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).
GospelMatthew 25:1-13 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England &
Wales, Scotland, India)
At that time: Jesus told his disciples this
parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps
and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise
took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all
became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, “Here is the
bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those virgins rose and trimmed
their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for
our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered, saying, “Since there will not
be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.”
And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready
went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterwards the
other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he answered,
“Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you know neither
the day nor the hour.’
In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop down from the panel above your head… Secure your own mask before helping others.
I have heard those words hundreds of times before flight takeoffs. I have never experienced having to use one of these masks and I hope that I never will. (I don't expect to be flying anymore at this stage of my life). The others mentioned in the instruction are children and persons with disabilities of one kind or another who would need help. But the instruction is clear: Secure your own mask before helping others.
The introduction to today's Mass in the November 2020 issue of Magnificat, a wonderful monthly daily missal that also includes daily morning and evening prayer, reads: Why do the five wise virgins not share their oil with the five foolish ones? Because it is something that simply cannot be shared. The oil is our personal virtue. 'The wise maidens represent all those who possess the ensemble of virtues which characterise a complete Christian life. The burning oil lamps which they carry . . . symbolically portray Christian wisdom . . . This Christian wisdom empowers all those who embrace prudence and the other moral virtues to fulfil the requirements of an integral and holy life' (Fr Romanus Cessario OP). 'God, through Jesus, will bring with him those who' seek wisdom with the same ardour with which the wise virgins seek the bridegroom. For Christ is the Bridegroom.
Airlines instruct adult and able-bodied passengers to put on their own masks first. If they don't they may not be in a position to help others for whom they have a responsibility. The situation is an emergency and everything has to be done quickly. Adults are asked to behave as responsible adults.
The ten virgins in the parable are also adults, albeit young. Every one of them made a decision. The five wise virgins decided to buy the oil necessary for lighting their lamps even though they did not know when exactly they would be using them. The five foolish virgins decided not to buy the oil they needed. There was no 'emergency' as there is in a plane if the oxygen masks drop. Being ready to meet the bridegroom whenever he might arrive wasn't a priority with them. For the five wise virgins it was.
If we see the bridegroom in the parable as representing Jesus we can see that Jesus is asking us to direct our lives constantly towards him.
I've written a number of times about 15-year-old Saint Carlo Acutis, beatified in 2020 and canonised by Pope Leo XIV on 7 September 2025, who used to tell his friends, The goal of my life is to always be united with Jesus.
On a number of occasions I have written about Clement Shabaz Bhatti, the Catholic Pakistani politician assassinated in 2011, who wrote in his Spiritual Testimony, I want to live for Christ and it is for Him that I want to die.
These are two contemporary examples of persons ready with their lamps lit for the Bridegroom - Jesus Christ Himself - when he came.
St Charles Borromeo, the great Archbishop of Milan, whose feast day is celebrated on 4 November, said in the sermon he gave at his last synod: Or is your task the care of souls? Then do not neglect your own. Do not spend yourself so completely on other people that you have nothing left for yourself. Of course you have to look after the souls you have been put in charge of, but not to the extent that you forget your own.
St Charles
Borromeo Administers the Sacrament to the Plague-Infected
This year All Saints' Day falls on Sunday and takes precedence over the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A.
There are no specific readings for All Souls' Day. Readings may be taken from those for Masses for the Dead. Matthew 5:1-12a, below, is proper to All Saints' Day and may also be used on All Souls' Day.
Readings for All Saints' Day
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)
Readings(English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales, Scotland)
GospelMatthew 5:1-12a (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
At that time: Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.’
I don't know much about the faith of
Scottish poet Norman MacCaig
(1910 - 1996). Wikipedia tells us that he described it as 'Zen Calvinism' - 'a
comment typical of his half-humorous, half-serious approach to life'.
A favourite poem of mine is Country
Postman. It expresses for me something of the reality of the Communion of
Saints that we celebrate and remember in a special way on these two days. I've
no idea if Norman MacCaig was thinking of the Communion of Saints when he wrote
it. But the poem captures something of what holds us all together as a
community. With email, Facebook and all the ways of communicating in 'this
digital continent', as Pope Benedict called it, perhaps the role of the postman
has changed, though he is still vital in rural communities, not only to deliver
the mail but to keep an eye on older persons living on their own, some of whom
perhaps are reclusive but who still welcome him.
