Bangor to Bobbio

Pleasing your wife, pleasing your husband

2012-01-29T17:11:00.001+08:00

Officiating at a wedding in the Philippines

I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband.

This is a sort of appendix to Sunday Reflections for today. The above verses, 1 Corinthians 7: 32-34, are from today's Second Reading. My friends in Worldwide Marriage Encounter are probably sick and tired of my emphasising that the basic vocation in marriage is to be a spouse, not a parent. The latter is a consequence of the former. In this brief passage St Paul doesn't mention parenthood at all but the priority of pleasing one's spouse. I truly believe that a spouse who gives first priority to that will be a good parent.

I was invited to a wedding recently and the officiating priest asked me to preach. I told the couple that their wedding day didn't mean the end of dating but rather the beginning. I went on to speak of the spousal relationship as being the fundamental one.

The wedding was at 4pm. Before 9pm, the last item during the reception was a short video of the ceremony. I was delightedly surprised when it opened with my words about dating and made the spousal relationship the basic theme, rather than only showing various shots of the wedding.

I have seen marriages break up where both spouses were doing everything they could 'for the sake of the kids'. I think that break-ups are much less likely when a husband's priority is, in St Paul's words, how to please his wife, and a wife's priority how to please her husband.

I have seen in so many families how children truly feel loved when their parents' priorities are such. One adult daughter told me how her father, when he was dying, said goodbye to all his children and then asked them to leave so that he could spent his last moments with his wife.

'He taught them with authority.' Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

2012-01-27T22:17:00.001+08:00

Moses, Carlo Dolci, painted 1640-45

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 1:21-28 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus and his followers went as far as Capernaum, and as soon as the sabbath came Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.

In their synagogue just then there was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, and it shouted, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus said sharply, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him. The people were so astonished that they started asking each other what it all meant. ‘Here is a teaching that is new’ they said ‘and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.’ And his reputation rapidly spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.

An Soiscéal Marcas 1:21-28 (Gaeilge, Irish)

When I was 16 I joined Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (Local Defence Force), part of the Irish Army Reserve (cap badge above). Membership was voluntary. We trained on Sundays and there was a two-week summer camp. However, I didn’t stay in it long enough to experience that.

I remember two individuals very clearly, not by name but by rank. One was a corporal and the other a sergeant. The corporal took delight in shouting and swearing at everyone. He was in his early 20s and we mostly between 16 and 18. We did what he told us to do. But none of us had any respect for him.

The sergeant, also in his early 20s, while strict, never shouted at us and the strongest word he ever used was ‘damn’. While in its fullest meaning this really is a curse, usage over the centuries has made it a very mild expression, with hardly any connection to its dictionary definition. We did what the sergeant told us to do, and with genuine respect for him. He respected us and because of that his authority came primarily from his person, not from his rank.

I am always struck by the way St Mark highlights the authority Jesus had. It wasn’t from any position he held but from the Truth that he is. He tells us in St John’s Gospel that he is ‘the way, the truth and the life’. The people recognised this: his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority; ‘Here is a teaching that is new’ they said ‘and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.’

I remember our rector in the seminary, Fr Joseph Flynn, once saying to us, ‘Let us at least be hypocrites’. What he meant was that if we fall short of what we believe and profess, and know that we are falling short and ask God’s forgiveness, we will still have something of the authority of Jesus himself. The tax collector who prayed in the Temple, ‘Lord, have mercy on me a sinner’, still carries authority whereas the hypocritical Pharisee doesn’t.

Yesterday I had an email from a recovering alcoholic who told me he ‘went into a blank space’ when he learned of the death of a priest who had also been a recovering alcoholic. This priest had been very close to him during the first years of his recovery. I know that the priest had occasional lapses but sought the help of others in AA when he did. That’s what gave him the authority he had with fellow 'strugglers'.

Some saints, such as St Thérèse of Lisieux (above, aged 15), carry the authority of the purity of their lives. Some, like St Augustine of Hippo, carry the authority of a person who has, with God’s grace, overcome a life of sin. Moses, who speaks to us in the first reading today, carries the authority of a great leader who acknowledged his own impatience and who accepted the consequence of this, that he would lead his people to the Promised Land, see it, but never enter it himself.

St Augustine and St Monica, by Ary Scheffer (painted 1846)

San am sin chuaigh Íosa isteach i gCafarnáum. Agus lá na sabóide féin, ar dhul isteach satsionagóg dó, thosaigh sé ag teagasc.Agus bhí ionadh orthu faoina theagasc; á dteagasc a bhí sé mar dhuine a mbeadh údarás aige, níorbh ionann agus na scríobhaithe.

Bhí, san am sin, duine sa tsionagóg a raibh smacht ag spiorad míghlan air, agus scread sé amach: “Há, cad ab áil leat dínn, a Íosa Nazairéanaigh? Chun ár millte a tháinig tú. Is eol dom cé hé thú: Naomh Dé.” Labhair Íosa leis go bagrach: “Bí i do thost, agus gabh amach as.” Bhain an spiorad míghlan rachtaí as an duine, ghlaoigh amach go hard agus d’imigh as. Agus bhí alltacht chomh mór sin ar chách go raibh siad ag fiafraí dá chéile: “Cad é an rud é seo?” deiridís: “teagasc nua á dhéanamh le húdarás; na spioraid mhíghlana féin, fógraíonn sé orthu agus déanann siad rud air.” Agus níorbh fhada gur leath a chlú go fada gearr ar fud cheantar uile na Gailíle.

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A 'spirited' young Massgoer!

2012-01-26T17:40:00.001+08:00

I came across this on Facebook. We'll have to wait in the Philippines, in Hong Kong and, I think, New Zealand, until next Advent for this.

Please pray for Julie

2012-01-24T09:55:00.000+08:00

Mrs Julie Lamb with grandchildren Erin and Patrick O'Brien

Yesterday I received an email from a good friend in London, Ontario, Laura O'Brien. Laura asked me to pray for her mother, Mrs Julie Lamb. Julie has lung cancer and has been 'given weeks to a couple months to live'.

I've known Laura since 1981 when I was studying in Toronto. She and her husband Danny - Laura had the good sense to marry an Irishman! - were members of a prayer group that used to meet in St Basil's in the heart of this remarkably cosmopolitan city. (The 1980 census showed that 44 per cent of the population of Metro Toronto had been born outside of Canada).

I met Julie for the first time in 2010 during a visit to Canada. She is a delightfully alive person.

Laura wrote, 'She is getting great care, and all the family have pulled together to ensure she has all her needs met'.

Please remember Julie and her family in your prayers

'At once they left their nets and followed him', Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

2012-01-20T17:21:00.087+08:00

Calling of Peter and Andrew, Duccio di Buoninsegna, painted 1308-11

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 1:14-20 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’

As he was walking along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets. He called them at once and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

An Soiscéal Marcas 1:14-20 (Gaeilge, Irish)

Tar éis Eoin a bheith tugtha ar láimh, tháinig Íosa go dtí an Ghailíl ag fógairt soiscéal Dé agus ag rá: “Tá an tréimhse caite agus tá ríocht Dé in achmaireacht. Déanaigí aithrí agus creidigí sa soiscéal.”

Bhí sé ag imeacht leis cois farraige na Gailíle nuair a chonaic sé Síomón agus Aindrias deartháir Shíomóin agus iad ag caitheamh eangaí san fharraige, mar iascairí a bhí iontu. Dúirt Íosa leo: “Tagaigí i mo dhiaidh, agus déanfaidh mé díbh iascairí ar dhaoine.” D’fhág aid na líonta láithreach agus lean aid é. Bhuail sé ar aghaidh beagán eile agus chonaic sé Séamas mac Zeibidé agus Eoin a dheartháir, iad ina mbád féin ag ceartú na líonta, agus ghlaoigh sé iad láithreach. D’fhág aid a n-athair Zeibidé sa bhád, é féin agus an lucht pá, agus ghabh aid leis.

The young Fr Edward Galvin in China

One hundred years ago a 29-year-old Irishman who had been working in Brooklyn, New York City, wrote a letter to his mother in his native County Cork. Nothing unusual in that. There were countless young Irishmen and women in the USA who had gone there because there was no work for them at home. That was the case with this young man. He had been ordained in 1909 for his own Diocese of Cork but his bishop had so many priests that he loaned the young man, Fr Edward Galvin, to the Diocese of Brooklyn.

While there he felt a desire to be a missionary. This led him to head off to China in February 1912 from Toronto, Canada, with a Canadian priest, Fr John Fraser, instead of going home to Ireland.

Here is his letter, written in Toronto:

Photocopy of letter (Thanks, Father Rex)

Dear Mother,

I am sorry, dear Mother, to have to write this letter, but God’s will be done. Everything is in His hands. Mother, don’t grieve, don’t cry. It is God’s will. God has called and I had to obey.

I am not going back to Ireland. I am going as a missionary to China. May God’s will be done. God knows my heart is broken, not for myself but for you whom I love above all the world.

Mother, you know how this has always been on my mind. But I thought it was a foolish thought – a boyish thought; that it would pass away as I grew older. But it never passed, never, never, never.

Why should God ask me to do this thing that is breaking my heart to do? I don’t know. God knows best. May His will be done. “If any man will come after me let him take up his cross and follow me.” Oh yes, but oh my God I never thought that it was so hard to follow. I have tried to follow when you called. I ask you in return to console my poor mother, to comfort her, to help her to make the Sacrifice I am making and spare her until we meet again.’

Frs Edward Galvin, John Blowick (seated) and Owen McPolin shortly after the arrival of the first group of Columbans in China. They left Ireland in 1920. Fr Blowick, the first Superior General, returned to Ireland to direct the Society and to teach in the Columban seminary.

Fr Fraser was to found the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society, with its headquarters in Scarborough, Ontario, now part of Metro Toronto, and the young Fr Galvin was to co-found with Fr John Blowick, another Irish diocesan priest and more than five years younger, what was first known as the Maynooth Mission to China in 1916 and formally became the Society of St Columban in 1918. Both societies had China as their original mission and both are societies of secular priests, not religious.

Father Galvin thought his idea of becoming a missionary was ‘a foolish thought – a boyish thought’. The actual moment when God called him as starkly as Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John, in today’s gospel happened on his weekly day off when he had planned to go to the office of the Propagation of the Faith in New York City to explore the idea of becoming a missionary. Two unexpected sick calls came that morning, which he responded to, leaving it too late for him to do what he had planned. Then Fr John Fraser arrived unannounced at the rectory and it was this meeting the led Edward Galvin to China shortly afterwards.

The cover of The Far East, the Columban magazine in Ireland, was the same for many years and the Chinese junk symbolised the Columbans for the Irish people and touched the imagination of many a future Columban missionary, including my own while I was still in kindergarten.

I don’t know what went on in the hearts of Peter and Andrew when, as St Mark tells us, ‘at once they left their nets and followed’ Jesus, or in the hearts of James and John who 'leaving their father Zebedee . . . went after him’. That decision was to lead ultimately to the martyrdom of three of them and to John standing at the Cross of Jesus and taking on the care of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Father Galvin recalled years later what it had cost him to set off for China, starting from New York City: ‘I still remember the pain of parting on that grey, dreary morning. When the train got underway for Toronto, I crumpled up in the coach and cried as if my heart would break.’

He was to become Bishop of Hanyang in China where he was to experience natural calamiteis such as great floods, the Sino-Japanese War, World War II and the Communist takeover, leading his expulsion in 1952. Born on the feast of St Columban, 23 November 1882, he died on 23 February 1956, the feast of the great martyr-bishop St Polycarp of Smyrna who knew St John the Evangelist who, with his brother James, had left his father to follow Jesus.

The cover on The Far East after the death of Bishop Galvin.

You can read more in an article by English Columban Fr Pat Sayles, Edward J. Galvin: a Trailblazer for God.

'Some loved him as a son . . .' St Anthony the Abbot

2012-01-17T09:36:00.000+08:00

St Anthony Distributing his Wealth to the Poor, Master of the Ozzervanza, c.1440

St Anthony the Abbot, also known as St Anthony of Egypt and St Anthony the Hermit has had an enormous influence on the life of the Church, touching the lives of nearly all of us. When he went off into the desert as a young man he had no idea that this would lead to the spread of monsticism, which in turn led to other forms of religious life of which there are many variations. He died in 356 at the great age of 105. There were monasteries before St Anthony, so he didn't start this but his life helped to spread it.

There is a lovely reading in the Office of Readings today from the Life of St Anthony by St Athanasius. It ends with these words: And so all the people of the village, and the good men with whom he was associated was what kind of man he was, and they called him 'The friend of God'. Some loved him as a son, and others as though he were a brother.

It's conventional enough to describe a saintly man as a brother or as a father, though St Athanasius didn't use the latter. However, I'm always touched by the words Some loved him as a son. There must have been something very special about St Anthony that led St Athansius to describe him in that way.

St Athanasius also lets us know that the young Anthony was late arriving at Mass when he heard the words of the gospel that changed his life: It happened that the gospel was then being read, and he heard what the Lord had said to the rich man 'If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me'.

This passage is from Matthew 19:16-26, which is recommended for the Mass of the saint. Here it is in the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition.

And behold, one came up to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

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O God, who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony

to serve you by a wondrous way of life in the desert,

grant, through his intercession,

that, denying ourselves,

we may always love you above all things.

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.

Two million honour the Santo Niño (Holy Child) in Cebu City

2012-01-16T16:10:00.001+08:00

I probably underestimated the faith of Filipinos in my Sunday Reflections for the Feast of the Santo Niño (Holy Child), Let the Children Come to Me, which I didn't post on this blog but on Misyon, the online magazine of the Columbans in the Philippines of which I am editor.

The Sun*Star, a daily newspaper published in Cebu, carries a story today, Almost 2 million join solemn procession in Cebu. The video above is included in the paper's online report.

The traditional religious procession, which commemorates the beginnings of the Catholic Christian faith in the Philippines, takes place on Saturday. The commercial parade, which started only in 1980, takes place on Sunday.

The Sinulog dance, two steps forward and one back, is said to resemble flowing water, is a religious dance. The first time I saw it was in a mountain barrio in Mindanao nearly 40 years ago when, after the fiesta Mass and baptisms, the grandmother of one of the newly baptised took the child in her arms and danced in front of an image of the Santo Niño. I have seen what has happened to St Patrick's Day in Ireland in recent where the main celebrations have little or nothing to do with the Christian faith, a faith that more and more Irish people are rejecting, and I have a fear that the same thing is happening here in the Philippines.

Last Saturday's celebration in Cebu, the genuine one, shows that maybe my fear is misplaced. I hope so.

The fluvial procession that precedes the procession through the streets of Cebu City in the video above.

'Come and see'. Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

2012-01-13T16:07:00.066+08:00

St Andrew, Francois Duquesnoy, 1629-33

This Sunday is observed in the Philippines as the Feast of the Santo Niño or Holy Child. You can find the Sunday Reflections for that feast here.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 1:35-42 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’ Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ – which means Teacher – ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see’ he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the tenth hour.

One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his brother and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ – which means the Christ – and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.

An Soiscéal Eoin 1;35-42 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin bhí Eoin ina sheasamh ansiúd agus beirt dá dheisceabail. Agus ag stánadh dó ar Íosa ag gabháil thart dúirt sé: “Seo é Uan Dé.” Chuala an bheirt deisceabal é ag rá na cainte agus lean rin Íosa. D’iompaigh Íosa, chonaic iad á leanúint agus dúirt sé leo: “Cad tá uaibh?” D’fhreagair rin é: “A raibí” – is é sin le rá “a mháistir” – “Cá bhfuil cónaí ort?” “Tagaigí agus feicigí,” ar sé leo. Tháinig rin dá bhrí sin agus chonaic rin cá raibh cónaí air, agus d’fhan rin fairis an lá sin. Bhí sé timpeall an deichiú huair.

Duine den bheirt a chuala Eoin agus a lean Íosa a ba ea Aindrias, deartháir Shíomóin Peadar. Fuair seisean ar dtús a dheartháir féin Síomón agus dúirt sé leis: “Fuaireamar an Meisias” – is é sín le rá an tUngthach. Thug sé leis é chun Íosa. D’fhéach Íosa go rin air agus dúirt: “Is tú Síomón mac Eoin. Tabharfar ort Céafas” – focal a chiallaíonn Carraig.

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God’s call can come in the most unexpected ways. One of my Irish Columban confreres, Fr Bobby Gilmore, has written about discovering his call to be a missionary priest by the visit of a famous Welsh rugby player, Cliff Morgan, to his boarding school in the 1950s, St Joseph’s, Garbally Park, Ballinasloe, County Galway, owned by the Diocese of Clonfert. Rugby was the main sport in Garbally Park and the young Bobby’s passion. The school invited Cliff Morgan to speak to the students. Afterwards there was a question and answer session. Someone asked the guest what his priorities in life were. To the utter astonishment of Bobby, rugby was only the third or fourth priority of the great player. This led him to question his own priorities and led to his becoming a Columban priest.

