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).
Gospel Luke 6:27-38 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
Jesus
said to his disciples:
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good
to those who hate you,bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and
from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.Give to everyone who begs from
you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For
even sinners love those who love them.And if you do good to those who
do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive,
what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same
amount.But love your enemies, and do good,
and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great,
and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the
ungrateful and the evil.Be merciful, even
as your Father is merciful.
Love your enemies, Jesus tells us twice in today's Gospel, which concludes with his words Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. These words of Jesus are perhaps the most difficult of all to follow.
Nearly 50 years ago I was chaplain in a third-level school in the Philippines run by religious sisters. One day the Directress asked me to go to the station of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) in the city. One of the male students was filing a case against another. The two had been close friends but had had a serious disagreement. I went to the station with some reluctance. It was during the early years of martial law in the Philippines and the PC was deeply involved in this. They were the national police force at the time and part of the military. I saw the PC as part of 'the enemy of the people'.
I was pleasantly surprised when I met the officer on duty, a major as far as I can recall. He was speaking to the young man filing the charge when I arrived and was trying unsuccessfully to persuade him not to go ahead with this move. The other student was also present.
The officer gave me a warm and courteous welcome. When I told him why I was there he suggested that I speak to the student filing the charge and brought us to a room where we could have some privacy.
As it happened, this young man had attended a weekend retreat for male students in the college that I had given only a week or two before in the local seminary. I had remembered how well he had participated and told him that. We spoke about the retreat and how it had challenged all of us. And I reminded him that all the participants had availed of the chance to go to confession.
I could see that he was reflecting on all of this as I brought up the question of his filing a charge against a man who had been his best friend. I gently encouraged him to drop the case. I could see in his physical behaviour the inner struggle he was going through. His whole body had tightened up. The tension within him was great and very obvious. After a long struggle he agreed to withdraw the charge.
We went back to the officer on duty and the student told him that he was dropping the charge. The other student was there and very relieved to hear this. The officer encouraged them to shake hands, which they did, though the student dropping the charge didn't do so with great enthusiasm.
However, he had done something very difficult: he had decided to forgive the man who had been his friend. He still had strong painful feelings. But forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. It is a decision made with God's grace. In some situations it can be like major surgery. The surgery heals but physical pain still remains and takes time to disappear naturally. A scar that usually doesn't bother us may remain. In some instances there may be a permanent mark such as lameness after an operation on the back, for example. But healing has taken place.
And our feelings in a situation like this need time to subside, depending on the gravity of the situation.
For my own part, I was very grateful for the kindness, thoughtfulness and wisdom of the PC officer. He had acted entirely as a friend in this situation, not as an 'enemy of the people'. I had to take that on board and not condemn everyone in the PC out of hand.
I do not know if the former friendship between the two young men in the story was rekindled. Perhaps I should have followed up. I was then a young, inexperienced priest.
The ongoing grace for me from that incident iss the awareness that forgiveness can be very difficult but, with God's grace, not impossible. The young man who withdrew his charge against his friend was the bearer of that grace from God for me, just as the PC officer and I were the bearers of God's grace to him enabling him to make the decision to forgive.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Luke 18:9-14 (New Revised Standard
Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee
and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus,
“God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers,
or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not
even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be
merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified
rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all
who humble themselves will be exalted.’
I remember when I was around 14 one of my father's
fellow foremen on a building (construction) site came to visit us one evening.
I'll call him Tom. My father went to Mass every morning, something he did until
the day he died. At the time I was trying to emulate him. During the
course of the evening Tom mentioned that he 'religiously received Holy
Communion twice a year, at Christmas and at Easter'.
Some days later I remarked somewhat disapprovingly
to my parents that Tom went to Holy Communion only twice a year. Both of them
spoke to me very sharply and I realised that I was out of line, something like
the Pharisee in today's gospel. And I did indeed feel a chastening sense of
shame, something I still feel whenever I recall that moment.
Tom was an honest, hardworking family man, a man of
faith who was still following the custom that prevailed until St Pius X
(1903-1914) encouraged frequent Holy Communion. St Thérèse of Lisieux, who
died six years before the election of that pope, wrote with gratitude in
her Story of a Soul about the occasions when her confessor
allowed her to go to Holy Communion. She understood what a great gift receiving
the Lord in Holy Communion was. I wonder if most of us today have that same
understanding. Indeed, surveys indicate that many Catholics don't believe that
they are receiving the 'Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity' of the Risen Lord, as
people of my generation learned from the catechism.
