Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
GospelMatthew 3:1-12(English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
In those days
John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet
Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the
way of the Lord; make his paths straight.” ’
Now John wore a
garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt round his waist, and his food was
locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about
the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptised by him in the river
Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with
repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our
father”, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for
Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree
therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
‘I baptise you
with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I,
whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy
Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his
threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn
with unquenchable fire.’
A major theme in the texts for this Sunday's Mass is the call to repentance. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . You brood of vipers! . . . Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire . . . His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he [the Messiah] will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
St John the Baptist is echoing the words of Isaiah in the First Reading about the Messiah who is to come: with righteousness he shall judge the poor,and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Sin has been with us since the time of Adam and Eve. That is why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). No human being except Jesus and Mary has been sinless. Sin is ultimately the rejection of God's love.
In our time, within the last few decades, Western society in particular has accepted as 'good' and as 'rights' practices that have always been seen by Christians and by others as sinful. It has largely rejected what we read in Genesis 1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Linked to that is the rejection of Genesis 2:24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. A powerful international lobby has persuaded many Western countries to deny both of these statements, to legalise a parody of marriage and to undermine the family, all in the false name of 'equality'.
In some Western jurisdictions it is lawful to genitally mutilate perfectly healthy bodies of adolescents who may be going through the 'turbulence' that hits everyone of that age to one degree or another.
Another new phenomenon is surrogacy, hiring women who almost always are struggling financially and living in another country, to bear a child conceived artificially outside of the way nature itself teaches us. Alongside that we have the widespread destruction of children in their mothers' wombs. This is not something new in itself but it was never presented before as a 'good' or as a 'right' promoted and paid for in many instances by the state on an industrial scale.
All of these things are a grave affront to God our loving Creator who made us to be with him for ever in heaven.
We are preparing in Advent to celebrate the arrival of the Christ-Child, God who became Man, 2,000 years ago. More importantly, perhaps, we are also preparing to welcome him, now the Risen Lord Jesus coming in glory, when he returns at the end of time. At the same time we are preparing to face the Lord Jesus at the end of our individual lives.
Jesus died so that each and every one of us would seek his forgiveness and be with him for ever in glory in heaven. His coming into the world in a stable in Bethlehem was a personal act of love by God for each of us individually and for all of us as the only creatures made in his own image.
St John the Baptist says to the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism in language that would be considered 'offensive' by many today and perhaps labelled as 'hate language' by some politicians, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. The great saint was reminding them - and us - never to take God's mercy for granted, never to forget that God's mercy is shown above all in the death of Jesus on the Cross.
But the Entrance Antiphon - far too often omitted at Mass - expresses God's desire for all of us with the note of joy that is central to Advent: O People of Sion, behold the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart.
The Communion Antiphon expresses something similar: Jerusalem, arise and stand upon the heights, and behold the joy which comes to you from God.
May each of us judge wisely the things of earth and hold firmly to the things of heaven. Through Christ our Lord (Prayer after Communion).
Conditor Alme Siderum - Creator of the Starry Height
Translation from Latin by Monsignor Ronald A. Knox
Musical setting by Flor Peeters
Columban Fr John Colgan RIP
13 September 1938 - 22 November 2025
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr John Colgan who died here in Ireland after a long illness on the eve of St Columban's Day, which this year was the Solemnity of Christ the King.
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciplesand said to him, “Are you he who is to come, or is to come, or shall we look for another? (Matthew 12:2-3; today's Gospel).
I came across this video yesterday, Tuesday 1 December, and posted it on Facebook. When I opened Facebook this morning I found a message from Loren herself, whom I have never met, and one from a mutual friend in the Philippines, Gwen Llano, who has been involved in Faith and Light for many years. Gwen gave a seminar in Lebanon in 2020 and met Loren there.
The website of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has a report on Loren's talk here. The report by Roy Lagarde says: Pope Leo XIV on Monday said migrants’ experiences must push Christians to oppose war and build communities where no one seeking safety feels unwelcome, after hearing a Filipino woman’s testimony.
Loren Capobres, a former Filipino domestic worker in Lebanon who now works with Jesuit Refugee Service, shared stories that illustrate both the human cost of conflict and the Church’s moral responsibility.
Capobres described her work with migrants through Couples for Christ Lebanon, the Arrupe Migrant Center, and St. Joseph’s Tabaris Parish, which she calls her second home.
She said the parish, supported by Jesuit Refugee Service, became a shelter for migrants who lost homes, work, and security during fighting.
Lebanon is a country that knows suffering. The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) led to 150,000 deaths and a million people leaving the country. The population in 1970 was 2,386,114.The country has also given refuge to people fleeing from other wars in the Middle East.
