Blessed Carlo Acutis: Web Missionary. Sunday Reflections, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

 

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Vermeer [Web Gallery of art]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 13:44-52 [Shorter version: 44-46] (English Standard Version Anglicised, India)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

^[“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”]

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

 

World Youth Day Lisbon 2023

1-6 August

 [Wikipedia; photo]

Last weekend I preached at all the Masses in a parish in Dublin, asking for the financial and spiritual support of the people for the work of us Columban missionaries. I told the story of a 14-year-old girl - I'll call her 'Maria' - whom I met in a home for girls run by Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family in Metro Manila about 15 years ago. Maria suffered from asthma and her family had been living on the streets. Her father was a blind beggar. Maria's question to me still reverberates after all the years: How can I offer my life to God?

After one of the Masses a man told me of a seriously ill 11-year-old boy he had visited in a hospital in Dublin who wondered why so many people do not see children as capable of being saints. The boy was offering his suffering for others, uniting it with those of Jesus. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church (Colossians 1:24).

Blessed Carlo Acutis

3 May 1991 – 12 October 2006

[Wikipedia; photo]

Blessed Carlo Acutis, an English-born Italian raised in Milan, is one of the patrons of World Youth Day this coming week. From a very young age he found delight in visiting churches, knowing that Jesus was present in the Blessed Sacrament. This led his parents to return to the practice of their faith.

As a teenager Carlo became an expert at the computer and developed a website devoted to Eucharistic miracles. He was also a very sociable being. I don't think he was present at World Youth Day in Rome in 2000 but he surely took to heart these words from the homily of Pope St J0hn Paul II at the closing Mass on 20 August [emphases added]: To celebrate the Eucharist, 'to eat his flesh and drink his blood', means to accept the wisdom of the Cross and the path of service. It means that we signal our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for others, as Christ has done.

Our society desperately needs this sign, and young people need it even more so, tempted as they often are by the illusion of an easy and comfortable life, by drugs and pleasure-seeking, only to find themselves in a spiral of despair, meaninglessness and violence. It is urgent to change direction and to turn to Christ. This is the way of justice, solidarity and commitment to building a society and a future worthy of the human person.

This is our Eucharist, this is the answer that Christ wants from us, from you young people at the closing of your Jubilee. Jesus is no lover of half measures, and he does not hesitate to pursue us with the question: 'Will you also go away?' In the presence of Christ, the Bread of Life, we too want to say today with Peter: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life' (Jn 6:68).

Dear friends, when you go back home, set the Eucharist at the centre of your personal life and community life: love the Eucharist, adore the Eucharist and celebrate it, especially on Sundays, the Lord’s Day. Live the Eucharist by testifying to God’s love for every person.

In today's Gospel Jesus tells us: The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Young Carlo while still a child found the one pearl of great value: his Catholic Christian faith received as a gift from God through baptism within which he found Jesus present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Blessed Sacrament.

One of the extraordinary things about Carlo, who in so many ways was ordinary in the best sense, was his influence on adults, bringing his parents back to the faith and bringing a young man from India, Rajesh Mohur, a Hindu employed by his family, to the Catholic faith. Rajesh talks about this in the video below. Flavio Bergamo, an adult who learned through the internet about Carlo some years after the teenager's death, was a middle-aged man who had fallen away from the faith for many years. He tells in the video below how the young teenager brought him back to the faith. 

Carlo died within a week of being diagnosed with leukaemia. Most of the people who attended his funeral Mass were people his parents didn't know, some of them immigrants working as caretakers in buildings whom Carlo got to know by name while walking to school.

The video below is just over 30 minutes in length but I urge you to take the time during the next few days to watch it. I have just done so, not for the first time. It is really time with the Lord Jesus. Among other things, it shows us that as followers of Jesus we are called to be persons of joy, not with silly 'smileys' on our faces but with the joy in our hearts that only Jesus can give, He who said to the Apostles at the Last Supper: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11).

