大象传媒

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大象传媒 Radio 4. It鈥檚 ten past eight. 鈥楪od loves even before we were created鈥� is the theme of our service this morning which comes from St Peter鈥檚 Cathedral Belfast. The preacher, who also introduces the service, is the Administrator, the Very Rev. Dr, Hugh Kennedy. The service is led by Father Ciar谩n Dallat and begins with the hymn God of mercy and compassion:

Hymn听听 God of mercy and compassion (after Pergolisi)

Father Kennedy Good morning! 听Sometime ago I was invited to visit the room in Paris where the composer Maurice Durufl茅 had written his setting for the Requiem Mass.

I was surprised by the small rudimentary desk Durufl茅 had used. It was placed against the wall with nothing before him but a simple crucifix. Seemingly Durufl茅 in composing what many consider his masterpiece, was inspired by this image of the crucified Christ and he wanted his music to proclaim God鈥檚 mercy and desire to bring rest to all who are troubled or restless in spirit.

听 Father Dallat: Welcome to St Peter鈥檚 Cathedral in Belfast this Mothering Sunday. 听This is the mother Church to some eighty-seven parish communities stretching from the North Coast of County Antrim, to the Mourne Mountains in County Down.

As with any community and family each member is unique, and so it is with the Church. For the Church contains both saints and sinners. But we believe each is equally loved by God, for God is, as we have just sung, a 鈥淕od of mercy and compassion鈥�. 听A God who models all the love compassion and mercy we ourselves aspire to as we think of our own families whether as a parent or as a child this Mothering Sunday. A God who 鈥� supremely through the cross 鈥� demonstrated his love for each of us, even if at times we may find ourselves 鈥渦nlovable鈥�.

Fr Kennedy: The composer Durufl茅 was inspired by such Christian consolation as he wrote his Requiem. Jesus in his last agonizing moments mercifully reassures the criminal beside him that he is loved and forgiven

So for each of us, in times when we can doubt our self-worth or when we are all too conscious of our weakness 听and sins, equally know we also can seek that same compassionate love and plead, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. 听[2:20] This Kyrie by Durufle breathes the very essence of Christ鈥檚 compassion.

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Schola :Kyrie 听(Durufl茅).

Fr Dallat: Let us Pray:

God our Father, your Word Jesus Christ, spoke peace to a sinful world and brought mankind the gift of reconciliation by the suffering and death he endured. Teach us, the people who bear his name, to follow the example he gave us: may our faith hope and charity turn hatred to love, conflict to peace, death to eternal life.

We ask this through Christ our Lord AMEN

Reader: 听A Reading from the Second letter of St Paul to the Corinthians: (1:3-7).

听Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who 听consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.

For Just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ .If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; 听for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.

The word of the Lord听

听Thanks be to God .

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Father Kennedy : Here in the Cathedral above each of the pillars and arches we have portraits of saints either carved in stone or presented in paintings.

In much the same way that we have family photographs in our homes, these representations remind us that with the saints we are called to be one family, part of God鈥檚 household. As St Paul instructed the early Christian community at Corinth so we are called to make a unity in faith.听 And that unity in faith means we share and carry each other鈥檚 burdens and consolations.

听The saints whose portraits look so benignly down upon us here in the cathedral today may seem remote in historical terms, yet it is encouraging to know that many of them at one time lived out their lives as part of the same family of faith that we belong to. Chief, among them is St Patrick who has strong connections with this part of Ireland.

This Tuesday, we here in Ireland 听听and Irish people throughout the world will celebrate his feast day. And even those who have the most tentative connection with Ireland will commemorate his name 鈥� and perhaps give up any Lenten observances temporarily! This enthusiasm, while joyous, nevertheless has not always served the true Patrick well. Different groups on occasions have invoked his patronage to justify their own bias, and depictions in art and literature have often transformed him into a figure of legend and myth.

But we are privileged that he left us his own life story, his Confessions, as they are called. It鈥檚 a pity on such a day as this, that he tells us little about his mother. He does say his father was Calpornius and legend has it that his mother was Concessa. And while others in their eagerness have distorted his image by fanciful imagination he tells us as it is.

He begins his life story by saying:

听Reader:听 I am Patrick, I am a sinner, and I am without learning and many people hold me in contempt.

Father Kennedy He tells us that as a youth he had given up in the practice of his faith, he had enjoyed a rather spoilt and privileged lifestyle.

This relaxed way of life ended with the terror of violence of him being forced, as others in parts of the world today have experienced, being held captive, taken from his own people. And in the darkness of despair and desolation he finds that the one constant, is that he is loved, so loved by God, in a way he could never have imagined if he had not been forced to endure this trauma.

Reader So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God鈥�.He guarded me before I knew him, and before I came to and consoled me as a father does for his son鈥�. he who is powerful came and in his mercy pulled me out, and lifted me up and placed me on the very top of the wall

Father Kennedy When he manages to escape his captives and return home, he realizes that life can never be quite the same again, and that God is asking him to do the unthinkable, to return to the place of his captivity.

He is called to preach to those who wished him harm, to preach the Gospel of forgiveness and mercy. To bring others to see that they too are loved by God as he has experienced God鈥檚 love for himself.

Yet, lest we think that this all sounds sentimental and shallow, Patrick reminds us of his continuing struggles, of recognizing his on-going conversion to God鈥檚 will in his life.

