'So must the Son of Man be lifted up.' Sunday Reflections, The Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Christ in Agony on the Cross, El Greco, 1600s

Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA [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 John 3:13-17 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition; Canada)  

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 Nicodemus, Unknown Master, Flemish

Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, Belgium [Web Gallery of Art]

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has designated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross this year as National Day of Prayer for Peace in Iraq and Syria. Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, President of the CBCP, wrote to his fellow bishops: In all our Masses on the feast of the Holy Cross, let us unite ourselves with our suffering brothers and sisters, commending to the God who is our hope their pains, their shattered lives and dreams, their bereavement and their loss. He also asked for a special collection at all Masses, the money to be sent by the CBCP to the charity aid of the Apostolic Nunciatures in Iraq and Syria.

Fr Ragheed Aziz Ganni

(20 January 1972 - 3 June 2007)

For me the face of the suffering Christians in Iraq and Syria, Catholic and Orthodox, is that of Fr Ragheed Ganni. This article by Ed West published in the Catholic Herald, a weekly in England, on 20 December 2013 and that has a very personal dimension, gives as good an account of Father Ragheed as any I've read.

Ed West writes: Fr Ragheed was one of 1,000 Iraqi Christians murdered during the pogrom that began after the Coalition invasion of 2003. The persecution culminated in October 31 2010, with the massacre of 52 worshippers at a Catholic church in Baghdad. In the words of one Chaldean bishop, this is a 'Calvary' that has largely been ignored in the western media, outside of the Christian press . . .

It has been a shocking and horrific ordeal for one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, which has been all but driven out of its homeland. A pre-war population of a million is now somewhere in the region of 150,000, many of them elderly, and more than 60 churches have been bombed.  That figure has got smaller in recent months and the ancient city of Mosul, in many ways the heart of the Christian faith in Iraq and Syria, has been emptied of its Christians by ISIS.

The article describes First Holy Communion day in Father Ragheed's parish in 2006: The atmosphere in Ragheed’s home town had become terrifying. On 4 August 2006, when 80 children of his parish of the Holy Spirit received their first Holy Communion, battles broke out in the street outside, and the children cowered from the sounds of guns and rockets.

The good shepherd helped them through. He told AsiaNews: 'Although people are used to it and remained reasonably calm, they started to wonder whether they were going to make it back to their homes or not. I was aware of the immense joy of the 80 children receiving their first Communion so I turned the subject into a joke and said to them: "Do not panic, these are fireworks. The city is celebrating with us." And at the same time I gave them instructions to leave the church quietly and quickly.'

The author further notes: Friends later recalled that he had become increasingly weary and broken by the demands of the priesthood amid such terror. After an attack on his parish, on Palm Sunday 2007, he wrote: 'We empathise with Christ, who entered Jerusalem in full knowledge that the consequence of His love for mankind was the cross. Thus while bullets smashed our church windows, we offered up our suffering as a sign of love for Christ.'

Shortly before his death Fr Ganni wrote in an email: 'Each day we wait for the decisive attack, but we will not stop celebrating Mass; we will do it underground, where we are safer. I am encouraged in this decision by the strength of my parishioners. This is war, real war, but we hope to carry our cross to the very end with the help of Divine Grace.'

This young Iraqi priest of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an engineer by profession, was murdered on Trinity Sunday, 3 June 2007, along with three subdeacons, Basman Yousef Daud, Gassan Isam Bidawed and Wahid Hanna Isho after he had celebrated Mass in Mosul, the city of his birth.

At a Eucharistic Congress in Bari, Italy, in 2005 Father Ragheed said, There are days when I feel frail and full of fear. But when, holding the Eucharist, I say ‘Behold the Lamb of God Behold, who takes away the sin of the world’, I feel His strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really He who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in His boundless love. He also said, Without Sunday, without the Eucharist, the Christians in Iraq cannot survive.

To put some time perspective on the Christian faith in Iraq and Syria: in 2021 the Church in the Philippines will celebrate 500 years of the Catholic Christian faith in this country, a great occasion for thanking God for that precious gift. The Christian faith has been lived in Iraq and Syria for four times as long as that, since the time of the Apostles. Mass was celebrated for 2,000 years in Mosul until a couple of months ago when Christians were driven from their ancestral homeland by ISIS.

