Look Forward and Backward
Back Home Up Next

23 November 1991
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

Let me speak to you about the two Saints whom the Church is honoring today. You will forgive me if I speak first of St. Columbanus, for he is the only Irishman to be found in the universal calendar of the Church. Perhaps some of you want to spring to your feet and ask me about St. Patrick. Well, St. Patrick was not born in Ireland. He was only Irish by adoption. St. Columbanus is a latecomer to the universal calendar of the Church. It was only when the calendar was being revised after the second Vatican Council, that he found himself honored by a place in it. St. Columbanus was a monk and a missionary, moving from Ireland to France where he founded the celebrated monastery of Luxeuil. From there he moved to Switzerland and finally to Bobbio in the north of Italy, where he died early in the seventh century. His tomb is to be found there today. St. Columbanus was a man of great energy and had a rather fiery temperament. Fiery temperaments are not uncommon in Ireland today! It would seem that on a number of occasions he clashed with local authorities, both civil and ecclesiastical. Perhaps it was for that reason that he felt himself obliged to move on from place to place. He was a strong, austere and authoritarian character. That may not appeal to us today, but then we must always remember not to judge people out of their times. St. Columbanus would impose rigorous penances on his monks for violations of the monastic rule. The monks, however, recognized him to have a great heart. He taught them that they would find joy in obedience, that through evangelical poverty they could make other people rich, and that through celibacy they would give life to those who looked for the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He may have been austere but he was also tender, as his prayer, which is quoted in the Divine Office, shows: "We pray, Lord, for nothing other than Yourself to be given to us, for You are our all, our life, our light, our salvation, our food, our drink, our God. Inspire our hearts, I beg You, our Jesus, with that breath of Your Spirit and wound our souls with Your love." (Divine Office, Week 21, Thursday).

Separated by five centuries from St. Columbanus is St. Clement, who lived at the end of the first and at the beginning of the second century. Those of you who have visited Rome, may have been brought to the very interesting Church of San Clemente, where you found yourself in a Church that was built in the twelfth or thirteenth century. Over one hundred years ago when the Dominicans, who have charge of the Church, were making some alterations in the sacristy, they chanced upon a staircase that they did not know existed. It led down into a fourth century Church. Further excavations revealed that this fourth century Church stood upon some buildings, including the remains of a pagan temple, of the first century and earlier. It would seem that it was here where St. Clement, the third successor of St. Peter, lived.

If you were to ask St. Clement in heaven today what was his greatest concern during his Pontificate, he might very well reply: "Divisions in the Church of Corinth." We all know that in his day St. Paul was also concerned about divisions in that Church. There were those who were supporters of Paul, others of Cephas, and others of Apollus. Were we to put modern names on them, we might speak of them as conservatives, progressives, and devotees of liberation theology. What worried Paul and what worried Clement was the threat that these divisions posed to the unity of the Church, which is the Body of Christ. Perhaps if St. Clement were allowed to address one sentence to us today, he might ask us to think of his Church in Rome. "If you twentieth century people," he might say, "like to walk off your busy modern streets into the twelfth century Church, remember that it is standing on a fourth century one and that in turn on a first century one."

All of us have been exhilarated by the new things which Vatican Council II, prompted by the Spirit of God, presented to us. Let us not, however, forget the old. Keep in mind the man of whom Our Lord spoke, who could from his treasury bring forth both new things and old. Do not forget what you are standing upon. We are standing upon the shoulders of the generations that have gone before us. Look always in both directions. Look forward but also look backward. Remember, you advance along the road by keeping one foot on the ground and moving forward with the other. To the young amongst us, allow me to say that it is good to remember that the Church did not begin with the second Vatican Council and will not end with it. Be grateful for the past. And to us older men, we are asked to be open to what is emerging in the Church, and not to close our minds firmly against everything that is new. We, too, must be grateful.

Let me end by reading some sentences from a prayer of St. Clement, which the Church puts into the Office of Readings on Monday of the first week in ordinary time:

Lord, we entreat you to help us. Come to the aid of the afflicted, pity the lowly, raise up the fallen, show your face to the needy, heal the sick, convert the wayward, feed the hungry, deliver the captives, support the weak, encourage the fainthearted. Let all nations know that you alone are God; Jesus Christ is Your Son and we are your people, the sheep of your pasture.... Give peace and concord to us and to all mankind, even as You gave it to our ancestors when they devoutly called upon You in faith and truth. Lord, You alone are able to bestow these and even greater benefits upon us. We praise You through Jesus Christ, our High Priest, and the champion of our souls. Through Him be glory and majesty to You now and throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Web Design by Beth Nicol