In the steps of Jesus in the Market Place

On both sides of the River Liffey in Dublin, there are fruit and vegetable markets. For generations people from all over the country would do business buying and selling fruit and veg in bulk. The Moore Street and Thomas Street dealers and traders would sell fresh fruit to people from their street stalls. The fish, fruit, and vegetable dealers on Moore street in Dublin's north inner city are famous all over the world.

Today, trucks come in from Europe with shipments of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Markets people buy them and retailers then stock them in their stores the length and breath of Ireland. The markets people who work here begin their day very early and work into the afternoon. After a long day, they return home to begin again the following morning when most of us are asleep. 

In St. Michan's Parish, we daily meet the markets community as they load and unload the best of vegetables, fruits and herbs. Forklifts drive back and forth around the parish with another pallet of goods ready to travel to a shop or supermarket. 

Each year, we always had a memorial Mass for those markets people who have died and gone before us. The Mass was usually in St. Michan's Church, Halston St and the traders would come in and pray for and remember their dead. About five years ago, we decided to bring the Mass to the markets where the dealers and traders erected a beautiful altar festooned with fruit and vegetables and flowers. 

Following a conversation I had with Derek Leonard, one of the traders of long standing and also a Permanent Deacon for the Archdiocese of Dublin, we felt it would be lovely if the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Diarmuid Martin would come and celebrate the memorial Mass this year. And so, last Friday, the Archbishop came to the Market place and along with the traders, dealers, and neighbors, as well as the school children from Presentation Primary School, George's Hill, we prayed for those gone before us marked with the sign of faith. These Markets people we offered the Mass for have passed on the love of the fruits of Mother Earth as well as the love of the faith and family. We give thanks to God for their life and their generosity.

All Saints

 

St. Jose Maria Escriva: “The saint is the sinner who never stopped trying.”

St. John Paul II: “Do not afraid to be saints”

We have what it takes to be saints.

We are called by name – chosen

We are saved by the power of the love of Jesus Christ

He reminds us that God is Love.

St. John

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God’s children, and that is what we are.”

Lavished - This means generosity.

To paraphrase Pope Francis; He doesn’t just grease us with his love. It’s an abundant pouring out of it.

So our response must surely be to be the best people we can be - or to at least try.

And indeed, the happiest people are people who attempt to live the beatitudes each day.

And as we go down through them, lived honestly, they are a recipe for happiness and contentment on the inside.

This I believe is what the saints did.

Saints Louis and Zelie Martin

This morning in Rome on this Mission Sunday the Holy Father, Pope Francis canonized four new saints for the Universal Church. Among them was Louis and Zelie Martin, a married couple. They are the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, affectionately known as the Little Flower.

Louis Martin

Louis Martin (1823 - 1894) was a watchmaker by trade.  He also managed his wife's lace business. Born into a family of soldiers, Louis spent his early years at many different French military posts.

 

At twenty-two, young Louis sought to enter religious life at the monastery of the Augustinian Canons of the Great St. Bernard Hospice in the Alps. Unfortunately this didn't work out.  Eventually, Louis settled down in Alencon, a small city in France, and pursued his watchmaking trade.

Zelie Guerin

 

Zelie Guerin (1831 - 1877) was one of Alencon's more talented lace makers. Born into a military family, Zelie didn't have a very happy childhood and her mother and father weren't particularly affectionate. As a young lady, she sought unsuccessfully to enter the religious order of the sisters of the Hotel-Dieu. Zelie then learned the Alencon lace-making technique and soon mastered this painstaking craft.

THE MARTINS

Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin met in Alencon, and they married on July 13, 1858, and thus began their remarkable journey through life. Within the next fifteen years, Zelie bore nine children, seven girls and two boys. "We lived only for them," Zelie wrote; "they were all our happiness."They had more than their fair share of suffering in that within three years, Zelie's two infant boys, a five year old girl, and a six-and-a-half week old infant girl all died. Zelie was grief-stricken. "I haven't a penny's worth of courage," she was heard to say. But her faith sustained her. She firmly believed that she would meet her children again "up above."

The Martins' last child was born January 2, 1873. She was weak and frail, and doctors feared for the infant's life. But the baby girl proved to be much tougher than anyone realized. She survived the illness.  "The baby," Zelie noted, "is full of life, giggles a lot, and is sheer joy to everyone." Although the shadow of the cross was never far from the Martin household, Louis and Zelie had always found support in their faith.

