'Even the Spirit of Truth.' Sunday Reflections, 6th Sunday of Easter, Year A

The Holy Family with the Father and the Holy Spirit

Carlo Dolci [Web Gallery of Art]

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17; Gospel).

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel: John 14:15-21 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

The Last Supper

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Today's Gospel is taken from the Last Supper Discourse, found only in St John's Gospel. These are the last intimate words of Jesus to the Twelve Apostles before his death on Calvary the next day. He makes this promise to them: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

The Helper, the Spirit of truth, is the Holy Spirit whom the Father was to send on Pentecost Sunday to guide the Church until the return of Jesus in glory on the Last Day. The Holy Spirit guides us through the Holy Bible, through the teaching of the Church and through the many great teachers He has raised up down the centuries. One of those teachers was the author of the Letter to Diognetus, who lived towards the end of the first century AD and into the second. An extract from it was in the Office of Readings in the Breviary last Wednesday. Here is part of that. I have added emphases. 

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law.

It was the upright lives of the followers of Jesus, especially in the area of chastity, that slowly transformed those around them. Countless Christians from every background, young and old, were martyred for their belief in Jesus Christ and, in many cases, out of contempt for their chastity. 

I'm writing this on Friday 12 May when the Church honours three martyrs. Pope St Damasus writes of two of them: Nereus and Achilleus the martyrs joined the army and carried out the cruel orders of the tyrant, obeying his will continually out of fear. Then came a miracle of faith. They suddenly gave up their savagery, they were converted, they fled the camp of their evil leader, throwing away their shields, armor, and bloody spears. Professing the faith of Christ, they are happy to witness to its triumph. From these words of Damasus understand what great deeds can be brought about by Christ's glory. The third martyr honoured today is St Pancras, from Syria, who became a Christian when he went to Rome and was beheaded for his faith in Jesus Christ, at the age of 14.

The Letter to Diognetus speaks to today's world, especially in the West. Like others, [Christians] marry and have children, but they do not expose them. Another translation of those last few words reads, but they do not destroy their offspring. The killing of babies in the womb is now legal in most countries, in some jurisdictions right up to the moment of birth. And there are places where children who survive abortion are left to die, allowed by law.

Christians share their meals, but not their wives. In many Western countries now the very concept of family, consisting of husband, wife and children, has been undermined, with divorce becoming more and more common among those who have married, and sexual activity outside of marriage being accepted as normal, usually with no till death to us part involved. 

A parody of marriage is now legal and socially accepted in many countries, mostly in the West, and those who oppose 'marriage' between two persons of the same sex are often condemned as 'bigots'. Two generations ago the very idea of such a 'marriage' would have been laughed at.

What Genesis 1:27 teaches us, as does nature itself, is now being rejected more and more: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Legislators, some of them claiming to be 'devout Catholics', approve of the genital mutilation of minors, in some jurisdictions without the consent of their parents, in a vain and tragic effort to change their sex, an impossibility.

Language has been corrupted to bring all of this about. Terms such as 'the gender assigned at birth' instead of the sex of a person being there from the moment of conception, as science teaches us, are being widely used in order to dehumanise us. We are being asked to worship false gods just as Saints Nereus, Achilleus and Pancras were asked to do. They gave their lives for Jesus Christ rather than do that.

Every moment of our life, everything we do, every decision we make, are meant to be informed by our faith in Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, as Jesus described himself in last Sunday's Gospel. We know that he loves us, that he died for us, that he rose again in glory, that he and the Father have sent the Holy Spirit to guide us, that he will come to judge us on the Last Day when everything will be seen clearly.

The description of the life Christians are called to in the letter to Diognetus written 1,800 years ago speaks to today's world, especially the Western world, now a post-Christian world, but a world where the Holy Spirit still can fill us with wisdom and courage to bear witness to Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

I will finish with two quotations that reflect what the Letter to Diognetus says. One is on the top of the homepage of this blog: 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). 

