First Sunday of Advent – Year A: 29.11.25
Church of the Sacred Heart @ 5.30pm
Introduction:
We gather for the installation of Fr. David as your new PP. He becomes the 25th Parish Priest of Stradbally, Timahoe & Vicarstown, since records began in 1672. It’s a time of new beginnings and appropriately Advent is a time of new beginnings heralding a new liturgical year. In the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh we’re challenged “to find the newness that was in every stale thing” in the knowledge “that Christ comes with a January flower”. Our readings are all linked – Isaiah, the Romans and the gospel from Matthew – with the message to be watchful, to be alert.
Pope Leo XIV on his historic visit to Turkey and Lebanon was gifted at the Mass in Istanbul this afternoon with a silver chalice that celebrates the message of faith sown by the six apostles[1] who preached in Turkey. Advent invites us to reflect on our own message of faith as we enter a time of conscious hope and expectation, to hear again the message of the apostles, to hear again the song of the angels.
We begin by blessing the Advent Wreath, the wreath that accompanies us on our journey here in Stradbally/Timahoe/Vicarstown parish through the Season of Advent into Christmas and into 2026 …
Homily:
We don’t hear much about Noah in our Sunday readings and yet his story captivates every young enquiring mind! Noah was the first to stipulate baggage restrictions in the world of global travel. And we thought that was Ryan Air! For Noah it was ‘two of everything’! Specifications of the ark, remind us it was made from gopher-wood; 300 cubits in length; 50 cubits wide, 30 cubits high! A cubit is about a little over 12 inches (30cm’s).
The ark had one window and three decks, 8 human beings but basically two of everything else. It rained for forty days and nights, a little like earlier this month or a day trip to Knock! The floods lasted for 150 days. And if you believe all of this, Noah died until his 950th year! That’s a lot of candles on a birthday cake!!
Fr. David loves birthdays! In fact he loves any opportunity for a celebration! And that’s why an evening like this evening is so important. As I mentioned on previous visits here, David is our youngest diocesan priest, ordained by me in Newbridge on 25th June 2017. I welcome his mam Liz here this evening, and his sister Charlotte, uncles, aunts and cousins, as well as extended family and friends.
Advent for us all is the last phase of this Jubilee Year of Hope. At the darkest time of the year, we wait, we hope for and we look forward to Christ’s second coming at the end of time, while we become very conscious of his first coming at Christmas. Often people say “ah sure Christmas is for Children”, well if there is any scintilla of truth there, ‘Advent is for Adults’, to train us better, by looking at the baggage allowance Noah first introduced with his ark.
There is junk and clutter and excess in all of lives, in all our households we’re not proud of. The burglar comes when we least expect; Christmas creeps up on us when we’re off-guard, Advent gives us an agenda to know what we really need in the ark and what we truly could live without!
I mentioned earlier David tonight becomes the 25th Parish Priest here. Most of your recent Parish Priests came from the Carlow, the Laois or the Kilkenny end of the diocese, David is an out and out Lily White! A parish is a very different commodity to what it was even in the recent past. The parish to which one belongs indicates a community, a sense of belonging and a sense of pride. Lay involvement, lay participation is at the heart of every parish.
Today in our diocese every parish is part of a Pastoral Area, a Pastoral Area that invites collaboration rather than competition with neighbours and colleagues. Pope Leo XIV speaking to clergy and parish representatives of the Diocese of Rome said of Pastoral Areas: “they are designed to better connect neighbouring parishes in a given territory with the centre of the diocese … We need to think and plan together, going beyond pre-established boundaries and experimenting with joint pastoral initiatives”[2]. This is the parish that Fr. David is being installed into this Vigil Evening. A parish that collaborates with neighbours, a parish that welcomes all, a parish that has lay people at the heart of its life, led by a priest who walks with them. And so I invite Fr. David to takes his place in front of the altar, alongside his people.
[1] Paul, Peter, John, Timothy, Andrew & Bartholomew
[2] Pope Leo XIV, Address at the Beginning of the New Pastoral Year in the Diocese of Rome, 19 September 2025