The poem too catches something of the
fragility in all of us, especially in those who serve the broader community
quietly and generously for so many years. And could Jesus, who turned water
into wine at a wedding for people like those whom this mail deliverer served,
turn away this poor man who died after probably celebrating a little too much?
It is persons such as MacCaig's Country
Postman whom we remember on All Souls' Day and it is our prayers that help
them move from being numbered among All Souls to being numbered among All
Saints.
Country Postman
Before he was drowned,
his drunk body bumping down the shallows
of the Ogle Burn, he had walked
fifteen miles every day
bringing celebrations and disasters
and what lies between them to
MacLarens and MacGregors
and Mackenzies.
Now he has no news to bring
of celebrations or disasters,
although, after one short journey,
he has reached
all the clans in the world.
['Burn' means 'creek'; MacLaren, MacGregor and Mackenzie are common Scottish surnames, 'Mac' meaning 'son'.]
The belief that love
can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible,
in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this
has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it
remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to
their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a
request for pardon?
. . . We should
recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with
one another . . . The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what
I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others:
for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something
extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the
interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can
play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to
convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple
terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of
another, nor is it ever in vain. In this way we further clarify an important
element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also
hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me too.
Pie Jesu
Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for his father's funeral
Please pray for the soul of Patricia who died of breast cancer on 1 October 2023 aged only 25. May our loving Father welcome her into the heavenly choir.
Traditional Latin Mass
What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful (Benedict XVI).
Feast of All Saints
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-01-2026 if necessary).
Lesson: Apocalypse 7:2-12. Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12.
You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Mt 22:39; Gospel).
Readings(Jerusalem
Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)
Readings(English
Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India)
Gospel Matthew 22:34-40 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England &
Wales, Scotland, India)
At that time: When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had
silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer,
asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in
the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and
first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as
yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’
In 2023 the Archdiocese of Seoul formally opened the cause for the beatification of Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan. Many of my Columban confreres in Korea knew him well. He inspired many priests in the Philippines by being a great pastor. I have used the material here before but have no hesitation about using it again.
This time 11 years ago I visited Korea to attend the ordination to the priesthood on 1 November of Fr Lee Jehoon Augustine, a Columban who spent two years working in the Manila area as part of his preparation for the priesthood. He is now serving in Myanmar.
While there I went with two Columban priests, Fr Liam O'Keeffe, a classmate from County Clare who returned to Ireland in 2022, Fr Con Murphy from County Cork, who came back to Ireland in 2018 after 57 years in Korea and died this year on 29 June, the Feast of St Peter and St Paul and the Foundation Day of the Missionary Society of St Columban. A woman named Pia also came with us tto visit the graves of five Columbans in a cemetery owned by the Archdiocese of Seoul, but outside both the city and the archdiocese. One of the five Columbans buried there, Fr Mortimer Kelly from Gort, County Galway, was a classmate of Father Liam and myself. Pia had known Fr John Nyhan, from Kilkenny, Ireland, another of the five, since her childhood.
The cemetery is on a hillside, as is the Korean custom. A little higher on the hill where my companions are buried is the grave of Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan, a man who was revered in Korea, not only by Catholics but by nearly all South Koreans.
While we were there Father Con told me of a homily that Cardinal Kim once preached at a Mass in a Catholic university. He took out two daily newspapers and began to speak in such a quiet voice that those present had to strain forward and 'eavesdrop'. Cardinal Kim was flipping over the pages of both newspapers and some were thinking he was unprepared. Then he came to a particular story about young women working on the railways who collected the fares of last-minute passengers and helped 'push' people into trains at rush hour.
The report in both papers was about accusations by higher authorities that some of these young women were perhaps pocketing some of the fares. Cardinal Kim's voice grew stronger as he spoke about this. Then he began to remind the students of how privileged they were, getting higher education and an opportunity to find better jobs than the young women working for the rail company who were at the bottom of the heap.
Cardinal Kim, who was noted for his love for the poor and who knew many poor people personally, now speaking in a very strong voice, asked the students if they were going to treat others with the contempt that some showed towards the young women in a menial job or if they were going to use their professional qualifications in the service of others.
