Bangor to Bobbio

'When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.' Sunday Reflections, Trinity Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:12:00 +0000

The Trinity with the Dead Christ, Lodovico Carracci, c.1590 [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 16:12-15 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Jesus said to his disciples: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Adoration of the Holy Trinity (Landauer Altar)

Albrecht Dürer, 1511 [Web Gallery of Art]

The two paintings above, like many others, depict the Holy Trinity with the crucified, dead Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes St Caesarius of Arles: The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity.

Though it is a mystery that we can never fully understand, the Trinity shows God's total involvement in our lives. Without the Creator we wouldn't be. Without God becoming Man in the Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, we would not have the possibility of eternal life. Without the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost we would never understand who we are, the beloved sons and daughters of God the Father, the beloved brothers and sisters of Jesus and therefore of one another.

And none of this would be possible if Jesus had not lived among us and died for us. The paintings show us the price that God was willing to pay that we would know him and return his love.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman expresses the central mysteries of our faith in Firmly I believe and truly, taken from his extended poem The Dream of Gerontius. Sir Edward Elgar later set this to music, though the setting below is by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

We Christians begin almost every prayer, liturgical or otherwise, with the words In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit or with Glory to the Father . . . The Catechism tells us: Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names, for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity.

Like the painters Carracci and Dürer, Newman draws us to the Incarnation, the reality of God becoming Man, and the Paschal Mystery, the death and resurrection of Jesus:

And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.

And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified.

The Second Person of the Trinity becoming one of us, living among us, dying for us in a most humiliating way, and being raised from the dead is the source of our hope. It is by following Jesus wholeheartedly that we too are bearers of this hope to others. As Pope Francis said in his homily last Wednesday, Jesus was 'promoted' to the Cross. He was 'promoted' to humiliation. That is true promotion, that which makes us seem more like Jesus.

In the fourth stanza, not sung here, Newman brings us to the central fact that the Holy Spirit, who will guide you into all the truth, does so above all through the Church:

And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church as His creation,
And her teachings are His own.

Last Sunday, Pentecost, Pope Francis in ending his homily referred to 'the harmony of the Church'. As Christians we cannot go it alone. God, the Holy Trinity, is a Community, the Perfect Community, Three Persons but One God. We are made in God's image, which means we are made to be part of a community. Here are the closing words of the Pope's homily:

Today’s liturgy is a great prayer which the Church, in union with Jesus, raises up to the Father, asking him to renew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May each of us, and every group and movement, in the harmony of the Church, cry out to the Father and implore this gift. Today too, as at her origins, the Church, in union with Mary, cries out: 'Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love!' Amen.

Firmly I believe and truly

Words: Blessed John Henry Newman, from The Dream of Gerontius

Music: Shipston, traditional English melody arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Firmly I believe and truly

God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.

And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.

Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong,
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.

[And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church as His creation,
And her teachings are His own.

And I take with joy whatever
Now besets me, pain or fear,
And with a strong will I sever
All the ties which bind me here.]

Adoration aye be given,

With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and Heaven,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, John Everett Millais, 1891

'Jesus was promoted to the Cross . . . to humiliation. That was true promotion'. Pope Francis in his homily on 21 May

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:58:00 +0000

Real power is service.

Jesus was 'promoted' to the Cross. He was 'promoted' to humiliation. That is true promotion, that which makes us seem more like Jesus.

Pope Benedict was constantly reminding us that our faith is, above all, in Jesus Christ. Pope Francis is doing the same, with a very different way of communicating. And Pope Benedict's stepping down is an outstanding example of real power as service. Only he had the power to make the decision that he did and he made it out of a real sense of service to the Church and its mission.

'If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.' Sunday Reflections, Pentecost.

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:01:00 +0000

Pentecost, Sir Anthony van Dyck, 1618-20 [Web Gallery of Art]

Pentecost Sunday, at the Vigil Mass (Saturday evening)

NB The Vigil Mass has its own prayers and readings. Those for the Mass During the Day on Sunday should not be used – though many priests seem to be unaware of this. It is incorrect to refer to the Vigil Mass as an ‘anticipated Mass’. It is a celebration proper to the evening before Pentecost Sunday. The Vigil Mass also fulfills the Sunday obligation.

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) [This link is to the readings for the Vigil Mass and for the Mass on Sunday]

Pentecost Sunday, Mass During the Day

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 20:19-23 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

The Holy Spirit with the Holy Family, Juan Simón Gutiérrez [Web Gallery of Art]

About 20 years ago I was asked to celebrate Mass for a group of girls aged around 14 from a Catholic school in Cebu City in the central Philippines. They were having a recollection day in a retreat house. I made myself available for confession about 30 minutes before Mass. It soon became clear to me that many wanted to go to confession and after half an hour I went to the teacher and suggested we wait a while before starting Mass.

As the girls continued to come, some also sharing problems, I realized that this was their need. I spoke again to the teacher and suggested that we not have Mass that afternoon but that we arrange for one in school a few days later. She readily agreed.

These youngsters were experiencing God's infinite loving mercy and recognised that. Pope Francis has been highlighting this ever since he was elected. One prominent Italian journalist, Andrea Tornielli has even written about what he calls Mercy. The first encyclical of Pope Francis.

In his homily yesterday, Friday, at his Mass in St Martha's, where he lives, Pope Francis spoke again about God's mercy. In his homily he said, Peter was saddened that, for a third time, Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?” This pain, this shame – a great man, this Peter – [and] a sinner, a sinner. The Lord makes him feel that he is a sinner – makes us all feel that we are sinners. The problem is not that we are sinners: the problem is not repenting of sin, not being ashamed of what we have done. That's the problem. [My emphasis.]

Pope Francis added, Peter let himself be shaped by his many encounters with Jesus and this 'is something we all need to do as well, for we are on the same road,' the Holy Father said, stressing that 'Peter is great, not because he is good, but because he has a nobility of heart, which brings him to tears, leads him to this pain, this shame - and also to take up his work of shepherding the flock.' [My emphasis]

Regular confession is an ongoing encounter with the loving Jesus in which he shapes us. Pope Francis notes that 'Peter let himself be shaped'. We make a decision each time we go to confession, a decision that's not always easy to make. But Jesus never spurns us.

On 28 April Pope Francis confirmed a group of young people from different countries. The last of three points he made in his homily was this: And here I come to my last point. It is an invitation which I make to you, young confirmandi, and to all present. Remain steadfast in the journey of faith, with firm hope in the Lord. This is the secret of our journey! He gives us the courage to swim against the tide. Pay attention, my young friends: to go against the current; this is good for the heart, but we need courage to swim against the tide. Jesus gives us this courage! There are no difficulties, trials or misunderstandings to fear, provided we remain united to God as branches to the vine, provided we do not lose our friendship with him, provided we make ever more room for him in our lives. This is especially so whenever we feel poor, weak and sinful, because God grants strength to our weakness, riches to our poverty, conversion and forgiveness to our sinfulness. The Lord is so rich in mercy: every time, if we go to him, he forgives us. Let us trust in God’s work! With him we can do great things; he will give us the joy of being his disciples, his witnesses. Commit yourselves to great ideals, to the most important things. We Christians were not chosen by the Lord for little things; push onwards toward the highest principles. Stake your lives on noble ideals, my dear young people! [Emphases added.]

Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.

Among other things, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost has given us the beautiful expression of God's mercy that is the sacrament of confession/reconciliation/penance.

One of my greatest joys as a sinner is receiving forgiveness in confession from the priest, who absolves me in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that is with God's full authority. One of my greatest joys as a priest is to welcome a fellow sinner, whether young or old, whether one who comes frequently to confession or is returning after many years, and to assure that sinner of God's mercy and absolving my fellow pilgrim in the name of that merciful God.

Veni, Creator Spiritus (Come, Holy Ghost, Creator)

At the opening of the conclave that elected Pope Francis

Veni Creator Spiritus,

Mentes tuorum visita,

Imple superna gratia,

Quæ tu creasti pectora.

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come.

From thy bright heavenly throne!

Come, take possession of our souls.

And make them all Thine Own!

Qui diceris Paraclitus,

Altissimi domum Dei,

Fons vivus, ignis, caritas,

Et spiritalis unctio.

Thou who art called the Paraclete,

Best gift of God above,

The Living Spring, The Living Fire,

Sweet Unction, and True Love!

Tu septiformis munere,

Digitus paternæ dexteræ,

Tu rite promissum Patris,

Sermone ditans guttura.

Thou who are sevenfold in Thy grace,

Finger of God's right hand,

His Promise, teaching little ones

To speak and understand!

Accende lumen sensibus,

Infunde amorem cordibus,

Infirma nostri corporis,

Virtute firmans perpeti.

