By Sarah Mac Donald - 11 March, 2014
Rite of Election Ceremony at the Pro Cathedral in Dublin.
A total of 73 catechumens and candidates from 18 different nationalities representing 25 parishes across the archdiocese of Dublin took part in the Rite of Election for adults at the Pro Cathedral on Sunday.
It is the largest number of new members welcomed into the Church in Dublin since the RCIA was restored according to Fr Damian McNeice, RCIA co-ordinator. They will be initiated this Easter.
In his homily, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin described the celebration of the Rite of Election as a most significant one in the life of the diocese.
“Our celebration this afternoon is a celebration of faith: the faith of the catechumens and candidates, the faith of those who are their sponsors, the faith of our parish communities,” he said.
He described the celebration as a true celebration of the faith community in the Church of Dublin. “Together we celebrate our faith, the faith of the Church, the faith which we are proud to profess, to witness to and to transmit.”
The Archbishop told the assembled 64 catechumens and 9 candidates and their godparents and families, that the Church is marked by continual renewal and conversion.
“Sharing our faith is not just an intellectual exercise, through which we transmit doctrinal formulae or a moral code. Sharing our faith involves sharing with others what Jesus means in our lives,” he observed.
Jesus came to bring his saving power to all who suffer and are lost or who have gone astray, he explained.
Referring to the Gospel reading on the temptation of Jesus, the Archbishop said “Satan tempts Jesus to act in the ways which people who exercise power and authority have done so over the centuries: the despots and dictators, the corrupt and the unscrupulous.”
“In rejecting the temptation of Satan we learn something of who Jesus is,” Archbishop Martin continued.
“God is not revealed by shows of naked power and technical ability but through the manner in which Jesus cares for others and restores to full healing those who are wounded.”
“God is almighty in his power: but the manner in which Jesus carries out his mission radically changes how we understand the terms ‘power’ and being ‘almighty’.”
Jesus shows us who God is by using his power to serve, to heal and to restore, not to Lord it over others.
The leader of the Church in Dublin said in his homily that the true solutions to many of the challenges of our modern world are not just technical ones, but must be solutions which truly humanise the way we act.
“During this Lent we must turn away from the false gods which we all tend to build in our hearts to protect our own interests using the instruments of prayer, penance and works of charity,” the Archbishop urged.
Then, he said, we will encounter the true godliness of Jesus and find in him mercy and forgiveness and an answer to our prayers.
“If we resist the temptations of our times then God will not abandon us, but, as he did with Jesus, he will send angels also to us to look after us in our needs,” he concluded.
