'The Risen Lord has made his home among us' 

Here is the Homily of Archbishop Leo Cushley from The Easter Vigil (30 March) at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh.

"My dear friends,

A very happy Easter to you all!  Tonight, we hear with the greatest joy the readings of our Vigil, and we listen to moments of salvation history and catch glimpses of the hand of God in human affairs, now gently, now strongly, bringing us towards the Incarnation, the birth of Christ and His saving death and resurrection.

Our first reading, from Genesis, is the ever-green, ever-beautiful story of the how we all came to be.

You and I all stand here because, in some way, in some impossibly far-off time, life was born in our world.

The inanimate became animate, matter became aware, and self-conscious, and learned to speak, to love, to remember and to build.

The very word, “animate” tells us of a soul being awakened within us and of the growth of something, someone, that was always intended to be worthy of the Creator, a creature that could love God in return for his or her very existence.

Genesis, unaware of future science, gives us instead a picture of relationships, of love and hate, of good and evil, of right and wrong.

It is eternally wise and inspiring, profound and thought provoking. And among its many lessons, it urges us to be better than we know ourselves to be.

All that we are longs to be in harmony with God and with his creation; and tonight, God puts all things right, restores all things, and welcomes us back.

The struggle for goodness and righteousness takes us past Abraham and Isaac and we then come to the story of the people of Israel crossing the Red Sea.

This story tells of Israel’s liberation, and it is used by Christians to see God’s hand in our own liberation from sin and death through the waters, not of the Red Sea, but of Baptism.

Make your way to the light.  Free yourselves and return to the Lord!

We always read it here, on this night, because tonight it becomes a reality for us, as we baptise people in the waters of death and new life.

The next reading we heard tonight is from the prophet Baruch.

It starts with a paragraph that is one big, long question: Why, Israel, are you still in the country of your enemies?  Why are you counted among those who prefer death? What have done with your freedom?

The Lord then says, Leave all that behind; learn instead “where knowledge is, where strength, where understanding, and so learn where length of days is, where life, where the light of the eyes, and where peace.”

Make your way to the light.  Free yourselves and return to the Lord!

We then listen to Paul reminding us what Baptism really means.

And it isn’t just about sin or washing off a little dirt. His opening line is, “When we were baptized, we were baptized into his […] death; in other words, when we were baptized, we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that […] we might live a new life”.

This really is about life and death.

In Baptism, we become part of God’s plan to bring us back to him, back to life, back to a sense of gratitude, the gratitude and simple, good happiness of children for all the good things God has done for us, starting with the gifts of life and light and love.

And the key which unlocks the doors to new life, to a new relationship with God, with each other, with the whole of God’s good creation, starts with the rolling away of the stone at the Empty Tomb.

Be confident that the Lord and his Spirit will always accompany you.

The women go to the Tomb, the stone is rolled back, and a wonderful new chapter of creation’s story begins.

And where will we see this unfold today?

Do we have to go to Jerusalem to see it and experience it, or travel to the ends of the universe, or peer into telescopes for a glimpse of the beginning of time?

No, we’ll find it right here.  Here at this font.  Here in our faith in the risen Lord.  Here in our homes.

Not for nothing does the young man in white at the Empty Tomb tell the terrified women to go and tell Jesus’ disciples not to look for him in the Tomb.

He tells them, and he tells us, Jesus “is going before you to Galilee, it is there you will see him, just as he told you”.

Galilee is of course a real place, many of us have been there and seen it for ourselves.

But Galilee can also stand in the Gospels for home.

In contrast to Judea, a place of confrontation and hostility, and even of Jesus’ death, Galilee stands for the home of Jesus and his disciples.

It stands for a place where we are safe, a place where we will meet Jesus, if we would only go and look for him.

Jesus, the risen Lord, has made his home among us.

He walks among us, even in our most familiar paths. We ought to make a home for him in our own Galilee, in our own home, in our hearts.

