Sunday Reflections, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. 14 June 2026

 

The Harvest (Breton Landscape)

Émile Bernard [Web Gallery of Art]

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest (Matthew 9:37-38; Gospel).

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

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)  

Gospel Matthew 9:36-10:8 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

At that time: When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve Apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

St Margaret Mary Alacoque Contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Corrado Giaquinto [Web Gallery of Art]

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly . . .  God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6, 8; Second Reading). 

At breakfast three years ago on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (celebrated this year on Friday 12 June), I overheard one of my brother priests pointing out that our faith is not about sin but about God's love for us. The Second Reading at the Mass of the Sacred Heart included theses words of St John that we need 'drummed' into us constantly: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:10-11).

Loving and serving others comes from the reality that God has shown his love for us as sinners to the extent that the Second Person of the Trinity became one of us and died for us on the Cross. In the Second Reading at this Sunday's Mass St Paul tell us: For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Romans 5:10-11). In the Jerusalem Bible translation that last verse reads: We are filled with joyful trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation.

The First Reading tells us what we are called to be: and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6).

The Responsorial Psalm reinforces this: Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his flock (Psalm 99 [100]: 3).

The opening words of the Gospel show us how God sees us when we are in need, when we sin and turn away from him: When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. That is why he died for us.

That is why the Church has made June the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Church invites us to reflect constantly on St Paul's words to us today: God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ in Agony on the Cross

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

In recent decades, most notably in the Western world, the month of June has been hijacked by a powerful international lobby that takes 'Pride' in and promotes sinful ways of behaving and living that deny the reality that God has made us male and female. God teaches us this through nature itself. The more extreme wing of this movement demands that children and adolescents be allowed to change their sex, something that is impossible. They use nonsensical, unscientific terms such as 'the gender assigned at birth'. This is corrupt language that corrupts culture, society and individuals, that cuts us off from God our loving Creator. We're not assigned anything at birth. We are either male or female human beings made in the image of God from the moment of conception.

This extreme lobby promotes the genital mutilation of minors; it promotes cheating in women's sports by allowing men to participate in them; it promotes contempt for women and girls by allowing men who say that they are women into the private spaces of women and girls. All of this is a form of abuse.

Fr Paul D. Scalia of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, USA, has an article in The Catholic Thing, Pride and Prejudice, that shows how pervasive this false ideology has become, especially in the United States. This article concludes with words of hope for all, reflective of the readings in this Sunday's Mass.

Humility! is not quite as effective a battle cry as Pride! Humility is hard to embrace because it always carries the stinging reminder of our created and fallen nature – that we neither create nor save ourselves. Pride presumes the power to define ourselves and to brush off the creaturely limits of male and female. In so doing, it closes itself off from – it becomes intolerant of – a Savior.

Humility opens us to the Savior who has opened his Heart to us. 'Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart' (Matthew 11:29). The feast of the Sacred Heart bids us open our hearts in humility to the One who has opened his Heart in humility to us. It is a fitting feast to turn away from the pride that divides and toward the humility that saves. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine!

The Sacred Heart

[Library of Congress]

Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34).

Salve Regina, Madrid, 7 June 2026

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday After Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 06-14-2026 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Peter 5:6-11. Gospel: Luke 15:1-10.

Parable of the Lost Drachma

Domenico Fetti [Web Gallery of Art]

Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? (Luke 15:8; Gospel).

 

     

                                                                        

 

A Pakistani Muslim Good Samaritan. Sunday Reflections, 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

Fr Pat McCaffrey with friends in Pakistan

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

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 10:25-37 (English Standard Version, Anglicised) 

At that time: Behold, a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You go, and do likewise.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Father Pat with friend in Ba, Fiji

Fr Pat McCaffrey was a classmate of mine who died suddenly in Pakistan on 18 May 2010. His first mission was Fiji, where he worked especially with Indian-Fijians and became fluent in Hindi. He was then part of the pioneering Columban group that went to Pakistan in 1979. Later he worked with people of Pakistani origin in northern England, living in Bradford. He celebrated Mass once a month with Pakistani Catholics in Nelson. Much of his work in Bradford was with refugees from the troubled Middle East. He was then reassigned to Fiji. But his final posting was back to Pakistan in 2009.

Father Pat's niece Siobhan McCaffrey describes his death in Following in Father Pat's Footsteps, an article she wrote after visiting Pakistan: On our last day, we travelled to the town of Murree, a seven-hour drive from Lahore, situated on the side of a steep hill, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Murree was where Father Pat died. He had been visiting lay missionaries there. He had left the convent [of the Presentation Sisters where he had celebrated Mass the evening before] around 6:00am to catch a bus to Rawalpindi. He was rushing to catch the bus when he died. The only person around was Latief, a street-sweeper, considered the lowest of the low in Pakistan’s caste system.

Latief had seen Father Pat holding on to the rails outside the compound and then fall back onto the road. He went to his aid but was unable to help. He raised the alarm at the convent and the Sisters came.

