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).
GospelMark 1:21-28 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
[Jesus and his disciples] went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
The stadium in the background is Croke Park, the renovation of which was completed in 2005. One of the main events of the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland in 2018 took place there.
In September 1953 the school building above was opened. O'Connell Schools - there is both a primary and secondary school - were founded in 1828 and named after Daniel O'Connell, the outstanding figure in Irish history in the first half of the 19th century, known as 'The Liberator'. He was a major benefactor in the building of the original school. He was also largely responsible for the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 in Westminster which abolished most of the Penal Laws against Catholics in the United Kingdom, of which the whole of Ireland was part at the time.
I was in Fourth Class (Grade Four) in 1953-54 and was blessed to have a wonderful teacher named John Galligan. I didn't realise until about twelve years later when I was in the seminary what a wonderful teacher and mentor he was. He was around the same age as my father at the time, 40 or thereabouts. All my other teachers in the primary school, both Irish Christian Brothers and laymen, were in their 20s.
John gave us a great grounding in the grammar of both Irish and English. He encouraged us to read the newspapers - and not just the sports pages. He stimulated my interest in writing and in reading, though I was already an avid reader at that stage, borrowing books from Dublin's public libraries. And he taught with a delightful sense of humour.
He was forever talking about his wife Mary. Their son Bernard was in our class and John treated us all with the same respect. One day he brought in Mary so that we could meet her.
At that time in Ireland children made their confirmation once they reached the age of ten. John prepared us for the sacrament which we celebrated in March 1954 in St Agatha's, North William Street, the parish in which our school was located. He was also sponsor or godfather to all of us when we were confirmed.
Mr Galligan, as he was known to us boys (the school was only for boys), also taught us how to use the hand missal in Latin and English that many had so that we could participate fully in the Mass, which in those days, as it had been for centuries, was what is now often referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass.
During my seminary years it dawned on me that not only had John Galligan been a first-class teacher, but a first-class mentor of the faith. The way he prepared us for confirmation and the way he taught us how to use the missal were not 'mechanical' acts but expressions of his living faith. His love for his wife Mary was a living out of the Sacrament of Matrimony that they had conferred on one another on their wedding day.
Whenever I read or hear these words in today's gospel, Andthey were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes . . . What is this? A new teaching with authority!, I think of John Galligan and others like him. He spoke to us youngsters in Fourth Class not only with the authority of his being our teacher but, much more importantly, with the authority of the integrity of the way he lived his Catholic Christian faith. He was quite probably unaware of that.
I have used this Reflection before but while preparing it this time it struck me that John Galligan's inner authority was in full harmony with that of my father, also John, who spent all his working life on construction sites where he was a general foreman for many years. I worked with him during the summer of 1967, a few months before my ordination to the priesthood. Though there was much swearing, which didn't surprise or shock me, none of it came from my Dad. The workers respected him because he respected them. And like John Galligan he was a great mentor to young workers and to young architects. And he often spoke of two particular foremen under whom he had worked as a young carpenter. The qualities he saw in them were the qualities I and others saw in him.
John Galligan and John Coyle were men of deep Catholic Christian faith.
What the people in Capernaum saw in Jesus was his inner authority. That was the only authority he had, which came from the reality that he was God who became Man, doing the will of the Father. Each of us through baptism and confirmation is called to share in that authority of Jesus in the way we live our daily lives.
One of my regrets is that I did not invite John Galligan to attend my First Mass. However, in the 1980s I was invited to write a weekly column for The Freeman, a daily newspaper in Cebu City. My second column was an appreciation of John Galligan. I sent a copy of it to him through the school, though he he had retired by then. This led to my visiting him and Mary a number of times while home from the Philippines, a delightful experience.
I am grateful to God for John Galligan - and for many others, especially my Dad - who taught me the faith as one who had authority, the authority of Jesus himself.
This Eucharistic hymn is often sung when Benediction is celebrated.
O salutaris Hostia, Quae caeli pandis ostium: Bella premunt hostilia, Da robur, fer auxilium. Uni trinoque Domino Sit sempiterna gloria, Qui vitam sine termino Nobis donet in patria. Amen.
O saving Victim, opening wide, The gate of heaven to man below! Our foes press on from every side; Thine aid supply, thy strength bestow.
To Thy great name by endless praise, Immortal Godhead, one in Three; Oh, grant us endless length of days, In our true native land with Thee. Amen.
The Feast of St Thomas Aquinas is observed on 28 January. However, as that falls on Sunday this year it will not be celebrated by the Universal Church. The painting above is by his fellow Dominican friar, Blessed Fra Angelico.
