Restoring the Circle
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Today we celebrate the life of a great man, who in the words of ISAIAH, was "endowed with God's spirit to bring true justice to his world."
Edmund's world of 18th C. IRELAND was scarred by awful oppression & poverty caused by institutionalised economic injustice and the English penal laws designed to dispossess & render powerless the Catholic majority. Edmund, was among the fortunate few because through his upbringing & extended education – most Catholics were deprived of any education- & Apprenticeship to his merchant uncle in Waterford, he amassed a considerable fortune. He moved easily in his society, fell in love, married and had a daughter.
TRAGEDY changed his life
In 1789 his world fell apart; the love of his life, his young wife, died leaving him with an infant daughter. He struggled with his loss and grief and for over the next decade he waited on God, searching for a new direction in his life. Some of Edmund's biographers nowadays view the new direction his life took as characterised by Presence, Compassion & Liberation.
Through his Catholic faith Edmund had A SENSE OF GOD'S PRESENCE IN HIS LIFE but now, struggling with the tragedy of his wife's death, he deepened that sense of God's Presence. By means of prayer, reflection on Scripture and Eucharist, & as St Paul puts it, Edmund was "Strengthened in his inner self through Christ's spirit." More and more Edmund came to see God present in life's experiences. Because Edmund "lived in God and God in him" his awareness of GOD IN OTHERS deepened.
Raising his daughter played a significant part in this but so did his growing compassion for others. In the POOR, especially, he encountered the face of the suffering Christ. Edmund was prominent in assisting prisoners, particularly in comforting those condemned to death; he and other laymen visited the sick and elderly living alone in hovels with no family to help them; he funded an orphanage; he instructed & prepared some of the poorest children for the Sacraments and engaged in many other acts of compassion for the poor; serving Christ in them.
A System of Education
When he developed his educational system his sense of God's presence permeated his classrooms and teaching; his holistic approach meant that the sacred permeated the secular. This sense of God's Presence in others nourished his COMPASSION. In 1802, Compassion for the plight of the poor boys of Waterford moved him from what one could call common goodness to something quite HEROIC. He sold up his business and invested his fortune & his life in providing free education to the very poor.
A Group of Religious Brothers
By means of his schools, Edmund, and the group of religious Brothers he inspired to join him, offered the boys knowledge & the hope it brought, but also food and clothing. In so many ways Edmund showed a very fatherly affection & practical concern for them & their families. Even before his death in 1844, Edmund Rice was being hailed as a LIBERATOR to his people. Edmund, like the prophets before him, refused to accept that injustice is inevitable. Like his master, Jesus, Edmund was counter-cultural and critiqued his society; for example :
- He did not accept that differences of Class and religion must necessarily divide people.
- He did not believe poverty was an inevitable & insoluble problem for a prosperous society.
- He believed that the poor had a right to participate by their labour in creating and sharing in the national wealth.
- He believed the poor had a right to an education.
Edmund Defied Popular Notions
Thus Edmund defied popular notions regarding the poor and set about RAISING them up and empowering them to take their rightful place in their society. He did so because he passionately believed in God's love for them & their EQUALITY with others before God . He chose EDUCATION AS THE MEANS to liberate them from their sense of worthlessness and hopelessness inflicted on them by institutionalised ignorance, unemployment, & poverty.
Education Nurtured their Spirituality
He well understood how important their MATERIAL betterment was but he also understood how Essential to their TRUE LIBERATION was their SPIRITUAL growth. Both went hand in hand. Because his education nurtured their spirituality, they came to understand their own God-given dignity & importance. This strengthened their HOPE motivated their EFFORTS and helped them RESPECT and VALUE OTHERS.
Trials and Sufferings
It would be useful to reflect on the many trials and sufferings he endured in doing God's work; the malevolence, frustrations and anxieties his championing of the poor brought him. It will have to suffice to say that through them all he trusted in the Lord & refused to yield to unkindness or bitterness. Edmund always brought his hopes and yearnings, fears and anxieties to his Risen Lord. So by God's Providence, here we are today in this place, far removed from his time and place, finding in Blessed Edmund Rice a source of inspiration & a kindred spirit.
Who are those inspired by Blessed Edmund ?
Well, there are:
- Christian Brothers who imitated Edmund through their vowed community lifestyle and who labour or have laboured in various ministries inspired by him;
- There courageously battling with grief and loss are his kindred;
- So too Parents– especially sole parents – loving and guiding their children;
- People in business charting an ethical way in their hectic business world; People serving the aged, sick, lonely or disadvantaged in many ways;
- Those walking with people who have been pushed to the fringes of our society;
- Those who critique our world and work to remedy injustices;
- Certainly all who labour in education, enlightening & moulding the minds & characters of young people, nurturing in them a Gospel spirituality;
- And all recipients of these ministries such as students, here at ACU or our schools who bring out the best in those who serve them.
All of these, and they are all represented here, can find hope and inspiration in this dynamic, gentle, generous & loving man who heroically gave his life to follow Christ in serving others. We thank God for Edmund's life & for all who work in his name to bring God's love and goodness to others throughout the world.