We thanked the street-sweeper for trying to help our uncle. He apologized for not being able to save him and explained that it was his moral duty to try, but that God had decided to take him and there was nothing he could do. [You can read about Father Pat's last hours here.]

Father Pat's whole life was that of a follower of Jesus who had never forgotten the experience of weeping, of suffering with the poor. And God surely blessed him in allowing him to celebrate Mass the evening before he died and in sending a man from the poorest of the poor to be the first to come to his aid, a Muslim who, like Father Pat himself, had never forgotten the experience of weeping, of suffering with others.

Fr Pat McCaffrey’s grave in Pakistan

Knowing Father Pat as I did, I am certain that nothing would have made him happier than to be attended to in his final moments by a Muslim, Latief, a 'nobody' in his own country. We see the nobility of this man's character and his faith in God in what he said to Father Pat's niece Siobhan when he met her: He apologized for not being able to save him and explained that it was his moral duty to try, but that God had decided to take him and there was nothing he could do. Latief was the embodiment of the closing words in today's First Reading: the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it (Deuteronomy 30:14).

And in the action of Latief and the life of Father Pat we see the truth of the response in today's Responsorial Psalm: Seek God, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.

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But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion (Luke 10:33).

Parable of the Good Samaritan

Domenico Fetti [Web Gallery ofArt]

Jesus said, 'You go, and do likewise.'

Antiphona ad communionem

Communion Antiphon Cf Psalm 83[84]:4-5 

Passer invenit sibi domum, et turtum nidum, ubi reponet pullos suos. Altaria tua, Domine virtutem, Rex meus, et Deus meus! Beati qui habitant in domo tua, in saeculum saeculi laudabunt te.

The sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for her young: by your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. Blessed are they who dwell in your house, for ever singing your praise.

Traditional Latin Mass

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 07-13-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Peter 3:8-15. Gospel: Matthew 5:20-24.

Christ Enthroned

Giotto di Bondone [Web Gallery of Art]

In your hearts reverence Christ as Lord (1 Peter 3:15; Epistle).

 

Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sunday Reflections, 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

The Sanctuary of Christ the King in Almada, Portugal, a monument dedicated to the Sacred Heart

[Wikipedia; photo]

June is the month of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened; I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon yourselves, and learn from me; I am gentle and humble of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light (Matthew 11:29-30, Knox).

Young Jew as Christ

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel  Mark 3:20-35  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Then Jesus went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Beggar Resting

Giacomo Ceruti [Web Gallery of Art]

The note that goes with this painting on Web Gallery of Art - a wonderful website - says: The stick of the sitting figure of about seventy years of age, the knapsack on his shoulders, and the wicker basket all identify him as a pilgrim rather than as a beggar seeking alms.

Pilgrims often are beggars in the sense that some depend entirely on the goodness of others for food and lodging along their way. The Columban seminarians in the Philippines used to go on such a pilgrimage as part of their spiritual formation as Kurt Zion Pala, now ordained and serving in Myanmar, describes in The Road to Agoo. (I'm not sure if our seminarians still do that).

But sometimes we can see individuals simply as beggars and, in a sense, dismiss them from our thoughts, never knowing their stories, never knowing their humanity. That has been my experience a number of times down the years.

One such experience was during my seminary years, in the summer of 1964, while working for two weeks at The Morning Star Hostel, run by the Legion of Mary, less than a 15-minute walk from where I lived in Dublin. It was a place of refuge for 'down and out' men. It was far from being a luxury hotel but was a place where every man, whether short-term or long-term, was respected. The facilities have improved since then. 

While at the Morning Star I had a couple of long chats with a man I knew by sight. I'll call him Michael, a man aged 40 or thereabouts. He was a street singer, going around different parts of the city singing popular songs and hoping that people would give him a few pennies. Anytime I saw him he was just another beggar to me. 

But in our conversations I met in Michael a man who had a spirituality that in a real sense was beyond me. He was highly intelligent and reflected on life. He wasn't from Dublin and didn't tell me how he had ended up in the Morning Star. But I got a sense of a person for whom God was very real. I wondered if he was somewhat out of his mind or if he was some kind of mystic. I felt blessed by knowing him and figured that more likely he was a mystic, certainly a man close to God. And I saw his dignity as a person made in the image of God, the serene dignity of the beggar/pilgrim that Giacomo Ceruti captured in his painting, the serene dignity of the young Jew expelled from his native country captured by Rembrandt.

When his family heard it, they went out to seize him,  for  they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’ These words in today's Gospel remind me of Michael. It is clear that the perception of some of those who knew Jesus was that he was somewhat 'off-centre'. Jesus is here identifying himself with every person who is, in some way, 'off-centre' or perceived to be such. Such persons are not always taken seriously by the rest of us. They are on the margins.

The note that goes with Rembrandt's Young Jew as Christ says, The sitter of the painting is a young Jew evicted from Spain and settled in Amsterdam in the neighbourhood of Rembrandt. Another person on the margins, evicted by followers of Jesus from his native country because he was ethnically the same as Jesus and his mother. 

