REMEMBERING QUEEN ELIZABETH II

MAY SHE REST IN PEACE 

Queen Elizabeth II Quotes

1. “While we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”

2. "It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change." 

3. “When peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.”

4. "It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult." 

5. “I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.”

6. “The wartime generation—my generation—is resilient.”

7. “You've all seen pictures of the earth taken from space. Unlike all the other planets in the solar system, earth shimmers green and blue in the sunlight and looks a very pleasant place to live.”

8. “Often a child's helplessness and vulnerability bring out the best in us.”

9. “Right around the world, people gather to compete under standard rules and, in most cases, in a spirit of friendly rivalry. Competitors know that, to succeed, they must respect their opponents; very often, they like each other too.”

10. “Religion and culture are much in the news these days, usually as sources of difference and conflict, rather than for bringing people together. But the irony is that every religion has something to say about tolerance and respecting others.”

11. “Everyone is our neighbor, no matter what race, creed or color.”

12. “The birth of a baby brings great happiness--but then the business of growing up begins.”

13. “I am reminded of a lady of about my age who was asked by an earnest, little granddaughter the other day 'Granny, can you remember the Stone Age?' Whilst that may be going a bit far, the older generation are able to give a sense of context as well as the wisdom of experience which can be invaluable.”

14. “People are touched by events which have their roots far across the world.”

15. “When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.”

16. “Over the years, those who have seemed to me to be the most happy, contented and fulfilled have always been the people who have lived the most outgoing and unselfish lives.”

17. “For every poppy a life; and a reminder of the grief of loved ones left behind.”

18. “Sport has a wonderful way of bringing together people and nations.”

19. “It is through this lens of history that we should view the conflicts of today, and so give us hope for tomorrow.”

20. “The importance of family has, of course, come home to Prince Philip and me personally this year with the marriages of two of our grandchildren, each in their own way a celebration of the God-given love that binds a family together.”

21. “Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves–from our recklessness or our greed.”

22. “In times of doubt and anxiety the attitudes people show in their daily lives, in their homes, and in their work, are of supreme importance.”

23. “We may hold different points of view but it is in times of stress and difficulty that we most need to remember that we have much more in common than there is dividing us.”

24. “Perhaps we make too much of what is wrong and too little of what is right. The trouble with gloom is that it feeds upon itself and depression causes more depression.”

25. “Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever.”

26. “Each day is a new beginning, I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God.”

27. “I know just how much I rely on my own faith to guide me through the good times and the bad.”

28. “I believe that, young or old, we have as much to look forward to with confidence and hope as we have to look back on with pride.”

29. “If we resolve to be considerate and to help our neighbors; to make friends with people of different races and religions; and, as our Lord said, to look to our own faults before we criticize others, we will be keeping faith with those who landed in Normandy and fought so doggedly for their belief in freedom, peace and human decency.”

30. “Though we each lead different lives, the experience of growing older, and the joys and emotions which it brings, are familiar to us all.”

31. "By being willing to put past differences behind us and move forward together, we honor the freedom and democracy once won for us at so great a cost."

32. “With age does come experience and that can be a virtue if it is sensibly used.”

33. "The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference."

34. “No age group has a monopoly of wisdom, and indeed I think the young can sometimes be wiser than us. But the older I get, the more conscious I become of the difficulties young people have to face as they learn to live in the modern world.”

35. “We know the reward is peace on earth, goodwill toward men, but we cannot win it without determination and concerted effort.”

36. “Such a blend of traditions serves to make us stronger, individually and collectively, by providing the ingredients needed for social, political and economic resilience.”

37. "Inevitably, a long life can pass by many milestones; my own is no exception."

38. "Giant leaps often start with small steps."

39. "I know of no single formula for success, but over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal, and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration, to work together."

40. "At the heart of our faith stand not a preoccupation with our own welfare and comfort but the concepts of service and of sacrifice as shown in the life and teachings of the one who made himself nothing, taking the very form of a servant."

41. "It has perhaps always been the case that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all."

42. "The upward course of a nation's history is due, in the long run, to the soundness of heart of its average men and women."

43. "Even when your life seems most monotonous, what you do is always of real value and importance to your fellow men."

44. "Whatever life throws at us, our individual responses will be all the stronger for working together and sharing the load."

45. "I can never wear beige because nobody will know who I am."

46. "I have to be seen to be believed."