O guide our minds with thy blest light,

With love our hearts inflame,

And with thy strength, which ne'er decays,

Confirm our mortal frame.

Hostem repellas longius,

Pacemque dones protinus:

Ductore sic te prævio

Vitemus omne noxium.

Far from us drive our hellish foe,

True peace unto us bring,

And through all perils guide us safe

Beneath thy sacred wing.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,

Noscamus atque Filium,

Teque utriusque Spiritum

Credamus omni tempore.

Through Thee may we the Father know,

Through Thee the Eternal Son,

Thee the Spirit of them both

Thrice blessed Three in One.

Deo Patri sit gloria,

Et Filio, qui a mortuis

Surrexit, ac Paraclito,

In sæculorum sæcula. Amen.

All glory to the Father be

With his co-equal Son;

The same to thee, great Paraclete,

While endless ages run.

Pope Francis: 'When you express profound devotion for the Virgin Mary . . .'

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:17:00 +0000

Las Manañitas a La Virgen , 12 December 2007, sung in the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Tepeyac, Mexico City, after the early morning Mass on her feast day, 12 December. Las Mañanitas is a traditional Mexican birthday song, also known in the Philippines, sung to the celebrant very early in the morning.

In his homily on 5 May during Mass on the occasion of the day of confraternities and popular piety Pope Francis said: When you express profound devotion for the Virgin Mary, you are pointing to the highest realization of the Christian life, the one who by her faith and obedience to God’s will, and by her meditation on the words and deeds of Jesus, is the Lord’s perfect disciple (cf. Lumen Gentium, 53).

Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, Philippines

In the Philippines we observe the Flores de Mayo, The Flowers of May, every year. It is basically a programme for children, mostly from poor families, led by volunteers throughout the country who teach the youngsters the basics of our Catholic faith. The children also bring flowers which they place before a statue of the Blessed Mother. At the end of each daily session of catechism and prayer the children lay flowers before a statue of the Blessed Virgin.

The popular piety of Filipino Catholics has been greatly influenced by Mexico, since Spain colonized the country from that country. Originally the Philippines was part of the Archdiocese of Mexico. When the Diocese of Manila, covering the whole country, was established in 1579 it was still linked to that archdiocese until it became one itself in 1595 and three other dioceses were established in the Philippines.

There is an exuberance in the piety of Filipinos but I think that the piety of Mexicans is even more exuberant, as shown in the video above. Renowned singers and musicians, along with the congregation, give a concert in honour of our Blessed Mother.

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe

The May-June 2013 issue of Misyon, the online magazine of the Columbans in the Philippines, has an article by Vissia Hernandez, a Filipina who visited Guadalupe, A Visit to Tepeyac.

I added the following video to the article. Marco Antonio Solís is a Mexican singer known throughout the Spanish-speaking Americas.

Himno a la Humildad, sung by Marco Antonio Solís

Con que gusto venimos con gran emoción
a decirte lo que hay en nuestro corazón;
hoy es dia de fiesta hasta en el mas pequeño rincon;
hoy se muere el rancor y florece el perdon.

How we love to come with great feeling
to tell you what is in our heart;
today is a festive day even in the most remote corner;
today hatred dies and forgiveness blossoms.

Virgencita . . . milagrosa,
eres tú la estrella mas hermosa de la creación.

Beloved Virgin . . . miraculous,
you are the most beautiful star in all creation.

Virgen morena, Reyna de la esperanza,
hoy te cantamos el himno a la humildad.
Eres la tierra donde la fe sembramos
y cosechamos siempre de tu bondad.

Dark Virgin, Queen of hope,
Today we sing to you a hymn to humility.
You are the soil where we sow faith
and always harvest from your kindness.

(Hablado) Aqui venimos, madrecita, con nuestros cuerpos mas cansados que la ultima ocasión,
pero con un amor tan grande para ti que no nos cabe en el corazon,
por que eres consuelo divino, luz de todos los caminos.
Gracias por quedarte siempre con tus fieles peregrines.

(Spoken) We come here, beloved Mother, with our bodies more tired that the last time,
but with a great love for you that our hearts can’t contain,
for you are the divine consolation, the light of all roads.
Thank you for always being with your faithful pilgrims.

Virgencita adorada, no me puedo ir
sin decirte mil gracias, tu sabes por que,
y teniendo el momento, te quiero pedir
por los que por justicia se mueren de sed.

Dear Blessed Virgin, I cannot leave
without thanking you a thousand times, you know what for,
and taking this opportunity, I want to petition you
on behalf of those who have given their lives in the cause of justice.

Virgen morena, Reyna de la speeranza,
hoy te cantamos el himno a la humildad;
eres la tierra donde la fe sembramos
y cosechamos siempre de tu bondad.

Dark Virgin, Queen of hope,
Today we sing to you a hymn to humility.
You are the soil where we sow faith
and always harvest from your kindness.

[Thanks to Fr Jovito Dales for help with the translation.]

One think that is striking about these videos is that the singers, musicians and people face the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe when they sing to and play for her. The concert is in her honour. Nobody would say that Marco Antonio Solís was singing 'with his back to the people'. Can we learn, or re-learn, something about the celebration of the Mass from this?

'You are witnesses of these things.' Sunday Reflections, The Ascension

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:19:00 +0000

The Ascension, Theophanes the Cretan, 1546 [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Luke 24:46-53 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Jesus said to his disciples, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high." Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Readings for Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C

[In countries that observe Ascension Thursday]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Antiphona ad introitum, Ac 1:11

Viri Galilaei, quid admirámini aspiciéntes in caelum?

Quemádmodum vidístis eum ascendéntem in caelum,

ita véniet, alléluia.

Entrance antiphon, Acts 1:11

Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens?

This Jesus whom you say ascending into heaven

will return as you saw him go, alleluia.

+++

When I came home to Ireland on vacation from the Philippines in 1994 before beginning six years as vocation director I took a short course for missionaries in the use of computers given by a religious sister who had worked in an African country for many years. She wasn't the best teacher I've ever had in teaching the 'mechanical' basics of her subject but she was a wonderful motivator. Although the internet was still in its infancy she told us stories of how it had helped save lives in the country where she worked.

Some years ago when checking my email in the Philippines I found myself 'chatting' with a friend, a Filipina married to a Westerner and living in her husband's country. I'll call her Maria. It was clear to me very quickly that she was going through a crisis and thinking of doing the worst to herself. At the time she 'hated' everyone except me and 'didn't believe' in God anymore.

I was able to help Maria see that the issue wasn't any of the things she mentioned but was within herself. I also got her to agree to meet a priest in her own area, someone I had never met and still haven't. But I was able to contact him through email, having got his address from someone else whom I have never met in person.

I learned later that that meeting with the priest was to be a turning point for my Maria. She was able to face the world again with hope and hasn't looked back since.

At the time this happened I had come to know a 16-year-old girl in the Philippines who had been made pregnant by her boyfriend. I'll call her Ana. I'm not sure to what degree she had consented to the activity that led to her carrying a baby. She was from another part of the country but was welcomed by religious sisters who run a home for girls, most of whom have had pretty bad experiences. Ana was was very angry and part of that anger was directed at the baby she was carrying.

I told Maria about Ana. One of the ironies was that Maria couldn't have a child, a great sorrow to her and her husband. Despite her 'not believing' in God I asked her to pray for Ana, something she readily agreed to do, and told her that I would ask Ana to pray for her. When I met Ana a day or two later she too readily accepted her mission of prayer.

Shortly after that we celebrated the feast of the Visitation. After Mass I asked Ana if she would like me to bless her and the baby in her womb. She was happy with this and later told me that she had felt the baby moving for the first time. More importantly, her anger had disappeared. Some time later she was able to go home to her own family and delivered her baby there.

This incident opened my eyes to the truth of what the Sister who gave us classes on the use of computers and the internet had told us. Here was I at my computer in the Philippines when 'by chance', the 'chance' being undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, giving crisis counselling to a friend on another continent and helping her to meet someone I had never met who could listen to her in person.

Pope Benedict XVI (2011)

Pope Benedict, a few weeks before his announcement that he was stepping down as Bishop of Rome, issued his message for this year's World Communications Day, which is observed each year on Ascension Sunday. The Pope's message is issued each year on the feast of St Francis de Sales, patron of journalists, 24 January.

The theme of this year's message is Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization. I found myself 'chatting' on what was a fledgling social network. In his last few messages for World Communications Day Pope Benedict has been emphasising the importance of what he called 'this digital continent', which is a place where perhaps most young people have a sense of belonging.

