'A Season of preparation for the birth of the Lord.' Sunday Reflections, 1st Sunday of Advent, Year C

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt 

[Web Gallery of Art]

We begin Year C, which highlights St Luke's Gospel

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)   

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

 ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars of Night)

An ancient Advent hymn sung by the Christendom College Choir & Schola Gregoriana

Pope Benedict's Angelus Talk on the First Sunday of Advent, 29 November 2009. [I have highlighted some parts.]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This Sunday, by the grace of God, a new Liturgical Year opens, of course, with Advent, a Season of preparation for the birth of the Lord. The Second Vatican Council, in the Constitution on the Liturgy, affirms that the Church "in the course of the year... unfolds the whole mystery of Christ from the Incarnation and Nativity to the Ascension, to Pentecost and the expectation of the blessed hope of the Coming of the Lord". In this way, "recalling the mysteries of the redemption, she opens up to the faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present for all time; the faithful lay hold of them and are filled with saving grace" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 102). The Council insists on the fact that the centre of the Liturgy is Christ, around whom the Blessed Virgin Mary, closest to him, and then the martyrs and the other saints who "sing God's perfect praise in Heaven and intercede for us" (ibid., n. 104) revolve like the planets around the sun.

This is the reality of the Liturgical Year seen, so to speak, "from God's perspective". And from the perspective, let us say, of humankind, of history and of society what importance can it have? The answer is suggested to us precisely by the journey through Advent on which we are setting out today. The contemporary world above all needs hope; the developing peoples need it, but so do those that are economically advanced. We are becoming increasingly aware that we are all on one boat and together must save each other. Seeing so much false security collapse, we realize that what we need most is a trustworthy hope. This is found in Christ alone. As the Letter to the Hebrews says, he "is the same yesterday and today and for ever (Heb 13: 8). The Lord Jesus came in the past, comes in the present and will come in the future. He embraces all the dimensions of time, because he died and rose; he is "the Living One". While he shares our human precariousness, he remains forever and offers us the stability of God himself. He is "flesh" like us and "rock" like God. Whoever yearns for freedom, justice, and peace may rise again and raise his head, for in Christ liberation is drawing near (cf. Lk 21: 28) as we read in today's Gospel. We can therefore say that Jesus Christ is not only relevant to Christians, or only to believers, but to all men and women, for Christ, who is the centre of faith, is also the foundation of hope. And every human being is constantly in need of hope.

Dear brothers and sisters, the Virgin Mary fully embodies a humanity that lives in hope based on faith in the living God. She is the Virgin of Advent: she is firmly established in the present, in the "today" of salvation. In her heart she gathers up all past promises, and encompasses the future. Let us learn from her in order to truly enter this Season of grace and to accept, with joy and responsibility, the coming of God in our personal and social lives. 

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The Visitation, El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

On 24 November I was travelling on a bus here in Ireland. I overheard a passenger say to another person, It's Christmas now. Not quite. There was still a full month to go before the Church's Christmas Season begins on the evening of 24 December either with the Vigil Mass in the early evening or, more commonly, with the Mass During the Night, formerly known as the Midnight Mass.

Advent is the liturgical season that has been largely sidelined, even in Catholic institutions such as schools which usually hold Christmas parties before Christmas has even begun. In my last few years in the Philippines I tried, with some success, to have these parties called Advent parties. Some groups I was associated with adopted the term while others compromised with the 'Pre-Christmas' party. I reminded them that a wedding banquet takes place after the wedding and a baptismal party takes place after the birth and baptism of the child.

In El Greco's painting of the Visitation above we see two women, Mary and St Elizabeth, vibrant with a dance of life, each carrying a child in her womb. Each was preparing for the birth of her child. And the young Mary, in the early stages of pregnancy, went specifically to be of help to her much older relative who was, according to tradition, about six months later in her pregnancy. Mary wanted to help Elizabeth prepare for the birth of St John the Baptist.

In the opening sentence of his Angelus talk Pope Benedict states clearly that Advent is a Season of preparation for the birth of the Lord.

In the weekday Masses in the earlier part of Advent we listen to a prophecy from the Old Testament and then a gospel reading that shows how that prophecy has been fulfilled with the coming of Jesus. This is meant to bring us hope for the future, that God who came into the world more than 2,000 years ago as a human being and is now risen from the dead will continue to be with us as individuals and as a community as we journey towards eternal life.

And Mary continues to bring Jesus her Son to us and to lead us to her Son, in accordance with the will of the Father. Pope Benedict's Angelus message ends with these beautiful words: In her heart she gathers up all past promises, and encompasses the future. Let us learn from her in order to truly enter this Season of grace and to accept, with joy and responsibility, the coming of God in our personal and social lives.

Ad te Domine, Alessandro Scarlatti

Antiphona at introitum  Entrance Antiphon Cf Ps 24[25]:1-3

Ad te levavi animan 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.

