Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3; Gospel).
Readings(Jerusalem Bible:
Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand,
Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
GospelMatthew 11:2-11 (English Standard Version
Anglicised: India)
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds
of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him,
“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the
blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the
deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news
preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the
crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to
see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A
man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in
kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes,
I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,
“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
Truly, I say to you, among
those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet
the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
I have used this material before but it fits in with one of the themes in today's readings: Then the eyes of
the blind shall be opened,and the ears of the deaf unstopped(Isaiah 35:5;
First Reading), It is the Lord . . . who
raises up those who are bowed down (Responsorial Psalm), Go and tell John . . . the deaf hear
(Matthew 11:5; Gospel).
Fr Joseph Coyle was a Columban priest from Derry city, Northern Ireland. He died in the Philippines on 18 December 1991, aged 54, and is buried in a Catholic cemetery in Bacolod City. Father Joe and I weren't related - my Coyle ancestors moved centuries ago from the north-west of Ireland, where the surname originated, to Rush, a fishing village north of Dublin city - but we felt a sense of kinship. He was ordained on 21 December 1961 during my first year in the Columban seminary in Ireland.
Father Joe spent most of his life as a priest in the island of Negros. He gradually became aware of persons with disabilities and of how their needs weren't being met. He was able to obtain artificial limbs for some. But he noticed that there was one group in every community that was almost totally isolated because they didn't share a common language with those around them, not even with their own families. These were persons who were profoundly deaf.
More and more Father Joe became involved with deaf people, celebrating Mass in Sign Language in a number of places. In the late 1980s he established Welcome Home in Bacolod City as a residence for out-of-town deaf students so that they could attend special schools in the city. Special Education has spread now to many towns and that particular need is no longer urgent. But Welcome Home Foundation, Inc. continues with a school for young children, deaf and hearing, catechetical programmes in public schools with both deaf and hearing catechists, and other activities.
Father Joe's death was devastating initially to the young deaf people with whom he had worked. But his vision was continued and developed by others, most noticeably by Mrs Salvacion V. Tinsay who died in 2008. Her daughter Mrs Agnes T. Jalandoni, President and CEO, along with her board and staff have enabled the work begun by Father Joe to grow and adapt to current needs.
May I ask your prayers for the soul of Mrs Teresing V. Lizares who died recently. She was a founding trustee of Welcome Home Foundation and a sister of Mrs Salving V. Tinsay.
Fr Mike Depcik preaching in American Sign Language on today's readings (also spoken)
Fr Mike Depcik OSFSis an Oblate of St Francis de Sales and one of very few profoundly deaf priests in the world. He has his own vlog, Fr. MD's KitchenTable, where, among other things, he posts videos of homilies for Sunday Masses in American Sign Language, such as that above for this Sunday's Mass.
John the Baptist sends his followers to ask Jesus, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? Jesus replies, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news brought to them.
For Catholics who are profoundly deaf, priests such as Fr Mike Depcik, deaf from birth, and Fr Joe Coyle, who became aware of the isolation of the profoundly deaf, especially within their own families, are included in the response of Jesus to his cousin St John the Baptist: the deaf hear. The deaf aren't isolated to the same degree as before, though I have known of priests and people who consider a signing interpreter at Mass as a 'distraction'.
And the ministry of priests such as Fr Depcik and Fr Coyle isn't limited to the deaf. Indeed, part of their ministry, and of those who work with them, whether deaf or hearing, is to bring about the change of heart that is central to Advent, not only a turning away from sin but a recognition of the needs of others that we weren't aware of before. It was through having friends who were deaf in varying degrees from birth and through knowing Father Joe that I became aware of the isolation of the deaf within the Church and in society at large. The same can be said to some extent of persons with other disabilities. But profound deafness is the only physical disability that of its nature can totally isolate a person from the community.
There will always be some, for whatever reason, on the margins. The gradual inclusion of those who are profoundly deaf in all activities of the Church and of wider society shown, for example, in the use of signing interpreters at public functions and on television, is one of the signs that Jesus spoke about to assure St John the Baptist that he, Jesus, truly is the one who is to come.