Late in 2000 I did a mission appeal for the Columbans in the place where Cliff Morgan was born and where he is still a legend. Unfortunately, I didn’t know Father Bobby’s vocation story at the time. He spent many eyars in Mindanao and Camiguin in the Philippines before going to Jamaica. He later worked with Irish immigrants in England. He is now based in Ireland and is President and one of the founders of Migrants Rights Centre Ireland. MRCI was st up in 2000.

Trebanog, south Wales, where Cliff Morgan was born in 1930. I celebrated Sunday Mass in a school there late in 2000 while doing a mission appeal for the Columbans. The parish church is in a larger town.

In a talk he gave in August 2009 in Arizona to a convention of the Knights of Columbus Cardinal-designate Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York (above) spoke of four practical challenges the Church currently faces in preaching the Gospel to all people, the first being the instability of marriage and family.

‘That’s where we have the real vocation crisis,’ he remarked, noting that ‘only 50% of our Catholic young people are getting married. We have a vocation crisis to life-long, life-giving, loving, faithful marriage. If we take care of that one, we’ll have all the priests and nuns we need for the church,’ he said.

Last year the Central Statistics Office in the Republic of Ireland reported that nearly half of first tie births take place outside of marriage, 28 per cent of births of a second child and 22 per cent of births of a third child.

God may indeed call a child from that background to the priesthood, to religious life, to the sacrament of marriage but the chances of that child discovering his or her call from God is surely greatly reduced, since that child most likely has little or no faith context.

When the late Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston was ordained bishop he proudly showed his episcopal ring to his widowed Irish mother, She pointed at her wedding ring and said to him, ‘If it wasn’t for this, you wouldn’t be wearing that’.

This video of a march in Dublin on 17 December is from the website of MRCI. These are working people who want to play a full part in Irish society. The Irish government is trying to get the government of the USA to regularise Irish people there who are in a similar position. Eleven days before the march Dublin City Council unanimously passed this resolution:

This Council supports the undocumented Irish campaign in the US to introduce an earned regularisation scheme. This Council also notes with concern the high numbers of undocumented families and children living in Ireland without rights and under tremendous stress and fear. This Council supports the introduction of an earned regularisation scheme in Ireland, based on criteria set down by the Department of Justice, so that undocumented migrants living in Ireland can participate fully in the social, political and economic affairs of the country. This Council asks that the Minister for Justice be written to upon the passing of this motion to inform him of Dublin City Council's support for an earned regularisation scheme.

If the rugby-mad Bobby Gilmore had not been so astonished by the priorities in life of a young Welsh rugby player 55 or so years ago perhaps he would never have worked as a priest in the Philippines, Jamaica and England and would not now be involved in enabling immigrants to his native Ireland to be truly at home there.

God's call can indeed come in unexpected ways. Had St Andrew not listened to the words of St John the Baptist, accepted the invitation of Jesus to 'come and see', he probably would have spent the rest of his life catching fish instead of 'catching men' with the Gospel in a country not his own and dying on a cross as Jesus did.

'Yes, GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME . . . ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD'

2012-01-12T17:58:00.001+08:00

The title of this post is a text message I received from a friend whose daughter and grandchildren survived Typhoon Sendong that hit northern Mindanao a week before Christmas. I use it in Pulong ng Editor, 'Editor's Word', in the January-February issue of Misyon, which I edit for the Columbans here in the Philippines.

My friend is no stranger to suffering. When he was a small child his father was murdered. Yet he powerfully expresses his faith in a simple text message, an expression of the resilience of the faith of so many Filipinos.

Update on aftermath of Sendong/Washi on Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City

2012-01-11T17:59:00.002+08:00

A Report by Fr Pat O'Donoghue

Fr Pat O'Donoghue is the Regional Director of the Columbans in the Philippines. He visited Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan Ciy last week. He wrote this report on 8 January, the Solemnity of the Epiphany here in the Philippines.

I arrived in Cagayan de Oro in the early afternoon of Monday, 2 January. The signs of the calamity were visible from the air as we approached the airport, but the full extent of the damage hits you when you stand on the river bank or visit those places where whole neighborhoods were simply washed away.

The damage to the water system was such that most of Cagayan still did not have running water when I arrived. On the way from the airport we saw groups of people surrounding trucks or fire hydrants where water was being dispensed while others were coming and going with all kinds of water containers – the innovative spirit of people once more shining through the difficulties. Drinking water was also being dispensed at points set up by the Red Cross and others who had large water purifying machines. The lack of water leads to many difficulties one of which is the difficulty people have in doing any kind of cleaning up. Water was restored to the western side of Cagayan by Thursday, January 5, a big help.

Holy Rosary Parish, which is served by the Columbans, was affected but, when compared to other parts of Cagayan and Iligan, only relatively so. Fr Paul Finlayson estimates about 100 families are affected with about 30 homes destroyed. Food and other immediate necessities have been provided for these families. At a meeting on Tuesday, January 3, attended by most Columbans in Mindanao, it was agreed that we will continue to cooperate with the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro which are doing a very good job of coordinating the relief operations, without prejudice to the specific needs of the parish.

What is the more pressing need now is that of rehabilitation, which must include relocation for most of those affected. There is little point in rebuilding homes in those areas that could be hit again in the immediate future. Getting this right and utilizing all the help that has been promised by the Government, foreign governments, aid agencies and private individuals is both a priority and a challenge. In the meanwhile, there is a need for some kind of intermediate accommodation so that people can get back to some normality. We will continue to provide any further 'immediate' aid where it is seen to be genuinely needed.

The effort now is to get people out of the evacuation centers which are mostly schools and churches and into temporary accommodation. Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma SJ pastoral letter just before Christmas urged those who were not affected to 'adopt' a family and care for them not only during Christmas but also in the coming months until that family can go to a more permanent home. Of course, relatives are already doing this for their own families, but one of the fears that some people have is that if they leave the evacuation centers now they might lose their status as genuine claimants on the aid that is promised. There are a number of tent communities being set up also to give each family some way of being together.

There is a lot of pain not only for those directly affected but also for those who heard the cries of others for help and were unable to do anything. I’m not sure that time will heal all this, but certainly God can and the faith of many of these people is both challenging and humbling. One eight-year-old boy who lost his mother and two of his siblings had found a photo of her and would look at it and say, 'I will see you in Heaven, Mommy'.

There are the happy stories too: the child who was saved by riding on the back of a neighbor’s Labrador Retriever. The owners of the dog were not at home when the tragedy struck. Or my little friend Cedric, who is all of four years old, who clung to a floating refrigerator when he got separated from his parents. He was found by fishermen several miles away later that morning still astride the fridge.

There is much more that could be added to this, but I simply want to give you some snapshots of the situation as I experienced it. In truth it reduced me to silence, or more accurately perhaps, it called to silence. In so many ways it is overwhelming and yet people do what they can and many have sent help. At times I felt like an intruder, but as I listened to the stories and simply held a hand or embraced the person, I was glad I was there and privileged to be with such people.

I want to thank all those who have sent in money to our fund and to assure you that we will continue to monitor the situation in both Cagayan and Iligan so as to best use the money we have received. As I mentioned above, we see the greater need now to be that of rehabilitation and that is probably where we will use most of the money left in the fund and any that will get added to it. I hope that this is acceptable to all of you.

Finally, on this Feast of the Epiphany, may Jesus show His face to all those who are still suffering so terribly. May He also show His face to those who, by the help they send, the prayers they make or their work on the ground, have become that face of Christ for others.

'You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.' The Baptism of the Lord

2012-01-07T16:26:00.003+08:00

The Seven Sacraments: Baptism, Nicolas Poussin, painted 1641-42

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is observed in Ireland on Sunday 8 January and in other countries that use English widely on Monday 9 January. The Feast brings an end to the liturgical Season of Christmas.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 1:7-11 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

In the course of his preaching John the Baptist said, 'Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.'

It was at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised in the Jordan by John. No sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.'

An Soiscéal Marcas 1:7-11 (Gaeilge, Irish)

Agus bhíodh Eoin ag seanmóir á rá: “Tá ag teacht i mo dhiaidh an té atá níos treise ná mé, agus ní fiú mé cromadh síos chun iall a chuarán a scaoileadh. Bhaist mise le huisce sibh, ach baistfidh seisean sibh leis an Spiorad Naomh.” Lá de na laethanta sin tháinig Íosa ó Nazarat sa Ghailíl agus fuair baisteadh sa Iordáin ó Eoin. Agus an túisce a tháinig sé aníos as an uisce, chonaic sé na flaithis ag oscailt ó chéile agus an Spiorad mar a bheadh colm ag teacht anuas air. Agus tháinig glór ó na flaithis: “Is tú mo Mhac muirneach; is duit a thug mé gnaoi.”

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14 young women and girls lining up for baptism and confirmation, 28 December 2011

The Irish Examiner carried a story by Gordon Deegan on 29 December, President washed dishes on visits to nuns. Every year during her 14 years in the mainly ceremonial post of president, a job she carried out with distinction and relinquished in November, President Mary McAleese of Ireland went to the Poor Clares monastery in Ennis, County Clare, to make a retreat.

Sister Gabriel, the abbess said, President McAleese has been great. She has been such an inspiration to us. She comes in, no mobile phone, no nothing, she relinquishes everything . . . President McAleese would be washing your dishes and you’re embarrassed, thinking ‘The President of Ireland is washing my dishes!’

In a way this was the only place she was Mary McAleese. She wasn’t the president, she could just be Mary and feed her own inner life to recharge herself for her duties. She is just so ordinary, so real - that is why the world took to her.

This story reminded me of one aspect of the Baptism of Jesus. He lined up anonymously with sinners in order to be baptized by John the Baptist, his cousin. The others in the line would not have known who he was. They would have presumed that he was a sinner like them. They had no idea he was God who had become Man, the Messiah they had all been waiting for.

I’m not suggesting that the Poor Clares in Ennis are noted for their sinfulness, though they are sinners like the rest of us. But the Irish President joined them every year, unknown to anyone apart from the nuns and her own family, to join them in prayer seven times a day, to join them in the silence broken only by for story-telling during recreation in the evening.

Very few of the paintings of the baptism of Jesus I looked at show him as one of a crowd of penitents. Poussin’s painting does to some extent. Can there be anything more extraordinary than God who is Love and who became Man allowing himself to be considered a sinner as he lined up for baptism, a foreshadowing of his death on Calvary, condemned as a criminal?

'I baptise you in the name of the Father . . .'

On 28 December, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, I had the joy of baptising and confirming 14 young women and girls at Holy Family Home in Bacolod City. Nine others joined them in making their First Holy Communion. Although none of us heard any voice from heaven, the reality is that God the Father said to each of those being baptised what he said to Jesus at his baptism, You are my daughter, my beloved; my favour rests on you.

First Holy Communion

The webpage of the Poor Clares in Ennis is here. The excellent website of the Poor Clares in Galway, just over an hour by road from Ennis, is here. It’s well worth exploring, especially to learn the stories of some of the nuns there.

'They prostrated themselves and did him homage.' Sunday Reflections. The Epiphany.

2012-01-05T17:00:00.000+08:00

Adoration of the Magi, Francesco Bassano, painted 1567-69

The Epiphany

Where the Solemnity of the Epiphany is not to be observed as a Holyday of obligation, it is assigned to the Sunday occurring between 2 and 8 January as its proper day. (The Roman Missal). As far as I know, Ireland is the only country where English is widely used that observes this feast as a Holyday of Obligation. Elsewhere it is observed this year on Sunday 8 January. Thew new English version of The Roman Missal also has a special Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, though I think the readings are the same as in the Mass During the Day.

Readings (NAB)

Gospel Matthew 2:1-12 (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."

When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:

And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel."

Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance.

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage."

After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.

They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

Reflection by Columban Sister Kathleen Coyle

From the November/December 2011 issue of The Far East, the magazine of the Columbans in Australia and New Zealand.

St Matthew reminds us at the end of the Magi story that 'they departed for their country by another way' (Matt 2:12).

It was a journey of transformation for the three stargazers. Having drawn near to the sacred, they were awakened to the mystery of their lives. They are now transformed by the experience of the Christ Child in the manger and ready to live in a new and reflective way.

Just as the Easter liturgy invites us to ask Mary Magdalene, 'Tell us Mary, what have you seen along the way?' so the Christmas and Epiphany liturgies invite us to grasp the significance of the transcendental experience of our travellers from the East. Like Mary they could each reply, 'I have seen the Lord!'

Having been awakened to the mystery of their lives, touched and nourished by the energy of the divine, the Magi return home ready to face the routine of life with new hope and purpose.

Like the Magi, we, too, are led to Jesus. We are invited to come close to the borders of mystery, to search for God in the stable of our hearts.

In Fr Karl Rahner’s words, ‘we are encompassed absolutely by God at the moment of our search as we journey through life by the light of the star.’ Insights from occasional moments of deep prayer, from reading the scriptures, our sensitivity to listening to the pain of a friend, may be for us the star or the brilliant flash of light that leads us to the Child and his mother.

We discover that the real journey isn’t to Bethlehem or to the stable but into our hearts - a journey which is largely shaped by our own experiences. Prayer and meditation enable us to integrate all our experiences into our inner centre, or to partially or completely revise them.

As Meister Eckhart reminds us, we may on occasion experience the brightness of the star as much ‘by the fireside or in the stable’ as we do by devotions, ecstasies and contemplation.

Matthew’s reflection on the visit of the Magi invites us to travel “by another route” (2:12). It also invites us to support those who are searching for God in the humility of a fragile baby and who wish to travel home, transformed. This reflection takes us to a new place. Where that new place is and how God is leading us there, can emerge in our prayer, in our commitment and in our sharing of insights to enrich the community.

The star that shines over our personal mangers prepares us to welcome the Light of the World and to deepen our commitment to mission and mystery. The mystical experience of finding Jesus and of being completely encompassed by God must flow into our personal prayer, liturgies, homes and ministry, so that the mystery of God will spill over into our lives, our world and into history.

Sr Kathleen Coyle, a Columban Sister, has taught theology in the East Asian Pastoral Institute in the Philippines. She now resides in Ireland.

Introit: Ecce advénit Dominátor Dóminus; et regnum in manu eius et potéstas et impérium.

Entrance Antiphon: Behold, the Lord, the Mighty One, has come;

And kingship is in his grasp, and power and dominion. (Cf.Mal3:1; 1 Chr 29:12).

The resilience of the faith of Filipinos

2012-01-02T19:12:00.000+08:00

We are still in the Christmas Season until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, observed on Sunday in countries that celebrate the Epiphany as a holyday of obligation on 6 January. In countries that celebrate the Epiphany on Sunday the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord will be observed on Monday 9 January.

Katolikongpinoy posted the old English song, The Coventry Carol, as a tribute to those who died in Tropical Storm Sendong/Washi a week before Christmas, especially in Iligan City and in Cagayan de Oro City, both in northern Mindanao, .

Last night I received a text from a friend whom I first met in the 1970s when he was a houseboy in a Columban parish, Eddie, now a teacher. He was born on the feast of St Edward the Confessor, 13 October, and was given the English king's name at baptism. The feast is not observed in the Philippines but his parents got the name from the Almanake, an annual booklet listing all the saints for each day. Eddie's father was murdered when Eddie was a child, leaving his mother Marilyn with four young children.

I officiated at the wedding of Eddie and Anita. I remember one unpleasant detail: it was the only time in 40 years in the Philippines that I had the highly contagious 'sore eyes', known as 'piskat' in the Cebuano language. I had to borrow dark glasses and managed not to share this 'gift' with anyone else!

Last night I received a text message in Cebuano from Eddie about his daughter Ea, who is married and lives in Iligan City. It read: Ea and the children are now in our house because they were caught in the floods. By the mercy of God, they were all saved because they were able to climb onto the roof of their house. We are taking care of them, especially the children so that they will forget the trauma.

I texted back to Eddie in Cebuano: The mercy of God they were saved.

Eddie replied in English exactly as posted here: yes . . . GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME . . . ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.

Pope Benedict's General Prayer Intention for January is: Victims of Natural Disasters. That the victims of natural disasters may receive the spiritual and material comfort they need to rebuild their lives.

Countless Filipinos have respond in the way the Holy Father wishes, taking care of the immediate material needs of the victims of the storm. That included prisoners in one jail who do a lot of carpentry work offering to build coffins to be sent to the stricken cities, a very urgent need.

The father in the video is mourning his dead child. Eddie thanks God that his daughter and grandchildren were saved. We cannot understand such things. But Eddie lost his father to a violent and unjust death and knows how precious life is and that it is a gift from God.

One of the greatest gifts God has given the people of the Philippines is a resilient faith, a faith that has a strong sense of gratitude. May it always be so.

