Fr Alan Hilliard, the Administrator for City Quay, University and Westland Row Churches in Dublin's City Centre, writes a reflection on Baptism.
There's a story told of life in tenement Dublin set on a summer's evening. The lads were out playing football. The jumpers were down on the path, and it was 5-4, where the first to get to six were the winners. Neck and neck would be the only way to describe it. The mother of two of the lads stuck her head out the window three stories up and shouted, 'come in for yeser tea’. ‘There in a minute, ma’, was the reply with little intention to act on it. Five minutes later, the Ma roared out the window again, to which came the same reply.
The game went to 5-5, and everything was being thrown at the ball and the other players. There were bumps, bruises, scratches and blood, but the determination was steely. Eventually, the mother let another roar out the window, ‘Will yes for god’s sake come in for yeser rashers and sausages before they go cold’. One of the sons, despite being focused on getting the next goal and without taking his eye off the ball, roared, ‘Who are you trying to cod ma, me or the neighbours?’
I often think of that story when I see the posts that some people put on social media. ‘Who are you trying to cod, me or the neighbours or your friends?’. We are being codded up to the gills these days. A world that thinks we are being connected to one another is only driving us further apart socially. I’ll never forget someone I know screaming in disbelief when he said, ‘I can’t understand why only thirty people came to my 40th birthday when I have three thousand Facebook friends!’
Research suggests that the Germans are the loneliest people in Europe, second only to the British. According to author and management guru Charles Handy, only 58% of people in Britain feel connected to people in their locality. One in eight has no one to call on and says that TV or a pet is their best friend. Half of people over seventy-five live alone, and about one million say they often go for a month without speaking to anyone, apart from people at the checkout. Funny enough, medical science says it is more dangerous to be alone than to be obese. Loneliness can probably be best described as not mattering much to anyone or going unnoticed in the world. So, who is codding who?
The advances in interconnectivity have never been greater, but neither has loneliness.
This is the total antipathy of Christian Baptism. This is an invitation into community. It is interesting that fewer are choosing to have their children baptised, and maybe they are unknowingly buying into the cult of loneliness and isolation that pervades the world. Baptism tells us that we need to belong, that we are worthwhile, and we should never feel that we don't matter or that we are not noticed. If you walk down City Quay in Dublin, unless you are a regular visitor to someone’s house, City Quay Church is the only building you can come into and sit down without having to pay in, to buy something or use a swipe card.
Importance in the world’s eyes today is not cultivated by your Christian identity in Baptism but by other indices that are created by the marketplace. You are important if you part with money or if you are owned by somebody. Before God, you are just important.
In Luke’s Gospel, when we read the story of Jesus’ baptism, we see Him being told 'You are my beloved, my favour rests on you’. God says the same to each of us. ‘You are my beloved, my favour rests on you’. Maybe we don’t feel like that today for a variety of reasons, but if you don’t, it shouldn’t matter because we hold this great truth for you when you can’t believe it for yourself. Know that the clouds will pass, and you will be grateful that your community of believers held onto it for you.
Churches, not so much the buildings but its people and its presence as well as that of families, can be nature’s breakdown service as well as its pool of residual love when it’s needed -without cost and without the need of a swipe card. These things can’t be provided online – it takes effort on all our parts.
In this week of Easter, when we encounter something that makes us feel important, ask ourselves what's in it for them. In some cases, it’ll be nothing, but in many cases, there may be an ulterior motive. Value those things that, and people that, reinforce our importance where there is no gain for those doing it. Like God saying to his son, those moments tell us we are beloved, and God’s favour rests on us. There are times when nobody is trying to cod us…they are just letting us be who we are meant to be.
Last year, I went with a friend of mine to visit the grave of the great writer John O’Donohue. He wrote the famous book, a bestseller called Anam Chara. On his gravestone were the following words:
‘May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more’
Let’s think about it…lets pray about it and let’s do something about it.
Over Easter, RTÉ One will broadcast from City Quay on Holy Thursday (4.40pm), Newman Church, St. Stephen's Green on Good Friday (3pm), Westland Row in Dublin 2 on Holy Saturday for Easter vigil Mass (11.05pm) and live from Paris on Easter Sunday Morning (11am), Easter Sunday Methodist service with the congregation of Dundonald Methodist Church (11.50am) and Urbi et Orbi from His Holiness Pope Leo XIV directly thereafter.
All of these Masses and services are also available to view on the RTÉ Player by searching Sunday Worship.
