With a kind of modest defiance, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, raised, in his right hand, the wood of blackened oak, a cross that was no doubt hidden, many times, under a sleeve or below a floorboard.
The penal cross was 300 years old, and, though light as a feather, carried the weight of history and the power of God.
“This is the cross of Jesus Christ,” Archbishop Eamon Martin told pilgrims who had come to the Hill of Slane to rekindle the fire of faith, hope and love first lit by St Patrick in 433AD. “His suffering, his death and his resurrection that gives us our reason for living, our reason for hope.”
Eamon – whose name means ‘wealthy protector’ – had returned to Slane to celebrate Mass, to thank God for our faith, and to preserve a precious treasure. “Centuries ago,” he declared, “St Patrick came to this holy place for the Easter vigil, proclaiming Christ is risen, Christ is our hope. He reassured our ancestors that the Kingdom of God is very near. And he called for repentance and belief in the Good News.”
That morning, my fellow pilgrim guide, Elaine Kelly and I, had set out from the parish of St Michael’s in Belfast, all too aware of the challenging times facing the land of ‘saints and scholars’. We were joined by more than 40 pilgrims, who loved St Patrick and were inspired by his pilgrimage to this ancient hill to defy the High King of Tara, who alone was permitted to light the fire there.
We found, along with around 1,000 other pilgrims, that the Archbishop of Armagh, Patrick’s successor, had come to Slane, like Patrick, with a wake-up for the Irish.
The archbishop warned of the false gods that are destroying our children and asked why it is that our society is now so violent – why so many are taking their own lives, leaving a trail of devastation for their loved ones.
‘People,’ he warned, ‘are being duped into believing that happiness can be found or bought in this world alone’”
“My dear friends,” said the archbishop, “we cannot allow the flame of the Holy Spirit to be quenched here in Ireland. Many people have drifted away from practising their faith, distracted in many cases, by this frantic world of materialism and consumerism and its superficial promises of easy pleasures and success. And we are told nowadays, that all that matters is personal autonomy and choice.”
He spoke of the “sometimes aggressive secularism” and “moral relativism” in our society.
“People,” he warned, “are being duped into believing that happiness can be found or bought in this world alone. The lure of pleasure and possessions, of power, and celebrity and influence, suggesting that you don’t need God or religion.”
He pointed to the modern addictions such as drugs, and gambling as well as the harmful online content that is destroying the hearts and minds of the young.
“We must be alert to the false gods that surround us and their empty promises which steal away life and happiness from our people.”
Tempered
But the Archbishop tempered his message with hope – and recalled the prophecy of the druids regarding St Patrick and the fire he lit at Easter. “The druids advised King Laoghaire to beware of this new fire of Christianity. They said, ‘once it is lit, it will spread and its flame will never go out’.”
The archbishop, on fire with missionary zeal, echoed St Paul’s advice: that our minds must be on Heavenly things. “
“Is it not time for Ireland to wake up,” the archbishop declared, “and ask herself what is happening in our society? Why is relationship breakdown so rampant? Why is there so much violence in our streets and shocking domestic violence especially against women and children in our homes?”
“Why are so many people struggling with emotional and mental health issues? Why are so many good people taking their own lives and leaving behind endless heartbreak for their loved ones? Why are those who want to shout ‘Stop!’ and proclaim instead a gospel of life, faith and family – why are they so often sidelined or as they say nowadays cancelled?”
Burn away evil, and darkness and despair and replace them with light and love and compassion and forgiveness and healing and reconciliation”
The questions did not go unanswered of course. “Christ is the answer,” said the archbishop. “He brings that hope which does not disappoint and what better time to renew our mission than during this Jubilee year of hope, and in this anniversary year of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 350 years ago St Margaret Mary Alocoque described her vision of the Sacred Heart on fire with love.”
“The flame of love was radiating out from the Heart of Christ and she saw it as a call to conversion and an encouragement to burn away evil, and darkness and despair and replace them with light and love and compassion and forgiveness and healing and reconciliation.”
“That fire at the heart of Jesus is the fire of the Holy Spirit and when we pray to and with the Sacred Heart, we are praying for the fire of the Holy Spirit to come alive in our hearts, in our homes and in our country.”
Before lighting the symbolic fire, he also reminded us that we must throw off our old selves and put on a new self in the image of our Creator. “My dear friends,” he said. “That was the message of the early apostles.”
Message
“It was also the message of St Patrick here on the Hill of Slane and it is our message too. It is our mission to rekindle the flame of faith once more in the heart of the people of Ireland and to spread the hope and the joy and the love that faith brings.”
“Our people need to hear from us that in Christ we have ‘Good News’ for our troubled world. We hold a precious treasure that is worth having and worth keeping.”
The Archbishop concluded with a prayer: “I ask St Patrick to come to our aid and make our hearts burn with the love of the Holy Trinity as his did, and give us all the courage we need to confront falsehood in our own lives and in our world wherever it has taken root.”
Dana’s song for St Patrick, Light the Fire, filled the hillside. Regrettably she had taken ill and was unable to attend, but I noted just how many of the pilgrims knew the words, and were spontaneously singing along.
Dana’s husband, Damien Scallon, was one of the organisers of the event, along with the parish of Slane, the Diocese of Armagh and the Apostles of Love, a local evangelical group led by Deacons John Taffe and Pat Butterly.
I was struck too by the words of Deacon Pat who declared that St Patrick was very much at the forefront of our faith. “Now is his time!” he said. “Now is his time.”
Indeed, he reminded us that the American Bishop, Robert Barron, had spoken of St Patrick’s mission when he addressed young people in Rome just days ago, as part of the Jubilee Year of Hope.
Bishop Barron, who has Irish roots, urged them to become missionaries like Patrick.
Bishop Barron also referred to the fact that the Roman emperor Nero had ordered the execution of the first Pope, Peter. But it was St Peter’s successor, not Nero’s, who prevailed. “We are still here, aren’t we?” grinned Bishop Barron.
One might say the same about King Laoghaire and Patrick’s successor, and the faithful remnant on that hillside.
We returned to Belfast emboldened by the power of the man pinned to the cross.