In this years' message Pope Benedict wrote [emphases added]: The challenge facing social networks is how to be truly inclusive: thus they will benefit from the full participation of believers who desire to share the message of Jesus and the values of human dignity which his teaching promotes. Believers are increasingly aware that, unless the Good News is made known also in the digital world, it may be absent in the experience of many people for whom this existential space is important. The digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young. Social networks are the result of human interaction, but for their part they also reshape the dynamics of communication which builds relationships: a considered understanding of this environment is therefore the prerequisite for a significant presence there.

In so many scenes in the gospels Jesus seems to meet individuals in distress 'by accident', lepers, blind persons, deaf persons, someone whose young daughter is dying, sinners. Jesus always responded to these, healing them, forgiving them, giving his full attention to them. His response to each of these persons was the Good News for them.

My response to Maria was the Good News for her when we 'accidentally' met on a developing social network.

Jesus tells us in the gospel today: Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Preaching repentance and forgiveness are expressions of God's limitless mercy, which Pope Francis has been emphasising so strongly. And whether or not we live in 'this digital continent' - I've read that Pope Francis didn't even use email when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires - all of us are called to be witnesses of these things. That day the Holy Spirit led me to open my email I was one of the witnesses of these things to Maria and she encountered the merciful Risen Lord, not in Jerusalem but in 'this digital continent'.

Pope Benedict's 'Digital Continent' [Wikipedia]

An Emmaus experience in Dublin

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:06:00 +0000

The Supper at Emmaus, Velázquez, c.1690 [Web Gallery of Art]

This morning after Mass two men, both in their 60s, came to see me in the sacristy. I'll call them Luke and Mark. Luke knows my brother and introduced himself as such before introducing me to Mark, who had once been a professional footballer. Luke told me that they had come to know each other through their common widowerhood.

Luke also told me that he had been away from the Church for more than 20 years but decided to go to Mass on Ash Wednesday this year. Afterwards Mark said to him, 'Welcome back!' Luke didn't quite understand at first that Mark was aware that he'd been away from the sacraments for a long time and he was welcoming him back to the Catholic Christian community.

Since then Luke has been going to Mass every day, as does Mark, and his joy was evident.

It was through welcoming Jesus to join them on the road to Emmaus and later to supper when they arrived there that the two disciples came to recognise the Risen Lord. I don't know what prompted Luke to go to Mass on Ash Wednesday but the welcome he received from Mark has led him to throw in his lot again with the Church.

I've been home in Dublin only a few days. There are many things in contemporary Ireland that discourage me but the Road to Emmaus is still there and individuals walking on it are still helping others to discover or re-discover the Lord by the simple act of welcoming them.

'We will come to him and make our home with him.' Sunday Reflections, Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Wed, 01 May 2013 09:14:00 +0000

The Holy Trinity, Unknown Russian Icon Painter, 1690-17-10 [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 14:23-29 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Jesus said to his disciples, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

"These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe.

The late Bishop Bienvenido S. Tudtod of Marawi, Philippines, (above) visited my Dad (below) in Dublin some time in the early 1980s. As it happened, Dad was about to leave for the wedding of a cousin of mine but he was able to entertain his unexpected guest for a while. Later on he told my brother, 'The bishop made me feel at home'. My brother laughed and said to him, 'You were the one supposed to make him feel at home!' But my Dad was always himself no matter whose company he was in and so was Bishop Tudtud, whose Christian name is the Spanish for 'Welcome'. They were both to die suddenly in 1987, Bishop Tudtod in a plane crash in the Philippines on 26 June and Dad at home on 11 August, from a heart attack. He had been at Mass that morning, as he had been every day of his adult life. The photo below was taken the week before his death.

My father hadn't expected Bishop Tudtud. But he made him feel welcome. The bishop felt free to just turn up because I had worked with him and had asked him to drop by my Dad if he had time. I have found over the years that there are friends' homes to which I need no invitation. These are friends with whom I truly feel at home and who feel at home with me.

Sometimes we feel fully at home with someone whom we have just met. Sometimes that being at ease with each other comes after being together many times, maybe through working together.

In the gospel of this Sunday's Mass Jesus makes the extraordinary statement, If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The Father and Jesus are not only coming for a visit but to make their home with us. And the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Counselor/Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will come and will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Fr Anselm Moynihan OP, an Irish Dominican friar who died in 1998, wrote a short book in 1948 about the Blessed Trinity living in our hearts, The Presence of God. Here is an extract: Awareness of God, whether it come to us thus by a dazzling rending of the heavens or through the gentle whisper of his voice in our conscience, is at the beginning and end of our spiritual life, at the beginning and end of all religion. It is the root of what is truly the most radical division of mankind, one to which Holy Scripture constantly reverts, that between the 'wise' who keep God before their eyes and the 'fools' who ignore him. The first awakening of the soul to God's reality brings with it that fear of the Lord which is the 'beginning of wisdom'; the end of life should bring with it the 'wisdom of the perfect,' the fruit of charity, whereby a man will experience God's living presence within himself and be filled with longing for that full awareness of God which is the vision of his face in heaven.

Supper at Emmaus, Hendrick Terbrugghen, c.1621 [Web Gallery of Art]

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus invited Jesus to join them and they pressed him to have supper with them at the inn, as it was getting dark. It was through their welcoming him that they discovered who their unknown companion was, the Risen Lord. And in the intimacy of the breaking of the bread when they recognised him and he disappeared from their sight, they felt his presence even more strongly, even more intimately. He was now dwelling in their hearts, just as he dwells in ours, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

'By this all men will know that you are my disciples . . .' Sunday Reflections, Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:04:00 +0000

Fr Patrick Hurley beside a photo of Bishop Edward Galvin (1882-1956), Co-founder of the Columbans.

Fr Hurley will turn 89, God willing, in June. Two of his brothers, Father Dermot (1920-1999) and Father Gerard (1926-2002), were part of the pioneering group of Columbans who went to Fiji in 1952. Sister Catherine Hurley, their sister and now retired, served as Superior General of the Columban Sisters from 1970 to 1981.

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 13:31-33a, 34-35 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified; if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Fr John Blowick (1888-1972) Co-founder of the Columbans

On the evening of 29 January 1918 an extraordinary event took place in Dalgan Park, Shrule, a remote village on the borders of County Mayo and County Galway in the west of Ireland. At the time Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, which was engaged in the Great War. Thousands of Irishmen were fighting in the trenches in France and Belgium. Many never came home. There was a movement for independence in Ireland that led to the outbreak of guerrilla warfare in Ireland later in 1918. There was widespread poverty in the country, particularly acute in the cities.

Despite all of that, on 10 October 1916 the Irish bishops gave permission to two young diocesan priests, Fr Edward J. Galvin and Fr John Blowick, to have a national collection so that they could open a seminary that would prepare young Irish priests to go to China. The effort was called the Maynooth Mission to China, because Maynooth, west of Dublin, is where St Patrick's National Seminary is, where Fr Galvin had been ordained in 1909 and Fr Blowick in 1913.

The seminary opened that late winter's evening with 19 students and seven priests. Many of the students were at different stages of their formation in Maynooth but transferred. The seven priests belonged to different dioceses but threw in their lot with this new venture which, on 29 June 1918, would become the Society of St Columban.

This Sunday's gospel was part of what the new group reflected on as they gathered in the makeshift chapel in Dalgan Park, the name of the 'Big House' and the land on which it was built. Among the seven priests was Fr John Heneghan, a priest from the Archdiocese of Tuam, as was Fr Blowick, and a classmate of Fr Galvin. Fr Heneghan never imagined that despite his desire to be a missionary in China he would spend many years in Ireland itself teaching the seminarians and editing the Columban magazine The Far East. But his dream was to take him to the Philippines in 1931 and to torture and death at the hands of Japanese soldiers during the Battle of Manila in February 1945, when 100,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed and most of the old city destroyed.

Fr John Blowick emphasised the centrality of the words of Jesus in this Sunday's gospel, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The second sentence there was written into the Constitutions of the Society, drawn up the following year.

To this particular Columban these words of Jesus from the Gospel of St John are the greatest legacy of Fr John Blowick to the many men from different countries who have shared his dream and that of Bishop Galvin to this day.

And not only men, but women too, as Columban Sisters and as Columban Lay Missionaries.

The Society of St Columban was born in the middle of the First World War because of the vision of two young men who saw beyond that awful reality and who took Jesus at his word. Down the years Columbans have lived through wars, in remote areas where their lives and the lives of the people they served were often in danger. Some have been kidnapped and not all of those survived. Among those who did was Fr Michael Sinnott, kidnapped in the southern Philippines in October 2009 when he was 79 and released safely a month later on 12 November.

Fr Michael Sinnott in Manila on the day of his release.

