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 Worldwide Marriage Encounter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Worldwide Marriage Encounter. Show all posts
Gospel Mark 10:2-16 or 10:2-12(English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
[And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.]
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it (Mark 10:15; Gospel).
I have been involved with Worldwide Marriage Encounter since 1981, initially in Canada and then from 1984 until 2017 in the Philippines and now in Ireland. The most important reality that I have come to see very clearly through Marriage Encounter is that the relationship between husband and wife in the Sacrament of Matrimony is the foundation of the Christian family.
Nineteen or twenty years ago we in Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Bacolod City, Philippines, held a family day. One of the last activities was for the pre-teen children. They were asked to share what they loved most about their parents. One boy, aged about ten or eleven, told us that what he loved most about his parents was that they were always together.
He didn't mean, of course, that they were tied to each other 24/7. But he saw that for his father and mother the most important reality in their lives was to be husband and wife and he felt drawn into the love that they had for each other. Jesus in today's Gospel quotes from today's First Reading: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
In my closing remarks at the family day I picked up on what the boy had said and pointed out that he had articulated that the foundation of the family is the relationship between husband and wife. If that relationship is sound the other relationships in the family will normally be sound too. Children won't feel left out but rather will feel drawn into the love their parents have for each other, the very love that brought them into life in the first place. In God's plan, it is as husband and wife that a man and a woman are called to become father and mother. It is God's plan that their children be drawn into the love they have for one another. This is the foundation of the family. And perhaps this can give us some idea of the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit draw us into the circle of their life, having given us life through our parents.
A young journalist, a single man, happened to be present at our family day that afternoon and approached me afterwards. He had never heard marriage being described that way before and really wanted to know more. For him it was truly an experience of hearing the Good News for the first time in this context.
It is God who joins together a man and a woman when they exchange their marriage vows. In the Sacrament of Matrimony they are giving Jesus Christ himself to each other. This is far more than a 'blessing by the priest', as so many misunderstand the Sacrament. It is the bride and groom who confer the sacrament on each other, who give Jesus himself to each other. This is such a profound and sacred union, as Jesus teaches us so clearly today: What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. Today's gospel is very clear on that. Jesus spells out what the sin of adultery is: Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.
So often in visiting Catholic schools in the Philippines I was struck by the fact that so many students in their teens knew by heart the words that the bride and groom exchange: For better, for worse; for richer . . . These words, etched into their hearts, express their deep-down sense of the words of Jesus in the gospel today, God made them male and female . . . so they are no longer two but one flesh. They also express their dreams and aspirations for their own future, dreams and aspirations that have been placed in their hearts by God himself. For to such belongs the kingdom of God.
In worldly terms, Chiara Corbella’s life (1984 - 2012) was not a success story: two children dying shortly after birth, herself ravaged by an aggressive cancer, which killed her at the young age of 28, leaving a beloved husband and a small son behind. This is not the kind of material dreams are made of. Yet when one listens to the testimonies of her friends, husband, and spiritual director, and hears more about her story and looks at her radiating, beautiful face on photographs and in video clips, one can’t help but feel that hers was an extraordinary life. Each saint has a special charisma, a particular theme, some facet of God, which he reflects, due to his particular character, call and story. Hers, I’d say, is to be a witness to joy in the face of great adversity, the kind which makes the heart overflow despite the sorrow over loss and death.
Meet Chiara Corbella Petrillo: A Story of Joy & Hope
Salut
d’Amour (L0ve’s Greeting)
Composed
by Sir Edward Elgan
Played
by Esther Abrami, violin, and Iyad Sughayer, piano
In the photo at the top Chiara is holding a violin. She would have been familiar with Salut d'Amour, composed by Sir Edward Elgar in 1888 as an engagement present for his future wife Alice. She was disinherited by her family for 'marrying beneath her' and for marrying a Catholic.
Maybe Chiara played this accompanied by Enrico on the piano.
An excellent wife
who can find?She is far more precious than jewels.The heart of her husband trusts
in her,and
he will have no lack of gain.She does him good, and not harm,all the days of her life (Proverbs
31:10-12; First Reading).
Readings(Jerusalem
Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
GospelMatthew 25:14-30 (English Standard Version
Anglicised, India)[For the shorter form (25:14-15, 19-21),
omit the text in brackets.]
