Transparent Signs
Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from December 16, 2007
"He will prepare your way before you." Matthew 11:10
"Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine,/ when will you let me get sober?" That was his favorite song accompanied by a well played guitar. Yet this theme had nothing to do with the recent premature death of my contemporary and friend, Teddy Hurley. He fell victim of pancreatic cancer. We had been companions on the football and the hurling fields, and later on the golf links. Teddy had a lithe frame and the keen eye of an athlete. He had entered the seminary a few years before me. His fellow priests in the Dublin diocese mourned his passing last month as did his neighbors in West Cork...
All Hallows and Clonliffe College were only a mile apart. When we got together in Dublin he would often tell me tales of his home village Johnstown, next door to my native heath, Inchigeela. Both our families ran pubs. He loved to tell this story:
Every First Friday, three local farmers came like clockwork to Hurley's Bar. Following age old custom, one would not dream of only buying one's own drink. They would buy a round, but all at once. This meant that they had nine pints lined up on the counter in front of them. This always struck the young Teddy as strange. Once he got up the nerve to ask, "You only come here once a month and you always order nine pints, no more, no less. Is there a reason for this ritual?" "Oh indeed there is good reason," answered one of them gruffly. "You see, we have to fortify ourselves for our First Friday Confession." Maybe any excuse was a good one for a Guinness, especially when facing the merciless Canon.
I wrote to his sister saying that Teddy had based his priesthood not on fear, but on love and compassion. He was committed to promote the spirit of Vatican II, with it's emphasis on openness and God's unconditional love.
John the Baptist is highlighted during the Advent season. He has always been presented as a model for priesthood. He pointed to one who is to come. It is as if he says, "It is not about me." As another priest friend, Thomas Lane, CM has written in his book The Heart of Catholic Spirituality, "The task of all church ministry is to make transparent the work of our redemption, the work of our one and only mediator.. Without this transparency, human mediators could give the impression that they are acting on their own right. This would be the negation of the ministry of mediation. Without transparency, the work of the ordained person, in particular, could seem like a brokering in one's own name."
John called for healing, reconciliation, and conversion, as we prepare the way of the Lord. In our Advent waiting, we celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. "The lame will leap like a stag." Healing is the best sign of His coming. "Say to those whose hearts are frightened: be strong, fear not!" As real as the irrational fears of our forefathers, are the insecurities of our time. Walls, gates and an ever growing security industry will not resolve an age of anxiety. It is time to turn to the unconditional love of the Christ. Fifteen priests will be with us acting as transparent signs of God's abundant grace and mercy, as did my friend Ted.