'God takes delight in his people.' Sunday Reflections for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

2011-12-29T19:32:00.050+08:00

Adoration of the Shepherds Murillo, painted 1646-50

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 2:16-21 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

The shepherds hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.

When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.

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An Soiscéal Lúcás 13:33-37 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin d’imigh na haoirí anonn go Beithil go deifreach, agus fuair siad Muire agus Iósaef, agus an naíonán ina luí sa mhainséar. Agus ar a fheiceáil dóibh, d’inis siad an ní a dúradh leo mar gheall ar an leanbh seo. Agus cách a chuala, b’ionadh leo na nithe a dúirt na haoirí leo. Agus thaiscigh Muire ina cuimhne na nithe seo uile, ag machnamh orthu ina croí. Agus chuaigh na haoirí ar ais ag glóiriú agus ag moladh Dé faoinar chuala siad agus a bhfaca siad, de réir mar a bhí ráite leo.

Nuair a bhí ocht lá caite agus é le timpeallghearradh, tugadh Íosa mar ainm air, mar a thug an t-aingeal air sular gabhadh sa bhroinn é.

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My mother once told me a story about her mother-in-law, my grandmother Jane Coyle, that made me smile. I was Jane’s first grandchild and my father John was her only child. When my mother would take me over to my grandparents’ house, as she often did, the neighbours would drop by to admire the infant, as people do. Some would say I looked like my father while others would say I was more like my mother.

My mother discovered that after we had gone, especially if some had remarked that I looked like her, my grandmother Jane would go to the next-door neighbour and ask, ‘Doesn’t my grandson look like my son?’ (Jane Coyle died when I was three and was buried the day my brother was baptised).

One of my favourite lines in the Bible – I quoted it in Sunday Reflections for Christmas Day – is ‘God takes delight in his people’ (Psalm 149). This is from the Grail translation of the psalms, the version used in the English-language editions of the Breviary, the Prayer of the Church. Psalm 149 appears in Morning Prayer of the Church on the first Sunday of the four-week cycle and on all solemnities and feasts. I had been praying this psalm regularly for many years before the line jumped out at me some time in the early 1990s. I can’t remember how or why.

I have some idea of the delight that God takes in us and in me from the kind of delight that I and most people I know take in a newborn child, even one whose circumstances of birth aren’t ideal. Murillo captures the delight of the shepherds, the light reflected from the infant Jesus showing it in their faces. We see St Joseph in the background. The light of Jesus is reflected most strongly in the face of Mary, who looks so young and almost vulnerable, a quieter delight on her face, taking in the wonder of what has happened. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart (Luke 2: 19). She is wearing red, the colour associated with the Holy Spirit, rather than the conventional blue. And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God (Luke 1:34-35).

The eyes of all in Murillo’s painting, and our eyes, are drawn to the Baby Jesus, the painter capturing the truth of St John’s words: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:4-5).

Murillo’s painting is similar in ways to Gerrit van Honthorst’s Adoration of the Child that I used on Christmas Day and that you can see below. I do not know if Murillo was familiar with the earlier painting in which Mary is also wearing red and holding the cloth in almost the same way. Again, all eyes are on The light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Both paintings capture the beautiful blessing that God asked Moses to give to his people and that we listen to in the First Reading today: The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them" Numbers 6:24-27). God truly takes delight in us, his sons and daughters. The birth of Jesus invites us to take delight in God who became Man.

[Scripture quotations from Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition].

Adoration of the Child Gerrit van Honthorst, painted c.1620

Look toward the Lord and be radiant; let your faces not be ashamed (Cf Ps34[33]). Communion Antiphon, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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Today is the eighth day of the Octave of Christmas. I came across this video on a couple of blogs today. The normally fearful Linus is not afraid to explain the meaning of Christmas by quoting the words of St Luke directly on the stage. At the words of the angel, 'fear not' he drops his security blanket, rather like the Apostles after Pentecost.

Happy New Year!

Manigong Bagong Taon!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh!

'Some Children See Him'

2011-12-27T18:03:00.000+08:00

I found this beautiful song, which I don't remember hearing before, on the website of the Columbans in Ireland. It was written by Alfred Burt. The male singer is Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991). I'm not sure who the female singer is nor do I know who put the video together. The recording goes back to the 1950s.

' . . . on the feast of Stephen': a tale of two men named Wenceslas (Václav)

2011-12-26T09:39:00.002+08:00

Good King Wenceslas is one of the most popular Christmas carols in Britain and Ireland but not known at all in the Philippines. It is sung here by The Irish Rovers, a Canadian group consisting of immigrants from Ireland, mostly Northern Ireland. You can detect the accent of their place of origin in their singing. The words are by John Mason Neale, whose translation of Veni, Veni Emmanuel is the best known English version of O come, O come Emmanuel. The tune of Good King Wenceslas goes back to the 13th century.

The opening line of this carol is 'Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen'. Today, 26 December, is the feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. 'Good King Wenceslas' is also venerated by the Church as a martyr, his feast falling on 28 September. However, though he is on the universal calendar of the Church he's not venerated at all in the Philippines since 28 September is also the feast day of the first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz, like St Stephen and St Wenceslas, a martyr.

Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, then Archbishop of Prague, with skull of Saint Wenceslas during a procession on 28 September 2006

The King Wenceslas referred to is St Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, assassinated on 28 September 935. He was declared king after his death. He is the patron saint of the Czech Republic and the main square in Prague is named after him.

The Czech version of the saint's name is 'Václav', the Christian name of the recently deceased former president, Václav Havel, and also of the current president, Václav Klaus.

Václav Havel, 5 October 1936 - 18 December 2011.

First President of the Czech Republic, 2 February 1993 - 2 February 2003

Pope Benedict: Václav Havel a visionary leader

Pope Benedict's telegram to President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic:

His Excellency Václav Klaus President of the Czech Republic. Having learned with sadness of the death of Former President Václav Havel, I send heartfelt condolences at this time of national mourning. I join all those who have gathered in Saint Vitus' Cathedral for the solemn funeral rite in commending the soul of the deceased to the infinite mercy of our heavenly Father. Remembering how courageously Mr Havel defended human rights at a time when these were systematically denied to the people of your country, and paying tribute to his visionary leadership in forging a new democratic polity after the fall of the previous regime, I give thanks to God for the freedom that the people of the Czech Republic now enjoy. As a pledge of spiritual strength and comfort, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to all who mourn in the hope of resurrection to new life.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Memorial gathering for Václav Havel in Wenceslas Square in Prague on the day of his death

'In Times Like These', a song dedicated to the victims of Typhoon Sendong/Washi

2011-12-24T08:27:00.009+08:00

Glenn, a young man who is studying law at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro, the southern Philippines city hardest hit by Typhoon Sendong/Washi a week ago, wrote and recorded this song. His sister Maria Fe produced the video. Their parents, Joe and Annie, are teachers who grew up in Columban parishes in Mindanao.

Please continue to pray for the souls of those who have died, for those who are trying to pick up the pieces and for the many people who are working together for a better future for all.

Typhoon Sendong/Washi: Pastoral Letter of Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines

2011-12-23T16:09:00.001+08:00

Photos from Iligan.org

San Lorenzo Ruiz Church, Iligan City, a temporary evacuation center.

The Columbans are very familiar with both Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro City, the two places most badly hit by Typhoon Sendong/Washi last weekend. 'Washi' was the international code-name for the storm, 'Sendong' the Philippine name. Columban Fr Rolly Aniscal lost a cousin and her two children in Cagayan de Oro. The children's bodies haven't been recovered yet.

I'm posting photos taken in Iligan City, which is about 90kms from Cagayan de Oro City.

New Zealander Fr Paul Finlayson and his team in the Columban-run Holy Rosary Parish, Agusan, Cagayan de Oro, are taking care of 25 families whose homes were destroyed or badly damaged. Venus Guibone, who worked in Ireland as a Columban lay missionary whose house was very badly damaged is among those being accommodated at St John Vianney Theological Seminary.

San Lorenzo Ruiz Church

Pastoral Letter - A Time to Grieve, A Time to Build

A Pastoral Letter written by Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, addressed to the faithful people of the Archdiocese of Cagayan in this moment of pain and sorrow as the city was devastated by the typhoon Sendong.

Christmas is a time of rejoicing. But this year in Cagayan de Oro we mourn and express our condolence for all those who have perished in the wake of Typhoon Sendong on Dec. 16-17. In some places entire families have been washed away by the rampaging waters of Cagayan de Oro River. Others died in their sleep trapped inside their homes by the sudden rise of flood waters that reached unprecedented levels past midnight.

There are accounts of how a mother clutching the hands of two children was able to escape from the floods, only to lose another child whose pleas for help could be heard receding in the darkness of the night. Another family was able to hold on to an uprooted balete tree that floated out into Macajalar Bay and reached the shores of Camiguin Island. Floating bodies have been retrieved from the waters of nearby towns. The low-lying communities of Cala-Cala and Isla de Oro have been leveled by a tsunami-like river surge.

Practically everyone in the city has lost some relatives or personal friends in this calamity. Schools have lost some students and staff; officemates have not reported because of the condition of their homes; and a number of unidentified bodies still await a dignified burial in a common resting place.

In some of our churches, the Misa de Gallo could not be celebrated because the church became a refuge for families seeking higher ground. In one chapel, even pigs and other animals were brought in and tied at the foot of the altar. Lay ministers were scandalized until the parish priest reminded them that this must have been the same situation in the stable of that first Christmas night. We have also started to celebrate the Misa de Gallo in the evacuation centers. [Note: the Misa de Gallo is the novena of nine pre-dawn Masses in thanksgiving for the gift of our faith celebrated throughout the Philippines from 16 to 14 December. A resilient faith is one of the most remarkable gifts God has given the people of the Philippines.]

Even as we grieve with those directly affected by this tragedy, the challenge for us now is to help re-build the lives and broken homes of the survivors. The evacuation centers are slowly being organized in the distribution of relief goods – in particular, water, food, medicine, mats, blankets, etc.

We are heartened to see many volunteers and organizations coming forward to share their time, energy and resources. Our affected parishes and social action workers have collaborated with government agencies in running these centers in the City Central School, West City Central School, Macasandig, Bulua, Kauswagan, Iponan, etc. The 14 centers have been providing shelter and basic needs to more than 7,000 families and 43,000 individuals. Meanwhile, the listed number of dead and missing has reached nearly 700 persons.

The longer-term challenge is to help these families re-build their present homes or re-locate to safer grounds. We are heartened by the visit of President Aquino and other public officials. His declaration of a state of national calamity and observation that families should not be allowed to return to extremely dangerous areas are welcome statements. Last January 2009, the city had already experienced severe flooding. Some old-time residents recalled that this phenomenom happens every forty years. But barely three years after that, Typhoon Sendong came with greater vengeance.

We have to cast a broader look at the entire river basin area of Cagayan de Oro River. This extends to the northwestern part of Bukidnon and surrounding areas. Illegal logging and irresponsible mining activities have contributed to the degradation of the environment and the siltation of the river bed. The erection of man-made structures may have also impeded the natural flow of the waters. (The continued hydraulic flush mining along Iponan River has likewise caused widespread flooding of the Canitoan-Iponan areas of the city.) It is for these reasons that we have to strengthen the Cagayan de Oro River Basin Management Council, a multi-sectoral effort to protect and conserve our most precious natural resource after our human resources – the river system.

As we approach Christmas week and the coming of the new year, may I propose a Family-Adopt-a-Family program. Families unaffected by the flood can invite to their homes an evacuee family, especially those that have lost their homes or loved ones, for a few days or for a Christmas meal to share the spirit of the season. May the new-born child in the manger fill us with the spirit of solidarity in moments of adversity and hope in the sharing of love and life with one another. “Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart” (Ps. 90).

These people had been on the roof for two days.

'There is nothing further for him to say.' Sunday Reflections for Christmas Day

2011-12-22T17:15:00.002+08:00

Adoration of the Child, Gerrit van Honthorst, painted c.1620

'God takes delight in his people'. [Psalm 149, Grail translation, used in the Breviary.]

Readings (New American Bible, used in the Philippines, USA):

Vigil Mass

Mass During the Night

Mass at Dawn

Mass During the Day

Each Mass has its own specific prayers and readings. By attending any of them we fulfill our obligation on this great holy day.

The beginning of the Holy Gospel according to John (John 1:1-18). This gospel is read at the Mass During the Day. The translation is that of the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition).

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.

He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'")

And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

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An Soiscéal, Eoin 1:1-18 (Gaeilge, Irish)

Bhí an Briathar ann i dtús báire

agus bhí an Briathar in éineacht le Dia,
agus ba Dhia an Briathar.
Bhí sé ann i dtús baire in éineacht le Dia.
Rinneadh an uile ní tríd
agus gan é ní dhearnadh aon ní dá ndearnadh.
Is ann a bhí an bheatha
agus ba é solas na ndaoine an bheatha.
Agus tá an solas ag taitneamh sa dorchadas,
ach níor ghabh an dorchadas é.

Bhí fear a tháinig ina theachtaire ó Dhia,
agus Eoin a ba ainm dó.
Tháinig sé ag déanamh fianaise
chun fianaise a thabhairt i dtaobh an tsolais
chun go gcreidfeadh cách tríd.
Níorbh é féin an solas
ach tháinig ag tabhairt fianaise i dtaobh an tsolais.
An solas fírinneach
a shoilsíonn gach aon duine,
bhí sé ag teacht ar an saol.
Bhí sé ar an saol
agus is tríd a rinneadh an saol,
agus níor aithin an saol é.

Chun a chuid féin a tháinig
agus níor ghlac a mhuintir é.
Ach an uile dhuine a ghlac é,
thug sé de cheart dóibh
go ndéanfaí clann Dé díobh,
dóibh seo a chreideann ina ainm,
an mhuintir nach as folanna a rugadh iad
ná as toil feola,
ná as toil fir ach ó Dhia.

Agus rinneadh feoil den Bhriathar
agus chónaigh sé inár measc,
agus chonacamar-na a ghlóir,
a ghlóir mar Aonghin ón Athair,
lán de ghrásta agus d’fhírinne.Tagann Eoin ag tabhairt fianaise ina thaobh
agus glaonn in ard a ghutha:
“É seo an té a ndúirt mé faoi:
‘An té atá ag teacht í mo dhiaidh,
tá an tosach aige orm mar bhí sé ann romham.’”

Óir ghlacamar uile as a lánmhaireacht,
sea, grásta ar ghrásta.
Tugadh an dlí go deimhin trí Mhaois,
ach tháinig an grásta agus an fhírinne trí Íosa Críost.
Ní fhaca aon duine riamh Dia.
An tAonghin atá i gcochall chroí Dé,
eisean a d’aithris.

+++

'There is nothing further for him to say'

On the Monday of the Second Week in Advent, the Second Reading in the Office of Readings is from The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St John of the Cross. Here is a brief extract from that reading that for me says everything:

When God gave us, as he did, his Son, who is his one Word, he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say.

+++

'Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart' [Luke 2:19, Gospel of Mass During the Day].

+++

Christmas in Our Hearts is one of the most popular Christmas songs in the Philippines and first appeared in 1990. The words were written by Rina Cañiza and Jose Mari Chan and the music by the latter. Here he sings it with his daughter Liza.

Malipayon nga Pascua!

Nollaig shona daoibh!

Happy Christmas!

¡Feliz Navidad!

'The babe in my womb leaped for joy'

2011-12-21T10:52:00.001+08:00

The Visitation, El Greco, painted 1610-13

El Greco captures the swirling dance of life in today's gospel. When the babe in Elizabeth's womb, St John the Baptist, leaped for joy upon the arrival of his cousin Jesus, in the womb of Mary. St Luke tells us twice that the infant in Elizabeth's womb leaped.

My friend Lala below, feeding her friend Jordan, wasn't a source of joy to her mother when she was born 31 years ago. Her mother, probably in great distress but perhaps with hope in her heart, left her newborn baby in a garbage pail where she was found and taken to the orphanage of the Daughters of Charity in Cebu City. today she lives in the L'Arche community in Cainta, Rizal, part of the great urban sprawl of Metro Manila.

Lala is certainly a source of joy to all who know her. Jordan, born with multiple disabilities, has been in the L'Arche community for most of his life.

While Lala didn't have to go 'with haste into the hill country' to take care of Jordan, she shows the same love that Mary did for her elderly cousin Elizabeth, gifted with a child long after she had thought this possible.

On one feast of the Visitation I celebrated Mass in a home for girls. One was a teenage mother-to-be who could not accept that the child in her womb was hers. Before the final blessing I gave a special blessing to her and her child. She told me after Mass that the child had moved in her womb during the blessing and that she was now at peace with her situation. She later delivered a healthy son.