Cardinal Kim
In that homily the late Archbishop of Seoul was bringing together the two Great Commandments that Jesus gives us in today's gospel and between which there is no conflict. In the First Reading, to which the Gospel is linked by theme, God reminds the Hebrew people of how they are to treat those who are poor or different - aliens, widows, orphans.If ever you take your neighbour's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down (Exodus 22:26; First Reading), That cloak was what a poor person slept in.
In other words, Jesus is asking us to see each person through his eyes. GK Chesterton in his biography of St Francis of Assisi, if my memory is correct, has a wonderful image of a huge crowd looking up at God on a balcony, rather as in St Peter's Square when the Pope is on the balcony there or at his window for the Sunday Angelus. However, Chesterton didn't see himself among the crowd but with God on the balcony, looking down on the people and seeing them as God sees them.
Cardinal Kim was doing something similar. He was looking at both the university students and the railway workers through the eyes of God. Rank means nothing to God as he looks on his children. As Psalm 149 so beautifully expresses it, God takes delight in his people [Grail translation].
On pages 296-297 the Handbook of the Legion of Mary, nearly all of which was written by its founder the Servant of God Frank Duff, quotes from Chesterton's biography of St Francis. St Francis only saw the image of God multiplied but never monotonous. To him a man was always a man, and did not disappear in a dense crowd any more than in a desert. He honoured all men; that is he not only loved but respected them all. What gave him his extraordinary personal power was this: that from the Pope to the beggar, from the Sultan of Syria in his pavilion to the ragged robbers crawling out of the wood, there was never a man who looked into those brown, burning eyes without being certain that Francis Bernardone was really interested in him, in his inner individual life from the cradle to the grave; that he himself was valued and taken seriously.
This is how members of the Legion of Mary, which is strong in Korea, are told to look upon each person they meet, indeed to see them higher than themselves. The late Fr Bede McGregor OP, former Spiritual Director of the Concilium, the central body of the Legion of Mary in Dublin, tells how Frank Duff himself lived that. When he was postulator of the cause for the beatification of Frank Duff he interviewed a man who lived in the Morning Star Hostel, run by the Legion of Mary in Dublin for men who are down on their luck. Father Bede explained tp the man that he was seeking testimonies for the Vatican and needed him to swear on the Bible that anything he said concerning Frank was true. He added that the man was an alcoholic and had lived a tragic life. The man agreed and then he said these beautiful words: Frank Duff was the only man who ever looked up to me.
The Legion was born in the slums of Dublin in 1921 and to this day is involved to a large degree in serving people who have little or nothing.
God is constantly blessing the Church and the world through persons who embody the Gospel in their lives. I know from my friends in Korea in particular that Cardinal Kim embodied the Two Great Commandments; he was an embodiment of what each of us is called to be in virtue of our baptism in the different situations in which we find ourselves.
Cardinal Kim's grave
평화의기도 The Prayer of St Francis (in Korean)
SeungHee
Lee Composer, Seoul Catholic Singers
Conductor:
Simon, Geun-Chang Riu
Pianist: Angela, Hyo-Ju Nam
29
June 2019, SinCheon-Dong Church
Traditional Latin Mass
Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ
The Complete Mass in Latin and English ishere. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 10-25-2026 if necessary).
"Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”(Matthew 22:19-20; Gospel).
Readings(Jerusalem
Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)
Readings (English
Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India)
GospelMatthew 22:15-21 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England &
Wales, Scotland, India)
At that time: The Pharisees went and plotted how
to entangle Jesus in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along
with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the
way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are
not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay
taxes to Caesar, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why put me
to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.’ And they brought
him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is
this?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’
Pope Leo's video message for the 100th World
Mission Day
This Sunday is World Mission Day (or Mission Sunday). It happens that the readings for the Mass of the day have a strong missionary dimension. They include the sense of God calling us by name and of our receiving the mission to make Jesus Christ known to the world: I call you by your name . . . I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other (First Reading).
Psalm 95 [96] used for the Responsorial Psalm adds to the missionary dimension: Oh sing to the Lord a new song;sing to the Lord, all the earth! Declare his glory among the nations,his marvellous works among all the peoples! . . . Worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness;tremble before him, all the earth!Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns! . . .he will judge the peoples with equity.'
