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..
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, here and here and by googling.
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.
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