St Gabriel's Retreat

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Opening Announcement: BBC Radio 4. It’s ten past eight and time for Sunday Worship which this morning comes from St Gabriel’s Retreat, the Graan*, Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh. It’s led by the writer and broadcaster, Father Brian D’Arcy who reflects on the different aspects of his ministry. And he’ll be joined by the singer Daniel O’Donnell.

Bells

Father D’Arcy:  Good morning and welcome to St Gabriel’s Retreat, The Graan about 2 miles from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. There’s nothing particularly romantic about the name. The Graan is the townland we live in and the word itself seems to have been derived from the Irish word for “gravely hill”! But The Graan actually means many different things to different people. It’s a place of healing where people bring their anxieties, their pains and their traumas in the hope that they will find inner peace. Essentially it’s a place of peace where hundreds come to attend Mass, to be fed on the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

MUSIC HOLY GOD WE PRAISE THY NAME (German Melody)
Daniel O’Donnell “At the end of the Day” Track 8 (ROSCD2040)

Father D’Arcy I have been coming to The Graan for as long as I can remember. I was brought here by my parents as a boy. Then 55 years ago I came as a Passionist novice in September 1962. The heavy doors closed behind me and that was the end of life as I knew it. Being a novice in those times was far from easy. The main aim, and I don’t think I’m being unfair here, seems to have been to break down your individuality and to make you obedient. After a year’s training I took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

 I moved to Dublin to spend 7 years studying, and preparing to be a priest in what would be a post-Vatican II Church. After ordination, I loved my work as a priest among the marginalised in Dublin. At the end of 1989 I was changed to The Graan and led the Community here for seven years. I then moved to another house in Co Down but in the year 2000 I returned to The Graan and have been here ever since.

Now the time has come for me to move on again. This is a graced time of reflection for me. I am grateful for many things, but being human, I have many regrets as well. The challenge, and it is a tough challenge, is for me to let go gracefully of what I love. It is a time for me to acknowledge my faults and my mistakes.

Lord you came to reconcile us to one another and to the Father. Lord have mercy.
You heal the wounds of sin and division. Christ have mercy.
You intercede for us with your Father. Lord have mercy.

And may Almighty God have mercy on us all, forgive us our sins and bring us gently to life everlasting. Amen.

The mercy that I have received has become the driving force behind all my ministries. As a priest I have had a varied life. I have travelled widely including periods of ministry in South Africa. I have met, and in many cases become friends with a huge variety of people. Some of them are well known; the vast majority are ordinary people known only to their family and friends. Yet despite all my experiences, I like to think that at the heart of it all is the mercy and love that God shows to his people. “We have to show welcome and forgiveness to the lost within and without the Church. There is no other way”. And for me at the heart of this is the story of the Prodigal Son.

Reading Luke 15. 11-24 Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.

MUSIC MORNING HAS BROKEN (Traditional Scots Melody)
Daniel O’Donnell “Faith and Inspiration” Track 3 (RZ BCD717)

