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).
Showing posts with label Venerable Matt Talbot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Venerable Matt Talbot. Show all posts
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24).
In Ireland the Solemnity of St Patrick is celebrated this Sunday, with everything from the Mass for that feast including the Gloria. However, the readings are those of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year B.
Readings (Jerusalem
Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
GospelJohn 12:20-33 (English Standard Version
Anglicised, India)
Now among
those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.So these came
to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish
to see Jesus.”Philip
went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a
grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies,
it bears much fruit.Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates
his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.If anyone serves me, he must follow me;
and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves
me, the Father will honour him.
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have
come to this hour.Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and
I will glorify it again.”The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had
thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”Jesus answered, “This
voice has come for your sake, not mine.Now is the judgement of this world; now will the ruler
of this world be cast out.And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will
draw all people to myself.”He said this to show by what kind of death he was going
to die.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32; Gospel).
+++
I am using here what I posted in 2012 on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year B, with some modifications.
When Fr Patrick Sheehy died suddenly at the age of 80 in the Columban retirement home in Ireland eight days before Christmas 1999 people began to notice that certain things weren’t being done anymore, simple things such as newspapers and letters being brought to men who weren’t very mobile.
Father Pat, from Union Hall, in west Cork, one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland, if not the world, was ordained in 1944 and went to China in 1946. He was expelled from there in 1951 and moved to Japan, where he was to spend the next 38 years, apart from a two-year break for health reasons. When he retired to Ireland ‘he quietly kept busy at many corporal works of mercy until his sudden death, as Those Who Journeyed With Us, the Columban book of brief obituaries, puts it.
When I read in today’s Gospel, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself, I thought of Father Pat. He didn’t do anything to draw attention to himself. But in his death he drew the attention of those around him to the simple ways in which the Lord had been present through him in his thoughtful acts.
The Venerable Matt Talbot (2 May 1856 - 7 June 1925)
I thought of the Venerable Matt Talbot, - ‘The Workers’ Saint’ - whose sudden death in Granby Lane, behind the Dominican church in Dublin, where he was on his way to Mass on Trinity Sunday, 7 June 1925, led to the discovery of the extraordinarily ascetical life he had led for 41 years after giving up the alcohol to which he had been addicted. A penitential chain was found on his body. All the evidence later discovered pointed to the fact that this was something he wore only occasionally and with the permission of his spiritual director. But without that chain nobody would have known anything about this extraordinary man, with little formal education, living a profound life of penance and prayer while working as a labourer on the docks of Dublin and sharing the little money he had with those poorer than himself.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Again, Matt Talbot never sought any attention for himself. As a poor, working man, he would have got little attention anyway. But in his death he brought many closer to the Jesus he loved, especially alcoholics like himself. He had to decide each day to live soberly. He had to decide each day to pray, to attend Mass, to fast, to give himself to his work, to give away what he earned.
Father Pat Sheehy had to give up his dream of spending all his life in China when, with so many others, he was expelled. He had to let go of Japan for two years in the mid-1950s because of poor health, though the Lord brought him back there. When retired he had to decide each day to do each act of kindness that he did quietly, many of which weren’t clearly seen until he died.
Each decision we make to die to self in some way is a living out of the words of Jesus today: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Very often it is others who reap this rich harvest.
Matt Talbot Servant of God Part 1
In 1985 the late Fr Desmond Forristal, a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, wrote the script for a video showing the life of Matt Talbot. It used the device of having Matt himself, played by Seamus Forde, walking through the streets of Dublin 60 years after his death and telling his own story. For me this device works marvellously well. The two videos above and below form a unit and last less than 30 minutes.
When I was growing up in Dublin in the 1940s and 1950s Matt Talbot was a household name. I don't think it is now. In Matt's time alcoholism was a scourge. It still is for many. But today the use of illegal drugs is an even greater scourge, accompanied by violent crime that is an international business causing countless deaths.
Lord, in your servant, Matt Talbotyou have given us a wonderful exampleof triumph over addiction, of devotion
to duty, and of lifelong reverence for the Most
Holy Sacrament.
May his life of prayer and penance give
us courageto take up our crosses and follow in
the footstepsof Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Father, if it be your will that your
beloved servantshould be glorified by your Church,make known by your heavenly favoursthe power he enjoys in your sight.
We ask this through the same Jesus
Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Traditional Latin Mass
Passion Sunday
The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 03-17-2024 if necessary).
GospelMatthew 4:1-11 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
Then
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was
hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the
Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he
answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth
of God.’”
