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 Canarinhos de Petrópolis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canarinhos de Petrópolis. Show all posts
In Ireland, England & Wales the Solemnity of the Epiphany is a Holy Day of Obligation and is celebrated this year on Tuesday, 6 January, the traditional date. In many countries the Epiphany is celebrated on this Sunday, 4 January. The readings below are those for the Second Sunday After the Nativity, observed in Ireland, England & Wales. You will find Sunday Reflections for the Solemnity of the Epiphany here.
Readings(English
Standard Version, Catholic Edition: (England & Wales)
GospelJohn 1:1-18 or 1-5, 9-14(English Standard Version, Anglicised)
In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was
in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him
was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the
light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it.
[There was a man
sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about
the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came
to bear witness about the light.]
The true light,
which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world,
and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to
his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive
him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who
were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man,
but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his
glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
[John bore witness about him, and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He
who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.” ’For from his
fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the
only begotten God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.]
In The Ascent of Mount Carmel St John of the Cross writes: When [God] gave us, as he did,his Son, who is his one Word, he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say . . .
Consequently, anyone who today would want to ask God questions or desire some vision or revelation, would not only be acting foolishly but would commit an offence against God by not fixing his eyes entirely on Christ, without wanting something new or something besides him.
God might give him this answer, '"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." I have already told you all things in my Word. Fix your eyes on him alone, becuse in him I have spoken and revealed all. Moreover, in him you will find more than you ask or desire.'
This passage is used in the Office of Readings, Advent, Week 2, Monday.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Matthew 4:1-11 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty
nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him,
‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of
bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.”’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed
him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of
God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you”, and “On their hands they will
bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’
Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not
put the Lord your God to the test.”’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he
said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship
me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is
written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came
and waited on him.
I remember vividly a homily given on the First Sunday in Lent in St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, then the Columban seminary in Ireland where I studied from 1961 to 1968 and where I'm now living, by the late Fr Edward McCormack, who taught us Latin. We all recognised Father Ted, as we called him, as a saintly man. It was clear from his preaching that he was experiencing something of the horror of the very idea of the Devil tempting Jesus, God who became man. It was as if the very soul of Father Ted was shuddering.
Matt Talbot (1856-1925) was a Dubliner who had become an alcoholic by the age of 13 or 14 and spent the next fourteen years as a drunkard. He went to the extreme once of stealing a fiddle (violin) from a beggar and pawned it to get money for drink. It was his only living, Matt tells us in the video, and I think that was the worst thing I ever did in my life. Matt made many efforts later to trace the beggar but never succeeded. An aside: Yesterday, 19 February 2020, I got into a conversation with a total stranger at a bus stop in Dublin, nabout ten minutes' walk from where Matt Talbot died. This stranger had known some of my deceased relatives who had lived in the area. We got talking about Matt He knew about Matt having stolen the beggar's fiddle but didn't know that for the rest of his life he had tried to find its owner. He was so grateful to know this detail. And my conversation with this man, which we continued in the bus was for me another experience of how our lives are intertwined. As St John Henry Newman wrote, I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. Newman lived in Dublin, where Matt Talbot was born in 1856, from 1854 to 1861. Yet during his fourteen years of drinking Matt hardly ever missed Sunday Mass, though he didn't receive Holy Communion, and always said a Hail Mary before sleeping.I think that's what saved me in the long run, he tells us.
At the beginning of the second video Matt, masterfully played by Irish actor Seamus Forde, goes through a soul-wrenching temptation right at Communion time, something that happens the same Sunday morning at Mass in three different churches, a temptation that drives him out of each, until he falls on his knees outside one of them and prays Jesus, mercy; Mary help, a prayer that most Dubliners would have been familiar with. Perhaps Jesus had called Matt to share in the experience of his three temptations in the desert.
Matt Talbot towards the end of his life [Wikipedia]
The second video shows Matt sending a donation to the Maynooth Mission to China, as the Columbans were first known in Ireland, some time in the mid-1920s. The note he enclosed is in the Columban archives in Ireland. [A Columban priest told me recently that the original is now in Rome, with a copy in Ireland.] The amount, one pound from himself and ten shillings (half of a pound) from his sister, was considerable for poor people.
Towards the end of the video Matt speaks of the things God had asked him to do. He put these thoughts in my mind when I was praying - and I knew they came from him. Only the priest in confession knew about these special things, small things God wanted me to do. They weren't for anybody else.
Among the special things, small things were the chains he wore on certain occasions. It was these very chains, found on his body when he died, that led to people asking questions about me . . . God must have wanted it that way . . . using me to say something to people today, now.
Lent is a gift that God gives the Church each year, a personal gift to each member of the Church, a time when he wants to put these thoughts in my mind when I am praying.
Matt Talbot was the farthest thing imaginable from the 'celebrities' of today during his life. In the more than 90 years since his death he has given hope to many, especially persons struggling with alcoholism and other addictions.
Will I allow God this Lent to put whatever thoughts he wants to in my mind by giving him time in prayer? Will I allow him, as Mary did when she said Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word, to use me to say something to people today, now?Jesus
Will I fall on my knees in moments of great temptation, as Matt did during the terrible struggle he had right at Communion time three times on the one Sunday morning, perhaps reflecting the three temptations of the Lord in today's gospel, and plead Jesus, mercy! Mary, help!?
Dubliners refer to churches by their street names rather than by their patronal names. The church above, which Matt calls 'Gardiner Street Church', is that of the Jesuits. Matt also refers a number of times to the 'chapel' in Seville Place, the Church of St Laurence O'Toole, a saint who was once Archbishop of Dublin. This is another old Dublin usage, calling a church a 'chapel'. The accent and idioms of Matt in the two videos are pure Dublin.
When I was a child my mother, when 'going into town', ie into the city centre, would sometimes go through Granby Lane and we'd pray at the spot where Matt died. Everyone in Dublin then knew who Matt Talbot was. I'm not so sure about today.
The text in bold is used in the Mass in the Ordinary Form (the 'New Mass') while the longer text is used in the Extraordinary Form (the 'Old Mass' or 'Traditional Latin Mass'). It is an utter mystery to me - not a 'mystery of faith' - why the Church has shortened this text, which has so many musical settings that have been used for centuries.
In Ireland the Solemnity of the Epiphany is a Holy Day of Obligation and is celebrated this year on Monday 6 January. In many countries the Epiphany is celebrated on this Sunday, 5 January. The readings below are those for the Second Sunday After the Nativity, observed in Ireland.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelJohn 1:1-18. Shorter form: John 1:1-5, 9-14 [omitted] (Revised Standard
Version Catholic Edition )
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not
anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.
[There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John. He came for testimony,
to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not
the light, but came to bear witness to the light.]
The
true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet
the world knew him not. He came to his own home,
and his own people received him not. But to all who received
him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor
of the will of man, but of God.
And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have
beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. [(John bore witness to
him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks
before me, for he was before me.’”) And from his fulness
have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given
through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the
bosom of the Father, he has made him known.]
In The Ascent of Mount Carmel St John of the Cross writes: When [God] gave us, as he did,his Son, who is his one Word, he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say . . .
Consequently, anyone who today would want to ask God questions or desire some vision or revelation, would not only be acting foolishly but would commit an offence against God by not fixing his eyes entirely on Christ, without wanting something new or something besides him.
God might give him this answer, '"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." I have already told you all things in my Word. Fix your eyes on him alone, becuse in him I have spoken and revealed all. Moreover, in him you will find more than you ask or desire.' This passage is used in the Office of Readings, Advent, Week 2, Monday.
