Memories of my Auntie Madge at Christmas

 

Auntie Madge (Margaret Collins)

Taken by a street photographer, probably Arthur Fields, on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, late 1940s.

(Please excuse the format of the photo!)

 

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town

Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie

Arranged by Jim Clements

Sung by Voces8

My Auntie Madge (Margaret Collins) would have been ten or eleven when this song first appeared in 1934 and no doubt heard Santa Claus is Coming to Town many times. But she never heard the marvellous arrangement by Voces8, the British choral ensemble that I often use in Sunday Reflections, here singing a different kind of music from their largely religious repertoire.

Auntie Madge was the youngest of my mother's six sisters Jennie, Nan, Neita, Bridie, Eileen and Madge. I'm not sure where Bridie, who died in infancy, came in the sequence but I often heard my mother, Mary, talking about her. Three boys, Mick, Paddy and Jack, completed the family of my maternal grandparents, William Patrick Collins and Annie Dowd. My grandfather died early in 1945 when I was nearly two but I don't have any memories of him, though I am happy that he knew me, his third grandchild, and that he held me. He was only 59 when he died of lung cancer. Paddy came home f rom England when Madge was dying, stayed for a few months, as I recall, before going back there. However, he didn't keep in touch. Efforts by my mother and later by myself to trace him yielded no results. 

My first experience of the death of someone close to me was that of Auntie Madge at the age of 26 on 3 February 1950. I was a few months short of seven. She had rheumatic fever when she was twelve and it caught up with her in January 1950. I remember my mother and father, John, taking turns, along with my aunts, in spending nights in my grandmother's house when Madge was in her last illness. My father was with her when she died. I heard him say, If Madge doesn't get to heaven there's not much chance for the rest of us. That was his way of saying that she was very loving and caring to those around her.

My mother, God bless her, took me to the wake in my grandmother's home in Blackhall Place, Dublin, where the family had grown up. I still remember that vividly.

Auntie Madge wasn't married but had a boyfriend. Years later I learned from my mother that he also had another girlfriend who died and never married. We often have no idea of the sadness in people's lives.

Blackhall Place, Dublin

My grandmother's house, where Madge lived and died, was a few doors to the right of those in the photo. 

I have many happy memories of my Auntie Madge who was tall and pretty. One I treasure is her taking three of us cousins, Joan Martin, Auntie Neita's eldest, Billy Kiernan who died some years ago, Auntie Nan's first-born and myself, all born in 1943, to Pims department store in South Great George's Street in Dublin to meet Santa Claus. That was either in December 1949, shortly before Madge's death, or the year before that. I don't remember specifically meeting Santa on that occasion but what I recall vividly is riding on a 'train' with Joan and Billy. We were in a carriage, the 'train' rocking and the 'scenery' flashing by on the outside. When I was somewhat older I realised that this was on some kind of large spool. That lovely memory has stayed with me down the years.

My Auntie Eileen, who was my mother's bridesmaid and my godmother, was married the summer after Madge's death. This was my first time to attend a wedding and the reception was in the one-storey terraced house where her husband, Willie Gallagher, had grown up. I was surprised when Auntie Eileen began to cry, as I thought you were supposed to be happy at your own wedding. A child doesn't always put two-and-two together and years later I realised that she was still grieving for her sister  Madge. Willie's sister Mona, who introduced her only brother to my Auntie Eileen, died last year about a month after turning 103, the last of my parents' generation in our wider family circle. 

Mona Gallagher Rogers on her 100th birthday, 2021

A Christmas song I associate with Auntie Madge is one that is unabashedly a tearjerker: The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot, published in England in 1937 and made popular by Vera Lynn. (Nat King Cole had a hit with it in 1953, I think.) I must have heard Auntie Madge sing it or talk about it. It was one of the most popular Christmas songs when I was a child. The little boy wrote a note to Santa for some soldiers and a drum. The soldiers in question were made from lead, were about 7 cms high and many little boys got some from Santa.

In the photo at the top Auntie Madge looks very serious, almost severe, but my memories of her are of her smiles and her kindness. The photo of Very Lynn in the video below reminds me of her, especially the hairstyle from the 1940s.

The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot

Sung by Vera Lynn

Auntie Madge never forgot the 'little boy' who is typing this. And he still remembers her fondly and misses her almost 76 years after her untimely death. And he feels sorry for his younger cousins who never knew their Auntie Madge. One of them is named after her.

Rest in peace, Auntie Madge, and may we meet in heaven.

There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory, when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you for all the ages and praise you without end (from Eucharistic Prayer III when used at Masses for the dead).

Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A, 14 December 2025

 

St John the Baptist in Prison

Juan Fernández de Navarrete [Web Gallery of Art]

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, 'Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”'(Matthew 11:2-3; Gospel).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales, Scotland, India) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 11:2-11 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way before you.’