Catholic immigrants such as Loren Capobres bring a deep and generous faith and enrich the countries wherever they go. Here in Ireland I'm often struck by the Catholic faith of Filipinos, Indians from Kerala, who trace their faith back to St Thomas the Apostle, and Nigerians in particular. They come from countries that are very different culturally in many ways from Ireland, but share with us here the deepest identity of all: our Catholic faith received at baptism that when lived leads persons to serve others generously.
May God continue to bless Loren Capobres and so many others like her, wherever they may be.
GospelMatthew 24: 37-44(English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘For as were the
days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days
before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until
the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of
Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two
women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore,
stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this,
that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief
was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be
broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at
an hour you do not expect.’
Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
The above text is at the top of the home page of this blog. St Columban's words, written more than 1,400 years ago, remind me of the destination God desires for me and for all of us: heaven.
The texts of today's Mass invite us to focus on that end and on Jesus Christ, God who became Man. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ St Paul tells us in the Second Reading (Let your armour be Jesus Christ, in the Jerusalem Bible translation). In the Collect (Opening Prayer) the priest addresses God the Father on our behalf with these words: Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, to resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom . . .
This prayer alludes to the The Final Judgment in Matthew 25, where those joyfully running forth to meet your Christ will be gathered at his right hand. And the words running forth remind me of the welcome his father gave to the Prodigal Son: But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him (Luke 15). Whether we are running forth to meet Christ or the Father is running to embrace and kiss us, there is that strong note of joy. I believe that this is what Jesus meant at the Last Supper when he said to the Apostles: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11).
On the same occasion Jesus told the Apostles what heaven is: And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3).
These words of Jesus tell us absolutely clearly that our faith as Christians is one of relationship, coming to know our Father through Jesus Christ and to be with them for ever.
The Prayer over the Offerings focuses on the theme of eternal life: Accept, we pray, O Lord, these offerings we make, gathered from among your gifts to us, and may what you grant us to celebrate devoutly here below, gain for us the prize of eternal redemption . . . The prayer reminds us also that everything we have and the eternal life that the Father wants for us are pure gift from God.
The Prayer after Communion reinforces St Columban's words that the end of our roadway is our home. The priest prays on our behalf: May these mysteries, O Lord, in which we have participated, profit us, we pray, for even, as we walk amid passing things, you teach us to love the things of heaven and hold fast to what endures . . .
In Advent we prepare to celebrate at Christmas the First Coming of Jesus Christ - And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) - and we prepare for his Second Coming in glory at the end of time when we hope to run forth to meet Christ at the Last Judgment.
But during Advent we also prepare to meet Jesus in our daily lives, particularly through these mysteries in which we participate. These mysteries above all are the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. From the earliest days of the Church this has been celebrated by Christians gathering together on Sunday, the Lord's Day, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, the Resurrection being at the heart of our faith. (It is incorrect to refer to Sunday as 'the Sabbath', the Jewish holy day observed every Saturday.) The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us: On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass. And as the response to the Responsorial Psalm reminds us, I rejoiced when I heard them say: 'Let us go to God's house.'
Listening to the Word of God at Mass and receiving the Risen Lord, in Holy Communion prepare us to recognise Him in the many ways He comes to us in our daily lives. In the painting above, The Infant Jesus Distributing Bread to Pilgrims, Murillo is foreshadowing the Eucharist in which the same Jesus, now the Risen Lord, gives himself 'Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity' to us to strengthen our faith by putting on the Lord Jesus, as St Paul tells us.
This is how the Lord prepares us to be ready whenever and in whatever way He will come.
Locus Iste
Music by Anton Bruckner, sung by Voces8
Locus iste a Deo factus est, inaestimabile sacramentum irreprehensibilis est.
This place is made by God, inestimably sacred, irreprehensible.
Response to Responsorial Psalm (Ps 121 [122]:1)
I rejoiced when I heard them say: 'Let us go to God's house.'
Traditional Latin Mass
First Sunday of Advent
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-30-2025 if necessary).
GospelLuke 23:35-43(English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
Brothers and
Sisters: Let us give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in
the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were
created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him
and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself
all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his
cross..
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is one of the top soccer teams in Europe. It gets its name from the suburb of Paris where it is located, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It is also the birthplace on 6 April 1930 of Jacques Fesch. He was executed by guillotine on 1 October 1957 in Paris. In 1987 Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris, opened a diocesan inquiry into the life of Jacques and in 1993 formally opened the process for his beatification.
This caused considerable controversy in France because Jacques Fesch had been executed by guillotine for the murder of Jean-Baptiste Vergne, 35, a widowed policeman and father of a daughter aged 4, on 25 February 1954. There was no doubt whatever of Jacques Fesch's guilt nor did he show any remorse at his trial or after being sentenced.
How did this man come to be proposed for beatification by a French cardinal who was born Jewish and whose mother was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1943?