Father Raqheed's words, But when, holding the Eucharist, I say ‘Behold the Lamb of God Behold, who takes away the sin of the world’, I feel His strength in me, reflect the words of Jesus to Nicodemus in today's Gospel: And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

A Muslim friend of Fr Ragheed, Adnam Mokrani, professor of Islamic Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, said that on his ordination day, 13 October 2001, recalled that the new priest said, Today, I have died to self. St Paul in today's Second Reading tells us, Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God has something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave and that he became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

    

As we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and as we pray for persecuted Christians, particularly in Iraq and Syria, may we thank God for the gift of our Christian faith and ask him for the courage to live it as Father Ragheed and countless others have done, becoming obedient to the point of death.

From what I understand, this hymn to Our Blessed Mother in Arabic is sung by Father Ragheed and was played during his funeral procession. This is  the translation given with the video: We honor you with hymns O Mother of God, you are the pride of the whole earth, because the Word of God whom the Father sent, chose to take His human body from you. The generations call you blessed, all nations and people's honor you and ask for mercy by your prayers. You are a generous earth in which plants of joy always grow.

Calvary, Karel Dujardin, 1661

Musée du Louvre, Paris  [Web Gallery of Art]

Calvaire 

Calvary

le/by Pádraig Ó Croiligh

Ag barr na gcéimeanna

In Eaglais an tSlánaitheora

Tá séipéal tógtha ar rian na croise.

An dara stáisiún déag dearaithe ar a chúl

Agus poll sa talamh faoi

San áit a mbíodh an chrois

Ag an am ar tharla an crith talún.

Ach níl an tarlú féin ná an duine

I láthair anseo anois,

Ach in áiteanna brúite buartha

Ár fud na cruinne

Agus i láthair an uaignis.

An fear a fuair bás anseo,

Den bhás a rinneadh anseo,

Tá sé beo agus aiséirithe.

Tá Íosa ina Chríost go fóill!

At the top of the steps

In the Church of the Saviour

There’s a chapel built on the site of the cross.

The twelfth station painted at the back

And a hole in the ground underneath

In the place where the cross was

At the time of the earthquake.

But neither the event itself nor the person

Are present here now,

But in crushed sorrowful places

Throughout the world

And in the midst of loneliness.

The man who died here,

From the death that was wrought here,

He is alive and risen.

Jesus is still the Christ!

The poet is a priest of the Diocese of Derry, Ireland. The non-poetic English translation from the Irish (Gaelic) is my own. The poem is taken from Brúitíní Creidimh (Mashed Potatoes of Faith) by Pádraig Ó Croiligh, published by Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradálta, Dublin, 2006.

Antiphon ad introitum     Entrance Antiphon  Cf Galatians 6:14

Nos autem gloriari oportet

We should glory 

in cruce Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, 

in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra,

in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, 

per quem salvati et liberati sumus.

through whom we are saved and delivered.

Columban Superior interviewed on Korean TV on significance of visit of Pope Francis

A few days before Pope Francis arrived in Korea on his recent Apostolic Journey, 13-18 August, on the occasion of the 6th Asian Youth Day, the Regional Director of the Columbans in Korea, Fr Donal O'Keeffe, was interviewed on Korea Today, an English-language current affairs programme on South Korea's Arirang TV.

6th Asian Youth Day (AYD2014)

 13-17 August 2014, Republic of Korea

Fr O'Keeffe speculated, in the context of the beatification of 124 Korean martyrs on 16 August, that the Pope would emphasise the heritage that the Korean church of today had received from the witness of the martys, and to show similar witness, even if it would not involve having to lay down their lives.

As it turned out, Pope Francis put great emphasis on this. (Emphases added below.)