Father D’Arcy Homily

Dickens said that the best short story ever written was the story of the Prodigal Son. Look at the phrases it has given to our everyday language: “prodigal”, “fatted calf”, “he came to his senses”, “lost and found”. No story tells us more about God or makes us feel better about ourselves, It tells us what sin is and what God’s forgiveness is.
The younger son is typical of most of us. He wanted pleasure and he wanted it immediately. He wanted his inheritance before his father died, which really means he wanted his father dead now. His attitude was, “Be happy today, no matter whom you hurt.
Life teaches a different lesson. When your fortune runs out, so do your friends. Peace of mind disappears quicker than any of them. But at least the younger son showed some maturity. He came to his senses. He was willing to change and he was repentant. Hunger also played a huge part in his conversion.
His father’s servants were better off than he was. O he would go to his father, cap in hand, prepare his list of sins and be willing to be a servant rather than an heir. How that’s real repentance.
Time to introduce the father, who represents a patient God. He knew his son wanted him dead. Yet the Gospel shows a beautiful side to him. “While he was still a long way off he saw his son and ran out to meet him” Is there a better image of God in the whole world? That’s the God of compassion. It’s not just a story about a father and a son on a farm. This is about how we treat God and how God treats us. Even though we may be only a dot on the horizon God is still looking out for us. He doesn’t want to humiliate us. Each of us matters to God.
I have much sympathy for the elder son. He never did much wrong nf when the wild one ran off, he kept the show on the road. Was he as harshly treated as he thought he was. He certainly was very angry. Angry that the calf he reared was being killed to feed the waster. He sulked. He wouldn’t even come into the house.
Anyway, the elder brother doesn’t deal with his anger, he become a sad old begrudger. He is not content that God’s goodness allows him into heaven. He wants to decide who else gets there. His father recognises his meanness but treats him with the same sympathy he shows to the prodigal. However he does make the point:: what is yours you will get, you have no need to worry about my generosity to others; there is plenty of room in Gad’s kingdom for us all and it’s up to me who gets there, not you.
Sometimes we in the Church use our energies to drive people out of it. The self-righteous want to hi-jack God’s mercy just like the begrudging son. But the prodigal Father has shown us the way.
 All’s well that ends well and God has his party in the end,.

MUSIC AMAZING GRACE (Traditional melody)
Daniel O’Donnell “Songs of Inspiration” (RITZ BCD 709)

Father D’Arcy My good friend, Daniel O’Donnell.

Daniel O’Donnell.So Father Brian, how did you get involved in the music business initially?

Father D’Arcy: When I was at school in Omagh, a lot of the boys who subsequently became stars were at the school with me and I kept contact with them right through my student days and then when they came to Dublin, I was a student, I had nowhere to go, we had no money and I used to go down to the Belvedere Hotel.

Daniel O’Donnell My first getting to know you was in one of the dance halls in Dublin and I can remember seeing you in the dance hall and, you know, we didn’t think it a bit odd to see you in there though and yet it should have been odd for a priest to be out at that hour of the night.

Father D’Arcy Well of course it was odd, but I’d become so much part of the scene, people would come up to me with my Roman collar on, people came up to me, “Would you hear my confession; I’ love to talk to you”, The biggest problem was the noise of the band and I had to find a corner to talk to them. And I heard more stories and I gave more help to them in a corner of a ballroom than I ever did in the corner of a confession box

Daniel O’Donnell Well, you see the important thing I suppose about religion is that sometimes religion has to be brought to where it’s needed. It’ not always where it’s at home, you know there isn’t really a home for religion and I suppose in your case, as you say, about people in a ballroom, those people mightn’t have plucked up the courage to go to you in a chapel, but you were where they were comfortable.

Father D’Arcy But that’s the beauty of it. I think we all took risks, not because of piosity, we took risks because we knew, not to put a tooth in it, that if Jesus had been around, that’s where would have been.

Daniel O’Donnell Absolutely, and the other thing about life, I think, is that a lot of people try to make it too back and white and most people are in the grey area.

Father D’Arcy The music we were involved in, particularly country music, was always about life and that’s what made it real; it’s about real people and I always took the view that religion has to be about real people, not ideal people. And real people were good enough for Jesus and it ought to be good enough for us.

Despite all my adventures in the world of show business, I have always considered myself as a priest first and foremost. Some of my friends were perturbed that I didn’t leave the priesthood because of the many scandals covered up by the Church. I had to think about it deeply but on every occasion I stayed a priest because I firmly believed that’s what God wanted me to do.

I’ve enjoyed broadcasting for RTE, the Irish broadcasting station, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Ulster. I’ve always believed that writing and broadcasting are a means to bring joy and encouragement to people badly in need of both. Whether it’s religious programmes or music programmes I’ve always been able to share my vision of a loving God in a down-to-earth and positive way.

To be allowed into people’s homes is a rare privilege. I am acutely aware that I can reach more people in a single broadcast than I can in a lifetime of preaching in a church.

(Opening of Sunday with Brian D’Arcy.)