听True holiness is found in accepting God鈥檚 love in the struggles, difficulties and disappointments of where we find ourselves in the here and now. As for Patrick, and as for many saints, so we too will find that the struggles and tests will come sometimes from the situations and places we least expect. Yet, we like Patrick are invited to trust in the complete love of God in testing times. [[It is this lesson that Patrick shares with us:

听Reader: I was put to the test- I will remember it as long as I live! It was as if an enormous rock fell on me, and I lost all power in my limbs鈥�.some superiors came and put my sins against my hard work as a bishop. This hit me very hard, so much so that it seemed I was about to fall but the Lord in his kindness strongly supported me when I was so badly treated, I did not slip into sin and disgrace. I pray that God not hold this sin against them.

Father Kennedy: Patrick says, 鈥淔or this reason I give thanks to the one who strengthened me in all things鈥�. He had come to realize once again, as he had as a youth in captivity, that the one constant reality in his life was God鈥檚 unconditional and unending love for him. And that in every situation in life he could trust in God to sustain and protect him.

Fr Dallat One great prayer traditionally associated with Patrick is his 鈥渓orica鈥� an ancient word for a breastplate or armour of protection. For Patrick his protection was the presence of Christ with him each day, no matter where he went, whom he met or spoke with, Christ would be there, beside him, and standing with him. [0:48]

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Schola: Christ be with me (Trad Irish)

Fr Dallat The Lord be with you

And with your Spirit.

A Reading from the holy Gospel according to John.

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to Nicodemus. The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.

(The Gospel of the Lord, R/. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.) [0:48]

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听Father Kennedy Many of us may have had difficult experiences of childhood or young adult life, as did St Patrick. Perhaps we feel our parents failed us in some way, or perhaps circumstances haven鈥檛 worked out as well as they could have done for some other reason. It鈥檚 tragic when such life events compromise our ability to trust our families or other people.听 Doubly tragic if they also turn us away from the love of God. The true measure of God鈥檚 love, is the certainty that He has given us his only Son. This gift is complete and total, and nowhere is this seen more clearly as we contemplate the Cross of Jesus.

听In many of our Churches each Sunday we repeat the words of the Creed or Profession of Faith. By repeating these words on so frequent a basis we can so easily fail to let the strength of their meaning sink in to our consciousness.听 Yet, as Julian of Norwich tells us we are loved by God eternally and that love is without reserve. This is shown for us by knowing that Christ on the Cross offered his life in complete self-giving, out of love for each of us, saint and sinner alike. And so we can profess in faith: 鈥渇or us he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, died and was buried鈥�.

Schola:听 Crucifixus (Lotti)

Father Kennedy: The title of our service today 鈥� 鈥楪od loves even before we were created鈥� is a saying of Desmond Tutu. Tutu reminds us that it is not just the 鈥渨orld that is loved鈥�, but each that of us is uniquely loved by God eternally, loved before we were born - before we could do anything to deserve that love, even before our Mother or Father could love us.

The love of God for us is unchanging and unchangeable. It will also be there long after we are no longer on this earth. It is a love, from which, as St Paul says, nothing in death or life can separate us. We may not always be conscious of it, but its reality does not depend on our awareness, for God鈥檚 love transcends our emotions and our responses. It is, I suppose like the love a mother has for a new born baby. The baby may not be in any way aware of the presence of a mother with him or her. The baby will have no idea, at that stage of development that he or she is loved.

But that will not affect the love of a mother for her child. Love that is ready to support and help and weep if things go wrong. Most importantly, it is simply鈥�..there - So with the love of God.

On this day we give special thanks for the gift of motherhood, as we acknowledge all mothers. We also recall Mary, the mother of Jesus, she who remained at the cross of her dying Son when so many of his followers had deserted him. They were ashamed or feared being identified with him. Yet Mary remained at the cross sorrowing and faithfully consoling.听听 She therefore stands for all mothers who weep at the suffering of their children and she represents those women in the Church who through the centuries have bought compassion and fidelity in times of harshness and indifference. Mary inspires us as both mother and disciple, and thus we can greet her in the words of the Angel as given to us in scripture,鈥淗ail Mary full of Grace鈥�, Ave Maria gratia plena. [O:54]

Schola听 Ave Maria听 ( Caccini )

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Intercessions

Fr Dallat: Gathered together in Christ as sisters and brothers, let us call to mind God鈥檚 many blessings and ask him to hear the prayers which he himself inspires us to ask.

READERS: We pray for those who by their love and gentle care have been an encouragement and inspiration in our lives:听 Especially we think of our mothers, that they will know God鈥檚 blessings and strength.

Lord have mercy

For refugees: for those this day who are held unjustly and for those fleeing danger:

That God will lead them to safety and stir others to provide for their needs.

Lord have mercy

For all who doubt God鈥檚 love or feel their lives are without value: For all who long for the privilege of motherhood but through circumstances beyond their control are denied this. That they may discover God鈥檚 unconditional love for them in the Gospel message and in our acceptance and friendship.

Lord have mercy

For all who are awaiting transformation of their spirits and their lives at this time; for those struggling with addictions and those bound by fear, pain or anger:

That God鈥檚 love will free them and bring them healing and wholeness.

Lord have mercy

Fr Dallat: Lord, remember us in your kingdom, as following your teaching we say:

Our Father,听听 who art in heaven鈥︹��. 听

Father Kennedy : The Lord be with you:

And with your Spirit.

May the strength of God be your guide and consolation. 听Amen

听May the wisdom of God instruct you that you may walk in the paths of truth and justice. Amen

May the hand of God protect and uphold you,

And may the word of God inspire and direct you.

That you may know his loving presence this day and evermore. Amen

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Fr Dallat Our Final hymn proclaims 鈥淕od is love, let heaven him adore him, God is love, let earth rejoice鈥�, sung to the tune composed by Cyril Taylor a former producer of religious programmes for the 大象传媒.