• In his address to the Bishops of Korea on 14 August he called on them to be guardians of memory and guardians of hope. Being guardians of memory means more than remembering and treasuring the graces of the past; it also means drawing from them the spiritual resources to confront with vision and determination the hopes, the promise and the challenges of the future. 
• In his homily on the Solemnity of the Assumption the Pope said: As Korean Catholics, heirs to a noble tradition, you are called to cherish this legacy and transmit it to future generations. This will demand of everyone a renewed conversion to the word of God and a passionate concern for the poor, the needy and the vulnerable in our midst.
• In speaking to the delegates to Asian Youth Day on 15 August the Holy Father said to them: Just as the Lord made his glory shine forth in the heroic witness of the martyrs, so too he wants to make his glory shine in your lives, and through you, to light up the life of this vast continent. 

• The Bishop of Rome continued the same theme in his homily at the Beatification Mass on 16 August: The victory of the martyrs, their witness to the power of God’s love, continues to bear fruit today in Korea, in the Church which received growth from their sacrifice. 

• 16 August was a very busy day for Pope Francis, who spoke to leaders of  the Apostolate of the Laity: The Church in Korea, as we all know, is heir to the faith of generations of lay persons who persevered in the love of Christ Jesus and the communion of the Church despite the scarcity of priests and the threat of severe persecution. Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung and the martyrs beatified today represent an impressive chapter of this history. They bore witness to the faith not only by their sufferings and death, but by their lives of loving solidarity with one another in Christian communities marked by exemplary charity. This precious legacy lives on in your own works of faith, charity and service. 

• Faith as a gift, as a heritage received from earlier generations and therefore to be handed on by us to future generations, was spoken of by Pope Francis
  in his homily at the closing Mass of Asian Youth Day on 17 August: The martyrs of Korea – and innumerable others throughout Asia – handed over their bodies to their persecutors; to us they have handed on a perennial witness that the light of Christ’s truth dispels all darkness, and the love of Christ is gloriously triumphant. With the certainty of his victory over death, and our participation in it, we can face the challenge of Christian discipleship today, in our own circumstances and time. Further on the Pope reminds the young delegates from all over Asia that they are part of the Church in the present: As young Christians, whether you are workers or students, whether you have already begun a career or have answered the call to marriage, religious life or the priesthood, you are not only a part of the future of the Church; you are also a necessary and beloved part of the Church’s present!  

The Vatican website, www.vatican.va, has a link to all of the Pope's homilies and addresses 

'Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.' Sunday Reflections, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

Saint Peter, El Greco, 1610-13

Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial, Spain [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 Matthew 16:13-20 (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.”  Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Pope Francis in Korea, 13-18 August 2014 [Wikipedia]

In his homily on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June 2013, Pope Francis said: I would like to offer three thoughts on the Petrine ministry, guided by the word 'confirm'.  What has the Bishop of Rome been called to confirm? By 'Petrine ministry' the pope was speaking of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, of the Pope, the successor of St Peter. He said that the Pope is called to confirm in faith, to confirm in love and to confirm in unity. Here is what he said about confirming in faith.

The Gospel speaks of the confession of Peter: 'You are Christ, the Son of the living God' (Mt16:16), a confession which does not come from him but from our Father in heaven.  Because of this confession, Jesus replies: 'You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church' (v. 18).  The role, the ecclesial service of Peter, is founded upon his confession of faith in Jesus, the Son of the living God, made possible by a grace granted from on high.  In the second part of today’s Gospel we see the peril of thinking in worldly terms.  When Jesus speaks of his death and resurrection, of the path of God which does not correspond to the human path of power, flesh and blood re-emerge in Peter: 'He took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him . . . This must never happen to you' (16:22).  Jesus’ response is harsh: 'Get behind me, Satan!  You are a hindrance to me' (v. 23).  Whenever we let our thoughts, our feelings or the logic of human power prevail, and we do not let ourselves be taught and guided by faith, by God, we become stumbling blocks.  Faith in Christ is the light of our life as Christians and as ministers in the Church!

Apostolic Journey on the Occasion of 6th Asian Youth Day (AYD2014)

13-18 August 2014, Republic of Korea

On his recent Apostolic Journey to the Republic of Korea Pope Francis through his words and actions carried out his ministry of confirming in faith, as well as in love and in unity, not only the people of Korea, not only the delegates to the 6th Asian Youth Day, but all of us.

