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).
29 September 2022
Unknown saints who 'fan into flame the gift of God'. Sunday Reflections, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
GospelLuke 17:5-10 (English Standard Version
Anglicised: India)
The
apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”And the Lord
said, “If you had faith like a grain of
mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and
planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.
“Will any one of you who has a servant[ ploughing
or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once
and recline at table’?Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare
supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and
drink, and afterwards you will eat and drink’?Does he thank the servant because he did what
was commanded?So
you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We
are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
In the summer of 1964, after my third year in the seminary, I spent a couple of weeks working in theMorning Star Hostel in Dublin. It was within walking distance of my home. I had been in the Legion of Mary for most of my five years in secondary school and used to rejoin my praesidium (the basic branch of the Legion) during summer vacations. In the summer of 1964 I spent a week on Peregrinatio pro Christo in a parish in Liverpool and in 1965 did the same in a parish in Paisley, Scotland. My last experience of Peregrinatio was in Pewsey, Wiltshire, in the southwest of England in 1966.
Morning Star Hostel has had a small number of what are called 'indoor brothers' taking care of the men who stay there. These are laymen, Legionaries who devote themselves full-time to this work. I remember two from 1964, Tom Doyle and Sid Quinn. The old webpage about the Morning Star - the page doesn't seem to be there anymore - gave a short biography of Tom, along with a photo. It describes him in these terms: Tom Doyle was the manager of the hostel for about 50 years and he is regarded as an unknown saint by most if not all the people who knew him.
Tom Doyle (1905 - 1992)
I didn't get to know Tom or Sid well, certainly not their inner lives, though I did join them at prayer, which is central to the lives and work of members of the Legion of Mary and at all meetings. Sid knew my father as they had grown up in the same area, where I also grew up. Most of the people in our neighbourhood were what were called 'working class'. But I saw the utter dedication of Tom and Sid, or 'Brother Tom' and 'Brother Sid' as they were know within the hostel. During Legion meetings and Legion work members address and refer to each other as 'Brother' and 'Sister' but not outside of that.
As Pope Francis might put it, Tom and Sid well knew 'the smell of their sheep'. That might be the smell of alcohol, the smell of unwashed bodies. Sometimes for Tom it might be the smell of his own blood: Rows and scuffles and fist fights were regular occurrences and poor Tom had the responsibility of calming every storm. No doubt Tom who was small in stature was on the receiving end of some of those blows and it is well known that near the end of his life one of the residents very badly beat him up so that he had to spend time in hospital but when he came out he made himself the best friend of that resident!
Things have changed somewhat for the better in the Morning Star since I worked there during the summer of 1964 as you can read here. The dedication of the members of the Legion of Mary who look after it is still very much there.
When I read the words We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty in today's gospel I thought of Tom Doyle and Sid Quinn. The words of Jesus seem to be in contrast with what he says elsewhere, especially in St John's Gospel, where he calls us friends, where he asks Peter, Do you love me? Feed my lambs.
When I used the material above three years ago Liam Hayden, a friend who was my classmate in primary school and who was deeply involved all his adult life with the Legion of Mary along with his wife Moira, some of their children following in their parents' footsteps, posted this comment: I was very close to both men and they had a profound effect
on my development as a person and as a legionary, especially in 1969 when I took
leave from my job to volunteer as an indoor brother for a year. I went on
holiday with both on separate occasions and they were, to my mind, saints of
the Church and both are interred, at their own insistence, in the Morning Star
plot in Glasnevin cemetery Dublin.
Thanks for reminding me of a priceless interlude in my life.
Liam died of Covid on Holy Saturday 2021. May his generous soul rest in peace.
There are 'unknown saints' like Tom Doyle and Sid Quinn throughout the world, many of them for example taking care of aged parents or of their children with severe disabilities, who gladly say We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.
These have fanned into flame the gift of God, to use the words of St Paul in today's Second Reading.
Bonus est Dominus, Palestrina Antiphona ad communionem Communion Antiphon Lamentations 3:25
Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum,
The Lord is good to those who hope in him,
animae quaerenti illum.
to the soul that seeks him.