Lala and Jordan

Today's Gospel, Luke 1: 39-45 (RSV, Catholic Edition)

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

44th Ordination Anniversary

2011-12-20T16:40:00.000+08:00

The graves of martyrs in front of the Pietá in Regina Martyrum (Queen of Martyrs) Church near Plotenzee Prison, Berlin, where many were executed by the Nazis, including Fr Alfred Delp SJ.

Today is the 44th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, my native city. Three days ago I posted about Fr Alfred Delp SJ, martyred by the Nazis on 2 February 1945. While doing research for that I came across a sermon he gave on the Sacrament of Holy Orders, one of a series on the Seven Sacraments in Munich in the autumn of 1941. I found it on the website of The Ignatius Press.

From the website of The Ignatius Press

Here is the text of the sermon with some parts highlighted and [comments] added.

Holy Orders | by Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J. | Preached in Munich, Autumn 1941

"Let the grace that is in you through the laying on of hands be rekindled." (2 Timothy 1:8)

...First: In that great moment of our life when we go to be ordained, we kneel before the bishop and he silently lays his hands upon us. He is silent. You feel the blessed and creative burden of this hand through your entire being. And the congregation is silent. And this silence will surround the priest. This keeping silent, the still hands of the silent bishop, calls forth the priest from his former homeland. It calls him forth from his previous refuges, and sequesters him and encompasses him with this silence, this stillness in which he will be consecrated, so that it will accompany him all his life. This silence must surround us. We guard people's secrets in silence. We call our heart to be silent, so that it does not love where it should not love. Our will for power must be silent, because we are sent forth to be the hands of the Lord in blessing. Silent, too, must be our will for all the other things that, otherwise, could shelter and anchor and secure a life in this world. The silence accompanies us, because it is always the sign that the Lord God has come especially near. [Fr Delp's great emphasis on silence is striking. We don't live in a silent word. 'But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart' (Luke 2: 19)].
Second: The second symbolic action tells us the meaning of this mission. This happens when our hands are anointed with the sign of the cross. Anointing is a sign of mission and authority, of stability and power. But our anointing is the anointing with a cross. It is, first of all, like that of the body of the Lord, an anointing to "passio", to the deepest participation in His vocation as Redeemer. Therefore, we are held and we are bound to give all we have, really to wear ourselves out, to give ourselves away completely. [As early as 1936, the year before he was ordained, Alfred Delp hinted in a letter to his mother that he might be asked to die for the faith]. Being silent must also be a silence before oneself and one's own will to live; an entering into the service, into the worship, and into the sacrifice.

Third: And then we receive the chalice and the paten. With the chalice and the paten, we are commissioned to be guardians of the very holiest that mankind possesses, the body of the Lord and the holy chalice of His present sacrifice. [This to me speaks of the heart of the priesthood, something that has been lost to some degree, I think]. With the chalice and the paten, we are commissioned and sent--not to keep for ourselves the filled chalice--but to bear it onward, to share it, to give it away. With the chalice and the paten, we are commissioned and sent forth to gather together into this chalice the world's sorrow, sacrifices, and distress, and simultaneously to remove them--as much as that is possible to us--and to consecrate them in this sacrificial chalice of the Lord. [One of the situations in Ireland, where the Catholic faith has been lost by many in recent decades where people still look to the priest is when a tragedy occurs].

Fourth: Then there is another laying on of hands and we are told that we are to go forth and take away sin, that we are sent into this final dialogue, into the final duel with the demonical. [Living in Nazi Germany, Fr Delp had no illusions about the reality of sin, of evil]. With the guilty, the weak, and the sick, we must have an endless mercy. [In his prison writings Fr Delp showed great compassion for his fellow Germans caught up in the evil of Nazism]. There, where help is needed, it is really true [as Schiller wrote]: "Your duty and your vows are your rampart. And nothing more remains to you." [This is something that all who take vows, including married couples, need to take to heart. Our vows, when taken seriously, truly are a rampart and give strength in times when we are tempted to surrender to difficulties]. We must actually roam the outermost trenches, where it is imperative to take a stand against the demonical.

Fifth: And once again we turn to the consecrating bishop and extend our hands, and he takes our hands in his and asks us: "Do you promise?"

We answered: "Promitto" (I promise). That was the final commitment, that--with our very existence, our own salvation, and our eternal destiny--we bound ourselves to the fulfillment of this life. ['Commitment': have we lost that word and reality?] From this moment of consecration on, we must be under way, as long as our feet will still carry us, in order to bless and to help and to consecrate; to share the chalice of the Lord, and to bring light, and to ban the night and the darkness. [So often priests who focus on these things are dismissed as 'sacristy priests'. Father Delp is not calling for a retreat to the sacristy but to 'actually roam the outermost trenches, where it is imperative to take a stand against the demonical' (previous paragraph)]. That is the image, and the outline, and the duty, which we carried forward from our ordination day.

...Seen from the perspective of what we priests should be and could be, we are an answer: the priest is a redemption and is a fulfillment. And look where you will, wherever people follow a man and follow him completely, finally and ultimately they expect him to be precisely what the priest should be and must be for them, if he does not want to betray his office and his consecration: One who is stable, completely helpful, really in possession of the ultimate in being; and also able to give, to communicate the great blessings, the great consecrations, the great graces. Therefore, the consciousness of the fact that in our community there are men who are ordained, who are blessed, should help you to stand with certainty, upright and unashamed in this life, whatever the effort, come what may. There are men placed in your midst whose only meaning and right to exist is that they be available, and give what they have--and more than they themselves have to give--the Lord God's entire abundance, which is entrusted to them. In the consciousness that such is among you, you can grow and be secure. [Surely this is a wonderful challenge not only to priests but to the wider community to support them in a way that will enable them to faithfully be what they are called to be].

However, you must always have the sense, as well, that you are helping us, so that the fire, which is in us through the laying on of hands and the consecration and anointing, does not does not go out. Rather, it should glow and blaze and burn, so that the seekers know where homeland is; and the erring know where counsel is; and the helpless know where blessing is; and those who have strayed know where the gates are for the return, which is awaiting them with the joy of the Lord. [A wonderful description of what a shepherd is called to be].

Devastation in southern Philippines

2011-12-18T21:14:00.000+08:00

Tropical storm 'Washi', Philippine name 'Sendong', devastated two major cities in northern Mindanao in the early hours of yesterday morning, Saturday, 17 December, killing hundreds of people. The two cities, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, are very familiar to me and to many Columbans. We still have a house in Cagayan de Oro and a parish in the city, and at one time worked in all of the parishes in the Diocese of Iligan, including those in the city.

Mindanao isn't a small island. It is larger than Ireland.

The storm was initially forecast to strike the island of Negros, expected to affect Bacolod City where I live. But it changed course and hit an area of Mindanao that rarely if ever experiences a typhoon or tropical storm.

Some friends were directly affected but nobody that I know, as far as I am aware, was killed. The home of one of our household staff in the Columban house in Cagayan de Oro was very badly damaged. He and hiw family are now staying in the Columban house. In the video you can see St Augustin Cathedral at 1:44.

Here are some text messages I received from friends.

From a former Columban lay missionary who worked in Ireland and whose home was badly damaged: Thanks be to God He saved us! Many perished in our subdivision. We are staying in Vianney (a diocesan seminary) temporarily.

From a couple deeply involved in Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME): All WWME couples OK. No electricity or water to drink or for bathing and washing. Our place, all things upside down. The miracle is the images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were still standing, and no mud. God is so good. This couple were in Cebu at the time of the rain, wind and flooding in Cagayan de Oro and their adult son had to flee for safety.

These text messages express the resilient faith and hope that so many Filipinos have.

Please pray for those who have lost family members and for those who have lost nearly all their possessions.

An Advent Voice of Hope from Nazi Germany: Fr Alfred Delp SJ

2011-12-17T10:31:00.004+08:00

Fr Alfred Delp SJ, 5 September 1907 - 2 February 1945

Stamp issued in West Germany 1964

I used to own a copy of The Prison Meditations of Alfred Delp SJ but lost it somewhere along the way while being transferred from one place to another. Jenny Howell, of the Center for Christian Ethics, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, writes her reflections on these writings here. She uses the title under which Father Delp's writings have been more recently published by Ignatius Press, Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons and Prison Writings.

I was born in Ireland on Hitler's birthday in 1943, just two years before World War II ended. Though independent Ireland wasn't involved directly in that conflict I have often wondered how the profoundly anti-Christian and anti-human Nazism took hold in a country that produced so many great saints and creators of beauty such as Beethoven, led by a man from the country that gave birth to Haydn and Mozart. (I once met a man in rural Kentucky who grew up in a community where Catholics were still perceived by some as having horns and cloven hooves and where classical music was hardly ever heard and who became a Catholic through the beauty of the music of those two composers when he discovered they were Catholics.)

This morning I received this article by email from a Columban colleague. I think it makes good Advent reading.

Father Alfred Delp, S.J.

Advent — A Season to Find Hope Amid Despair In The World

By Joseph F. Pisani [Editor, The Advocate and Greenwich Time]

On Christmas Eve 1944, shortly before the Allies began their final assault on Nazi Germany, a young Jesuit sat in solitary confinement in a Berlin prison, preparing a sermon he would never deliver.

Father Alfred Delp, 37, was an outspoken critic of the Nazis, who had been arrested five months before for treason and complicity in the July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler by exploding a bomb in his meeting room. For nine weeks, the priest endured interrogation and torture at the hands of the Gestapo, torture which he said left him little more than a "bleeding whimper."

Despite this degradation, he had perennial hope — a hope even the Nazis could not destroy — which he expressed in sermons that his friends smuggled out of prison.

Many of these essays were composed during his four months of solitary confinement in a small cubicle, where the guards constantly kept the lights on to compound his torment. But the priest didn't seem to care; strangely, adversity only made him stronger, and his example inspired other prisoners.

Delp, who was the rector of Saint George Church in Munich, had been a leader in the resistance movement, and worked as a link in an underground system that helped Jews flee the country. He was arrested following the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler, even though he wasn't part of the plot.

Despite his circumstances, he looked forward to celebrating Christmas Mass in his cell, and saw Advent as a reason to be hopeful in a terrorized world. To him, the season had special meaning, and he wrote, "Our hearts must be keenly alert for opportunities in our own little corners of daily life. May we stand in this world, not as people in hiding but as those who help prepare the way for the Son of God."

He often reflected on the need for courage in a world that had forgotten the meaning of Christmas. Isn't the same true today? Almost 65 years later, atrocities are still being committed, and hearts grow cold in the relentless pursuit of power, profit and possessions. We live in an age characterized by greed and gross insensitivity to suffering.

Delp was one of those principled men and women who appear in every generation and confront the insanity of a world dark with despair, illuminating the way for the rest of us. His example ignited the ideals of his fellow prisoners, who, by any reckoning, had no reason to be hopeful. The source of his strength was a realization that the child in the manger was greater than all the tyrants and totalitarian regimes in history.

In his last meditation, composed on Christmas Eve, a month before he would be hanged for treason, Delp wrote, "How many types of people today could honestly appear at the manger? Most of them have absolutely no desire to do so. The small, scanty door does not let anyone riding a high horse get through. ... How much of what we are living through today cannot stand in the presence of the Child!"

Even though the Nazis pressured him to leave the Jesuits, he resisted, and professed his final vows shortly before his execution on February 2, 1945. Facing death, he was in good spirits and joked with his confessor that, "In half an hour, I'll know more than you do."

During his last days, Delp wrote: "Whoever is true to life, however hard and barren it may be, will discover in himself fountains of very real refreshment. The world will give him more than he ever imagined possible. ... his burdens will turn to blessings because he recognizes them as coming from God and welcomes them as such. Let us trust in life because we do not have to live through it alone. God is with us."

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Jenny Howell quotes Father Delp's initial reaction to his death sentence: “To be quite honest I don’t want to die, particularly now that I feel I could do more important work and deliver a new message about values that I have only just discovered and understood. But it has turned out otherwise.” Jenny Howell further quotes the priest, who made his final vows as a Jesuit in his prison cell (the Nazis offered him a reprieve if he left the Jesuits): “This is seed-time, not harvest. God sows the seed and some time or other he will do the reaping. The only thing I must do is to make sure the seed falls on fertile ground.May others at some future time find it possible to have a better and happier life because we died in this hour of trial.”

I recall from memory that Father Delp, who was ordained priest in 1937, wrote in his final letter, to his parents, I think, 'I die because I am a Jesuit'. As a priest I have always been inspired by those words.

Like another great martyr, St Thomas More, he was able to joke as he was about to be executed, saying to the prison chaplain, 'In half an hour, I'll know more than you do!'

‘Let what you have said be done to me.’ Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Advent Year B

2011-12-15T16:46:00.002+08:00

Annunciation, El Greco, painted 1596-1600

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 1:26-38 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.' She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.' Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?' 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you' the angel answered 'and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God' 'I am the handmaid of the Lord,' said Mary 'let what you have said be done to me.' And the angel left her.

An Soiscéal Lúcás 1:26-38 (Gaeilge, Irish)

Cuireadh an t-aingeal Gaibriéil ó Dhia go dtí cathair sa Ghailíl darbh ainm Nazarat chun maighdine a bhí luaite le fear de theaghlach Dháiví darbh ainm Iósaef, agus b’é ab ainm don mhaighdean, Muire. Agus ar a theacht isteach chuici dúirt: “Sé do bheatha, atá lán de ghrásta, tá an Tiarna leat; is beannaithe tú idir mná.” Ach bhí buaireamh uirthi de chionn na cainte, agus bhí sí ag machnamh cén sort beannachadh é seo. Ach dúirt an t-aingeal léi: “Ná bíodh eagla ort, a Mhuire, óir fuair tú gean ó Dhia. Agus féach, gabhfaidh tú gin agus béarfaidh tú mac agus tabharfaidh tú Íosa mar ainm air. Beidh sé mór, agus glaofar Mac an Té is airde air, agus tabharfaidh an Tiarna Dia dó ríchathaoir Dháiví a athair, agus beidh sé ina Rí ar theaghlach Iacóib go brách, agus ní bheidh deireadh lena ríocht.” Dúirt Muire leis an aingeal: “Conas a bheidh seo amhlaidh, agus gan cuid agam d’fhear chéile?” Agus dúirt an t-aingeal á freagairt: “Tuirlingeoidh an Spiorad Naomh ort, agus beidh cumhacht an té is airde ina scáil anuas ort, agus sin é an fáth a mbeidh an leanbh naofa; glaofar Mac Dé air. Agus féach, Eiliosaibeit do bhean ghaoil, ghabh sise mac freisin ina seanaois, agus is é seo an séú mí aici siúd a dúradh a bheith aimrid. Óir níl ní ar bith dodhéanta ag Dia.” Dúirt Muire: “Féach, mise banóglach an Tiarna; déantar liom de réir d’fhocail.” Agus d’imigh an t-aingeal uaithi.

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Mollie was a cousin of my mother. She grew up near Tara, County Meath, where the high kings of Ireland once lived and which is in sight of St Columban’s, Dalgan Park, where I studied from 1961 until 1968. Mollie married Jimmy who was from the same area. He worked for the Land Commission.

After the birth of their second child Mollie was bedridden for three years, with a serious problem in her back. Though she recovered to some degree from that she never had good health again and went blind in the last few years of her life.

I had met Mollie and Jimmy as a child when I attended the funeral of Mollie’s mother. During my years in Dalgan Park I wrote them and renewed the contact between the families. I visited them regularly in the small cottage that was their home and always felt the warmth of their welcome along with their simplicity. Jimmy once said to me, ‘We couldn’t be happier here. We have the basic things we need. Lord Dunsany couldn’t have more than we have’. (The Dunsany ancestral castle is near where Jimmy and Mollie lived. The Dunsany family name is Plunkett and they are distantly related to St Oliver Plunkett.)

When Jimmy and Mollie exchanged their wedding vows they had no idea that ‘in sickness and in health’ would mean serious sickness and poor health for Mollie for most of their married life. With their simple, strong and deep faith they accepted what life brought. Their love for each other was something I felt drawn into each time I visited their home.

When Mary said 'yes' to God's message she had no idea what it would bring her. She accepted the future in total faith and draws us into the Love who is her Son, our Brother and Saviour, the Risen Lord.

‘Let what you have said be done to me.’

Un ángel vino de los cielos
y a María le anunció
el gran misterio de Dios hombre
que a los cielos admiró.

VIRGEN MADRE, SEÑORA NUESTRA
RECORDANDO LA ENCARNACIÓN,
TE CANTAMOS TUS HIJOS TODOS
COMO ESTRELLA DE SALVACIÓN.

Yo soy la esclava del Señor mi Dios,
la Virgen dijo, al contestar,
se haga en mí según has dicho,
se cumpla en mí tu voluntad.

VIRGEN MADRE, SEÑORA NUESTRA
RECORDANDO LA ENCARNACIÓN,
TE CANTAMOS TUS HIJOS TODOS
COMO ESTRELLA DE SALVACIÓN.