Though in the Sundays in Ordinary Time the Second Reading is not linked thematically with the First Reading and the Gospel, today's Second Reading is very much in harmony with the other two. In writing to the people of Thessalonica St Paul thanks God for their work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
The Gospel too calls us to be missionaries. Jesus tells the Pharisees trying to trap him: Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
Often enough these words, I think, are interpreted as if rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's and rendering to God what is God's were in opposition. That is not so. Our involvement in the world of Caesar is meant to be in harmony with God's will. Two things that struck me very clearly during and after the Second Vatican Council, which occurred when I was in the seminary in the 1960s, was that it reminded us that God calls every single one of us to be a saint, not only priests and religious. The second was that lay people by virtue of their baptism were called to be fully involved in what we may call the world of Caesar, working for the good of all.
This includes the world of politics, whether we are elected officials or voters. Our faith has a bearing on what we do. I remember in the autumn of 1982, when I was on a three-month intensive pastoral programme in a hospital in Minneapolis, going to a bank there. When the official I was dealing with discovered I was based in the Philippines he told me that in the previous election in the USA he considered, among other things, how his vote would affect the Philippines, which was under martial law at the time.
We weren't talking party politics and I don't think the man was a Catholic. He was probably a Lutheran, since most of the people in Minneapolis have roots in Norway and Sweden, where the vast majority are Lutherans. (The other Twin City, St Paul, has a large Catholic population, the majority of those having Irish and German roots.) I saw in that man who took his vote so seriously an example of what the Vatican Council had in mind for us Catholics as citizens.
Most issues that politicians and voters deal with are matters of prudential judgements on what is best for the common good. People may take different positions on what they consider best for the good of all. Whether to build a road here or there, for example, isn't a matter of right or wrong but of what legislators think is best for the common good. They may have different views on this.
But there are political issues where as followers of Jesus Christ we can make only one choice because the choice is between what is morally right and what is morally wrong. No Catholic may vote or legislate in favour of abortion, for example, promote 'marriage' between two persons of the same sex, push for the 'right' to change from one sex to another, a biological impossibility, that has led to the scourge of minors in some countries being genitally mutilated, this being allowed by the law.
Yet there are heads of government and other politicians who claim to be practising Catholics who promote these things and many Catholic voters who vote in favour of these policies. This is a form of rendering to Caesar what is in clear opposition to God's will. It is a form of rendering to Caesar what is extremely harmful to Caesar, not to mention to the souls of those who take these positions.
It is a rejection of the teaching of the Church that the Second Vatican Council re-emphasised and can lead, if we do not repent, to an eternity where Caesar will no longer exist and where it will be impossible to render anything to God.
The optional memorial of Pope St John Paul II is observed on 22 October.
This extract from his encyclical Redemptoris Mission[1990] is most appropriate for World Mission Day [emphases added].
In my first encyclical, in which I set forth the program of my Pontificate, I said that 'the Church's fundamental function in every age, and particularly in ours, is to direct man's gaze, to point the awareness and experience of the whole of humanity toward the mystery of Christ.'
The Church's universal mission is born of faith in Jesus Christ, as is stated in our Trinitarian profession of faith: 'I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.... For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.' The redemption event brings salvation to all, 'for each one is included in the mystery of the redemption and with each one Christ has united himself forever through this mystery.' It is only in faith that the Church's mission can be understood and only in faith that it finds its basis.
Laudate Dominum
Composed by Jacques Berthier
Sung by Bethlehem Choir, Catholic Church of the Nativity, Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria
Laudete Dominum (Praise the Lord)
Omnes Gentes (All the People) Alleluia!
Composer Jacques Berthier composed hymns for the ecumenical Taizé Community where Scripture verses are repeated, the refrain in Latin and the verses and sometimes the refrain in a contemporary language, as in the video above. Latin/French here. Latin/Malayalam here; Malayalam is spoken in Kerala, India, where most of the Christians are members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, in full communion with Rome.
Traditional Latin Mass
Twenty-first Sunday After Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and
English is here.
(Adjust the date at the top of that page to 10-18-2026 if necessary).
St Charles
Borromeo Administers the Sacrament to the Plague-Infected
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