FULL CIRCLE (Back to Rome)

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The college campus is at its best this October morning. We walk slowly, creating a precious memory, stopping for coffee at Butler’s van. “Enjoy every coffee” she says, “and eat everything you can.” John O’Brien said something similar to me a few years back and I try to follow such advice, to find a balance between watching what I eat and simply enjoying my food. It’s my opinion that there is too much caution around food, an obsession with in this “first world of ours” while throughout the earth there are people who cannot choose what they eat and, worse still those who have nothing to eat at all.

Claire, who is very health-conscious, said recently that if you eat your food with love, then no matter what it is, it will be good for you. Within reason, of course. That is something I agree with.

The hunger of the hungry challenges me to cherish the food that I eat, whatever it may be, just as the approaching death of the dying challenges me to live as well as I can. And it brings me on to the food of the Spirit, food that is neglected on a large scale, and the reminder of Jesus that we “do not live on bread alone but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”

This Word of God resonated with me on the morning of September 28th, the day on which I was officially appointed as Rector of the Basilica of San Silvestro in Rome:

“When Your Words came, I devoured them: Your Word was my delight and the joy of my heart; for I was called by Your Name, Lord God…” (Jeremiah 15:16)

When Liam, the Provincial, phoned to tell me the news, I heard his words as the Word of God and receive them, consume them in that spirit. I’m also drawn to the significance of dates and September 28th marks nine years since my induction as parish priest of Hastings, a sacred and most significant moment in my life.

It was also significant that, at the time of Liam’s call, I was watching Pope Leo XIV praying with the young people in Stade de France in Paris, uniting me with him, with them in that most blessed moment. Uplifted.

And so, now my time of waiting is coming to an end, the prayer of not knowing becomes a “Nunc Dimittis”, the prayer of Simeon in the Temple – “at last all-powerful Master, you give leave to your servant to go…”

“I waited, I waited for the Lord and He stooped down to me. He has put a new song into my mouth” And so, I will sing a new song.

In San Silvestro, I will succeed Father Rory who has been elected Provincial and that means he has to move to Dublin. For me it’s like coming full circle, since I started my life as a priest in San Silvestro 46 years ago!

Many people are very excited by this appointment, seeing it as something more special than it actually is. Rome conjures up in people ideas of promotion, ideas that I must be extra special in some way. It is not. I am not. It is a service and I am the servant and, truth be told, in these times of decline, there was nobody else available to fulfil the role.

Having said all that, I do believe that it is what God wants of me now and that I am the one He has chosen for San Silvestro at this time for however long and I will give it my best.

Among the many messages I have received over the past few days, this one from a very matter-of-fact Pallottine colleague is interesting as a kind of affirmation that what is happening is actually correct:

“…it is amazing how the human mind works. What I write to you is not fake. Today I arrived at the Oratory an hour too early for prayer because yesterday I took somebody to the bus stand early and did not adjust my alarm clock. So, I went back to my room for a cup of coffee. I could have corrected a few more essays, but I didn't. Just sat there reflecting. One thought was: will I ever visit Rome again? Probably not. Next was John Fitz, just John Fitz. Next was: why doesn't E. Monson just get on a plane to keep San Silvestro the great place that it is and into the future. This is what I am writing after I opened my phone 5 minutes ago. And I don't need to add more.”

What I need to add is that this colleague, following his moment of reflection, opened his emails on his phone, and only then did he see the announcement of my appointment! It is for me a confirmation! And John Fitz whom he mentions was a former Rector of San Silvestro and mutual friend who died last year. God rest him. He too, no doubt, would be pleased about this appointment.

I leave for Rome on October 17th and these days now are all about saying goodbye, letting go again of those I love and this home in Mervue that I have become used to again. It is probably harder for those I leave behind than it is for me. The time is short and I won’t get to see everyone I would like to see.

My official start date will be November 1st, Feast of All Saints whose help will be most welcome. But my actual first day there will be Mission Sunday, an appropriate day for beginning a new mission. And I hold to this word from the second reading for that day:

“We know…that God loves you and that you have been chosen.” (1 Thessalonians 1)

Nothing more is required. Thanks be to God!

In terms of place, being able to get to Ballyloughan regularly has been a huge blessing for me. The sights, the sounds, the trains, the people who take the time to look, to smile, to speak. Like the beauty of God, it is ever ancient, ever new.

 



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