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 Gerrit van Honthorst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gerrit van Honthorst. Show all posts
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.(John 21:18, today's Gospel).
Readings, (Jerusalem Bible:
Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand,
Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel, John 21:1-19 [1-14] (English Standard
Version Anglicised: India)
After this Jesus revealed himself again to
the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.Simon
Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in
Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were
together.Simon
Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with
you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught
nothing.
Just
as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not
know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have
any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the
net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast
it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That
disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When
Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for
he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The
other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were
not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
[When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to
Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do
you love me more than these?” He
said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He
said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”He said to him the third time, “Simon,
son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved
because he said to him the third time, “Do you
love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know
everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you
used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you
will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you
do not want to go.”(This he said
to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying
this he said to him, “Follow me.”]
Director:
Philip Saville; Narrator: Christopher Plummer
[Today's
Gospel ends at 5:00]
Fr Keith Gorman
(21 January 1920 - 19 December 2016)
Fr Keith Gorman was a Columban priest from Australia who worked for many years in Japan. I met him a number of times and was always struck by his delightful sense of humour and how he grew old gracefully. In one of the articles he wrote for Columban magazines he stated that his idea of heaven was having breakfast with Jesus on the shores of eternity. He clearly had today's gospel in mind.
This is a gospel I often return to. Imagine being served breakfast by Jesus himself, as the seven apostles were on that blessed morning! And the second part, which will surely and unfortunately be omitted by many priests who will choose the shorter gospel, is for me one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. Jesus is calling us into a deep intimacy with him. He addresses his question Do you love me? not only to St Peter but to each one of us today.
It is in that context that he tells Peter Feed my lambs . . . Tend my sheep . . . Feed my sheep. Jesus emphasises the relationship of intimacy with him as being fundamental, not the mission on which he sends us. Being sent on mission is a consequence of being invited into a deep, personal and intimate relationship with him.
For me as a priest today's gospel tells me that I must put prayer at the very centre of my life, not only the official prayer of the Church - the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Breviary, the Sacraments - but personal prayer. The same applies to all who are called by God to the single life as priests, as religious, as lay persons.
Today's gospel is a call to married persons to put their spousal relationship at the centre of their lives. Through the Sacrament of Matrimony Jesus himself is the foundation of that relationship. And it is the bride and groom who confer that sacrament on each other, not the priest. He is a witness on behalf of the Church to their exchange of vows.
The first question Jesus puts to Peter is, Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? I understand this to mean 'Do you love me more than the others love me?' Husbands and wives are called by God to love each other more than anyone else loves them - including their children and their parents. And I take it to mean also that God calls them to love each other more than they love their children and their parents.
This does not mean loving anyone less, but rather drawing their children, especially, into their love for each other, a love that is based on God's love for them as a couple.
I truly believe that when their children become more important for spouses than they do for each other their marriage is heading for trouble. The same applies, I believe, to priests and religious who place their work, no matter how important and good in itself it may be, above their personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
I once heard a boy of around 11 in the Philippines say, What I love most about my parents is that they are always together. He felt drawn into their love for each other, the same love that led to his being born.
A teenage girl in the Philippines who had been abused told me how she was drawn to Jesus by a very poor black-and-white copy of Rembrandt's painting below.
My young friend said to me, He looks so human. She was basically expressing a desire to be close to Jesus, which is the desire Jesus has for her and for each of us.
For married couples, if God grants them children, Feed my lambs means primarily taking care of their children until they are ready to take on the responsibility of being adults. My mother often reminded me that when I'd be 21 - the then legal age of majority in Ireland, now 18 - I would be responsible for myself. I never took this to be an admonishment but rather as her giving me something valuable to aspire to. This, along with how I saw her and my father carrying out their responsibilities, was also a way in which they carried out the words of Jesus, Feed my lambs.
Countless single individuals, never married or widowed, with a deep sense of the love of Jesus for them have 'fed the lambs and sheep' because of that relationship. Many of us have been strengthened in our faith or have grown in our awareness of God's love for us through such persons. Often enough I have written here about Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati. St John Paul II, who beatified him, said of him, I, too,
in my youth, felt the beneficial influence of his example and, as a student, I
was impressed by the force of his Christian testimony.
The First Reading expresses in a different way the centrality of our invitation from Jesus to enter into an intimate relationship with him: But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men'. In other words, as Christians we are meant to live the values of Our Lord Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives.