The series of tragedies had helped them to grow stronger in their love for each other and their family and they poured out their affection on their five surviving daughters; Marie, 12, Pauline, 11, Leonie 9, Celine, 3, and their new-born. Louis and Zelie named their new-born; Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin. A century later people would know her as St. Therese, and call her the "Little Flower."
(Therese was canonized on May 17th 1925 by Pope Pius XI)

(part of the above information thanks to www.littleflower.org)

On this day in 1979, Pope John Paul II arrived in Ireland...

On this day in 1979, Pope John Paul II arrived in Ireland...

 

I was just ten years old when Pope John Paul II came to Ireland...

 

I remember the 'Alarm Car' waking the neighbourhood up to be in time to join the Parish procession to the Phoenix Park. My mam had our tomato sandwiches and collapsible stools for the Mass. We were shown to the corrals and waited to see the Aer Lingus Boeing 747 EI ASJ as it routed up the River Liffey.

 

I remember myself and my brother Kevin wearing our Snorkel Jackets sprayed with wasp killer to keep the autumnal bees and wasps away.  I remember the cheers of the more than a million people as the Holy Father arrived to begin Mass. "Like St. Patrick, I too have heard the voice of the Irish calling to me..."

 

I remember shouting to the Pope in the Pope Mobile as he wound his way through the cheering crowds after Mass.

 

I recall standing on Thomas Street in the heart of Dublin's Liberties with my mam, my brother and my aunt as the Pope Mobile passed by and the Pope wearing what looked like a big red sombrero...

 

That was 36 years ago...

I'd love if Pope Francis would come to Ireland. It's time...

 

 

 

The Tongue...

Feast of St. Michan. August 25th.

From the banks for the River Jordan, Jesus began his public ministry of preaching the Good News. He called 12 apostles to follow him and he challenged them to "Go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt 28) After Jesus died on the cross and rose again, he sent the Holy Spirit to fortify his disciples to continue to preach the gospel.

St. Patrick brought the Faith to Ireland and in his turn, Michan, on the banks of another river, the River Liffey preached the message of Jesus Christ to the faith community of his day. We thank God for the faith of generations of people who have passed on this good news to our time.

Brief History of St. Michan s Church Halston Street

Who St. Michan was, has, until recently, been a mystery to ecclesiastical historians. The old Irish name (Glasmocanoge) of the street now called Constitution Hill, gives a clue to the mystery. Glasmocanoge is the boundary stream of the district that was under the spiritual care of St. MoChanog, namely, St. Michan.

He was the eldest son of the Prince of Brecknock in Wales and lived in the fifth century. He founded the Cill or Church of Cill-mo-Chonog (now Kilmacanoge in Co. Wicklow) and his brother Mocarog founded the cill in Delgany. It seems that having founded the Cill in Kilmacanoge, he then came to Dublin and set up a hostel in the Stoneybatter area.

St. Michan is mentioned in the "A Calendar of Irish Saints" as "Michan of Cill Michan in Atha Cliath" (Michan of the Church of Michan in Dublin) and his feast is 25th August. In fact, his father, the Prince of Brecknock, in Wales was said to have been an Irishman. When Michan set up his Cill in Dublin, he returned to his native Wales and was slain in 496.

Michan s Cill or religious house continued for several centuries and in 1096 the foundation of the Cathedral of St. Michan was laid by the then Bishop. The church remained a Cathedral for a very short time until Christ Church became the Cathedral in 1121. Archbishop Laurence O Toole (1161) introduced Regular Canons into Christ Church to live in community. In support of the Canons he granted various churches, with their tithes, among which was St. Michan s (1178).

After the reformation, the Protestant Government took over the Church of St. Michan (in Church Street) in 1540 and the Catholic priests had to find new ways of providing the Sacraments to their faithful. They had to resort to the back streets for those purposes. St. Michan's Mass House was in a back room of a house and became the first Parish Chapel recorded in Penal Times. The Sacraments continued to be available to the people of the area through the Penal Times and limited Catholic education was provided for boys and girls. Teresa Mullaly founded George s Hill where the Presentation Sisters continue her work to this day.

In 1704, the old building at the corner of Bull Lane and Mary s Lane was transformed into a chapel.  The Novena of Grace in honour of St. Francis Xavier was started in this chapel by the Jesuits in 1712
The Irish name for Michan is Mo-Can-og; the Mo (my) and Og (little) usually added to saints names as terms of affection, and Can was the surname. In Welsh the Mo is rendered My, and so, in the name Michan we have the Welsh pronunciation My-Can. The present day Catholic Church of St. Michan opened in 1817.

Easter Vigil in St. Michan's 2015

 

 

November annual Markets Remembrance Mass for all who have died from Dublin's Fruit and Vegetable Markets and deceased

Moore St/ Henry St/ Cole's Lane dealers and traders.

Pope Francis: Divorced people who remarry aren't excommunicated!