Mary
walked through a wood of thorn Kyrie eleison. Mary walked through a wood of thorn, Which seven long years no leaf had borne; Jesus and Mary.
What bore Mary beneath her heart? Kyrie eleison. A little child without any smart Mary bore beneath her heart, Jesus and Mary.
Then roses sprang from out the thorn; Kyrie eleison. As the Christ child through the wood was born, Roses sprang from out the thorn; Jesus and Mary.
These are the first three stanzas of seven but have acquired a life of their own. Their context is the Visitation. Wikipedia notes: The dead thorn wood,
a symbol of infertility and death, begins to bloom when Mary walks through it
with the divine child.
Traditional Latin Mass
Third Sunday of Advent
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-11-2022 if necessary).
John answered
them, “I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I
am not worthy to untie” {John 1:26-27;
Gospel).
GospelMark 7:31-37(English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre and went through
Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.And they brought to him a man who was
deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand
on him.And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he
put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.And looking up to heaven, he
sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha”, that is, “Be opened.”And his ears were opened, his tongue was
released, and he spoke plainly.And Jesus charged them to tell no one.
But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.And they were astonished beyond
measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and
the mute speak.
In the Second Reading today
St James asks in his blunt way, For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into
your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine
clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place”, while you say to the
poor man, “You stand over there”, or, “Sit down at my feet”,have you not then made distinctions among
yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
In 1982 I
spent three months working in a hospital in a city in the the US Midwest. I
noticed that a particular nurse always wore a pro-life badge, for which I
admired her. But in the three months I was there as chaplain to patients and
staff on the floor we both worked on she never spoke to me except at a weekly
staff meeting. I was curious rather than hurt by this and before I finished I
asked her if we could meet. I told her what I had noticed and expressed my
admiration for her quiet pro-life stand. She was quite taken aback, as she had
never been conscious of ignoring me. It turned out that she had once had a bad
experience with a priest and had 'tuned out' on all priests. We had a very good conversation and ended up hugging each other.
The nurse had been making distinctions but was far
from being a judge with evil thoughts. We can be such, by
deliberately shutting out another person or group of persons from our life. But
very often we are unaware of others or of their needs.
Fr Joseph Coyle
(28 February 1937 - 18 December 1991)
One group of persons that is largely ignored in the
Church, is the Deaf. (Those who are profoundly deaf refer to themselves as a
group as 'The Deaf', with an upper-case 'D'.) One of my late Columban
colleagues, Fr Joseph Coyle from the city of Derry in Northern Ireland, worked
for many years in what is now the Diocese of Kabankalan, in the southern part
of the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. Early in his time in remote parishes he
became aware of the needs of persons who had lost limbs. He helped many to get
artificial limbs.
But later he noticed that there were persons who
were more or less totally isolated, even from their own families - persons who
were profoundly deaf from birth or from early childhood. They did not even have
a common language with their parents or siblings. Their deafness was
experienced as an affliction by themselves and their families. They all felt a
sense of powerlessness.
In English the word 'dumb' has come to mean
'stupid' because of the perception in the past that those who used to be
described as 'deaf and dumb' were stupid.
Fr Joe Coyle then focused his ministry on the Deaf.
In the late 1980s he set up a residence in Bacolod City, Welcome Home, for
out-of-town students so that they could attend schools with special education
programmes for the Deaf. That particular need is now being met more and more in
public schools in other cities and towns.
One of the services of Welcome Home Foundation, Inc. today
is to send catechists to local public schools where there are profoundly deaf
students. Some of these catechists are themselves profoundly deaf. Welcome Home
also strongly encourages parents of profoundly deaf children to learn Sign
Language and holds classes for them.