Finally, to you who are about to become Catholic Christians, we pray that tonight you will be filled with joy.

Tonight, my friends, you are coming home, and the risen Lord will be there to welcome you.

As you enter into Life in Christ, learn to listen for the Lord’s voice, and learn to recognise him, especially in the places most familiar to you.

And be confident that the Lord and his Spirit will always accompany you.

A very happy Easter to you all!"

Easter Vigil: Church prepares to welcome new members

Claire Greig remembers the “clincher” moment when she decided to become Catholic.

It was during the first RCIA session that she and fiancé Simon Bryce attended at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh to learn about Jesus and the Catholic Faith.

“One of the leaders, Kate, spoke about prayer and I started crying!” she said.

“That was the clincher for me. It just turned into this amazing thing. Everything that Fr Patrick Burke at the Cathedral said at the RCIA classes made sense – he is realistic about things and his knowledge and openness really helped.”

Claire (35) and Simon (44), above, of Ormiston in East Lothian, are part of a group of 19 Catechumens and Candidates being received into the Catholic Church at tonight’s Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral.

RCIA stands for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. The RCIA group at the Cathedral meets throughout the year to help those interested in learning more about the Catholic faith, with a view to becoming members of the Church.

At the Cathedral the programme is led by Fr Patrick, Deacon Peter Traynor and volunteers Shirley, Lorna, Jackie, and Kate.

“It’s been an educational and enlightening journey for us so far and this is just the start.

Simon, a joiner to trade, said: “Once we started attending the RCIA meetings there was an instant love of the religion and the people, it felt natural to us both.

“The educational part of it has been important to me. The people in the group, especially those who run it – and a special mention for Fr Patrick – all played their part. It’s amazing that the volunteers give up their time to do that.”

Simon was familiar with the basics of Christianity and remembers prayers at assembly and grace before meals at the armed forces school he attended.

He believes the RCIA programme helped feed his desire to learn more about Catholicism.

“It’s been an educational and enlightening journey for us so far and this is just the start. It means everything to us now,” he said.

Claire and Simon will be married in St Mary’s Cathedral on 28 June 2025.

Flore Chantegros (27, above) will also become a Catholic at the Easter Vigil at the Cathedral tonight.

She is from Limoges in France and now lives and works in Edinburgh, with a job in Product Development for Nairn’s Oatcakes.

She said: “I went to a Catholic school and always felt Catholic, and was brought up with those values, but I never had an official Baptism.

“My mother was keen for me to choose later on in life.

“I always thought about becoming a Catholic and now felt like the right time. I got engaged last summer and I never saw myself getting married anywhere other than in the Church.

“I really enjoyed the RCIA group – there are people from different backgrounds and nationalities. It was interesting and enjoyable, and I learned so much.”

Shirley Grieve, one of the RCIA volunteers, said: “It’s wonderful to see the joy in people being received at Easter.

“It's also important that they know just how much this means to our parishioners, it really encourages them in their own faith."

At tonight's Mass Archbishop Leo Cushley will tell them: "We pray that tonight you will be filled with joy.

"Tonight, my friends, you are coming home, and the risen Lord will be there to welcome you.

"As you enter into Life in Christ, learn to listen for the Lord’s voice, and learn to recognise him, especially in the places most familiar to you.

"And be confident that the Lord and his Spirit will always accompany you."

The Easter Vigil takes place at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh tonight (Saturday 30 March) at 7:00pm. To find out more about the RCIA programme at the Cathedral contact cathedralhouse@stmaryscathedral.co.uk

Good Friday: 'Imitate St John’s love for his dying Master'

Here is Archbishop Leo Cushley's homily from Celebration of the Lord's Passion at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh, Good Friday, 29 March 2024.

My dear friends,

As we always do on Good Friday, we listen to St John’s account of the Lord’s Passion.

Of the four Gospels, John’s is the only personal, eye-witness account.

Matthew, Mark and Luke’s account stand a step removed from what they relate, for example, telling us second-hand of Peter’s account of events, but not their own.