Y el Verbo para redimirnos
tomó su carne virginal
vivió hecho hombre entre nosotros
librándonos de eterno mal.

VIRGEN MADRE, SEÑORA NUESTRA
RECORDANDO LA ENCARNACIÓN,
TE CANTAMOS TUS HIJOS TODOS
COMO ESTRELLA DE SALVACIÓN.

TE CANTAMOS TUS HIJOS TODOS
COMO ESTRELLA DE SALVACIÓN.

The verses above follow the words of the Angelus (below). Here is my attempt at translating the refrain from Spanish to English:

VIRGIN MOTHER, OUR LADY,
REMEMBERING THE INCARNATION,
ALL YOUR CHILDREN SING TO YOU
AS THE STAR OF SALVATION.

The Angelus, Jean-François Millet (painted 1857-59)

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the power of Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to your Word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mass attendance in Dublin is down to 14 per cent

2011-12-14T18:18:00.000+08:00

St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin

I was ordained in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, known to Dubliners as 'The Pro', on 20 December 1967. A priest concelebrates at his ordination Mass, the only occasion in the old days when concelebration took place. I never had a chance to celebrate Mass again in 'The Pro' until 19 November this year where I was one of around 40 priests who concelebrated with Cardinal Seán Brady for the annual Mass for Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary, who died on 7 November 1980. The church was packed but most of those present, including the priests, were on the older side. One exception was the young priest to my left, an Angolan studying in Dublin. I was a few young people in the congregation, some of them Filipinos.

Frank Duff

I was shocked, to some degree, though not entirely surprised to read a story by Patsy McGarry in today's Irish Times, Archbishop says Dublin diocese facing crisis, in which he quotes Archbishop Diarmaid Martin as saying, The change that will take place between now and the year 2020 – just eight years away – will be enormous. I am more and more convinced that they will be the most challenging years that the diocese has had to face since Catholic Emancipation. Catholic Emancipation was the act of the Westminster Parliament in 1829 that lifted nearly all of the remaining anti-Catholic laws in the United Kingdom, which in those day included the whole of Ireland. One of the first churches built in Dublin after Emancipation was St Paul's, Arran Quay, where my parents were married in 1941, is now closed as a church of the archdiocese. I'm not sure if it is used on occasion.

St Paul's, Arran Quay, Dublin

Archbishop Martin was speaking a week after a report found that weekly Mass attendance in Dublin is down to 14 per cent (164,000 out of a Catholic population of 1,162,000). More than 30 years ago I heard such figures about some parishes in poorer parts of the city. The archbishop said some time ago that in such parishes now Mass attendance is about two or three per cent.

For someone who remembers packed churches on weekdays during Lent in the 1950s such figures are hard to take in, even though I've seen the decline over the past four decades. Mass attendance on Sundays in those days was probably more than 95 per cent.

The Irish Independent carried a story by Lynne Kelleher on 10 December, Archbishop urges lapsed Catholics to leave the faith. Archbishop Martin said, It requires maturity on those people who want their children to become members of the church community and maturity on those people who say 'I don't believe in God and I really shouldn't be hanging on to the vestiges of faith when I don't really believe in it'.

Two young persons close to me chose last May to have a civil wedding rather than a church one, even though they were raised as Catholics. But the Catholic faith doesn't play any part in their lives now, though I have never heard either of them say a word against the faith or the Church. They made the kind of choice that Archbishop Martin was speaking about. I also made my choice to attend the wedding, since the groom was my only nephew. Many of my generation in Ireland, especially parents, whose faith is strong are finding themselves having to make choices in situations that they never imagined in their younger days.

As I see it, there is a huge loss of faith in Ireland. I don't belong to the school that thinks some vague 'spirituality' is the same as faith in Jesus Christ, God who became Man, who died for us on Calvary and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. I don't belong to the school that thinks you can be a good Catholic if you rarely go to Mass. Nor am I saying that such persons are bad. I see an integrity in the choice of someone who says clearly that he no longer believes in the Christian faith and lives with the consequences of that.

I pray each day that those close to me who have lost the faith will re-discover the precious gift they received at baptism. I have no doubt whatever that my prayers are fully in accord with God's will and that He will answer them in his own time and in his own way.

Pray for the Church in Ireland, especially in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

'A witness to speak for the light'. Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Advent Year B

2011-12-08T14:17:00.003+08:00

Preaching of St John the Baptist, Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted 1486-90

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 1:6-8, 19-28 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, 'I am not the Christ'. 'Well then,' they asked 'are you Elijah?' 'I am not' he said. 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No'. So they said to him, 'Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?' So John said, 'I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

a voice that cries in the wilderness:
Make a straight way for the Lord'.

Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, 'Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?' John replied, 'I baptise with water; but there stands among you - unknown to you - the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap'. This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

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An Soiscéal Eoin 1:6-8, 19-28 (Gaeilge, Irish)

Bhí fear a tháinig ina theachtaire ó Dhia,
agus Eoin a ba ainm dó.
Tháinig sé ag déanamh fianaise
chun fianaise a thabhairt i dtaobh an tsolais
chun go gcreidfeadh cách tríd.
Níorbh é féin an solas
ach tháinig ag tabhairt fianaise i dtaobh an tsolais.

Is í seo an fhianaise a thug Eoin nuair a chuir na Giúdaigh sagairt agus Léivítigh ó Iarúsailéim chuige á fhiafraí de: “Cé hé thusa?” D’admhaigh sé agus níor shéan agus d’admhaigh sé: “Ní hé an Críost mé.” D’fhiafraigh siad de: “Cad eile, más ea? An tú Éilias?” “Ní mé,” ar seisean. “An tú an fáidh?” Agus d’fhreagair: “Ní mé.” Dúirt siad leis mar sin: “Cé hé thú? – chun go mbeadh freagra againn dóibh seo a chuir chugat sinn. Cad tá le rá agat mar gheall ort féin?” Dúirt sé: “Is glór duine mé ag éamh san fhásach: ‘Déanaigí díreach bóthar an Tiarna,’ mar a dúirt Íseáia fáidh.” Ó na Fairisínigh a ba ea na teachtairí, agus chuir siad ceist air: “Cén fáth a mbíonn tú ag baisteadh más ea,” ar siad, “mura thú an Críost, nó Éilias, nó an fáidh?”

Thug Eoin freagra orthu: “Déanaim féin baisteadh le huisce,” ar seisean, “ach tá duine in bhur measc nach aithnid daoibh, an té atá ag teacht i mo dhiaidh, nach fiú mé iall a chuarán a scaoileadh.” I mBeatáine, taobh thall den Iordáin, a tharla an méid sin mar a raibh Eoin ag déanamh baiste.

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We were a group of nearly 70 boys in our last year of secondary school, 17 and 18 years of age. The A and B sections had the same set of teachers and Brother Mícheál S. Ó Flaitile, a member of the Irish Christian Brothers, now known as the Congregation of Christian Brothers, used to take the two sections together for religions class each day before lunch. At the time he was probably around 60 years of age. Our nickname for him was ‘Pancho’ because he bore a certain resemblance to a chubby cartoon character of that name. We all revered him, though that didn’t prevent us from playing the occasional trick on him.

One particular day is seared in my memory. ‘Pancho’ apologized to the two sections because the day before he had scolded a member of the B section in front of us all and later discovered that the student hadn’t done anything wrong. I hadn’t remembered the scolding from the day before nor the alleged misdemeanor, which was trivial anyway. I doubt if any of my classmates had remembered it either. But for ‘Pancho’ it was a matter of honour and justice to correct his mistake and to say to us, and especially to the student he had wrongly judged, that he was sorry.

Years later, when he was already in his 80s, I reminded Br Ó Flaitile of the incident. He said he didn’t remember it – but he smiled.

I have taught from time to time at various levels during my 44 years as a priest and the example of ‘Pancho’ that day has stayed with me and guided me on many an occasion.

Even as a student I saw ‘Pancho’ as a Christ-like person. He taught us about Jesus in our religions classes but I remember very little, if anything, of what he said. But I remember his example, not only on the occasion he apologized to us, but in everything I saw in him over the years. I first came to know him when I was still in elementary school and he was in charge of a student organization I joined. It was only in my last two years in secondary school that I had him as a teacher.

In Ghirlandaio’s painting above we see Jesus very clearly in the background. But the people are focused on St John the Baptist. Jesus is standing higher than his cousin. This is the painter’s way of illustrating the words of the Baptist in today’s gospel: but there stands among you - unknown to you - the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.

None of us is fit to undo the sandal-strap of Jesus. But each of us is called to be, not the light, but a witness to speak for the light who is Jesus through the life we lead. ‘Pancho’ was such a witness to me.

Gisella is a young Indonesian singer (as far as I can make out from online research). In this recording of the old European Advent hymn, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, or 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, she is accomapnied by a drummer from Senegal in west Africa. She sings the first verse and refrain in the original Latin and then the same verse and refrai, with another, in the 1851 English translation by John Mason Neale.

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

Veni, veni Emmanuel;

Captivum solve Israel,

Qui gemit in exilio,

Privatus Dei Filio.

Refrain

Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,

Nascetur pro te, Israel!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Request for prayers

I am posting this on the afternoon of 8 December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and will be going on retreat later today until the morning of 14 December. May I ask your prayers for myself and I will be praying for you.

Virgin of Advent, for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

2011-12-07T15:48:00.015+08:00

The Virgin of Immaculate Conception and St John, El Greco, painted c.1585

VIRGEN DEL ADVIENTO

Virgen del Adviento,

esperanza nuestra,

de Jesús, la aurora,

del Cielo, la puerta.

Madre de los hombres,

de la mar, estrella,

llévanos a Cristo,

danos sus promesas.

Virgen del Adviento,

esperanza nuestra,

de Jesús, la aurora,

del Cielo, la puerta.

Eres Virgen Madre,

la de gracia llena,

del Señor, la esclava,

del mundo, la Reina.

Virgen del Adviento,

esperanza nuestra,

de Jesús, la aurora,

del Cielo, la puerta.

Alza nuestros ojos

hacia tu belleza,

guía nuestros pasos

a la vida eterna.

Virgen del Adviento,

esperanza nuestra,

de Jesús, la aurora,

del Cielo, la puerta

While researching for Sunday Reflections I came across this Advent hymn by Antonio Alcalde. I know nothing about him nor where this was recorded. I suspect it was in one of the Spanish-speaking Latin American country rather than in Spain. The music is by Fr Jose Cristo Rey Garcia Paredes CMF.

Here is my rough, non-poetic translation of the lyrics:

Virgin of Advent, / our hope, / Crown of Jesus, / Gate of heaven.

Mother of mankind, / Star of the sea, / lead us to Christ, / give us what he has promised.

Virgin of Advent, / our hope, / Crown of Jesus, / Gate of heaven.

You are the Virgin Mother, / full of grace, / handmaid of the Lord, / Queen of the world.

Virgin of Advent, / our hope, / Crown of Jesus, / Gate of heaven.

Raise our eyes / to your beauty / guide our steps / to eternal life.

'Prepare a way for the Lord'. Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Advent Year B

2011-11-30T23:41:00.004+08:00

The Preaching of St John the Baptist, Alessandro Allori, painted 1601-03

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 1:1-8 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:

Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.

And so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, 'Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

An Soiscéal Marcas 1-8 (Gaeilge, Irish)

Tosach Shoiscéal Íosa Críost, Mac Dé. De réir mar atá scríofa in Íseáia fáidh:

“Feach, cuirim mo theachtaire romhat
a ullmhóidh do bhóthar.
Glór duine ag éamh san fhásach:
‘Réitígí bóthar an Tiarna,
déanaigí díreach a chosáin.’”

Tháinig Eoin ag baisteadh san fhásach agus ag fógairt baiste aithrí chun peacaí a mhaitheamh. Agus bhí ag teacht amach chuige na daoine ó thír Iúdáia go léir, agus muintir uile Iarúsailéim, agus iad ag fáil baiste uaidh in abhainn na Iordáine ag admháil a bpeacaí.

Bhí rón camaill mar éadach ar Eoin, crios leathair faoina choim aige, lócaistí agus mil fhiáin mar bheatha aige. Agus bhíodh sé ag seanmóir á rá: “Tá ag teacht i mo dhiaidh an té atá níos treise ná mé, agus ní fiú mé cromadh síos chun iall a chuarán a scaoileadh. Bhaist mise le huisce sibh, ach baistfidh seisean sibh leis an Spiorad Naomh.”

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I met Angela, as I’ll call her, in 1969 when she was 16 and I was a young priest studying in the USA. She was in many ways a mixed-up young person but I could see her integrity and her desire to do what was right. Mainly through correspondence, I saw her grow in the faith until her death thirteen years later. This growth in faith involved two suicide attempts. Thanks to God's loving mercy I was his instrument in helping Angela through the second crisis, which occurred the year before her death. She was very much at peace in the last part of her life.

One thing I learned from that experience was that some persons of strong faith can also be very vulnerable.

On one occasion Angela told me that she was hoping that one day the priest would announce that he was giving general absolution to everyone, as some priests were wont to do at the beginning of Mass, even though this was totally wrong. It was a time when there strange things done ’neath the midnight sun, to quote Robert Service in a totally different context.

One day a priest did exactly what Angela had been hoping for. To her surprise, she felt cheated. Nothing had been asked of her. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. The sinners who publicly lined up, as we used to do in most churches before, confessed their sins. They took personal responsibility before God for their wrongdoing and trusted in his mercy.

Advent is a time when we prepare to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, God who became Man. It is a time when we prepare for his Second Coming at the end of time. But we also prepare for his third coming which, in the words of St Bernard, come between the other two. The saint writes in the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the First Week of Advent: This intermediary coming is like a road leading from the first to the last coming. In the first coming Christ was our redemption, in the last he will appear as our life, in this intermediary coming he is our rest and consolation.

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight, St John the Baptist tells us today, quoting Isaiah in the First Reading. The sacrament of confession / reconciliation / penance is one of the best ways to do this.

Pope Benedict explained very simply what this sacrament is in response to a question by Livia at an audience on 15 October 2005 for children who had made their First Holy Communion that year.

Livia: Holy Father, before the day of my First Communion I went to confession. I have also been to confession on other occasions. I wanted to ask you: do I have to go to confession every time I receive Communion, even when I have committed the same sins? Because I realize that they are always the same.

I will tell you two things. The first, of course, is that you do not always have to go to confession before you receive Communion unless you have committed such serious sins that they need to be confessed. Therefore, it is not necessary to make one’s confession before every Eucharistic Communion. This is the first point. It is only necessary when you have committed a really serious sin, when you have deeply offended Jesus, so that your friendship is destroyed and you have to start again. Only in that case, when you are in a state of ‘mortal’ sin, in other words, grave [sin], is it necessary to go to confession before Communion. This is my first point.

My second point: even if, as I said, it is not necessary to go to confession before each Communion, it is very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same; in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, for me myself: if I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and in the end I am always pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must always work hard to improve, that I must make progress. And this cleansing of the soul which Jesus gives us in the Sacrament of Confession helps us to make our consciences more alert, more open, and hence, it also helps us to mature spiritually and as human persons. Therefore, two things: confession is only necessary in the case of a serious sin, but it is very helpful to confess regularly in order to foster the cleanliness and beauty of the soul and to mature day by day in life.

May each of us make it part of Advent, part of our preparation for the ‘three comings’ of Jesus, to go to confession.

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

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Handel’s Messiah includes part of today’s First Reading. The composer used the Authorized Version, also known as the King James Version, of the Bible, slightly adapting it. This translation was finished 400 years ago.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.

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And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

[Sung in Korean]

Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing (Isaiah 35:5-6).

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

'Stay awake!' Sunday Reflections, 1st Sunday in Advent Year B

2011-11-23T22:51:00.068+08:00

Women at prayer in Aušros Vartai (Gate of Dawn), Vilnius, Lithuania

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 13:33-37 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus said to his disciples: 'Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come. It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake. So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!'

An Soiscéal Marcas 13:33-37 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail :Bígí aireach, déanaigí faire, mar níl a fhios agaibh cén uair a bheidh an t-am ann. Is é dála duine é a d’fhág a theach agus a d’imigh ar an gcoigríoch; thug sé an t-údarás dá sclábhaithe, gach duine díobh i mbun a chúraim féin; agus d’ordaigh sé don doirseoir faire a dhéanamh. Déanaigí faire, dá bhrí sin, mar ní fios daoibh cén uair a thiocfaidh tiarna an tí, um thráthnóna, i lár na hoíche, ar ghlao an choiligh, nó ar maidin. Má thagann sé gan choinne, ná faigheadh sé sibh in bhur gcodladh. An rud a deirim libhse, deirim le gach duine é: Déanaigí faire.”

