St Ita Feast Day, 15 January 2024. Killeedy

Speaking Notes. Bishop Brendan Leahy

You probably know I attended the large Synod assembly in Rome held last October that saw delegates from all over the world come together with Pope Francis to reflect on the topic of how we journey together as a Church, how we’re getting one with one another, how we’re reaching out to others, how our commitment is to the poor and many other themes. One of the main themes of the Synod was women in the life and mission of the Church. In the final synthesis document we read that “the long history of women missionaries, saints, theologians and mystics is a powerful source of nourishment and inspiration for women and men today.” Here today, as we gather to honour St. Ita who died in 569, I want to recall her as a powerful source of inspiration for us, especially regarding women in the life and mission of the Church.

At the Synod a quote from Pope Francis was repeated that all of us together, as Church are “a people convened and called with the strength of the Beatitudes”. We’ve just heard those beatitudes proclaimed in the Gospel. Ita impersonated the spirit of the beatitudes. For instance, “blessed are the poor in Spirit, theirs is the Kingdom of God”. We know that we Ita came here from East Munster, from the Déisi country, the local ruler offered her a fine streak of good land but she would also accept the amount she need, a few acres to raise vegetables for the community. He was conscience of care of our planet centuries before we started talking about it. She lived all the beatitudes. We know that she asked God to be pure in heart.

At the Synod, last year, we heard from women how they “desire to share their spiritual experience of journeying towards holiness in the various stages of life: as young women, as mothers, in their friendships and relationships, in family life at all ages, in working life, and in consecrated life”. Ita was not afraid to share her spiritual experience. She lived out what the First Reading talks about – God leading her into the desert to speak to her heart. She shared that and others were formed by her wisdom. Maybe it’s something we need to do more today. We’re so used to receiving the sacraments, important as that is, but we need to find ways to share our spiritual experience at all the various stages of life. Ita did that with her father and mother. She did it with her community. And she did so also with the many VIPS of church and state that came to visit her. We know that she is call the “mother of the Irish saints” because she managed to communicate her experience and help them grow in holiness.

In the final report, we also hear how “women cry out for justice in societies still marked by sexual violence, economic inequality and the tendency to treat them as objects. Women are scarred by trafficking, forced migration and war. Pastoral accompaniment and vigorous advocacy for women should go hand in hand”. St. Ita was a woman with a mission. As the Second Reading puts it today, each of us has a special grace to put at the service of others. St. Ita was once asked by St. Brendan what were the three things which God most detested. She replied: “A scowling face, obstinacy in wrong-doing, and too great a confidence in the power of money.” St. Brendan then asked her what three things God especially loved. She replied, “True faith in God with a pure heart, a simple life with a religious spirit, and open-handedness inspired by charity.” Ita was a woman who worked for justice and peace in her time. We know too that she took care a woman who had probably experienced sexual violence in the convent.

At a time when our world is suffering so much, we can today turn to St. Ita and ask her to intercede for us. So many wars, injustices, social problems, lonesomeness, addictions. Someone commented to me recently that today it’s as if all of humanity is raising up a great cry to Jesus: help us to see God. We know that the name “Ita” is linked with the word “desire” – the desire for God. Let’s be thankful that God has given us and our diocese this great example of a woman who had this deep desire for God that she quenched by following God’s ways presented to us in the Gospel. Let’s thank God for Ita, the woman of the beatitudes, the woman who knew how to share her spiritual experience and the woman who did her part to create new ways in the society around her.

Let’s honour St. Ita by deciding in our own hearts to continue her mission in our own parishes, our families, our neighbour and communities.

St. Ita, pray for us.