The other is from the Servant of God Sr Lucia of Fatima OCD which I found in Magnificat - a monthly liturgical publication I can recommend unreservedly - and is a reflection for the Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, celebrated today as I finish this. Sr Lucia writes: From the moment of our conception, our life continues through time and goes on to eternity, where it will abide. As long as we live on this earth we are pilgrims on the way to heaven, if we keep to the way that God has marked out for us. This is the most important thing in our lives: that we should behave in such a way as to ensure that, when we depart from this world and at the end of time, we shall deserve to hear from the lips of Jesus Christ those consoling words: 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world'.

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth.

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David Carlin describes what has happened in recent decades in the Western world and in the USA in particular in Logical, but Mad.

If Ye Love Me

Music by Thomas Tallis (c.1605 – 1685)

Sung by The Mancunium Consort

Text: If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; e’en the Spirit of truth (John 14:15-17; King James Version).

This is from today’s Gospel and includes the words of the Communion Antiphon.

Traditional Latin Mass

Fifth Sunday After Easter

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 05-14-2023 if necessary).

Epistle: James 1:22-27. Gospel: John 16:23-30.

The Penitent Magdalen

Georges de La Tour [Web Gallery of Art]

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing (James 1:23-25; Epistle).

'We can touch Christ's Heart and feel him touching ours.' Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Advent, Year A

 

The Dream of St Joseph

Georges de La Tour [Web Gallery of Art]

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife’ (Matthew 1:24).

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 1:18-24 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife [into his home].

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge 

Christ Carrying the Cross

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7; Second Reading).

A young friend of mine in Mindanao on his first day in school was asked by his teacher who his father was. The boy answered, Ang Dios nga Amahan - 'God the Father'. The youngster was correct. Our deepest identity is that through baptism we are sons and daughters of God the Father, brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, as St Paul states in today's Second Reading. 

Not only is that our identity, it is also our mission because through Jesus we have received grace and apostleship . . . among all the nations. In his First Letter to the Corinthians St Paul spells out what this may mean: For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Being a son or daughter of God the Father, a brother or sister of Jesus and of one another demands that we help carry the Cross of Jesus and that we make him known to others.

St John of the Cross writes: When he [God the Father] 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.

I highlight some of those words: he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say.

Christ in Agony on the Cross

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

El Greco's two paintings here show very clearly that we preach Christ crucified. The background of the city of Toledo, Spain, where the artist lived for many years, highlights the truth of the words of St John read at the Mass During the Day on Christmas Day: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Risen Lord lived in Toledo in El Greco's time, as he lives there now, as he lives wherever we are.

Advent prepares us to meet Jesus Christ, recalling the moment of his birth at Christmas; prepares us to meet him when he comes again in glory at the end of time, while preparing us to meet him at the moment of our death. And it prepares us to meet him in our daily lives, often in surprising and unexpected ways. All of this is the way of Jesus to draw us into a more intimate relationship with him, to draw us more deeply into our understanding of him as the Father's one Word.

Pope Benedict XVI in his General Audience on 3 September 2008 spoke on what had happened to St Paul on the road to Damascus. He finished with the  following words [emphases added]. 

Turning now to ourselves, let us ask what this means for us. It means that for us too Christianity is not a new philosophy or a new morality. We are only Christians if we encounter Christ. Of course, he does not show himself to us in this overwhelming, luminous way, as he did to Paul to make him the Apostle to all peoples. But we too can encounter Christ in reading Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the Church. We can touch Christ's Heart and feel him touching ours. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we truly become Christians. And in this way our reason opens, all Christ's wisdom opens as do all the riches of truth.

Therefore let us pray the Lord to illumine us, to grant us an encounter with his presence in our world, and thus to grant us a lively faith, an open heart and great love for all, which is capable of renewing the world.

May the coming week be a time when we meet the loving Heart of Christ intimately and feel him touching ours.

Antiphona at introitum

Entrance Antiphon Cf Isaiah 45:8

The longer form is used in the Traditional Latin Mass this Sunday.