What blocked the Pharisee from receiving God's blessing, from going down
to his home justified wasn't his telling God the good things he had
done - St Paul doesn't hesitate to say to Timothy in today's Second
Reading, I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2Timothy 4:7) - but his self-righteous contempt
for others whose inner struggles he seemed to be totally unaware of.
However, from my early days as a priest I have often thought that this parable
should be slightly changed, with the tax-collector saying, God, I thank
you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like
this Pharisee. I don't think I've ever heard anyone condemning
a sinner who has acknowledged his sins. But many times I've heard or read about
individuals giving as an excuse for not going to Mass or even leaving the
Church that there are 'too many hypocrites' there.
Over
5,000 people seeking refuge here were killed by grenade, machete, rifle, or burnt
alive during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.
A religious
sister from Rwanda, Sr Genevieve Umawariya, speaking during the Synod on
Africa held in Rome in 2009, the theme of which was The Church in
Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace, spoke of an
incident that parallels today's gospel. Here is what she said:
I am a survivor of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda 1994.
A large part of my family was killed while in our parish
church. The sight of this building used to fill me with horror and turned my
stomach, just like the encounter with the prisoners filled me with disgust and
rage.
It is in this mental state that something happened that would
change my life and my relationships.
On August 27th 1997 at 1 p.m., a group from the Catholic
association of the 'Ladies of Divine Mercy' led me to two prisons in the region
of Kibuye, my birthplace. They went to prepare the prisoners for the Jubilee of
2000. They said: 'If you have killed, you commit yourself to ask for
forgiveness from the surviving victim, that way you can help him free himself
of the burden/weight of vengeance, hatred and rancor. If you are a victim, you
commit yourself to offer forgiveness to those who harmed you and thus you free
them from the weight of their crime and the evil that is in them'.
This message had an unexpected effect for me and in me . . .
After that, one of the prisoners rose in tears, fell to his
knees before me, loudly begging: 'Mercy'. I was petrified in recognizing a
family friend who had grown up and shared everything with us.
He admitted having killed my father and told me the details of
the death of my family. A feeling of pity and compassion invaded me: I picked
him up, embraced him and told him in a tearful voice: 'You are and always will
be my brother'.
Then I felt a huge weight lift away from me . . . I had found
internal peace and I thanked the person I was holding in my arms.
To my great surprise, I heard him cry out: 'Justice can do its
work and condemn me to death, now I am free!'
I also wanted to cry out to who wanted to hear: 'Come see what
freed me, you too can find internal peace'.
From that moment on, my mission was to travel kilometers to
bring mail to the prisoners asking for forgiveness from the survivors. Thus 500
letters were distributed; and I brought back mail with the answers of the
survivors to the prisoners who had become my friends and my brothers . . . This
allowed for meetings between the executioners and the victims . . . From this experience, I deduce that reconciliation is not so
much wanting to bring together two persons or two groups in conflict. It is
rather the re-establishment of each in love and allowing internal healing which
leads to mutual liberation. And here is where the importance of the Church lies in our
countries, since her mission is to offer the Word: a word that heals, liberates
and reconciles. Pope Francis echoes this last
sentence of Sr Genevieve in his message World Mission Day 2016: Mercy finds its most noble and
complete expression in the Incarnate Word. Jesus reveals the face of the Father
who is rich in mercy.
Mother of the Word, Kibeho, Rwanda
Jesus speaks of God's mercy. In the video at the
top we see a tax collector who understands exactly what Jesus is saying through
his parable. Pope Francis has spoken about God's mercy and about the sacrament
of confession many times.
The man who killed Sister Genevieve's father experienced God's mercy
through her as she did through him. Each was freed of the very different but
related burdens that they carried. And the man had no more fear of whatever
punishment he might receive for his crime. Like the tax-collector in the
gospel, he made no excuses. He simply asked for mercy.