At the Mass in the World Cup Stadium in Daejeon - the Diocese of Daejeon hosted AYD2014 -  on the Solemnity of the Assumption the Bishop of Rome said [emphasis added]: 

Today, in venerating Mary, Queen of Heaven, we also turn to her as Mother of the Church in Korea. We ask her to help us to be faithful to the royal freedom we received on the day of our Baptism, to guide our efforts to transform the world in accordance with God’s plan, and to enable the Church in this country to be ever more fully a leaven of his Kingdom in the midst of Korean society. May the Christians of this nation be a generous force for spiritual renewal at every level of society. May they combat the allure of a materialism that stifles authentic spiritual and cultural values and the spirit of unbridled competition which generates selfishness and strife. May they also reject inhumane economic models which create new forms of poverty and marginalize workers, and the culture of death which devalues the image of God, the God of life, and violates the dignity of every man, woman and child.

As Korean Catholics, heirs to a noble tradition, you are called to cherish this legacy and transmit it to future generations. This will demand of everyone a renewed conversion to the word of God and a passionate concern for the poor, the needy and the vulnerable in our midst.

The same day at the Shrine of Solmoe, known as 'The Birthplace of Catholicism in Korea', Pope Francis met with the delegates to AYD2014 and once again spoke of the importance of baptism along with the two other sacraments of initiation into the faith, Confirmation and the Eucharist:

Dear young friends, in this generation the Lord is counting on you! He is counting on you! He entered your hearts on the day of your Baptism; he gave you his Spirit on the day of your Confirmation; and he strengthens you constantly by his presence in the Eucharist, so that you can be his witnesses before the world. Are you ready to say 'yes'? [Yes!] Are you ready? [Yes!] Thank you! Are you tired? [No!] Really? [Yes!]

Beatification Mass

On Saturday 18 August Pope Francis beatified Paul Yun Ji-chung and 135 martyr companions at the Gwanghwamun Gate, Seoul. In his homily he emphasised the gift of faith that we are called to pass on, no matter what the cost:

The victory of the martyrs, their witness to the power of God’s love, continues to bear fruit today in Korea, in the Church which received growth from their sacrifice. Our celebration of Blessed Paul and Companions provides us with the opportunity to return to the first moments, the infancy as it were, of the Church in Korea. It invites you, the Catholics of Korea, to remember the great things which God has wrought in this land and to treasure the legacy of faith and charity entrusted to you by your forebears.

The Holy Father linked the sacrifice of these martyrs of Korea with the situation in today's world and what our Christian faith demands of us:

The example of the martyrs also teaches us the importance of charity in the life of faith. It was the purity of their witness to Christ, expressed in an acceptance of the equal dignity of all the baptized, which led them to a form of fraternal life that challenged the rigid social structures of their day. It was their refusal to separate the twin commandment of love of God and love of neighbor which impelled them to such great solicitude for the needs of the brethren. Their example has much to say to us who live in societies where, alongside immense wealth, dire poverty is silently growing; where the cry of the poor is seldom heeded; and where Christ continues to call out to us, asking us to love and serve him by tending to our brothers and sisters in need.

Pope Francis spoke of the joy of being a Christian, one of his basic themes since becoming Pope:

If we follow the lead of the martyrs and take the Lord at his word, then we will understand the sublime freedom and joy with which they went to their death . . . The legacy of the martyrs can inspire all men and women of good will to work in harmony for a more just, free and reconciled society, thus contributing to peace and the protection of authentically human values in this country and in our world. 

In his address to leaders of the apostolate of the laity the Pope spoke once again of faith as a gift, as a legacy handed down to us:

The Church in Korea, as we all know, is heir to the faith of generations of lay persons who persevered in the love of Christ Jesus and the communion of the Church despite the scarcity of priests and the threat of severe persecution . . . This precious legacy lives on in your own works of faith, charity and service. Today, as ever, the Church needs credible lay witnesses to the saving truth of the Gospel, its power to purify and transform human hearts, and its fruitfulness for building up the human family in unity, justice and peace. We know there is but one mission of the Church of God, and that every baptized Christian has a vital part in this mission. Your gifts as lay men and women are manifold and your apostolates varied, yet all that you do is meant to advance the Church’s mission by ensuring that the temporal order is permeated and perfected by Christ’s Spirit and ordered to the coming of his Kingdom.

