'The Gospel invites us to think about the future which awaits us.' Sunday Reflections, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

Crowning a baby after baptism

George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop Emeritus of Ernakulam-Angamaly (Syro-Malabar), India [Wikipedia; photo]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 13:22-30 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

At that time: Jesus went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”, then he will answer you, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” But he will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!” In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

                                   

Responsorial Psalm (NAB Lectionary, Philippines, USA)

This week I’ll hand over to Pope Benedict XVI. Here is his Angelus talk, given in Castel Gandolfo on Sunday, 26 August 2007. I have highlighted some parts of it. Perhaps it is futile to do so since Pope Benedict’s talks and writings are so rich and uplifting. May God grant eternal rest to his great servant.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today's liturgy presents to us enlightening yet at the same time disconcerting words of Christ.

On his last journey to Jerusalem someone asked him: 'Lord, will those who are saved be few?' And Jesus answered: 'Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able' (Lk 13: 23-24).

What does this 'narrow door' mean? Why do many not succeed in entering through it? Is it a way reserved for only a few of the chosen?

Indeed, at close examination this way of reasoning by those who were conversing with Jesus is always timely: the temptation to interpret religious practice as a source of privileges or security is always lying in wait.

Actually, Christ's message goes in exactly the opposite direction: everyone may enter life, but the door is 'narrow' for all. We are not privileged. The passage to eternal life is open to all, but it is 'narrow' because it is demanding: it requires commitment, self-denial and the mortification of one's selfishness.

Once again, as on recent Sundays, the Gospel invites us to think about the future which awaits us and for which we must prepare during our earthly pilgrimage.

Salvation, which Jesus brought with his death and Resurrection, is universal. He is the One Redeemer and invites everyone to the banquet of immortal life; but on one and the same condition: that of striving to follow and imitate him, taking up one's cross as he did, and devoting one's life to serving the brethren. This condition for entering heavenly life is consequently one and universal.

In the Gospel, Jesus recalls further that it is not on the basis of presumed privileges that we will be judged but according to our actions. The 'workers of iniquity' will find themselves shut out, whereas all who have done good and sought justice at the cost of sacrifices will be welcomed.

Thus, it will not suffice to declare that we are 'friends' of Christ, boasting of false merits: 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets' (Lk 13: 26).

True friendship with Jesus is expressed in the way of life: it is expressed with goodness of heart, with humility, meekness and mercy, love for justice and truth, a sincere and honest commitment to peace and reconciliation.

We might say that this is the 'identity card' that qualifies us as his real 'friends'; this is the 'passport' that will give us access to eternal life.

Dear brothers and sisters, if we too want to pass through the narrow door, we must work to be little, that is, humble of heart like Jesus, like Mary his Mother and our Mother. She was the first, following her Son, to take the way of the Cross and she was taken up to Heaven in glory, an event we commemorated a few days ago. The Christian people invoke her as Ianua Caeli, Gate of Heaven. Let us ask her to guide us in our daily decisions on the road that leads to the 'gate of Heaven'.

Marktl, Bavaria, Germany

Birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI; he was baptised in St Oswald Church (centre-left) [Wikipedia; photo]

True friendship with Jesus is expressed in the way of life, says Pope Benedict. We are invited into this friendship, which Jesus desires to be eternal, at our baptism.

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).

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 08-24-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:1-10. Gospel: Mark 7:31-37

Christ Healing the Mute Man

Italian pre-Romanesque painter [Web Gallery of Art] 

And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him (Mark 7:32; Gospel).  

'Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.' Sunday Reflections, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Blessed Margaret Ball and Blessed Francis Taylor

St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin [Wikipedia; photo]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 12:49-53 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided: three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

                                  

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

Then the officials said to the king, ‘This man should be put to death’ . . . Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies’ (Jeremiah 38: 4, 10; First Reading).

Margaret Bermingham (1515-1584) was born near where I live in County Meath, Ireland, into a prosperous Catholic family. In her mid-teens she married Bartholomew Ball, becoming part of another prosperous Catholic family. Some sources say that the couple had twenty children, others ten. But only five survived into adulthood. Bartholomew served as Lord Mayor of Dublin for a while. Two of his sons were to find themselves in the same position, as did Francis Taylor, who married Gennet Shelton, a granddaughter of Margaret. Both Margaret and her grandson-in-law were to meet a similar fate and are numbered among the 17 Irish Martyrs beatified by St John Paul II on 22 September 1992.

It was a time when Queen Elizabeth I carried out a persecution of Catholics in England and Ireland who would not submit to her as head of the Church of England and the Church of Ireland, the members of which were called Protestants. Walter Ball, the eldest son of Margaret and Bartholomew, became a zealous Protestant and in 1577 was appointed Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes, a position, as far as I can make out, the main responsibility of which was to persecute Catholics.

Margaret's home in Dublin was a safe house for bishops and priests where they could celebrate Mass, something they could not do publicly. When Walter became Lord Mayor in 1580, while still retaining his previous position, a higher one, he had  his mother, who suffered greatly from arthritis, arrested and dragged through the streets of Dublin tied to a wooden pallet and taken to the prison in Dublin Castle, the seat of English rule in Ireland. This was the method often used to bring prisoners to the gallows. Walter said that his mother deserved to be executed for her Catholic faith but that he had spared her.

