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 Luca della Robbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luca della Robbia. Show all posts
GospelLuke 1:39-45 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
In those days Mary arose and went with haste
into the hill country, to a town in Judah,and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted
Elizabeth.And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby
leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,and she exclaimed with a loud
cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb!And why is this granted to me that the mother of my
Lord should come to me?For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my
ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken
to her from the Lord.”
I never fail to be moved, delighted and inspired by this 'Dance of Life' between St Elizabeth pregnant with John the Baptist and Mary pregnant with Jesus.
About seventeen years ago I celebrated Mass on the Feast of the Visitation in a home for girls where most come from a background of abuse. One girl of 16, whom I'll call 'Gloria', was pregnant. She was from another part of the Philippines and had been working in a restaurant and said that one of her co-workers was responsible. Gloria was very angry and would not accept the baby she was carrying who was by this time around six months, as I recall. I invited her at the end of the Mass to come forward for a blessing for herself and her child. She agreed. With her permission I placed my hand gently on her stomach, as Elizabeth and Mary do with each other in the painting below, while I prayed.
'Gloria' told me afterwards that she could feel the baby moving as I blessed them both - and she had a smile on her face. She was able to go home to her own place some time later where she gave birth. Perhaps you could say a prayer for her and for her child, now aged about 17.
Rogier van der Weyden captures the sacredness of the lives of the unborn Jesus and John the Baptist. El Greco captures the swirl of a dance of life, the flowing blue robes suggesting the joy of the two pregnant mothers, Mary and Elizabeth. Luca della Robbia's sculpture shows the sacred intimacy of the moment that Mary and Elizabeth met, each carrying a precious life, Mary's child the Son of God, God-become-Man.
Today's gospel has particular relevance in the context of on-going public debates in a number of countries about abortion, including Ireland and the USA. When I used this material three years ago the Republic of Ireland was about to introduce abortion on demand up to twelve weeks, the new law to come into effect on New Year’s Day 2019, the Solemnity of the Motherhood of Mary. 6,666 legal abortions took place in that year and 6,577 the following year. In 2023 there were 10,033.
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
+++
One of a number of ministries to both women and men who have been directly affected by abortion is Rachel's Vineyard. I have connections with Rachel's Vineyard, Ireland, which has brought its healing retreat to such places as the Faroe Islands, Hungary, South Korea and Lebanon.
Del Verbo Divino
San Juan de la Cruz
Del Verbo divino
la Virgen preñada
viene de camino:
¡ si les dais posada !
Concerning the Divine Word
St John of the Cross
Translation by Roy Campbell
With the divinest Word, the Virgin
Made pregnant, down the road
Comes walking, if you'll grant her
A room in your abode.
Posada is a Spanish word meaning 'lodging' or 'accommodation' or 'inn'. In many Spanish-speaking countries and communities Las Posadas is a novena in preparation for Christmas. This tradition is a 'cousin' to that in the Philippines known as Simbang Gabi.
Traditional Latin Mass
Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-22-2024 if necessary).
GospelLuke 1:39-45 (English Standard Version
Anglicised: India)
In
those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town
in Judah,and she entered the house of Zechariah and
greeted Elizabeth.And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby
leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,and she exclaimed with a loud
cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb!And why is this granted to me
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?For behold, when the sound of your greeting
came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.And blessed is she who believed that
there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
I never fail to be moved, delighted and inspired by this 'Dance of Life' between St Elizabeth pregnant with John the Baptist and Mary pregnant with Jesus.
About fourteen years ago I celebrated Mass on the
Feast of the Visitation in a home for girls where most come from a background
of abuse. One girl of 16, whom I'll call 'Gloria', was pregnant. She was from
another part of the Philippines and had been working in a restaurant and said
that one of her co-workers was responsible. Gloria was very angry and would not
accept the baby she was carrying who was by this time around six months, as I
recall. I invited her at the end of the Mass to come forward for a blessing for
herself and her child. She agreed. With her permission I placed my hand gently on her stomach, as
Elizabeth and Mary do in the painting below, while I prayed.
'Gloria' told me afterwards that she could feel the
baby moving as I blessed them both - and she had a smile on her face. She was
able to go home to her own place some time later where she gave birth. Perhaps you could say a prayer for her and for her child, now aged about 14.
Rogier van der Weyden captures the sacredness of
the lives of the unborn Jesus and John the Baptist. El Greco captures the swirl
of a dance of life, the flowing blue robes suggesting the joy of the two
pregnant mothers, Mary and Elizabeth. Luca della Robbia's sculpture shows the
sacred intimacy of the moment that Mary and Elizabeth met, each carrying a
precious life, Mary's child the Son of God, God-become-Man.
