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).
Showing posts with label Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen. Show all posts
GospelMatthew 5:13-16(English Standard Version, Anglicised)
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You are
the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness
be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and
trampled under people’s feet.
‘You are the light of the world. A city set on a
hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket,
but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let
your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give
glory to your Father who is in heaven.’
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden (Mt 5:15; Gospel).
One of the darkest periods in the history of the world was 1939 to 1945 when much of the world was at war. At the heart of the darkness was Nazi Germany, where freedom had been almost entirely suppressed. But not quite. Between June 1942 and February 1943 a small group of students at the University of Munich with their philosophy professor Kurt Huber formedThe White Rose, a non-violent resistance group working against Hitler and the Nazi regime.
Among the leaders were Sophie Scholl and her older brother Hans who were later executed by guillotine within minutes of each other. Both were devout Lutherans. It is said that Sophie was influenced by the writings of St John Henry Cardinal Newman. Others in the group, such as Willi Graf, were devout Catholics. Not all were Christians but they shared a commitment to speaking the truth, even if it cost them their young lives. Most were in their early 20s.
One German Catholic who had a great impact on the group was Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Münster, Germany, who died just after being made a cardinal in 1946, a giant of a man physically (6 feet 7 inches /2.01 m tall), morally and spiritually. He was known as 'The Lion of Münster'. In a series of sermons in 1941 he denounced some of the policies of Hitler, including that of euthanasia. Hans and Sophie Scholl used one of these in a leaflet that The White Rose printed and distributed secretly.
It was while distributing leaflets - the movement produced a total of six, their only means of communication - at the University of Munich, that Hans and Sophie were caught and then executed.
The members of The White Rose are remembered and honoured today and a number of films have been made about them.
Hans and Sophie Scholl and their companions knew that their lives were in danger. But their Christian faith led them to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. Through them at least some experienced the truth of the words of Isaiah 9:2 quoted in Matthew 4:16, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.
Salt is of use only when it is mixed with other things. The light of the sun doesn't exist for itself, for us to look at it. If we did we would be blinded. It is meant to light up everything around us, as we are meant by being salt and light to bring others to taste and see the joy of knowing Jesus the Risen Lord.
Not many are called, as some of the members of The White Rose were, to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world by laying down their lives. But those in The White Rose got their Christian faith, their moral values from others who for them were the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. Some of them, including Sophie and Hans Scholl, had belonged to various Nazi movements for young people but saw through the false values being promoted and left.
In other words, they had been formed in solid values by others, older persons such as parents, some teachers perhaps. others trying to live honest and upright lives as followers of Jesus, 'missionary disciples', as Pope Francis calls us to be in Evangelii Gaudium No 120, without even being aware that they were such. The Pope reminds us there: In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples.
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If you google 'Sophie Scholl' or 'The White Rose' on YouTube you will find many videos about the movement. The FilmSophie Scholl - the Final Days (with English subtitles), directed by Marc Rothemund and starring Julia Jentsch as Sophie, was made in 2005. The trailer is below.
I find the opening scene incredibly poignant: two young German women living under a tyranny and singing along with American singer Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson and his orchestra (here). The Nazis were very ambivalent towards jazz music and would have considered Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson Untermenschen - subhumans - because they were African-Americans.
Praise our Lord
Music by William Byrd, sung by Voces8.
Praise our Lord all ye Gentiles, praise him all ye people,
Because his mercy is confirmed upon us, and his truth remaineth for ever. Amen. (Psalm 117 [116]).
Traditional Latin Mass
Sexagesima Sunday
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 02-08-2026 if necessary).
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. : Gospel: Luke 8:4-15.
The Sower
Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]
A sower went out to sow his field (Luke 8:5; Gospel).
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoplesa feast of rich food, a feast
of well-aged wine,of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined (Isaiah 25:6,
First Reading).
The kingdom of
heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,and sent
his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast .
. . (Matthew 22:2-3 Gospel).
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelMatthew 22:1-14 or 22:1-10 (English Standard Version Anglicised)
Again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,“The
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for
his son,and sent
his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they
would not come.Again
he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have
prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered,
and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’But they paid no attention and went off,
one to his farm, another to his business,while the rest seized his servants, treated them
shamefully, and killed them.The king was
angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned
their city.Then he
said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were
not worthy.Go
therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you
find.’And those
servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both
bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
[“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he
saw there a man who had no wedding garment.And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you
get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind
him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that
place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’For many are called, but few
are chosen.”]
