this church, if this man calls himself a priest.”

“There is an evil force of racism, and Salvini has contributed to this. He’s been a magician in cultivating hate and manipulating anger. People of all ages have become racist because of the climate we’re living in,” Fr Formento has said.

At a Mass earlier this month in Rome Pope Francis said:

“The only reasonable response to the challenges presented by contemporary migration is solidarity and mercy. Governments must be less concerned with political calculations and more with an equitable distribution of responsibilities.

“Many of the poor are trampled on today. How many of the poor are being brought to ruin! All are the victims of that culture of waste that has been denounced time and time again, including migrants and refugees who continue to knock at the door of nations that enjoy greater prosperity.”

Another Italian priest, Alex Zanotelli, has called on journalists to write more on the difficulties people experience in Africa. He argues that migrants are not the parasites and invaders the far-right want us to think they are. They are fleeing from disaster, he says.

Is anyone asking who colonised and plundered the developing world?

Closer to home it was interesting to read the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin Denis Nulty speak out last week about energy price rises, which are soon to be introduced.

He said: “The huge poverty in Ireland is energy poverty and I’m afraid a lot of people are missing it.

“The government needs to look at the price increases and think about how the poor in society can be supported, otherwise the poor are going to get even poorer.”

And that’s good lead-in to remind readers that the St Vincent de Paul collection takes place this Sunday outside the church after Mass.

 

Respect plays significant role in job satisfaction

According to an Irish Management Institute survey, 72 per cent of employees rank respectful treatment as the most important factor for job satisfaction.

Has there ever been such a survey carried out among priests within Irish Catholic dioceses and congregations?

Findings would make for interesting reading.

In Trump's own words: a very stable genius

US satirist Stephen Colbert on Donald Trump's upcoming meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

“I’m not ready to say our president is a Russian agent, but I have an agent and he doesn’t do as much for me as Trump does for Russia."

Donald Trump's press conference in Brussels yesterday was similar to something taken from 'Only Fools and Horses'.

It is fabulous comedy.

A journalist asked him a question on the war in Syria, the current Iraq situation and he plight of the Kurds.

He replied that he likes the Kurds.

And does he consider Ireland part of the UK?

He told the assembled journalists: "I'm a very stable genius."

Count the number of times the president uses the word 'very'.

Trump insults the German people

A direct quote from US President Donald Trump:

"Germany is totally controlled by Russia."

Mr Trump made this comment yesterday attending the Nato summit in Brussels.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel in reply pointed out that she knows first-hand what is it like not to be free. And then spoke about what it means to be free and independent in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Ms Merkel was born in Hamburg but spent her childhood in Templin in the former German Democratic Republic.

She speaks fluent Russian and did her doctorate in quantum chemistry.

And then there is the President of the United States of America.

Mr Trump insulted Germany yesterday.

Italian priest challenges racists

An interesting story about a priest doing good work, real priestly work.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/09/italian-catholic-priests-go-to-war-with-salvini-over-immigration?CMP=share_btn_link

Trump: parallels with Hitler are alarming

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

It’s one of the No-Nos in journalism that you never compare a current politician or public figure to Hitler. It just isn’t done and even in these turbulent times of dictatorship on the rise it’s not a good idea to place anyone in the same league as Hitler, who is one of the worst examples of evil. Hannah Arendt at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem spoke of the ‘banality of evil’.

Everything seems to be in flux these days.

Trump in the USA, Erdogan in Turkey and Orban in Hungary all show signs of extreme right-wing politics. The governments of Poland, Austria and Italy are looking evermore xenophobic in their attitudes and policies.

But Donald Trump seems to be at the head of the posse. 

We know about his bluster, vulgarity and disdain for those who oppose him but what do we know about his followers?

I watched in full two rallies he held in late June. One was at Duluth in Minnesota, the other in Columbia, South Carolina.

Trump roars and screams, insults two young protesters and tells another person to ‘go home to his mommy’.

Watching the two rallies what struck me most of all was Trump’s ability at inciting his audience to extraordinary levels of hatred. He is a demagogue. His words, his gestures, everything about him has the ability of getting ‘his people’ to feel angry with everyone who is standing in the way of making ‘American great again’.

A word, a nod from Trump and you hear the crowd scream ‘lock her up’, or roaring in a vile way ‘USA, USA’.

Anyone who has ever watched Hitler rallies will have noticed how he had that ability of turning his audience into adoring worshippers. They screamed with outstretched hands ‘Heil Hitler’. They called him ‘Der Führer’ - The Leader.

Before Trump began to speak in South Carolina a local politician referred to the US President as ‘a force of nature’. An to insult to nature. How far away is the expression ‘a force of nature’ from ‘Der Führer’?

After World War 1 and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles Germans felt humiliated. Hitler promised them a way out and picked scapegoats on whom to blame all their woes.

