Christ as Saviour
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 Matthew 5:38-48 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus said to his
disciples:
‘You have
heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give
your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second
mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse
anyone who wants to borrow from you.
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your
neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for
he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those
who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the
same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even
the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore,
as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
Matthew 5:38-38 in Filipino Sign Language
Columban Fr Rufus Halley (1944 - 28 August 2001)
FrRufus Halley was one year behind me in the Columban seminary in Ireland. We
were close friends. He came to the Philippines in 1969, two years before I did.
He spent his early years in the country in Tagalog-speaking parishes in an area
of the Archdiocese of Manila south of the metropolitan area, now the Diocese of
Antipolo. He was fluent in the language. After about ten years he began to feel a clear call from God
to leave the security of working in an area overwhelmingly Christian and mostly
Catholic to a part of Mindanao where Columbans had worked for many years that
is overwhelmingly Muslim, the Prelature of Marawi. There he became fluent in
two more Filipino languages, Meranao, spoken by the majority of Muslims in the
area, and Cebuano, spoken by most of the Christians.
Both Muslims and Christians saw Father Rufus as a man of prayer, a man of peace, a man of God. He spent an hour each day before the Blessed Sacrament. Over the years he earned the trust of some Muslim leaders despite the long history of distrust between Muslims and Christians that sometimes led to outright conflict. Because of the trust he had built up he, a foreigner, a Christian and a Catholic priest, got an extraordinary request: to mediate in a feud between two groups of Meranaos.
Father Rufus saw this as another call from God and agreed. He also sought the advice of a Muslim elder who wasn't involved in the conflict. Over a period of many weeks he was going back and forth between the leaders of the two factions until eventually they agreed to meet. The morning of the meeting was filled with tension but when the leaders arrived they agreed to end the feud.
A week or so later Father Rufus dropped into the house of one of the leaders of the conflict and, to his delight, saw a leader of the other faction having coffee with him, the two men engaged in a lively, friendly conversation into which they invited the Irish priest.
Father Rufus used to speak about this event as the highlight of the twenty years he spent living among Muslims, a period when tension was seldom absent from his life and where there was often danger. Though a person who had a naturally optimistic disposition - five minutes in his company would get rid of any 'blues' you might feel - that didn't keep him going. His Christian hope and faith did.
Both Muslims and Christians saw Father Rufus as a man of prayer, a man of peace, a man of God. He spent an hour each day before the Blessed Sacrament. Over the years he earned the trust of some Muslim leaders despite the long history of distrust between Muslims and Christians that sometimes led to outright conflict. Because of the trust he had built up he, a foreigner, a Christian and a Catholic priest, got an extraordinary request: to mediate in a feud between two groups of Meranaos.
Father Rufus saw this as another call from God and agreed. He also sought the advice of a Muslim elder who wasn't involved in the conflict. Over a period of many weeks he was going back and forth between the leaders of the two factions until eventually they agreed to meet. The morning of the meeting was filled with tension but when the leaders arrived they agreed to end the feud.
A week or so later Father Rufus dropped into the house of one of the leaders of the conflict and, to his delight, saw a leader of the other faction having coffee with him, the two men engaged in a lively, friendly conversation into which they invited the Irish priest.
Father Rufus used to speak about this event as the highlight of the twenty years he spent living among Muslims, a period when tension was seldom absent from his life and where there was often danger. Though a person who had a naturally optimistic disposition - five minutes in his company would get rid of any 'blues' you might feel - that didn't keep him going. His Christian hope and faith did.
Father Rufus with young friends
On the
afternoon of 29 August 2001 while returning on his motorcycle from an
inter-faith meeting in Balabagan, Lanao del Sur, to Malabang, maybe five or six
kilometres away and where he was assigned, Father Rufus was ambushed by a group
of men who happened to be Muslims and shot dead.
Both Christians and Muslims were devastated by his
death.
Father Rufus came from a privileged background and
could have entered any profession. But he chose to answer God's call to be a
missionary priest. Our Columban superiors sent him to the Philippines.
He later chose, in answer to God's call and with
the blessing of our superiors, to go to a very difficult mission. That choice
led to twenty years of joyful service there to Catholics and Muslims, and to
his death.
Father Rufus
wasn't the enemy of anyone. Because of that and because they saw him as a man
of God, two groups of Muslims who were enemies accepted him as a mediator. He
wasn't a man to greet only your brothers and sisters but one
who crossed barriers and who brought people together out of a desire to do
God's will.
St Thérèse of Lisieux aged 15 [Wikipedia]
The closing
words of Jesus in today's gospel are Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect. For years my understanding of becoming perfect
in this sense was of a blueprint like that of an architect. If you found this
blueprint and built according to its specifications then you'd have a perfect
product.
But a
building is inanimate.
However, I
found a very different image of perfection in Story of a Soul, the
autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux: Perfection consists simply
in doing his will, and being just what he wants us to be. This is an image of a living being, of a unique
being. God's will gradually unfolded in the life of Father Rufus, as a flower
unfolds, the growth being silent and hardly noticeable most of the time.
I see in the
stages of the life of Father Rufus, whose baptismal name was Michael, a
testimony of the truth of the words of St Thérèse and a model of how we
can follow the words of Jesus. Through his daily prayer, his daily
faithfulness, his responding to God's will at crucial moments in his life, he
became what God willed him to be: a Catholic priest who as he laid in death on
the side of a road in a remote area of the southern Philippines, became an even
stronger bridge between Christians and Muslims, a man who in life and death
showed the true face of Jesus Christ, God who became Man out of love for all of
us.
Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
Ubi Caritas
Setting by Ola Gjeilo, sung by Voces8
Latin Text
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi
est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi
amor.
Exsultemus, et in ipso
jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos
sincero.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi
est.
Simul ergo cum in unum
congregamur:
Ne nos mente dividamur,
caveamus.
Cessent iurgia maligna, cessent
lites.
Et in medio nostri sit Christus
Deus.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi
est.
Simul quoque cum beatis
videamus,
Glorianter vultum tuum, Christe
Deus:
Gaudium quod est immensum,
atque probum,
Saecula per infinita
saeculorum. Amen.
English
Translation
Where
charity and love are, God is there.
Love
of Christ has gathered us into one.
Let
us rejoice in Him and be glad.
Let
us fear, and let us love the living God.
And
from a sincere heart let us love one.
Where
charity and love are, God is there.
At
the same time, therefore, are gathered into one:
Lest
we be divided in mind, let us beware.
Let
evil impulses stop, let controversy cease.
And
in the midst of us be Christ our God.
Where
charity and love are, God is there.
At
the same time we see that with the saints also,
Thy
face in glory, O Christ our God:
The
joy that is immense and good, Unto the
World
without end. Amen.
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