Bishop Donal McKeown Bishop Donal McKeown has asked Catholics to embrace the Faith as God has revealed it, rather than a more sanitised version offered by the world.
In a homily at the weekend, Dr McKeown reminded Massgoers that suffering is part of life. “The Cross is the only road to the Resurrection for Jesus and the only road to holiness for us.”
Drawing the eyes of those gathered to Calvary, Dr McKeown warned against the trap that Peter fell into; believing suffering and death to fall outside the scope of God’s divine plan.
“But even Peter believes that Jesus has made a mistake and insists that Jesus’ death cannot be part of the divine plan. And Jesus responds showing just how strong the temptation can be to take an easier way that avoids the Cross. Just as he attributes Peter’s profession of faith to God the Father, so he attributes the temptation to Satan,” he said. “In every form of Christianity, there can be the subtle temptation to reduce God’s call to something that we can manage, when we can feel right and in charge,” he continued.
Humanity
Having established that God does and will ask difficult things of those who purport to follow him, Dr McKeown exhorted the Faithful to see with God’s eyes, rather than humanity’s, and “to accept that reality of the Cross for Jesus”.
“The right thing is rarely the easy thing…our job is not merely to calculate what will make us more popular or secure our future. Our task is to discern where the way of the Cross leads us – because that is the only place where healing for our society will be found,” the bishop said.
“It is an invitation to believe in the healing power of the Cross for us when it embraced in love, trusting in one who sees the bigger picture.”