Of the four Gospels, then, only John is able to tell us what he has seen.

He also has a clear purpose in mind.

This is not merely memoir of something long ago, recorded by him as an old man at the end of his life. He does so with a reason, and he tells us what this is.

In fact, he tells us his purpose, right at the moment that Jesus dies on the cross and taken down from it.

John believes that Jesus is the Son of God; that he came into the world to die like this to save us; and that he rose from the dead three days later.

He believes in Jesus.

He tell us that he leaves us this account as “the evidence of one who saw it, trustworthy evidence, and he knows he speaks the truth”.

He believes. And he writes it all down here, “so that you may believe as well”.

John is our first-hand witness to what has just happened.

He is standing there, watching Jesus die.

Jesus’s mother is there, some of the other women are there, but John is the only man to be brave enough to remain, and it is he who records all this for us.

He is our eyes and ears.

We know John is a close friend of Jesus.

John wasn’t the leader of the twelve – that was always Peter, nicknamed Cephas, the Rock, from the very start – but John has a special place, and it’s right beside Jesus.

We know he is close to him, in affection, morally, and spiritually.

We can be fully confident that John will tell us everything he can recall of his friend’s love, of his suffering, of his every word and gesture.

He sees Jesus through the affectionate eyes of a brother, a true friend, a son, a disciple.

And of all the disciples, John brings something else to the story of Good Friday. He is someone who has access: he is known to the high priest and the priestly families.

John is known among them to be a disciple of Jesus; and so it is he who gets Peter into the high priest’s house, where the first part of Jesus’ trial takes place.

Peter wants to follow Jesus, but he does so discreetly, while John is not afraid.

Strangely, because John gets Peter into the High Priest’s house, Peter’s connection to John makes a serving girl ask him if he is “another of that man’s disciples”.

We usually take this to be a suspicious question, but it could just as easily have been a simple question, as Peter was clearly there because of John, and John does not appear to be afraid to be there at all.

So, it turns out that John was a known disciple of Jesus, and never denies it; but when Peter is asked, he denies it three times and runs away.

We are used to noticing Peter, but if we flip it round, we notice John, who stays; it’s John that follows the Lord where he goes; and on this occasion that path takes Jesus to the Cross. And John goes there too.

So, while Peter and the others flee, John is left there with Jesus, at the end.

This is the action of a very brave man, of a completely loyal friend, of a disciple, of a believer. John even accompanies Our Lady and takes care of her in this most terrible moment.

Here is a human drama as well as a cosmic one. And yet John stays on, in spite of the torture and death of his friend and Master, and the obvious risk to himself.

But back to a small point I made at the start.

In St John, at the death of Jesus, we are at one of the rarest of moments in the Gospels. What I mean is this. John is our first-hand witness to what has just happened. He tells us what he has seen.

And then, he looks directly at us. He involves you and me in the story.

Not only was John there, he addresses us directly, personally. He starts, “All this is the evidence of one who saw it, trustworthy evidence, and he knows he speaks the truth”. And then he turns to you and me, and adds that he gives this evidence, “so that you may believe as well”.

The evangelist looks up from writing and remembering Jesus in his very agony on the Cross.

And he turns and says to you, I’ve written all this and been through all this, and lived the rest of my life as Jesus’s faithful disciple and friend.

I was there and I’ve written all this here – so that you may believe as well.

On Calvary, he turns from Christ on the Cross, and he looks at you and me, and he says, This unique event fulfils God’s wonderful plan. I believe it - and write it down for you, so that you may believe as well.

Through his own loyalty and love, through his faith and personal witness, John makes us witness of Jesus’s death.

Let’s imitate John’s loyalty and love for his dying friend and Master.

Like John, let’s believe and trust again in God’s great plan for us, even as Jesus is taken down from the Cross and is placed in the Tomb.

Archbishop Cushley will preside at the Easter Vigil at 7:00pm on Saturday and at the Easter Sunday Mass at midday, both at St Mary's Cathedral.