Two years later Walter's younger brother Nicholas became Lord Mayor. He had remained faithful to the Catholic faith but was powerless to release his mother as Walter outranked him by his royal appointment as Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes. However, he visited his mother regularly, bringing her food, clothing and some furniture. But the appalling conditions gradually wore Margaret down and she died in 1584.

She had consistently prayed for her son Walter and did not disinherit him.

Eleven years later Francis Taylor, who had married Margaret's granddaughter Gennet Shelton, both of them faithful Catholics, became Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1595 but was imprisoned for his faith in Dublin Castle, like his grandmother-in-law, and died seven years later in 1613 from the harsh conditions that had gradually worn him down.

Both Margaret and Francis were beatified with 15 other Irish Martyrs on 27 September 1992 by St John Paul II. In his homily the Pope said: All sectors of God’s people are represented among these seventeen Servants of God: Bishops, priests both secular and religious, a religious brother and six lay people, including Margaret Bermingham Ball, a woman of extraordinary integrity who, together with the physical trials she had to endure, underwent the agony of being betrayed through the complicity of her own son.

Further on St John Paul said: The Martyrs’ significance for today lies in the fact that their testimony shatters the vain claim to live one’s life or to build a model of society without an integral vision of our human destiny, without reference to our eternal calling, without transcendence. The Martyrs exhort succeeding generations of Irish men and women: 'Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called . . . keep the commandments unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ'.

It is unbelievable how cruelly Walter Ball treated his mother and his family. We can hope that his mother's prayers obtained for him the grace of repentance before he died.

For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.

Faith of our Fathers

Words by Fr Frederick William Faber 

Sung by Frank Patterson

With the Irish Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus

Fr Faber wrote the words of this hymn to honour the Catholic martyrs of England and Ireland who died during the Reformation. The word 'Fathers' is used in an inclusive sense, meaning 'ancestors'. The version above uses the traditional tune Sawston, the one most common in Britain and Ireland. The tune normally used in the USA is called St Catherine and was written by Henri Hemy.

Up to the 1960s this hymn used to be sung before the national anthem at Gaelic Football and Hurling finals in Ireland.

The final stanza of the hymn expresses for me the faith of Blessed Margaret Ball and her love for her son Walter, despite what he had done to her:

Faith of our Fathers! we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife:
And preach thee too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.

Faith of our fathers' holy faith! We will be true to thee till death!

 Traditional Latin Mass

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 08-17-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:2-11. Gospel: Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican

Dirck van Delen [Web Gallery of Art]

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ (Luke 18:13; Gospel)

'You also must be ready.' Sunday Reflections, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 12:32-48 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

‘Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service, and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’ 

Peter said, ‘Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?’ And the Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, “My master is delayed in coming”, and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

A stamp with Liam Whelan's photo issued in 2008 by An Post, the Irish Postal Service, for the 50th anniversary of the Munich Disaster. The clock is in Old Trafford, the Manchester United stadium, showing the time and date of the crash.

You also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

I've posted a number of times before about the death of Irish footballer Liam Whelan in a plane crash in Munich in 1958. His life and death for me show the meaning of the words of Jesus in the gospel today: You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 

I remember the moment I heard of the plane crash in Munich that killed so many young sportsmen in their prime. It was late afternoon and already dark and a man whom I knew as a street-singer, someone I had perceived, wrongly perhaps, to be a beggar, was running around, almost frantically, telling everyone the tragic news. I was 14 and it was my first experience of what some call 'a public private moment'.

If this is the end, then I'm ready for it. 

These were the last words of Liam Whelan who died more than 67 years ago and who is buried near my parents. Nearly 20 years ago  I learned that when they were both around 14 Liam rescued a close friend of mine who had got into difficulties in a swimming pool. [Brendan, my friend, celebrated his 89th birthday last Thursday. I have baptised two of his grandchildren and celebrated the funeral Mass of his dear wife Pat].

Most of of Manchester United's players were in their early twenties. One who was only 21, Duncan Edwards, from the English Midlands, was considered by many to have the potential to become perhaps the greatest footballer ever. He died 15 days after the crash.

These young men who filled stadiums were being paid only a little more than a tradesman could earn at the time, though very few played beyond the age of 35. Endorsements could bring in a little more income for a few talented players. Their counterparts today are often spoiled millionaires.

Those who knew him described 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 (photo below). I pass it each time I visit my parents’ grave.

Clearly young Liam Whelan had his life focused on what was most important. He was ready to meet death. I have often spoken about him at Mass and on retreats. Today's gospel invites us to focus on the essentials, God’s love for us sinners, the hope that the life and death of Jesus offer us, the necessity of acknowledging our sinfulness to enable God’s love to break through and the importance of being always prepared for death.