May the young people gathering in Lisbon this week draw closer to the Lord Jesus and may they be inspired by the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis who is not just a patron of youth but the patron of computer programmers.

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 07-30-2023 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13. Gospel: Luke 19:41-47.

Christ Cleansing the Temple

Luca Giordano [Web Gallery of Art]

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers" (Luke 19:45-46; Gospel).

'We are called to show forth the face of the Good Shepherd.' Sunday Reflections, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

 

Sheaves of Wheat

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 13:24-43 [Shorter version: 24-30] (English Standard Version Anglicised, India)

Jesus put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

[He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables;
    I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.]

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Reaper from Behind

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

At harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn (Matthew 13:30; today’s Gospel). 

In 1997 while on a visit to Toronto I read in a newspaper about a woman from the Philippines  who had been found guilty of embezzling about Can$250,000 over a period of time from the company for which she worked. The judge had no alternative but to send her to prison. However he was a very compassionate man. 

The judge was aware that the woman was no Al Capone. She had spent the money on surgery for her father in the Philippines, on improving her family's house there and on other family needs.

 She was also pregnant.

 The judge delayed the woman's imprisonment until six months after the birth of her child. She was also to serve her time in a women's prison near where she lived so that her family and friends could visit her easily.

 The First Reading gives context to the parable of the good seed and the weeds: Through such works you have taught your people that the righteous must be kind, and you have filled your children with good hope, because you give repentance for sins (Wisdom 12:19; First Reading). 

The judge in this case was both righteous and kind. As one implementing justice on behalf of the state he had to punish the person before him because she had committed a serious crime. But he also filled her with good hope and, I've no doubt, gave her an opportunity to repent of her sins.

The parable shows once again God's mercy, God's desire to be merciful. He doesn't want to destroy what is good. He wants what is good to grow. He wants to cultivate the virtues in our lives by nourishing them through his grace and with our cooperation. 

But the parable also acknowledges the reality of evil. Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, the householder instructs his workers. We can choose to be 'weeds', to spurn God's mercy. The consequences are the result of our choice, not of God's. The author of the Book of Wisdom says to God, you give repentance for sins. God himself offers the grace of sorrow for our sins, the grace to ask God for forgiveness, won for us by Jesus on the Cross. Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing' (Luke 23:34).

The greatest expression of the God's mercy, given as a gift to the Church, is the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which we often call confession or penance. In his Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 2001 Pope St John Paul II wrote: Dear priests, let us make regular use of this Sacrament, that the Lord may constantly purify our hearts and make us less unworthy of the mysteries which we celebrate. Since we are called to show forth the face of the Good Shepherd, and therefore to have the heart of Christ himself, we more than others must make our own the Psalmist's ardent cry: 'A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me' (Ps 51:12). The Sacrament of Reconciliation, essential for every Christian life, is especially a source of support, guidance and healing for the priestly life.

Three Columban priests whom I knew in Mindanao, Fr Frank Chapman from Australia, Fr John Meaney from Ireland and Fr Jim Moynihan from New Zealand, lived this very fully in their latter years in Cagayan de Oro. They used to spend hours in the confessional in the Cathedral every weekday and people came from all over to avail of the sacrament of reconciliation. Fr Chapman was still hearing confessions a few weeks before his death in 2004 at the age of 91. He spent the years of World War II in the mountains of Mindanao where he shared all the hardships of the people. 

The judge in Canada, though he had to be primarily a judge, also showed the charity of God, as many judges do. He showed compassion, which was expressed not only in the respect he showed the woman from the Philippines, but also in the respect he showed to her unborn child.

And St John Paul II shows how priests are called to show forth the face of the Good Shepherd, and therefore to have the heart of Christ himself so that all of us will meet the Good Shepherd and experience in the merciful heart of Christ himself in confession.

An Phaidir

The Lord’s Prayer in Irish

Setting composed by Seán Ó Riada

Maith dúinn ár bhfiacha . . . Forgive us our trespasses . . .