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

      

Fr Joseph Coyle 

(28 February 1937 - 18 December 1991)

I have used this material before but it fits in with one of the themes in today's readings: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped (Isaiah 35:5; First Reading), It is the Lord . . . who raises up those who are bowed down (Responsorial Psalm), Go and tell John . . . the deaf hear (Matthew 11:5; Gospel). 

Fr Joseph Coyle was a Columban priest from Derry city, Northern Ireland. He died in the Philippines on 18 December 1991, aged 54, and is buried in a Catholic cemetery in Bacolod City. Father Joe and I weren't related - my Coyle ancestors moved centuries ago from the north-west of Ireland, where the surname originated, to Rush, a fishing village north of Dublin city - but we felt a sense of kinship. He was ordained on 21 December 1961 during my first year in the Columban seminary in Ireland.

Father Joe spent most of his life as a priest in the island of Negros. He gradually became aware of persons with disabilities and of how their needs weren't being met. He was able to obtain artificial limbs for some. But he noticed that there was one group in every community that was almost totally isolated because they didn't share a common language with those around them, not even with their own families. These were persons who were profoundly deaf.

More and more Father Joe became involved with deaf people, celebrating Mass in Sign Language in a number of places. In the late 1980s he established Welcome Home in Bacolod City as a residence for out-of-town deaf students so that they could attend special schools in the city. Special Education has spread now to many towns and that particular need is no longer urgent. But Welcome Home Foundation, Inc. continues with a school for young children, deaf and hearing, catechetical programmes in public schools with both deaf and hearing catechists, and other activities.

Father Joe's death was devastating initially to the young deaf people with whom he had worked. But his vision was continued and developed by others, most noticeably by Mrs Salvacion V. Tinsay who died in 2008. Her daughter Mrs Agnes T. Jalandoni, President and CEO, along with her board and staff have enabled the work begun by Father Joe to grow and adapt to current needs.

Fr Mike Depcik preaching in American Sign Language on today's readings 

Fr Mike Depcik OSFS is an Oblate of St Francis de Sales and one of very few profoundly deaf priests in the world. He has his own vlog, Fr. MD's KitchenTable, where, among other things, he posts videos of homilies for Sunday Masses in American Sign Language, such as that above for this Sunday's Mass.

John the Baptist sends his followers to ask Jesus,  Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? Jesus replies, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news brought to them. 

For Catholics who are profoundly deaf, priests such as Fr Mike Depcik, deaf from birth, and Fr Joe Coyle, who became aware of the isolation of the profoundly deaf, especially within their own families, are included in the response of Jesus to his cousin St John the Baptist: the deaf hear. The deaf aren't isolated to the same degree as before, though I have known of priests and people who consider a signing interpreter at Mass as a 'distraction'. 

And the ministry of priests such as Fr Depcik and Fr Coyle isn't limited to the deaf. Indeed, part of their ministry, and of those who work with them, whether deaf or hearing, is to bring about the change of heart that is central to Advent, not only a turning away from sin but a recognition of the needs of others that we weren't aware of before. It was through having friends who were deaf in varying degrees from birth and through knowing Father Joe that I became aware of the isolation of the deaf within the Church and in society at large. The same can be said to some extent of persons with other disabilities. But profound deafness is the only physical disability that of its nature can totally isolate a person from the community.

There will always be some, for whatever reason, on the margins. The gradual inclusion of those who are profoundly deaf in all activities of the Church and of wider society shown, for example, in the use of signing interpreters at public functions and on television, is one of the signs that Jesus spoke about to assure St John the Baptist that he, Jesus, truly is the one who is to come.

Maria durch ein Dornwald ging

Mary walked through a wood of thorn

Traditional German Advent carol

Arranged by Stefan Claas and sung by Voces 8

Mary walked through a wood of thorn
Kyrie eleison.
Mary walked through a wood of thorn,
Which seven long years no leaf had borne;
Jesus and Mary.

What bore Mary beneath her heart?
Kyrie eleison.
A little child without any smart
Mary bore beneath her heart,
Jesus and Mary.

Then roses sprang from out the thorn;
Kyrie eleison.
As the Christ child through the wood was born,
Roses sprang from out the thorn;
Jesus and Mary.

These are the first three stanzas of seven but have acquired a life of their own. Their context is the Visitation. Wikipedia notes: The dead thorn wood, a symbol of infertility and death, begins to bloom when Mary walks through it with the divine child.

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-14-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7. Gospel: John 1:19-28.

A Pair of Shoes

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

John answered them, 'I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie' {John 1:26-27; Gospel).

                                   

 

Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A, 7 December 2025

 

St John the Baptist Preaching

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1; today's Gospel).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales, Scotland, India) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 3:1-12 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.” ’

Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father”, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptise you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

                                               

The Naming of St John the Baptist

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

A major theme in the texts for this Sunday's Mass is the call to repentance. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . You brood of vipers! . . . Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire . . . His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he [the Messiah] will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

St John the Baptist is echoing the words of Isaiah in the First Reading about the Messiah who is to come: with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Sin has been with us since the time of Adam and Eve. That is why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). No human being except Jesus and Mary has been sinless. Sin is ultimately the rejection of God's love.