Bishop Keenan on 'damaging' assisted suicide Bill

The Catholic Church has responded to the publication of “The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill” by Liam McArthur MSP (above right).

Bishop John Keenan, the Bishop of Paisley (above left) has described it as “a dangerous idea that a citizen can lose their value and worth.”

His full statement is below.

“Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur has today published a damaging bill which attacks human dignity and introduces a dangerous idea that a citizen can lose their value and worth.

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill may refer to ‘assisted dying’, but this is a euphemistic term which doesn’t accurately describe the reality.

Assisted dying is already practised by our health professionals and organisations, in the form of palliative care.

An accurate term for what the Bill seeks to legalise is assisted suicide.

It is a law which will allow a doctor to provide a patient with a lethal cocktail of drugs to kill themselves.

Implicit in assisted suicide is that the value of human life is measured by efficiency and utility and not by dignity.

In crude terms, it means an individual can lose their value to society because of illness or disability.

We are called to care for those who suffer, including those at the end of life.

In this way, the appropriate response of civic society to suffering is not to facilitate death by prescription, but rather, to provide good, reliable care, including palliative care, for all those who need it.

Assisted suicide sends a message that there are situations when suicide is an appropriate response to one’s individual circumstances, worries, anxieties.

It normalises suicide and accepts that some people are beyond hope. 

Furthermore, assisted suicide undermines trust in doctors and damages the doctor- patient relationship. And in countries where assisted suicide is legal, there is evidence that vulnerable people, including the elderly and disabled, experience external pressure to end their lives.

In Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal, it is common for around half of people to list fear of being a burden as one reason for hastening their death.

It is little wonder that most major disability organisations in the UK are opposed to assisted suicide.

Assisted suicide is also uncontrollable.

Every country where assisted suicide or euthanasia is legal has seen so-called ‘safeguards’ eroded and eligibility criteria expanded to include people with arthritis, anorexia, autism, dementia.

And also, children.

When vulnerable people, including the elderly, poor and disabled, express concerns about being a burden, the appropriate response is not to suggest that they have a duty to die; rather, it is to commit to meeting their needs and providing the care and compassion they need to help them live.

This Bill has been introduced in Holy Week, when Christians reflect on the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus, the man who is their Lord and God and showed us what it means to be truly human.

Where Liam McArthur’s Bill sees little point in human suffering and promotes the idea that a person’s life can become so hopeless as to be no longer worthwhile, this week is a timely reminder that when we support each other in suffering it can lead to a truly dignified death and offer the best of hope and possibility for our world.”

Bishop John Keenan is vice president of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland and Bishop President for Marriage, Families and Life.

Archbishop: 'Reflect on how we walk together in Christ'

Here is the Homily of Archbishop Leo Cushley from the Chrism Mass held at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh, on Tuesday night (26 March).

 My dear brother deacons and priests, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

A very warm welcome to the Chrism Mass.

This celebration is always one that manages both to distinguish us in our various roles and to unite us around our one High Priest, Jesus Christ.

It is a moment for reflection upon how we first embraced our Catholic faith; how far we have come on our journey; and how well we have fulfilled the duties that we freely assumed along the way, both clergy and laity alike.

We all have distinctive roles to fulfil; yet, we are all heirs to the same life of grace, Jews and Greeks, men and women, young and old, slaves and free.

Each of us plays a modest part in the Mystical Body of Christ, but unless we do so with simplicity and in God’s grace, we will not fare well, and those around us will not fare well.

So, at the Chrism Mass, as we look at who we are, as the Church of Christ in Edinburgh, in one way today is a time for taking stock, for an examen of how we walked together in the arc of the last year.

One significant thing that has occurred for the whole Church has been precisely on this subject: how we translate believing into living, how our living has its impact upon those around us, whether Catholics or not, how we listen to each other, and how we learn from each other, and always in union with the living Lord.

