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 David Vinckboons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Vinckboons. Show all posts
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).
GospelMatthew 23:1-12 (English Standard Version
Anglicised, India)
Then
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,so practise and observe whatever they tell
you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practise.They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and
lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move
them with their finger.They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For
they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,and they love the place of honour at
feasts and the best seats in the synagoguesand greetings in the
market-places and being called rabbi by others.But you are not to be called rabbi, for you
have one teacher, and you are all brothers.And call no man your father on earth,
for you have one Father, who is in heaven.Neither be called instructors, for you have
one instructor, the Christ.The greatest among you shall be your servant.Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and
whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
I'm sure I've used this story before about an incident in Metro Manila 15 or 16 years ago. But today's readings, especially the Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel, remind me of it very strongly. I was visiting a home for girls run by the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. Most of the girls were there because of the extreme poverty of their families. I had an extraordinary conversation with a girl I'll call Gloria (not her real name).
Gloria was around 14 and I knew that she suffered from asthma. I learned later from the Sisters that she and her family had been living on the street and that her father was a blind beggar. I was astounded at the question Gloria asked me: How can I offer my life to God? This was from a young girl with nothing in life, rather like the young St Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes when the Blessed Mother appeared to her in 1848 and around the same age. St Bernadette too suffered from asthma. And at one time her family lived in what had once been a prison, in a basement room known as le cachot, 'the dungeon'.
I remember visiting le cachot in Easter week 1991 with a group of Irish pilgrims, many of whom had physical disabilities. I cried when I recalled families in Smithfield, Dublin, now an up-market place, living in what had once been a prison. This was during my childhood, ten minutes' walk from where I lived.
I spoke to Gloria about another young French saint who was six when St Bernadette died, St Thérèse of Lisieux, and her Little Way that shows that we can become saints in our ordinary humdrum daily activities such as setting the table, washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, when we do these things with love for those around us, in Gloria's case the girls and the Sisters in the home. I told her that God would eventually show her what He desired for the rest of her life.
The greatest among you shall be your servant, Jesus tells us in the Gospel. In the eyes of the world Gloria was far from being the greatest in the world. Indeed, insofar as anyone in the wider world even noticed her she was a nobody. But the desire of her heart was to serve God by offering her life to him. The words of the Responsorial Psalm could speak for her: O Lord, my heart is not too proud nor haughty my eyes. I have not gone after things too great nor marvels beyond me.
The closing words of St Paul in the Second Reading are words that I can pray when I think of Gloria: And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
Gloria didn't receive the word of God from me but from others before me. She had accepted it as what it really is, the word of God. Without being aware of it she was, by her question, inviting me to do the same.
I see such incidents as ongoing graces, in my case graces that continue to form me as a priest. I'm finishing this on Friday 3 November, here the feast of St Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland, who died on 2 November 1138 while visiting St Bernard in the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux, France. The Entrance Antiphon for his Mass reads: I will raise up for myself a faithful priest; he will do what is in my heart and in my mind, says the Lord (1 Samuel 2:35).
God calls each of us to do what is in his heart and in his mind. Gloria, a young girl with nothing to call her own, called me to do that by her question: How can I offer my life to God?
I never saw Gloria again. The Sisters told me that she had gone to live with relatives in one of the provinces near Manila. She would be around 29 or 30 now. Please remember her in your prayers and, with St Paul, thank God that she accepted the Gospel as what it really is, the word of God.
Laudate Dominum, Psalm 116 [117]
Music by Mozart
Sung by Patricia Janečková (18 June 1998 - 1 October 2023) with The Janáček Chamber Orchestra
Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes: Laudate eum, omnes populi:
Quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia eius: et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.
O praise the Lord, all you nations, acclaim him all you peoples!
Strong is his love for us; he is faithful for ever.
Traditional Latin Mass
Twenty-third Sunday After Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English ishere. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-05-2023 if necessary).
Epistle: Philippians 3:17-21; 4:1-3. Gospel: Matthew 9:18-26.
Forest Landscape with Two of Christ’s
Miracles (detail)
'My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live . . . 'If I only touch his garment, I shall be made well' (Matthew 9:18, 21; Gospel).
GospelLuke 21:5-19 (English Standard Version
Anglicised: India)
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.
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. 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, of deep crisis 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.
November is the month when we pray in a special way for the dead. On 11 November 1918 the Great War, the First World War (1914 - 1918), ended at 11 AM. It was the slaughter of so many young men in that war that led Pope Benedict XV to allow priests to celebrate three Masses on All Souls' Day.
Tom Kettle was a devout Catholic, a husband and father, an Irish nationalist and Member of Parliament who died in the Great War. A couple of days before his death he wrote the poem below to his infant daughter explaining why he was prepared to die in that war.
The last line of the poem was the title of a collection of writings by Columban Fr John Henaghan, The Secret Scripture of the Poor, published in 1950. Father John was one of five Irish Columbans who died in February 1945 during the Battle of Manila, four of them, including Fr Henaghan, taken away by Japanese soldiers and never seen again.
To My Daughter Betty, the Gift of God
by Tom Kettle
In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown
To beauty proud as was your Mother’s prime.
In that desired, delayed, incredible time,
You’ll ask why I abandoned you, my own,
And the dear heart that was your baby throne,
To die with death. And oh! they’ll give you rhyme
And reason: some will call the thing sublime,
And some decry it in a knowing tone.
So here, while the mad guns curse overhead,
And tired men sigh with mud for couch and floor,
Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead,
Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor,
But for a dream, born in a herdsmen shed,
And for the secret Scripture of the poor.
Communion Antiphon
First Mass on All Souls' Day
I am the Resurrection and the Life, says the Lord. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will live for ever (John 11:25-26).
Fr John Heneghan
1881 - 10 February 1945
St Columban's Cemetery, Dalgan Park, Ireland
Traditional Latin Mass
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-13-2022 if necessary).
Epistle: Philippians 1:17-21; 4:1-3 . Gospel: Matthew 9:18-26.
Forest Landscape with Two of Christ's Miracles (detail)
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