Young Jew as Christ, Rembrandt [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 Mark 13:33-37 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised CatholicEdition)
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when
the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he
leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the
doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the
master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow,
or at dawn, or else he
may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all:
Keep awake.’
Liam
Whelan
(1 April 1935 - 5 February 1958)
If this is the end, then I'm ready
for it.
These were the last words of Liam
Whelan who died in a plane crash at Munich Airport on 6 February 1958 along
with other members of the Manchester United football (soccer) team as they were
returning from a match in Belgrade. About seven years ago I learned from a
friend named Brendan whom I have known for more than 50 years that, when they
were both aged 14 or so, Liam rescued him when he got into difficulties in a
swimming pool in their area. And last year I discovered that another friend,
who was a classmate of mine for five years in secondary school and for two
years in the seminary, also named Liam, that this talented young footballer had
been a neighbour of his and that even when he had achieved fame as a
professional footballer he would still play knockabout football on the street
with the local boys whenever he would come home.
The average age of Manchester
United's players at the time of the accident was only 22. These young men
were earning only £15 a week, about 25 percent more than a tradesman could
earn. Endorsements could bring in a little more income for a few talented
players whose career would end for most at 35, if not earlier.
There was snow on the ground at
Munich Airport and the plane made three attempts to take off. Harry Gregg, the goalkeeper
for Manchester United and who also played in that position for Northern
Ireland's international team, was sitting near Liam Whelan. He survived
uninjured and helped save a number of people from death. He has often told the
story of Liam Whelan's last words: If this is the end, then I'm ready
for it.
Clearly young Liam had his life
focused on what was most important. He was ready to meet death. I have often
spoken about him at Mass and in giving retreats.
Those who knew him describe Liam Whelan
as 'a devout Catholic’. I know that he sent his mother some money for her
to go to Lourdes. 11 February 1958 was the centennial of the first apparition
of our Blessed Mother to St Bernadette. Mrs Whelan, a widow since 1943 when
Liam was 8, used the money instead towards a beautiful statue of Our Lady of
Lourdes over the grave of her son. I pass it each time I visit my parents’
grave.
Liam
Whelan's grave (right)
I vividly remember the dark, late
afternoon I heard about the crash from a street-singer whom I knew by sight and
who was running around agitatedly telling people of the crash. I didn't know
whether to believe him or not but the news on the radio confirmed that it
really had happened. It was the first time in my life to experience what has
been called a 'public-private moment', a public happening, usually a tragedy,
that becomes a very personal one for those who learn of it, one that is seared
in the memory and often in the heart.
Liam Whelan grew up in the next
parish to my own and I remember going to Christ the King Church the evening his
remains were brought there. I was outside the church with countless others. An
article by John Scally in the February 2008 issue of The Word, the
magazine of the Divine Word Missionaries in Ireland that is no longer
published, described what many experienced: Their funerals were like no
other. Most funerals are a burial of someone or something already gone. These
young deaths pointed in exactly the opposite direction and were therefore the
more poignant. Normally we bury the past but in burying Liam Whelan and his
colleagues, in some deep and gnawing way we buried the future.
I still feel some pain at the deaths
of Liam Whelan and his colleagues nearly 60 years after they died but the story
of Liam's preparedness for his sudden death is one that continues to inspire
me.
Liam's last words, If this is
the end, then I'm ready for it, are a perfect response to today's gospel.
Jesus is not trying to frighten us but he is telling us starkly to be prepared
always for the moment of our death, to do everything with that in mind. Advent
is a time when we prepare not only to celebrate the birth of Jesus at
Christmas, but to become much more aware of his daily coming into our lives,
and to prepare, as individuals and as a Christian community to welcome him when
he returns at the end of time in a way that we won't be ashamed.
What would we say if he asked us in the Philippines where I spent most of my life, for example, Have children who have been abused had
their court cases finished quickly? I have heard that young Maria, who has gone
to the court five or six times for a hearing, something that is quite upsetting
for her, has been told on each occasion that the defence lawyer isn't yet ready.
What would we say if Jesus
said, I have been told that many forests have been cut down for profit
and that this has resulted in many deaths in
Leyte, for example, in 1991 and 2003. Is this true?
More
than 5,000 died in a flash flood in Ormoc City, Leyte, on 5 November
1991. Deforestation
was blamed as a primary cause of the devastation.
The gospel this Sunday is, literally,
a 'wake up call'. Beware, keep alert . . . Therefore, keep awake . .
. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.
May the response of Liam
Whelan, a young professional footballer who took these words to heart, inspire
us and give us a desire to be always prepared to meet the Lord, in this life
and in the next: If this is the end, then I'm ready for it.
This was recorded on St Columban's Day, 23 November 2011, in the Abbey of St Columban, Bobbio, Italy, where the saint died and is buried.
Antiphona ad introitum Entrance Antiphon Cf Ps 24 [25]:1-3
Ad te levavi animam meam, Deus meus,
To you, I lift up my soul, O my God.
in te confido, non erubescam.
In you, I have trusted, let me not be put to shame.
Neque irrideant me inimici mei,
Nor let my enemies exult over me;
etenim universi qui te exspectant non confundentur.
and let none who hope in you be put to shame.
Ps 24 [24]:4. Vias tuas, Domine, demonstri mihi; et semitas tuas edoce me.
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Ad te levavi animam meam, Deus meus,
To you, I lift up my soul, O my God.
in te confido, non erubescam.
In you, I have trusted, let me not be put to shame.
Neque irrideant me inimici mei,
Nor let my enemies exult over me;
etenim universi qui te exspectant non confundentur.
and let none who hope in you be put to shame.
The longer version is sung or
recited when the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is celebrated.
[I have told the story of Liam Whelan on this blog a number of times before, originally here.]
[I have told the story of Liam Whelan on this blog a number of times before, originally here.]