Little girl to priest: 'Father, are you angry with God?' Sunday Reflections, 6th Sundah of Easter, Year B

The Little Fruit Seller

Murillo [Web Gallery of Art]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel  John 15:9-17  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another."

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

The video above is from the Ecumenical Evening Prayer in Westminster Abbey, London, on 17 September 2010 during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain. He is with Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury.

This is a setting by Thomas Tallis (c.1505 - 1585) of today's Communion Antiphon with the first part of John 14:17 added.

If ye love me, keep my commandments,
and I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may 'bide with you forever,
e'en the spirit of truth. (John 14:15-17)

Communion Antiphon   Antiphona ad communionem (Jn 14:15-16) 

Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate, dicit Dominus. Et ego rogabo Patrem, et alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in aeternum, alleluia.

If you love me, keep my commandments, says the Lord, and I will ask the Father and he will send you another Paraclete, to abide with you for ever, alleluia.

Christ Blessing the Children

Nicolaes Maes [Web Gallery of Art]

In May 2015 I gave a retreat to the Missionary Sisters of the Catechism in Lipa City, south of Manila. The Sisters have a house dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe where they take care of elderly and sick women whom they refer to as the lolas, the 'grandmas'. In another part of the compound they had at the time a group of orphans, five young boys and six young girls. (If my memory is correct the Sisters were planning to build an orphanage). Four of the boys served Mass every morning, including 'Zacchaeus', as the Sisters called him, the youngest of them and small, proudly wearing his white cassock like the others. 'Zacchaeus' wasn't yet old enough to make his First Holy Communion or First Confession. His role as a server was to hold up the small white towel - and he really had to stretch to do so - when the priest washed his hands during the Offertory.

The youngest of the girls was Chiara, aged four or five at the time. The children were present at lunch on the last day of the retreat, which had a celebratory air to it. I noticed after I had said Grace Before Meals that Chiara was somewhat tearful. Then I discovered that on such occasions she led the community in a Hail Mary as part of Grace. So the Sisters encouraged her to do so even though this visiting priest had pre-empted her. After a little hesitation and the drying of her tears she prayerfully led us all in the Hail Mary and then invoked the protectors of the Congregation - Our Lady of Good Counsel, St Joseph, St Veronica Giuliani, St Gemma Galgani and St Bernadette Soubirous.

The Prayer Before Meal

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin [Web Gallery of Art]

During the retreat I told a number of stories of seemingly insignificant events where God had revealed himself to me through the actions of children and of older persons without their being aware of it. Then on the way back to Manila after the retreat Sister Evelyn Cortes SMC, whose family I have known since she was in high school in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, and Sister Eppie Resano SMC told me a story about Chiara where she showed an understanding of what this Sunday's Second Reading is all about, without being aware of it.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:7-10).

Some time before I gave the retreat a missionary priest visited the Sisters and celebrated Mass for them. Little Chiara saw him as being very severe in his demeanour. After Mass she tugged on his cassock and asked him, Father, are you angry with God? It seems that the following morning he wasn't quite as severe looking!

Some may be angry with God. I don't think that God is too perturbed about that when he knows that the source of our anger may be bewilderment over tragedies in our lives, for example, just as we allow those whom we love to vent their anger on us because basically they trust us and we have some idea of the source of their anger.

Perhaps a more common experience, especially among persons who are serious about following Jesus faithfully but who try to live as if God's love had to be earned, as if it could be earned, is the idea that God is angry with us or very distant from us.

St John tells us so beautifully what the situation really is: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Most of the Gospel readings on the Sundays and weekdays of Easter are taken from John 13-17, the Last Supper Discourse in which Jesus speaks to each of us with intense love about the intimacy into which he calls us personally through our baptism. In today's Gospel Jesus says to each of us, speaking from his heart to ours - Cor ad cor loquiter, 'Heart speaks to heart', as St John Henry Cardinal Newman emphasised on his coat-of-arms - As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love . . . This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you . . . You are my friends . . . You did not choose me, but I chose you . . . The initiative comes from God. Love comes from God and our loving response to that love is itself a gift from God. We do not and cannot earn God's love. God who is love gives us himself as pure gift.

How can such a God be angry with us and how can we be angry - choosing to remain angry as distinct from a spontaneous feeling - with such a God?