'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' Sunday Reflections, Christ the King, Year B

From The Gospel ofJohn (2003) Directed by Philip Saville. [John 18:33-37, today's Gospel]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 18:33b-18 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)   

Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’

Christ Before Pilate, Tintoretto [Web Gallery of Art]

The Kingdom of God breaks into our lives very often in quiet, apparently insignificant ways. More than 50 years ago, shortly after I was ordained, I was stopped by an elderly woman in a poor part of Dublin, just around the corner from where I had gone to school. She wasn't well dressed but didn't ask me for anything. She simply wanted to tell me how lonely she was. She kept repeating that.

I never met that woman again but I have not forgotten here. I often pray for her soul and also pray that one day she will welcome me into the heavenly home that God wills for all of us. That encounter at a street corner in Dublin has been an ongoing grace for me, an experience of the Kingdom of God breaking through in what would seem to have been a totally insignificant event.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells us at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3). Being poor in spirit means knowing one's need of God. The woman who stopped me in the street was expressing that because she saw that I was a priest and in some way a representative of the Lord.

The only thing I could give that poor woman, who was old enough to be my grandmother, was a listening ear. But she gave me a glimpse into the Kingdom of God, a gift that has lasted all these years.

My kingdom is not from this world, Jesus tells us in today's gospel as he stands before Pilate. But his kingdom is constantly breaking through in this world, in very ordinary, unplanned encounters when God gives us the grace to see and to hear - and we accept that grace.

Head of a Woman, Van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

Responsorial Psalm [Philippines, USA]

'No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone.' Sunday Reflections, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus, El Greco [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 13:24-32 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)   

Jesus said to his disciples:

 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
    and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.'

Fig tree [Wikipedia]

As I write this the worst wildfire in California history is still raging, with more than fifty known deaths and hundreds of people unaccounted for. A town named Paradise has been totally destroyed. Last night a friend who is a father of seven young children, the eldest 13, told me of the sudden death from a heart attack of his niece's husband, aged 33, leaving a young widow, and four small children without a father. A three-year civil war has left Yemen on the brink of what may become the 'world's worst famine in 100 years' that could leave 13 million people at the risk of starvation. 

Last Sunday much of the world held ceremonies to mark the centennial of the Armistice that ended the Great War, later known as World War One (1914-18). This 'war to end all wars' resulted in around 16 million deaths, about six million of those civilians. But the centennial ceremonies offered hope as former enemies joined together to remember and pray for the dead and looked to building a future without war.

Today's gospel speaks of realities that occur in every age. The Great War was the result of sinful decisions by human beings, as are the civil war in Yemen and the famine it is causing. Wildfires are often, though not always, the result of carelessness by human beings and sometimes are deliberately caused by sinful decisions.

The sudden death of a young husband/father is not something that can be foreseen. In the case of the young father of four who died yesterday there is a family medical history. But too often such deaths are the result of one person deciding to kill another.

We often gloss over the reality of sin and the consequences of our decision. But the First Reading speaks plainly: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).

We are drawing to the end of the current liturgical year in which the Church has focused on the Gospel of St Mark. The first words that Jesus speaks in this gospel are: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.

Jesus is emphasising the need for repentance. He warns us in today's gospel, But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Pope Francis going to confession

Jesus has given us the gift of a particular way to obtain forgiveness for our sins, the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, often referred to as 'confession'. The Catechism of the Catholic Church No 1422 reads: Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labours for their conversion.

Pope Benedict XVI [Wikipedia]

Today's readings call us to reflect on death, particularly our own, not in a morbid way but from a belief that God is the foundation of hope. Pope Benedict writes in his encyclical letter Spe Salvi No 48, in the context of our relationship with those who have died, Now a further question arises: if 'Purgatory' is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. 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.

This passage acknowledges the effects of our sins on others but also gives us hope. Benedict quotes the English poet John Donne: No man is an island, entire of itself. 

Each time when someone we know dies, whether naturally after a long and fruitful life or tragically while still young, that is a grace from God for us to reflect on the purpose of our life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church No 1023 says, Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they 'see him as he is,' face to face.

That is God's will for each of us but it is possible to reject that loving will. If we choose not to ask God's forgiveness for mortal sins we will have opted for shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).

May each of us, with God's grace, choose eternal life, especially by asking God's forgiveness regularly in the sacrament of reconciliation.

Columban Fr Seán F. Doherty RIP

Fr Seán F. Doherty

22 March 1935 - 21 October 2018

Fr Seán F. Doherty was born on 22 March 1935 in Knockagulla, Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, Ireland. He was educated at Rathbane National School, Lisdoonvarna, and St Mary’s College, Galway. He entered St Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Navan, in September 1953 and  was ordained priest on 21 December 1959.

Lisdoonvarna Main Street [Wikipedia]

Father Seán was assigned to Korea and after initial language studies he served as assistant on Heuksando (Heuksan Island), then in Jang Seung and later in Muan - all in the southern Diocese of Kwangju. On returning to Korea after his first home visit to Ireland in 1967, he served as pastor in Shin Chang, on Cheju Island, and later in Tjang Heung in Chollanamdo Province.

