Fifth Sunday of Lent

2 April 2006

This weekend, we commemorate the anniversary of two deaths, each of which touched the diocese deeply. Eleven years ago tomorrow, Bishop Jeremiah Newman died after serving this diocese for over 44 years as a priest and for over twenty of those years as Bishop.

On this day last year, the earthly life of Pope John Paul II came to its end. His death touched the whole Church. He had devoted enormous energy to his ministry as Pope, travelling to every part of the world, and had given to us a body of reflection and teaching from which the Church will draw inspiration and guidance for centuries to come. There was a particular note of sadness for us because he visited Limerick in the first year of his long pontificate.

We remember both of them with prayerful gratitude and we entrust them to God who is Love. Both of them were gifted teachers and writers. Both of them were dedicated to their ministry.

We remember them when they were full of life and energy. But we also remember that both of them knew physical weakness and suffering especially in the final year of their lives. That too was part of their ministry. The decline in the health of Pope John Paul was very public and painful – we saw an active and brilliant mind in an increasingly feeble body. On the last occasion when he was seen by the people gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, he could not speak even a single word. It was a distressing scene. And yet he was still teaching, still showing his love for the people who had gathered to greet him, still offering them and all of us a sign of hope. His secretary, who is now the Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, tells us that that experience moved Pope John Paul very much. As he moved away from the window the Pope said: "Perhaps it would be better that I die, if I cannot fulfill the mission entrusted to me," and he immediately added: "Thy will be done ... 'Totus tuus.'"

When the Greek pilgrims asked to see Jesus he sent a reply that said that they would recognise the truth about him in his death; only when the grain of wheat dies will it bear fruit. It is only by giving up our life that we keep it for eternal life.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus offered prayers and entreaties to his Father: he begged ‘let this chalice pass from me’. But, the second reading tells us that he obeyed through suffering and became for us the source of eternal life. In times of illness and of weakness and sorrow we can be very close to Jesus in his suffering. Next Sunday we begin Holy Week when we make the journey with him through suffering and death to eternal life. We will express our faith in what he promised in the Gospel – that now that he is lifted up to new life, he is drawing all of us to himself.

Jesus leads us to his Father’s side. One year ago this afternoon, Pope John Paul spoke his final words on earth, an expression that faith. He said, ‘Let me go to the Father’s house’.

As we pray for Pope John Paul and for Bishop Jeremiah today, we look to the celebration of Holy Week. The death and resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrate at Easter time – and in every Mass – is the truth that gathers us here. It is the truth that they devoted their lives to preaching and teaching and living.

On the day of the inauguration of his ministry as Pope, Benedict XVI told us that the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to others: “There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with him. The task of a shepherd, the task of a fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world’.

Today we think of two people who devoted themselves to their ministry as shepherds. We pray that they, and we, may one day be reunited in the house of the Father.

+Donal Murray
Bishop of Limerick