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).  

For the LORD takes delight in his people; 
he crowns the poor with salvation (Psalm 149:4, Grail translation).

Alleluia from Exsultate, jubilate

Composer: Mozart

Soprano: Khánh Ngọc, pianist: Phuc Phan

St Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi, Vietnam, 21 December 2021

Although this was recorded during Advent, Alleluia - Praise God is preeminently an Easter song. The Hebrew word Alleluia is the same in whatever languages Christians sing or pray. In the Northern Hemisphere Easter always falls in springtime which produces many yellow flowers, of which the blouse worn by singer Khánh Ngọc reminded me. And an ancient Hebrew word, set to music by an 18th-century Austrian who died at the age of 35, is sung to praise God in the cathedral in Hanoi by a young Vietnamese in a country where the Church has undergone persecution and where the people suffered from war for many decades. We truly are called to be disciples of Jesus crucified and now risen from the dead, with the hope of eternal life that that brings. Alleluia!

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 05-05-2024 if necessary).

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

St Elizabeth of Hungary

Sándor Liezen-Mayer [Web Gallery ofArt]

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27; Epistle).

'The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good.' Sunday Reflections, 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Blind Pensioner with a Stick, Van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Luke 6:39-45 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)   

Jesus told his disciples a parable: ‘Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, “Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.

‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.'

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Peach Tree in Blossom, Van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

I have used this story before on Sunday Reflections. I heard it from the late Fr Giuseppe Raviolo SJ, an Italian Jesuit who worked in Mindanao for many years and was one of the founders, in 1985, of St John Vianney Theological Seminary in Cagayan de Oro City there. Nearly 40 years ago he and I and some other priests were on a team together giving a directed retreat to seminarians. We stayed in a dormitory that was far from being 'Five Star'. He reminded me very much of St Pope John XXIII in girth and in personality and was always a delight to be with. During prayer earlier today I found myself smiling while thinking of him and felt a great sense of gratitude to God for having known this wonderful man who lived his priesthood so joyfully.

Fr Giuseppe Raviolo SJ [Source]

During the Vietnam War Father Joe, as we called him, had been rector of the major seminary in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, when it was capital of the then South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese army moved into Saigon the soldiers were divided into groups of three with a standing order that if any of the three tried to surrender the others were to kill him. One particular group of three found themselves surrounded by soldiers either of the American army or the army of South Vietnam, I forget which. One of them ran forward and surrendered and his two comrades did not shoot him. The three were captured. 

Later the other two asked the soldier who had surrendered why he had taken such a risk. He told them that he knew they were Christians and would not shoot. This man was a Buddhist and his two companions were Catholics. These two had discussed the order to kill and had decided that it would be wrong to do so. As Catholic Christians they saw that as murder. These were soldiers of a Communist army, without any chaplains.

Clearly they had been well formed as followers of Jesus despite living under a Communist regime that restricted the activities of the Church. Vietnam has a long history of persecution with figures of between 100,000 and 300,000 martyrs being given. The second-century theologian Tertullian wrote, The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. Jesus says to us in today's gospel, No good tree bears bad fruit. The two Catholic Vietnamese soldiers were the fruit of the tree produced by the seed that was the countless martyrs among their ancestors.

And their Buddhist companion showed that he understood Jesus who said, The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good. He put his life in the hands of his two companions because he knew they were Christians. Would anyone do the same with me simply because I am a Christian?

Last Sunday I used the reflection of Pope Benedict XVI on the gospel of the day. I see some of those words being lived out in the incident involving the three North Vietnamese soldiers: One then understands that for Christians, non-violence is not merely tactical behaviour but a person's way of being, the attitude of one who is so convinced of God's love and power that he is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. 

The way of being of those two Catholic soldiers as followers of Jesus was evident to their Buddhist comrade. Is my way of being as a follower of Jesus evident to those around me? 

The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good. 

Antiphona ad Communionem Communion Antiphon Ps 12[13]:6

Cantabo Domino, qui bona tribuit mihi,

I will sing to the Lord who has been bountiful with me,

et psallam nomini Domini Altissimi.

sing psalms to the name of the Lord Most High.