Heuksando, Korea [Wikipedia]

In May 1971 he returned to Ireland. Over the next four years he did supply work in a variety of locations: in Glengormley Parish, Belfast in the Diocese of Down and Connor,  in Killavil, Cloonloo and Foxford in the Diocese of Achonry, and in Castleisland in the Diocese of Kerry.

There followed a further four years in Korea, from 1975 to 1979 serving as pastor in Hwa Sun near Kwangju. Returning to Ireland, he served as chaplain to the Sisters of Charity in Donnybrook and spent periods in the Cathedral in Monaghan; in Beleek, County Fermanagh; in the Cathedral in Newry; in Latton, County Monaghan; in Dromard, Skryne, Killala; in Scotshouse, County Monaghan, in Lahinch, County Clare, and in Belcoo, County Fermanagh.

Finner Camp in the distance [Wikipedia]

In between these many assignments he spent six months with the Irish Army at the Curragh, County Kildare; a summer as temporary chaplain to the US Army in Frankfurt, Germany; six month with the Irish Air Corps in Gormanston, County Meath; and a two-year period with the Irish Army at Finner, County Donegal. Father Seán had a particular gift for working with men and seemed to have enjoyed these assignments.

He was very intelligent, well-read, and with a wide range of interests. It could be said that he did not suffer fools gladly, but he was also a very kind person. He had to suffer long bouts of illness during the course of his life and particularly in his final years.

He is buried in St Columban's Cemetery, Dalgan Park.

May he rest in peace.

Crucifix, St Columan's Cemetery, Dalgan Park

Quick March of the Defence Forces Ireland

The logo is that of the Defence Forces

'She out of her poverty has put in everything she had.' Sunday Reflections, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The Widow's Mite, James Tissot [Wikipedia]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 12:38-44 [or 41-44] (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)   

[As Jesus taught, he said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’]

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’

Head of a Peasant Woman in a Green Shawl 

Van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

There are moments that remain a grace from God for a person for the rest of his life, moments when he was simply an observer rather than a participant. One such moment for me happened one night more than forty years ago in Ozamiz City, Mindanao. It was quite late and I was looking out through an upstairs window in the convento (presbytery/rectory) of the Cathedral. As we say in Ireland, 'there wasn't a sinner to be seen' on the cathedral plaza except for two persons. One was a man, a beggar, maybe in his 30s. The other was Gregoria, known to everyone as 'Guria', a 'simple' woman and very gentle who would often wander in an out of classrooms in schools, doodle on the board and leave without having distracted anyone. 

I noticed Guria, who was perhaps in her 40s, approach the man. She had two small pieces of bread, what is called pandesal in the Philippines. She gave one to the beggar, just like St Martin of Tours when still a  soldier cutting his ample cloak in two and giving one half to a beggar. (St Martin's feast day is 11 November but is not observed this year as it is a Sunday.)

St Martin and the Beggar, El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

What Guria did was pure, unselfish love. And yet she was probably unaware of this and certainly totally unaware of the fact that someone was observing her. She did not have a strong gift of reflection whereas God has given this to me and to most of us. But we don't always use that gift.

St Mark tells us, Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. And he saw 'Guria' there. Perhaps the widow in the gospel looked like the peasant woman in Van Gogh's painting above. But it would seem that his disciples hadn't observed her until Jesus drew their attention to her.

It is said that St Martin, after he had shared his cloak with the beggar, saw Jesus in a dream wearing that half-cloak. The reality is that Christ shows himself frequently to us, if we have eyes to see, as he showed himself to me through Guria more than forty years ago, and on many other similar occasions down the years.

A bronze mite [Wikipedia]

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Centennial of Armistice Day

Potijze Chateau Grounds  Cemetery, Ieper (Ypres), Belgium, where my great-uncle Corporal Lawrence Dowd is buried.

This Sunday, 11 November, is the centennial of the Armistice, when the Great War, later to be known as World War One, ended at 11am on the eleventh of the eleventh, 11 November 1918.

I have posted a number of times about finding the grave of my great-uncle, Corporal Lawrence Dowd, an older half-brother of my maternal grandmother Annie Collins (née Dowd), who died in the war on 6 August 1917. You will find one of those posts here.

May we remember in our prayers the millions who died in that terrible, pointless war, mostly soldiers, the vast majority of whom on both sides were in their teens and early 20s. Every one of them was an 'Uncle Larry', a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, a grandson, a best friend, each with a name.

At the grave of Lawrence Dowd September 2001. 

Uncle Larry was killed on the Feast of the Transfiguration, 6 August 1917. I was the first relative to visit his grave.

When you go home, tell them of us and say,

For their tomorrow, we gave our today.

John Maxwell Edmunds, 1916