St. Brendan’s Church, Birr, Wednesday 16th of April, 2025
The practice and devotion of praying the Stations of the Cross is especially associated with the season of Lent and this Holy Week as we lead up to the celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday in just two days’ time.
Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus
The sixth station Veronica wipes the face of Jesus resonates particularly as we focus on the gift of ministry in the Church today. The kindly and charitable gesture of this lady, whom we know little about is in many ways at the heart of ministry, that of giving, reaching out in love.
Vera Icon – True Image
The name Veronica, while not directly found in the Bible, is traditionally derived from the Latin “vera icon” (true image) and Greek “eikon” (image) and is associated with the legend of a woman who wiped Jesus’ face with a cloth, leaving an imprint of his image
As priests, volunteer ministers, those in the healing profession as nurses, doctors, carers and the many apostolates and ministries we engage in – we endeavour to imitate that grand gesture of loving service, offering solace in wiping the others brow, also an echo of the washing of the feet of Jesus in the liturgy of Holy Thursday, tomorrow.
Jubilee Pilgrims of Hope
During this Jubilee year of Hope, we as pilgrims of Hope have been actively seeking to recognise signs of that great virtue in the world around us.
Sadly there is so much of the opposite, the darkness of despair in the war torn world we live in and in the struggles of so many who suffer. We see that in so many ways in bad news that dominates our landscape of reality. Since Ash Wednesday we have been in the wilderness of the challenges of the challenges of the world and long for the brightness of what we desperately need to experience on Easter morning.
Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins who wrote the poem The Wreck of the Duetschland expresses it so well:
Let him easter in us,
Be a dayspring to the dimness of us,
Be a crimson-cresseted east.
But there are also many signs of that life giving hope that we earnestly seek during this Holy Week. We see it in the service and ministry all round us:
- The faithful and faith filled loving service of so many clergy in our diocese,
- The courage of 2 students for the priesthood,
- the energy given by 25 Volunteer Ministers and
- the enthusiasm and eagerness of 33 new recruits in this area
- the great work of so many on pastoral councils, committees, and various voluntary bodies around the diocese
- the sense of participation and energy being stirred up on the synodal pathway at international and national level
are indeed signs of hope.
Thanksgiving and blessings for the gift of Ministry
On this special evening in which we renew our commitment and promises to ministry, as we give thanks to all involved, we pray the continuation of God’s blessing for all involved.
Welcome of Brendan Pastoral Area in this bi-centenary year
We are grateful for the hospitality of the Brendan Pastoral Area in this magnificent Church celebrating the bicentenary this year. One of the really heart-warming stories of the founding of this Church was the donation of this sacred ground on which we pray by the Church of Ireland. At a time before ecumenism was fashionable and in vogue that generous outreach is a true sign of hope to a community that were at that point struggling financially and gasping to keep the head above water in pre-emancipation times. Truly a Veronical like gesture of the day. Thanks be to God, despite many challenges and much water under the bridge, the Church community continues to endure and bear witness to the Good News of the Gospel.
That Veronica like gesture of the wiping of the face of a furrowed brow was indeed a noble gesture, a great example, a symbolic icon of Christlike ministry, that which we aspire to this special evening as we renew our commitment to bring fresh hope to the communities in which we minister. Amen!
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