Rorate, caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum;

Drop down dew, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the just One;

apertatur terra et germinet Salvatorem.

let the earth be opened and bring forth a Saviour.

Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei: et opera manuum eius annunciat firmamentum.

The heavens show forth the glory of God: and the firmament declares the work of His hands.

Gloria Patri, et Filio et Spiritu Sancto; sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Rorate, caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum;

Drop down dew, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the just One;

apertatur terra et germinet Salvatorem.

let the earth be opened and bring forth a Saviour.

Traditional Latin Mass

Fourth Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-18-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. Gospel: Luke 3:1-6.

Every Valley from Messiah by Handel

Tenor: Jon Vickers; conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham

Ev’ry valley shall be exalted, and ev’ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain (Isaiah 40:4) quoted in today’s Gospel (Luke 3:5).

Joseph and Mary were preparing Jesus for his mission. Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

Young Jew as Christ

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 4:21-30 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)  

Jesus began to speak in the synagogue: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your home town as well.” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his home town. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Today's Gospel in Filipino sign Language

Traditional Irish thatched cottages

Indreabhán, County Galway

[Wikipedia; photo]

I left home for the first time when I was 11, though only for a month. It was during the summer of 1954 and I spent the four weeks in an Irish-speaking part of County Galway in the west of Ireland, just beyond An Spidéal (Spiddal) on the northern shore of Galway Bay. There were many houses like the one above in the area.

I was one of around 100 children aged between 10 and 14, all sons and daughters of members of trade (labour) unions in Dublin which sponsored a summer-school / holiday each year so that the youngsters involved could become more fluent in the Irish language (Gaelic), which we all studied at school. We used to have outdoor classes in the mornings, unless it rained, and were free in the afternoon. We all stayed in groups of three or four boys or girls with local families. We were excused from class if we went to the bog with our hosts when they were cutting turf (peat).

A family from Dublin came down for their annual holiday and stayed in the same house where I was with two other boys. I had never met them before and they didn't know me. The husband/father, Paddy O'Neill, asked me the first time we met if I was the son of John Coyle. At that time I knew nothing about where we come from, though I knew that children often looked like one or other of their parents but had no idea why. I felt a surge of pride as I said 'Yes' to Mr O'Neill. 

He had seen my father's face in mine. Then he told me that he had worked as a young carpenter with my father, who was older than he was, and that he had found my Dad very helpful to him. Over the years others were to tell me the same thing, how my father was such a great mentor to young men learning their trade. Dad was a carpenter too and became a foreman of the carpenters and later a general foreman on the building/construction sites where he worked for 54 years.

My father in turn often spoke with great respect and affection of foremen he had worked under and who had helped him. I remember Ned Boyle, who lived near us. He had a big moustache, as I recall, and his wife had beautiful white hair and a lovely smile. They looked like every child's favourite grandparents. My mother often described them as a real 'Darby and Joan' couple. In the song The Folks Who Live on the Hill Oscar Hammerstein II's lyrics to Jerome Kern's music include these lines:

We'll sit and look at the same old view,
Just we two.
Darby and Joan who used to be Jack and Jill,
The folks who like to be called,
What they have always been called,
'The folks who live on the hill'.

I remember Dad talking about Jack Grace, another foreman under whom he worked. I never knew him, though I had some contact with some of his sons, all of whom were older than me. Two of them, Fr Ronald and Fr John, became Capuchin priests and were assigned to what is now Zambia. Both have gone to their reward. Another, Mick, died in an accident while building a church in Dublin. He, a married man, was very active in the Legion of Mary. Three sisters of theirs became Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary in Tarrytown, New York, USA. I got the impression from my father that Mr Grace was a man of great integrity, of nobility of character. I could see something of that in his sons.

I could see it in my father and how foremen such as Mr Boyle and Mr Grace had helped to form him as a person, without even being aware of it. 