These last few Sundays Jesus has been speaking to us in parables that show both the overwhelming generosity of God and the possibility that we can reject that generosity. In today's parable of the wedding feast the response to God's invitation to his banquet runs from apathy to outright hostility where the servants bringing the king's invitation are murdered.
And in the second part of the Gospel, which many priests will no doubt omit, we have the insolence of the guest who turns up clearly showing disrespect to all around him, including the king. (I wonder if the committee in the Vatican who drew up the Lectionary we have been using since 1969 thought that some of the words of Jesus might be 'dangerous' for us since they have given us the option today of leaving out the last four verses of the Gospel).
On 9 October 2005 Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen ('Graf' is the German for the title 'Count' or 'Earl') Bishop of Münster, Germany, was beatified in Rome. In July and August 1941 he gave three sermons in his cathedral that were highly critical of the Nazi regime. These were printed and distributed widely, though illegally, in Germany. These sermons led to the nickname by which he became known: 'The Lion of Münster'. Among the aspects of Nazi practices that the bishop condemned was its euthanasia programme, begun on 1 September 1939, the day that Germany invaded Poland, starting a new world war. Between then and August 1941 around 70,000 had been murdered, mostly persons with learning disabilities and mental illnesses. More than 200,000 of these persons were murdered before World War II ended in 1945.
Some of the countries that Germany invaded in that war have since legalised euthanasia, including the Netherlands and Belgium. The number of such killings in Belgium has grown from 235 in 2002 to 2,357 in 2018. This country which was staunchly Catholic Christian less than 100 years ago has allowed the euthanasia of children since 2014. Last Wednesday the Irish Parliament approved of the first stage of a bill to legalise euthanasia. The second stage will take place a year from now. The bill is known as the Dying with Dignity Bill. As with all anti-life, pro-killing legislation it is given a nice-sounding name to cover up the reality that it would turn compliant medical personnel into executioners of the old and sick, as they are already executioners of children in the womb.
In his Angelus address on the day of the beatification of Blessed Clemens August, Pope Benedict said: The three famous homilies that this intrepid Pastor gave in 1941 are remarkable. Pope Pius XII created him Cardinal in February 1946 and he died barely a month later, surrounded by the veneration of the faithful who recognized him as a model of Christian courage.
For this very reason, the message of Blessed von Galen is ever timely: faith cannot be reduced to a private sentiment or indeed, be hidden when it is inconvenient; it also implies consistency and a witness even in the public arena for the sake of human beings, justice and truth.
Voters, especially in Western countries, are now faced with a moral dilemma. In the parliamentary constituency in which I live here in Ireland we elect three representatives to the Dáil (Parliament), known as Teachtaí Dála (TDs). The then three TDs voted in November 2018 to legalise abortion, on demand up to 12 weeks and in limited circumstances after that. I could not in conscience vote for any of them in the general election last February. Most TDs are baptised and confirmed Catholics and few, if any, are openly hostile to the Christian faith or to the Catholic church. But for so many of us Catholics and other Christians, including regular churchgoers, faith has been reduced to a private sentimentand hidden when it is inconvenient. One direct consequence of this is that last year 6,666 unborn children were legally denied entry to the Republic of Ireland by being aborted, by virtue of a law that came into effect on New Year's Day 2019, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. I wonder how many Catholics in Ireland are conscious of the perversity of this.
I have written about Fr Emil Kapaun, a priest of the Dioceseof Wichita, Kansasn, now being proposed for beatification, a number of times. He served as a chaplain in the US Army in both World War II and the Korea War where he died in captivity after serving his fellow POWs heroically, living his vocation as a priest to the fullest.
In a broadcast in Japan on 21 April 1950 Fr Kapaun said: We can be sure to expect
that in our own lives there will come a time when we must make a choice between being loyal to the true faith or of giving allegiance to something else
which is either opposed to or not in alliance with our faith. He spoke these words just a little over two months before the Korean War began and 13 months before his own death.
In the parable today Jesus extends God's invitation to all of us to the heavenly banquet, which begins here on earth. As in the parable, it is possible for us to reject that invitation.
The choice is ours.
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Extraordinary Form of the Mass
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)
This Sunday, 11 September, is the Nineteenth 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 10-11-2020, if necessary).
Last May I updated a series of posts on The Rosary with the Great Artists. Here areThe Mysteries of Light.