The tax-collector (publican) in the parable, Sr Genevieve Umawariya and the man who had killed her father experienced the truth of the First Beatitude (Matthew 5:3) usually translated into English as Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For years I never quite understood what this meant until I read the translation in the New English Bible:How blest are those who know their need of God; the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
May each of us, like the publican, like Sr Genevieve, like the man she forgave and who accepted her forgiveness, know our need of God and of his mercy.
Antiphona
ad introitum
Entrance
Antiphon Cf Psalm 104[105]:3-4
Laetetur cor quaerentium Dominum.
Let the hearts that seek the Lord
rejoice;
Querite Dominum et confirmamini,
quaerite faciem eius semper.
turn to the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Confitemini Domino; et invocate nomen
eius; annuntiate inter gentes opera eius.
Give glory to the Lord, and call upon
his name: declare his deeds among the Gentiles.
Laetetur cor quaerentium Dominum. Let the hearts that
seek the Lord rejoice; Querite Dominum et
confirmamini, quaerite faciem eius semper. turn to the Lord and
his strength; constantly seek his face. The text in bold is
used in the Ordinary Form of the Mass while the longer text is used in the
Extraordinary Form, though it may also be used in the Ordinary Form.
‘If another member of the church sins
against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If
the member listens to you, you have regained that one.But if you are not listened to, take one or two
others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of
two or three witnesses.If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it
to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let
such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am
there among them.’
Today's gospel looks at forgiveness,
mainly from the point of view of helping someone to acknowledge a wrongdoing
and thereby asking for and receiving forgiveness. I often think about a Christian Brother who taught me in Dublin and one incident
involving him that I witnessed and another I heard about years later. I'll
simply copy froma previous post,
with one or two slight changes.
During my primary school years I came
to know an exceptional person, Brother Mícheál. S. Ó Flaitile, known as
‘Pancho’ from the sidekick of the Cisco Kid, a syndicated comic-strip [above]
that we used to read in The
Irish Press, an Irish daily newspaper that no longer exists. Our 'Pancho', like
the Cisco Kid's friend, was on the pudgy side, though minus the hair and
moustache. He organized an Irish-speaking club during my primary school years and arranged for me to be
secretary. I don’t think I was too happy at the time to get that job but I
realized later that he had spotted my ability to write. Other teachers had
encouraged me in this too.
My class was blessed to have had Brother Ó Flaitile in our last two years in
secondary school, 1959 to 1961, when we were preparing for our all-important
Leaving Certificate examination. He taught us Irish and Latin. He probably
should have been teaching at university level. What I remember most of all
about him was his character. Everyone described him as ‘fear uasal’,
the Irish for 'a noble man' – as distinct from 'a nobleman’. A stare from him
made you feel humbled, but not humiliated. He had the kind of authority that
Jesus had, that we read about in the gospels.
I remember one event in our last year. ‘Pancho’ used to take the A and B
sections for religion class together during the last period before lunch every day. One day he scolded a student in the B section for something or other that was trivial and the student himself and the rest of us took it in our
stride and forgot about it. We were nearly 70 boys aged between 16 and 18.
'Pancho' was probably around 60 then. The next day Brother Ó Flaitile
apologized to the boy in question and to the rest of us because he had
discovered that the student hadn’t done what he had accused him of. Whatever it
was, it had been very insignificant. But ‘Pancho’s apology was for me a
formative moment. I mentioned it to him many years later when he was in his
80s. He told me he didn’t remember the incident, but he smiled. He died in the
late 1980s.
Some years ago a classmate told me about an incident between himself and
Brother Ó Flaitile in 1959 when we were on a summer school/holiday in an
Irish-speaking part of County Galway. If my friend had told me the story at the
time I would not have believed him. He got angry with ‘Pancho’ over something
or other and used a four-letter word that nobody would ever express to an
adult, least of all to a religious brother and teacher whom we revered. The lad
stormed back to the house where he was staying and almost immediately felt
remorse. He went back to ‘Pancho’ and apologized. The Brother accepted this
totally and unconditionally and never referred to the incident again.
After my father, I don't think that anyone else influenced me more for good
when I was young than 'Pancho'.
