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 Cardinall's Musick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cardinall's Musick. Show all posts
Gospel Matthew 16:21-27 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India)
At that time: Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’
Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.’
A Man for All Seasonsis a movie made in 1966, written by Robert Bolt and based on his stage play with the same title. It is based on the life of St Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England during the time of King Henry VIII. His position would be similar to that of Prime Minister today. More refuses to sign a letter asking Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage of the King to Catherine of Aragon who had not borne him a son. Eventually More is found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death.
Gospel Matthew 16:21-27 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England &
Wales, Scotland, India)
At that time:
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many
things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the
third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying,
‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and
said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are
not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’
Then Jesus told
his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man
if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in
return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the
glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he
has done.’
A Man for All Seasonsis a movie made in 1966, written by Robert Bolt and based on his stage
play with the same title. It is based on the life of St Thomas More, Lord
Chancellor of England during the time of King Henry VIII. His position would be
similar to that of Prime Minister today. More refuses to sign a letter
asking Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage of the King to Catherine of
Aragon who had not borne him a son. Eventually More is found guilty of high
treason and sentenced to death.
During his trial Sir Thomas More discovers that
Richard Rich, who had given perjured testimony against him, had been made
Attorney General for Wales as a reward for this. The laws of England were about
to be extended to Wales, a country of 20,779 square kilometres in the west of
the island of Britain which also includes England and Scotland. More says to
Rich, Why,Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his
soul for the whole world - but for Wales? [3:30 - 4:20 in the video
above].
On Sundays
in Ordinary Time the First Reading and the Gospel are linked thematically
whereas the Second Reading is from one of the Letters of St Paul read over the
course of a number of Sundays. But this Sunday it is closely related to the
other two readings in that it reminds us that as followers of Jesus we are
called to be living sacrifices:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your
mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is
good and acceptable and perfect (Romans
12:1-2).
The Prophet Jeremiah discovers the cost of doing
God's will: I have become a laughing-stock all the day; everyone
mocks me . . . For the word of the Lord has become for me a
reproach and derision all day long (Jeremiah 20:7,8).
St Peter cannot abide the thought of any such thing
happening to Jesus: God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.
He receives an extraordinary rebuke from Jesus: Get behind me, Satan!
You are a hindrance to me; for you are not setting your mind on the things of
God but on the things of man.
The Crucifixion of St Peter
Caravaggio [Web Gallery of Art] If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
St Peter in giving unwanted and unhelpful 'advice'
to Jesus had no idea of the price he himself would pay for following in the
footsteps of the Lord. He was following human thinking, not God's. This
incident shows that our thinking has consequences. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
Christ Jesus, says St Paul in
Philippians 2:5. This is what our baptism calls us to. Everything we do is
meant to be in accordance with God's thinking, with God's will. Since 2019 here in the Republic of Ireland which has an estimated population of about five-and-a-half million, about 60,000 children have been legally killed before birth. The law allowing this
came into effect on New Year's Day 2019, the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God.
The law was the foreseen consequence of a referendum in May 2018 when
two-thirds of those who voted chose to 'repeal' Article 8 of the Constitution
that protected the life of the unborn child and of the mother. Based on the
census of 2016 nearly eighty per-cent of the voters identified themselves as
Catholic. The majority of legislators who legalised abortion-on-demand were
Catholics by background, one of them a regular lector at Sunday Mass in her
parish.
This is a glaring example of what the late Fr Jaime Bulatao SJ, a Filipino,
labelled in 1966 Split-level Christianity. (I took some classes under Fr
Bulatao in the summer of 1974). Promoting or supporting abortion is
incompatible with the Catholic Christian faith.
In his encyclical Laudato si'No 120, Pope Francis states: Since
everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also
incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the
importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or
inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its
presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties? 'If personal and social
sensitivity towards the acceptance of the new life is lost, then other forms of
acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away'.
Some politicians who identify themselves as Catholics are now promoting
abortion as a 'right'. And many people who work for the dignity of every human
life from conception to death are condemned as persons with no interest in the
welfare of children and others after birth, a total lie. Mary Wagner is a Canadian woman who has spent much time
in prison for peacefully proclaiming the humanity of the unborn child and for
trying to offer mothers an alternative to abortion. Another Canadian who has
spent much time in prison for totally silent witness outside abortion centres
is Linda Gibbons. I am sure that these two extraordinary
witnesses to our Christian faith must have experienced what the Prophet
Jeremiah expresses in today's First Reading: If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any
more in his name”, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my
bones and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. Please pray for them. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me.
Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of these (Matthew 6:28-29; Gospel).
The Ascension is celebrated on
Ascension Thursday, 13 May, in England & Wales and in Scotland. In the USA it is
celebrated on Ascension Thursday in the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston,
Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, Philadelphia, elsewhere on Sunday 2 June. In
all of these areas Ascension Thursday is a Holyday of Obligation.
The Ascension is
observed on Sunday, 16 May, in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Australia, Canada,
Ireland, Philippines.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
Gospel Mark 16:15-20(English Standard Version, Anglicised)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Go into all the world
and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and
is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will
be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who
believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new
tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink
any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their
hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord
Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven
and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached
everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by
accompanying signs.
Gospel John 17:11b-19(English Standard Version, Anglicised)
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven
and said:
Holy
Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that
they may be one, even as we are one.While I was with them, I kept them in your
name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of
them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled.But now I am coming to you, and these things I
speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.I have given them your word, and the
world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am
not of the world.I do not ask that you take them out of the
world, but that you keep them from the evil one.They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.Sanctify them[ in
the truth; your word is truth.As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into
the world.And for their sake I consecrate myself, that
they also may be sanctified in truth.
Fr Giuseppe Raviolo SJ (1923 - 1998) was a Pope St John XXIII-like
figure, physically and spiritually, from Italy who spent most of his priestly
life in Mindanao, Philippines, where I came to know him. He was the first
rector of St John Vianney Major Seminary in Cagayan de Oro City. But he also
spent nine years in Vietnam and was rector of the major seminary in Saigon, now
Ho Chi Minh City, during the Vietnam War. He once told me an extraordinary
story from that period.
The North Vietnamese Army was advancing on Saigon. The
soldiers were divided into groups of three. The standing order was that if one
tried to surrender the other two were to shoot him. One particular group found
themselves surrounded by American soldiers and one of them surrendered. The
other two did not shoot their companion and were captured along with him. Later
they asked their companion why he had taken such a risk. He answered, I
knew you were Christians and that you would not shoot me. The two were in
fact Catholics and had discussed the matter and had decided that, as
Christians, they could not shoot their companion if that particular situation
arose.
These were soldiers in the army of a Communist country, an
army without any chaplains, and their companion, who was not a Christian, took
it for granted that they would not take his life because he knew that they were
Christians.
In the First Reading today, the opening verses of the Acts of
the Apostles, Jesus says to his disciples, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will
be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.
Those two Catholic soldiers in the North Vietnamese
army were powerful witnesses of Jesus to their companion. They chose to live
their faith in Jesus. And he entrusted his life to them because he knew they were Christians.
How many strangers would entrust their life to us simply because they knew we were Christians?
Rejoice always,pray without ceasing,give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
This is really a postscript. The other day I came across the following quotation in This Tremendous Lover by Dom Eugene Boylan OCSO. It made me smile and it also highlighted for me that prayer is essentially being in a relationship with God, knowing that God loves us.
A saint should be a very easy person to live with. Unfortunately, those who try to be saints are often the opposite. Might we refer them to the example of St Jane Frances de Chantal? While she was still living in the world, St Francis de Sales became her director. The result of his influence may be gathered from the comment of one of her servants. 'The first director that Madame had made her pray three times a day. and we were all put out; but the Monsignor of Geneva (St Francis de Sales) makes her pray all day long and no one is troubled.'
Antiphona ad introitum Entrance Antiphon Acts 1:11
Viri Galilaei
Setting
by William Byrd
Sung
by Cardinall’s Musick
Viri Galilaei, quid admiramini aspicientes in
caelum? Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens?Quemadmodum vidisti eum ascendentem in caelum, ita
veniet, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Omnes gentes plaudit manibusL iubilate Deo in voce
exultationis.
Clap your hands all peoples! Shout
to God with loud sounds of joy!
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut
erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
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.
Viri Galilaei, quid admiramini
aspicientes in caelum? Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens?Quemadmodum vidisti eum
ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia.
In the Extraordinary Form of the Mass the whole text above is sung or recited. In the Ordinary Form the text in bold is recited or sung unless it is replaced by a suitable hymn.
Extraordinary Form of the Mass
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)
Ascension Thursday
The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 5-13-2021 if necessary).
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.