The Synod

I say this, because this last element has become one of the key elements of the Synod that took place last October, and that will meet a second time this October.

The Synod is one which has been convoked by the Holy Father to examine the idea of Synodality, a concept that, although using old language, is actually one that is comparatively recent, by one account, coined in French as recently as in 1996.

Pope Francis, the Cardinals he has placed in charge of the process, and the Synod itself have endeavoured to explore this concept.

Synod is a familiar concept, but Synodality is something yet to be clearly defined.

It comes from Greek and its components essentially mean “Walking together”.

I was at a meeting last week in Rome and this was emphasised again.

The Holy Father has encouraged us all to walk together, and to do so by listening to each other.

There may be other elements that will emerge from the term, as time goes by and as the second Synod meets this autumn, but for now, it seems that the greatest emphasis has been on learning to listen again: to listen to the Holy Spirit, and to listen to each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Listening is something that we all think we are good at, but of course, that is not always true.

That we should be learning to listen to each other again is certainly to be welcomed, given how frayed tempers seem to have become in recent times, especially in the light of the consequences of Covid and attitudes that we now need surely to unlearn.

We need to unlearn being impatient, short-tempered, easily angered.

Mental health and wellness referrals have risen dramatically across the country, and it appears to be attributable, in part at least, to the fallout from the Covid crisis.

The Synod then, happens, providentially to fall at a moment when we need to learn to listen again, and again to be brothers and sisters to each other.

It is an opportunity to look back and see how much we need it, and to look forward to what may come next.

Let’s all pray that the Synod may lead to a better understanding and a better living out of who we are, as the People of God, in communion with each other, in communion with our sister churches, and in communion with the Successor of Peter in the See of Rome.

Priest & Deacons

In the meantime, I’d like to add a short word to our priests and deacons.

My dear brothers, today we reflect upon our own promises, and commit ourselves anew, as servants and leaders of our people.

Deacons are usually called to more service, while priests are usually more called to leadership, but servant leadership characterizes both orders.

Both Peter and Paul write eloquently of hope, and hope is something that we all need to keep our faith alive in joyful service.

Paul writes that Faith, Hope and Love are the three great Christian virtues, and Peter urges us to be ready to give reasons for our hope.

This evening, I would like to encourage you to reflect on your own hopes.

In Peter and Paul’s world, the ancient world, hope was not what we think of today.

Hope wasn’t always something positive, as it is in English. Elpis, the Greek word here, can also mean expectation and even foreboding.

In the pagan world, hope was often just a step away from despair and the fear of what is to come, something that can stalk us, especially if we find ourselves living alone.

But in Romans (5:5), Paul takes hope, and says that we have a hope that does not change, that does not deceive, that is not a step away from despair.

And that hope is Jesus Christ. 

Paul says that we sometimes we suffer, but suffering and difficulties produce endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

That hope will not put us to shame or mislead or deceive us, because it a hope that comes through the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, poured into our hearts.

This is true for all of us who have received God’s Holy Spirit.

But it is especially true of you here who are in holy orders.

You have been given a unique gift of God’s Holy Spirit, living within you, and it will accompany you through all your sufferings and bring you hope.

That hope is Jesus Christ, who dies for us even if we are ungodly and unworthy.

Let Jesus, the one certain Hope, give you courage and joy and confidence.

May you continue to be the willing servants of the Lord that, with great heart, you promised to be on the day of your Ordination.

Every blessing to you and your people for the upcoming celebrations of the Triduum.

Thank you for listening, and God bless all of you abundantly, especially in these days.

WATCH: Archbishop Cushley's Pro-Life Reflection

Archbishop Leo Cushley highlighted the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act in his pro-life reflection at our Lenten Stations of the Cross.

He said: "We want people to debate always with charity, but there always needs to be an honesty about what is said in our exchanges with people and I hope and pray that that will continue."

Watch the full reflection below or on YouTube.

Transcript

"I am struck to say something about the new law that is coming into place on 1st April (2024).