Icon of Our Lady at Gate of Dawn

My father, John, 'upped and died', as we say in Ireland, on 11 August 1987 at the age of 74. He had a heart attack while watching cricket on television in the late afternoon, something the Columban Superior General at the time, Fr Bernard Cleary, an Australian, found amusing.He just had time to call my brother, who was about to go out, get to his bed and lie down before he became unconscious.

In our part of Dublin there was one priest on call every day for emergencies in a group of parishes. My father had placed the emerency number, in large digits, and placed t on top of the phone. My brother phoned immediately. It happened that the priest on call was from our parish and was less than five minutes' walk away. The particular priest, though young, wasn't noted for his speed but he was over in no time at all to anoint Dad before the ambulance arrived. However, Dad was dead on arrival at the hospital. He died 17 years after my mother, Mary, who passed away in her sleep.

When I got the news of his death in the middle of the night in Cebu I was shocked. But not for a moment did I feel any regret over things not done. There was no 'unfinished business'. I was consoled when I learned that the priest had been with him but even more consoled knowing that he had been at Mass that morning, as he had been every day of his adult life.

He had no idea when the Lord would come for him. When he found my mother dead in bed he said to my brother, 'Your mother has gone now and we have to adjust to this. His strong faith enabled him to do that. That same faith prepared him for his own sudden death and prepared us, his two sons, to adjust to that new reality with grief, yes, but with no regrets, no 'unfinished business'.

'If he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!'

On my ordination day, 20 December 1967, with my parents and brother

Communion antiphon

Dóminus dabit benignitátem, et terra nostra dabit fructum suum (Ps 84:13).

The Lord will bestow his bounty, and our earth shall yield its increase.

'I was sick . . . and you visited me.' Sunday Reflections, Christ the King, Year A

2011-11-18T01:26:00.036+08:00

The Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, painted 1537-41

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 25:31-46 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus said to his disciples: 'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, "Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me." Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?" And the King will answer, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me." Next he will say to those on his left hand, "Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For 1 was hungry and you never gave me food; 1 was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me." Then it will be their turn to ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?" Then he will answer, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me." And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.'

An Soiscéal Matha 25:31-46 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin duirt Íosa lena dheisceabail: “Nuair a thiocfaidh Mac an Duine ina ghlóir agus na haingil uile in éineacht leis, rachaidh sé ina shuí an uair sin i ríchathaoir a ghlóire. Beidh na náisiúin uile cruinnithe os a chomhair, agus déanfaidh sé na daoine a scaradh ó chéile, mar a scarann an t-aoire na caoirigh ó na gabhair. Cuirfidh sé na caoirigh ar a láimh dheis agus na gabhair ar a láimh chlé. Ansin déarfaidh an rí le lucht na láimhe deise: ‘Tagaigí, a lucht bheannaithe m’Athar, glacaigí mar oidhreacht an ríocht a ullmhaíodh daoibh ó thúsú an domhain. Óir bhí ocras orm agus thug sibh rud le hithe dom, bhí tart orm agus thug sibh rud le hól dom, bhí mé i mo strainséir agus thug sibh aíocht dom, bhí mé nocht agus chuir sibh éadach orm, bhí mé tinn agus tháinig sibh do m’fheiceáil, bhí mé i bpríosún agus thug sibh cuairt orm.’ Freagróidh na fíréin é ansin: ‘A Thiarna, cén uair a chonaiceamar thú agus ocras ort go dtabharfaimis bia duit, nó tart ort go dtabharfaimis deoch duit? Cén uair a chonaiceamar i do strainséir thú go dtabharfaimis aíocht duit, nó nocht go gcuirfimis éadach ort? Nó cén uair a chonaiceamar tinn thú, nó i bpríosún, go dtabharfaimis cuairt ort?’ Agus déarfaidh an rí á bhfreagairt: ‘Deirim libh go fírinneach, sa mhéid go ndearna sibh é do dhuine den chuid is lú de na bráithre seo agamsa, is domsa a rinne sibh é.’ Ansin déarfaidh sé le lucht na láimhe clé ar a seal: ‘Imígí uaim, a dhream mhallaithe, isteach sa tine shíoraí a ullmhaíodh don diabhal agus dá chuid aingeal. Óir bhí ocras orm agus níor thug sibh aon rud le hithe dom, bhí tart orm agus níor thug sibh aon rud le hól dom, bhí mé i mo strainséir agus níor thug sibh aíocht dom, bhí mé nocht agus níor chuir sibh aon éadach orm, bhí mé tinn agus i bpríosún agus níor tháinig sibh do m’fheiceáil.’ Agus freagróidh siad sin é ansin: ‘A Thiarna, cén uair a bhí tú le feiceáil againn agus ocras nó tart ort, nó i do strainséir, nó nocht nó tinn nó i bpríosún agus nach ndearnamar freastal ort?’ Ansin freagróidh sé iad: ‘Deirim libh go fírinneach, sa mhéid nach ndearna sibh é do dhuine den chuid is lú díobh seo, ní dhearna sibh domsa é ach oiread.’ Agus imeoidh siad leo, iad seo isteach i bpionós síoraí, ach na fíréin i mbeatha shíoraí.”

King Baudouin of the Belgians (1930-1993)

Leo Jozef Cardinal Suenens (1904-1996), Archbishop of Malines-Brussels from 1961to 1979,one of the leading figures at Vatican II, in a biography of King Baudouin of the Belgians, wrote of the occasion the king heard of a mother who was so ill in hospital that she could not attend the ordination to the priesthood of her son, a Jesuit. The king went to visit her that day. I was sick . . . and you visited me. When King Baudouin died suddenly in Spain on 31 July 1993 that same priest was chaplain in the prison where Belgium's most hardened criminals are kept. They nearly all attended a Mass for the late king and sent a message of sympathy to Queen Fabiola.

Not too long before his death, King Baudouin visited a brothel in Antwerp to listen to the stories of the women there. One of them, a Filipina, spoke at his funeral and said that he was the only man who had ever listened to them. (I am relying on memory here to some degree but the Los Angeles Times report on the funeral said, 'The breadth of Baudouin's popularity was reflected in the list of those who eulogized him: a Cabinet minister, an artist, a community worker, a prostitute and an investigative journalist'.)

The same report quotes Godfried Cardinal Danneels, then Archbishop of Malines-Brussels, at the funeral Mass in St Michael's Cathedral, 'There are kings who are more than kings, they are shepherds of their people. King Baudouin was such a king'. Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,so will I tend my sheep' (Ezekiel 34:11-12, today's first reading).

In April 1990 King Bauduoin refused to sign into law a bill legalising abortion. He knew his stand could not prevent the bill from being implemented. The parliament declared him temporarily unable to carry out his duties and the members of the government signed the bill into law before declaring that the king was able to carry out his duties again. The king's stand could have led to the abolition of the monarchy. He himself became king when his father, a divisive figure, abdicated in 1951. I was a stranger and you made me welcome.

Cardinal Suenens' book showed that some wrote to the king for spiritual direction. He was a man whose Catholic faith was fully integrated with his public and private life. He and Queen Fabiola longed to have a child but the queen had five miscarriages.

In the days of Jesus kings were men with great power. Today's monarchs are basically ceremonial heads of state, with little power. But they can have great influence.

A friend of my brother was asked if he could play golf near Belfast with a visitor from the European Continent. The visitor was introduced as 'Mr So-and-so'. After a few holes my brother's friend asked his golfing partner what he did for a living. 'Mr So-and-so' smiled and said, 'I'm the King of the Belgians'.

None of us are kings or queens but many of us have responsibilities towards others, as priests, spouses/parents, teachers, social workers, caregivers, nurses and what not. The feast of Christ the King tells us that the heart of responsibility is loving service, even to giving up our lives if necessary. I believe that King Baudoin is one of many persons from every walk of life whom God has sent to show us how to follow his Son Jesus, God who became Man, whom we honour today as Christ the King.

Death: a time for gratitude

2011-11-16T22:31:00.001+08:00

Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, with the round tower over the grave of Daniel O'Connell

There is a beautiful letter in today's Irish Independent expressing the writer's gratitude to those who had helped his mother in her latter days. He mentions, among others, bus drivers. I have seen many acts of kindness by drivers and passengers over the years on buses here in Dublin and similar acts of kindness in all sorts of ordinary situations. 'Whoever has eyes to see . . .'

I buried my mother in Dublin last week. Her quality of life became poor over her last two years as she battled against the effects of earlier smoking on her eyesight, heart and lungs.

But the people of Dublin were there to help. Bus drivers left their buses and walked her across to her little apartment; some even helped her up the steps and into her little 'home'.

Three complete strangers, her "three angels", did her shopping, washing and ironing and took her to get her silver hair done every week.

Staff in her local pharmacy in Rathfarnham village let her rest in the shop and often took her across to the bus stop or arranged a lift home.

We had a lovely last day. She went to sleep happy that night and did not wake up.

Thank you so much to the many random strangers who did so much for my mother at her time of need.

Frank Devine
Kenilworth, England

Dublin buses

'To everyone who has will be given more . . .' Sunday Reflections, 33rd Sunday Year A

2011-11-12T07:11:00.015+08:00

The Parable of the Talents, 1712 woodcut

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 25:14-30 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)I have a young friend who has been gifted by God with more than average intelligence. I'll call her 'Rosa', though that's not her real name. She 'breezed' through all her examinations from kindergarten to college. She was involved in legitimate extra-curricular activities at school, without neglecting her studies. While studying, she would readily help other students prepare for exams. Most importantly, she recognises that she has a gift from God. She doesn't hide behind a false humility nor does she boast about herself. She is now working with persons who have suffered deeply from the sins of others.

'It is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third is one; each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out. The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more. The man who had received two made two more in the same way. But the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. "Sir," he said "you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made." His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master's happiness". Next the man with the two talents came forward. "Sir," he said "you entrusted me with two talents; here are two more that I have made." His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master's happiness". Last came forward the man who had the one talent. "Sir," said he "I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back." But his master answered him, "You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my capital with interest. So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the five talents. For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."

An Soiscéal Matha 25:14-30 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail “duine a bhí ag dul ar an gcoigríoch: ghlaoigh sé ar a sheirbhísigh agus thaobhaigh leo a mhaoin; thug cúig thallann do dhuine acu, a dó do dhuine eile, aon tallann amháin do dhuine eile – do gach duine de réir an chumais a bhí ann – agus d’fhág an tír. Ní dhearna fear na gcúig thallann aon mhoill gan cur chun gnó leo agus cúig cinn eile a ghnóthú. Mar an gcéanna d’fhear an dá thallann; ghnóthaigh seisean dhá cheann eile. Ach chuaigh fear na haon tallainne amháin agus rinne poll sa talamh agus chuir sé airgead a mháistir i bhfolach. Seal fada ina dhiaidh sin, tháinig máistir na seirbhíseach sin ag réiteach cuntas leo. Tháinig fear na gcúig thallann ina láthair agus thairg cúig thallann eile aige chuige agus ar seisean: ‘A mháistir, d’fhág tú cúig thallann ar iontaoibh agamsa; seo duit cúig cinn eile a ghnóthaigh mé.’ Labhair a mháistir leis: ‘Go han-mhaith; dea-sheirbhíseach iontaofa thú: bhí tú iontaofa i mbun beagán nithe; ceapfaidh mé i do cheann thú ar mhórán; gabh isteach in aoibhneas do thiarna.’ Tháinig ina láthair ansin fear an dá thallann: ‘A mháistir,’ ar seisean, ‘d’fhág tú dhá thallann ar iontaoibh agamsa: seo duit dhá cheann eile a ghnóthaigh mé.’ Labhair a mháistir leis: ‘Go han-mhaith: dea-sheirbhíseach iontaofa thú; bhí tú iontaofa i mbun beagán nithe; ceapfaidh mé i do cheann thú ar mhórán: gabh isteach in aoibhneas do thiarna.’ Tháinig ina láthair ansin an fear a fuair an t-aon tallann amháin: ‘A mháistir,’ ar seisean, ‘bhí aithne agam ort gur duine crua thú, ag baint fómhair san áit nár chuir tú síol, agus ag cnuasach as an áit nach ndearna tú scaipeadh; agus le barr eagla, chuaigh mé ag cur do thallainne i bhfolach sa talamh. Seo duit í: tá do chuid féin agat.’ Dúirt a mháistir leis á fhreagairt: ‘Drochsheirbhíseach leisciúil thú! Bhí a fhios agat go mbainim fómhar san áit nár chuir mé síol agus go gcnuasaím as an áit nach ndearna mé scaipeadh: ba cheart duitse mar sin mo chuid airgid a chur chun lucht gaimbín, agus nuair a thiocfainn gheobhainn mo chuid féin ar ais le hús. Bainigí de an tallann agus tugaigí í don duine a bhfuil na deich dtallann aige, óir, gach aon duine a mbíonn ní aige, tabharfar dó agus beidh fuílleach aige, ach an té a bhíonn gan ní, fiú amháin a mbíonn aige bainfear de é. Agus an seirbhíseach úd gan aird, caitear amach sa dorchadas é: is ann a bheidh gol agus díoscán fiacla.’

I have a young friend in the Philippines, Richelle (above), who has been gifted by God with more than average intelligence. She 'breezed' through all her examinations from kindergarten to college where she graduated summa cum laude. A few months alter she came second in the country in the licensure examination for social workers. She was involved in legitimate extra-curricular activities at school, without neglecting her studies. While studying, she would readily help other students prepare for exams. Most importantly, she recognises that she has a gift from God. She doesn't hide behind a false humility nor does she boast about herself. She is now working with persons who have suffered deeply from the sins of others.

When I was in Cebu I came to know a young man named Isabelo. Unlike Richelle, he had an intellectual disability because he was born with trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome). However, Isabelo had a special gift for the Faith and Light community to which he and I belonged - he had a great memory for names and would always remind us that so-and-so had not yet arrived.

I met a young girl of about ten or eleven from Hong Kong at the international Faith and Light pilgrimage to Lourdes in 2001 - the movement grew out of a pilgrimage to Lourdes for persons with intellectual disabilities in 1971 - whose name I cannot remember, to my shame, but whose trusting purity made a profound impact on me. In the Irish language such a person is called 'duine le Dia', 'a person with God'. This young girl was truly such.

She and Isabelo were unaware of the specail gift that God had given to each of them, but others enabled those gifts to be shared with the wider community. Rosa is very much aware of being gifted by God and consciously, unselfishly, joyfully and humbly shares her gifts with others.

We sometimes distort the image of Jesus by describing him as 'meek and mild'. This is certainly part of God who became Man. But in today's parable he is scathing of those who don't use the gifts that God has given them. A talent in Biblical times was a container of gold or silver but has come to mean an ability or gift from God that a person has.

Some have the gift of spotting and encouraging in others gifts they don't have themselves. My father, a carpenter, rarely read books but when I was still in kindergarten he gave me a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island that he had received as a child. It wasn't a simplified edition but unabridged. I read it with joy. The Sisters in the kindergarten I went to had alreadly spotted that my reading ability was way ahead of that of my classmates and used to give me stampetas or holy cards as a reward for reading something normally difficult for a young child.

Soemtimes we discover a gift we have because others see it first. It was only after my ordination, while studying in the USA, that I realised I have a certain ability to listen to persons. This was when individuals, some much older than me, came to me because they needed someone to listen to. I became aware of this while spending most of the summer of 1969 in a sprawling rural parish in Kentucky, where there were very few Catholics. The parish priest used to get college students from many parts of the USA to work in various summer projects, such as camps for poor children, Bible school, home-to-home visitation, and preaching tours, the latter with seminarians. Fr Ralph Beiting had a marvellous gift for organising and inspiring young people,but he wasn't a person you would go to if you wanted someone to listen to you. However, it was his giftst that made it possible for me to discover one of mine.

The two young Irish diocesan priests who founded the Columbans, Fr Edward Galvin (later Bishop of Nancheng, China) and Fr John Blowick, had very different gifts. Fr Galvin was an 'action man' while Fr Blowick was a brilliant scholar who also knew how to deal with bishops and with authorities in the Vatican. Neither on his own would have got anywhere with a new missionary society. Together, they used the speific gifts God had given each to further the mission Jesus gave the Church, to preach the Gospel to every creature.

On His Blindness, John Milton (1608-1674)

"When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

English poet John Milton tried to come to terms with the blindness that came upon him. Many older persons, or those who have been struck with a severe illness or disability, go through a similar struggle. 'Who best bear his mild yoke, they serve him best'. Fr Edward Allen was a saintly Columban I was blessed to have lived with from 1997 till 2000. Over the years he had helped many young women discover ther vocation to religious life. Late in 1998 he had a severe stroke which made him almost totally dependent on others. His mind and his sense of humour remained intact, though his speech wasn't clear. He was 92 when he got the stroke but for the remaining two-and-a-half years of his life he was giving strength to the young and healthy nurses who were taking care of him because of his deep faith in Jesus Christ.