FERGAL'S SECOND KENTUCKY VISIT

MY FELLOW VOLUNTEER IN THE CARIBBEAN MISSIONS

Pays a Second Visit to Kentucky on His Way Home to Ireland
August 28 - September 7

 2022

FERGAL REDMOND

Galway, Ireland

ON MY UPSTAIRS PATIO

AFTER MASS AT ST. LEONARD CHURCH 

8/28/2022

BRUNCH WITH DR. PAUL KELTY AT RIVERHOUSE

STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCN SISTERS' CEMETERY AT NAZARETH

COFFEE ON FRIEND JIM'S PORCH IN BEAUTIFUL BARDSTOWN

LUNCH WITH FR. TOM CLARK IN DOWNTOWN BARDSTOWN

DINNER WITH MY GOOD FRIENDS TOM AND REA CLARK

IN FRONT OF MY NEW PROJECT - ST. THERESA FAMILY LIFE CENTER

A DROP-IN VISIT WITH MY SISTER, BRENDA, IN BRANDENBURG

IN FRONT OF ST. THERESA CHURCH - OPENED ITS DOORS IN 1856

ST. THERESA CHURCH - PRECEEDED BY TWO LOG CABIN CHURCHES 1818-1856

A CHINESE LUNCH WITH PAT PATTERSON

ANOTHER FINE DINNER AT THE HOME OF TIM SCHOENBACHLER

ISLAND VOLUNTEER REUNION DINNER AT DR. PAUL AND SUSAN SHERMAN'S

MASS AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME FOR THE ELDERLY

Sister Rose Marie (standing - first generation Irish) Sister Irene (seated - second generation Irish)

AFTER MASS AT ST. FRANCES OF ROME - LUNCH WITH JOHN AND SUE HAMILTON

GARY AND RITA MARVIN STOPPED BY FOR PASTRIES AND COFFEE

BREAKFAST WITH GREG BURCH WITH A PHONE CALL TO TERI BURCH

LUNCH WITH GEORGE AND CAROLYN RITSERT

FERGAL'S TEN-DAY VISIT COMES TO AN END - HEADED TO THE AIRPORT

Louisville KY to Charlotte NC to Dublin, Ireland

Hi Fr Ron,

I am writing these few lines at Charlotte airport as I await my flight to Dublin - many thanks again for arranging to have me flown (via your Frequent Flyer Miles) 1st class since departing from St Vincent. The extra benefits will considerably help shorten this last and longest leg of my journey.

Looking back on my extended stay with you, I scarcely believe it lasted all of 10 days. The time just flew. The amount of engagements you had lined up were way beyond my expectations and I did not expect that so many people would go out of there way to meet up with me. On the other hand, knowing these friends who have supported you down through the years, it was obvious that they would not disappoint you in your hour of need as you went out of your way to entertain an Irishman who took up so much of your time.

Having collaborated with you on your many productive projects in the Caribbean, I was particularly keen to visit Rhodelia and see your current undertaking in your home parish. In a nut shell, the project yet again revealed an imaginative can-do mind that underpins the dynamic motivation with which you have been gifted.

Before I left Louisville, I did manage to thank some of those with whom I met  (those whose contact details I had). It is extremely easy for me to recall the engagements in sequence as they occurred so please pass on my sincere gratitude and good wishes to each and everyone as you meet them again….. Tom and Rea Clarke, Dr Paul Kelty and Pat Paterson; Fr Tom Clark, Jim who lives in Bardstown; Deacon Greg and his wife Shirley. What a bonus it was to meet your sister Brenda on our visit to St Theresa’s; Tim, the backroom brain, who is so meticulous in his planning and advice; the evening spent with the stalwarts who visited St Vincent in 2019 – Dr. Paul and Susan, Beth and Bill; Karen and Tim (the tall one!) was also very special as we recalled pre volcano times on the islands; another family member was Fr Bob Ray who spoke so approvingly of the Irish Curragh! Sue and John, as well as Gary and Rita like all the others left an impression of what friendship is all about. Last but not least was Greg whose wife Teri was unfortunately unable to travel with him – incidentally, Greg, if you recall, was the first friend I met on my initial visit to Louisville. Despite various ups and downs experienced by some, everyone was looking great. The jokes, yarn exchanges, tall tales, conversations about the good old days went down as a treat. Finally it was special to have visited the two convents and met some of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the Little Sisters of the Poor. How did so many Irish ladies end up in Louisville convents – we have an acute shortage back home?