With his sisters, Mrs Aine Kenny, left, and Mrs Kathleen O'Neill, right, at Dublin Airport, 3 December 2009

Father John Blowick's insistence on the words of Jesus in this Sunday's gospel becoming part of the very fibre of the being of Columbans sustained Fr John Heneghan, Fr Patrick Kelly, Fr John Lalor and Fr Peter Fallon, as Japanese soldiers took them away from Malate Church, Manila, on 10 February 1945, and their companion Fr John Lalor who was working in a makeshift hospital nearby who with others was killed there by a bomb three days later.

The words By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another are not only the hallmark of Columbans but of countless other groups, of countless families. They are meant to be the hallmark of every Christian.

Fr John Blowick accompanied the first group of Columbans to China in 1920 but didn't stay there was he was needed in Ireland as Superior General and as a teacher in the seminary. In 1965 he visited the Columban missions. The photo above was taken in Negros Occidental, Philippines, that year. He is third form the left, seated. I was in the seminary at that time and I remember how thrilled he was after coming home.

Thine be the Glory, music by George Frederick Handel, original French lyrics by Edmond Budry

St Thomas' Anglican Church, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Death of Connor Eberhard, 1994 - 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Connor James Eberhard (1 December 1994 - 23 April 2013)

Yesterday I asked you to pray for Connor Eberhard, whose life was drawing to a close. Now I ask you to pray for the soul of Connor who died peacefully at 10:30pm, Tuesday 23 April, at his home in Smithville, Ontario, Canada. Shortly before his 18th birthday he learned that he had cancer. The doctors gave him six months to live.

Connor lived the last few months of his life to the full, with courage, cheerfulness and faith. His maternal grandmother Maeve Devlin, with whom I spoke on the phone this morning, Wednesday, Philippine time, and she told me that Connor had received the last rites from his parish priest last week. Maeve and her husband Doug, who with their four children, Peter, Jacqueline, Cathy (Connor's mother) and Glenn have been close friends of mine since 1968, live next door to the Eberhards. Maeve, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, brought Connor Holy Communion each day until he slipped into a coma.

The parents of Connor, whose only child he was, Martin and Cathy, posted this message on his Facebook account:

It's with great sadness that we said goodbye to our dear beloved son, Connor James Eberhard this evening. We love you Son, and are so proud of you and the inspiring life that you lived . . . you're playing with the Angels again, Connor, just like you did when you were little. Always and forever in our hearts. Love, Mom and Dad.

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers. Visitation and funeral will be announced tomorrow afternoon. Love, Martin and Cathy.

Connor with his Dad

The Roman Missal

Various Prayers for the Dead

For a Young Person

O God, who direct our life in all its moments,

we humbly entrust to you this your servant Connor James,

whom we mourn as one whose life

was completed in so short a time;

grant that he may flourish, for ever young, in the happiness of our house.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

The Resurrection, Passignano, painted 1600-25 [Web Gallery of Art]

Urgent request for prayers

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:31:00 +0000

Last December, shortly before his 18^th birthday, Connor Eberhard (above), who lives in Smithville, Ontario, Canada, not very far from Niagara Falls, got word that he had a rare form of cancer and that he had only six months to live. Connor is the only child of his parents Martin and Cathy. I’ve known Cathy and her family, the Devlins, since she was only five.

Connor has been fighting bravely and was on special treatment that might have prolonged his life by up to 18 months. However, I had an email from Maeve Devlin, Cathy’s mother and Connor’s grandmother, this morning in which she said, ‘Connor has slipped into a coma and is not expected to last much longer’.

Please remember Connor and his family in your prayers at this very difficult but blessed and precious time for all of them.

Tempus fugit - time flies: a postscript to turning 70 (and just about hanging on!)

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:30:00 +0000

My mother, with a smile, often mentioned Harold Lloyd, one of the biggest comedy stars in the era of silent movies. But I don't think she knew that her elder son came into the world the day that Harold Lloyd turned 50, 20 April 1943.

Above is an extract from what is perhaps his most famous scene where, in a sense, time almost does fly. 'Stewballmaxify', who posted this on YouTube, cleverly added Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets, which was a huge hit in 1956, when I became a teenager. Though it sounds very tame now, it was part of the beginnings of a new era in popular music and of adolescents becoming a special niche in the market, not only for music but for other commodities. Sometimes I think that this was when genuine popular music was 'mortally wounded'.

Fr George Hunt SJ, former editor of the North American Jesuit magazine, America, in an editorial on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War in August 1945 - World War II had ended in Europe in May - noted that in those days everyone listened to the same popular music, parents, children, grandparents. Whether or not they all liked a particular currently popular song they were all familiar with it. That's the way that it was when I was a child in the years after the War and Sister Stanislaus, principal of the boys' kindergarten I went to, would sometimes speak disapprovingly of certain 'adult songs'. That common experience of popular music has long ceased to be and there is a fragmentation in popular culture as a result.

The day my mother delivered me my mother delivered me Lionel Hampton was celebrating his 35th birthday. On this video he is with the Benny Goodman Quartet, playing the vibraphone, with Goodman himself on the clarinet, Teddy Wilson on the piano and Gene Krupa on the drums as they perform Avalon. [Since there is also a bass player, George Duvivier, I guess the group should be properly called the Benny Goodman Quintet.]

Whatever! Enjoy!

'Our span is seventy years . . .' Turning 70 today

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 01:59:00 +0000

On this date in 1943 my mother, born Mary Collins, delivered me to her husband and my father, John Coyle. It was Tuesday of Holy Week the last time Easter fell on its latest possible date, 25 April. A few days later - it must have been Holy Saturday - I was baptised in St Joseph's Church, Berkeley Road, Dublin, just across the road from the small nursing home where I was born. Though my parents were living at the time on the south side of the River Liffey that runs through Dublin they had the good sense to let me be born north of the river and we moved to the north side three years later. So, like my father, and my mother for most of her life, I am a genuinely certified Northsider!

St Joseph's Church, Berkeley Road, Dublin

The next time that Eastert will fall on 25 April is 2038. If God spares me, I will then be 95 + five days.

And if God spares him, so too will noted conductor, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, born in Dorset, England, on the same day. So I 'invited' him to do a 'gig' on our joint 70th Birthday. Handel's delightful Arrival of the Queen of Sheba is a great favourite of mine and quite suitable for a birthday celebration. And Handel has connections with my native city, Dublin, as hisMessiah was first performed there.

The Bells of St Paul's Cathedral, London

I remember reading that on 20 April 1943 Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom announced in the House of Commons in London that church bells could be rung again in the UK. Their ringing had been forbidden for security reasons earlier in World War II. However, there was no such ban in the part of Ireland that I'm from as we were no longer in the United Kingdom.

Main studio of EWTN, Irondale, Alabama, USA

Turning 90 today is Mother Angelica, Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation PCPA, born Rita Antoinette Rizzo, who founded EWTN, which now broadcasts around the world. May God continue to bless her and the work she began, with great vision and trust in God.

Servant of God, Fr Emil Kapaun (20 April 1916 - 23 May 1951

I've posted a number of times about Fr Emil Kapaun, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on 11 April by President Obama. I featured this great priest most recently inSunday Reflections for last Sunday. Easter was very late the year he was born and he arrived in the world on Holy Thursday.

St Rose of Lima Before the Madonna, José Antolinez [Web Gallery of Art]

I am also blessed to share my birthday with St Rose of Lima, who was born in 1586 and died on 24 August 1617.

The year my father was born, 1913, Easter was very early, 23 March. He was born on Thursday of Easter Week. He loved a 'good tune', especially from Italian Grand Opera. I grew up with the radio and the only station in the Republic of Ireland during my childhood was Radio Éireann. Every Wednesday at lunch time I used to listen to the first part of Hospitals' Requests before going back to school. Very often there was a request for Va' pensiero, from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco. The announcers usually used an English title for it, Go thoughts on Golden Wings or The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. Though my Dad was never home for lunch on working days he was very familiar with it and it certainly came into his 'good tune' category.

So my co-70th Birthday celebrant Sir John Eliot Gardiner agreed to conduct it for the occasion.

Please join me in praying with gratitude to God for my parents, John Coyle and Mary Collins, and for the repose of their souls. Without their cooperation with our loving Father this blog would not have been possible. And remember too their parents, Nicholas Coyle and Jane Hoare, both from Rush, County Dublin, a village by the sea north of the city where my paternal ancestors first arrived before 1800, and William Patrick Collins, from Dublin city, and Annie Dowd, born in Navan, County Meath, down the road from the Columban seminary where I spent seven happy years.

