Family and friends joined Columban missionary Fr Frank Hoare in his native Portlaoise when he celebrated Mass to mark the golden jubilee of his ordination.
I celebrated a thanksgiving Mass in my native Portlaoise for a lifetime of missionary work in multi-cultural Fiji on 10th June 2023. I was blessed with help from Fiji. Two Fijian men married to Irish women live in Portlaoise. Three ladies from Fiji also came from London for the occasion.
One of them, Sr Anne Lata, organised an Indian welcome ritual as the entrance procession arrived at the sanctuary. She garlanded me with flowers, put a spot of sandalwood paste on my forehead and then waved a brass tray with a lighted Indian oil lamp three times in front of me (aarti). The garland indicated respectful welcome, the aarti was a sign of blessing and the sandalwood paste symbolised a calm pure focus by the third eye of spiritual insight.
The ladies from Fiji earlier stood at each door of the church and offered, with an explanation, the imposition of sandalwood paste on the forehead to all the guests. This simple ritual served as a welcome, a sign of inclusion in the worshipping community and a transition marker in moving from the secular world to a sacred space. We had some apprehension beforehand that people might be unwilling, but everyone accepted the gesture wholeheartedly. One man said afterwards that he wouldn’t wash it off!
The parish priest, Fr John Byrne, and my cousin, Fr Conor McGee, accompanied me at the altar. The other concelebrants sat in a circle behind. A local choir leader and pianist led the hymns and those present joined in. We used a sprinkling of Irish during the Mass and one of the prayers was in Fijian.
The golden wedding anniversary of my first cousin Ursula and her husband Paddy fell on the previous day. So they brought up the gifts at the offertory and received a special blessing at the end of the Mass. My jubilee celebration fell on the 24th anniversary of my mother’s death so we prayed for her and other deceased relatives too.
The first reading from St John’s letter announced that God is love. The gospel, from the end of St Luke’s gospel, was a reminder to witness to our faith in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. At the doxology concluding the Eucharistic prayer, Sr Anne again performed the aarti to the Eucharistic sacrament. Beside her a girl held up a bowl of lighted incense sticks and another girl let fall flower petals – all signs of worship and honour to the Lord present in the sacrament.
I noticed in the congregation a cousin who lived in England and had a dialysis session the previous day so she could attend. Another cousin in her mid-eighties had travelled with her daughter from West Cork and a third had come from Spain. I felt very honoured by the effort so many people made to attend.
After the Mass, many ladies wore flowers in their hair – as is commonly done in Fiji. We mixed kava, the traditional Fiji ceremonial and social drink, and quite a few guests were curious to taste it.
Many people congratulated me on my golden jubilee as a great achievement. This disconcerted me, as I saw my missionary work not as an achievement but as a gracious gift of God to which I was blessed to respond.
For what has been – thanks to God, for what will be – yes, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
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