God has given each of us a unique set of gifts. We glorify and honour him by racknowledging them and using them joyfully in the service of others, and especially by helping others discover their gifts.

Choi Sung-Bong, Korea's Susan Boyle

2011-11-10T05:29:00.001+08:00

A friend sent me the link to this video some months ago but I've only got round to looking at it. Possibly I'm the last person on the planet to have watched it. Nevertheless, I think it is worth sharing. The account Choi Sung-Bong gives of his life on Korea's Got Talent has been verified. It is an inspiring one. Like Susan Boyle, Choi Sung-Bong has been on the margins, though in a different way from the Scottish singer.

As a Columban I have a special interest in Korea as we have been working there since 1933 and shared the hardships of World War II and the Korean War with the people there. Columban priests died violently there. I have visited the country three times and have Korean friends, Columban priests, seminarians, lay missionaries and religious who have come to the Philippines as missionaries.

The song is Nella Fantasia, is based on Gabriel's Oboe, composed by Enrico Morricone for The Mission, that wonderful film based on the missionary work of the Jesuits in Paraguay.

'Can you pray for my sick dog?'

2011-11-08T05:38:00.001+08:00

The Holy Family with a Bird, Murillo, painted 1650.

I was in our parish church in Dublin this afternoon praying when I saw a young man of about 19 come in, kneel in the front pew for a couple of minutess, light a candle in front of the latar of the Blessed Virgin and then leave. I was thinking that it was a hopeful sign to see a young person do this. Indeed, yesterday at Sunday Mass, while the congregation at the Mass at 11am wasn't great, there were some young people present.

A few minutes latr thee young man came, approached me and told me his dog was sick. I wouldn't describe him as distressed but he was upset. I asked hiim how old his dog was and he said 'three'. He also gave me the dog's name, 'Sam'. I asked him if he had taken Sam to the vet. 'He's with him right now', he told me.

I mentioned two saints to the young man, whose name I asked but won't mention here, who had the gift of healing animals, St Francis and St Martin de Porres. (I'm not certain that St Francis actually healed them but many churches bless pets on his feast day). The young man was happy with this and went off. I prayed of him and for little Sam.

St Martin de Porres is sometimes depicted with a broom, a dog, cat, mouse and bird at his feet. He had the gift of healing persons and their animals, as the picture above suggests. (If the picture disappears click on the link. I'm not sure whether or not it's copyright but the link brings you to the source).Probably health authorities today in the West would be horrified to see animals outside a hospital ward!

Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence, Caravaggio, painted 1609

Jesus, God who created animals, was born among some of them when he became Man. He gave them to us for different purposes, some of which aren't clear to me, eg, what are rats for? The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No 2416, reads: Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

It also reminds us in No 2418, It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.

I don't think the young man I met this afternoon in our parish church was giving little Sam the affection due only to persons, but was showing proper respect for one of God's creatures for which he had taken responsibility. I hope that Sam recovers and continues for many years to 'bless God and give him glory' and that his young owner will come to know the same God's infinite love for him as one made in God's image and likeness.

Statue of St Roch (San Roque) in Prague

I forgot to tell the young man about San Roque ['ROkay'], one of the most popular saints in the Philippines, who was nursed back to health by a dog after he had caught the plague. I remember once celebrating Mass during the novena in preparation for the feast of San Roque in the section of Cebu City where I was based at the time. All during the Mass a black cat sat quietly at my feet. At the end I said, 'San Roque has his dog and I have my cat!' Maybe St Martin de Porres was quietly present too

'So stay awake . . .' Sunday Reflections, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

2011-11-04T21:41:00.119+08:00

Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, Hieronymus Francken II, c.1616

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 25:1-13 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus told this parable to his disciples: 'The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, "The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him." At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, "Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out". But they replied, "There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves". They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. "Lord, Lord," they said "open the door for us." But he replied, "I tell you solemnly, I do not know you". So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.

An Soiscéal Matha 25:1-13 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail: “Is iad dála ríocht na bhflaitheas an uair sin mar a bhí ag deichniúr maighdean a chuaigh amach agus a lampaí acu in airicis an fhir nuaphósta. Cúigear díobh seo, bhí siad gan tuiscint agus bhí an cúigear eile ciallmhar; mar, thug na mná gan tuiscint na lampaí leo agus gan aon ola acu, ach thug na mná ciallmhara ola ina bpróiciní leo chomh maith leis na lampaí. Bhí an fear nuaphósta ag déanamh moille, agus tháinig sámhán orthu uile agus thit siad ina gcodladh. Ach glaodh i lár na hoíche: ‘Chugaibh an fear nuaphósta! Amach libh ina airicis!’ D’éirigh na maighdeana sin uile ina suí agus dheasaigh siad a lampaí. Ach dúirt na mná gan tuiscint leis na mná ciallmhara: ‘Tugaigí dúinn braon de bhur n-olasa, mar tá ár lampaíne in éag.’ D’fhreagair lucht na céille iad: ‘Le heagla,’ ar siad, ‘nach mbeadh ár ndóthain ann dúinn féin agus daoibhse, b’fhearr daoibhse dul go dtí lucht a díolta á ceannach daoibh féin.’ Bhí siad ag dul á ceannach nuair a tháinig an fear nuaphósta, agus iad seo a bhí ullamh, chuaigh siad isteach in éineacht leis chun na bainise, agus dúnadh an doras. Sa deireadh, tháinig na maighdeana eile freisin: ‘A thiarna, a thiarna,’ ar siad, ‘oscail dúinn!’ Ach d’fhreagair sé agus dúirt: ‘Deirim libh go fírinneach, níl aithne agam oraibh.’ Bígí ag faire, dá bhrí sin, mar níl a fhios agaibh an lá ná an uair.

+++

Entrance Antiphon

Let my prayer come before you, Lord; listen and answer me (Ps 87:3).
Intret orátio mea in conspéctu tuo; inclína aurem tuam ad precem meam, Dómine (Latin).

As we come towards the end of the liturgical year the them of vigilance and preparedness becomes prominent in the readings at Mass. Today's gospel highlights those two themes. The grave above is that of Liam Whelan, a 22-year-old man from the next parish to my own in Dublin, who died in an aircrash in Munich on 6 February 1958 with other members of the Manchester United soccer team, officials and journalists. Hearing the news of the disaster that evening from a street singer was my first experience, at 14, of what has been called a 'private public moment' when everyone remembers where they were when they heard of a tragedy.

For people of an older generation in Europe the word 'Munich' conjured up the picture of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at an airport in London on 30 September 1938 waving a piece of paper signed by himself and Hitler in that German city, the Anglo-German Declaration, assuring 'peace for our time'. Less than a year later Germany and Britain were at war. For me Munich, which I have visited twice, will be for ever the place where Liam Whelan and his companions died so tragically.

But I remember being inspired when I read what Liam Whelan's last words were: 'If this is the end, then I'm ready for it'.

Here, slightly edited, is what I wrote in my blog on the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster, because I think it powerfully brings out the meaning of today's parable.

A stamp with Liam Whelan's photo, issued by An Post, the Irish Postal Service, for the 50th anniversary of the Munich Disaster. The clock is in Old Trafford, the Manchester United stadium, shoing the time and dated of the crash.

'If this is the end, then I'm ready for it'. (Posted 6 February 2008).

These were the last words of Liam Whelan who died 50 years ago today and who is buried near my parents. Only last year I learned that when they were both around 14 Liam rescued a close friend of mine who had got into difficulties in a swimming pool. [I am baptising a grandson of that friend tomorrow, 5 November].

The average age of Manchester United's players was only 22. One who was only 21, Duncan Edwards, from the English Midlands, was considered by many to have the potential to become perhaps the greatest footballer ever. He died 15 days after the crash.

These young men were earning only £15 a week, about 25 percent more than a tradesman could earn. Endorsements could bring in a little more income for a few talented players whose career would end for most at 35, if not earlier. Their counterparts today are often spoiled millionaires. Imagine if the top players in the Philippine Basketball Association were paid only the same amount as a public school teacher, or if the members of the New York Giants or the Boston Red Sox were limited to earning little more than a bus-driver. That’s how it was with these young men who filled stadiums week after week.

Those who knew him describe Liam Whelan as a ‘devout Catholic’. I know that he sent his mother some money for her to go to Lourdes. 11 February 1958 was the centennial of the first apparition of our Blessed Mother to St Bernadette. Mrs Whelan, a widow since 1943 when Liam was 8, used the money instead towards a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes over the grave of her son. I pass it each time I visit my parents’ grave.

Clearly young Liam Whelan had his life focused on what was most important. He was ready to meet death. I spoke about him at Mass this morning. I see Lent as a time to focus on the essentials, God’s love for us sinners, the hope that the life and death of Jesus offer us, the necessity of acknowledging our sinfulness to enable God’s love to break through. [6 February 2008 was Ash Wednesday].

But the deaths of so many talented young men still leaves a deep sadness among those who saw them play and followed their fortunes. I was feeling that sadness quite heavily this last week but it has lifted now. The February issue of The Word has an article, A Sporting Tragedy, in which John Scally speaks for me : ‘Their funerals were like no other. Most funerals are a burial of someone or something already gone. These young deaths pointed in exactly the opposite direction and were therefore the more poignant. Normally we bury the past but in burying Liam Whelan and his colleagues, in some deep and gnawing way we buried the future’.

You can listen to a wonderful interview with Harry Gregg, one of the survivors, on Bowman Sunday Morning on 27 January. [This interview on RTÉ, Ireland’s national radio and TV service, is no longer available. Harry Gregg, who was a goalkeeper for Manchester United and Northern Ireland, survived the crash without injury and rescued a number of passengers. He has often told the story of Liam Whelan's last words. I think he was sitting next to the young Dubliner].

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'So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour'.

'The greatest among you must be your servant'. Sunday Reflections, 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A

2011-10-30T00:27:00.002+08:00

An Israeli soldier wearing phylacteries (tefillin), on his forehead and on his left arm, while praying.

Readings

Gospel Matthew 23:1-12 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Addressing the people and his disciples Jesus said, 'The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they! Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.

'You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one master, and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will exalted.

An Soiscéal Matha 23:1-12 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin labhair Íosa ansin leis na sluaite agus lena dheisceabail: “Tá na scríobhaithe agus na Fairisínigh ina suí i gcathaoir Mhaois, agus ó tá siad, déanaigí agus coinnígí a ndeir siad libh, ach ná déanaigí de réir a n-oibreacha, óir ní mar a chéile beart agus briathar acu. Ceanglaíonn siad suas ualaí troma do-iompair agus buaileann siad ar ghuaillí daoine iad, ach ní áil leo féin iad a bhogadh le barr méire. Déanann siad a n-oibreacha uile d’fhonn go mbeifí á dtabhairt faoi deara. Sin mar a chuireann siad leithead ina bhfiolaictéirí agus fad lena scothóga; is maith leo an chéad áit sna fleánna agus na príomhshuíocháin sna sionagóga, agus go mbeifí ag beannú dóibh sna háiteanna poiblí, agus go mbeifí ag tabhairt ‘raibí’ orthu.

Ach ná bíodh ‘raibí’ á thabhairt oraibhse; óir níl ach an t-aon Mháistir oraibh, agus is bráithre sibhse uile. Agus ná glaoigí bhur ‘n-athair’ ar aon duine ar an talamh, óir níl agaibh ach an t-aon Athair, an té atá ar neamh. Agus fós, ná bíodh ‘múinteoirí’ á thabhairt oraibh, óir níl agaibh ach an t-aon Mhúinteoir, an Críost. An té agaibh is uaisle, beidh sé ina sheirbhíseach daoibh. Agus cibé duine a ardóidh é féin, ísleofar é agus cibé duine a ísleoidh é féin ardófar é.

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I am posting this in St Columban's, Dalgan Park, Ireland, where I studied for the priesthood from 1961 to 1968. I arrived in Ireland yesterday morning from the Philippines and here this morning.

One of my philosophy teachers here, the late Fr Joseph McGlade, served as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force during World War II. Many other young Irish Columbans were chaplains in the British forces at that time since they couldn't go to our missions in China, the Philippines, Korea and Burma. Father Joe told us that one of his Protestant colleagues used to quote today's gospel and criticise the Catholic chaplains for allowing themselves to be called 'Father'. Yet he didn't mind being called 'Padre', the Spanish for 'Father', and widely used in the English-speaking world as a title for military chaplains.

Jesus is reminding us that God our Father is the source of all life and that he himself is the only one who can teach the fulness of truth. He calls us to teach only the truth, not only in word but in deed. He isn't forbidding us from showing proper respect to our earthly fathers or to those who teach us. Rather he is calling us to be fully rooted in the love of God the Father and in the Truth that he himself, Jesus Christ, is. He tells us, 'the greatest among you must be your servant'.

Fr Francis Vernon Douglas

This morning here in Dalgan Park I concelebrated at a Mass in which we remembered nine Columban priests who died violently in the Philippines. Fr Francis Vernon Douglas from New Zealand was scourged at a pillar in the Catholic church in Paete, Rizal, near Manila, by Japanese military police, taken away and never seen again and died on 27 March 1943. It is believed that he refused to break the seal of confession.

Frs Peter Fallon, John Henaghan, Patrick Kelly and Joseph Monaghan were taken away by the Japanese from their parish in Malate, Manila, on 10 February 1945 and never seen again.Their colleague Fr John Lalor, was killed three days later by an American bomb that struck Malate Catholic School that had been turned into a hospital. He had also suffered at the hands of bandits in China before being transferred to the Philippines.

Fr Thomas Flynn was killed by Communist guerrillas in his parish in Labrador, Pangasinan, on 30 October 1950. He, like Father Douglas, had been a diocesan priest before joining the Columbans.

Frs Martin Dempsey and Rufus Halley were both murdered in the same area in Lanao del Sur, Mindanao, Father Martin on 19 October 1970 and Father Rufus Halley on 28 August 2001. Siblings of both of them were at the Mass along with relatives of the other Irish Columbans. Fr Dan O'Connor, a Columban from New Zealand, based in Pakistan and studying in Ireland at the moment, represented the relatives of Fr Douglas.

Philippine Ambassador Ariel Y. Abadilla was present at the Mass and after lunch laid a wreath in memory of the priests who had died violently in his country at the foot of the cross in the Columban cemetery in Dalgan Park.

These priest were not the kind of religious leaders Jesus had in mind when he said, 'You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach'. These were men who stayed with their people laid down their lives to show the love of God the Father and whose lives and deaths revealed the Truth who is Jesus our Teacher, who taught us above all the love of God the Father by laying down his life in obedience to his will.

'Greater Love: Richie Fernando SJ', a joy-filled Filipino missionary

2011-10-24T20:42:00.002+08:00

I haven't been able to post for more than a week as I was giving an eight-day directed retreat to eight sisters of the Missionaries of Charity near Manila. While I had some access to the internet it was rather slow.

I had intended to make a post here on the murder of Fr Fausto Tentorio PIME, a 59-year-old Italian priest, in the Diocese of Kidapawan, Mindanao, on Monday 17 October. I will save that post for a later date. As I was looking for a video about Father Fausto I came across one about Brother Richard Michael 'Richie' Fernando SJ, a Filipino Jesuit scholastic who died while trying to prevent a troubled and disabled young man in Cambodia from throwing a grenade. That was in 1996 - on 17 October. Father Fausto gave his life exactly 15 years later.

I remember the mixture of sorrow and pride I felt when I read of the death of Brother Richie, pride as a missionary in the Philippines that a young Filipino seminarian had given his life so spontaneously in order to save the lives of others while on overseas mission, and sorrow that a young life had been cut short. Some months later in the Columban house in Manila I met an Irish Jesuit priest who had been in Richie's community in Cambodia. I shared my feeling of pride and sorrow with him but he could only share his grief at the tragic loss of a brother.

The video above is the first of a four-part production by Jesuits in Manila. At the end of each part you will find the link to the next.

I read somewhere very recently that joy should be even more characteristic of Christians than love. The two, of course, go together but we have the English expression 'as cold as charity' which comes out of the experience of a joyless Christianity, the kind you read about in the novels of Charles Dickens, for example. In everything I have read or heard about Brother Richie Fernando he has come across as a young man of loving faith filled with joy, a joy that is characteristic of the faith of so many Filipinos.

Fr Christopher F. Amoroso MSP, a young members of the Mission Society of the Philippines serving in Japan, wrote an article in the May-June 2011 issue of Misyon, the Columban online magazine I edit, Misyon and My Vocation, on how reading about Richie Fernando in our magazine led him to the priesthood.

Yesterday was Mission Sunday. Fr Fausto Tentorio PIME and Brother Richard Michael Fernando SJ are true faces of the missionary church.

