Archbishop Dermot Farrell (pictured with parishioners at his ordination as Bishop of Ossory in 2018) of Dublin has issued a pastoral letter: Building Hope with Open Hearts ahead of the Season of Creation 2024 which runs from 1 September to 4 October the Feast of Francis of Assisi. The pastoral letter will be read at Mass this Sunday, 1 September.
In his Pastoral Letter Archbishop Farrell said, “JESUS’ CONCERN IS FOR OUR HEARTS… he seeks to draw us close, heart-to-heart with him. ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Mt 11:28). Jesus calls us to closeness with God, into intimacy with the One who gives us life, and invites us into the relationship that brings us into fullness of life (Jn 10:10). It is in the depth of our hearts (Mk 7:6) that we meet God as we respond to the mysteries of life, and are brought into silence and wonder.
“This relationship is the deeper – one might say, sacred – foundation of our life in the Church. With Christ – through Him, and with Him, and in Him – we live out the gospel, we live out of the words and actions of Jesus that have been handed on to us. This relationship with Jesus is also the foundation of Building Hope, as we’ve been calling our journey of renewal in the Archdiocese of Dublin: as people of faith, ‘encounter with the person of Jesus makes us who we are, and shapes what we do’. (Statement of Mission, February 2022).
Archbishop Farrell concluded, “The Church in Europe finds itself in a time, both of decline and of new beginning. The decline is there for all to see. However, Christ calls people of faith to look at the Church from the standpoint of His Father. Let us look at the Church – and the world – with the eyes of God. Smallness is not an end-point, but a beginning. This is how the Church began. It is always how the Church begins. Let us find our way, step-by-step, working more deeply together, as we build our partnerships of parishes, embracing the road the Spirit is bringing us on, in such a way that, as Pope Francis says, ‘our lives can become a song of love for God, for humanity, with and for creation’ (Hope and Act with Creation, 9).”
To read the full text of Archbishop Farrell’s pastoral letter: Building Hope with Open Hearts click here
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