Today's gospel has particular relevance in the context of on-going public debates
in a number of countries about abortion, including Ireland and the USA. When I
used this material three years ago the Republic of Ireland was about to
introduce abortion on demand up to twelve weeks, the new law to come into
effect on New Year’s Day 2019, the Solemnity of the Motherhood of Mary. 6,666 legal abortions took place in that year and 6,577 the following year.
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
+++
One of a number of ministries to both women and men
who have been directly affected by abortion is Rachel's Vineyard. I have
connections with Rachel's Vineyard,
Ireland, which has brought its healing retreat to such places as the
Faroe Islands, Hungary, South Korea and Lebanon.
Del Verbo Divino
San Juan de la Cruz
Del Verbo divino
la Virgen preñada
viene de camino:
¡ si les dais posada !
Concerning the Divine Word
St John of the Cross
Translation by Roy Campbell
With the divinest Word, the Virgin
Made pregnant, down the road
Comes walking, if you'll grant her
A room in your abode.
Posada is a Spanish word meaning 'lodging' or 'accommodation'. In many Spanish-speaking countries and communities Las Posadas is a novena in preparation for Christmas. This tradition is a 'cousin' to that in the Philippines known as Simbang Gabi.
Latin text (early 16th century): Nesciens mater virgo virum peperit
sine dolore salvatorem saeculorum. Ipsum regem angelorum sola virgo lactabat,
ubere de caelo pleno.
Translation: Knowing no man, the Virgin
mother bore, without pain, the Saviour of the world. Him, the king of angels,
only the Virgin suckled, breasts filled by heaven.
The Ascension is celebrated on Ascension
Thursday, 30 May, in England & Wales, 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, 2 June, in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Australia, Canada,
Ireland, Philippines.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelLuke 24:46-53 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus
said to his disciples:
‘Thus it is
written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the
third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be
proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so
stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his
hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing
them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.And they worshipped him, andreturned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelJohn 17:20-26 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus
looked up to heaven and said:
‘I ask not
only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me
through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in
you, may they also be in us, so that
the world may believe that you have sent me. The
glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we
are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so
that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you
have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be
with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved
me before the foundation of the world.
‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you;
and these know that you have sent me. I
made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with
which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’
The
Sunday on which the Ascension is now celebrated in many countries is also the
Church's World Communications Day. The first was in 1967. Jesus tells the
disciples in today's Gospel - and through them tell us - You are
witnesses of these things. Jesus is asking us to use all modern means
of communication sothat
repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
When I went home to Ireland on vacation from the Philippines in 1994 before
beginning six years as vocation director I took a short course for missionaries
in the use of computers given by a religious sister who had worked in an
African country for many years. She wasn't the best teacher I've ever had in
teaching the 'mechanical' basics of her subject but she was a wonderful
motivator. Although the internet was still in its infancy she told us stories
of how it had helped save lives in the country where she worked.
Eleven or twelve years ago when checking my email in the Philippines I found myself 'chatting'
with a friend, a Filipina married to a Westerner and living in her husband's
country. I'll call her Maria. It was clear to me very quickly that she was
going through a crisis and thinking of doing the worst to herself. At the time
she 'hated' everyone except me and 'didn't believe' in God anymore.
I was able to help Maria see that the issue wasn't any of the things she
mentioned but was within herself. I also got her to agree to meet a priest in
her own area, someone I had never met and still haven't. But I was able to
contact him through email, having got his address from someone else whom I have
never met in person.
I learned later that that meeting with the priest was to be a turning point for
my Maria. She was able to face the world again with hope and hasn't looked back
since.
At the time this happened I had come to know a 16-year-old girl in the
Philippines who had been made pregnant by her boyfriend. I'll call her Ana. I'm
not sure to what degree she had consented to the activity that led to her
carrying a baby. She was from another part of the country but was welcomed by
religious sisters who run a home for girls, most of whom have had pretty bad
experiences. Ana was was very angry and part of that anger was directed at the
baby she was carrying.
I told Maria about Ana. One of the ironies was that Maria couldn't have a
child, a great sorrow to her and her husband. Despite her 'not believing' in
God I asked her to pray for Ana, something she readily agreed to do, and told
her that I would ask Ana to pray for her. When I met Ana a day or two later she
too readily accepted her mission of prayer.
Shortly after that we celebrated the feast of the
Visitation, 31 May, this year the day after Ascension Thursday. After Mass I asked Ana if she would like me to bless her and the
baby in her womb. She was happy with this and later told me that she had felt
the baby moving for the first time. More importantly, her anger had
disappeared. Some time later she was able to go home to her own family and
delivered her baby there.