In his speech in South Carolina when Trump mentioned the migrants and asylum seekers entering the USA he quickly referred to people of Middle East origin.

Across Europe, in the US demagogues have found the perfect scapegoats on whom we can blame all our woes and troubles.

The day after the Trump rally in South Carolina BBC 2’s ‘Newsnight’ reported on a far-right Polish group visiting their like-minded comrades from the National Front in Leeds. It was scary television. 

A former Polish priest, spewed out venomous bile. Although identified as a former priest, he was wearing a roman collar. Indeed, there was a number of priests, at least men dressed in clerical clothing, at the meeting. And again the cause of all our woes is the foreigner, especially those from Africa and all Muslims are painted with the same horrific brush.

Hitler managed to turn millions of decent Germans into haters of Jews, homosexuals, Russians and people with special needs. He blamed them for all of Germany’s woes and promised ‘his people’ that he would make ‘Germany great again’.

Trump, Erdogan, Orban are all finding scapegoats on whom we can vent our hatred.

Hitler created fear among ordinary decent Germans. Trump is doing the same.

We’re living in dangerous times.

Three Places: Mount Merrion, Moscow, Rathgar

This week's comment in the newsletter of The Patrons Church in Rathgar.

By Michael Commane

On Sunday I went for an afternoon swim at Seapoint. It’s a great place for a swim when the tide is in.

I arrived home close to the end of the Russia Spain game. A penalty shootout for the non-experts makes for great fun.

My eye wandered to the clock and it was 17.45. It dawned on me it was getting late and time to get up on my bicycle and get down to Rathgar church for the 18.15 Mass. 

Imagine had I not looked at the clock and continued to watch the excitement at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow?

There would have been no Sunday evening Mass in The Three Patrons.

You can see the headlines: “Two weeks in a row a priest fails to turn up for Mass in the Dublin archdiocese. Archbishop not happy.”

The previous evening the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin celebrated Mass in Mount Merrion church. His talk is available on the diocesan website. It makes perfect sense to me. If you haven’t read it then I recommend you have a look at it.

In his talk the archbishop said: "May I make one comment.  If you read my statement carefully, I never said that it was inappropriate in such a situation for the community to gather in prayer.  It was indeed praiseworthy.  Neither did I say that in such a situation the prayer ought not to be led by a woman.  This is something that happens in such situations elsewhere."

Here at The Three Patrons we have a Mass at 07.30 Monday to Friday. 

It is a fitting way to start the day and at this stage I think it’s fair to say most of us know each other. 

There is a sense of community about it. And that’s an important ingredient in all our prayer.

On Ash Wednesday, February 14 something happened here at The Three Patrons.

During Mass a member of the congregation spoke about their faith. 

And that continued every Wednesday during Lent.

After the Lenten season it morphed into someone speaking on what message the Gospel of the day has for them.

Without exaggeration it has been a moment of real grace. 

Every single person who has spoken, has added to our Eucharistic celebration.

Not that I needed convincing, but it has assured me that the future of our church lies in real and honest participation by all. 

 The future is in all our hands. The church is the people God. Bill Clinton may have said “it’s the economy, stupid”. We need to get it into our heads that we are the church.

Migrants deserve solidarity and mercy

At a Mass on Friday Pope Francis prayed for the victims of mass migration.

He said: The only reasonable response to the challenges presented by contemporary migration is solidarity and mercy. Governments must be less concerned with political calculations and more with an equitable distribution of responsibilities.

Many of the poor are  trampled on today.

How many of the poor are being brought to ruin! All are the victims of that culture of waste that has been denounced time and time again, including migrants and refugees who continue to knock at the door of nations that enjoy greater prosperity.

July 7, 1974

On this day, July 7, 1974 Germany beat the Dutch 2:1 in the World Cup final in the Olympic Stadium, Munich.

On the same day Martin Boyle and Michael Commane were ordained priests by the late Bishop James Kavanagh in St Mary's, Dominican priory church, Tallaght.

Germany won the World Cup again in 1990 in Italy and in 2014 in Brazil.

Frank Beckenbauer captained the 1974 winning team in Munich and managed the victorious 1990 team.

Joachim Löw was manager in Brazil and continues to be manager of the national team.

Winers and losers.

Myths of scarcity

Richard Rohr's Daily meditation below.

Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money, identifies three core myths that keep us locked in an economy of scarcity:

There’s not enough to go around. . . . Somebody’s going to be left out. . . . If there’s not enough for everyone, then taking care of yourself and your own, even at others’ expense, seems unfortunate, but unavoidable and somehow valid. . . .

