IT IS not enough “to find things to condemn”, the Catholic Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray has said of the current crisis in Ireland. “As a country we have learned the lesson that wealth is not as reliable as we might have thought,” he said.
“What our situation calls for is for us to ask again the fundamental questions: what are our lives about? Where can one find a hope big enough to make sense in this world where there is so much suffering, injustice, sorrow and vulnerability? When I come to the end of my days, what will have been the most important realities in my life?”
Dr Murray was speaking at a Mass in St Joseph’s Church, Limerick marking the 30th anniversary of the visit of Pope John Paul II to that city on October 1st, 1979.
He said “we are experiencing an economic and social crisis. The original meaning of the word crisis is choice. So we are back to Pope John Paul’s challenge of 30 years ago. We have decisions to make. The decisions he suggested are still as relevant, indeed more relevant, than in 1979.
“We face the choice between giving excessive importance to economic growth and material possessions or paying attention to the things of the spirit; the choice between false freedom which is only slavery and accepting the truth of our relationship to God, the truth that makes us free to be what we are capable of becoming through his unlimited love.”