Collect from the Mass for Giving Thanks to God (B)

O God, the Father of every gift,
we confess that all we have and are comes down from you;
teach us to recognise the effects of your boundless care
and to love you with a sincere heart and with all our strength.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Our life is over like a sigh.

Our span is seventy years

or eighty for those who are strong (Psalm 89[90], Grail translation, used in the Breviary).

'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.' Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Easter Year C

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:09:00 +0000

Christ the Good Shepherd, Murillo, c.1660 [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 10:27-30 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Jesus said: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.’

I know nothing about tending sheep and until I looked at the video above never quite understood the reality of the words of Jesus in today's gospel: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me'.

An extraordinary example of the power of words is a story involving Fr Willie Doyle SJ, the army chaplain who was killed in 1917 in Belgium during the Great War. Some years before the War he was giving a retreat to a community of nuns in Ireland. He got a telegram on the last day from his Provincial Superior telling him to get back to Dublin immediately so that he could catch the boat for England that night. When Fr Doyle got to Dublin the Provincial showed him a telegram he had received from the governor of a prison in England: Please send Fr William Doyle SJ to D ___ Prison. Woman to be executed tomorrow asks to see him. The message was a mystery to both priests but Fr Doyle left for England immediately.

When he got to the prison at 5am the Governor told Fr Doyle that Fanny Cranbush wanted to talk to him. She was a prostitute who had got involved in a murder and was to pay the penalty. When she first arrived in jail she said she didn't need any minister of religion. But a few days before the execution she told the Governor that she wanted to see a particular priest. She didn't know his name or where he lived. All she could say was that a couple of years before this he had been in the town where the prison was giving some kind of 'mission'.

The good Governor asked local priests who this might be and this led to the two telegrams.

Fr William Doyle SJ (1873 - 1917)

Fanny herself, who welcomed Father Doyle with joy, reminded him that one night, during the mission, he had come across her on the street as he was heading back to where he was staying and she was looking for customers. He spoke to her kindly and said, My child, aren't you out very late? Won't you go home? Don't hurt Jesus. He loves you. He also gave her a book.

She did go home, gave up her 'trade' for a while but hunger drove her back to it and to worse. In prison, as her execution approached, the words Don't hurt Jesus. He loves you came back to her. When Fr Doyle arrived Fanny asked him to tell her more about Jesus. Won't you set me on the road that leads to him? she asked.

Fr Doyle baptised her and was then able to arrange to celebrate Mass with her, her first and last, and he accompanied Fanny to the scaffold.

You can read the full story here on pages 16 to 19 under the title Snatched From the Brink.

The story of Fanny finding her loving Saviour through the kind words of a stranger is to me a great expression of God's mercy, something that Pope Francis has spoken about a number of times. (I wonder if the Pope is familiar with the life and death of his saintly fellow Jesuit?) Fanny heard the voice of the Good Shepherd through the gentle words of Fr Doyle. His Provincial Superior and the Governor of the Prison were also 'Good Shepherds'. Fanny realised that Jesus really did know her and she wanted to follow him. She went joyfully to her death knowing that she was to experience the truth of the words Jesus speaks to us today: I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. Through God's loving mercy and Father Doyle's great love for sinners she was 'snatched by the hand of Jesus, not out of it.

And Jesus, the Risen Lord, speaks those same words to us in Mass and gives himself as the Bread of Life as he gave himself to Fanny when she made her First and Last Holy Communion before entering into the Eternal Communion that is heaven.

[Thanks to Remembering Fr William Doyle SJ.]

Antiphona ad communionem

Surréxit Pastor bonus,

qui ánimam suam pósuit pro óvibus suis,

et pro grege suo mori dignátus est, alléluia.

Additional text in Lhéritier’s setting:

Et enim Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus;
itaque epulemur
in azymis sinceritatis et veritatis. Alleluia.

Communion Antiphon

The Good Shepherd has risen,

who laid down his life for his sheep

and willingly died for his flock, alleluia.

Translation of additional text:

And truly for our Easter offering Christ was sacrificed;
therefore let us feast
on the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

Ireland heading into the darkest ages?

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:49:00 +0000

There's an old Irish ballad, The Wearin' of the Green, with its roots in the uprising in parts of Ireland against British rule in 1798 that has these words in the version written in the 1800s by Irish writer Dion Boucicault:

I met with Napper Tandy
And he took me by the hand
And he said 'How's poor old Ireland?
And how does she stand?'
She's the most distressful country That ever you have seen . . .

Some recent events in the country of my birth suggest that it may well be choosing to be the most distressful country that you have ever seen.

The government of the Republic of Ireland is introducing legislation to legalise abortion in certain circumstances. The Irish Times reported on 16 April, A Bill to legalise abortion in certain circumstances, including the risk of suicide, is included in the programme of legislation the Government intends to publish between now and the summer break.

The report goes on to say: The Bill, which is still being drafted, will make abortion legally permissible in certain circumstances and give statutory backing to the Supreme Court decision in the X case in 1991. The legislation will permit abortion when there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother. That risk will include the threat of suicide or self-destruction.

As the video above shows, there is no evidence whatever that an abortion is a 'cure' for a person with suicidal thoughts.

The Finding of Moses, Gioachino Assereto, c.1640 [Web Gallery of Art]

Sinn Féin claims on its website to be working for the establishment of a democratic socialist republic. Yet in March it blocked a cross-party proposal in the Northern Ireland Assembly to prevent Marie Stopes International from providing abortions in its clinic in Belfast. Marie Stopes International offers 'safe abortions'. Laws on abortion are much stricter in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the United Kingdom. Marie Stopes International claims to be working within the law, and they probably are, but their initiative is a private one. So much for Sinn Féin's policy of the establishment of a democratic socialist republic.

Meanwhile, the government of the Republic of Ireland is introducing legislation to legalise abortion in certain circumstances. The Irish Times reported on 16 April, A Bill to legalise abortion in certain circumstances, including the risk of suicide, is included in the programme of legislation the Government intends to publish between now and the summer break.

The report goes on to say: The Bill, which is still being drafted, will make abortion legally permissible in certain circumstances and give statutory backing to the Supreme Court decision in the X case in 1991. The legislation will permit abortion when there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother. That risk will include the threat of suicide or self-destruction.

In the Republic of Ireland last weekend the ongoing Constitutional Convention voted to recommend that the constitution be amended to allow for same-sex marriage, with 19 per cent against and the remainder having no opinion. 79 per cent were in favour. The Irish Times report adds: Commenting on the outcome today, a spokesman for the Catholic Communications Office said: 'While the result of the constitutional convention is disappointing, only the people of Ireland can amend the constitution. The Catholic church will continue to promote and seek protection for the uniqueness of marriage between a woman and a man, the nature of which best serves children and our society.'

The comment of the Church's spokesman is not quite accurate, It is only the people of the Republic of Ireland who can amend the Constitution, since those in Northern Ireland, even if they have Irish passports, don't have a vote in the Republic.

I don't look on Hollywood as a major source of wisdom or morality. But I think that its adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes should be listened to by anyone who buys into the utterly bizarre notion - and that's what it is - of 'marriage' between two people of the same sex. How has the Western world gone from the extreme of criminalising sexual activity between two adults of the same sex to the extreme of worshipping at the feet of the noisy 'gay lobby'?

Gaudium et Spes, The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965 at the end of the Second Vatican Council has this to say about marriage in No 48:

By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate crown. Thus a man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but one flesh" (Matt. 19:ff), render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions. Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable oneness between them.

I would suggest that the song and dance of Gene Kelly and Judy Garland is much closer to what the Vatican Council said about marriage than the recommendation of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention in the Grand Hotel, Malahide, County Dublin, last weekend.

I had my ordination reception in that same hotel on 21 December 1967. If anyone there on that occasion had suggested that one day a group of adults gathered in that same place would tell the Irish government that they should introduce 'marriage' for two men or two women that person would rightly have been deemed to be crazy.

To answer Napper Tandy's question about today's poor old Ireland, she is indeed the most distressful country that ever you have seen.

'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Easter Year C

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:58:00 +0000

St Peter, El Greco, 1610-13. [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 21:1-19. [or 21:1-14] (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberi-as; and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathana-el of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea.

But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

[When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." A second time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go." (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, "Follow me."]

When I turned 13 I wanted to be a pilot in the Irish Army Air Corps. With three or four classmates in O'Connell Schools, Dublin, run by the (Irish) Christian Brothers, I was enthralled by the exploits of Biggles, a fictitious character created by Captain W. E. Johns. Biggles started his career in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I and was still flying, in the Royal Air Force, during World War II.