More is better . . . drives a competitive culture of accumulation, acquisition, and greed. . . . [It] distracts us from living more mindfully and richly with what we have. . . . We judge others based on what they have . . . and miss the immeasurable inner gifts they bring to life. . . . Our drive to enlarge our net worth turns us away from discovering and deepening our self-worth. . . .

The belief that we need to possess [more] is the driving force for much of the violence and war, corruption and exploitation on earth. . . . In the campaign to gain, we often pursue our goals at all costs, even at the risk of destroying whole cultures and peoples. . . .

That’s just the way it is, and there’s no way out. There’s not enough to go around, more is definitely better, and the people who have more are always people who are other than us. . . .

[This myth] justifies the greed, prejudice, and inaction that scarcity fosters in our relationship with money and the rest of the human race. For generations, it protected the early American slave trade from which the privileged majority built farms, towns, business empires, and family fortunes, many of which survive today. For more generations it protected and emboldened institutionalized racism, sex discrimination and social and economic discrimination against other ethnic and religious minorities. . . . .

In [our] resignation, we abandon our human potential, and the possibility of contributing to a thriving, equitable, healthy world.

We have to be willing to let go of that’s just the way it is, even if just for a moment, to consider the possibility that there isn’t a way it is or way it isn’t. There is the way we choose to act and what we choose to make of circumstances.

Can we recognize that better comes from not more, but deepening our experience of what’s already there? Rather than growth being external in acquiring and accumulating money or things, can we redefine growth to see it as a recognition of and appreciation for what we already have?

It is a fundamental law of nature, that there is enough and it is finite. Its finiteness is no threat; it creates a more accurate relationship that commands respect, reverence, and managing those resources with the knowledge that they are precious and in ways that do the most good for the most people.

Knowing that there is enough inspires sharing, collaboration, and contribution.

Plans for new routes at Dublin Bus

On Tuesday Irish media gave significant coverage of the National Transport Authority, NTA, plan for the redesign of Dublin Bus routes.

It was somewhat vague. A plan to change routes designations from numbers to letters. Why?

The United States of America is known for having a weak public transport infrastructure. And certainly bus services in cities across the US are poor in the extreme.

The company commissioned by the NTA to draw up a new plan for Dubln Bus is the US company Jarrett Walker and Associates.

Confusing, to say the least.

Water

Ireland needs rain.

All the water we have wasted, the lack of investment in our supply infrastructure and then the debacle of water charges.

And now this.

A coincidence and a faulty watch

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional Irish newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

When we experience a coincidence I imagine most of us take a moment out to think about it and ask if there is more to it than just that, a coincidence. But that’s exactly what a coincidence is, events happen without any apparent causal connection. 

No doubt when we experience a number of coincidences in quick succession we are inclined to think there is a hidden message somewhere. Most likely not.

I had one of those ‘weird’ coincidences on Saturday June 23.

On that day I had a column in a national newspaper about the importance of calling a person by her or his proper name. I was arguing that when we call a person by their proper name we are showing them respect.

That same day I received a call from Harvey Norman informing me that my smart watch was ready for collection. The person on the phone at first called me ‘Mags’, when I told him that my name was Michael, he said, ‘sorry about that Mick’. I quickly corrected him, saying that no, my name is Michael and I dislike being called ‘Mick’.

And all that happened on the same day that my piece on calling people by their proper names appeared. It gave me a good laugh. It was the dictionary definition of the word ‘coincidence’.

The saga of my smart watch is worth recounting.

In May 2017 I bought a Garmin smart watch. It does more than tell the time. It gives a breakdown of my activities: the number of steps taken, kilometres cycled and walked. It can even give an account of one’s sleeping patterns. A magic machine. That is, until it breaks down.

On a number of occasions, it stopped synchronising with my iPad, eventually it collapsed and I could not turn it on.

I returned it to the store on two occasions. On that coincidental phone call they informed me that they would replace the faulty watch. I was delighted. Alas, my delight lasted a short time.

When I went to the store I discovered they did not have a similar watch available, nor would the model be back in stock. They offered me a more expensive watch at a reduced price. Just as I was about to buy it I had the sense to ask if it was compatible with the operating system on my iPad. No, it wasn’t. Luckily I did not buy it. 

Eventually the store offered to give me a credit note for the value of the watch. I’m still asking myself why they simply did not return me my money. I had been ‘fortunate’ to have paid extra money extending the warranty of the watch. 

I am still confused as to the length of the warranty as I seem to have received different information, depending on who spoke to me. But when I was given the voucher for the value of the watch it did not include the money I paid for the warranty extension.

The story of the watch is yet another example of how one can feel small compared to the large conglomerate.

Is the dice always loaded against the ‘little person’?

If you are looking for a good summer read, I strongly recommend Hans Fallada’s ‘Little Man What Now?’ It was published in Germany in 1932. It tells the story of how the dice is always loaded against the ‘little person’.  Although written 86 years ago, the story is still relevant today. Nothing changes. And that is certainly no coincidence.