Traditional Latin Mass
Septuagesima Sunday
The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 1-28-2024 if necessary).
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10:1-5. Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16.
GospelMatthew 20:1:16 (English Standard Version
Anglicised, India)
Jesus
said to his disciples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went
out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard.After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his
vineyard.And going out about the third hour he saw others
standing idle in the market-place,and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and
whatever is right I will give you.’So they went.Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the
same.And about the eleventh hour he went out and found
others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired
us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’And when evening came, the owner of
the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their
wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’And when those hired about the eleventh
hour came, each of them received a denarius.Now when those hired first came, they
thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.And on receiving it they grumbled at the
master of the house,saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have
made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the
scorching heat.’But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing
you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?Take what belongs to you and go. I
choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.Am I not allowed to do what I choose with
what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is one of the top soccer teams in Europe. It gets its name from the suburb of Paris where it is located, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It gets its name from Saint Germain (Germanus), a bishop of Paris who died in 576. It is also the birthplace on 6 April 1930 of Jacques Fesch. He died on 1 October 1957 in Paris. In 1987 Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris, opened a diocesan inquiry into the life of Jacques and in 1993 formally opened the process for his beatification.
This caused considerable controversy in France because Jacques Fesch had been executed by guillotine for the murder of Jean-Baptiste Vergne, 35, a widowed policeman and father of a daughter aged 4, on 25 February 1954. There was no doubt whatever of Jacques Fesch's guilt nor did he show any remorse at his trial or after being sentenced.
How did this man come to be proposed for beatification by a French cardinal who was born Jewish and whose mother was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1943?
During the more than three years that he was in prison, in solitary confinement, Jacques Fesch experienced a profound religious conversion. We know this from the letters he wrote and from the diary he kept during the last months before his execution. Two persons who influenced him were the prison Catholic chaplain, Fr Devoyed OP and his lawyer, a devout Catholic, named Baudet who expressed his concern for his client's immortal soul.
Jacques Fesch's conversion - he had been baptised a Catholic as an infant - was a gradual one, beginning with reading a book about Our Lady in October 1954 and coming to fruition by the following March, Around that time he wrote: At the end of my first year in prison, a powerful wave of emotion swept over me, causing deep and brutal suffering. Within the space of a few hours, I came into possession of faith, with absolute certainty. I believed … Grace came to me. A great joy flooded my soul, and above all a deep peace.
The Prophet Isaiah in the First Reading today speaks precisely to the situation in which Jacques Fesch found himself through his own sins: Seek the Lord while he may be found;call upon him while he is near;let the wicked forsake his way,and the unrighteous man his
thoughts;let
him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:6-7).
In the light of that we can interpret the parable in today's gospel as telling us that God's mercy extends to all who will accept it, even to the eleventh hour, to the very end of our lives. This is not something to take for granted so that we can carry on sinning until the last moment. That is the sin of presumption. But neither is it something to see as impossible, that we are beyond God's mercy. That is the sin of despair.
A month before his death Jacques wrote: The Lord continues to fill me with gifts and I feel my heart overflow with love, and my lips with thanksgiving. Shortly before his execution he wrote: In five hours I will see Jesus.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelMatthew 20:1-16 (English
Standard Version Anglicised)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out
early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard.After agreeing with
the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his
vineyard.And going
out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market-place,and to them he said, ‘You go into the
vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’So they went.Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the
same.And about
the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them,
‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to
them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to
his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with
the last, up to the first.’And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of
them received a denarius.Now when those hired first came, they thought they would
receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.And on receiving it they grumbled at the
master of the house,saying, ‘These
last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne
the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend,
I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?Take what belongs to you and go. I
choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.Am I not allowed to do what I choose with
what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is one of the top soccer teams in Europe. It gets its name from the suburb of Paris where it is located, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It is also the birthplace on 6 April 1930 of Jacques Fesch. He died on 1 October 1957 in Paris. In 1987 Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris, opened a diocesan inquiry into the life of Jacques and in 1993 formally opened the process for his beatification.
This caused considerable controversy in France because Jacques Fesch had been executed by guillotine for the murder of Jean-Baptiste Vergne, 35, a widowed policeman and father of a daughter aged 4, on 25 February 1954. There was no doubt whatever of Jacques Fesch's guilt nor did he show any remorse at his trial or after being sentenced.
How did this man come to be proposed for beatification by a French cardinal who was born Jewish and whose mother was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1943?
