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By Marie Beirne
God has an intense desire to speak to us and to be known by us (Psalm 50:7 “Listen my people I want to speak”). In 1 Cor. 14:1 we are told to “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially prophecy”. In the book of Numbers 11:29 we read “Would that all God’s people were prophets...”. We are called to awaken the Word living within us; our prayer should be “Speak Lord your servant is listening” or with the bride in the Song of Songs “Let us hear your voice”. So let’s be obedient to the Word, pray for, earnestly desire, study and stir-up the gift of prophecy. We need to hear God’s voice as clearly as we hear it in the powerful prophecy below. In our “Prophecy Corner” we will publish discerned prophecies (please send in your prophecies), remembering Amos 3:7 “Yahweh does nothing without revealing his plans to his servants the prophets.” Marie |
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Fr Martin Tierney By Dympna Sheehan
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It was with great sadness that I heard of the death of Fr. Martin Tierney a man who, in my mind, has been synonymous with Charismatic Renewal in the Church in Ireland. There is no doubt about the pivotal role he played in the development and flowering of the Renewal in the 1970’s and the legacy he left us is immeasurable. Fr Martin was a great initiator with boundless energy and tremendous vision. He was instrumental in the setting up of “New Creation” magazine of which he was Editor for many years. And, through his leadership in the Airport prayer group, many members of the Eustace St. prayer group joined together to form the Light of Christ Community. The community dates back to St Patrick’s day 1976 when the members made their formal commitment as a lay covenant community at a gathering and Mass celebrated by Fr Martin in “Emmanuel” Pembroke Park. In 1978 the International Conference for Charismatic Renewal was held in Dublin in the RDS, the theme being “You Shall Be My Witnesses”. Fr Martin together with Tom Flynn and Brendan Scallon galvanised the Community into organising this phenomenal event. I experienced my own Baptism in the Holy Spirit during that weekend, a treasured and never to be forgotten life changing moment of God’s grace in my life. New Creation grew in design, content and distribution during his involvement with the magazine. His great charism was for evangelisation. Always encouraging, he recognised the emerging gifts in others and called people into roles of leadership and ministry trusting them to grow in their charisms. He was always ready to help and advise giving support where needed but never intrusively. He allowed people to take ownership of the job in hand. Fr Martin was a great priest On the occasion of his funeral there was a sense of joy mingled with sadness as people from many areas of his life and ministry gathered to offer sympathy to his family but also to celebrate the man we had known loved and admired. There were many stories of his zeal tirelessness , and sense of fun, but above all his faith and the witness he gave. Fr Michael Hurley a friend of Fr. Martin’s for 40 years preached the homily at the funeral Mass. It paid tribute to the man of God, his life and work. We print, on the right, part of the homily so that this good man may be remembered for his invaluable contribution to our lives. In the Editorial of New Creation January 1977 Fr Martin wrote “God’s mercies are new every day. We are beginning a new year — it is a time to look back with gratitude and thanksgiving to God and a time of looking in hope and expectation of the future” We thank God for Fr Martin,for his life and ministry for his legacy to the Charismatic Renewal in Ireland and the many places where God led him in evangelisation and we look forward in the hope that the bigger vision Martin had of Renewal in the whole Church may come about in our time. Dympna Sheehan Dympna Sheehan is a former chair woman of the Irish NSC.
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A pebble thrown into a pond disappears. At the same time, it stirs ripples, which extend outwards, even to the surrounding shores. Martin’s life stirred us. We are the richer for him. His life rippled outwards in extraordinary ways throughout Ireland and beyond. Martin was a man of enormous achievement. He co-founded a lay community, the Light of Christ. He was an author. He was a weekly columnist for many years, most recently with the Irish Catholic. A gifted speaker, he was in great demand at conferences and as a retreat giver. Martin also asked us to do some strange things. In 1978 during an International Charismatic Conference, he got 30,000 people to dance and leap in unison on the turf of the RDS, where until then only horses jumped in competition. As part of the organising team for Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1979, he got us to walk long distances during the early morning September mist or sleep under the stars at Ballybrit racecourse. As director of the National Jubilee Committee, on the 21st May 2000 he got people throughout Ireland to go on pilgrimage to holy shrines, mountains and wells. For the day the GAA suspended their programme of traditional games. In 1957 as a First Year University Student, He joined the Legion of Mary. He recognised the ability and desire of legionaries to declare the importance of God before other people. This left an indelible mark upon his life. He was drawn towards a faith that led to action. More significantly, it led him to Clonliffe College and study for the priesthood in the Dublin Archdiocese because he saw that it would give him greater opportunities to share the good news about God. In 1972, he attended his first charismatic prayer meeting. As he said recently, to me and to Mary Deane, who facilitated his attendance, he never again looked back. I believer these meetings catapulted
him to be forever a pilgrim. At one time Martin was rector of St. Audeon’s Church. Here he was close to the homeless and to people with addictions. He told us endless stories about them. He befriended them. He savoured the stories that each of them had to tell. He wondered how he could help them. He wondered how a relationship with God might influence them. For the same reasons, Martin became involved in the Beginning Experience, which sought to help people who had suffered loss. He introduced Retrouvaille to Ireland, which is a programme for marriages, which are experiencing difficulties. He never inquired what a person believed in. It did not seem to be relevant for him. He simply sought to reveal what the love of God can mean and do in the life of the other. Martin challenged us. He had the ability to look behind the façade, the role, and hear the heart, the prayer, the wound, the thinking of another. He challenged us to re-imagine church and parish life; In October 2009, he wrote in The Irish Catholic: ‘A good parish is a parish where people are nourished by the Word of God. It is a parish where love is tangible and practical. It is a place where people pray together. We can become down-hearted at the lack of response. But I think that too is the difficult path of the loneliness of mystery. The most direct way to God is in the embrace of daily human life lived with great love in the uncertainty of faith as Jesus did’ (22nd Oct. 2009). Martin did not glory in past achievements nor seem to fear the future. Rather now was always the time to enjoy. Now was always the time to connect the message of Jesus with our digital age and with the joys and weaknesses of the human heart. Martin knew the meaning of Put Out Into The Deep. He, the ceaseless pilgrim, lived it. He followed the Master. In doing so, he has been a foremost prophetic voice in Irish religious life during the last 40 years. Each one of us too can witness to the impact of his life. He undertook, what he called the chemo journey, with great courage, dignity, peace, prayerfulness, resignation, and attention to visitors. He inspired us during his illness. He prepared for death as he had lived. One night in St. Vincent’s Hospital a man was dying. The man’s family were called in. Martin saw this and left his own bed to comfort and to pray with them. He felt sad that the Church is not present to people at such times of need. He was ever an evangelist. He lived compassion to the end. Martin died on 13th May, a feast of Our Lady, during the heady season of Easter and approaching Pentecost, with his funeral Mass on the 18th May, 46 years to the day of his first mass in this church. Is this Martin the consummate organiser still at work? Or is it the providence of God showing us the great values of his life?
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