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 German Miniaturist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label German Miniaturist. Show all posts
GospelMatthew 5:13-16 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
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. They were executed within minutes of each other by guillotine. Both were devout Lutherans. It is said thatshe 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 - less than human - 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
Septuagesima Sunday
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 02-05-2023 if necessary).
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10:1-5. Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16.
GospelLuke 16:1-13 [Shorter form 16:10-13](English
Standard Version Anglicised: India)
Jesus said to the disciples,
[“There was a rich man who had a manager, and
charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.And he called him and said to him, ‘What is
this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for
you can no longer be manager.’And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my
master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig,
and I am ashamed to beg.I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from
management, people may receive me into their houses.’So, summoning his master's debtors one by
one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He
said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you
owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your
bill, and write eighty.’The master commended the dishonest manager for
his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd
in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.And I tell you, make friends for
yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they
may receive you into the eternal dwellings.]
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in
much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.If then
you have not been faithful with the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you
the true riches?And
if you have not been faithful with that which is another's, who will give
you that which is your own?No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and money.”
Nine years ago while on vacation in Ireland from the Philippines I dropped by the house of Brian, a childhood friend in Dublin. Over coffee we chatted about many things, ranging from the current situation of the Church in Ireland to the days when we were growing up.
In the course of our conversation the small Jewish community in Dublin came up. It has never quite reached 4,000 in Ireland and the majority of the now fewer than 2,000 live in Dublin. I told Brian that my father, who spent all his working life as a carpenter on building/construction sites, most of those years as a highly respected general foreman, had built a house for a wealthy Jewish couple in the late 1950s.
Our house was the one on the right, 44 Finn St, Dublin
Shortly after the house was finished a very expensive car stopped outside our house, in a street of terraced houses, exactly like those in the photo above, where nobody had a telephone and very few had cars. The driver knocked on our door and turned out to be the owner of the new house my father had built. He came to invite our family to dinner the following week in his new home. My father had helped build many new homes over the 54 years of his working life but this was the only occasion when he had been thanked in such a way.
We enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the family and it was the only time I ever visited a Jewish home in Ireland.
Brian then told me a story about his father Jimmy, whom I had known well, a house painter and decorator. He had painted and decorated the houses of many Jewish families in Dublin over the years. This was mainly due to an incident the first time he was asked to work in a Jewish home. While removing the carpet from the stairs he found a diamond ring stuck in a corner. He immediately brought it to the owner and said 'I found this on the stairs'. 'I know', said the owner, 'I put it there!'
The word spread through the Jewish community that Jimmy was trustworthy. Over the years he had many Jewish clients.
One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.
When I told the story of Jimmy and the diamond ring to my sister-in-law Gladys she told me that her engagement ring had been stolen while she and my brother Paddy were having renovations done to their home a few years ago.
I remember too how upset my father was when he was renovating a Georgian house in Dublin. He discovered that the knocker on the front door had disappeared and it could only have been one of his workmates who took it. He was unable to trace the knocker or find out who the thief was.
One who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
When I wrote these reflections nine years ago the major story in the Philippines was the 'pork barrel scam'. PHP10 billion - roughly US$200,000,000 or €200,000,000 - of taxes paid by the people had disappeared. Some senators and members of Congress were alleged to have been beneficiaries of this along with others.
Today's gospel speaks to situations like this. Corruption on such a vast scale begins in the classroom when a child learns that though cheating isn't right the main thing is not to be caught. The man who stole my sister-in-law's engagement ring and my father's workmate who walked away with the valuable knocker from the front door of the Georgian house were earning salaries. What values were they passing on to their families?
One thing that both my parents instilled in me was that I must not keep anything that isn't mine. When I was a toddler I came home from a park up the road from where we lived at the time with a leather football. This was in the mid-1940s, around the time World War II ended when such things would have been very scarce and expensive. They asked around the neighbourhood and it was only when nobody claimed the ball that our family kept it.
Honesty and trustworthiness at such basic levels are a foundation for justice. I've known of individuals 'working for justice' who weren't paying their own workers a proper wage. I've known many others such as my father, such as Jimmy, who didn't talk much about justice. They simply behaved in a just and honest manner and treated others with respect.
God invites every single one of us to share for ever in the riches of eternal life. Eternal life begins in the here and now. We make our choices in the here and now.
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Antiphona ad Communionem / Communion Antiphon (John 10:14)
I mentioned two diamond rings above. I couldn't find a painting with a diamond ring but Vermeer'sGirl with a Pearl Earringis a work of such extraordinary beauty that I used it instead.
Traditional Latin Mass
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 9-18-2022 if necessary).
Epistle: Galatians 5:25-26; 6:1-10. Gospel: Luke 7:11-16.
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Gospel Lectionary of Henry III
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