During the more than three years that he was in prison, in solitary confinement, Jacques Fesch experienced a profound religious conversion. We know this from the letters he wrote and from the diary he kept during the last months before his execution. Two persons who influenced his were the prison Catholic chaplain and his lawyer, a devout Catholic, named Baudet who expressed his concern for his client's immortal soul.
Jacques Fesch's conversion - he had been baptised a Catholic as an infant - was a gradual one, beginning with reading a book about Our Lady in October 1954 and coming to fruition by the following March, Around that time he wrote: At the end of my first year in prison, a powerful wave of
emotion swept over me, causing deep and brutal suffering. Within the space of a
few hours, I came into possession of faith, with absolute certainty. I believed
… Grace came to me. A great joy flooded my soul, and above all a deep peace.
The Prophet Isaiah in the First Reading today speaks precisely to the situation in which Jacques Fesch found himself through his own sins: Seek the Lord while he may be
found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have
compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (Isaiah
55:6-7).
In the light of that we can interpret the parable in today's gospel as telling us that God's mercy extends to all who will accept it, even to about the eleventh hour, to the very end of our lives. This is not something to take for granted so that we can carry on sinning until the last moment. That is the sin of presumption. But neither is it something to see as impossible, that we are beyond God's mercy. That is the sin of despair.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom.”And he said to him, “Truly,
I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).
The story of Jacques Fesch is not unlike that of the 'Good Thief', often called St Dismas, at the right hand of Jesus, who repented of his sins on his cross. It illustrates the truth of the words of St Paul in Romans 8: 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? These words are the inspiration for this Russian hymn.
Who
Will Separate Us from the Love of God?
Thomas Craughwell in an article in the American weekly National Catholic Register writes about a number of canonised saints who had 'a history'. One example: Then there is St Callixtus, an embezzler, a brawler, a twice-convicted felon. Yet Callixtus repented, became a priest, was elected pope, and died a martyr.
Craughwell also, to a degree, plays the role of Devil's Advocate: Who among us would not hope that Fesch’s repentance was sincere, that his soul was saved? But it would have been simple for him to fool the prison chaplain, his devoutly Catholic defense attorney, his family, none of whom wanted to believe he was an irredeemable villain. As a man raised in a Catholic household, in a Catholic society, Fesch would have known how to play the role of penitent.
This article also mentions the reaction of some French police to the idea of Jacques Fesch's cause being beatified: A chief of a French police union asked a pointed question: 'Where are we headed, if we start beatifying criminals?' Another police union official warned that judges and prison wardens could expect to hear from condemned criminals who claimed, falsely, to have experienced a religious conversation after sentencing in order to generate sympathy and escape punishment.
These reactions are very understandable. In some ways they resemble the grumbling of those in the parable who had worked the full twelve hours: These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
However, the parable is not about wages or salaries but about God's boundless generosity and mercy. Each worker was given a denarius, a full day's wage. Jacques, who I believe had a real conversion, understood this. He wrote in a letter to his mother not long before he was executed: Everything is mercy, believe me, and I am confident that one day you will understand this more clearly than I, who am coming to the end of my life, and to whom so much is being given - a superabundance of good things and unimaginable joys. 'Amen, amen, I say to you even if I were to silence them, the very stones would cry out for joy.'
Jacques Fesch believed in the reality of eternal life, something we don't hear as much about as we should. At the top of this blog, under the title Bangor to Bobbio you will find these words of St Columban: 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.
In a letter to a priest, the prison chaplain I think, Jacques wrote: I shall carry your name to heaven with me, written in my heart, and when the Lord allows me to cast a glance down to earth, I shall gaze into a dark little cell where a priest is celebrating the greatest of all possible sacrifices, uniting himself each day to crucified love, and then I shall ask our Lord to cast a gracious glance on his faithful minister and fill him with blessings. Peace be with you, my Father, and may the eternal light soon shine upon you also. Until we meet in God. Your humble and grateful sheep, Jacques.
What a beautiful expression of what is at the heart of the vocation of the priest!
Last week I included that great hymn written by another repentant sinner, John Newton, Amazing Grace. This week I will include another version recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic featuring Judy Collins, whose recording in 1970 brought it to the attention of many, including myself, who had never heard it before. It features choirs from different parts of the world. It also includes the stanza that I particularly love but that is often omitted.
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun;
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.
Eternal life is the 'denarius' that God in His loving mercy wants to give each of us at the end of our life. May we work faithfully in His vineyard for however long and in whatever way He wishes us to do so and may we receive the precious gift of eternal life from Him 'when evening comes'.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
Extraordinary Form of the Mass
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)
This Sunday, 20 September, is the Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost in the calendar that uses the TLM. The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 9-20-2020, if necessary).