As it happens, there are elections in Northern Ireland on Thursday 5 May and in the Philippines on Monday 9 May. Will those involved in these elections allow the values of the gospel to determine how they vote? How we vote is also a way to Feed my lambs . . . Tend my sheep . . . Feed my sheep. How we vote is meant to be a consequence of the intimate relationship into which Jesus calls us within the Church. And when it comes to legislators making laws that are contrary to God's will, as some laws are, we must make the words of St Peter our own: We must obey God rather than men.
How do we do this? By accepting the invitation of Jesus: Follow me.
Worthy is the Lamb
from Messiah by Handel
Performed by Academy of Ancient Music with Voces8
Conducted by Barnaby Smith
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,
and hath redeemed us to God by hisblood, to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour,and glory, and blessing.
Blessing and honour, glory and
power, be untoHim that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever (from Apocalypse/Revelation
5:12-13, today’s Second Reading).
[Handel used the King James translation, slightly adapted.]
Traditional Latin Mass
St Joseph the Worker
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 05-01-2022 if necessary).
Epistle: Colossians. 3:14-15, 17, 23-24. Gospel: Matthew 13:54-58.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelMatthew 5:13-16 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus said to his
disciples:
‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has
lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for
anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a
hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the
bushel basket, but on the lampstand, 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 in heaven.
'Let your light shine before others . . .' (Mt 5:16).
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 together. 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 Roseare remembered and honoured today and a number of films have been made about them. The video above contains footage from one of those.
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 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 GaudiumNo 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.
+++
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, was made in 2005. The trailer is below.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can
its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out
and trampled under foot.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be
hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but
on the lampstand, 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 in heaven.’
'Let your light shine before others . . .' (Mt 5:16).
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 together. Both were
devout Lutherans. It is said thatshe
was influenced by the writings of Blessed 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. The video above contains footage from one of those.
You can see Franz Josef Müller, a member of The White Rose who survived, speak about the movement here. [The video, by request, can't be embedded.]
White Rose Memorial, University of Munich[Wikipedia]
I remember the late Fr Vincent San Juan SJ, a Filipino who spent most of his life as a priest in the family life apostolate, telling me that during the days of Martial Law here in the Philippines when the government was conducting a vigorous campaign of promoting contraception - doctors in government hospitals often ligated women shortly after they had given birth, with no regard for their husbands or for their feelings - he sometimes gave seminars to government workers. They had little real freedom. But they were happy and encouraged to hear what they recognised as the truth from Father San Juan. To the participants in these seminars who were bombarded daily with government propaganda the Jesuit priest speaking the truth of the Gospel in a quiet and encouraging way was the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world.
The Department of Health and the Department of Education in the Philippines were planning to distribute condoms to students in government high schools in 2017-18 - 'with great sensitivity'. Thank God, the Secretary of the Department of Education announced on 30 January that her department would not go ahead with this. Those who showed their opposition to this were being, in this situation, the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world.
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 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.
If you google 'Sophie Scholl' or 'The White Rose' on YouTube you will find many videos about the movement. There have been two movies made about Sophie and the movement, The White Rose (with English subtitles) directed by Michael Verhoeven in 1982 and Sophie Scholl - the Final Days (with English subtitles) directed by Marc Rothemund in 2005.
On 27 October 2013 in his homily in St Peter's Square on World Family DayPope Francis explicitly called families to be the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. And, characteristically, he called them to be such in a spirit of joy. He ended his homily with these words:
Dear families, you know very well that the true joy which we experience in the family is not superficial; it does not come from material objects, from the fact that everything seems to be going well . . . True joy comes from a profound harmony between persons, something which we all feel in our hearts and which makes us experience the beauty of togetherness, of mutual support along life’s journey. But the basis of this feeling of deep joy is the presence of God in the family and his love, which is welcoming, merciful, and respectful towards all. God alone knows how to create harmony from differences. But if God’s love is lacking, the family loses its harmony, self-centredness prevails and joy fades. But the family which experiences the joy of faith communicates it naturally. That family is the salt of the earth and the light of the world, it is the leaven of society.
Dear families, always live in faith and simplicity, like the Holy Family of Nazareth! The joy and peace of the Lord be always with you!
Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt (Mt 2:14).