Jesus told this parable to his disciples:
“For it will
be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and
entrusted to them his property.To one he gave five talents, to another two,
to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
[He who had received the five talents
went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.But he who had received the one talent went
and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.]
Now after a
long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.And he who had received the five talents came forward,
bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents;
here I have made five talents more.’His master said to him, ‘Well done, good
and faithful servant.You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter
into the joy of your master.’
[And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying,
‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful
servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter
into the joy of your master.’He also who had received the one talent came forward,
saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did
not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,so I was afraid, and I went and hid your
talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’But his master answered him,
‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have
not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?Then you ought to have invested my money
with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with
interest.So take the talent from him and give it to him who has
the ten talents.For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will
have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken
away.And cast the worthless servant into the outer
darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’]
I have been involved with Worldwide Marriage Encounter (Canada, Ireland, Philippines, USA) most of the time since 1981 when I was on a study year in Toronto, Canada. About 17 years ago I was at a family day organised by the movement in Bacolod City, Philippines, where I was based at the time. One of the last activities was for the pre-teens who were asked what they loved most about their parents. One boy of about 11 shared that what he loved most about them was that they were always together.
That boy saw clearly what marriage is about: a man and a woman called by God to be one, to commit themselves to one another For better, for worse . . . till death do us part, a commitment based on God's commitment to them. In most cases of those of child-bearing age when they marry, a consequence of this is that husband and wife become father and mother, the children being the fruit of their love for one another. Their primary call from God is still to be husband and wife. That's what the young boy in Bacolod City saw so clearly. He didn't feel left out by the spousal love of his parents for one another; rather he saw himself being drawn into that love.
The First Reading, from the Book of Proverbs, opens with these words about marriage: An excellent wife who can find?She is far more precious than jewels.The heart of her husband trusts in her,and he will have no lack of gain.
The Responsorial Psalm, which is meant to be a response to the First Reading, picks up on this: Your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house; your children like shoots of the olive, around your table.
One way we can interpret the parable of the talents in the Gospel in the context of today's readings is in the light of marriage. The gift of talents - a talent being a valuable coin - can be seen as the gift from God of the sacrament of matrimony. The one given five talents and the one given two used them fruitfully, earning five and two more respectively. The one given just one talent buried it, unwilling to take any risks.
The fruit of the responsible use by the first two of the talents they were given can be seen in a married couple who welcome children into the world and raise them to be followers of Jesus and, to echo the psalm, in the fear of the Lord, not like the fear of an abusive parent or authority figure. It is a fear that is a profound respect for God who loves us and who in the Person of Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, has died for us and has risen from the dead, offering us eternal life.
One of the blessings in my life has been the many married couples I have known or have known about who have longed to have children but have been unable to conceive. So many of these have been fruitful to an extraordinary degree, some by adopting children, some by getting deeply involved in the wider community. Part of their reward in heaven - Enter into the joy of your master - will be to meet those to whose lives they have given meaning by sharing with them the love of Jesus himself, often without being aware of it.
What I love most about my parents is that they are always together.
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)
Gospel Mark 10:2-16 or 10:2-12(English Standard Version
Anglicised: India)
And Pharisees came up and in order to test him
asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”He
answered them, “What did Moses command you?”They said, “Moses allowed a man to
write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.But from the beginning of creation, ‘God
made them male and female.’‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold
fast to his wife,and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no
longer two but one flesh.What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
And in the house the disciples asked him again about
this matter.And he said to
them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries
another commits adultery against her,and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she
commits adultery.”
[And they were bringing children to him that he
might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and
said to them, “Let the children come to me; do
not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.Truly, I say to you, whoever does
not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”And he took them in his arms and
blessed them, laying his hands on them.]
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it (Mark 10:15; Gospel).
I have been involved with Worldwide Marriage Encounter since 1981, initially in Canada and then from 1984 until 2017 in the Philippines and now in Ireland. The most important reality that I have come to see very clearly through Marriage Encounter is that the relationship between husband and wife in the Sacrament of Matrimony is the foundation of the Christian family.
About sixteen years ago we in Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Bacolod City, Philippines, held a family day. One of the last activities was for the pre-teen children. They were asked to share what they loved most about their parents. One boy, aged about ten or eleven, told us that what he loved most about his parents was that they were always together.