'You will be my witnesses . . .' Sunday Reflections, The Ascension of the Lord, Year B

The Ascension of Christ, Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

The Ascension of the Lord, Year  B

The Solemnity of the Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Thursday in England and Wales, in Scotland and in parts of the USA.  In these regions the Ascenson is a holy day of obligation. In other countries, including Australia, Ireland, Philippines and parts of the USA, the solemnity is observed on the Sunday after Ascension Thursday.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Mark 16:15-20 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year B

These readings are used in countries/jurisdictions that observe the solemnity on Ascension Thursday.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

The Ascension, Theophanes the Cretan [Web Gallery of Art]

Fr Giuseppe Raviolo SJ (1923 - 1998) was a Pope St John XXIII-like figure, physically and spiritually, from Italy who spent most of his priestly life in Mindanao, Philippines, where I came to know him. He was the first rector of St John Vianney Major Seminary in Cagayan de Oro City. But he also spent nine years in Vietnam and was rector of the major seminary in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, during the Vietnam War. He once told me an extraordinary story from that period.

The North Vietnamese Army was advancing on Saigon. The soldiers were divided into groups of three. The standing order was that if one tried to surrender the other two were to shoot him. One particular group found themselves surrounded by American soldiers and one of them surrendered. The other two did not shoot their companion and were captured along with him. Later they asked their companion why he had taken such a risk. He answered, I knew you were Christians and that you would not shoot me. The two were in fact Catholics and had discussed the matter and had decided that, as Christians, they could not shoot their companion if that particular situation arose.

These were soldiers in the army of a Communist country, an army without any chaplains, and their companion, who was not a Christian, took it for granted that they would not take his life because he knew that they were Christians.

In the First Reading today, the opening verses of the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus says to his disciples, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Those two Catholic soldiers in the North Vietnamese  army were powerful witnesses of Jesus to their companion. They chose to live their faith in Jesus.

In the Republic of Ireland citizens will be voting on 25 May on whether to retain a provision in the Constitution that protects both the life of an unborn child and that of its mother or to replace it with a provision that will allow the parliament to legislate for abortion. The current government has stated that if the Constitution is changed they will introduce legislation that would allow abortion up to twelve weeks for no reason whatever.

Please pray that we in Ireland will have the same respect for human life that the two soldiers in Vietnam had and that we will exercise our responsibility as citizens by being witnesses of Jesus not only in Ireland but to the ends of the earth.

St Domitilla with Sts Nereus and Achilleus

Pomarancio [Web Gallery of Art]

Sts Nereus and Achilleus, whose feast is observed on 12 May, were Roman soldiers who were martyred for being Christians.

Entrance Antiphon  Acts 1:11  Antiphona ad introitum

Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens?

Viri Galilaei, quid admiramini aspicientes in caelum?
This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven
Quemadmodum vidisti eum ascendentem in caelum,
will return as you saw him go, alleluia.
ita veniet, alleluia.

Palestrina's setting uses a slightly different Latin translation along with a verse that is not in the Entrance Antiphon in the current Roman Missal:

Viri Galilaei, quid statis aspicientes in coelum? Hic Jesus, qui assumptus est a vobis in coelum, sic veniet, quemadmodum vidistis eum euntem in coelum. Alleluia. Ascendit Deus in jubilatione, et Dominus in voce tubae. Alleluia. Dominus in coelo paravit sedem suam. Alleluia.

'We . . . have come to pay him homage.' Sunday Reflections, The Epiphany of the Lord.

The Adoration of the Magi, Velázquez, 1619

Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

The readings above are used both at the Vigil Mass and at the Mass during the Day. Each Mass has its own set of prayers and antiphons.

In countries where the Epiphany is observed as a Holyday of Obligation on 6 January, eg, Ireland, the Mass of the Second Sunday after the Nativity is celebrated. The same readings are used in Years A, B, C:

Readings (Jerusalem Bible)

Alleluia and Gospel for the Epiphany

Alleluia, alleluia!

Vidimus stellam eius in Oriente,

We have seen his star in the East,

et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum.

and have come with gifts to adore the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia!

The same text (cf. Matthew 2:2), without 'Alleluia, alleluia,' is used as the Communion Antiphon at the Mass during the Day.