It is wonderful to be heading home with so many happy memories and soon be able to relate many of my encounters to my daughter Mary and her family. I know you are more than half way to being persuaded to come east and visit your friends in Europe. No matter what, a welcome is extended there. You can be sure it will fade in relation to what you can expect when you arrive in Ireland.

Sincere thanks again for your hospitality – Kentuckian style.

Fergal   

THE FOUR PILLARS OF A GOOD LIFE

 

“The scribes and the Pharisees

have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.

Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, 

but do not follow their example. For they preach

 but they do not practice.

Matthew 23:1-12

 

The gospel today talks about the failures of leadership from the Scribes and the Pharisees. This is a perfect reading for the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a true spiritual leader, an effective religious teacher, a Doctor of the Church.

Most of you are familiar with the monk, Thomas Merton. We have his library here at Bellarmine University. People come from far and wide to use it and absorb his wisdom. Some of you may not be as familiar with the founder of his religious community, the Cistercians, a man named Bernard of Clairvaux. St. Bernard was a great reformer in the Church of the 12th century. He might have died 870 years ago, but his wisdom lives on and it is valuable even today. He offers us four foundation pillars on which to build a good life. He says you must (a) consider yourself (b) consider those below you (c) consider those around you and (d) consider Him who is above you.

1. In considering yourself, St Bernard said, “Behold what you are! It is a monstrous thing to see such dignity trivialized and squandered!” The first foundation stone on which to build a successful life is a passionate commitment to personal excellence – becoming the best version of yourself that you can create with God’s help. I learned a little maxim in Latin many years ago which I have found to be so true. “Nemo dat quad non habet” “One cannot give what one does not have.” Jesus said, “A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” St. Francis de Sales said, “Be who you are be that well!” In practical terms, if you are going to marry, be good at it, be a fabulous partner or don’t get married! If you are going to have kids, be good at it, be a tremendous parent or don’t have them! If you are going to go into public service, be good at it, be transparent, honest and self-giving or don’t get into it at all! If you are going to a priest, get serious about it or don’t get ordained! Be who you say you are! Be a person of integrity. Do the right thing even when no one is looking!

2. In considering those below you, you must never forget that the gifts you have been given have been given to you, not just for your own good and personal benefit, but for the good of those you are called to serve! The second foundation stone on which to build a successful life is a passionate commitment to vocational excellence, to be the very best you can be at what you do! This means a lifelong commitment to honing your skills, to deepening your respect and reverence for those under your charge and to always trying to lift the vision of others to higher sights, their performance to a higher standard and their personalities beyond their normal limitations.

3. In considering those around you, take stock of those with whom you surround yourself! The third foundation stone on which to build a successful life is to choose your friends and associates wisely. Many people do not realize the impact the type of people they surround themselves with has on their well-being. The people you surround yourself with will either lift you up or bring you down, support you or criticize you, motivate you or drain you. By developing relationships with those committed to constant improvement and the pursuit of the best that life has to offer, you will have plenty of company on your path to the top of whatever mountain you seek to climb. Surround yourself with people of integrity and quality.

4. Last of all, in considering Him who is above you, never forget where you came from and where you are going. You have not always been here and you will not always be here! In the whole scheme of things, your lifespan is relatively short. The fourth and final foundation stone on which to build a successful life, therefore, is to develop an interior spiritual life to match your external material life, so that you can walk on two legs, not one!

Dear friends! These four foundation stones, if built upon with care, focus and determination, make up the cornerstones of a good life, in whatever direction you go! Heed the words of Saint Paul, “Each one of you must be careful how he builds!” Remember the words of George Bernard Shaw, “Life is about creating yourself!” We all have the freedom and tools to make something of ourselves even in our old age!

Given at the Little Sisters of the Poor St. Joseph Home for the Elderly

August 20, 2022

COUNTING THE COST - PAYING THE PRICE

 

GIVEN AT ST. FRANCES OF ROME CHUCH

Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not

sit down and calculate the cost. Otherwise, after

the foundation, one may find himself unable to finish the work.

Luke 14

Over the last twenty years, I have led well over 150 priest conventions in 10 countries. Of the 150 priest conventions, I have done 1 each in England, Ireland and Wales, 13 in Canada, 4 in the Caribbean and 120 across the United States. In those twenty years, I have looked out at and lectured  thousands of priests, hundreds of bishops and a dozen or so Cardinals - something I never ever imagined, in my wildest imagination, that I would do when I was a young priest.  