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 07-23-2023 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 8:12-17. Gospel: Luke 16:1-9.

St Paul

Jusepe de Ribera [Web Gallery of Art]

When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-16; today's Epistle).

'For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.' Sunday Reflections, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

Man Praying

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 11:1-13 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)  

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Léachtaí i nGaeilge  

St Francis Praying Before the Crucifix

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Then [Abraham] said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” [The Lord] answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” (Genesis 18:32; First Reading).

+++

Fr Patrick Ronan, from County Kilkenny in Ireland, was one of four Columbans jailed in China in 1952 by the Communist authorities for 'subversive activities'. Another Columban, Fr Aedan McGrath, spent nearly three years in solitary confinement in China between 1950 and 1953 because of his involvement in the Legion of Mary. All five were expelled in 1953.

Four Felons

by Frs Patrick Ronan, Owen O'Kane, John Casey and Patrick Reilly

Fr Ronan, known to his fellow Columbans as 'Pops', and his three companions, Frs Owen O'Kane, John Casey and Patrick Reilly, were called Four Felons in a book published in 1958 that told their story. They were in the same prison but in separate cells and were often interrogated in the middle of the night, never knowing when they might be called out.

Unlike his three companions, Father 'Pops' always managed to sleep soundly, no matter how often he was awakened for an interrogation. When the four were eventually released and told to leave the People's Republic of China he learned why when they arrived in Hong Kong. The woman who had been principal when he was in kindergarten had been praying every day of his captivity for one specific intention: that he would sleep soundly.

Like the wonderful bargaining prayer of Abraham on behalf of his people in the First Reading today that woman's prayer was very down to earth and, like Abraham, she saw God as being down to earth too. Her prayer was also very focused, as was that of Abraham. And, like Abraham, our father in faith, she had a deep faith-filled hope that God would answer her prayer.

The 'Four Felons' have all gone to their reward now. I was blessed to have known two of them in the Philippines, Fr Ronan and Fr Reilly. I happened to be in Ireland when Father 'Pops' died there in 1991 and his great friend and fellow 'felon' Fr Patrick Reilly told us a story at the funeral Mass that reminded us of the power of the very specific prayer of Fr Ronan's former teacher, though from a somewhat humorous angle. The four travelled home by boat from Hong Kong. The other three often had difficulty trying to waken Fr Ronan in the morning and suggested that he contact his friend in Ireland and ask her to stop praying for him!

I have often been deeply touched by friends in the Philippines who ask me to pray for some particular intention, very often for a family member who is sick. When that person gets better they make a point of thanking me for my prayers. There's a reminder in this that, like Abraham, I'm called to pray for the people I serve. And here in Ireland I've been approached on the street, in buses,  and have been at airports in a number of countries and on flights by people asking me to pray for them.

I truly believe that it is impossible for God to refuse to listen to prayer that is in harmony with his will. So many of us older people these days have family members and friends who seem to have fallen away from the Church and, in many instances, from the Christian faith itself. There are two things we can do: live as followers of Jesus as intensely as possible, with his grace, and pray that their faith be renewed.

St John Paul II singing the Our Father in Latin

Traditional Latin Mass

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 7-24-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 6:19-23. Gospel: Matthew 7:15-21.

Pink Peach Trees ('Souvenir de Mauve')

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (Matthew 7:17-18; Gospel).

'You do not leave a child at a time like this' (Janusz Korczak). Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Easter, Year B

 

The Good Shepherd

Early Italian Christian Painter [Web Gallery of Art]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel  John 19:11-18  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Jesus said:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Janusz Korczak

(22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942)

 

When St John Paul II canonised St Maximilian Kolbe OFMConv on 10 October 1982 he cited Janusz Korczak, a Jewish writer and teacher, who went to his death with a group of orphans in his charge although he had been offered the chance to be spared. He was also a paediatrician.

