Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Ballymacoda
Benemerenti Medal - Kay Cullen and Mary Anne Keane
15 August 2026
My friends,
People are always on the move – for one reason or another – some for adventure and new places but most move from their homelands out of necessity – they yearn for fresh opportunity for themselves and their families. Migration in that sense is not new but today it has increased dramatically. Many parts of the Global South see the Western world and our lifestyle as a land of opportunity and are going to great lengths to get here.
Ireland has its own experience of emigration for so long that we have countless ballads that yearn for home. Ireland today is a land of immigrants, whereby between 15-20% of those living here were born outside of Ireland. This reality is an opportunity and a challenge for our families and communities. For all of us it calls for an adjustment of our mindset toward the stranger and foreigner.
Interestingly, all the Readings today might speak to us of the stranger/foreigner amongst us.
“Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his servants … these I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer.”
Isaiah 56:6-7
These words of welcome offer us a vision for embracing the foreigner – any person of virtue and sincerity of heart is welcome and accepted.
The Gospel Reading on the other hand is a bit of jolt because Jesus seems irritated by the disciples, insist that he listen and pay attention to the pleading of the Canaanite woman – “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel” He retorted. But the woman wasn’t taking no for an answer as she knelt in pleading before him. Such was the integrity of her request, he answered her “Woman you have great faith.”
And then you have St. Paul, proud as you like at having been sent as apostle to the pagans.
“God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice.”
My friends, we live in a time of great change – on all fronts – in our own selves, in our families, in farming, business, employment. We are bombarded with messages of ambitions, goals and success. Depending on one’s age and experience it can be too much – it is overwhelming for many. It is easy to be seduced by the treadmill of promises.
The arrival to Ireland of many from various parts of the World is for a good reason of desiring a better life for themselves and their families. Both the stranger and the people who live here from of old are facing the same reality of a fast-changing world. They like us value their culture, their families and desire to make part of life here and contribute to it.
A statistic in today’s paper declares a 15% increase in hate crimes – that doesn’t auger well. Hearts filled with hate are too cold to welcome anyone. The tragedy is that there are agents of hate whose mission is to divide and polarize. It takes patience, wisdom and an open spirit to ensure the stranger feels welcome and in time feel entirely at home here.
In that respect I commend our schools, especially at primary level who over decades now have welcomed new waves of immigrant children and helped them and their families integrate and create a new life amongst us.
“Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord … I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer.”
Amen