Then
the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the
templeand said to him, “If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you’,
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus
said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the
Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And
he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship
me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is
written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Then
the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
I remember vividly a homily on
this gospel when I was in the seminary, around 1965. The preacher was a saintly
Columban, Fr Edward McCormack, known to us as ‘Father Ted’, though he was a far
cry from the Father Ted in the British comedy TV series about a group of
priests in a remote part of Ireland. It wasn’t so much the preacher’s words as
the sense of the horror he conveyed of the very idea of Satan trying to tempt
Jesus Christ, God who became Man that struck me and that still remains. Father
Ted conveyed to me a sense of the horror of what sin is.
Lent is a time in which we can receive the grace of knowing
something of the horror of sin and of the price that our loving God paid in
order to save us from being lost in it. Lent is a time when the whole Church
prepares to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus at Easter. We can’t do that
without going through Good Friday and all that led to that.
An essential part of going through Lent, and one that
involves some pain, is accepting responsibility for our personal sins and
asking God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of confession or reconciliation. This
is an expression of God’s love for us as sinners, a sacrament in which Jesus
gives us the grace to resist the temptations of Satan as he did in the gospel.
One person who understood the depths of God's love in the sacrament of confession was the Venerable Matt Talbot (1856-1925). In the videos above and below the scriptwriter, the late Fr Desmond Forristal of the Archdiocese of Dublin, uses the artistic device of having Matt tell his own story while walking through the streets of Dublin 60 years after his death. It's a device that for me works remarkably well.
Matt Talbot was a Dubliner who had become an alcoholic by the age of 13 or 14 and spent the next fourteen years as a drunkard. He went to the extreme once of stealing a fiddle from a beggar and pawned it to get money for drink. It was his only living, Matt tells us in the video,and I think that was the worst thing I ever did in my life. Matt made many efforts later to trace the beggar but never succeeded.
Yet during his fourteen years of drinking Matt hardly ever missed Sunday Mass, though he didn't receive Holy Communion, and always said a Hail Mary before sleeping. I think that's what saved me in the long run, he tells us.
At the beginning of the second video - each video is less than 24 minutes - Matt, masterfully played by Irish actor SéamusForde, goes through a soul-wrenching temptation right at Communion time, something that happens the same Sunday morning at Mass in three different churches, a temptation that drives him out of each, until he falls on his knees outside one of them and prays Jesus, mercy; Mary help, a prayer that most Dubliners would have been familiar with.
Matt Talbot
The second video shows Matt sending a donation to the Maynooth Mission to China, as the Columbans were first known in Ireland, some time in the mid-1920s. The note he enclosed is in the Columban archives. The amount, one pound from himself and ten shillings (half of a pound) from his sister, was considerable for poor people.
Towards the end of the video Matt speaks of the things God had asked him to do. He put these thoughts in my mind when I was praying - and I knew they came from him. Only the priest in confession knew about these special things, small things God wanted me to do. They weren't for anybody else.
Among the special things, small things were the chains he wore on certain occasions. It was these very chains, found on his body when he died, that led to people asking questions about me . . . God must have wanted it that way . . . using me to say something to people today, now.
Lent is a gift that God gives the Church each year, a personal gift to each member of the Church, a time when he wants to put these thoughts in my mind when I am praying.
Matt Talbot was the farthest thing imaginable from the 'celebrities' of today during his life. In the nearly 100 years since his death he has given hope to many, especially persons struggling with alcoholism and other addictions.
Will I allow God this Lent to put whatever thoughts he wants to in my mind by giving him time in prayer? Will I allow him, as Mary did when she said Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word, to use me to say something to people today, now?
Will I fall on my knees in moments of great temptation, as Matt did during the terrible struggle he had right at Communion time three times on that one Sunday morning, perhaps reflecting the three temptations of the Lord in today's gospel, and plead Jesus, mercy, Mary help?
Will I allow myself to experience God's merciful love for me as a sinner through the sacrament of confession as Matt did?
They thought I was missing the good things in life. But God gave me the best part - and he never took it away.
Dubliners refer to older churches by their street names rather than by their patronal names. The church above, which Matt calls 'Gardiner Street church', is that of the Jesuits. Matt also refers a number of times to the 'chapel' in Seville Place, the Church of St Laurence O'Toole, once Archbishop of Dublin and now of its two patron saints, the other being St Kevin. This is another old Dublin usage, calling a church a 'chapel'. The accent and idioms of Matt in the two videos are pure Dublin.
When I was a child my mother, when 'going into town', i.e. into the city centre, would sometimes go through Granby Lane and we'd pray at the spot where Matt died. Everyone in Dublin then knew who Matt Talbot was. I'm not so sure about today.