During the more than three years that he was in prison, in solitary confinement, Jacques Fesch experienced a profound religious conversion. We know this from the letters he wrote and from the diary he kept during the last months before his execution.
Jacques Fesch's conversion - he had been baptised a Catholic as an infant - was a gradual one, beginning with reading a book about Our Lady in October 1954 and coming to fruition by the following March, Around that time he wrote: At the end of my first year in prison, a powerful wave of emotion swept over me, causing deep and brutal suffering. Within the space of a few hours, I came into possession of faith, with absolute certainty. I believed … Grace came to me. A great joy flooded my soul, and above all a deep peace. [That quotation is from a comprehensive article: The Final Hours of Jacques Fesch].
In the context of this Sunday's Gospel, Jacques Fesch is both the criminal who mocked Jesus and the criminal who said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Two persons in particular were channels of God's mercy in Jacques' conversion, Fr Devoyod, the prison chaplain, and his lawyer, a devout Catholic whose surname was Baudet and who expressed his concern for the immortal soul of Jacques.
Two months before his execution Jacques wrote in a letter to his mother-in-law: Here is where the cross and its mystery of suffering make their appearance. The whole of life has this piece of wood as its center. …We can have no genuine hope of peace and salvation apart from Christ crucified! Happy the man who understands this.
The last words he wrote in his journal were, In five hours I shall look upon Jesus.
From Commentary on St Luke's Gospel by St Ambrose: The Lord always grants us more than what we ask for. The thief merely asked to be remembered, but the Lord said: 'Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise'. The essence of life is to live with Jesus Christ. And where Jesus Christ is, there is his Reign to be found.
You can read more about Jacques Fesch, Servant of God, here, here, hereand hereand by googling.
Gospel Luke 21:5-19(English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
At that time: While some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, Jesus said,“As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.This will be your opportunity to bear witness.Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer,for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.You will be hated by all for my name's sake.But not a hair of your head will perish.By your endurance you will gain your lives.
I went down to Knock last Sunday and came back tonight, Friday 14 November. A time of grace.
Many of the Gospel stories of the interaction between Jesus and individuals or groups take place on the road. They are not planned though Jesus, who is both God and Man, would have foreseen them. I am often uplifted and strengthened in my Catholic Christian faith by such encounters, usually totally unforeseen.
One such was in Heuston Railway Station in Dublin on Friday 4 November 2022. I was waiting for the noon train from Dublin to Cork, where I was to be part of a team conducting a Marriage Encounter Weekend. At the spot from where the photo at the top of the page was taken I saw a tall young man with his three children, the youngest being carried in a kind of backpack. I was struck with a feeling of utter delight. I approached the man who knew by my Roman collar that I was a priest. When his wife caught up with him and their children he introduced her as 'Lizzie'. Their love for one another and for their children, a girl and two boys aged seven, five and three, was palpable.
The family were from Texas and were waiting for the train to Claremorris, County Mayo, the station nearest Knock Shrine where they were going on a brief pilgrimage. (Unlike other major shrines to Our Lady, most pilgrims to Knock don't stay overnight.) We chatted for only a couple of minutes. Before we parted the couple asked me for a blessing. Lizzie knelt down for this, not in the least bothered by the many people around.
I know that God truly blessed them on that occasion but He also blessed me through them. I was uplifted and strengthened in my faith.
It brought to mind a similar experience in late 1968 or early 1969 when I was studying in Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York. The Religious of the Sacred Heart, who owned the school, had just dropped 'of the Sacred Heart' from its name. It was a time of deep crisis in the Church and, in the USA, because of the Vietnam War.
One Saturday morning after Mass, Sr Kathryn Sullivan RSCJ, one of the first women to become internationally renowned as a Scripture scholar, approached me in the sacristy. She told me she was about to go on a lecture tour overseas and knelt down and asked me for a blessing. As a young priest, about one year in the priesthood, I felt deeply humbled. I was blessed by her humility, which reminded me of what God had called me to be.
Today's gospel reads like today's headlines and 'breaking news' - as it has always done. But in the midst of great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences Jesus tells us, This will be your opportunity to bear witness. The Texan family in Heuston Station and Sr Kathryn Sullivan, without being aware of it, took the opportunity to bear witness to me.
The Prayer over the Offerings reminds us of what our lives are ultimately about : . . . may obtain for us the grace of being devoted to you and gain us the prize of everlasting happiness. The Communion Antiphon from the Old Testament - I wish the Church wouldn't include so many options throughout the Mass - reinforces this: To be near God is my happiness, to place my hope in God the Lord (Psalm 72 [73]: 28).
Whether in great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences or in our ordinary day-to-day quiet lives, Jesus says to each of us, This will be your opportunity to bear witness.
This painting shows the two miracles in the Gospel.
Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, 'Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.' And instantly the woman was made well (Matthew 9:22; Gospel).
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