BEING AMBITIOUS FOR THE HIGHER GIFTS

Fr Billy Swan

I listened recently to an excellent interview with Dr Hannah Vaughan-Spruce who presented a hopeful vision for the future of the Church, where parishes become centres of discipleship, evangelisation and authentic community. Hannah is Executive Director of Divine Renovation UK, a ministry that inspires, connects and equips parishes to become missionary (see www.divinerenovation.org). She also has a PhD on parish culture and evangelisation. A lady worth listening to.

What struck me most from the interview is the importance she places on the parish community as the locus where people experience Church and, hopefully, experience Christ. She urges all parishioners to see themselves, not just as recipients of belonging, but as builders of community and people who gift belonging to others. She rightly identifies peoples’ first experience of parish and the local Church as being critically important for their journey of faith and the extent to which faith shapes our lives. She helps us see how the parish can be transformed from a geographical structure to a vibrant faith community alive with the Spirit of Christ.

So, what might this transformation look like in Ireland today and how do we get there? A few thoughts that might help.

First, that each of us and all of us, every day, make our own the words of Peter in last Sunday’s Gospel – that each of us take responsibility for our faith and friendship in the Lord Jesus Christ who sets us free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ, joy is constantly born anew as we believe in our hearts: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’.

Second, that we be convinced again of the Gospels’ inner power to transform and touch lives, cultures and societies. Every successful salesperson believes in their product. If we believe we have the key to happiness and joy, then this faith will animate our desire to share it. Also, that we be more convinced that we are the carriers of that light and salt to lives we touch and the situations we encounter.

Third, that we don’t be afraid to chase darkness, selfishness, lies and injustice wherever we find it.

A more missionary and confident Church refuses to give up hope, refuses to live lives of mediocrity, refuses to see decline in the Church as inevitable and imagines a bright future that God is already building. It is about believing that every human heart longs for God and will not be content until it finds Him. In the words of St Paul, it is about being ambitious for the higher gifts, which is wanting the very best for our Church and all God’s people. It is seeing our parishes, not as museums of the past but as communities of living faith and hope where Christ is alive! It is about offering Christianity to young people as a beautiful way of life that is filled to the brim with meaning and joy.

In 2032, the Irish Church celebrates the 16th centenary of the arrival of the Christian faith with St Patrick. In 2033, the whole Church will celebrate the 20th centenary of the death and resurrection of Christ. The celebration of both historic occasions call us, not to be a defensive Church of the past but a courageous community of the present and future with our feet in the ground but yet moving forward, confident that we do indeed have a treasure of life and love to share, and that not even the gates of hell will resist it.