 

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Mount Merrion

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin celebrated Mass in Mount Merrion church on Saturday.

Below is what he said.

I wished to come here to Mount Merrion this evening to reflect with you on events that have taken place over the past week and to celebrate Mass with you.

The Mass is the great moment in the life of any Christian community in which people are united through the reconciling power of Jesus Christ.  The Eucharistic community is a unique place where differences can be lived in a reconciled context through our communion with Christ and with one another.

 We begin by asking that the reconciling power of Jesus Christ be among us, as we ask – each one of us – for forgiveness and healing.

Homily

As I said at the beginning of Mass, I wished to come to Mount Merrion this evening to reflect with you on events of the past week.  In the first place, I would like to apologise for the fact that the priest who was designated to celebrate the Mass on last Saturday failed to turn up.  This was not a planned event, but an unfortunate mistake, but a mistake that should not have happened.

May I make one comment.  If you read my statement carefully, I never said that it was inappropriate in such a situation for the community to gather in prayer.  It was indeed praiseworthy.  Neither did I say that in such a situation the prayer ought not to be led by a woman.  This is something that happens in such situations elsewhere.

 The situation was not due to the fact of a shortage of priests.  A priest had been designated.  My concern was that such a situation that was unplanned should have been escalated into something else.

I recognise that there are differences and different sensitivities in this and in every community.  Indeed, divisions and misunderstandings have marked the history of the Church, from its earliest days. On many occasions, such divisions and disagreements were due to a desire to remain with positions of personal comfort rather than allow the radical nature of the teaching of Jesus to break into and to change hearts.

However, we have to find ways in which divisions can be addressed within the Christian community in ways that are typical of the Christian community, through dialogue, through mutual respect and where Christian charity always prevails.

Divisions must be addressed and the message of Jesus demands a radical leap out of conformity.   Let us look at the Gospel of today. We have two examples.

The first is the man Jairus, a synagogue official.    He was a man who had an official role within the believing community.  He would normally have been expected to have maintained distance and suspicion indeed even hostility towards Jesus.   Yet he realised that there were certain things that were more important to him and to Jesus than the narrow norms and customs of the day.   For Jairus, Jesus was the one who could heal and bring life.  For Jesus, healing and restoring life were more important than narrow norms and customs.

Then there is the woman who had suffered from the haemorrhage for many years.  This woman was considered unclean.  She would have been ostracised and it would have been difficult for her to appear in public. Within a society that tried to keep her out of view, she saw one hope: Jesus.  She had only heard of Jesus and yet her faith gave her the courage to approach him.   She touches just the hem of his garment and is instantly cured.

What does Jesus do?  He stops and asks who it was that had touched him. The woman would have violated the norms and customs by touching him.  Jesus himself, according to those same customs, had become impure because he had been touched by impurity.

Jesus does not criticise the woman nor does he confirm the norms that had been established.  He assures the woman that she has been healed and should now go and live in peace.

Jesus heals.  He tells those who have witnessed his healing that they are not to talk about it.  His desire in healing is to restore the dignity and the everyday life of the person healed:  the woman should live now in peace and the child who was cured should simply be given something to eat.

The Church of Jesus Christ is a Church of communion.  One of the characteristics of the Church of the future in Dublin will be that of different ministries working together for the mission of the Church in a changed culture.   This is something that I have constantly encouraged.

Jesus is the one who purifies, who heals and who sanctifies.  There will be divisions within the Church but these divisions should not lead to hurt and damage to the unity of the Christin community.  Last Sunday I celebrated Mass in the neighbouring parish of Kilmacud at a Mass at which anyone who attended was deeply moved.  It was a celebration of Christian care and of how powerful the unity of a believing community can be.

The God revealed in Jesus Christ is not a distant judge but the hand held out to rise us up when we fall to be fully the men and women we are created in God’s own image.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a burden but something that makes us free.   The call to follow Jesus is a call that requires renunciation of self but renunciation that leads then to a fuller realisation of self in a new way.  It is in losing our life that we discover life in its depth.

German president at opening of death camp memorial

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the opening of a memorial at Maly Trostenets camp outside Minsk on Friday.

Over 60,000 Jews were murdered at the Nazi death camp.

The German president termed 'unbearable' efforts of the far-right AfD to minimise the evil perpetrated by the Nazis.

"And we shouldn't forget: the irresponsible word can lead to the irresponsible deed," Steienmeier said.

He went on to express his concern about cultural anti-Semitism among refugees and asylum seekers from North Africa and the Middle East. 

However he was more worried by the home-grown variety such as in a so-called song mocking Auschwitz prisoners that won a leading German music prize.

"Incidents like that," he said, show me how much there is still to do."