"We need not walk alone2
Midleton CBS
Holy Rosary Church
10 October 2025
Emily Dickinson – “Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all”
Hope is as important to our minds
as fresh air is to our body
Without either we die
Robert Redford died a few weeks back, a brilliant actor – very successful actor. But he didn’t have much time for Hollywood’s studios. He was a man with a vision and ideals. He set up a film festival “Sundance” to encourage and support young film makers, so they could tell their story. He saw life was bigger than him – despite his success. He was a man for others.
It’s an honour and privilege to gather for Holy Mass to offer you some thoughts about an approach to living a life that fulfils and brings contentment.
How would you like to be remembered? What kind of ambitions do you have? Your education is important not as an end but as a pathway to being the best you can be. God willing you will know success in life and achieve great things.
Your world is so different in so many ways because of technology and its tentacles that reach into every area of our lives.
For our theme today you’ve chosen and chosen well, to focus on community and spiritual belief. Gathering in Community and Growing in Faith.
What does that mean for you personally. Community and Faith – who do you belong to and what do you value in life?
Might I suggest that you are more than your gifts, talents and skills – all God given. But the full picture is found in answering, what kind of person are you? And who do you wish and desire to be?
How you will achieve your hopes, dreams and ambition will come through the kind of man you become.
In life, there are no guarantees. There is much pain in living in sickness, accidents, misfortune, no great explanations – how we negotiate these challenges is where our attitude, our sense of community and what we believe and live by comes in.
You chose really apt Readings for today. The first from Lamentations was very short but part of a longer dialogue. It’s worth hearing again,
Brooding on my anguish and affliction
is gall and wormwood.
My spirit ponders it continually
and sinks within me.
This is what I shall tell my heart,
and so recover hope:
the favours of Yahweh are not all past,
his kindnesses are not exhausted;
every morning they are renewed;
great is his faithfulness.
'My portion is Yahweh says my soul
'and so I will hope in him.'
Today I appeal to you as young men to face the world with hope and confidence – embrace its opportunities, beware of its pitfalls and in doing so arm yourself with the spiritual wisdom of those who’ve gone before us.
This magnificent building of the Church of the Holy Rosary is a testament to that hope and wisdom – Our forebears were not foolish and deluded people – in difficult and different times they built a magnificent house of prayer to gather as a community that expressed and nurtured their solidarity in their Christian faith.
Let me return briefly to our daily experience of the benefit and lure, of the all-embracing technology reach into every area of life. There is ample evidence to show that the widespread access to pornography is a real problem in the lives of young men.
Our sexuality is a gift – its distortion destroys both mind and deadens the soul. In time it wrecks relationships, it festers misogyny – resentment and hatred of women – it destroys our regard and respect for our sisters, friends and mothers.
Technology is wonderful in the hands of those who know and respect its power to control – that’s why parents go to such efforts to protect the little ones.
No matter what age we are, we are prone to temptation and sin, yet grace abounds, and we seek forgiveness and begin again.
We continue to live in hope – with a positive attitude. Its so beautifully expressed in Beatitudes. The vision for right living and inspiration, to always be mindful of one another on life’s journey, for we never quite know what its like for the person right beside you.
The Beatitudes:
How happy are the poor in spirit,
Happy the gentle:
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right:
Happy the merciful:
Happy the pure in heart:
Happy the peacemaker:
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right:
If you want a sense of what this means for you at a personal level – listen again to spirit and words of St. Paul as he wrote from the heart to the co-workers in Ephesus.
“So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord. I miss you very much, dear friends; you are my joy and my crown.
Last advice
I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near. There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
