'It is the Eucharist, the Christ who died and is risen, that gives us life.' Sunday Reflections, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

The Corn Harvest (detail)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder [Web Gallery of Art]

The land of a rich man produced abundantly (John 12:16).

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Luke 12:13-21 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)  

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ 

Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Luke 12:13-21 in Filipino Sign Language

Some martyred bishops and priests of our time

Fr Jacques Hamel, Archdiocese of Rouen, France

30 November 1930 - 27 July 2016

Fr Ragheed Ganni 20 January 1972 - 3 June 2007 and Archbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho 20 November 1942 - February or March 2008

Both of the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, Iraq

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, Archdiocese of Warsaw, Poland

14 September 1947 - 19 October 1984

Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero, El Salvador

15 August 1917 - 24 March 1980

Fr Vernon Francis Douglas, Columban, New Zealand / Philippines

22 May 1910 - 27 July 1943

Blessed Miguel Pro SJ, Mexico

13 January 1891 - 23 November 1927

This is what the priesthood is about

This is what the Mass is about

This is what the Catholic Church is about

Kyrie eleison

Christe eleison

Kyrie eleison

[Thanks to Fr Ray Blake of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton in England who posted the photo from Aleteia above with the caption beneath on his blog.]

Both St Óscar Romero and Fr Jacques Hamel were murdered while celebrating Mass. Fr Ragheed Ganni was murdered just after celebrating Mass

Church of Saint-Étienne (St Stephen's) 

Father Jacques, born on the feast of St Andrew, Apostle and Martyr, was martyred in his parish church, named after St Stephen the First Christian Martyr, on the day after the feast of his patron St James, Apostle and Martyr. (Jacques is the French form of James).

The three readings today remind us of what is essential. 

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! (First Reading).

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.(Second Reading).

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Gospel).

Homily on Father Jacques Hamel at ‘Mass in Time of Persecution’ 

This Mass was celebrated in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday 27 July 2016.

In his homily below Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP of Sydney refers to the many killings by terrorists in recent weeks in different parts of the world - and most victims were Muslims. He refers to Fr Jacques's friendship with Muslims. He also reminds us of the response of leaders of the Islamic faith in France to the killing of Fr Hamel.

‘A church is a place of peace and love, and when he is saying Mass the priest stands in the place of eternal Love, who is Jesus Christ Himself. So this attack is an attack on a particular priest, his congregation, his community, his country; but it also an attack on all priests, all congregations, all communities, all countries because its aim is to undermine people's sense of security everywhere, freedom of religion everywhere, and our love of peace.’

We need to be always prepared for a sudden death, not matter in what way it may come. And we need to prepare for that by frequent confession, as Pope Francis has reminded us so many times, especially in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. It is believed that Fr Francis Douglas was scourged by Japanese soldiers while tied to one of the pillars in St James' church, Paete, Laguna, because he would not break the seal of confession.

St Óscar Romero:

How easy it is to denounce structural injustice, institutionalized violence, social sin! And it is true, this sin is everywhere, but where are the roots of this social sin? In the heart of every human being. Present-day society is a sort of anonymous world in which no one is willing to admit guilt, and everyone is responsible. We are all sinners, and we have all contributed to this massive crime and violence in our country. Salvation begins with the human person, with human dignity, with saving every person from sin. [Source: The Violence of Love]

Fr Ragheed Ganni:

It is among such difficulties that we understand the real value of Sunday, the day when we meet the Risen Christ, the day of our unity and love, of our (mutual) support and help. There are days when I feel frail and full of fear. But when, holding the Eucharist, I say 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world', I feel His strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really He who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in His boundless love.

In normal times, everything is taken for granted and we forget the greatest gift that is made to us. Ironically, it is thanks to terrorist violence that we have truly learnt that it is the Eucharist, the Christ who died and is risen, that gives us life. And this allows us to resist and hope. [Source: AsiaNews.it] 

Kyrie from Gregorian Mass XI (Orbis factor)

Sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir

'Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison' is the Greek for 'Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy'.

75th Anniversary of Death of Columban Martyr, Fr Francis Vernon Douglas

Fr Francis Vernon Douglas

(1910–1943)

Fr Francis Vernon Douglas, known as 'Vernon' to his family, was taken away by Japanese soldiers on 27 July 1943 and never  seen again. It is presumed that he died on that date. This brief article is by my Columban confrere Fr John Keenan who has spent most of his life since 1966 in the Philippines, with a stint in Britain, and has done more than any other Columban to tell the story of Fr Douglas. He first wrote about Fr Douglas in 2001 in Here was a brave and strong man, an article that describes the suffering of the New Zealander and that has appeared in a number of publications since then.