Brother Richie Fernando SJ

Fr Fausto Tentorio PIME

'You shall love your neighbor.. .' Sunday Reflections, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

2011-10-14T22:22:00.002+08:00

Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 22:34-40 (NAB)

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,

they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

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Gelato Italiano

Sister Perpetua was Mercy Sister from County Down, Northern Ireland, who died earlier this years. A nurse by profession, she spent some years in Iceland, working in a Catholic hospital there. She had a great love for those who were sick and especially for those who were bereaved.

A few years ago when I visited her in her convent in Downpatrick, where St Patrick is buried, she took me to St Comgall's Church in Donaghadee, probably the most Protestant town in the whole of Ireland. St Comgall's Catholic Church is on a side-sreet. It is part of the parish of Bangor, about the kilometres further north, also on the coast. The parish church there is also St Comgall's.

This saint founded the famous monastery in Bangor in 555. Some years later, during the lifetime of St Comgall, St Columbanus (Columban) entered there. Later he and twelve companions left for Continental Europe as Peregrini pro Christo, 'Pilgrims for Christ'.St Columban, the patron of the Missionary Society of St Columban to which I belong, founded a number of monasterieson the European mainland,preaching the gospel wherever they went. The saint's last monastery was in Bobbio, in northern Italy, where he died in 615.

St Columban set out from Bangor as a missionary. More than thirteen centuries later an Italian ice-cream seller, whose name I do not know but will call 'Luigi, found his way to the area from which St Columban had set out on his long journey. This Italian, to earn a living, opened an ice-cream parlour in Donaghadee, where he spent the rest of his life.

On another occasion when I went to visit Sister Perpetua she had just come back from the funeral of Luigi. She told me she had been afraid that very few would attend. But the church was packed and Sister Perpetua found herself sitting beside a Protestant man who had probably never entered a Catholic church before in his life. He told Sister why he was there.

He was one of a large family that never had money to spare. Occasionally during the summer his father would bring the children to Luigi's for ice-cream, even though he never had enough to buy for them all. 'Luigi never let us go', he told Sister,'without making sure that each of us had ice-cream, no matter how little money my father had. That is why I am here'.

St Columban left Ireland to be a missionary and died in Italy. Luigi left Italy to make a living in the area from which St Columban had set out and died in Ireland. He probably never thought of himself as a missionary but he crossed the religious barrier in Ireland by his simple love for poor children.

'You shall love your neighbour . . .'

Bobbio

I am posting this early because I probably won't have access to the internet for the next eight days as I give a retreat to some Missionaries of Charity in Tagaytay City, an elevated and pleasantly cooler area south of Manila. Please keep the Sisters and me in your prayers. Perhaps you can invoke St Columban and Blessed Mother Teresa.

' . . . to Caesar what belongs to Caesar . . .' Sunday Reflections. 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

2011-10-14T18:22:00.053+08:00

Sto Niño Church, Lianga, Surigao del Sur, Philippines

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines and USA)

Gospel Matthew 22:15-21 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

The Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him, together with the Herodians, to say, 'Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you. Tell us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they replied. He then said to them, ‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.

Soiscéal Matha 22:15-21 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin d’imigh na Fairisínigh ag déanamh comhairle le chéile chun go mbéarfaidís I ngaiste Íosa sa chaint, agus chuir siad a ndeisceabail féin chuige mar aon leis na Héaródaigh chun a rá leis: “A Mháistir, tá a fhios againn gur fear fírinneach thú agus go múineann tú slí Dé san fhírinne gan beann agat ar dhuine ar bith, agus gan féachain do phearsa seachas a chéile. Abair linn do bharúil, mar sin: An dleathach cáin a íoc le Céasar nó an mídhleathach?” Ach bhí a fhios ag Íosa an mhallaitheacht a bhí iontu agus dúirt: “Cad ab áil libh ag baint trialach asam, a bhréagchráifeacha? Taispeánaigí bonn na cánach dom,” agus shín siad déanar chuige. Dúirt sé leo: “Cé hé arb í seo a íomhá agus a inscríbhinn?” “Céasar,” ar siad leis. “Maith go leor,” ar seisean leo, “íocaigí le Céasar na nithe is le Céasar agus le Dia na nithe is le Dia.”

Another view of Sto Niño Church

I was parish priest of Lianga from June 1993 till May 1994, my two-year assignment cut short so that I could become Columban vocation director for the Philippines, an assignment I had till 2000. The parish patron is the Sto Niño, the Holy Child. The town is located on Lianga Bay on the east coast of Mindanao, looking straight across the Pacific Ocean at Colombia in South America. It has some fine beaches and provides a livelihood for many fishermen.

However, when I was there Lianga was a relatively remote, sleepy town on a provincial highway that stretched the meaning of the word 'road' to its limits. The big promise of the mayor at the time was 'Next year we will have a telephone'. The lone telephone was to be in the town hall. Now everyone has a mobile phone and I couldn't believe the difference a new highway made to the whole province when I visited in May 2010 to do a wedding, my first visit in ten years. It had transformed the lives of the people.

During my time in Lianga the mail came in and went out three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The postmistress was Mrs Rose Sanchez, an official who took great pride in her work and who was trying to persuade the powers that be to have the mail delivered and collected five days a week. I don't know if she ever succeeded. But everything was done efficiently and with courtesy. Rose had a sense of being a public servant, making sure that the service, limited though it was compared to bigger centres, helped improve the lives of the people in the town itself and in the hinterlands.

At the time I used to write a weekly column for The Freeman, a daily published in Cebu City and wrote about Rose one week. I gave her a copy of the article, a copy of which she sent to her superior who congratulated her. She was delighted to have her sense of service recognised.

The partly enigmatic answer that Jesus gave to the Pharisees and Herodians in today's gospel is often referred to in situations of conlfict or apparent conflict between Church and State. But it isn't always a matter of conflict.

Rose, who is retired now, was a servant of the State. She is also a member of the Church. I'm certain that her sense of service came largely from her Catholic faith. She served all the people, Catholic and others, with care. In 'giving back to Caesar' as a servant of the State working for its citizens, she was also 'giving back to God' by serving his people.

Rose was widowed last August. Perhaps you can remember her and her late husband 'Nonoy' in your prayers.

The interior of Sto Niño Church

Photos courtesy of Benjie Otagan, A Lianga Diary

Homelessness and hope in Dublin

2011-10-11T21:04:00.000+08:00

I found this video, produced by De Paul Ireland, on Facebook, posted by my friend Sr Maria Forestall FMM in the Faroe Islands. It was made recently in my native Dublin, However, homelessness is a phenomenon in the cities of nearly every Western country.

'The queen of the south will arise at the judgment . . .'

2011-10-10T16:15:00.002+08:00

King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Rubens, 1620

Today's gospel is Luke 11:29-32 in which Jesus mentions 'the queen of the South'. She is also known as the Queen of Sheba. Some scholars say she was from Yemen, others from Ethiopia. Yemen is one of the Arab countries that is unsettled at the moment. Two days ago President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 33 years, promised to step down 'in a few days'. It seems very few believe him. The day before his announcement Tawakul Karman, a Yemeni woman was announced as one of three winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Yemen's Catholics belong to the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, which also includes Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Catholics number 2,129,000 or 3.4 percent of the overall population of 62,498,240. However, in 1950 they numbered 5,840 or 0.1 percent of 10,000,000. The increase in the number and percentage of Catholics is due to the influx of overseas workers in recent decades, especially from the Philippines.

The bishop of the vicariate is Most Rev Paul Hinder OFMCap from Switzerland. All nine bishops have been Capuchin friars.

A special prayer today for the people of Yemen, especially for the Catholics there, would not go astray as we recall the Queen whom Jesus speaks about, whether or not Sheba was Yemen.

Here is the gospel in the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition:

When the crowds were increasing, Jesus began to say, "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

'I am ready for anything anywhere.' Sunday Reflections, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

2011-10-07T15:40:00.001+08:00

Fr Rufus Halley with friends

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14. 19-20 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty. There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength. All the same, it was good of you to share with me in my hardships. In return my God will fulfil all your needs, in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can. Glory to God, our Father, for ever and ever. Amen.My Columban confrere and friend since 1962, Fr Rufus Halley, murdered in an ambush in Lanao del Sur, Philippines, on 28 August 2001, came to mind as I read St Paul’s words for today. He came from a well-to-do family in county Waterford, in the south-east of Ireland, did his secondary studies at Glenstal Abbey School in County Limerick, not a place most parents could afford to send their sons to.

An Dara Léacht: Filipigh 4:12-14. 19-20 (Gaeilge, Irish)

A bhráithre, tá eolas agam ar an gcaolchuid agus ar an bhflúirse. Tá seantaithí agam ar gach sórt: ar an mórdhóthain agus ar an ocras, ar an bhflúirse agus ar an ngannchuid. Táim in ann gach ní a dhéanamh le cabhair an té úd a thugann neart dom. Mar sin féin ba mhaith an mhaise daoibhse teacht i gcabhair orm i mo chruachás. Agus déanfaidh mo Dhia riar go fial ar gach riachtanas daoibhse as a fhlúirse féin i nglóir in Íosa Críost. Moladh le Dia, ár nAthair, le saol na saol. Amen.

The 18-year-old Rufus, whose baptismal name was Michael but known by the Latin nickname for ‘red-haired’, could have chosen any university course. He was a bright student and an outstanding athlete, particularly good at rugby. His sunny disposition drew people to him like a magnet. But he opted for the Columbans and entered Dalgan Park, the Columban seminary about 40 kms north-west of Dublin in September 1962, a year after your scribe.

Ordained at Easter 1969 he came to the Philippines later that year and worked in Tagalog-speaking parishes. His good friend, now Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, has written that Father Rufus spoke Tagalog perfectly. Cardinal Rosales should know, since that is his mother-tongue.

But after about ten years in parishes where almost all were Catholics Father Rufus felt a call from God to move to the Prelature of Marawi in Mindanao where Columbans had worked for many years. Around 20 percent of the population of Mindanao as a whole is Muslim, but there are only four areas or so where they form a majority. The Prelature of Marawi, created in 1976 by Pope Paul VI, covers the province of Lanao del Sur and part of rgw province of Lanao del Norte and is 95 percent. Furthermore, the vast majority of the Muslims speak Maranao while the Christians speak Cebuano. Father Rufus became fluent in both languages.

He had chosen to give up the security of living in a totally Christian community in order to live in a community divided by suspicion and hostility for centuries, a place where he would always feel tension and sometimes be in danger. To quote St Paul today, he was 'ready for anything anywhere'.

Cardinal Rosales with his late friend Balodoy and Mrs Bella Feliciano, one of those who introduced Faith and Light to the Philippines.

Here is how Cardinal Rosales wrote about the commitment and death of his friend Pareng Rufus (‘Pareng’ is a Tagalog term used by men who are close friends with one another, ‘Mareng’ being the female equivalent):

I knew of the intensity with which Father Rufus lived his own Christian faith, how he began each day with an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, the centrality of the Mass in his life. A big influence on him was the life of Charles de Foucauld, 1858-1916, beatified last November (2005). This Frenchman was also from a privileged background. Unlike Pareng Rufus, he lost his Catholic faith and became a notorious playboy before re-discovering it, partly through the example of Muslims living in North Africa. He spent many years as a priest living among the poorest Muslims in a remote corner of the Sahara, pioneering Christian-Muslim dialogue by discovering himself as the Little Brother of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and as the Little Brother of the Muslims who came knocking at his hermitage door.

Pareng Rufus

Death of a peacemaker

On 1 December 1916 Charles de Foucauld died at the hands of a young gunman outside his hermitage and on 28 September 2001 Pareng Rufus died at the hands of gunmen who ambushed him as he was riding on his motorcycle from a meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders in Balabagan to his parish in Malabang. The local people, both Christian and Muslim, mourned for him deeply. The grief of the Muslims was all the greater because the men who murdered my Pareng Rufus happened to be Muslims. This great missionary priest brought both communities together in their shared grief for a man of God, a true follower of Jesus Christ.

The hand - or paw? - of God

2011-10-06T17:46:00.000+08:00

Lala and Hachi

I don't know if St Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians and whose feast it is today, had a dog. I know I associate his name with canines and I had an extraordinary experience with a dog named Bruno in the mid-1980s.

Bruno belonged to the retreat house of the University of San Carlos in Talamban, Cebu City. He was, as I recall, part-Labrador, or at least the size of one and liked to be around people. I was giving a directed retreat at the time and sometimes would meet with a retreatant outside, as the weather was quite hot. On occasion Bruno would come and put his front paws on my knees and, after I patted him and spoke a few friendly words, would wander off.

One night I couldn't sleep because of a very strong and unusual feeling of loneliness. Around midnight I went outside and sat on the low wall outside looking down on the lights of Cebu City. The retreat house is built on a hillside. I was telling God how sorry for myself I was feeling and suddenly felt something on my left shoulder. It was Bruno's right front paw, as if to tell me 'Hindi ka mag-iisa', You're not alone'. ('Hinda ka mag-iisa' is a Tagalog slogan that became very popular after the murder of Benigno Aquino Jr on the tarmac of Manila Airport in 1983).

I hadn't heard Bruno running across the grass and I truly believe that he had sensed my feeling of loneliness, which disappeared immediately after he joined me. I gave him a big hug, said 'thank you' to the Lord, went back to bed and slept peacefully.

I'm not sure if the chant in the first part of the video is sung by Carthusian nuns and that in the second part by Carthusian monks.

You can find the official website of the Carthusian Order here.

St Bruno of Cologne (c.1030-1101) painted by José de Ribera (painted 1643)

St Francis, Patron of Ecology

2011-10-04T09:47:00.000+08:00

St Francis, Patron of Ecology

by Fr Seán McDonagh

This article by my Columban confrere and friend, Fr Seán McDonagh, is taken from Columbans Ireland. The photos of Maria Cristina Falls, Iligan City, Philippines, were taken by Kurt Pala, a Columban seminarian from Iligan City, who is on his first mission assignment in Fiji.

Tuesday October 4th 2011 is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. On November 29th 1979, Pope John Paul II declared St Francis to be the Patron of Ecology. Three years later, on World Environment Day 1982, the Pope said that St Francis' love and care for creation was a challenge for contemporary Catholics. He called on Catholics "not to behave like dissident predators where nature is concerned, but to assume responsibility for it, taking all care so that everything stays healthy and integrated, so as to offer a welcoming and friendly environment even to those who succeed us.

Eight years later, on the occasion of the World Day of Peace, January 1st 2009, the Pope wrote that the poor man of Assisi "offers Christians an example of genuine and deep respect for the integrity of creation..." The Pope went on to make the point that St Francis "gives us striking witness that when we are at peace with God we are better able to devote ourselves to building up that peace with all creation which is inseparable from peace among all peoples." Pope John Paul II concluded that section of the document with these words, "It is my hope that the inspiration of Saint Francis will help us to keep ever alive a sense of 'fraternity' with all those good and beautiful things which Almighty God has created."

Francis pushes the boundaries for us today to reconsider and broaden our understanding of the gospel question: Who is my neighbour? Because for him the concept of "neighbour" included, not only the human race, but the whole of creation. This fellowship approach to creatures contrasts with the stewardship which has been more dominant in the Christian tradition. The stewardship reaches its most beneficial and comprehensive expression in the Benedictine and Cistercians monasteries. In his monumental study Farming in Ireland, History, Heritage and Environment, Dr John Feehan writes that the greatest and most permanent influence on 12th century farming in Ireland was the arrival and rapid spread of the most progressive and organised farmers of medieval times, the Cistercians. Their respectful way of caring for creation is captured by the American writer and farmer Wendel Berry in the final paragraph of his book, The Gift of Good Land. "To live we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. When we do it knowingly, lovingly, skilfully and reverently it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily and destructively it is a desecration. In such a desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness and others to want."

In recent years, some people have challenged the stewardship metaphor because it is excessively human-centred. They see in Francis someone who claimed kinship bonds with all creation. For Francis, the world was not made up of objects made to satisfy either human need or greed. Francis saw the world in terms of relationships of cooperation rather than competition. Francis' example inspires us to approach nature with deep respect, admiration, sympathy and communion. His attitude of being-with all created things inspires us in our commitment to care for the Earth, to sustain and preserve what God has given us.

This is particularly important at a time when ecological damage, on many fronts, is happening right around the world. Some authors argue that the changes to the biosphere today are of such an order of magnitude that these changes are best described by using the language of geology, rather than the language of history. They have coined the word Anthropocene to graphically illustrate these massive changes. On October 4th this year, we should call to mind that Francis' example encourages us as individual Catholics and as the wider Church community to take a stand in the face of the unjust and unequal distribution of the earth's resources and the destruction of the living world. Much of what is happening today on land and in the oceans is nothing short of plunder. This plunder of the lands of indigenous people in the Philippines, Latin America and Papua New Guinea by mining corporations is trespassing not only on human rights but on the rights of other creatures to exist and fulfill their purpose in God's plan.