Bishop Leo O’Reilly’s Homily
at the Mid-Cavan Region Pioneer Mass
1st October 2010
You don’t need to keep cuttings from the newspapers about the evils of alcohol abuse to use them in a talk like this. All you have to do is open the paper on any day and, sadly, you will find stories about abuse of alcohol which almost beggar belief. I opened today’s paper and there on the inside of the front page was the headline: Dead man had ‘colossal’ alcohol level in his blood. The man was only 39, but he was found dead in the toilet of a pub with one of the highest alcohol readings ever recorded in the history of the state. It was two and a half time the dose that is regarded as lethal, ie enough to kill you.
Even one story like that is too much, but unfortunately there are hundreds every week. The need for temperance was never greater than it is today. The need for people like yourselves who show by your lives that it is possible to live very well without alcohol was never greater. The need for people to show that it’s not only possible to abstain from alcohol, but it is possible to enjoy yourself and have a very rewarding and fulfilling life was never greater. Your witness is important. It is influential. People notice it and while they may not be able to imitate it they admire it. As St Paul says in the second reading: The life and death of each one of us has its influence on others.
There was a time when to be a Pioneer was regarded as claiming to be holier than thou. Happily, I think that day is gone. I think people like Michael Ó Muircheartaigh and other high profile Pioneers have done a great service to the Association and to temperance by their willingness to bear witness publicly to their membership and commitment to the Pioneers. They have helped to make it respectable again. But each one of you here and especially those who are receiving the Cullen medal, gold and silver pins, you have also done your part in influencing others for the better where temperance in concerned. In an age which is growing weary of excess and becoming increasingly health conscious, I can see a bright future for the Pioneers.
Your membership of the Pioneers commits you to abstaining for life from alcoholic drink. It commits you to daily prayer, especially for those who abuse alcohol. It commits you to giving good example and practising self-denial. These are all very laudable practices, but like every good thing, it is important to make sure that it is not just a matter of going through the motions. Your Pioneer commitment must have a heart in it. It must be motivated by love. That is what will save it from being just external observance or holier than thou.
We celebrate today the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. She is also called the Little Flower. She was a Carmelite nun who had no great achievements to her name. She was never on the missions, yet she is the patron saint of the missions. She died very young, at the age of 24, but she is recognised as one of the great saints of our times. She spent a long time agonising about what exactly she was called to do in her life as a nun. And eventually she found the answer in St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. It’s the famous passage about love. That is the most important gift of all.
When she discovered this Therese says: “I was beside myself with joy, I cried out: Jesus my love! I’ve found my vocation and my vocation is love”. So she discovered her ‘little way’ to God. She didn’t have to do great deeds, but she could do the little things well, she could do them with love. She didn’t have to do extraordinary things, but do the ordinary things extraordinarily well. She would make love the motivation for all her actions and that would transform them into something beautiful for God.
The symbol of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the central symbol of the Pioneers. It is the symbol of love, of God’s love made human in the life of Jesus. The love of Jesus should inspire our self-denial, our prayer, our efforts to give good example and to help those whose lives are ruined by drinking. With love as the motivation of our actions there is no danger of falling into attitudes of superiority or self-righteousness.
I congratulate those who will receive the Cullen medal, God and Silver pins after this Mass. Your fidelity is admirable, your commitment undeniable and your example is an inspiration. May there be many new members to follow your example and renew and strengthen the Pioneer movement in the future.