Christ in the Carpenter's Shop

Georges de La Tour [Web Gallery of Art]

As I grow older I see more clearly how my parents and others formed me. Very often when I'm writing I think of John Galligan, my teacher in Fourth Class (Grade Four) who gave us a great grounding in the grammar of both Irish and English, encouraged us to read the newspaper critically and gave us many opportunities to write. But above all, he shared his faith as he prepared us for confirmation and as he spoke so often about his wife Mary. Indeed, he brought her to the school one day so that we could meet her. I came to know them years later as friends and saw in them a real 'Darby and Joan' couple.

Is not this Joseph's son? the people in the synagogue asked in wonder before they turned against Jesus and tried to kill him. There's a gap of 18 years between the time when Mary and Joseph, sick with worry, went back to Jerusalem to try to find the 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple, where in his humanity his sense of his vocation was beginning to awake. The First Reading, from Jeremiah, has the word of the Lord saying to the prophet, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jer 1:5). Further on the Lord tells Jeremiah, They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you (Jer 1:19).

God the Father had the mission of his Son Jesus, God who became Man, in mind from from all eternity. He knew that many would fight against Jesus, but they shall not prevail against you . . . And the Father called two human beings to prepare Jesus for his mission, Mary to be his very mother and Joseph, her husband, to be like a father to him.

Jesus in his humanity learned from St Joseph how to be a responsible man. The years when Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them and increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour (Luke 2:51, 52) were the years when Joseph and Mary were preparing Jesus for his mission, Mary treasured all these things in her heart. I wonder to what extent St Joseph realised the importance of daily life in the house, in the carpenter's shop, in that preparation.

Mr Boyle and Mr Grace were among those who formed my father as an upright man of deep faith. I doubt if any of them ever spoke to each other about their faith, just as my father rarely spoke about it to me. They simply lived it. I'm prouder now, more than 34 years after his death, to be known as 'John Coyle's son' because I can see how much he has influenced me as a priest.

Our influence on each other is for good and for bad. Those who hear someone ask as a compliment about them,  Is not this the son/daughter of . . .? are blessed. Those of whom it is said that they are saintly, not because they are 'pious' but because there is something Christ-like about their lives, are blessed and are a blessing to others.

When Jesus heard the people in the synagogue ask Is not this Joseph's son? I'm certain that in his humanity he felt deeply blessed because the love and care of Joseph had been central to the loving plan of God the Father for his Son, God who became Man. 

Communion Antiphon Cf Psalm 30[31]:17-18. 

Illúmina fáciem tuam super servum tuum, 

et salvum me fac in tua misericórdia. 

Dómine, non confúndar, quóniam invocávi te.

Let your face shine on your servant. 

Save me in your merciful love.

O Lord, let me never be put to shame, for I call on you.

In Ordinary Time the Missal gives two Communion Antiphons, one of which is used. The first has a text from the Old Testament and the second a text from the New Testament. The Antiphon above is used in the Traditional Latin Mass on Septuagesima Sunday, which this year falls on 13 February. This, in the Church calendar used for the TLM, is the third Sunday before Ash Wednesday.

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I mentioned above the song The Folks Who Live on the Hill. I came across this version by Liverpool-born singer Michael Holliday who took his own life at the age of 38 in 1963, a couple of years after he had a nervous breakdown. It seems he suffered badly from stage fright, which you can see as he introduces the song. Remember him in your prayers and all who have taken their own lives, along with those who grieve for them. 

Note too how marriage and family were understood in the Western world when the song was written in 1937.

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 01-30-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 13:8-10.  Gospel: Matthew 8:23-27.

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

Matthew 8:23-27

I thank God for the 'Yes' of my parents. Sunday Reflections, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Call of the Sons of Zebedee

Marco Basaiti [Web Gallery of Art]

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

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 10:35-45 or 10:42-45 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

[James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.] 