This incident opened my eyes
to the truth of what the Sister who gave us classes on the use of computers and
the internet had told us. Here was I at my computer in the Philippines when 'by
chance', the 'chance' being undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, giving crisis
counselling to a friend on another continent and helping her to meet someone I
had never met who could listen to her in person.
Pope Francis in Palo, Philippines, 2015[Wikipedia]
The theme of Pope Francis's message forWorld Communications Day this year is, 'We are members one of another'
(Eph 4:25). From social network communities to the human community. In
the opening paragraph of the message Pope Francis writes: I would like
to invite you once again to reflect on the foundation and importance of our
being-in-relation and to rediscover, in the vast array of challenges of the
current communications context, the desire of the human person who does not
want to be left isolated and alone.
Both Maria and Ana felt isolated and alone. Ana was welcomed by the Sisters and the girls in the home where she stayed before going home. Maria knew me personally and at that critical moment fully trusted me. But it was the marvel of modern communications, which can be used for good or for bad, that enabled us to communicate with one another in a way that a generation ago most of us could not even have imagined. The internet made it possible for me to arrange for Maria to meet a priest face-to-face in the area where she lived.
Ana went home to her own family, her basic community, to have her baby, having been part of a temporary but genuine, welcoming community during her crisis. Maria got through her crisis and has been doing well since. Being part of a social network community enabled her to become again part of the human community, enabled her to leave her isolation of near despair and to experience something of the great joy the Apostles felt after Jesus left them.
That is the great joy of which we are witnesses and which Jesus calls us to share, a great joy . . . to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
Folio 59 contains the Ascension in an initial V, which begins the introit to the Mass for the Ascension [Viri Galilaei, 'Men of Galilee'] below.
Antiphona ad introitum Entrance Antiphon Acts 1:11
Viri Galilaei, quid admiramini aspicientes in caelum? [alleluia]. Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens? [Alleluia]. Quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, alleluia [alleluia, alleluia]. This Jesus whom you saw ascending inot heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia [alleluia, alleluia].
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelLuke 1:39-45 (New Revised Standard
Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)
In those days Mary set out and
went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted
Elizabeth. When
Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among
women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my
Lord comes to me? For as
soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy.And blessed is she who believed that there would
be a
fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
About eleven years ago I celebrated Mass on the
Feast of the Visitation in a home for girls where most come from a background
of abuse. One girl of 16, whom I'll call 'Gloria', was pregnant. She was from
another part of the Philippines and had been working in a restaurant and said
that one of her co-workers was responsible. I wasn't quite sure to what extent
the cause of the pregnancy had been consensual or whether the young man had
taken advantage of the young woman. Perhaps there was an element of both.
Gloria was very angry and would not accept the baby
she was carrying who was by this time around six months, as I recall. I invited
her at the end of the Mass to come forward for a blessing for herself and her
child. She agreed. I placed my hand gently on her stomach, as Elizabeth and Mary do in the painting below, while I prayed.
Gloria told me afterwards that she could feel the
baby moving as I blessed them both - and she had a smile on her face. She was
able to go home to her own place some time later where she gave birth.
Rogier van der Weyden captures the sacredness of
the lives of the unborn Jesus and John the Baptist. El Greco captures the swirl
of a dance of life, the flowing blue robes suggesting the joy of the two
pregnant mothers, Mary and Elizabeth. Luca della Robbia's sculpture shows the sacred intimacy of the moment that Mary and Elizabeth met, each carrying a precious life, Mary's child the Son of God, God-become-Man.
Today's gospel has particular relevance in the context of ongoing public debates
in a number of countries about abortion, including Ireland and the USA.
+++
One of a number of ministries to both women and men
who have been directly affected by abortion is Rachel's Vineyard. I have
connections with Rachel'sVineyard, Ireland, which has brought its healing retreat to such
places as the Faroe Islands, Hungary, South Korea and Lebanon.
Del Verbo
Divino
San Juan de
la Cruz
Del Verbo
divino
la Virgen
preñada
viene de
camino:
¡ si les
dais posada !
Concerning
the Divine Word
St John of
the Cross
With the divinest Word, the
Virgin
Made pregnant, down the road
Comes walking, if you'll grant
her
A room in your abode.
Translation by Roy Campbell
Posada is a
Spanish word meaning 'lodging' or 'accommodation'. In some Spanish-speaking
countries and communities, especially Mexico, Las Posadas is
a nine-day preparation for Christmas.
