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).
14 October 2021
I thank God for the 'Yes' of my parents. Sunday Reflections, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
GospelMark 10:35-45 or 10:42-45(English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
[James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher,
we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”And he said to them, “What
do you want me to do for you?”And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your
right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the
cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am
baptized?”And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to
them, “The cup that I drink you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,but to sit at my right hand or at my left
is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has
been prepared.”And
when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.]
And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over
them.But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would
be great among you must be your servant,and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.For even the Son of Man came not to be
served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
In May 2008 I unexpectedly received an email from Michael in Australia whom I hadn't met or heard from since the summer of 1967 when we were working together on a building (construction) site in Dublin. I had just been ordained subdeacon and was to be ordained priest in December of that year. The general foreman on the site was my father, John.
In a later email Michael said, Your father was a great role model for me to try and emulate. I remember the first job that I met your father on, as he was the general foreman. Itwas the first job for me as a journeyman carpenter and it was a pleasant experience coming to work with such a pleasant gentleman giving the instructions.
My father a week before his sudden death on 11 August 1987
I wasn't at all surprised at Michael's words as I had heard others who had worked with my father say similar things. And when I worked under him myself that summer I could see what I had known before: he led by example. He never swore, never shouted at anyone and was most helpful to young workers and to young architects. He sometimes would laugh at home at the lack of experience of the latter in practical matters. But he also knew that you can only learn through experience - and with the help of mentors. And he was a real mentor to the same young architects.
Many times before I took an important examination or was about to do something for the first time Dad would say, The experience will be good for you. There was never the hint of a demanding expectation. And I still find his words to be true.
But I often heard him speak with gratitude, respect and affection of general foremen under whom he had worked as an apprentice and as a young carpenter. One was Mr Grace, whom I never met. Two of his sons became Capuchin priests and three of his daughters religious sisters. Another was Mr Boyle, whom I did know. He and his wife in their old age were a handsome couple.
Dad was the same at home as he was on the construction site. He never raised his voice to his two sons or to our mother. He was courteous with everyone he met and was just himself in every situation.
His authority came from within. He was responsible and loving in everything he did. Every morning, after returning from a very early Mass, he prepared my mother's breakfast before heading for work. He started work on time and ended on time. But he wasn't a slave to the clock.
With my parents John and Mary and my brother Paddy after my ordination in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral Dublin, 20 December 1967
October os Mission Month in the Church and next Sunday, 24 October, is Mission Sunday with the theme We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20). In 2018, when the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, fell on Mission Sunday the theme was Christian Families are Missionary Families.
I don't think that my parents, or any of their contemporaries in Ireland, saw themselves as missionaries. But they passed on the faith without being aware of it. When I was a child it was my father who took me to Sunday Mass. My mother went to a later Mass as she had to take care of my brother when he was still very young. My Dad used to take me to Solemn High Masses on days such as Easter Monday and Whit (Pentecost) Monday in the churches of the Dominicans and the Capuchins in Dublin. I didn't appreciate this at the time.
My mother used to take my brother and me to visit seven churches on the afternoon of Holy Thursday before the changes in Holy Week ceremonies in 1955 when they were moved from the morning to the afternoon/evening. There was solemn adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in each church or chapel we visited. Again, I didn't appreciate this at the time.
When I went to the Philippines in 1971 I was astonished to discover that this same practice, known there as Visita Iglesia, was very much alive in the larger cities, on the night of Holy Thursday, with many young people walking from one church to the next. Again, I thanked God for what my mother had invited me to do every Holy Thursday up to 1954 when I very reluctantly joined her.
Among the gifts I received from God through my parents was the living out of the words in today's gospel, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant. They served each other and they served us their two sons. They did this day in and day out, whatever their feelings might have been at any particular moment. As I grow old I just marvel at this as I marvel at newly-married couples willing to take on the same responsibilities with the children God will grant them.
I can see clearly now that my parents and so many others like then were missionaries in a very real sense, living out the promises they made when my brother and I were baptised. (Our Dad wasn't present at my brother's baptism because he was attending his mother's funeral that same day. In those days baptisms took place within a few days of birth, a commendable practice.)
In the current rite of the baptism of a child the priest asks the parents: You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?
In responding with Yes, we do, parents undertake to be missionaries to their own children. I thank God for the Yes of my parents.
Bishop Edward Galvin, Columban Co-founder, baptising an infant in China
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