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Christ in the Carpenter's Shop

Georges de la Tour [Web Gallery of Art]

In May 2008 I unexpectedly received an email from Michael in Australia whom I hadn't met or heard from since the summer of 1967 when we were working together on a building (construction) site in Dublin. I had just been ordained subdeacon and was to be ordained priest in December of that year. The general foreman on the site was my father, John.

In a later email Michael said, Your father was a great role model for me to try and emulate. I remember the first job that I met your father on, as he was the general foreman. It was the first job for me as a journeyman carpenter and it was a pleasant experience coming to work with such a pleasant gentleman giving the instructions.

My father a week before his sudden death on 11 August 1987

I wasn't at all surprised at Michael's words as I had heard others who had worked with my father say similar things. And when I worked under him myself that summer I could see what I had known before: he led by example. He never swore, never shouted at anyone and was most helpful to young workers and to young architects. He sometimes would laugh at home at the lack of experience of the latter in practical matters. But he also knew that you can only learn through experience - and with the help of mentors. And he was a real mentor to the same young architects. 

Many times before I took an important examination or was about to do something for the first time Dad would say, The experience will be good for you. There was never the hint of a demanding expectation. And I still find his words to be true.

But I often heard him speak with gratitude, respect and affection of general foremen under whom he had worked as an apprentice and as a young carpenter. One was Mr Grace, whom I never met. Two of his sons became Capuchin priests and three of his daughters religious sisters. Another was Mr Boyle, whom I did know. He and his wife in their old age were a handsome couple.

Dad was the same at home as he was on the construction site. He never raised his voice to his two sons or to our mother. He was courteous with everyone he met and was just himself in every situation.

His authority came from within. He was responsible and loving in everything he did. Every morning, after returning from a very early Mass, he prepared my mother's breakfast before heading for work. He started work on time and ended on time. But he wasn't a slave to the clock.

With my parents John and Mary and my brother Paddy after my ordination in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral Dublin, 20 December 1967

October os Mission Month in the Church  and next Sunday, 24  October, is Mission Sunday with the theme We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20). In 2018, when the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, fell on Mission Sunday the theme was Christian Families are Missionary Families. 

I don't think that my parents, or any of their contemporaries in Ireland, saw themselves as missionaries. But they passed on the faith without being aware of it. When I was a child it was my father who took me to Sunday Mass. My mother went to a later Mass as she had to take care of my brother when he was still very young. My Dad used to take me to Solemn High Masses on days such as Easter Monday and Whit (Pentecost) Monday in the churches of the Dominicans and the Capuchins in Dublin. I didn't appreciate this at the time.

My mother used to take my brother and me to visit seven churches on the afternoon of Holy Thursday before the changes in Holy Week ceremonies in 1955 when they were moved from the morning to the afternoon/evening. There was solemn adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in each church or chapel we visited. Again, I didn't appreciate this at the time.

When I went to the Philippines in 1971 I was astonished to discover that this same practice, known there as Visita Iglesia, was very much alive in the larger cities, on the night of Holy Thursday, with many young people walking from one church to the next. Again, I thanked God for what my mother had invited me to do every Holy Thursday up to 1954 when I very reluctantly joined her.

Among the gifts I received from God through my parents was the living out of the words in today's gospel, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant. They served each other and they served us their two sons. They did this day in and day out, whatever their feelings might have been at any particular moment. As I grow old I just marvel at this as I marvel at newly-married couples willing to take on the same responsibilities with the children God will grant them.

I can see clearly now that my parents and so many others like then were missionaries in a very real sense, living out the promises they made when my brother and I were baptised. (Our Dad wasn't present at my brother's baptism because he was attending his mother's funeral that same day. In those days baptisms took place within a few days of birth, a commendable practice.)

In the current rite of the baptism of a child the priest asks the parents: You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?

In responding with Yes, we do, parents undertake to be missionaries to their own children. I thank God for the Yes of my parents.

Bishop Edward Galvin, Columban Co-founder, baptising an infant in China

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Played by Daniil Trifonov

Thanks to The Catholic Thing for drawing this to my attention.