Gospel Matthew 2:1-12 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,  asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”  When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Adoration of the Magi (detail), Filippino Lipi, 1496

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence [Web Gallery of Art]

While based in Britain from 2000 till 2002 I was able to spend Christmas with my brother and his family in Dublin, a short flight from England, in 2000 and 2001. During the holiday in 2001 I saw a documentary on RTÉ, Ireland's national broadcasting service, about Filipino nurses in Ireland. These began to arrive in 2000, initially at the invitation of the Irish government to work in government hospitals. Very quickly there was an 'invasion' of Filipino nurses and carers, now to be found in hospitals and nursing homes in every part of the country.

One of the nurses interviewed told how many Filipinos, knowing that the Irish celebrate Christmas on the 25th, unlike the Philippines where the culmination of the feast is on the night of the 24th, offered to work on Christmas Day so that their Irish companions could be with their families. This also helped to dull the pain of being away from their own families.

I was moved to tears at the testimony of one nurse, from Mindanao as I recall, speaking about her job and her first Christmas in Ireland in 2000. She spoke very highly of her employers, of her working conditions and of her accommodation, which she compared with that of the Holy Family on the first Christmas night. She spoke of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in this situation as if they were members of her own family, as in a very deep sense they are, or we of their family.

Here was a young woman from the East powerfully proclaiming, without being aware of it, that the Word became flesh and lived among us. The fact that she wasn't aware of it, that she was speaking about her 'next door neighbours', made her proclamation of faith all the more powerful. She would have known many in her own place, and very likely knew from her own experience, something of what Joseph and Mary went through in Bethlehem. Her faith in the Word who became flesh and lived among us wasn't something in her head but part of her very being.

For much of the last century thousands of Catholic priests, religious Sisters and Brothers left Europe and North America to preach and live the Gospel in the nations of Africa, Asia and South America. Some of the countries and regions from which they left, eg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Quebec, have to a great extent lost or even rejected the Catholic Christian faith. The Jewish people had, in faith, awaited the coming of the Messiah for many centuries. But when He came it was uneducated shepherds who first recognised him and later Simeon and Anna, two devout and elderly Jews who spent lengthy periods in prayer in the Temple.

Today's feast highlights wise men from the east, not 'believers' in the Jewish sense, led by God's special grace to Bethlehem to bring gifts in response to that grace, explaining, We . . . have come to pay him homage.They reveal to us that God calls people from every part of the world to do the same and to bring others with them.

Will nurses from the Philippines and from Kerala in India, migrants from Korea and Vietnam, from the east, bring the gift of faith in Jesus Christ once again to the many people in Western Europe and North America who no longer know him in any real sense? Will they by the lives they lead as working immigrants gently invite those in the West who have lost the precious gift of our Catholic Christian faith to once again come to pay him homage?

An arrangement by John Rutter of the old carol

'But who do you say that I am?' Sunday Reflections, Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul

Sts Peter and Paul, Guido Reni

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan [Web Gallery of Art]

Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul. Solemnities take precedence over Sundays in Ordinary Time.

At the Vigil Mass (Saturday evening)

NB: The Vigil Mass has its own prayers and readings. Those for the Mass During the Day on Sunday should not be used – though some priests seem to be unaware of this. It is incorrect to refer to the Vigil Mass as an ‘anticipated Mass’. It is a celebration proper to the evening before. The Vigil Mass also fulfills the Sunday obligation.

Readings  (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) [This link is to the readings for the Vigil Mass and for the Mass on Sunday]

Mass During the Day

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  [This link is to the readings for the Vigil Mass and for the Mass on Sunday] [Link to readings of Vigil Mass and Mass During the Day]

Gospel Matthew 16:13-19  (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

From Tu es Petrus (You are Peter), an oratorio by contemporary Polish composer Piotr Rubik. The composer, who conducts above, composed the work in honour of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

Jesus says to Peter in today's gospel: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Those same words are sung as the Gospel Acclamation.. The first part of that verse is sung again as part of the Communion Antiphon.

St Augustine speaks very eloquently in one of his sermons on the reasons Jesus chose this fisherman to be the first leader of his Church:

If Christ had first chosen a man skilled in public speaking, such a man might well have said: 'I have been chosen on account of my eloquence.' If he had chosen a senator, the senator might have said: 'I have been chosen because of my rank.' If his first choice had been an emperor, the emperor surely might have said: 'I have been chosen for the sake of the power I have at my disposal.' Let these worthies keep quiet and defer to others; let them hold their peace for a while. I am not saying they should be passed over or despised; I am simply asking all those who can find any ground for pride in what theya re to give way to others just a little.

