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).
Gospel Luke 21:5-19(English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
At that time: While some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, Jesus said,“As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.This will be your opportunity to bear witness.Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer,for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.You will be hated by all for my name's sake.But not a hair of your head will perish.By your endurance you will gain your lives.
I went down to Knock last Sunday and came back tonight, Friday 14 November. A time of grace.
Many of the Gospel stories of the interaction between Jesus and individuals or groups take place on the road. They are not planned though Jesus, who is both God and Man, would have foreseen them. I am often uplifted and strengthened in my Catholic Christian faith by such encounters, usually totally unforeseen.
One such was in Heuston Railway Station in Dublin on Friday 4 November 2022. I was waiting for the noon train from Dublin to Cork, where I was to be part of a team conducting a Marriage Encounter Weekend. At the spot from where the photo at the top of the page was taken I saw a tall young man with his three children, the youngest being carried in a kind of backpack. I was struck with a feeling of utter delight. I approached the man who knew by my Roman collar that I was a priest. When his wife caught up with him and their children he introduced her as 'Lizzie'. Their love for one another and for their children, a girl and two boys aged seven, five and three, was palpable.
The family were from Texas and were waiting for the train to Claremorris, County Mayo, the station nearest Knock Shrine where they were going on a brief pilgrimage. (Unlike other major shrines to Our Lady, most pilgrims to Knock don't stay overnight.) We chatted for only a couple of minutes. Before we parted the couple asked me for a blessing. Lizzie knelt down for this, not in the least bothered by the many people around.
I know that God truly blessed them on that occasion but He also blessed me through them. I was uplifted and strengthened in my faith.
It brought to mind a similar experience in late 1968 or early 1969 when I was studying in Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York. The Religious of the Sacred Heart, who owned the school, had just dropped 'of the Sacred Heart' from its name. It was a time of deep crisis in the Church and, in the USA, because of the Vietnam War.
One Saturday morning after Mass, Sr Kathryn Sullivan RSCJ, one of the first women to become internationally renowned as a Scripture scholar, approached me in the sacristy. She told me she was about to go on a lecture tour overseas and knelt down and asked me for a blessing. As a young priest, about one year in the priesthood, I felt deeply humbled. I was blessed by her humility, which reminded me of what God had called me to be.
Today's gospel reads like today's headlines and 'breaking news' - as it has always done. But in the midst of great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences Jesus tells us, This will be your opportunity to bear witness. The Texan family in Heuston Station and Sr Kathryn Sullivan, without being aware of it, took the opportunity to bear witness to me.
The Prayer over the Offerings reminds us of what our lives are ultimately about : . . . may obtain for us the grace of being devoted to you and gain us the prize of everlasting happiness. The Communion Antiphon from the Old Testament - I wish the Church wouldn't include so many options throughout the Mass - reinforces this: To be near God is my happiness, to place my hope in God the Lord (Psalm 72 [73]: 28).
Whether in great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences or in our ordinary day-to-day quiet lives, Jesus says to each of us, This will be your opportunity to bear witness.
This painting shows the two miracles in the Gospel.
Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, 'Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.' And instantly the woman was made well (Matthew 9:22; Gospel).
RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcasting service, carried an interview with Dana on Sunday 7 November that will be available online till 28 November. Dana, born Rosemary Brown and now Mrs Scallon, has had a most unusual career. She represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970 when only 18 and won with the song All Kinds of Everything. The photo above is from around that time.
In 1991 she and her husband Damien began to work with EWTN in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1997 she ran as an independent for the ceremonial position of President of Ireland and came third. In 1999 she was elected as an independent Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for a five-year term.
Dana played a controversial role in the 2002 referendum in Ireland on the protection of life from conception. Though the Church, including the Vatican, had clearly signaled that Catholics could vote for the proposal, Dana and a small group of other pro-life people opposed it as not going far enough. Their votes helped defeat the proposed amendment to the Irish Constitution which now, in theory, allows abortion, where it didn’t before.
On the other hand, Dana met with a lot of hostility in the European Parliament because of her principled stand for the life of the unborn.
In the interview with Gay Byrne, one of Ireland’s top broadcasters, she comes across as a person of strong but quite Catholic faith, simple and open. When at the end she was asked what she would say to “God when she comes face to face with him, after a pause she said, with a smile, ‘Can you ever gloss over the bad bits?’
The interview, which runs for 26'30", is available online only until Sunday 28 November.
Dana singing All Kinds of Everthing in 1970.
Dana singing Totus Tuus, Totally Yours, which she and her husband wrote after the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979. Ironically, Dana wasn't in Ireland at the time.
%20WGA.jpg)