But the deaths of so many talented young men still leaves a deep sadness among those who saw them play and followed their fortunes. I feel that sadness when I recall the Munich crash. The February 2008 issue of The Word, a magazine that sadly no longer exists and that was published by the Divine Word Missionaries in Ireland and Britain, had an article, A Sporting Tragedy, in which John Scally spoke for me : 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 remember the evening that Liam Whelan's remains were brought to his parish church, Christ the King, Cabra, Dublin, very near to where our family lived. There were thousands outside the church. My brother Paddy went with our Dad - I had gone separately, on my way to a Legion of Mary meeting. He told me just a few years ago that it was the only time he ever saw Dad cry.

I remember reading about Liam Whelan's last words in a newspaper a few days after the tragedy. I've heard Harry Gregg, the Manchester United goalkeeper who survived the crash and who died in 2020, speaking about them. They still move me and challenge me to be ready whenever death may come. Jesus isn't trying to frighten us in today's gospel but to keep us focused on the supremely important realities of The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. (That article by Monsignor Charles Pope is well worth reading).

Jesus tells us that when we are honestly trying to follow him in doing the Father's will we are blessed: Blessed are those servant whom the master finds awake when he comes.

You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Liam Whelan's grave, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

Pope Benedict XVI opens his encyclical Spe Salvi  with these words:  'SPE SALVI facti sumus'—in hope we were saved, says Saint Paul to the Romans, and likewise to us' (Rom 8:24). He has a beautiful passage about praying for the dead in No 48 of the encyclical, a passage I have often used at funerals. In it he quotes from John Donne's poem No Man is an Island (quotation highlighted below). 

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.

No Man is an Island

by John Donne, read by Peter Baker

Traditional Latin Mass

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 10-08-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13. Gospel: Luke 19:41-47.

The Purification of the Temple

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers” (Luke 19:45-46; today's Gospel).

 

'Christ is all, and in all.' Sunday Reflections, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

Altar of St Ignatius of Loyola, Il Gesù, Rome

Andrea Pozzo SJ [Web Gallery of Art]

Very rightly the fine arts are considered to rank among the noblest activities of man's genius, and this applies especially to religious art and to its highest achievement, which is sacred art. These arts, by their very nature, are oriented toward the infinite beauty of God which they attempt in some way to portray by the work of human hands; they achieve their purpose of redounding to God's praise and glory in proportion as they are directed the more exclusively to the single aim of turning men's minds devoutly toward God (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, No 122).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 12:13-21 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

At that time: Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions.’ And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ ” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

St Paul

Jusepe de Ribera [Web Gallery of Art]

Second Reading Colossians 3:1-5; 9-11 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)  

Brothers and Sisters: If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

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I will give some quotations from The Presence of God, a 68-page astonishingly rich booklet, by Fr Anselm Moynihan OP that for me are connected with the Second Reading. They are from Chapter 7, The Hidden Sanctuary.

It cannot be overstressed that the presence of God in the soul by grace is a real and substantial presence. God is present in the tabernacle of the heart as really and truly and substantially as he is present in the tabernacle of the altar, although in a different manner . . .

If I fail to honour the Son of God as he is present with the Father and Holy Spirit in the Tabernacle of my own heart, no man can compensate for my indifference. The inner sanctuary of my own heart is utterly and eternally inaccessible to any except myself and God . . .

Yet without devotion to the real presence of God within our souls there can be no full development of our spiritual life, which is essentially an interior life . . .

God's real presence in the inner sanctuary of my soul imposes on me a threefold duty. I must defend the sanctuary: I must adorn and enable it; I must enter frequently to worship him who dwells there . . .

I must, first of all, defend the inner sanctuary of my soul, for during this life it is always under siege . . . Mortal sin destroys the sanctuary completely, leaving the soul ruined and desolate.

God in his mercy has given the Church the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation / Penance / Confession so that that sanctuary can be restored.

In Chapter 6, Guest of Our Soul, Father Anselm tells the beautiful story of St Leonidas, martyred in 202. He was the father of Origen, the great theologian of the early Church. Every night, we are told, Leonidas used to kiss the breast of his sleeping child out of reverence for God who was really present in the living tabernacle of the child's heart.

What a beautiful expression of faith and of fatherhood!

It is only through Jesus Christ that we can be saved. Christ is all, and in all.

Deus in adiutorium meum intende

Sung by the Batavia Madrigal Singers

Setting by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla

Deus in adiutorium meum intende; Domine ad adiuvandum me festina.

O God come to my assistance; O Lord make haste to help me!

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nnc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Alleluia.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Alleluia.

 s+++

The text in bold above, the first verse of Psalm 69 [70], is the opening of today's Entrance Antiphon. We pray these words at the beginning of the Rosary and also at the beginning of most of the hours of the Divine Office (Breviary).

What struck me about this video is that some of the singers are Muslims, singing in Latin a verse from the Psalms with a prayer in honour of the Blessed Trinity.

The Batavia Madrigal Singers are based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia was the name for Jakarta until 1945 when independence from the Dutch was declared.

Traditional Latin Mass

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 08-03-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 8:12-17. Gospel: Luke 16:1-9.

Sheaves of Wheat

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty’  (Luke 18:7; Gospel).