Looking back on the first incident I
figure that the student in question must have gone to 'Pancho' afterwards and
explained to him what had really happened. Brother Ó Flaitile was the kind
of authority figure whom you felt free to approach in such a situation. If that
is what happened, and I believe it was, then the opening words of today's
gospel were what we all experienced in class the following day: If
another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the
fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have
regained that one.
Brother Ó Flaitile's asking for
forgiveness that day was all the more powerful because he was more than three
times our age, an authority figure, a religious brother and a truly revered
person. What he did showed why he was revered, as did the 'four-letter word
incident' with my classmate.
For me 'Pancho' exemplified the
Christian leadership that Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche and,
with Marie-Hélène Mathieu, co-founder of Faith and Light, talks
about in the video below. He knew and called each of us by name and loved each
of us, especially when we were 'the enemy', wrongdoing or perceived to be such,
and led us by example, most powerfully of all when he asked our forgiveness for
having judged one of us wrongly.
+++
Schola
Bellarmina, Brussels, Belgium
Antiphona
ad introitum Entrance
Antiphon Ps
118[119]:137, 124
Iustus es, Domine et rectum
iudicium tuum;
You are just, O Lord, and your
judgement is right;
fac cum servo tuo secundum misericordiam
tuam.
treat your servant in accord with
your merciful love.
Ps 118[119]:1.Beati immaculati in via: qui
ambulant in lege Domini.
Happy are those whose way is
blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui
Sancto, sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum,
Amen!
Glory be to the Father, and
to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be, world without end, Amen!
Iustus es, Domine et rectum
iudicium tuum;
You are just, O Lord, and your
judgement is right;
fac cum servo tuo secundum misericordiam
tuam.
treat your servant in accord with
your merciful love.
[The text in bold is what is in
the Ordinary Form of the Mass. The fuller text is used in the Ordinary Form
when it is sung.]
“If another member of the churchsins against you,go and point out the fault when the two of you
are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.But if you are not listened to, take one or two
others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of
two or three witnesses.If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it
to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let
such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on
earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.For where two or three are gathered in my name, I
am there among them.”
Today's gospel looks at forgiveness, mainly from the point of view of helping someone to acknowledge a wrongdoing and thereby asking for and receiving forgiveness. During this week I kept thinking about a Christian Brother who taught me in Dublin and one incident involving him that I witnessed and another I heard about years later. I'll simply copy from a previous post, with one or two slight changes.
During my primary school years I came to know an exceptional person, Brother Mícheál. S. Ó Flaitile, known as ‘Pancho’ from the sidekick of the Cisco Kid, a syndicated comic-strip [above] that we used to read in The Irish Press, a no longer existing Irish daily newspaper. Our 'Pancho', like the Cisco Kid's friend, was on the pudgy side, though minus the hair and moustache. He organized an Irish-speaking club and arranged for me to be secretary. I don’t think I was too happy at the time to get that job but I realized later that he had spotted my ability to write. Other teachers had encouraged me in this too.
My class was blessed to have had Brother Ó Flaitile in our last two years in secondary school, 1959 to 1961, when we were preparing for our all-important Leaving Certificate examination. He taught us Irish and Latin. He probably should have been teaching at university level. What I remember most of all about him was his character. Everyone described him as ‘fear uasal’, the Irish for 'a noble man' – as distinct from 'a nobleman’. A stare from him made you feel humbled, but not humiliated. He had the kind of authority that Jesus had, as we read in the gospels.
I remember one event in our last year. ‘Pancho’ used to take the A and B sections for religion together in our last class before lunch every day for religion class. One day he scolded a student in the B section for something trivial or other and the student himself and the rest of us took it in our stride and forgot about it. We were nearly 70 boys aged between 16 and 18. 'Pancho' was probably around 60 then. The next day Brother Ó Flaitile apologized to the boy in question and to the rest of us because he had discovered that the student hadn’t done what he had accused him of. Whatever it was, it had been very insignificant. But ‘Pancho’’s apology was for me a formative moment. I mentioned it to him many years later when he was in his 80s. He told me he didn’t remember the incident, but he smiled. He died in the late 1980s.