One of those priest assemblies took place a few years back in the Archdiocese of Tuam in Ireland. On my way from the Shannon Airport to the Shrine at Knock where our meeting was held, the road was littered with hundreds of half-finished houses that had been abandoned during the burst of the housing bubble. So many people thought they could make a fortune borrowing money to build new houses on their farmland. It looked like a war zone. People simply misjudged whether the money would be there to complete their projects! It was sad on many fronts. 

In my last semester of seminary, one of our professors asked us to write a paper about what we expected in our priesthood. To the person, my classmates wrote idealistic papers as if we were all about to enter the “promised land.” I wrote that I expected to be a priest in one of the most tumultuous times in recent church history. My paper was ridiculed as being “too negative.” My classmates were a bit like Peter when he told Jesus “God forbid” when Jesus insisted on talking about the suffering to come. Disappointed with the complexities of priesthood and shocked by the reality of it, over half of my ordination class has left and are no longer serving as priests. Instead of being “too negative,” I may have simply been “too prophetic.”  They are gone. I am still here. Of course, I am certainly not better than them, many are probably better than me, but I believe I have survived and thrived these last fifty-two years as a priest because I expected to have problems and I took that into consideration from the beginning and made plans on how I would handle them.

When I worked over at Saint Meinrad Seminary and would tell too much truth about priesthood to the seminarians, Father Jonathan used to tease me by saying “Not in front of the kids!” Father Patrick, quoting Canon Law on the other hand, would tell me that “Seminarians are to be told the truth about the priesthood while they are in the seminary.” In any regard, to anyone making the transition from seminary, I would simply say this! Getting to ordination is easy compared to staying in and staying healthy and effective as a priest. If anyone promises you a rose garden, do not listen to them. Like marriage, priesthood can be difficult. The sooner you embrace that fact, the sooner you can call up the personal, emotional and spiritual resources you will need to deal with the difficulties of ministry as a priest in today’s church. As scripture puts it, “My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for a battle.” (Sirach 2:1) As I say on the first page of the little book I wrote for seminarians,  From Seminarian to Diocesan Priest: Managing a Successful Transition, “It’s one thing to pledge oneself to a high purpose, but it’s another to carry through.”

My commitment to priesthood was tested a mere two weeks after ordination. I had a very short “honeymoon” indeed!  I had my heart set on being an associate pastor in a nice large suburban parish. When the call came telling me that I was being sent to the “home missions” of our diocese, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, every bone in my body wanted to quit. After several futile attempts to change the minds of the powers-to-be, I angrily loaded my car, bought a map and headed to my new parish in the most remote corner of our diocese. Halfway there, I had a conversion experience, one that would serve me well in the years to come. I changed my mind. I decided to embrace what was ahead of me and to open my mind and heart to the experience at hand. Since I didn’t get what I wanted, I decided to want what I got. What I got was a time of unprecedented personal and spiritual growth, more than I could have ever dreamed of for myself.

On my twenty-fifth anniversary, when I was still pastor of our Cathedral, I chose the reading about Peter’s walk on water. I, like Peter, have managed to keep going by “keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus,” rather than on how deep the water was or how high the winds were!

In the end, priesthood is not for cowards nor the faint of heart. To be effective, one needs the heart of a missionary, the courage of a martyr, the patience of Job and the concentration of a tight-rope walker. The commitment to be ordained is not necessarily the same as a commitment to priesthood. Like marriage, true commitment begins when the honeymoon is over. Like the would-be follower of Jesus, who naively bragged about his willingness to “follow him wherever he went,” one needs to know that there are crosses to be carried. That is to be expected, but that itself need not be a source of discouragement. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Faint not nor fear, but go out to the storm and the action, trusting in God whose commandments you faithfully follow; freedom, exultant, will welcome your spirit with joy.”

Anyone who thinks about priesthood, marriage or religious life, should be good at calculating the cost beforehand and be willing to pay the price afterwards. As for me, after fifty-two years of walking on water, I couldn’t be happier - and I have people like you to thank! 

I guess the bottom line is this. Whether you are building a house, starting a business, getting married or being ordained, the start is easy. Having what it takes to finish is the hard part!