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Authentic Beauty
Authentic beauty, however, unlocks
the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go
towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can
its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out
and trampled under foot.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be
hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but
on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way,
let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and
give glory to your Father in heaven.’
'Let your light shine before others . . .' (Mt 5:16).
One of the darkest periods in the history
of the world was 1939 to 1945 when much of the world was at war. At the heart
of the darkness was Nazi Germany, where freedom had been almost entirely
suppressed. But not quite. Between June 1942 and February 1943 a small group of
students at the University of Munich with their philosophy professor Kurt Huber
formedThe White
Rose, a non-violent resistance group working against Hitler and the
Nazi regime.
Among the leaders were Sophie
Scholl and her older brother Hans. They were executed together. Both were
devout Lutherans. It is said thatshe
was influenced by the writings of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman. Others in the group, such as Willi Graf, were
devout Catholics. Not all were Christians but they shared a commitment to
speaking the truth, even if it cost them their young lives. Most were in their
early 20s.
One German Catholic who had a great impact on the
group was Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Münster,
Germany, who died just after being made a cardinal in 1946, a giant of a man
physically (6 feet 7 inches /2.01 m tall), morally and spiritually. He was known as 'The Lion of Münster'. In a series of sermons in 1941 he
denounced some of the policies of Hitler, including that of euthanasia. Hans
and Sophie Scholl used one of these in a leaflet that The White Rose printed and
distributed secretly.
It was while distributing leaflets - the movement produced a total of six, their only means of communication - at the University of Munich, that Hans and Sophie were caught and then executed.
The members of The White Rose are remembered and honoured today and a number of films have been made about them. The video above contains footage from one of those.
You can see Franz Josef Müller, a member of The White Rose who survived, speak about the movement here. [The video, by request, can't be embedded.]
White Rose Memorial, University of Munich[Wikipedia]
I remember the late Fr Vincent San Juan SJ, a Filipino who spent most of his life as a priest in the family life apostolate, telling me that during the days of Martial Law here in the Philippines when the government was conducting a vigorous campaign of promoting contraception - doctors in government hospitals often ligated women shortly after they had given birth, with no regard for their husbands or for their feelings - he sometimes gave seminars to government workers. They had little real freedom. But they were happy and encouraged to hear what they recognised as the truth from Father San Juan. To the participants in these seminars who were bombarded daily with government propaganda the Jesuit priest speaking the truth of the Gospel in a quiet and encouraging way was the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world.
The Department of Health and the Department of Education in the Philippines were planning to distribute condoms to students in government high schools in 2017-18 - 'with great sensitivity'. Thank God, the Secretary of the Department of Education announced on 30 January that her department would not go ahead with this. Those who showed their opposition to this were being, in this situation, the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world.
Hans and Sophie Scholl and their companions knew that their lives were in danger. But their Christian faith led them to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. Through them at least some experienced the truth of the words of Isaiah 9:2 quoted in Matthew 4:16, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.
Salt is of use only when it is mixed with other things. The light of the sun doesn't exist for itself, for us to look at it. If we did we would be blinded. It is meant to light up everything around us, as we are meant by being salt and light to bring others to taste and see the joy of knowing Jesus the Risen Lord.
Not many are called, as some of the members of The White Rose were, to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world by laying down their lives. But those in The White Rose got their Christian faith, their moral values from others who for them were the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. Some of them had belonged to various Nazi movements for young people but saw through the false values being promoted and left. In other words, they had been formed in solid values by others, older persons such as parents, some teachers perhaps. others trying to live honest and upright lives as followers of Jesus, 'missionary disciples', as Pope Francis calls us to be in Evangelii Gaudium No 120, without even being aware that they were such.
If you google 'Sophie Scholl' or 'The White Rose' on YouTube you will find many videos about the movement. There have been two movies made about Sophie and the movement, The White Rose (with English subtitles) directed by Michael Verhoeven in 1982 and Sophie Scholl - the Final Days (with English subtitles) directed by Marc Rothemund in 2005.
On 27 October 2013 in his homily in St Peter's Square on World Family DayPope Francis explicitly called families to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. And, characteristically, he called them to be such in a spirit of joy. He ended his homily with these words:
Dear families, you know very well that the true joy which we experience in the family is not superficial; it does not come from material objects, from the fact that everything seems to be going well . . . True joy comes from a profound harmony between persons, something which we all feel in our hearts and which makes us experience the beauty of togetherness, of mutual support along life’s journey. But the basis of this feeling of deep joy is the presence of God in the family and his love, which is welcoming, merciful, and respectful towards all. God alone knows how to create harmony from differences. But if God’s love is lacking, the family loses its harmony, self-centredness prevails and joy fades. But the family which experiences the joy of faith communicates it naturally. That family is the salt of the earth and the light of the world, it is the leaven of society.