Some years ago a classmate told me about an incident between himself and Brother Ó Flaitile in 1959 when we were on a summer school/holiday in an Irish-speaking part of County Galway. If my friend had told me the story at the time I would not have believed him. He got angry with ‘Pancho’ over something or other and used a four-letter word that nobody would ever express to an adult, least of all to a religious brother and teacher whom we revered. The lad stormed back to the house where he was staying and before too long felt remorse. He went back to ‘Pancho’ and apologized. The Brother accepted this totally and unconditionally and never referred to the incident again.
After my father, I don't think that anyone else influenced me more for good when I was young than 'Pancho'.
Looking back on the first incident I figure that the student in question must have gone to 'Pancho' afterwards and explained to him what had really happened. Brother Ó Flaitile was the kind of authority figure whom you felt free to approach in such a situation. If that is what happened, and I believe it was, then the opening words of today's gospel were what we all experienced in class the following day: If another member of the churchsins against you,go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.
Brother Ó Flaitile's asking for forgiveness that day was all the more powerful because he was more than three times our age, an authority figure, a religious brother and a truly revered person. What he did showed why he was revered, as did the 'four-letter word incident' with my classmate.
For me 'Pancho' exemplified the Christian leadership that Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche and, with Marie-Hélène Mathieu, co-founder of Faith and Light, talks about in the video below. He knew and called each of us by name and loved each of us, especially when we were 'the enemy', wrongdoing or perceived to be such, and led us by example, most powerfully of all when he asked our forgiveness for having judged one of us wrongly.
+++
Schola Bellarmina, Brussels, Belgium
Antiphona ad introitum Entrance Antiphon Ps 118[119]:137, 124
Iustus es, Domine et rectum iudicium tuum;
You are just, O Lord, and your judgement is right;
fac cum servo tuo secundum misericordiam tuam.
treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
Ps 118[119]:1. Beati immaculati in via: qui ambulant in
lege Domini.
Happy are those whose way is blameless,who walk in the law of theLord.
Gloria
Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et
in saecula saeculorum, Amen!
Glory be to theFather, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be, world without end, Amen!
Iustus es, Domine et rectum iudicium tuum;
You are just, O Lord, and your judgement is right;
fac cum servo tuo secundum misericordiam tuam.
treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
[The text in bold is what is in the Ordinary Form of the Mass. The fuller text is used in the Extraordinary Form, the 'Tridentine Mass'. It may also be used in the Ordinary Form when it is sung.]
At his General Audience last Wednesday, 3 September, Pope Francis once again expressed his concern for the Christians of Iraq, many of whom have been driven from their homes. It cannot be stressed enough that their ancestors accepted the gift of our Christian faith in the time of the Apostles, that they are Arabs and that the places from which they have been driven by ISIS are the places where their ancestors have lived for thousands of years.
The Pope's words of encouragement and solidarity:
Today, I want to reassure my closeness to Christians, to the defenseless and persecuted. You are in the heart of the Church. The Church suffers with you and the Church is proud of you. It's proud to have sons and daughters like you. You are its strength and you offer a concrete and authentic testimony of salvation, forgiveness and love. I embrace all of you. May the Lord bless and protect you.
+Louis Raphael Sako
Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church
Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, to which most Iraqi Catholics belong, published an impassioned statement on the website of the Church on 3 September. He calls what is happening 'genocide'. Some extracts:
. . . The curtains have been drawn on the painful events, and 120.000 Christians are uprooted from their historical homeland because the Political Islam does not want them there, and the world is silent, standing still, either because it approves or because it is incapable of acting . . . These people were living in their hometowns in prosperity, pride and dignity; in the blink of an eye, they were ousted from their homes, terrified and fleeing on foot in search of a shelter. It is a scene that takes us back to the dark centuries of the past although it has become a horrific reality of our present civilization!
What these peaceful Christians and loyal citizens experienced is a real genocide, a sad ending, and a proof of the privation of the religious, human, moral, and national values. Therefore, it is a shameful stain in history. Everybody should know is a threat for all.
Few days ago we saw the 13 year old girl on Ishtar satellite channel, screaming: 'I want to go back to my own town, Qaraqosh. I am tired of this life here; I would rather die for it rather than living here in humiliation'. It’s a loud call to the conscience of the world!
This BBC report was published 9 August
Let us, with Pope Francis, embrace our suffering Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq and others being persecuted there, at least through our prayers, most of all as we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