When I discovered that you needed some proficiency in physics my interest in being a pilot waned but my desire to be a military officer was still there. But 'coming up from the rear' was a desire to be a missionary priest. By the time I was 14 I knew that that was what I wanted to be.

Fr Emil Kapaun (20 April 1916 - 23 May 1951)

Around that time, or maybe when I was 15, I found a book in one of the branches of Dublin city's public libraries about a man who had combined being a priest and an army officer, Father Emil Kapaun of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, who served as a US army chaplain in World War II and in the Korean War (1950 - 53). When his unit retreated after being attacked by Chinese soldiers Father Kapaun stayed behind with the wounded, knowing he would be captured. I was truly inspired by the accounts of how he had helped so many soldiers, giving them hope, strengthening their faith, sharing his pipe with them, scrounging for food and medicines, ie, 'stealing' them. One of the veterans in the video above tells how Catholics, Protestants and Jews were all saying the rosary every night.

At the beginning of the video we hear the voice of Father Kapaun himself speaking of the choice we must make 'between being loyal to the true faith or of giving allegiance to something else'. His own choice led to his death in a North Korean prisoner of war camp, his last public act being a service at sunrise on 25 March 1951, Easter Sunday. One of those who carried him later to the camp 'hospital'from which no 'patient' ever returned alive, recounts in the video how he was blessing his captors.

The first time I visited Korea, towards the end of September 1971 on my way to the Philippines, I was very conscious of Fr Kapaun when I celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Columban house in Seoul.

Last Thursday, 11 April, nine days before the 97th anniversary of his birth, Fr Kapaun was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the USA's highest award for valour, President Obama giving the medal to the priest's nephew at the White House.

In 1993 Fr Kapaun was declared a 'Servant of God', the first step towards possible canonization, and on 29 June 2008 the cause for his sainthood was officially opened. The Diocese of Wichita has a website dedicated to this.

The Crucifixion of St Peter, Caravaggio, 1600 - 01. [Web Gallery of Art]

In the gospel for this Sunday Jesus asks Peter three times, 'Do you love me?', adding 'more than these' the first time. When Peter professed his love each time Jesus told him to 'feed my lambs', 'feed my sheep'. His tending the flock was not to be a 'job' but something done joyfully and wholeheartedly out of his relationship with Jesus. Yet it was to lead to the cross, just as Father Kapaun's following of Jesus was to lead him to his death, which the Church may one day recognize as that of a martyr, like the death of St Martin I, who wasn't directly killed but whose harsh treatment led to his death and whom the Church honours on 13 April.

Fr Emil Joseph Kapaun is an outstanding example of one who allowed Jesus to ask him, 'do you love me?' and who answered 'Yes' with his very life, turning what was a man-made hell into a touch of heaven for the soldiers he was called to serve.

The Korean War began on 25 June 1950 and lasted till the ceasefire of 27 July 1953. Technically it has never ended and at this moment nobody is sure what North Korea is up to, having raised tensions considerably in recent weeks. Perhaps we can invoke the intercession of Father Kapaun for peace in the land where he is buried. This prayer is from the website dedicated to the cause of his canonization.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, in the midst of the folly of war,
your servant, Chaplain Emil Kapaun spent himself
in total service to you on the battlefields and
in the prison camps of Korea, until his
death at the hands of his captors.

We now ask you, Lord Jesus, if it be your will,
to make known to all the world the holiness
of Chaplain Kapaun and the glory of his
complete sacrifice for you by signs of
miracles and peace.

In your name, Lord, we ask, for you are the
source of peace, the strength of our
service to others, and our final hope.

Amen

Chaplain Kapaun, pray for us

'If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.' Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Easter (or of Divine Mercy)

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:55:00 +0000

Christ and Doubting Thomas, Andrea del Verrocchio, 1476-83. [Web Gallery of Art]

Zenit carries a review of this sculpture by Elizabeth Lev in its bulletin of 4 April 2012. There is an article on it in Wikipedia here.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 20:19-31. (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

On Holy Thursday Pope Francis 'gatecrashed' a lunch for seven priests hosted by Archbishop Angelo Becciu, Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. Most of the priests work with the poor and under-privileged in the suburbs of Rome, according to Vatican Radio.

Monsignor Enrico Feroci, the Director of Caritas Rome and one of the guests quoted Pope Francis: Open the doors of the Church, and then the people will come in . . . if you keep the light on in the confessional and are available, then you will see what kind of line there is for confession. Msgr Feroci added that he (Pope Francis) was confident of the need of the people of God for priests to open the doors and allow the people to meet God.

Blessed John Paul named the Second Sunday of Easter - still its primary name - as 'Divine Mercy Sunday'. Pope Francis has spoken about God's mercy a number of times since he was elected. [Emphases added.]

In his very first homily as Pope, in St Anne's church, the parish church of the Vatican, Pope Francis spoke about confession and God's mercy: It is not easy to entrust oneself to God’s mercy, because it is an abyss beyond our comprehension. But we must! "Oh, Father, if you knew my life, you would not say that to me!" "Why, what have you done?" "Oh, I am a great sinner!" "All the better! Go to Jesus: he likes you to tell him these things!" He forgets, he has a very special capacity for forgetting. He forgets, he kisses you, he embraces you and he simply says to you: "Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more" (Jn 8:11). That is the only advice he gives you. After a month, if we are in the same situation ... Let us go back to the Lord. The Lord never tires of forgiving: never! It is we who tire of asking his forgiveness. Let us ask for the grace not to tire of asking forgiveness, because he never tires of forgiving. Let us ask for this grace.

In his general audience on Wednesday of Holy Week Pope Francis spoke again about God's mercy: God came out of himself to come among us, he pitched his tent among us to bring to us his mercy that saves and gives hope. The Pope said that Jesus brought God’s mercy and forgiveness; he healed, he comforted, he understood; he gave hope; he brought to all the presence of God who cares for every man and every woman, just as a good father and a good mother care for each one of their children.

God does not wait for us to go to him but it is he who moves towards us, without calculation, without quantification. That is what God is like. He always takes the first step, he comes towards us . . . There is such a great need to bring the living presence of Jesus, merciful and full of love!

The Return of the Prodigal Son (detail), Rembrandt, c.1669 [Web Gallery of Art]

During that same audience Pope Francis speaks of the father of the Prodigal Son: God always thinks with mercy: do not forget this. God always thinks mercifully. He is the merciful Father! God thinks like the father waiting for the son and goes to meet him, he spots him coming when he is still far off . . .

What does this mean? That he went every day to see if his son was coming home: this is our merciful Father. It indicates that he was waiting for him with longing on the terrace of his house.

Pope Francis emphasised the mercy of God again in his Urbi et Orbi message on Easter Sunday: Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God always triumphs!

The Holy Father returned to the theme of 'that beautiful mercy of God' next day at the Regina Coeli on Easter Monday: And with the grace of Baptism and of Eucharistic Communion I can become an instrument of God’s mercy, of that beautiful mercy of God.

It would seem that the mercy of God is a central theme of Pope Francis, echoing what Jesus says to the Apostles in today's gospel: If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.

Our loving Father shows his mercy to us as sinners above all in the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance/Confession. Here Archbishop (now Cardinal) Luis Antonio G. Tagle of Manila explains this and the other healing sacraments, the Anointing of the Sick.

I met 'Pope John Paul III' on Easter Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:13:00 +0000

On Easter Sunday afternoon in the chapel in the village where I live here in Bacolod City I baptized a girl born in January. At the celebratory dinner later a boy of nine, whom I'll call 'Carlos', approached me with a big smile on his face and told me that he wanted to be like me - a priest. But he had something even more in mind - he wanted to be Pope! And he knows the name he will call himself - Pope John Paul III.

'Carlos' is too young to have any real personal memories of Blessed John Paul but he must have heard, read and seen quite a bit about him for that pope to have made such an impression on him. He goes to Blessed Carmel Sallés School, named after the foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Mary who run the school. She was canonized last October but there are 'hoops' to be gone through before the Conceptionist Sisters can change its name.

St Carmen Sallés (1848 - 1911)

The three Sisters at present in the community in Bacolod are Koreans and I am their confessor.

Young 'Carlos' insisted on speaking in English to me and spoke the language very well. I asked him why he would take the name 'John Paul III' and he said that Blessed John Paul was a 'success'. I'm not quite sure what he meant by that.

Later I asked him, 'What if there's a John Paul III before you?' 'Oh, I'll be John Paul IV', he said!

The first girl in the video above wonders if Pope Benedict when he was a youngster had the same idea as 'Carlos'!

I pray that 'Carlos' will grow strong in his faith and that if God is calling him to be a priest that he will answer that call.