Christ says: give me this fisherman, this man without education or experience, this man to whom no senator would deign to speak, not even if he were buying fish. Yes, give me him; once I have taken possession of him, it will be obvious that it is I who am at work in him. Although I meant to include senators, orators, and emperors among my recruits, even when I have won over the senator I shall still be surer of the fisherman. The senator can always take pride in what he is; so can the orator and the emperor, but the fisherman can glory in nothing except Christ alone.

I was particularly struck by St Augustine's observation that perhaps a senator mightn't bother to speak to a fisherman even when buying fish from him. I remember being at a birthday party here in the Philippines for a boy aged ten or eleven, an only child. His paternal grandmother, a wealthy woman, whom I'll call 'Lydia', whose late husband had lingered for ten years after a stroke that left him totally incapacitated. During those years Lydia joined a prayer group, most of the members of which were people who had to struggle financially from day to day. They prayed regularly with Lydia's husband and gave her great support.

At her grandson's birthday party she asked her daughter-in-law if her driver had eaten. Then she turned to me and said, Before, I wouldn't even have noticed him. She had been changed by the faith community in her parish, especially by the members of the prayer group.

Last Wednesday in his General Audience Pope Francis spoke of how our lives are intertwined by being members of the Church. Here is a summary in English of what he said in Italian:

Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our catechesis on the Church, we have seen that God gathered a people to himself in the Old Testament and in the fullness of time sent his Son to establish the Church as the sacrament of unity for all humanity. God calls each of us to belong to this great family. None of us become Christians on our own; we owe our relationship with God to so many others who passed on the faith, who brought us for Baptism, who taught us to pray and showed us the beauty of the Christian life: our parents and grandparents, our priests, religious and teachers. But we are Christians not only because of others, but together with others. Our relationship with Christ is personal but not private; it is born of, and enriched by, the communion of the Church. Our shared pilgrimage is not always easy: at times we encounter human weakness, limitations and even scandal in the life of the Church. Yet God has called us to know him and to love him precisely by loving our brothers and sisters, by persevering in the fellowship of the Church and by seeking in all things to grow in faith and holiness as members of the one body of Christ.

One very striking statement there is: Our relationship with Christ is personal but not private; it is born of, and enriched by, the communion of the Church. Pope Benedict frequently spoke of our faith being in the person of Jesus Christ, God who became man. Pope Francis has done the same.

The gospel read at the Vigil Mass, John 21:15-19, [in the video below from 1:13 to 3:27] brings that out very clearly. Jesus calls Simon Peter into a deep intimacy with him and it is in that context that he sends him out to preach the Gospel. that is how Jesus relates to each one of us, as he did to St Peter and to St Paul. And the director of the movie from which the video is taken, The Gospel of John, Philip Saville, has Jesus asking Peter the very personal 'Do you love me?' in the presence of the other apostles. In my imagination I had always seen Jesus as having taken Peter aside. The scene in the movie illustrates the words of Pope Francis: But we are Christians not only because of others, but together with others. St Peter here, though he has been called to a special responsibility of leadership, is still a Christian with the others. That goes for each of us, no matter what our specific responsibilities may be in the community that is the Church.

From The Gospel of John.

In the two gospel readings used in the celebration of this Solemnity Jesus puts the same questions to each of us that he did to St Peter: But who do you say that I am? and Do you love me? Our response, to use the words of Pope Francis last Wednesday, is meant to be personal but not private.

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While preparing this post I came across the story of Hieu Van Le, a Catholic, who will become Governor of South Australia in September. He has been Lieutenant-Governor since 2007. Queen Elizabeth of Australia is also Queen of England and that's where she lives. But she's represented in Australia by the Governor-General and, in each state, by the Governor. Hieu Van Le arrived in Australia in 1977 at the age of 23, a 'boat person' from Vietnam, after a perilous journey in which he showed his leadership qualities.

In the video below he tells how, on the arrival of the small boat in which he and many others had been travelling for over a month, two Australian fishermen lifted the spirits of the Vietnamese by a simple greeting: G'day, mate. Welcome to Australia! I'm sure St Augustine would highly approve, not to mention the great fisherman we are celebrating this weekend!