Sunday Reflections, 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A, 30 November 2025

Old Woman Dozing

Nicolaes Maes [Web Gallery of Art]

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming (Matthew 24:42; Gospel).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales, Scotland, India)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 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.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

                                              

The Infant Jesus Distributing Bread to Pilgrims

Murillo [Web Gallery of Art]

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).

Epistle: Romans 13:11-14. Gospel: Luke 21:25-33.

San Giorgio Maggiore at Dawn

Turner [Web Gallery of Art]

The night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12; Epistle).

 

Sunday Reflections, Christ the King, Year C, 23 November 2025

 

A Taizé chant by Jacques Barthier (1923 - 1994) 

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42; Gospel)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales, Scotland, India) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 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..

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

           

Jacques Fesch - A Murderer's Conversion

Jacques Fesch (6 April 1930 - 1 October 1957)

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. 

Police Officer Jean-Baptiste Vergne

Murdered on 25 February 1954

Widower and father of a four-year-old daughter

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, here and here and by googling.

Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

Traditional Latin Mass

Twenty-fourth and Last Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-23-202f if necessary).

Epistle: Colossians 1:9-14. Gospel: Matthew 24:15-35.

The Martyrdom of St Paul

Tintoretto [Web Gallery of Art]

We have not ceased to pray for you (Colossians 1:9; Epistle).

                             

 

Sunday Reflections, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 16 November 2025

Heuston Railway Station, Dublin

[Wikipedia; photo]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales, Scotland, India)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

                                            

Knock Shrine, County Mayo, Ireland

[Wikipedia; photo]

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.

Lady of Knock

Sung by Dana Rosemary Scallon and Fr Bill Quinlivan

Dana - her stage name - wrote the song in 1981

Traditional Latin Mass

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-16-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Philippians 1:17-21; 4:1-3 . Gospel: Matthew 9:18-26.

Forest Landscape with Two of Christ's Miracles (detail)

David Vinckboons [Web Gallery of Art]

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).

Sunday Reflections, Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, 9 November 2025

Archbasilica of St John Lateran 

[Wikipedia; photo]

The full name of the church is: Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran. It is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.

The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, as a feast of the Lord, takes precedence over the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 2:13-22 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’

So the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Christ driving the money-changers from the Temple 

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and oxen (John 2:15; Gospel).

This Sunday we celebrate the dedication of the Cathedral of Rome. In a real sense it is the Mother Church for Catholics.

In a homily in Spain on 3 November 1982 Pope St John Paul II said: Any church is your house, and the house of God. Value it as the place where we encounter our common Father. For most of us  the church where first we were able to encounter our common Father was the church or chapel where our parents and godparents brought us to be baptised. The First Reading, from the Prophet Ezekiel, which speaks of the life-giving waters flowing out from the Temple, reminds us of the waters of baptism which cleanse away sin and give us the life of God himself. The response to the psalm reflects this: The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place, the abode of the Most High.

The First Reading and the Responsorial Psalm are connected with the fact that St John the Baptist is one of the patron saints of the Pope's Cathedral.

St Paul in the Second Reading tells us what baptism accomplishes in us: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? We become sons and daughters of God the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus and brothers and sisters of one another. We are a living community, sharing in the mission of the Church to preach the Gospel to every creature. The Church becomes alive when we gather together in the church building, especially to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

Many years after my ordination I realised that I learned what family is from being together each day for our evening meal and for our special Sunday lunch. In the same way I learned what the Church is from my parents taking me to Sunday Mass when I was a young child until I was old enough to go on my own. We all went to Sunday Mass, though not together. The term 'Family Mass' wasn't used when I was growing up in Dublin.

The words of Jesus in today's Gospel, Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade, always made sense to me since my experience of the church, the building, was that it was the place where we gathered for Mass, especially on Sunday, and where people went to pray during the week, old people like my paternal grandfather for long periods, workers and school children dropping in for a few minutes on their way home from work or school. In other words, the church building truly was my Father's house. And it usually was a house of beauty that invited one to pray. 

Something we can do today is to recall and thank God for the significant churches in our lives: the church where we were baptised, the church where we made our First Holy Communion, the church where we were confirmed, the church where we went to confession regularly, the church where we were married or ordained. For some, all of these important events happened in the same church, for others not so. But on all of these occasions we were able to encounter our common Father and in every church where the Blessed Sacrament is in the tabernacle we meet our Risen Saviour Jesus Christ our Brother.

The papal cathedra in St John Lateran 

[Wikipedia; photo]

Traditional Latin Mass

What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful (Benedict XVI). 

Dedication of the Archbasilica of our Saviour

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-09-2025 if necessary).

Lesson: Revelations 21:2-5. Gospel: Luke 19:1-10.

Zacchaeus

Willem Isaacsz van Swanenburg [Web Gallery of Art]

Jesus said to Zacchaeus, 'Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost' ((Luke 19:10; Gospel).