'Do not let yourselves be robbed of hope' - Pope Francis to young prisoners. Sunday Reflections, Easter Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 08:00:00 +0000

The Resurrection of Christ, Rembrandt, c.1639 [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings for Easter Vigil (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings for Easter Vigil (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Readings for Mass on Easter Sunday (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings for Mass on Easter Sunday (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel for Mass on Easter Sunday John 20:1-9. (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

More than 30 years ago I spent part of a summer working in a suburban parish in the USA. One night at around 11 I did something I rarely did: make a late night phone call, and for no other reason than to say 'Hi'. I phoned a friend who was a teacher whom I had first met eleven years earlier when I was a young priest and she a generous, idealistic but confused 16-year-old. Over the years I saw 'Lily' - I'll call her that since that flower is often associated with Easter in northern climes and this is an Easter story.

I was shocked when 'Lily' answered. Her speech was slurred. She told me she had taken an overdose of a drug prescribed for a serious illness she had. I told her I would come over immediately but she said she would not let me in. She lived on her own but near her parents, about thirty minutes from where I was. I took another priest with me.

'Lily', of course, let us in. We spent about three hours with her. I was satisfied that what she had taken wasn't enough to kill her and that she wouldn't do anything drastic in the meantime. I promised to return in the morning.

I spent most of the next two days with 'Lily'. I called her doctor and also phoned a helpline for those dealing with or attempting suicide.

I had seen 'Lily' grow in her faith over the years. After qualifying as a teacher she chose to teach in a parochial elementary school rather than in a public school, even though the salary was lower. She had a sense of mission. She came from a Catholic family but was aware since her childhood of her father's infidelity. But when she had attempted suicide when about 17 she saw her parents' great love for her, despite everything.

Yet it was something her mother said to her that had triggered off this latter attempt at suicide. 'Lily' felt that she wasn't living up to her mother's expectations. I think it was during the second morning I was with 'Lily' that she asked me, 'What are your expectations of me?' I answered, 'I don't have any expectations, only hopes'.

Hearing the word 'only hopes' was the turning point. That was when 'Lily' decided to live.

A few days later 'Lily' came to the parish where I was for confession and Mass and she was truly filled with the joy that only the Lord can give. She also wrote me a long letter - she was a wonderful letter writer - about her experience.

Woman writing a letter, Gerard Terborch, c.1655 (Web Gallery of Art)

In her letter 'Lily' said: I have come to learn more about myself - as a 'vulnerable' yet 'hopeful' person, and yet even more important - I feel that my relationship with the Lord has deepened. I have a deeper hunger to be united with Him on a more intimate and dependent level.

Further on 'Lily' wrote: Most times we need to see and hear and feel Christ through another, to be able to believe in Him more faithfully and securely . . . I realize that years and years of therapy can amount to nothing unless the Lord is a very central part of it. I was able to share my fears, hurts, confusion, pain and - thank God - tears with you in and through the anointing of your priesthood . . .

I find 'Lily's' words echoed in those of Pope Francis when he celebrated Mass on Holy Thursday in Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors. He ended his homily with these words: Now we will perform this ceremony of washing feet, and let us think, let each one of us think: 'Am I really willing, willing to serve, to help others?'. Let us think about this, just this. And let us think that this sign is a caress of Jesus, which Jesus gives, because this is the real reason why Jesus came: to serve, to help us.

After the Mass Pope Francis met with the prisoners and said, Go forward, alright? And do not let yourselves be robbed of hope, do not let yourselves be robbed of hope! Understood? Always with hope. Go forward! Thank you.

In his final greetings as he was leaving Pope Francis said, Now I leave. Thank you so much for your welcome. Pray for me and do not let yourselves be robbed of hope. Always go forward! Thank you so much! [Emphases mine.]

The following summer, at the end of a sabbatical, I was in that same parish again. I met up with 'Lily'. She told me that she didn't think she had long to live. Knowing something of her medical history I took her seriously and we had a very deep and faith-filled conversation about that. There was nothing morbid about it. We were facing a reality but with faith and hope in the Resurrection. Afterwards we had lunch together in a restaurant and our conversation was totally lighthearted.

That was the last time we met. 'Lily' died peacefully a few months later at the age of 29.

I learned from that experience that there are persons of deep faith who can be very fragile. I have seen that in others subsequently.

I also saw God's utter love. Why did I make that late night phone call? I can see the Lord's hand in that visit, 'Lily' time. And I know that I was the only person whom 'Lily' could totally confide in at that time. Somehow it has been easier to share the past month's conflicts, feelings, tears and hopes with you which have built up over the years than with anyone else.

Lent and Easter is a prolonged moment every year when Jesus the Risen Lord says to each of us what Pope Francis said three times to the young prisoners last Thursday: Do not let yourselves be robbed of hope.

Through God's mercy more than thirty years ago the same Risen Lord said to my friend 'Lily', Do not let yourself be robbed of hope - and she took him at his word.

The meditations for the Via Crucis led by Pope Francis in the Colosseum on the night of Good Friday were prepared by young people from Lebanon, as Zenit reports: The youth of Lebanon received the invitation from Pope Benedict XVI to take part in this year's Stations of the Cross – or Via Crucis – following the Holy Father's apostolic visit to Lebanon, and were invited to compose meditations for the event. A delegation of 45 Lebanese youth have come to Rome on pilgrimage for this evening's Via Crucis with Pope Francis.

The video above is that of a proclamation of Easter two years ago in a mall in Beirut. I have used it a number of times and it never fails to remind me that He is risen as he said, Alleluia; Resurrexit sicut dixit, Alleluia.

Holy Saturday. 'My body shall rest in hope.'

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:34:00 +0000

Entombment, Unknown French Master, 1496, Solesmes Abbey (Web Gallery of Art)

From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday

The Lord's descent into the underworld Here is the complete text from which Fr James Kubicki SJ reads in the video above. The reading is found, with the full Office of Readings for Holy Saturday, on Universalis.

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

Caro méa requiéscet in spe.

My body shall rest in hope.

From Tenebrae for Holy Saturday, sung by the monks of Solesmes Abbey. It is sung or recited during the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday.

Good Friday: The Passion and Death of Jesus through the eyes of El Greco

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:16:00 +0000

The Agony in the Garden. c.1608

Christ Carrying the Cross, 1600-05

The Veil of St Veronica, 1580-82

The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio), 1577-79

Christ on the Cross, 1585-90

Pietà (The Lamentation of Christ) 1571-76

The Trinity, 1577

The Entombment of Christ, late 1560s

El Greco, 'The Greek', was the nickname given to Doménikos Theotokópoulos, (1541 – 7 April 1614). He lived in Toledo, Spain, from 1577 till his death.

All paintings are taken from Web Gallery of Art.

Holy Thursday. 'I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.'

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:56:00 +0000

Christ Washing the Feet of his Disciples (detail)

Tintoretto, c.1547 (Web Gallery of Art)

Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) [Readings for morning Mass of the Chrism included.]

Gospel John 13:1-15 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "You are not all clean." When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

Antiphona ad introitum Cf. Galatians 6:14

Nos autem gloriári opórtet in cruce Dómini nostri Iesu Christi,

in quo est salus, vita et resurréctio nostra,

per quem salváti et liberáti sumus.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Galatians 6:14

We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection,

through whom we are saved and delivered.

The Last Supper (detail)

Tintoretto, 1579-81 (Web Gallery of Art)

Antiphona ad Communionem 1 Cor 11:24-25

Hoc Corpus, quod pro vobis tradétur:

hic calix novi testaménti est in meo Sánguine, dicit Dóminus;

hoc fácite, quotiescúmque súmitis, in meam commemoratiónem.

Communion Antiphon 1 Corinthians 11:24-25

This is the body that will be given up for you;

this is the Chalice of the new covenant in my blood, says the Lord;

do this, whenever you receive it, in memory of me.

Pange Lingua Gloriosi

This hymn, written by St Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi, is sung at the end of the Mass of the Lord's Supper as the Blessed Sacrament is taken in procession from the altar where the Mass has been celebrated to the Altar of Repose.

100th anniversary of the birth of my Dad

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 02:29:00 +0000

John Coyle, my Dad, about a week before his sudden death on 11 August 1987.

Please remember in your prayers the soul of my father, John, who was born on 27 March 1913, a hundred years ago today, in Dublin, Ireland, to Nicholas and Jane Coyle. Easter fell on 23 March that year and so he came into the world on Easter Thursday.

I blogged about Dad on his 25th death anniversary, 11 August 1987, and on his 95th birth anniversary. And I posted about my parents on the 70th anniversary of their wedding.

A photo I took of my parents, Mary and John, in Ireland in the summer of 1968, when my mother was 53 and my father 55. My mother died less than two years later.