There were similarities between the sacrifice of of Fr Kolbe and Dr Korczak, both Polish. Fr Kolbe offered his life in exchange for that of Franciszek Gajowniczek,  a young Polish soldier interned in Auschwitz who was to be executed with nine others chosen at random because three of their companions had escaped. The Franciscan friar heard the young soldier cry 'My wife and my children'. His offer was accepted and he and the other nine were put in a cell and left without food or water. After two weeks the Franciscan priest was the only one still alive and was given a lethal injection on 14 August 1941.

Almost a year later Janusz Korczak was to die in Treblinka extermination camp along with nearly 200 Jewish orphans who had been living in the orphanage that he had set up in Warsaw in 1911-12. However, when the Nazis took over Warsaw they forced the orphanage to move to the Ghetto that they created in a district of the Polish capital in late 1940.

German soldiers came on 5 or 6 August 1942 to collect the orphans and about 12 staff members to take them to Treblinka. Dr Korczak had already turned down offers of sanctuary for himself before this and turned down an offer at this point.

A witness described the scene: Janusz Korczak was marching, his head bent forward, holding the hand of a child, without a hat, a leather belt around his waist, and wearing high boots. A few nurses were followed by two hundred children, dressed in clean and meticulously cared for clothes, as they were being carried to the altar.

At the point of departure for Treblinka an SS officer recognised Dr Korczak as the author of a book that was a favourite of his children and offered him a means of escape. Once again this remarkable man turned down this offer and went with the children to the camp where their lives were soon to end in the gas chambers.

Janusz Korczak could not save the lives of the children under his care but he made sure that they left the orphanage with dignity, wearing their best clothes and each bringing an item that was special to him or her. He chose not to leave them but to die with them.

St Maximilan Kolbe chose to give his life for someone he did not know because that man had a family and he hadn't.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

Cell where St Maximilian Kolbe died, 14 August 1941

[Wikipedia, source of photo]

[The hired hand] flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep (John 10:13-15).

Monument to Janusz Korczak, Warsaw

[Wikipedia, source of photo]

Three years ago on this Sunday I told the story of Janusz Korczak in my homily at a Mass in a parish in Dublin. It was a few weeks before a referendum in the Republic of Ireland to change an article in the Constitution so that abortion on demand could be legalised. I hoped that the congregation would make the connection between the sacrifice of Janusz Korczak and what we would be voting on. Some certainly did, because they told me so after Mass. Rightly or wrongly, I had decided to speak on the matter of the right to life of the unborn child in the form of a 'parable', even though this story really happened. But I sometimes ask myself if during those days - I addressed the matter similarly in other Sunday homilies at that time - I was somewhat cowardly.

Sadly, two-thirds of those who voted wanted change. The legislation that followed, allowing for abortion on demand up to 12 weeks, but with restrictions thereafter, came into effect on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 1 January 2019. That year 6,666 human beings were legally aborted in the Republic of Ireland. There are no figures yet for 2020. 

The nearly 200 Jewish orphans, their nurses and Janusz Korczak were also 'legally' killed as were St Maximilain Kolbe and his nine companions.

Surrexit Pastor Bonus

Setting by Orlando di Lasso

Sung by Vox AngelorumChoir, MBK, Jakarta

At St Paul’s Within theWalls, Rome

Antiphona ad communionem

Communion Antiphon

 

Surrexit Pastor Bonus, 

The Good Shepherd has risen,

qui animam suam posuit pro ovibus suis,

who laid down his life for his sheep

et pro grege suo mori dignatus est, alleluia.

Extraordinary Form of the Mass

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

Third Sunday after Easter 

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 4-25-2021 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Peter 2:11-19.  Gospel: John 16:16-22.

 

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.

Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.

Never Again: A Song to Remember The Holocaust

Words and music by Stephen Melzack

The words ‘B’YomHaShoah yikatevun’ in the song mean ‘On Holocaust Day it is Written’. 

In memory of Dr Janusz Korczak, the twelve nurses from his orphanage and the nearly 200 orphans murdered in Treblinka for the sole reason that, like Jesus, Mary and Joseph, they were Jewish.