17.07.2020
The Story Behind the Intercessions for the National Day of Commemoration – By Archbishop Michael Jackson
The annual National Day of Commemoration Ceremony, to honour all Irishmen and Irishwomen who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations, took place at Collins Barracks, Dublin, on Sunday last (July 12). Attendance this year was significantly reduced but it was broadcast live on RTE. The President, the Taoiseach, members of the Government; the Council of State; Dáil and Seanad Éireann; Diplomatic Corps; Judiciary and Northern Ireland representatives attended along with representatives of the next–of–kin of those who died in past wars or on UN service, ex–servicemen’s organisations, as well as relatives of the 1916 Leaders. The ceremony includes an inter–faith service followed by a wreath laying by the President on behalf of the people of Ireland, concluding with an Air Corps flypast.
This year I was invited to write The Intercessions for The National Day of Commemoration. As a member of a small minority church, for me this was a significant responsibility and privilege. The theme assigned for 2020 was: ‘In a time of anxiety’, hardly surprizing in light of the sudden and inescapable impact of COVID 19.
I offer the following short explanation why I wrote the Intercessions I did. I apologize in advance for omissions there inevitably are when you write something at a particular time and under a particular time pressure. My purpose, however, in having the Versicle and Response: Lord in your mercy … Reach out as we cry in hope … was an attempt to enable each participant to make his and her cry along with expressing his and her hope.
The Intercessions are in four sections. The first seeks to capture something of the uniqueness of The National Day of Commemoration and the ways in which peace making and peace keeping across the world work hard to take us beyond warfare into humanitarian concerns co-operating alongside NGOs and Mission Agencies. The making of peace and the keeping of peace may seem lofty ideals in a brutal world but I feel they are reasonable expectations to have of a democracy in 2020.
The second explores something of our need to connect and cement the link between community solidarity and personal responsibility. It recognizes the sustained public effort made by everyday people in the thirty-two counties of Ireland South and North. The National Day of Commemoration brings servicemen and servicewomen from both parts of Ireland together annually to a Faith Commemoration of thanksgiving for service itself. As we have moved through The Lockdown into The Phased Easing of Restrictions, both of the qualities above have an added public value and urgency such as we have often taken for granted until now.
The third celebrates the work of frontline workers. Throughout the initial impact of COVID 19, our understanding of the frontline and of frontline workers kept expanding. Rightly, it began with and remains with medical and healthcare workers. As we looked around and as we discovered so many things that remained open and available to us, including consumer choice of food for those of us who could afford it, our definition of frontline workers rightly continued to expand – and still does. For me personally this connects directly with peace in the first section – material peace which gives scope for spiritual peace. It is not for us as religious people to flee the material world but to give it and its inhabitants the scope to be spiritual as well. It also draws attention to the rediscovery of neighbourliness. This, in and of itself, is a direct calling out by religion and politics to anyone who aspires to being human or religious or both.
The fourth prays explicitly for God’s light in our path. The path has other travellers in the form of kindness, courage and compassion along with enterprise, risk-taking and energy. In no way does this diminish the suffering and bereavement and the on-going fear of countless people. it does, however, recognize the threads of recovery for our society both within and beyond our religious perspectives. In the words of The Prayer that Our Lord taught his disciples, he was clear about … on earth as it is in heaven …It is here on earth that we as disciples of today are to usher in, by our deeds, The Kingdom of God. We are part of the world and economic, cultural, sporting and educational life matter.
IN A TIME OF ANXIETY …
The response to the invitation: Lord, in your mercy
is: Reach out as we cry in hope
We remember on this National Day of Commemoration those who have fought for freedom worldwide, across generations and continents, offering the duty of service for others and for us. We commemorate those who have made peace and have kept peace along with those who have placed the dignity of the oppressed and the victimized above their personal safety
Lord, in your mercy
Reach out as we cry in hope
We commit to one another, as perhaps we have never done so before, at a time of national need for community solidarity and personal responsibility in the era of the coronavirus. We give thanks for the sustained public effort throughout Lockdown in both parts of our island. We remember painfully and sorrowfully all those who have lost their lives. We pray for continuing commitment to the safety and care of one another as we negotiate the lifting of Restrictions
Lord, in your mercy
Reach as we cry in hope
We celebrate with gratitude and thanksgiving the self-giving of frontline workers in every field of civic life, those whose own lives have saved our lives in these months of danger and death. We continue to pray for all who have put leadership and service before self-interest, all who have gone beyond the call of duty for the sake of the community and all who have made those they did not know their nearest neighbour
Lord, in your mercy
Reach out as we cry in hope
We concentrate our efforts on rebuilding our society, its public confidence, its care for the marginalized and traumatized, its economy together with its cultural, sporting and educational life. We pray for a common mind in government and in local settings. We pray for God’s light in our path as we take forward everything we have learned in the time of COVID 19 – values of kindness, courage and compassion. We pray too for the gifts of enterprise, risk-taking and energy to build a society of lasting kindness
Lord, in your mercy
Reach out as we cry in hope
You can watch the National Day of Commemoration on the RTE Player here (available for the next 25 days):
https://www.rte.ie/player/series/national-commemoration/SI0000003512?epguid=IH000391725