BYMICHAEL BRESLIN
In his homily at the Centenary Mass in Holy Cross Church, Lisnaskea, whose patron is Ronan, the Bishop of Clogher, Most Rev Dr Joseph Duffy suggested that an ideal way to mark the 100 years of Holy Cross was to twin with Locronan (the place of Ronan)in Brittany.
It's named after an Irish bishop Ronan, whose cult was brought there by Irish monks in the 7th century.
Taking his reference from the Book of Numbers 21: 4-9, the full text of the bishop's homily is as follows:
'I have always been intrigued by this story of the serpents in the first reading and by the rather strange image of the bronze serpent. The general drift is clear enough. The bronze serpent is a signpost, a signpost pointing the way to Calvary. All the people were asked to do was to look up at it, and they were enabled to cope, enabled to leave their problems behind, empowered to move on. A parallel in your own experience is surely your own Holy Cross Church where we are gathered today. You have only to look up at the soaring spire of this building and you are looking at a symbol with the same message. You are looking at a life-giving symbol, an uplifting symbol of hope and love.
'The predecessor of Holy Cross, the famous Moate chapel, conveyed the same message in a different way, a way that was much less visual , but no less full of meaning. Frank Rogers, who has written so magnificently on the subject, assures us that the site of the Moate was chosen because it was near Sciath Gabhra, the inauguration site of the Maguires. The gabhar, it would seem, was pre-Christian in origin, reminiscent, perhaps, of the famous King Puck of Killorglin in Kerry, but with the meaning, not of a goat as in modern Irish, but of the white horse which was traditionally part of the inauguration rite.
'The point for us is that the king was accepted in Biblical and indeed for most of Christian history, as a sacred person, a person who was looked up to and revered, a person who represented the highest authority there is. Remember the caption on the head of the Cross, Jesus of Nazareth king of the Jews.
'There's a detail about the bronze serpent that I hope will interest you. Peter Harbison, the man who compiled the new Shell Guide to Ireland, is among other things, an authority on high crosses. He tells us that the high cross at Dromiskin, co Louth, now in the National Museum, Dublin, was originally a wooden cross covered in bronze. He concludes this from the decorative squares and bosses on the stonework, that these were modelled on original bronze. I mention this because the patron of Dromiskin was none other than one Ronan, the same Ronan, I am now convinced, who was and is still a patron of your parish of Aghalurcher. The lesson from all this is that our ancestors knew their Scripture.
'On an occasion like this it's tempting to go deeper into this subject, into this unique symbol of the Cross. But there are other serpents in the story, nasty destructive creatures lurking in the long grass, pests that refuse to go away.
'We cannot spend all our time looking up at the bronze serpent and ignore the ones that are out to get us, or at least make life difficult for us. It keeps our feet on the ground when we remember that we share these serpents not only with one another but with the Lord Jesus himself. We are all wounded by them, one way or another, as he was on the Cross, and indeed even before he mounted the Cross.
'The years take their toll on all of us. There are the scars of bad health, of big disappointments, of missed opportunities, of marriage problems, of unhappy memories. The list is endless. If you want to see human frailty and suffering, come with us to Lourdes as many of you in this parish have done in recent years.
'What it all comes down to is this : how do we turn these hurts into healing ? How do we turn the serpents that sting and wound and kill into the bronze serpent that restores and saves ? How are we reassured that God really loves us in spite of our defects and deficiencies? How can we allow Jesus on the Cross, and the Cross in our own lives, to be, not an experience of despair but a source of inner peace and joy ?
'I have two broad ideas to offer you, bearing in mind what we are about today. I mentioned Lourdes a moment ago, the shrine of Mary Mother of God. For most of us our favourite informal prayer, certainly when we are in trouble, is still the Rosary.
'I hope you don't think I am naive but I would like to think that you all had your own Rosary beads and that you know how to use them. Please, never under-estimate the power and depth of the Rosary.
'Take the Hail Mary for example, the main prayer of the Rosary. You may look on the Hail Mary simply as a prayer addressed to Mary. The truth is that it's only the last phrase of the prayer, the Holy Mary, that's addressed to Mary. The first and main part is a direct Gospel message, a statement with the most profound meaning for each one of us: Hail Mary, the Lord is with you. This is not a mere plea for help, a prayer of petition however humble and personal. It's nothing less than a solemn and awesome proclamation of the Christian Gospel. Just think about it. The Lord is with you. You will bring forth a son. You will call his name Jesus. He will be a Son, a Saviour , a King.
