Today is a day of thanksgiving to God for 250 years of the Meath Hospital, from its beginnings in the heart of the Liberties, followed by almost two hundred years in the nearby Long Lane. It is a history marked by people of great stature, people like Robert Graves, William Stokes and John Cheyne, some developing new techniques, some teaching generations of medial students, others training nurses. More recent developments included the specialties in Urology, in the treatment of duodenal ulcers, and acute stroke care, to give but a few examples.

For some this history might have appeared to end as the hospital left its historic setting in the heart of the city that it had so nobly served for generations. But here in Tallaght something new was created. What is significant is that the new does not eclipse the old, but rather draws it into a new phase in its history.

An elderly parishioner taught me a lesson many years ago when I chaired the first meeting of a new parish grouping that had been resisted by many. As soon as the meeting opened, he jumped to his feet. My heart sank because he had led the struggle against change. He said one thing, "I have resisted, but now something new is in place, I intend it to work and I invite everybody to join with me in making it work.". That is the spirit that makes a real future possible.

I suggest to you that this spirit is a core value of the three traditions that make this hospital in Tallaght what it is today. There is a wonderful passage in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew Scriptures, where the prophet quotes the Lord:

From this time forward I make you hear NEW things, hidden things that you have not known. They are created NOW not long ago.(Isa. 48:6-7)

Likewise the New Testament is a constant invitation to move forwards. Jesus constantly drew people together, and resisted the structures that separated, religious, political and ethnic.

So our thanksgiving today is about a living tradition, the wonderful contribution at the very heart of this hospital brought by the Meath Hospital with its long and unique history. Our thanksgiving is about people here today who have developed ways of working together so positively, yet coming as they do in many cases from quite distinctive founding traditions. In the governing Board of this great institution, as much as in its raison d'etre, the care of and the treatment of the sick, the spirit of working together, trusting one another, looking out for one anothers needs, remain the vision to be lived and shared.

No hospital is in isolation, and least of all, this the largest hospital complex in Ireland. Have we something to say to an island of many traditions, many cultures, indeed now more than ever, many faith communities, many different stories to tell? Can we say from this hospital, through our great love for our respective traditions, our loyalty to those very traditions, we have found a way under God of working together, respecting each other, and together contributing to something larger than the sum of the parts that make it up? This surely is a vision that we continue to work at, but something which we can humbly share with the many for whom this is their island home, either for many generations or even much more recently. The Meath Hospital has made a unique contribution to what we are here today in Tallaght. For all this history, for the people who have been part of it, and those who remain so much part of it today, we thank God and ask for God's blessing on this hospital.