Homily: Canon Pat Browne on Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

I have been a priest in London for over 40 years now. For many of those years Irish people in London lived in the shadow of IRA and UDA Terrorism. It was a very difficult time to be Irish in London. Airey Neave an MP was blown up in his car in the car park of the House of Commons. One of our Pimlico parishioners just happened to be walking past Chelsea barracks when the IRA bomb there went off and he was killed. We had bombs in the City of London, in Guildford, in Birmingham and people were angry that these terrorists could so cold-bloodedly kill innocent people. And there was the temptation to paint all Irish people and indeed all Catholics with the same brush.

"They're all the same!" Many Irish people were intimidated into silence. Through embarrassment, before the rest of the UK community that such awful things could be done in the name of their religion or their country. Or through fear that these people might take it out on them or that Irish fanatics would accuse them if of being non-Irish if they uttered a word of criticism. I wasn't! As a young priest in Westminster Cathedral and in Kentish Town I preached against these atrocities and challenged those who dared do them in the name of Catholics or the Irish. Even if I was condemned by a few fanatics, what I said was appreciated by most Irish Catholics who heard it for giving voice to what they thought.

We are seeing similar happenings again with the upsurge of Islamic terrorism, most recently this week in Paris. Certain Muslims doing these things in the name of Islam. And so, many Muslims are afraid to speak out. They feel a dual intimidation. Intimidated first by members of the host country in which they live whether it be the UK or France or wherever for fear of being seen as terrorists themselves - AND intimidated by these fanatics in their own religion who will threaten them and accuse them of being non-Islamic. It's hard for peace-loving Muslims today in Europe as it was for the Irish people in the UK in the recent past.

So we must be calm and not generalise. When you find yourself thinking or saying "They are all the same" - then you know you are wrong! But Muslim leaders and those in positions of influence have to speak out and dissociate themselves from what is happening. And not be afraid.

Like the Muslim journalist who wrote yesterday in the Guardian. "Free speech is not a western concept: it is a universal craving of the human soul. The gunmen ran away shouting that they were "avenging the prophet Muhammad". How dare they? We cannot, he said, let the murderers define Islam.

So what's all this got to do with today's feast? Everything. There were three epiphanies highlighted in the New Testament. An epiphany is a manifestation. Something is made known to us about God and about ourselves..

The three Kings kneeling before a baby. The grown-up baby working his first miracle at the wedding feast of Cana, and what today's feast is all about, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. These three epiphanies make manifest to us who Jesus is. He is God.

Today at the Baptism the father speaks and makes it explicit "This is my beloved Son". That tells us who we are too. If we are brothers and sisters of that Jesus, then each of us a child of God. Given the Gift of life by God. Each one precious to him, unique and irreplaceable. Such is the dignity of each individual human person. St Paul tells us in the first reading today God has no favourites.

Who would dare to strip any human person of this God-given identity and privilege - and then dare to say he does it in the name of God!

So, go out from this church knowing who you are. And be prepared to tell others who they are. You will do this by the dignity and respect you accord them - be they fellow Catholics, Jews, Muslims or non-believers. They are who they are - God's children and no one can or should try to take that from them.

It is in this spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood - all members of the one family, the human family - that we are all called to live our lives. Go out at the end of this Mass and do it. Glorify God with your life.

Listen here: www.holyapostlespimlico.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Audio-Homily-Fr-Pat-11th-January-2015.mp3

Canon Pat Browne is Parish Priest at Holy Apostles, Pimlico and Roman Catholic Duty Priest for the Houses of Parliament.