In our time, within the last few decades, Western society in particular has accepted as 'good' and as 'rights' practices that have always been seen by Christians and by others as sinful. It has largely rejected what we read in Genesis  1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Linked to that is the rejection of Genesis 2:24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. A powerful international lobby has persuaded many Western countries to deny both of these statements, to legalise a parody of marriage and to undermine the family, all in the false name of 'equality'. 

In some Western jurisdictions it is lawful to genitally mutilate perfectly healthy bodies of adolescents who may be going through the 'turbulence' that hits everyone of that age to one degree or another.

Another new phenomenon is surrogacy, hiring women who almost always are struggling financially and living in another country, to bear a child conceived artificially outside of the way nature itself teaches us. Alongside that we have the widespread destruction of children in their mothers' wombs. This is not something new in itself but it was never presented before as a 'good' or as a 'right' promoted and paid for in many instances by the state on an industrial scale.

All of these things are a grave affront to God our loving Creator who made us to be with him for ever in heaven.

We are preparing in Advent to celebrate the arrival of the Christ-Child, God who became Man, 2,000 years ago. More importantly, perhaps, we are also preparing to welcome him, now the Risen Lord Jesus coming in glory, when he returns at the end of time. At the same time we are preparing to face the Lord Jesus at the end of our individual lives.

Jesus died so that each and every one of us would seek his forgiveness and be with him for ever in glory in heaven. His coming into the world in a stable in Bethlehem was a personal act of love by God for each of us individually and for all of us as the only creatures made in his own image.

St John the Baptist says to the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism in language that would be considered 'offensive' by many today and perhaps labelled as 'hate language' by some politicians, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. The great saint was reminding them - and us - never to take God's mercy for granted, never to forget that God's mercy is shown above all in the death of Jesus on the Cross.

But the Entrance Antiphon - far too often omitted at Mass - expresses God's desire for all of us with the note of joy that is central to Advent: O People of Sion, behold the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart.

The Communion Antiphon expresses something similar: Jerusalem, arise and stand upon the heights, and behold the joy which comes to you from God.

May each of us judge wisely the things of earth and hold firmly to the things of heaven. Through Christ our Lord (Prayer after Communion).

Conditor Alme Siderum - Creator of the Starry Height

Translation from Latin by Monsignor Ronald A. Knox

Musical setting by Flor Peeters

Columban Fr John Colgan RIP

13 September 1938 - 22 November 2025

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr John Colgan who died here in Ireland after a long illness on the eve of St Columban's Day, which this year was the Solemnity of Christ the King.

You may read his obituary here.

Traditional Latin Mass

Second Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-o7-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 15:4-13. Gospel: Matthew 11:2-10.

St John the Baptist in Prison

Juan Fernández de Navarrete [Web Gallery of Art]

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you he who is to come, or is to come, or shall we look for another? (Matthew 12:2-3; today's Gospel). 

 

Loren Capobres, a Filipina, shares with Pope Leo XIV her work helping refugees in Lebanon

 

Loren Capobres addressing Pope Leo XIV in Lebanon

I came across this video yesterday, Tuesday 1 December, and posted it on Facebook. When I opened Facebook this morning I found a message from Loren herself, whom I have never met, and one from a mutual friend in the Philippines, Gwen Llano, who has been involved in Faith and Light for many years. Gwen gave a seminar in Lebanon in 2020 and met Loren there.

The website of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has a report on Loren's talk here. The report by Roy Lagarde says: Pope Leo XIV on Monday said migrants’ experiences must push Christians to oppose war and build communities where no one seeking safety feels unwelcome, after hearing a Filipino woman’s testimony.

Loren Capobres, a former Filipino domestic worker in Lebanon who now works with Jesuit Refugee Service, shared stories that illustrate both the human cost of conflict and the Church’s moral responsibility.

Capobres described her work with migrants through Couples for Christ Lebanon, the Arrupe Migrant Center, and St. Joseph’s Tabaris Parish, which she calls her second home.

She said the parish, supported by Jesuit Refugee Service, became a shelter for migrants who lost homes, work, and security during fighting.

Lebanon is a country that knows suffering. The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) led to 150,000 deaths and a million people leaving the country. The population in 1970 was 2,386,114. The country has also given refuge to people fleeing from other wars in the Middle East.

Catholic immigrants such as Loren Capobres bring a deep and generous faith and enrich the countries wherever they go. Here in Ireland I'm often struck by the Catholic faith of Filipinos, Indians from Kerala, who trace their faith back to St Thomas the Apostle, and Nigerians in particular. They come from countries that are very different culturally in many ways from Ireland, but share with us here the deepest identity of all: our Catholic faith received at baptism that when lived leads persons to serve others generously.

May God continue to bless Loren Capobres and so many others like her, wherever they may be.