Is my way of being as a follower of Jesus evident to those around me? Sunday Reflections, 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Regina Pacis - Queen of Peace

University of Bonn [Wikipedia; photo]

Pope Francis has called for Ash Wednesday, 2 March, to be a day of prayer andfasting for peace in Ukraine.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for peace in Ukraine.

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 6:39-45 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)  

Jesus told a parable to his disciples:

“Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye’, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Peach Tree in Blossom

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

I have used this story before on Sunday Reflections. I heard it from the late Fr Giuseppe Raviolo SJ, an Italian Jesuit who worked in Mindanao, Philippines, for many years and was one of the founders, in 1985, of St John Vianney Theological Seminary in Cagayan de Oro City there. More than 40 years ago he and I and some other priests were on a team together giving a directed retreat to seminarians. We stayed in a dormitory that was far from being 'Five Star'. He reminded me very much of St Pope John XXIII in girth and in personality and was always a delight to be with. I feel a great sense of gratitude to God for having known this wonderful man who lived his priesthood so joyfully.

Fr Giuseppe Raviolo SJ 

[Source]

During the Vietnam War Father Joe, as we called him, had been rector of the major seminary in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, when it was capital of the then South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese army moved into Saigon the soldiers were divided into groups of three with a standing order that if any of the three tried to surrender the others were to kill him. One particular group of three found themselves surrounded by soldiers either of the American army or the army of South Vietnam, I forget which. One of them ran forward and surrendered and his two comrades did not shoot him. They two were captured. 

Later the other two asked the soldier who had surrendered why he had taken such a risk. He told them that he knew they were Christians and would not shoot. This man was a Buddhist and his two companions were Catholics. These two had discussed the order to kill and had decided that it would be wrong to do so. As Catholic Christians they saw that as murder. These were soldiers of a Communist army, without any chaplains.

Clearly they had been well formed as followers of Jesus despite living under a Communist regime that restricted the activities of the Church. Vietnam has a long history of persecution with figures of between 100,000 and 300,000 martyrs being given. The second-century theologian Tertullian wrote, The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. Jesus says to us in today's gospel, No good tree bears bad fruit. The two Catholic Vietnamese soldiers were the fruit of the tree produced by the seed that was the countless martyrs among their ancestors.

And their Buddhist companion showed that he understood Jesus who said, The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good. He put his life in the hands of his two companions because he knew they were Christians. Would anyone do the same with me simply because I am a Christian?

I see some of the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his Angelus reflection in 2007 on last Sunday's gospel being lived out in the incident involving the three North Vietnamese soldiers: One then understands that for Christians, non-violence is not merely tactical behaviour but a person's way of being, the attitude of one who is so convinced of God's love and power that he is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. 

The way of being of those two Catholic soldiers as followers of Jesus was evident to their Buddhist comrade. Is my way of being as a follower of Jesus evident to those around me? 

The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good. 

The Sorrowful Mother, Страдальна Мати

Ukrainian Lenten Hymn

Lent

Lent begins on Wednesday 2 March. For the people of Ukraine it has already begun in a very real sense. Pope Francis has asked us to make Ash Wednesday a day of prayer and fasting for Ukraine. 

It is a day of fasting and abstinence every year. The Pope has asked us to focus through that on the urgency of the situation in Ukraine where the majority of people are Christian, mostly Orthodox. About ten per cent are Catholics, most of them members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

You will find the rules for fasting and abstinence here. The rule about abstinence on Fridays during Lent may vary from one country to another.

These rules are not an expression of legalism but a call to generosity and to share in the fasting and abstinence of Jesus himself during his forty days in the desert.

Traditional Latin Mass

Quinquagesima Sunday 

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 02-27-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.  Gospel: Luke 18:31-43.

