Isaiah, (detail), 1285-97, marble. Giovanni Pistano

Readings

New American Bible (Philippines, USA)

Jerusalem Bible (Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland)

Gospel (Luke 13:22-30)

Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.”

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I'm preparing this in my native Dublin which has changed enormously since I first left it in 1968. In those days the church was packed for every Sunday Mass with people from every age group. Now, young adults are very noticeable by their absence. Up to 2000 in the vast majority of churches throughout the country every face would be white. the parish where I come home to now was an exception. there were usually one or two Indian doctors from the local government hospital at Sunday Mass. One, as I recall, was a reader.

Now you find black faces, brown faces and white faces of varying shades, a result of the phenomenon that in less than ten years the foreign population of Ireland has grown from virtually zero to ten percent. (Some have left in the last two years because of the recession). In my parish church you will find nurses from the Philippines and Kerala, India, at Sunday Mass along with Nigerians, Poles, Lithuanians and people from other countries.

The words of Isaiah in today's Mass ring very true for me:

Thus says the LORD:
I know their works and their thoughts,
and I come to gather nations of every language;
they shall come and see my glory.

People from many countries gather together in St Brigid's church, Blanchardstwon, that was a rural village when I was a child but is now a suburb of the ever-expanding Dublin City. We experience the glory of God as we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. this gives me a sense of joy.

But when I see the absence of so many young Irish people I think of the words of Jesus in today's gospel: I do not know where you are from. In 1961, the year I entered the seminary the Church in Ireland celebrated the Patrician Year, 1,500 years after the death of St Patrick, one of the greatest of all missionaries, who came back to Ireland to preach the gospel to the people who had kidnapped him when he was only 16 and kept him in captivity for six years.

I think of North Africa where the Church once flourished and that produced the great St Augustine, whoe feast is 28 August, but which became totally Islamic within a couple of centureis of his death. will Ireland and the rest of Europe go the same way?

Irish missionaries preached the Gospel in many of the Asian and African countries whose citizens are now living here.

Will Filipino and Keralese nurses, Polish plumbers (the 'Polish plumber' is a sort of caricature but many in the construction industry are from eastern Europe), Nigerian newspaper vendors and their families bring a renewal of faith to Ireland?  Or will their children grow up with the same values as so many young Irish people for whom the Sacrament of Confirmation is the moment when they leave the Church rather than become more committed to living and preaching the gospel?

Anima Christi Filipino Choir, Dublin

The Door of Opportunity Will Not Remain Forever Open

Biblical Reflection for 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time C