Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel Mark 6:7-13 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
Today's gospel reminds me of experiences as a seminarian while on Peregrinatio pro Christo with the Legion of Mary, in St Anne's Parish, Edge Hill, Liverpool, in 1963, in St Fergus' Parish, Paisley, Scotland in 1965 and in Holy Family Parish, Pewsey, Wiltshire, England, in 1966. Peregrinatio pro Christo, or PPC, is a programme of the Legion of Mary that began in 1958. Legionaries give up a week or two of their summer vacation to do full-time Legion work in another country. The name comes from the motto that inspired St Columban and many Irish missionary monks, Peregrinari pro Christo, 'to be a pilgrim for Christ'. Saint Pope John XXIII quoted this in a letter to the Irish Hierarchy in 1961 on the occasion of the Patrician Year, commemorating 1,500 years of the Catholic faith in Ireland. In the same letter he specifically referred to the involvement in this spirit of the Society of St Columban in Latin America.
Many of us in the seminary, including some of the priests, used to go for a week or two during our summer break. Like the apostles, we depended on the hospitality of parishioners for board and lodging. In my three experiences I was in parishes and the main work was going from house-to-house in pairs, rather like what the Apostles were sent by Jesus to do in today's gospel. Legionaries never work alone. Occasionally people would close their door once we announced who we were but very few were impolite. Some would give us a warm welcome.
I remember one family we visited in Liverpool. They were lapsed Catholics and the parish records showed they were rather hostile to the Church. However, when the man who opened the door heard our Irish accents he called his wife and began to tell us about their pleasant experiences on visits to Ireland. I suggested that the friendliness and warmth of the Irish people was an expression of their Catholic faith. We had a very friendly conversation with the couple and when we were leaving they seemed to have let go of their hostility to the Church.
As a young priest studying in the USA I had similar experiences in Lancaster, Kentucky, during the summers of 1969 and 1970. The parish priest, Fr Ralph Beiting, had college - and some high school - students from other parts of the USA work on various projects in his parish that covered nearly four counties and that had very few Catholics. There was still a lingering prejudice against Catholics among some of the people.
One of the projects was to visit each home in pairs, just as the Legion of Mary does, and introduce ourselves as being from the Catholic Church, and telling the people about our programmes. Again, the response was generally positive. In some rural homes we'd meet older people sitting on their rocking chairs on the veranda. They'd invite us to sit down and relax and would sometimes share a bit about their Bible-based faith. As we'd leave we'd hear the friendly farewell so common in the area, 'Y'all come back!'
Some of the programmes we invited children to were summer Bible schools and five-day vacations for poor children in a summer camp, boys one week and girls another week. Black and white children would be together at a time when this was rare in that part of the USA.
Only God knows what can result from going from house to house as a way of carrying the mission that Jesus gave to the Twelve and that he gives to us. He doesn't guarantee 'success' but simply sends us out in trust.
One of Father Beiting's summer apostolates for many
years was street-preaching, very often with seminarians. On one occasion before I met him he was driven out of one town at gunpoint but returned the next day, not to
preach but simply to show himself. Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer,
go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there . . . and
the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” (First
Reading).
Fr Beiting was eventually not only accepted but welcomed. He, a Catholic priest, was continuing an old tradition in the area, that of the travelling preacher. He was one of the very few left. Fr Beiting, born on 1 January 1924, was ordained in 1950 and up to his late 80s he was still going strong. In the video above he is preaching during the summer of 2011. He died on 9 August 2012. What a wonderful example he was as a disciple of Jesus and as a Catholic priest! I was a young priest when I first met Fr Beiting in 1969. He and the community he created that summer had a profound and formative influence on my life.
My experience with Fr Beiting was similar in many
ways to that with the Legion of Mary. The Handbook of the
Legion, mostly written by the Servant of God Frank Duff, who founded the Legion in
1921, states: The object of the Legion of Mary is the glory of God
through the holiness of its members developed by prayer and active
co-operation, under ecclesiastical guidance, in Mary's and the Church's work of
crushing the head of the serpent and advancing the reign of Christ.
The urgency of such work is highlighted in a letter
Frank Duff wrote to my late Columban confrere Fr Aedan McGrath in 1948 where he
stated that where the laity did not fulfil its role, the Church would
fail. He insisted that 'an inert laity is only two generations removed from
non-practice. Non-practice is only two generations away from non-belief'. (Frank
Duff, A Life Story by Finola Kennedy, p.8).
That is what has happened in the Western world,
including Ireland, in the last 76 years. More than ever each of us needs to
joyfully proclaim Christ is there with me . . . Christ has promised me
. . . I'll give you myself, as the 87-year-old Fr Beiting, with many
serious illnesses, was doing in the video above.
The words of the Gospel Acclamation, based on John
6:63, 68, put everything in focus: Your words are spirit, Lord, and
they are life; you have the message of eternal life.
This is the opening of Bach's
setting of the Latin text of Luke1:46-56, Mary's prayer during her visit to
Elizabeth. The full work is here. The Magnificat is part of the Church's
Vespers (Evening Prayer) and is often proclaimed at Mass when the Gospel of the
Visitation of Mary is read. Every member of the Legion of Mary prays the
Magnificat every day and it is prayed in the middle of every meeting of the Legion.
Traditional Latin Mass
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 07-14-2022 if necessary).
Epistle: Romans 8:12-17. Gospel: Luke 16:1-9.
Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty’ (Luke 16:7; Gospel).