While based
in Bacolod City from 2002 until 2017 I regularly celebrated Mass in Welcome
Home, using my limited Sign Language and with the help of interpreters, some of
them profoundly deaf. When I left the Philippines in 2017 the Deaf participated
in one of the Masses in San Sebastian Cathedral on the last Sunday of the
month. (I’m not sure what the situation is during the Covid-19 pandemic). The current chaplain to Welcome Home and the Deaf in Bacolod is Fr Art Arnaiz CICM who has been involved with the Deaf since his seminary days and is fluent in Filipino Sign Language.
But I know that there have been times when
parishioners and priests in various places have complained that signing
interpreters were a 'distraction'. In some instances the Deaf have been made
clearly unwelcome at Mass. Maybe some of those who made them feel such are
already in 'St James territory' (Second Reading).
I do not know the source of the sorrow of the old
man in Van Gogh's painting above, which expresses very painful isolation. But
isolation is what many profoundly deaf persons feel, especially if they are
seen as 'dumb' in the modern sense. And what must deaf persons feel if some
don't even want to welcome them at the celebration of Holy Mass, our most
important act of worship as Catholic Christians to our loving Father?
As in so many of the healing stories in the Gospel,
we see Jesus giving his full attention to the person in need. We see him
engaging physically with that person, using his very spittle in the act of
enabling the man to hear and to speak clearly.
Again, as in so many of the healing stories, Jesus
is bringing someone back into the circle. The man's deafness and speech
impediment, the latter a direct result of the former, isolated him to a large
degree from his own family and community. Now he was fully part of them again.
'E.T. phone home' scene
I remember seeing the movie E.T. the
Extra-Terrestial with a young friend, Glenn, who is profoundly, though
not totally deaf, due to Usher's Syndrome, which also affects his sight. At the
time he was about the same age as Elliott, the boy in the clip above. I watched
the movie through Glenn's eyes, with a deeper appreciation of what is involved
when a profoundly deaf person and a hearing person are trying to communicate.
It can be very hard work, but rewarding.
Nearly thirty years ago I saw something
very beautiful at the Home of Joy in Tayuman, Tondo, Manila, a home for
children run by the Missionaries of Charity. I was looking for a particular
girl who was profoundly deaf. I'll call her Maria. I found her playing with a
group of other girls, all of them using Sign Language. But only Maria was deaf.
Without being aware of it, she had invited her friends into her world of
silence - and they, without being aware of it, had invited her into their world
of sound. All were equal.
A very important detail in the
gospel is that not only did the deaf man's friends bring him to Jesus but they
begged him to lay his hand on him.
Many churches in the western world
have what is called a 'loop system' whereby those who are hard of hearing and
use hearing aids can participate fully in Mass and other services. Being hard
of hearing is something that very often comes with growing old, and I am
experiencing that myself now - I've been using hearing aids for nearly four years now - but it is a very different reality from profound deafness, especially if that
deafness has been there since birth or early childhood.
The soul of a
profoundly deaf person yearns for the living God just as much as the soul of a
hearing person. But do we, the majority who are hearing, really allow/enable
the Deaf to participate fully in the Holy
Mass?
When
Signing is Singing
St
Mary's School for Deaf Girls' Choir, Dublin
Teacher
/ Conductor: Shirley Higgins
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 9-5-2021 if necessary).
Epistle: Galatians 5:25-26; 6:1-10. Gospel: Luke 7:11-16.
Behold a dead man was carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow (Luke 7:12).
Authentic Beauty
Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelMatthew 11:2-11 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was
doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come,
or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you
hear and see: the blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’
As they went
away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into
the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in
soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I
tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about
whom it is written,
“See, I am sending my messenger
ahead of you, who will prepare your way before
you.”
Truly I tell you, among those born
of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Father Joseph Coyle was a Columban priest from
Derry city, Northern Ireland. He died in the Philippines on 18 December 1991, aged
54, and is buried in a Catholic cemetery in Bacolod City.
Father Joe and I weren't related - my Coyle ancestors moved centuries ago from
the north-west of Ireland, where the surname originated, to Rush, a fishing
village north of Dublin city - but we felt a sense of kinship. He was ordained
on 21 December 1961 during my first year in the Columban seminary in Ireland.