The faith was introduced to Korea by Korean laymen who were part of a delegation to Beijing and who discovered the faith there.

The inspiring words of Pope Francis were meant not only to confirm Korean Catholics in their faith but all of us. Faith is the most precious gift that God has given us but one that can be lost by individuals and by whole areas of the world. North Africa is one example, where the Christian faith disappeared everywhere except in Egypt and Ethiopia after the rise of Islam. Western Europe is another example, where the Christian faith has been rapidly disappearing in recent decades, as it has to a lesser degree in North America.Two generations ago Quebec in Canada had a flourishing Church that was sending missionaries to many parts of the world, including the Philippines, but where it is now pretty much on the margins.

The words of Jesus to Peter show us clearly that our faith is a gift: Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.

May we thank God each day for the gift of our faith and ask for the grace for ourselves and for Pope Francis to live it as the Korean martyrs did, with the sublime freedom and joy with which they went to their death.

In the words with which Pope Francis concluded his homily at the beatification of the 124 martyrs: 

May the prayers of all the Korean martyrs, in union with those of Our Lady, Mother of the Church, obtain for us the grace of perseverance in faith and in every good work, holiness and purity of heart, and apostolic zeal in bearing witness to Jesus in this beloved country, throughout Asia, and to the ends of the earth. Amen.

+++

The following petition was added to the Prayer of the Faithful at the Pope's Mass for Reconciliation in Myeong-dong Cathedral, Seoul, on 18 August before he flew back to Rome:

Prayer for Cardinal Filoni for Iraq:

For Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who cannot be with us because he was sent by the Pope to the suffering people of Iraq in order to assist our persecuted and dispossessed brothers and sisters, and all the religious minorities who are afflicted in that country. May the Lord be close to him in his mission.

May we continue to pray for all who are being persecuted in Iraq and Syria, especially those who are suffering because they are Christians.

A report on Arirang TV, Korea, a few days before the beatifications.

Antiphona ad introitum   Entrance Antiphon  Cf Ps 85[86]:1-3

Inclina, Domine, aurem tuam ad me, et exaudi me.

Turn your earl, O Lord, and answer me;

Salvum fac servum tuum, Deus meus, sperantem in te.

save the servant who trusts in you, my God.

Miserere mihi, Domine, quoniam ad te clamavi tota die.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long.

Laetifica animam servi tui, quia ad te, Domine, animam meam levavi.

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, Lord, I lift my soul.

Inclina, Domine, aurem tuam ad me, et exaudi me.

Turn your earl, O Lord, and answer me;

Salvum fac servum tuum, Deus meus, sperantem in te.

save the servant who trusts in you, my God.

Miserere mihi, Domine, quoniam ad te clamavi tota die.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long.

[The text above in bold print is sung or said in the Ordinary Form of the Mass; in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass the whole text above is sung or said.]

Asking again, 'Was St Monica an Irish mother?'

St Monica, Luis Tristán de Escamilla 1616 [Web Gallery of Art]

I posted the following four years ago here on Bangor to Bobbio. The story of St Monica's constant prayers for the conversion of her son Augustine to 'the Catholic Christian faith' - the expression St Augustine quotes her as saying - is an inspiring one and so I'm posting it again here on the feast of the saint:

The second reading in the Office of Readings for the feast of St Monica (332-387) always brings a smile to my face and leads me to ask, ‘Was St Monica an “Irish mother”?’ St Augustine’s brother had said to their mother when she was dying that it might be better if she died in her homeland in north Africa, rather than in Italy. The extract from St Augustine’s Confessions goes on: But as she heard this she looked at me and said: ‘See the way he talks’. And then she said to us both: ‘Lay this body where it may be. Let no care of it disturb you: this only I ask of you that you should remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be’.