I once showed a very poor black and white copy of this painting during a Sunday homily at a Mass in a home for girls in the Philippines where most of the girls had been sexually abused. One, aged 14 or 15, asked if she could keep the copy. I later had a proper print made and framed and gave it to her. I asked her what had drawn her in Rembrandt's painting. She replied, 'He looks so human'.

In today's gospel we see the utter humanity of Jesus, God who became Man. We see his utter vulnerability, allowing himself to be dismissed by some as one who has gone out of his mind.

And then the extraordinary statement by Jesus: Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.

Whatever our nationality, our ethnic origins, our social standing, our level of education, our intellectual or physical abilities, our language, Jesus calls us his brother and sister and mother. His own Mother is the only one, apart from Jesus himself, who carried out God's will perfectly. Nevertheless he considers all who desire, with God's grace, to carry out the Father's will his brother and sister and mother. 

Jesus showed himself to me 60 years ago through Michael, whom I had seen only as a beggar before I met him. He shows himself to me through Ceruti's Beggar Resting, through Rembrandt's Young Jew as Christ. And Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, showed his humanity through a very poor print of Rembrandt's painting to my young friend in the Philippines who had been so badly treated!

May the words of Jesus and his presence among us in so many ways fill us with courage and hope!

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Friday 7 June 2024

Readings (New American Bible)

Sweet Heart of Jesus

Sung by Regina Nathan

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 06-09-2024 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Peter 5:6-11. Gospel: Luke 15:1-10.

Parable of the Lost Drachma

Domenico Fetti [Web Gallery of Art]

Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost (Luke 15:9; Gospel)..

'Christ is the Bridegroom.' Sunday Reflections, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Christ and the Wise Virgins

German Mediaeval Sculptor [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 25:1-13 (English Standard Version Anglicised, India)

Jesus told this parable to his disciples:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’  Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterwards the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Oxygen Masks Dropping

[Wikimedia Commons]

In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop down from the panel above your head… Secure your own mask before helping others.

I have heard those words hundreds of times before flight takeoffs. I have never experienced having to use one of these masks and I hope that I never will. (I don't expect to be flying too often at this stage of my life). The others mentioned in the instruction are children and persons with disabilities of one kind or another who would need help. But the instruction is clear: Secure your own mask before helping others.

The introduction to today's Mass in the November 2020 issue of Magnificat, a wonderful monthly daily missal that also includes daily morning and evening prayer, reads: Why do the five wise virgins not share their oil with the five foolish ones? Because it is something that simply cannot be shared. The oil is our personal virtue. 'The wise maidens represent all those who possess the ensemble of virtues which characterise a complete Christian life. The burning oil lamps which they carry . . . symbolically portray Christian wisdom . . . This Christian wisdom empowers all those who embrace prudence and the other moral virtues to fulfil the requirements of an integral and holy life' (Fr Romanus Cessario OP). 'God, through Jesus, will bring with him those who' seek wisdom with the same ardour with which the wise virgins seek the bridegroom. For Christ is the Bridegroom.

Airlines instruct adult and able-bodied passengers to put on their own masks first. If they don't they may not be in a position to help others for whom they have a responsibility. The situation is an emergency and everything has to be done quickly. Adults are asked to behave as responsible adults.

The ten virgins in the parable are also adults, albeit young. Every one of them made a decision. The five wise virgins decided to buy the oil necessary for lighting their lamps even though they did not know when exactly they would be using them. The five foolish virgins decided not to buy the oil they needed. There was no 'emergency' as there is in a plane if the oxygen masks drop. Being ready to meet the bridegroom whenever he might arrive wasn't a priority with them. For the five wise virgins it was.

If we see the bridegroom in the parable as representing Jesus we can see that Jesus is asking us to direct our lives constantly towards him. 

I've written a number of times about 15-year-old Blessed Carlo Acutis, beatified in 2020, who used to tell his friends, The goal of my life is to always be united with Jesus. 

On a number of occasions I have written about Clement Shabaz Bhatti, the Catholic Pakistani politician assassinated in 2011, who wrote in his Spiritual Testimony, I want to live for Christ and it is for Him that I want to die.

These are two contemporary examples of persons ready with their lamps lit for the Bridegroom - Jesus Christ Himself - when he came.

St Charles Borromeo, the great Archbishop of Milan, whose feast day is celebrated on 4 November, said in the sermon he gave at his last synod: Or is your task the care of souls? Then do not neglect your own. Do not spend yourself so completely on other people that you have nothing left for yourself. Of course you have to look after the souls you have been put in charge of, but not to the extent that you forget your own. 

St Charles Borromeo Administers the Sacrament to the Plague-Infected

Caspar Franz Sambach [Web Gallery of Art]

Traditional Latin Mass

Fifth Sunday remaining After Epiphany

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-12-2023 if necessary).

Epistle: Colossians 3:12-17. Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30.

Parable of the Sower

Domenico Fetti [Web Gallery of Art

But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away (Matthew 13:25; Gospel).