I'm not sure that it's a good thing at all, it seems to take away some of the important things that are good for our society: the ability to speak honestly, to speak kindly, to speak clearly, to have a reasonable debate about all sorts of important matters, and I for one wouldn’t like to see us closing down debate on important topics.

One of those topics for us is the topic of life and of the freedom that God's gift of life gives to all of us.

Of course we want people to debate with charity, always with charity, but there always needs to be an honesty about what is said in our exchanges with people, and I hope and pray that that will continue.

I mention this because of the context that we find ourselves in praying for life and for a respect for life, and for a greater love and charity towards those who feel the urge or the wish, or who feel under pressure to have their children aborted and for the children themselves.

And it remains a concern for Christians since the very first times, the very earliest times, and so we include that in our prayers.

And it's also a good time to talk about it during Lent and as we prepare for Easter, because Easter is to some great extent, about freedom, it’s about freedom from sin, freedom from death and it's also about a freedom that allows us to do something more.

Freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want. Freedom is really about serving God and about being able to do what the Lord wills for us.

And it seems that sometimes this is overlooked or forgotten and I would like us to be able to pray for a renewed sense of the true purpose of our freedom and that is to serve God, to love each other and to be happy with him in Paradise."

This reflection was broadcast on 25 March 2024 as part of our Lenten Stations of the Cross series.

WATCH: The Passion in St John's Gospel

Mgr Patrick Burke, of St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh, dives into the the Passion in St John's Gospel in this special Holy Week talk.

Watch now on YouTube or below.

GALLERY: 'Called to be Saints' Youth Day

Young people gathered at The Gillis Centre on Saturday to be inspired and encouraged in their faith at our 'Called to be Saints' Youth Day.

The day was led by Fr Martin Eckersley (St Francis Xavier's in Falkirk) and Fr Robert Taylor (St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh) and games, discussions and testimonials from Judith Ralston (TV presenter), Sr Catherine Farrelly (Sisters of the Gospel of Life), Matt Meade (Comms Director of the Archdiocese) and Fr Robert.

The speakers joined Archbishop Cushley for a Q&A before he celebrated Mass for the Vigil of Palm Sunday in St Margaret's Chapel.

Thanks to everyone who came along!

Gallery

 

TV presenter (and former St Augustine's pupil) Judith Ralston spoke of her faith journey and career.

Fr Robert Taylor spoke of his vocational journey to the priesthood, via radio presenting and time on the high seas!

Sr Catherine Farrelly is now in her fourth year with the Sisters of the Gospel of Life and spoke about how she came to join them.

GALLERY: Celebrating 100 years of St Joseph's Services

Archbishop Cushley was the principal celebrant at Holy Mass in St Matthew's Parish in Rosewell, East Lothian, to mark 100 years of St Joseph’s Services.

It was founded in 1924 by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul and to this day continues its brilliant work in helping adults with a learning disability.

Gallery

From left: Fr Olufemi Michael Akintolu (parish administrator at St Mathew's), Fr Paul Roche (spiritual director to St Joseph's Services), Deacon Tom McEvoy and Archbishop Leo Cushley.

Act now on 'conversion practices' proposals

Catholics are being asked to make their voices heard by responding to a Scottish Government consulation on 'conversion practices'.

The new law proposes banning ‘conversion practices’, which are broadly defined as practices which aim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Government claims such a law is needed to catch “the most serious and harmful forms of conversion practices”.

The Catholic Church unequivocally condemns violent, abusive, coercive practices.

The proposals, however, risk criminalising innocent, harmless behaviour, including the mainstream pastoral work of churches, and parental guidance given lovingly and in good faith.

It is vital that Catholics and all those concerned for freedom of expression, religious freedom and the rights of parents, respond to this consultation.

What to do

The Catholic Parliamentary Office has prepared a guide to help you answer the questions in the consulatation. Find it here: https://bit.ly/guidancescot

The closing date for responses is Tuesday 2 April 2024