Traditional Latin Mass
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 10-02-2022 if necessary).
Epistle: Ephesians 1: 1-6. Gospel: Matthew 22:34-46.
Dearest Father Seán, Indeed, Tom Doyle and Sid Quinn were unknown saints. Good that Liam Hayden wrote that comment—it summed it all up. May they all have found their heavenly reward for doing more than their duty on earth! Taking the beatings of addicted people is quite something... Good article and important for people to read at present time. Hugs, Mariette
Thanks for this Fr Sean. A good read. I wish I could relate Gospel passages to events and people in my life as you do. It makes me think. If you have any advice I'd be pleased to hear it. It would certainly hep with the prayer group that I lead. Though really I try to get out of the way and turn it over to The Holy Spirit, though it's hard to do. God bless.
Thank you, Grams, for your comments this week and last week. May God bless the prayer group you lead, not to mention the four-generation family of which you are matriarch!
You might ask the members of the prayer group to share experiences in their daily lives where they were blessed. These may be very simple things that we observe. For example, a week ago I was on the bus in Dublin when a mother and two young children got on. One of them, a boy of about five, sat beside me. Because the way things are these days, I didn't engage with him. But when the three were getting off through the middle door the boy said to the driver, who probably didn't hear him, 'Thank you. Have a good day!' (Most people in Ireland thank the driver when they are getting off the bus.) I was touched by the boy's 'Thank you' and amused by his 'Have a good day'. One of my classmates here suggested that he must have heard it in McDonalds!
The incident for me tied in with next Sunday's readings and I thought of using it in Sunday Reflections, though I will have another story instead. But I find so many examples of God's goodness in ordinary things like that, very often on the bus. Some are amusing, some are touching, and some have a deep and lasting effect on me, without the person(s) I observe being aware of it.
Just the other morning I said to one of my fellow priests at breakfast, 'Thank God for morning coffee!' We both laughed - but I really meant my 'Thank God', as I very often have at breakfast time. There are so many examples in our 'humdrum' daily life, the kind of life led by the Holy Family in Nazareth for so many years. And your rich and fruitful family life must have countless such grace-filled experiences!
Farmer in a Field
Altarpiece
Dearest Father Seán,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Tom Doyle and Sid Quinn were unknown saints.
Good that Liam Hayden wrote that comment—it summed it all up.
May they all have found their heavenly reward for doing more than their duty on earth!
Taking the beatings of addicted people is quite something...
Good article and important for people to read at present time.
Hugs,
Mariette
Thanks for this Fr Sean. A good read. I wish I could relate Gospel passages to events and people in my life as you do. It makes me think. If you have any advice I'd be pleased to hear it. It would certainly hep with the prayer group that I lead. Though really I try to get out of the way and turn it over to The Holy Spirit, though it's hard to do.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Thank you, Grams, for your comments this week and last week. May God bless the prayer group you lead, not to mention the four-generation family of which you are matriarch!
ReplyDeleteYou might ask the members of the prayer group to share experiences in their daily lives where they were blessed. These may be very simple things that we observe. For example, a week ago I was on the bus in Dublin when a mother and two young children got on. One of them, a boy of about five, sat beside me. Because the way things are these days, I didn't engage with him. But when the three were getting off through the middle door the boy said to the driver, who probably didn't hear him, 'Thank you. Have a good day!' (Most people in Ireland thank the driver when they are getting off the bus.) I was touched by the boy's 'Thank you' and amused by his 'Have a good day'. One of my classmates here suggested that he must have heard it in McDonalds!
The incident for me tied in with next Sunday's readings and I thought of using it in Sunday Reflections, though I will have another story instead. But I find so many examples of God's goodness in ordinary things like that, very often on the bus. Some are amusing, some are touching, and some have a deep and lasting effect on me, without the person(s) I observe being aware of it.
Just the other morning I said to one of my fellow priests at breakfast, 'Thank God for morning coffee!' We both laughed - but I really meant my 'Thank God', as I very often have at breakfast time. There are so many examples in our 'humdrum' daily life, the kind of life led by the Holy Family in Nazareth for so many years. And your rich and fruitful family life must have countless such grace-filled experiences!