All of my priestly life has been spent against a background of what were called the “Troubles” here in Ireland. I was ordained in 1969 a few weeks after rioting first began in Belfast. Thirty0 years ago 11 people were killed in the Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen town. Two years earlier a policeman was murdered on his way into Mass here in The Graan. Over the years I’ve made it my life’s work to cross the religious divide and to build relationships with all people of good will. I thank God that I was blessed by brave Christian people, none more so than the late Gordon Wilson and his wife Joan. Their daughter Marie was killed in the Enniskillen bomb. The Christian witness of the Wilsons changed many lives and many attitudes including my own.

 Reading (from St Matthew 5)

‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven..

MUSIC MAKE ME A CHANNEL OF YOUR PEACE (Sebastian Temple)
Daniel O’Donnell “Faith and Inspiration” Track 12 (RZ BCD717)

Father D’Arcy I’ve sometimes been accused of being a troublesome priest too ready to criticise certain aspects of the Church, especially the way it mishandled the abuse of children. I freely admit that it has been at times extremely painful for me and for others. I have had to frequently question my own motives. Despite the trauma though, the threats and many sleepless nights, I’m at peace with myself now. I know I could have done it no other way. There comes a time when one has to understand that loyalty to Truth and to the compassion of the Gospel message, is the very least a priest should strive for no matter what the pain. The hurt we endure is minimal when compared to the crucifying pain of abuse itself.

When life threatens to get too much for me, or if I’ve foolishly tried to squeeze 24 hours of activity into a 12 hour day, I become acutely aware of my own vulnerability. At those times I make a point of getting away on my own. My favourite place to find my inner peace is an island in Lower Lough Erne

Devenish is the site of a monastery founded in the 6th century. and that’s left now are a few half ruined buildings and a spectacular round tower. I sometimes sit on a boat bobbing in the water. For more than a thousand years these waters were made sacred by the prayers of generations of monks. And. for me these waters are made holy by a thousand years of prayer, preaching and heroic missionary activities. Lough Erne has never ceased to refresh my soul.

 MUSIC BE STILL MY SOUL (Sibelius)
Beth Neilsen Chapman CD1 Track 7 “Prism” BNCCD002

Father D’Arcy We’ve come back to the Graan now to another very peaceful place – our prayer room. I have a chair where I sit late at night when everyone else is long in bed and quietly ask the Lord for forgiveness. It’s a lovely room with a modern stained glass window depicting sheaves of wheat and vine branches which make bread and wine our food and drink, the very presence of Christ himself. But God is never trapped in a room and as I look out through the window I see the God of nature in full bloom.

So Let us pray.

We pray for the Church in all its different branches that it may always be a place of welcome, acceptance and forgiveness. May all who seek to follow Christ have lives that reflect his love and grace.

We pray for this community of Northern Ireland with its many unresolved tensions and political uncertainties, for those who still carry the pain that violence inflicts. Bless all in leadership here and grant that stable, understanding community may develop

We pray for the world and think of all who suffer because of violence and hunger; for refugees and those spend their lives in fear. Grant that the peace you alone can give will come to enfold your world.

We pray for those who feel broken or confused, for those suffering physical pain or mental torment, for those who think of themselves as unwanted and unloved. May they come to know and to share the calm and of your love

Our Father…

Father D’Arcy We continue to pray in the words of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk whose thoughts have formed and sustained me. This is my favourite prayer and it takes on a completely new meaning in these uncertain times for me.

Reading

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that
I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

 But I believe that the desire to please You
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that, if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for You are ever with me,
and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Father D’ArcyI want to offer my sincere thanks to Daniel O’Donnell for sharing his stories and his music. Thanks to our readers, and most of all to you for joining me at The Graan in Enniskillen this morning.

The blessing of Almighty God guide you, protect you, sustain you, and bless you, now and forever. Amen.

MUSIC BE NOT AFRAID (Dufford)
Daniel O’Donnell “Faith and Inspiration” Track 5 (RZ BCD717)