Father Joe
spent most of his life as a priest in the island of Negros. He gradually became
aware of persons with disabilities and of how their needs weren't being met. He
was able to obtain artificial limbs for some. But he noticed that there was one
group in every community that was almost totally isolated, because they didn't
share a common language with those around them, not even with their own
families. This group was people who were profoundly deaf.
More
and more Father Joe became involved with deaf people, celebrating Mass in Sign
Language in a number of places. In the late 1980s he established Welcome Home
in Bacolod City as a residence for out-of-town deaf students so that they could
attend special schools in the city. Special Education has spread now to
many towns and that particular need is no longer urgent. ButWelcome Home Foundation, Inc., continues
with a small number of residents, a school for young children, deaf and
hearing, catechetical programmes in public schools with both deaf and hearing
catechists, and other activities.
Father
Joe's death was devastating initially to the young deaf people with whom he had
worked. But his vision was continued and developed by others, most noticeably
by Mrs Salvacion V. Tinsay who died in 2008. Her daughter Mrs Agnes T.
Jalandoni, President and CEO, along with her board and staffhave enabled
the work begun by Father Joe to grow and adapt to current needs.
Fr Mike Depcik OSFSis an Oblate of St Francis de Sales,
one of very few profoundly deaf priests in the world. He has his own
vlog, Fr. MD's KitchenTable, where, among other things, he posts videos of homilies for
Sunday Masses in American Sign Language, such as that above for this Sunday's
Mass.
John the Baptist sends his followers
to ask Jesus, Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another? Jesus replies, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the
blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.
For Catholics who are profoundly deaf, priests such as Fr Mike Depcik, deaf from birth, and Fr Joe Coyle, who became
aware of the isolation of the profoundly deaf, especially within their own
families, are included in the response of Jesus to his cousin St John the
Baptist: the deaf hear. The deaf aren't isolated to the same degree
as before, though I have known of priests and people who consider a signing
interpreter at Mass as a 'distraction'.
And the ministry of priests such as
Fr Depcik and Fr Coyle isn't limited to the deaf. Indeed, part of their
ministry, and of those who work with them, whether deaf or hearing, is to bring
about the change of heart that is central to Advent, not only a turning away
from sin but a recognition of the needs of others that we weren't aware of
before. It was through having friends deaf in varying degrees from birth and
through knowing Father Joe that I became aware of the isolation of the deaf
within the Church and in society at large. The same can be said to some extent of
persons with other disabilities. But profound deafness is the only physical
disability that of its nature can totally isolate a person from the community.
There will always be some, for
whatever reason, on the margins. Pope Francis has on a number of occasions very
strikingly shown his respect and love - the respect and love of Jesus himself -
for such persons. The gradual inclusion of those who are profoundly deaf in all
activities of the Church and of wider society, shown, for example, in the use of
signing interpreters at public functions and on television, is one of the signs
that Jesus spoke about to assure St John the Baptist that he truly was the
one who is to come.
It was to the credit of the Columbans that I was
accepted as a candidate for priesthood. That was back in 1969 when I was
completing Form Seven in high school at St John’s College, Hastings, New
Zealand.
You are here
I was accepted despite the fact that I was not only
deaf but I also suffered a serious speech impediment which was a consequence of
my hearing disability. My deafness was more peculiar rather than pronounced. I
cannot hear high-pitched sounds. As a result, I cannot hear many of the
consonants in my own ‘native’ English language. Read the rest of Fr Tom Rouses' article and the responses to it of five profoundly deaf Filipinos, Normam, Willy, Eli, Noel and Marinela here.
Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, with Deaf students and staffof Welcome Home Foundation, Carmelite Monastery, Bacolod City, 26 January 2015.
Antiphona ad Communionem Communion Antiphon Cf. Isaiah 35:4
Dicite: Pusillanimes, confortamini et nolite timere:
Say to the faintof heart: Be strong and do not fear.