Christ Healing the Blind

Nicolas Colombel [Web Gallery of Art]

Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. New Year's Day. World Day of Peace. Sunday Reflections

Altar of Our Lady, Church of St Nicholas, Überlingen, Germany, Jörg Zurn [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Luke 2:16-21 (New Revised  Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) 

The shepherds went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus, El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

At the moment I am re-reading Finola Kennedy's Frank Duff: A Life Story published by Burns and Oates in 2011. Frank Duff founded the Legion of Mary on 7 September 1921, though for a very long time he did not consider himself the founder. The biographer relates how a friend in the Vincent de Paul Society in Dublin, Vincent Kelly, introduced him to St Louis Marie de Montfort's Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, usually referred to as True Devotion or True Devotion to Mary. Though Frank Duff was almost repelled initially by this book - it seemed to him 'to border on the absurd' -  he read it five or six times, encouraged by another friend in the Vincent de Paul Society, Tom Fallon. 

After 'the final forced reading' Frank Duff recalled, Without any process of thought leading up to it, something which I could but regard as a Divine favour was granted to me. It was the sudden realisation that the Book was true.

Fifty years later in a letter to Vincent Kelly he wrote, It was definitely that book which threw my life into the Marian channels which it has ever since followed.

Elsewhere Frank Duff wrote, Somewhere in 1919 some of us had encountered St Louis Marie de Montfort's book on True Devotion to Mary. It depicted Our Lady in a devastatingly different dimension to what we were accustomed. The catechism had never shown us anything even remotely like that. De Montfort exhibited her sharply as the Mother of the Christian life, absolutely indispensable, concerned in every grace. The vastness of the role which he attributed to her and the very vehemence of the way in which he describe it gave the initial impression of gross exaggeration. Nevertheless he gripped the mind and forced one to read and enquire. At some stage in this process the conviction was gained that the book was justified and that the common presentation of Our Lady was not.

The seriousness of this was like an electric shock. for virtually it meant that we were leaving Mary out.

Then the biographer notes that the catechism taught that it was 'lawful' to be devout to the Blessed Virgin. In relation to this statement, Duff later made the acid comment: 'In other words it was not a sin, a ludicrous description which would almost amount to placing it in the same category as backing horses or moderate drinking'.

Luke Paints the Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, Unknown Russian icon painter [Web Gallery of Art]

The Council of Ephesus in 431 gave the Greek title Theotokos to Mary, meaning 'Mother of God' or 'God-bearer'. Her Son Jesus is both God and Man. This teaching is part of the heritage of all Christians as the Council took place more than 600 years before the East-West Schism and 1,100 years before the Protestant Reformation.

The Collect of the Mass, also used in the Liturgy of the Hours, states clearly what Mary's role is.

O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary bestowed on the human race 

the grace of eternal salvation, 

grant, we pray, 

that we may experience the intercession of her, 

through whom we were found worthy 

to receive the author of life, 

our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

This prayer is directed to God the Father. It refers to our Lord Jesus Christ as the author of life. God the Father gave us the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, the Word [who] became flesh and lived among us, through Mary. It is her mission, given by the Father, to bring his Son to us and to bring us to his Son who is Mary's Son too. Perfectly attuned to the will of the Father she cannot possibly do anything else. In the icon above St Luke is shown depicting Mary, the Mother of God, presenting her Son, God who became Man, to us.

St John of the Cross captures the meaning of this Sunday's celebration in his poem Del Verbo Divino - Concerning the Divine Word.

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

Queen of Peace, EDSA Shrine, Metro Manila [Wikipedia]

World Day of Peace

Today is the Church's 50th World Day of Peace. Here is the conclusion of the message of Pope Francis for this day.

As is traditional, I am signing this Message on 8 December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary is the Queen of Peace. At the birth of her Son, the angels gave glory to God and wished peace on earth to men and women of good will (cf. Luke 2:14). Let us pray for her guidance.

'All of us want peace. Many people build it day by day through small gestures and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere in their efforts to be peacemakers'. In 2017, may we dedicate ourselves prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our hearts, words and deeds, and to becoming nonviolent people and to building nonviolent communities that care for our common home. 'Nothing is impossible if we turn to God in prayer. Everyone can be an artisan of peace'.