The front cover of The Wonder of the Word – a beautiful scene from the author’s home region of Ireland – will, I gather, be in the News & Events section of this issue of Mount Carmel. I find it very fitting because this book is itself characterised by two “events”. One is the popular book launches held over the last few weeks in Dublin, Sligo and Oxford. And the other event – underpinning the whole book – is Fr Vincent O’Hara’s recent Golden Jubilee of the priesthood: the 50 homilies mark these 50 years of his priestly vocation. Another purpose of the book is to help raise funds for “The Friends of Calcutta”, a charity which will receive all the proceeds.
Some people find their niche as speakers, others as writers. Fr Vincent excels in both areas; the written homilies combine perfectly the spoken and written word and could perhaps be called his own “signature genre” or speciality (which I feel was recognised when he was recently asked to celebrate Mass on RTÉ, the main Irish television channel!).
Many readers of Mount Carmel will, like myself, have heard some of Fr Vincent’s homilies at Mass and appreciated their richness. I find that seeing the written homilies adds something extra, showing just how rich they are. The analogy that comes to mind is that of appreciating listening to a piece of music, and then seeing the musical score and realising, even more, just how much has gone into the composition. Some of the riches in these homilies include: treatments of religious and social themes, spiritual reflections, memorable insights, lively anecdotes, flashes of humour, lines of poetry… The list could continue.
To give an idea of the overall plan of the book: there are, as mentioned, 50 homilies. About two thirds of these are devoted to spiritual themes, such as “The Mystery of God”, “The Gift of Faith” or “Keeping the Wonder Alive”. Some chapter titles address the readers directly – “Become what God wants you to be…”; or (spoken by Jesus): “Come back to Me”. The author opens our eyes to the mystery and compassion of God; he also shows us the dignity of the human person as seen through the eyes of God: “Jesus […] sees the immense possibilities in every human heart. For him the only failure is the failure to be a saint, to realise the Father’s dream for us” (p. 19). These are life-giving words and need to be taken to heart. In fact, the whole book could repay pondering in this way.
Two particular areas of focus could be said to stand out among the themes, reflecting central aspects of the Carmelite rule: allegiance to Jesus Christ and a life of prayer. Not that this is done in an explicit way – nothing in these homilies is compartmentalised or “preachy”: everything flows and is inviting. We can, nonetheless, find chapters focusing on Jesus, such as his years in Nazareth (“The Hidden Life”), or the particularly moving homily on the Passion (“A Man of Sorrows”). But in fact, the presence of Jesus is, in one way or another, on every page of the book. As a Carmelite, Fr Vincent has an eye to friendship with God, relationship, prayer. “The core of our Christian way of life is devotion to a Person rather than adherence to a set of rules. We only really get to know [Jesus] when we come to discover him as a personal Friend, when we get to know him with the heart” (p. 71). And we are drawn into this Carmelite hallmark, the mystery of indwelling prayer, as we read:
It is an awesome but glorious truth that every Christian heart is a dwelling-place of the Blessed Trinity. We cannot comprehend God in our minds but we can make a home for him in our hearts. (p. 9)
This sentence alone shows the huge potential of this book to do good, for this truly glorious truth can be utterly life-changing when discovered for the first time.
Other themes to which the homilies are devoted include more general ones, such as leisure, hospitality, ageing (subtitled “As young as your faith”). And then there are the homilies focused on people (the last fifteen or so chapters). These subjects include some of the author’s favourite saints (such as St Thérèse, St Patrick, Newman), and writers (e.g. Shakespeare, Hopkins and Patrick Kavanagh), as well as friends and contemporaries including Fr Michael Fitzgerald, OCD (“A Great Missionary”). It would not, though, do justice to the book just to highlight its plan of contents; rather, one needs to keep in mind the ubiquitous raw material: the many gems of content and style informing all the chapters.
Yet even this, I feel, would be to miss the main point. It is not just a book by someone who knows how to write well, to entertain, to inspire. Rather, it is, first and foremost, the work of a priest: it is the expression of a compassionate pastoral apostolate, encouraging the faithful and drawing us into a trusting relationship with Jesus and an unshakeable belief in God’s love and mercy. The following parable, as we might call it, is particularly heartening. It is “only a story,” notes Fr Vincent – adding, “but it has the ring of truth”. It is the story of a man who, on arriving at the gates of heaven, learns that he is to watch, alone in a room with Jesus, a video re-run of his entire life! (And there is plenty to be discouraged about…) The story continues:
The man was nervous about this, for his life hadn’t been great, and there had been a fair amount of waywardness. And the re-run began, and to the man’s surprise, it only showed the good things in his life; and when it was over, Jesus asked him: “Well, what did you think of that?” And the man said: “Well, so far so good, Lord, but you know there was more than that!” And Jesus held up his hands, showing his wounds, and said: “I’ve taken care of the rest!” (p. 115)
As the author points out, in another place: Jesus does not command obedience; rather, he “inspires love” (p. 71).
I recommend most warmly this engaging, consoling and uplifting book.