The latter part of the last quotation appears on innumerable memorial cards and I don’t know of a better request for prayers for the dead. But it’s the ‘See the way he talks’ that makes me smile. Many’s the time I heard my own mother – and other Irish mothers – say, nearly always in a family-type context, ‘Did you ever hear such nonsense?’ It’s the kind of thing that only people intimately related can say to one another, conveying gentle criticism/a reprimand and affection at the same time.

A variation of St Monica’s request is on the memorial card of my own mother, Mary who, like the saint, died at the age of 55: ‘All I ask of you is that you will remember me at Mass and Holy Communion’.

Death of St Monica, Benozzo Gozzoli 1464-65 [Web Gallery of Art]

Tradition Day by Day - no longer available online - carries this reading from the Confessions of St Augustine for today:

Remember, Monica, my motherMay Monica, my mother, rest in peace with her husband, before whom and after whom she was given in marriage to no man. She dutifully served him, bringing forth fruit to you with much patience, that she might also win him to you. Inspire, O Lord my God, inspire your servants my brethren, your children my master, whom I serve with my voice, my heart, and my writings, that as many of them as read these words may remember at your altar your handmaid, Monica, together with Patricius, formerly her husband, by whose flesh you brought me into this life, how I know not. May they with a pious affection remember them who were my parents in this transitory light, my brethren under you, our Father in our Catholic mother, and my fellow citizens in the eternal Jerusalem, for which your pilgrim people here below continually sigh from their setting out until their return, so that my mother's last request of me may be more abundantly granted by her through the prayers of many, occasioned by my confessions, rather than through my own prayers.

I was quite astonished some years ago reading an article in a scholarly Catholic magazine published in the USA lamenting that so many Catholic parents weren’t choosing truly Christian names for their children anymore. One example given was ‘Austin’. Clearly, the author was unaware that this is a common variation of ‘Augustine’, used especially in Ireland and in Britain. Indeed, the Augustinian Friars are often referred to in England as ‘The Austin Friars’.

When I was in primary school one of our juvenile jokes was: ‘Who is the patron saint of car manufacturers? St Monica, because she had a Baby Austin’. The ‘Baby Austin’ (see photo) was a small family car produced very successfully in England between 1922 and 1939. At least we knew who St Monica and St Augustine were. I’m not sure about young people in Ireland today.

I had posted something similar in 2008:

Was St Monica an 'Irish mother'?

I had a pleasant lunch today at Colegio de San Augustin-Bacolod as the Augustinian Friars celebrated the feast of the great St Augustine (354-430). Present too were the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation who run La Consolacion College, beside San Sebastian Cathedral here in Bacolod. This congregation was founded in the Philippines and has more than 230 sisters. Some of the friars of the Augustinian Recollects, known in the Philippines as the Recoletos, were also present. They own the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) here in Bacolod.

Both the Augustinian and Recollect friars played a large part in the evangelization of the Philippines in Spanish times.

The second reading in the Office of Readings for the feast of St Monica (332-387) yesterday always brings a smile to my face and leads me to ask, ‘Was St Monica an “Irish mother”?’ St Augustine’s brother had said to their mother when she was dying that it might be better if she died in her homeland in north Africa, rather than in Italy. The extract from St Augustine’s Confessions goes on: But as she heard this she looked at me and said: ‘See the way he talks’. And then she said to us both: ‘Lay this body where it may be. Let no care of it disturb you: this only I ask of you that you should remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be’.

The latter part of the last quotation appears on innumerable memorial cards and I don’t know of a better request for prayers for the dead. But it’s the ‘See the way he talks’ that makes me smile. May’s the time I heard my own mother – and other Irish mothers – say, nearly always in a family-type context, ‘Did you ever hear such nonsense?’ It’s the kind of thing that only people intimately related can say to one another, conveying gentle criticism/a reprimand and affection at the same time.

Both St Monica and St Augustine were from the north-east of present-day Algeria. Hippo, where Augustine was bishop, is also located in Algeria. Today there is hardly a trace of Christianity in most of north Africa. Is Europe heading the same way? Our faith is a gift. We can lose it as individuals and as communities, as I often remind people.