In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple
will be established as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah: 2.2/5).
We acknowledged gratefully the immense contribution which leaders of undaunted hope and great political skill had made.
Our Troubles are rooted in longstanding and intertwined conflicts - the political one between England and Ireland and the religious one in the Christian Churches.
We have come a long way towards their resolution. Now there is the further journey. May God’s reconciling Spirit guide us all steadily forward in the years ahead.
Fr Gerry Reynolds preached this homily at the Eucharist."
Homily at Eucharist May 8th 2007
The eyes of the world are on us today!
Good-will is flowing thro’ the whole society.
It’s an amazing change; a miracle.
“We have cast off the heavy chains of history”.
We’re on a new road, a new journey.
How are we to understand to-day’s events?
As the fruit of undaunted hope and great political skill
on the part of many political leaders. Yes!
But also as God’s response to faithful and persevering prayer.
To-day means that our exile from one another is ending.
We have reason to sing the song of the returned exiles?
“What marvels the Lord worked for us; indeed we are glad”.
I believe that we now have the
potential
to realise and showcase to the world God’s vision of peace
which the prophet Isaiah gave us 28 centuries ago.
Remember the first reading.
Isaiah sees the mountain of the House of the Lord
established as chief among the
mountains,
and all the peoples streaming to it,
encouraging one another on the way
towards a transforming encounter with the living God:
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths."
Isaiah sees emptying and humbling
ourselves together before God
as the sure source of a fundamental change in human attitudes.
Isaiah sees the nations discovering,
in their encounter with God, who they really are.
In revealing himself to them, God reveals them to one another.
They come to see themselves as no longer enemies at war
but as brothers and sisters in the
one family of God.
So there is no training for war any more,
but swords are turned into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks.
The peoples put all their energies
into developing together their human home.
Isaiah’s vision of God’s way of transforming history
is valid for all times and places.
It is now newly possible for us in N. Ireland if we really want it so.
But do we have the faith and humility to go that way?
Or will we try to build the future
taking no account of our utter
dependence on God
and our need of his wisdom and grace?
Humble persevering prayer helped to bring us to this day.
It will take us all the way to realise and showcase God’s plan for peace, provided we pray like St Thomas More:
“Lord, that which we pray for, help us to do!”
The people of Ireland and of Britain
have been through immense pain during the years of conflict.
I can well understand that there may be within you
some feelings out of tune with the spirit of this day –
a begrudging – a resentment – a bitterness,
over wrongs and injustice suffered by you and by others.
But there is no gain in bitterness.
It’s self destructive.
There is no way to deal adequately
with so much pain.
Enquiries can be put in place. Gestures of recompense are possible.
Time and the growth of God’s peace may bring some healing.
But in the end the wounded live with
their wounds.
And nothing will bring back those who died in the violence.
The burden of that past pain must not inhibit our capacity for generosity.
That would be to betray our God who was
“in Christ reconciling the world to himself,
not holding anyone’s faults against them,
but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
Holding nothing against one another
–
that’s the way God wants us to go.
“not holding anyone’s faults against them”,
and, as the Christian community, living
“the message of reconciliation” entrusted to us by God.
Perhaps in time past it’s been easier for the people of N.Ireland
to live in enmity than in friendship.
What Yeats said of our history still rang true:
“We had fed the heart on fantasies;
the heart’s grown brutal from the fare;
more substance in our enmities
than in our love” (The Tower)
But after to-day it should be easier to live in friendship!
And realising and showcasing God’s vision of peace
would see us creating together a
shared future,
shaping a new story of reconciliation and nation building.
And then our story will inspire people around the world,
still caught up in deep-rooted, long-lasting ethnic conflicts.
So we ask our God to set us free
from resentful feeling about past pain
and put within us a magnanimity of spirit
big enough to meet the total challenge of this historic day.
May we all be captivated
by the practical vision of God’s peace,
the vision first revealed to Isaiah 28 centuries ago in Israel.
It is God’s gracious plan for all times and places.
No more training for war,
but swords turned into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks,
that is, working together for the good of all.
The living God wants to see the walls dividing us levelled to the ground.
That is why he has led us to this day.
In this Eucharist you will be
empowered by the Holy Spirit of God
through sharing in the living Body and Blood of Jesus our Redeemer.
When you leave this assembly, keep
his presence within you in mind.
Stay conscious of the divine strength given to you in this Eucharist.
Be afraid no more. Do your part bravely.
Think big! Aim to realise and showcase God’s plan for peace.
Act small! Reach out in friendship day by day.
Wherever you see a wall dividing people pull our at least one brick.
The impossible is possible!
For God is master of the impossible.
Unity pilgrims at prayer in Clonard before
leaving for their visits to Woodvale Methodist Church and St Michael's
Church of Ireland on the Shankill on Sunday April 15th 2007".