Dear families, always live in faith and simplicity, like the Holy Family of Nazareth! The joy and peace of the Lord be always with you!
Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt (Mt 2:14).
Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth; but
if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer
good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be
hid.No one after lighting a lamp
puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to
all in the house.In the same
way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father in heaven.
One of the darkest periods in the history of the world was 1939 to 1945 when much of the world was at war. At the heart of the darkness was Nazi Germany, where freedom had been almost entirely suppressed. But not quite. Between June 1942 and February 1943 a small group of students at the University of Munich with their philosophy professor Kurt Huber formed The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group working against Hitler and the Nazi regime.
Among the leaders were Sophie Scholl and her older brother Hans. They were executed together. Both were devout Lutherans. It is said that she was influenced by the writings of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman. Others in the group, such as Willi Graf, were devout Catholics. Not all were Christians but they shared a commitment to speaking the truth, even if it cost them their young lives. Most were in their early 20s.
One German Catholic who had a great impact on the group was Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Münster, Germany, who died just after being made a cardinal in 1946, a giant of a man physically, morally and spiritually. In a series of sermons in 1941 he denounced some of the policies of Hitler, including that of euthanasia. Hans and Sophie Scholl used one of these in a leaflet The White Rose printed and distributed secretly.
It was while distributing leaflets - the movement produced a total of six, their only means of communication - at the University of Munich, that Hans and Sophie were caught and then executed.
The members of The White Rose are remembered and honoured today and a number of films have been made about them. The video above contains footage from one of those. You can see Franz Josef Müller, a member of The White Rose who survived, speak about the movement here. [The video can't be embedded.]
I remember the late Fr Vincent San Juan SJ, a Filipino who spent most of his life as a priest in the family life apostolate, telling me that during the days of Martial Law here in the Philippines when the government was conducting a vigorous campaign of promoting contraception - doctors in government hospitals often ligated women shortly after they had given birth, with no regard for their husbands or for their feelings - he sometimes gave seminars to government workers. They had little real freedom. But they were happy and encouraged to hear what they recognised as the truth from Father San Juan. To the participants in these seminars who were bombarded daily with government propaganda the Jesuit priest speaking the truth of the Gospel in a quiet and encouraging way was the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world.
Hans and Sophie Scholl and their companions knew that their lives were in danger. But their Christian faith led them to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. Through them at least some experienced the truth of the words of Isaiah 9:2 quoted in Matthew 4:16, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.
Salt is of use only when it is mixed with other things. The light of the sun doesn't exist for itself, for us to look at it. If we did we would be blinded. It is meant to light up everything around us, as we are meant by being salt and light to bring others to taste and see the joy of knowing Jesus the Risen Lord.
Not many are called, as some of the members of The White Rose were, to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world by laying down their lives. But those in The White Rose got their Christian faith, their moral values from others who for them were the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. Some of them had belonged to various Nazi movements for young people but saw through the false values being promoted and left. In other words, they had been formed in solid values by others, older persons such as parents, some teachers perhaps. others trying to live honest and upright lives as followers of Jesus, 'missionary disciples', as Pope Francis calls us to be in Evangelii Gaudium No 120, without even being aware that they were such.
Last October in his homily in St Peter's Square on World Family Day Pope Francis explicitly called families to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. And, characteristically, he called them to be such in a spirit of joy. He ended his homily with these words:
Dear families, you know very well that the true joy which we experience in the family is not superficial; it does not come from material objects, from the fact that everything seems to be going well . . . True joy comes from a profound harmony between persons, something which we all feel in our hearts and which makes us experience the beauty of togetherness, of mutual support along life’s journey. But the basis of this feeling of deep joy is the presence of God in the family and his love, which is welcoming, merciful, and respectful towards all. God alone knows how to create harmony from differences. But if God’s love is lacking, the family loses its harmony, self-centredness prevails and joy fades. But the family which experiences the joy of faith communicates it naturally. That family is the salt of the earth and the light of the world, it is the leaven of society.
Dear families, always live in faith and simplicity, like the Holy Family of Nazareth! The joy and peace of the Lord be always with you!
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