Collect from the Mass for the Priest's Parents

O God, who commanded us to honour father and mother,

have mercy in your compassion

on my father and mother,

forgive them their sins,

and bring me to see them one day

in the gladness of eternal glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

My parents' wedding photo, taken in a studio some weeks after their wedding, which took place on 6 July 1942.

Confession: an expression of God's mercy

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:50:00 +0000

I came across this short video today on the website of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. It shows how our sins affect others, in this instance within the family.

This note appears under the video.

'As the Family Goes' video by filmmaker Johanna Osborne, inspired by Pope John Paul II:

'As the family goes,
so goes the nation
and so goes the whole world
in which we live.' John Paul II.

In the texts below you will find my [emphasis] and [comments].

The Church's basic teaching on this sacrament is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,Nos 1422 - 1498.

I. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?
1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present.

Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin.

It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.
It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."

It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God." He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."
^{The Second and Third Precepts of the Church from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos 2041 and 2042.}

The second precept (“You shall confess your sins at least once a year.") ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness.

The third precept (“You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.") guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy. [In this context 'Easter season' is usually interpreted broadly to mean from Ash Wednesday to Trinity Sunday.]

Christ and the adulteress, Pieter Aertsen, 1557-78 (Web Gallery of Art)

Is Pieter Aertsen suggesting that we put Jesus in the background because we 'have more important things to do'?

Pope Francis on asking Jesus for forgiveness (homily during Mass in St Anne's parish church, Vatican City, 17 March):

Think of the gossip after the call of Matthew: he associates with sinners! (cf. Mk 2:16). He comes for us, when we recognize that we are sinners. But if we are like the Pharisee, before the altar, who said: I thank you Lord, that I am not like other men, and especially not like the one at the door, like that publican (cf. Lk 18:11-12), then we do not know the Lord’s heart, and we will never have the joy of experiencing this mercy! It is not easy to entrust oneself to God’s mercy, because it is an abyss beyond our comprehension. But we must! "Oh, Father, if you knew my life, you would not say that to me!" "Why, what have you done?" "Oh, I am a great sinner!" "All the better! Go to Jesus: he likes you to tell him these things!" He forgets, he has a very special capacity for forgetting. He forgets, he kisses you, he embraces you and he simply says to you: "Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more" (Jn 8:11). That is the only advice he gives you. After a month, if we are in the same situation . . . Let us go back to the Lord. [Pope Francis is referring to the Sacrament of Confession.] The Lord never tires of forgiving: never! It is we who tire of asking his forgiveness. Let us ask for the grace not to tire of asking forgiveness, because he never tires of forgiving. Let us ask for this grace.

Fr Michael Depcik OSFS, a Deaf priest in the USA, on how often we should go to confession.

Act of Contrition

O my God,
I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee,
and I detest all my sins,
because I dread the loss of heaven,
and the pains of hell;
but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God,
Who are all good and
deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve,
with the help of Thy grace,
to confess my sins,
to do penance,
and to amend my life.

Amen.

The above is perhaps the best known Act of Contrition in English. We pray this after telling our sins in confession and receiving our penance from the priest. Sometimes he gives us absolution while we are praying this, sometimes he waits till we are finished.

The Jesus Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,

Son of (the Living) God,

have mercy on me,

a sinner.

This very ancient prayer may also be used as an act of contrition.

Pope Francis and Benedict XVI meet on feast of Patron Saint of Latin American bishops

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 03:15:00 +0000

St Turibius of Mongrovejo (16 November 1538 – 23 March 1606)

Patron Saint of Latin American Bishops

St Turibius (San Toribio) was a Spaniard who became third Archbishop of Lima, Peru. He was ordained priest in 1578 at the age of 40 and appointed Archbishop of Lima the following year. Among those he confirmed were St Rose of Lima and St Martin de Porres.

Today Pope Francis will meet with his predecessor, Benedict XVI. I don't know if it just a coincidence that today is the feast day of the Patron Saint of Latin American Bishops, St Turibius of Mongrovejo. If so, it is a happy coincidence.

The second reading in the Office of Readings for St Turibius is taken from Christus Dominus, the Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church, No 12, proclaimed by Pope Paul VI on 28 October 1965 during the Second Vatican Council and includes this passage [emphasis mine in quotations below]:

In exercising their duty of teaching - which is conspicuous among the principal duties of bishops - they should announce the Gospel of Christ to men, calling them to a faith in the power of the Spirit or confirming them in a living faith. They should expound the whole mystery of Christ to them, namely, those truths the ignorance of which is ignorance of Christ. At the same time they should point out the divinely revealed way to give glory to God and thereby to attain to eternal happiness.

Benedict XVI in his Message for World Youth Day 2013, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in July, wrote: What does it mean to be a missionary? Above all, it means being a disciple of Christ. It means listening ever anew to the invitation to follow him and look to him: 'Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart' (Mt 11:29). A disciple is a person attentive to Jesus’ word (cf. Lk 10:39), someone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Teacher who has loved us so much that he gave his life for us. Each one of you, therefore, should let yourself be shaped by God’s word every day. This will make you friends of the Lord Jesus and enable you to lead other young people to friendship with him.

I encourage you to think of the gifts you have received from God so that you can pass them on to others in turn.

In the homily he gave at the Mass celebrated in the Sistine Chapel on 14 March with the cardinals who had elected him Pope Francis said:

This Gospel [Matthew 16:13-19] continues with a situation of a particular kind. The same Peter who professed Jesus Christ, now says to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let us not speak of the Cross. That has nothing to do with it. I will follow you on other terms, but without the Cross. When we journey without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord.

My wish is that all of us, after these days of grace, will have the courage, yes, the courage, to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Lord’s Cross; to build the Church on the Lord’s blood which was poured out on the Cross; and to profess the one glory: Christ crucified. And in this way, the Church will go forward.

May the meeting of Pope Francis and Benedict XVI be a blessed moment as each embarks on a new way of serving the Church and may this moment in history be one when each of us will truly desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ to the fullest extent possible, with God's grace, knowing that to be such is to carry his Cross.

The Crucifixion of St Peter, Caravaggio, 1600-01 (Web Gallery of Art)

'When we journey without the Cross . . . we are not disciples of the Lord.' Sunday Reflections, Palm Sunday Year C

noreply@blogger.com (Fr Seán Coyle) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 03:41:00 +0000

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, François de Nomé [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel for the Procession Luke 19:28-40. (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

When Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, "Go into the village opposite, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat; untie it and bring it here. If any one asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this, 'The Lord has need of it.'" So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?" And they said, "The Lord has need of it." And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their garments on the colt they set Jesus upon it. And as he rode along, they spread their garments on the road. As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

Antiphon for The Procession Matthew 21:9

Hosanna to the son of David;

blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.

Hosanna in the highest.

Setting by Thomas Weelkes (1576 - 1623)

Text used in the video:

Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna, thou that sittest in the highest heavens!
Hosanna in excelsis Deo!

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on 14 March with the cardinals who elected him. The concluding part of his homily gives us food for reflection and prayer as we enter Holy Week. I have highlighted parts of the homily.

My prayer for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, will grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ

crucified. Amen.

While Pope Francis was speaking at the Mass to the cardinal electors he is speaking to all of us. There seems to be a certain expectation among many that he will be some kind of Messiah, that he will get rid of all the Church's problems. There is only one Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are situations that only a courageous Pope can deal with. But the renewal of the Church, the conversion of the Church, involves each of us and all of us.

Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio in 2008

In his Message for Lent to the people of Buenos Aires this year the then Cardinal Bergoglio wrote: Lent comes to us as a cry of truth and sure hope, which answers yes, that it is possible not to put on makeup and draw plastic smiles as if nothing is happening. Yes, it is possible that everything be made new and different because God continues to be 'rich in kindness and mercy, always willing to forgive,' and He encourages us to begin again and again. Today we are again invited to undertake a paschal journey to Truth, a journey that includes the cross and renunciation, which will be uncomfortable but not sterile. We are invited to admit that something is not right in ourselves, in society and in the Church, to change, to turn around, to be converted.

Further on Cardinal Bergoglio writes: This Year of Faith we are living is also an opportunity that God gives us to grow and mature in our encounter with the Lord who makes Himself visible in the suffering face of so many youth without a future, in the trembling hands of the forgotten elderly and in the vacillating knees of so many families that continue to face life without finding anyone to support them.

As Archbishop of Buenos Aires he was clearly calling each of his flock to be fully involved in the life of the Church, not to leave it to the Pope and bishops to do everything.

And he concluded his message as he began his new life as Bishop of Rome with a plea: Please, I ask you to pray for me. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin look after you.

THE DONKEY

G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.