You can discover more about this wonderful man, venerated by many struggling with alcoholism and other addictions, here and by googling.
Snowdrops, St Columban's Dalgan Park
19 February 2023
Pope St Leo the Great
Office of Readings, Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Dearly beloved, the earth is always filled with the mercy of the Lord. For every one of us Christians nature is full of instruction that we should worship God. The heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is within them, proclaim the goodness and the almighty power of their maker. The wonderful beauty of these inferior elements of nature demands that we, intelligent beings, should give thanks to God.
Traditional Latin Mass
First Sunday in Lent
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 02-26-2023 if necessary).
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10. Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Matthew 4:1-11 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty
nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him,
‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of
bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.”’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed
him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of
God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you”, and “On their hands they will
bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’
Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not
put the Lord your God to the test.”’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he
said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship
me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is
written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came
and waited on him.
I remember vividly a homily given on the First Sunday in Lent in St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, then the Columban seminary in Ireland where I studied from 1961 to 1968 and where I'm now living, by the late Fr Edward McCormack, who taught us Latin. We all recognised Father Ted, as we called him, as a saintly man. It was clear from his preaching that he was experiencing something of the horror of the very idea of the Devil tempting Jesus, God who became man. It was as if the very soul of Father Ted was shuddering.
Matt Talbot (1856-1925) was a Dubliner who had become an alcoholic by the age of 13 or 14 and spent the next fourteen years as a drunkard. He went to the extreme once of stealing a fiddle (violin) from a beggar and pawned it to get money for drink. It was his only living, Matt tells us in the video, and I think that was the worst thing I ever did in my life. Matt made many efforts later to trace the beggar but never succeeded. An aside: Yesterday, 19 February 2020, I got into a conversation with a total stranger at a bus stop in Dublin, nabout ten minutes' walk from where Matt Talbot died. This stranger had known some of my deceased relatives who had lived in the area. We got talking about Matt He knew about Matt having stolen the beggar's fiddle but didn't know that for the rest of his life he had tried to find its owner. He was so grateful to know this detail. And my conversation with this man, which we continued in the bus was for me another experience of how our lives are intertwined. As St John Henry Newman wrote, I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. Newman lived in Dublin, where Matt Talbot was born in 1856, from 1854 to 1861. Yet during his fourteen years of drinking Matt hardly ever missed Sunday Mass, though he didn't receive Holy Communion, and always said a Hail Mary before sleeping.I think that's what saved me in the long run, he tells us.
At the beginning of the second video Matt, masterfully played by Irish actor Seamus Forde, goes through a soul-wrenching temptation right at Communion time, something that happens the same Sunday morning at Mass in three different churches, a temptation that drives him out of each, until he falls on his knees outside one of them and prays Jesus, mercy; Mary help, a prayer that most Dubliners would have been familiar with. Perhaps Jesus had called Matt to share in the experience of his three temptations in the desert.
Matt Talbot towards the end of his life [Wikipedia]
The second video shows Matt sending a donation to the Maynooth Mission to China, as the Columbans were first known in Ireland, some time in the mid-1920s. The note he enclosed is in the Columban archives in Ireland. [A Columban priest told me recently that the original is now in Rome, with a copy in Ireland.] The amount, one pound from himself and ten shillings (half of a pound) from his sister, was considerable for poor people.
Towards the end of the video Matt speaks of the things God had asked him to do. He put these thoughts in my mind when I was praying - and I knew they came from him. Only the priest in confession knew about these special things, small things God wanted me to do. They weren't for anybody else.
Among the special things, small things were the chains he wore on certain occasions. It was these very chains, found on his body when he died, that led to people asking questions about me . . . God must have wanted it that way . . . using me to say something to people today, now.
Lent is a gift that God gives the Church each year, a personal gift to each member of the Church, a time when he wants to put these thoughts in my mind when I am praying.
Matt Talbot was the farthest thing imaginable from the 'celebrities' of today during his life. In the more than 90 years since his death he has given hope to many, especially persons struggling with alcoholism and other addictions.
Will I allow God this Lent to put whatever thoughts he wants to in my mind by giving him time in prayer? Will I allow him, as Mary did when she said Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word, to use me to say something to people today, now?Jesus
Will I fall on my knees in moments of great temptation, as Matt did during the terrible struggle he had right at Communion time three times on the one Sunday morning, perhaps reflecting the three temptations of the Lord in today's gospel, and plead Jesus, mercy! Mary, help!?