He didn't mean, of course, that they were tied to each other 24/7. But he saw that for his father and mother the most important reality in their lives was to be husband and wife and he felt drawn into the love that they had for each other. Jesus in today's Gospel quotes from today's First Reading: Therefore a man
shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
In my closing remarks at the family day I picked up on what the boy had said and pointed out that he had articulated that the foundation of the family is the relationship between husband and wife. If that relationship is sound the other relationships in the family will normally be sound too. Children won't feel left out but rather will feel drawn into the love their parents have for each other, the very love that brought them into life in the first place. In God's plan, it is as husband and wife that a man and a woman are called to become father and mother. It is God's plan that their children be drawn into the love they have for one another. This is the foundation of the family. And perhaps this can give us some idea of the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit draw us into the circle of their life, having given us life through our parents.
A young journalist, a single man, happened to be present at our family day that afternoon and approached me afterwards. He had never heard marriage being described that way before and really wanted to know more. For him it was truly an experience of hearing the Good News for the first time in this context.
It is God who joins together a man and a woman when they exchange their marriage vows. In the Sacrament of Matrimony they are giving Jesus Christ himself to each other. This is far more than a 'blessing by the priest', as so many misunderstand the Sacrament. It is the bride and groom who confer the sacrament on each other, who give Jesus himself to each other. This is such a profound and sacred union, as Jesus teaches us so clearly today: What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. Today's gospel is very clear on that. Jesus spells out what the sin of adultery is: Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.
So often in visiting Catholic schools in the Philippines I was struck by the fact that so many students in their teens knew by heart the words that the bride and groom exchange: For better, for worse; for richer . . . These words, etched into their hearts, express their deep-down sense of the words of Jesus in the gospel today, God made them male and female . . . so they are no longer two but one flesh. They also express their dreams and aspirations for their own future, dreams and aspirations that have been placed in their hearts by God himself. For to such belongs the kingdom of God.
In worldly terms, Chiara Corbella’s life (1984 - 2012) was not a success story: two children dying shortly after birth, herself ravaged by an aggressive cancer, which killed her at the young age of 28, leaving a beloved husband and a small son behind. This is not the kind of material dreams are made of. Yet when one listens to the testimonies of her friends, husband, and spiritual director, and hears more about her story and looks at her radiating, beautiful face on photographs and in video clips, one can’t help but feel that hers was an extraordinary life. Each saint has a special charisma, a particular theme, some facet of God, which he reflects, due to his particular character, call and story. Hers, I’d say, is to be a witness to joy in the face of great adversity, the kind which makes the heart overflow despite the sorrow over loss and death.
Meet Chiara Corbella Petrillo: A Story of Joy &
Hope
The full article on Enrico and Chiara and their children by Marie Meaney is here. Google 'Chiara Corbella' or 'Chiara Corbella Petrillo' to discover much more about God's love for all of us through couples like Enrico and Chiara.
The cause for the beatification of Chiara was opened on 2 July 2018 in the Diocese of Rome. She now has the title 'Servant of God'. Pergiorgio Greco in that same article quotes Chiara's husband Enrico. Francesco was their third child, the only one to survive. [Emphases in the original article.]
The sacrament of marriage is crucial to understand Enrico and
Chiara. Enrico said, ‘A few months before she died, while she was already a
terminal patient, she said to me, “The one I feel saddest to leave is you, Enrico, not Francesco. I
chose you, and I wanted to grow old with you.”’ He then added, ‘If
you love your child more than you love your spouse, you are not living up to
the promise you made to Jesus on the altar: to love your spouse above all.’ Their friend Cristiana explained, ‘Chiara was very neat:
there was the Lord, there was herself, there was Enrico, and, that way,
everything acquired its true rhythm. Until the end.’
I cannot help but think that a world that has accepted a grotesque parody of marriage between two persons of the same sex in the name of 'equality' as a 'right', a parody that is an affront to God the Creator who made them male and female and an affront to nature itself, desperately needs to know married couples like Enrico and Chiara. A world that values unborn children only in terms of 'viability' desperately needs to know parents like Enrico and Chiara.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter is the largest pro-marriage organization in the world and promotes Weekend experiences for couples who want to make their good marriage even better.
Retrouvaille is the name of a programme designed to help heal and renew marriages. The French word Retrouvaille, simply means 'rediscovery'. The programme offers the chance to rediscover yourself, your spouse, and a loving relationship in your marriage.
Christ (Toledo Cathedral)
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