Window Cleaner

I  have just opened my daily dispatch from Zenit agency. I found in it a document which drew my attention and I want to share it with you. This is Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor,  the retired archbishop of Westminster,  address to Ireland's priests, delivered on June 15 at the Maynooth Union Celebrations to mark the end of the Year for Priests:  "The Greatest Wound ... in This Present Crisis Is the Betrayal of Love".As I will leave you with the text to go through it slowly and methodically, let me extract one personal story of Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, which was quoted by the Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor in his speech.

It stroke me hard as I remember my first and only (so far) visit to Prague just a few years ago. The picture described in this story merges powerfully with memories of the beautiful capital city of Czech Republic on Veltava River. It is shocking to me and poses so many questions to be answered by myself in my own life and ministry. Questions on my priestly identity, genuineness of my personal profession of faith, commitment, feelings of loneliness, abandonment in hard times...

(Quote) < Some years ago I met the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Vlk, and during the meal we had together he told me about his experiences during the Communist era in the Czech Republic. He told me how, for ten years of his life, he was persecuted by the authorities and his license to practice as a priest was removed. He was thrown out of his parish and told to earn his keep and make his own hidden way in the world. He became a window-cleaner in the city of Prague. One day, while high up on a ladder cleaning windows on one of Prague’s beautiful streets, he saw below a group of German tourists window-shopping. He could hear them laughing, joking and chatting about what they wanted to buy. And then it struck him. A voice deep within him: “Nobody knows who you are …. Nobody cares that you are a priest, nobody cares that you have faith, nobody is interested in the message of Jesus that you preach”. He shared with me his sense of abandonment and isolation. Then he said, very beautifully and profoundly, “But suddenly, like a revelation, it became clear to me that the Cross is not a pious object out there but the Cross is a living reality in my life, for on the Cross of Jesus God is present but hidden.” To be a priest is to make this self-gift the rule of our lives: it is simply to be love. Perhaps the greatest wound for every one caught up in this present crisis is the betrayal of love. But we can learn to find it again in Him through His grace. It is the Eucharistic pattern of our lives. > (unquote)

The full speech of Cardinal Cormack Murphy-O'Connor can be found here.

My personal message to my Irish friends, in particular great, dedicated, zealous priests I was honored to meet and make friends with - 'Courage! Rise and shine!' We are together in thin and thick. My prayers, love, respect and gratitude are always with you coming out of my heart. Rise and shine!