Dubliners refer to churches by their street names rather than by their patronal names. The church above, which Matt calls 'Gardiner Street Church', is that of the Jesuits. Matt also refers a number of times to the 'chapel' in Seville Place, the Church of St Laurence O'Toole, a saint who was once Archbishop of Dublin. This is another old Dublin usage, calling a church a 'chapel'. The accent and idioms of Matt in the two videos are pure Dublin.
When I was a child my mother, when 'going into town', ie into the city centre, would sometimes go through Granby Lane and we'd pray at the spot where Matt died. Everyone in Dublin then knew who Matt Talbot was. I'm not so sure about today.
The text in bold is used in the Mass in the Ordinary Form (the 'New Mass') while the longer text is used in the Extraordinary Form (the 'Old Mass' or 'Traditional Latin Mass'). It is an utter mystery to me - not a 'mystery of faith' - why the Church has shortened this text, which has so many musical settings that have been used for centuries.
Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.He fasted forty days and
forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.The tempter
came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to
become loaves of bread.”But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does
not live by bread alone,
but
by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the
devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,saying to
him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will
command his angels concerning you,’
and
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your
God to the test.’”
Again, the
devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and their splendor;and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall
down and worship me.”Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the
Lord your God,and
serve only him.’”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on
him.
I remember vividly a homily given on the First Sunday in Lent in St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, the Columban seminary in Ireland where I studied from 1961 to 1968, by the late Fr Edward McCormack, who taught us Latin. We all recognised Father Ted, as we called him, as a saintly man. It was clear from his preaching that he was experiencing something of the horror of the very idea of the Devil tempting Jesus, God who became man. It was as if the very soul of Father Ted was shuddering.
Matt Talbot was a Dubliner who had become an alcoholic by the age of 13 or 14 and spent the next fourteen years as a drunkard. He went to the extreme once of stealing a fiddle from a beggar and pawne it to get money for drink. It was his only living, Matt tells us in the video, and I think that was the worst thing I ever did in my life. Matt made many efforts later to trace the beggar but never succeeded.
Yet during his fourteen years of drinking Matt hardly ever missed Sunday Mass, though he didn't receive Holy Communion, and always said a Hail Mary before sleeping. I think that's what saved me in the long run, he tells us.
At the beginning of the second video Matt, masterfully played by Irish actor Seamus Forde, goes through a soul-wrenching temptation right at Communion time, something that happens the same Sunday morning at Mass in three different churches, a temptation that drives him out of each, until he falls on his knees outside one of them and prays Jesus, mercy; Mary help, a prayer that most Dubliners would have been familiar with.
The second video shows Matt sending a donation to the Maynooth Mission to China, as the Columbans were first known in Ireland, some time in the mid-1920s. The note he enclosed is in the Columban archives in Ireland. The amount, one pound from himself and ten shillings (half of a pound) from his sister, was considerable for poor people.
Towards the end of the video Matt speaks of the things God had asked him to do. He put these thoughts in my mind when I was praying - and I knew they came from him. Only the priest in confession knew about these special things, small things God wanted me to do. They weren't for anybody else.
Among the special things, small things were the chains he wore on certain occasions. It was these very chains, found on his body when he died, that led to people asking questions about me . . . God must have wanted it that way . . . using me to say something to people today, now.
Lent is a gift that God gives the Church each year, a personal gift to each member of the Church, a time when he wants to put these thoughts in my mind when I am praying.
Matt Talbot was the farthest thing imaginable from the 'celebrities' of today during his life. In the nearly 90 years since his death he has given hope to many, especially persons struggling with alcoholism and other addictions.
Will I allow God this Lent to put whatever thoughts he wants to in my mind by giving him time in prayer? Will I allow him, as Mary did when she said Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word, to use me to say something to people today, now?
Will I fall on my knees in moments of great temptation, as Matt did during the terrible struggle he had right at Communion time three times on the one Sunday morning, perhaps reflecting the three temptations of the Lord in today's gospel, and plead Jesus, mercy, Mary help? They thought I was missing the good things in life. But God gave me the best part - and he never took it away.
+++
St Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner St, Dublin [Wikipedia]
Dubliners refer to churches by their street names rather than by their patronal names. The church above, which Matt calls 'Gardiner Street church', is that of the Jesuits. Matt also refers a number of times to the 'chapel' in Seville Place, the Church of St Laurence O'Toole, once Archbishop of Dublin. This is another old Dublin usage, calling a church a 'chapel'. The accent and idioms of Matt in the two videos are pure Dublin.
When I was a child my mother, when 'going into town', ie into the city centre, would sometimes go through Granby Lane and we'd pray at the spot where Matt died. Everyone in Dublin then knew who Matt Talbot was. I'm not so sure about today.