Fr Francis Vernon Douglas Remembered

by Fr John Keenan

L to R: Vernon Douglas (nephew), Verne Turner (niece), Brendan Douglas (son of  Vernon) and Cliff Turner (husband of Verne)
Douglas Family at St Mary Magdalene Church, Pililla, Rizal, September 28, 2016

It is now 75 years since the martyrdom of Fr Vernon Douglas on 27 July 1943. For a long time he was almost totally forgotten. But over the past few years, providentially, we have become very aware of his suffering and death.

On 14 October 38 years after his death, Pope Francis will canonise Archbishop Oscar Romero who was shot dead as he celebrated mass in San Salvador, El Salvador, on 24 March 1980. He only suffered for a few seconds. But Fr Francis Vernon Douglas suffered excruciating torture for three days and three nights at St James the Apostle Church in Paete, laguna, Philippines, now in the Diocese of San Pablo.

Verne Turner at the pillar in Paete church where her uncle was scourged

Verne was born in April 1945 on the day the Douglas family received news of the death of Fr Vernon, hence her name.

From his abduction from his parish of St Mary Magdalene in Pililla, Rizal, now in the Diocese of Antipolo (during World War II both parishes were part of the Archdiocese of Manila) his tortuous journey to Paete and his three days and three nights of suffering, it is hard to imagine what he endured. His memory must be kept alive by reading more about him and by praying for him and to him. In his home Archdiocese of Wellington, New Zealand, the Friends of Fr Francis Douglas are praying for his beatification and hopefully canonization someday.

Similar prayers can be said in Pililla and in Paete. Already some petitions are being granted through his intercession. Pray for more.

No miracles are needed for martyrs. But at the same time miracles help as in the case of Blessed Oscar Romero, some of whose former critics have been healed through his intercession.

So let us continue to pray that someday in the not-too-distant future, Fr Francis Vernon Douglas will be numbered among the saints along with St Oscar Romero and so many other martyrs in modern times. That would be the crowning jewel of the Columban Centenary. (The Missionary Society of St Columban was officially established on 29 June 1918 in the Diocese of Galway, Ireland). 

I have a dream that someday he will be the first Columban saint, the first New Zealand saint and the first saint connected with Pililla and Paete. Amen.

Fr John Keenan (2nd from right) and concelebrants at Paete Mass

Here is the homily that Fr John Keenan gave on 28 September 2016 in the Church of St James the Apostle, Paete, during a one-day Columban pilgrimage to Pililla and Paete. 

This coming Friday, 27 July, there will be another Columban pilgrimage to Pililla and Paete, and also including Binangonan, Rizal,  where Fr Douglas served for a while. Parishioners in those places will be very much involved.

Some Articles About Fr Douglas

Columban Pilgrimage 2016. This page gives links to article about the Columban pilgrimage to Pililla and Paete and also to other articles about this great missionary priest.

I do not know of any other martyr whose sufferings so resembled those of Jesus himself during his scourging. Fr John Keenan said in his homily: The prisoners did not fail to notice that torture on them ceased after Fr Vernon’s arrival. All the anger seemed to be concentrated on him. They thought of him as their saviour, like Jesus.

Patricia Brooks has written a biography of Fr Douglas, With No Regrets.

100th Death Anniversary of Fr William Doyle SJ

Fr William Doyle SJ

3 March 1873 - 16 August 1917

Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the death of Fr William Doyle SJ, an Irish Jesuit who served as chaplain to Irish regiments in the British Army during the Great War (1914-18) later to be known also as the First World War. 

There is a beautiful post today on Remembering Fr Willie Doyle SJ, the blog of Dr Patrick Kenny, a blog that nourishes one's Catholic Christian faith, with writings by or about Father Willie each day. There are three other posts on the same site today: here, here and here.

Here I simply copy and paste what I posted six years ago. Fr Doyle was killed in Belgium during the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele.

This account of Father Willie Doyle's death in Ypres/Ieper, Belgium, while serving as a chaplain in the British Army during The Great War is from Father William Doyle S.J. by Professor Alfred O'Rahilly and taken from the blog Remembering Father William Doyle SJ. Fr Doyle was from Dalkey, County Dublin.

Fr. Doyle had been engaged from early morning in the front line, cheering and consoling his men, and attending to the many wounded. Soon after 3 p.m. he made his way back to the Regimental Aid Post which was in charge of a Corporal Raitt, the doctor having gone back to the rear some hours before. Whilst here word came in that an officer of the Dublins had been badly hit, and was lying out in an exposed position. Fr. Doyle at once decided to go out to him, and left the Aid Post with his runner, Private Mclnespie, and a Lieutenant Grant. Some twenty minutes later, at about a quarter to four, Mclnespie staggered into the Aid Post and fell down in a state of collapse from shell shock. Corporal Raitt went to his assistance and after considerable difficulty managed to revive him. His first words on coming back to consciousness were: “Fr. Doyle has been killed!” Then bit by bit the whole story was told. Fr. Doyle had found the wounded officer lying far out in a shell crater. He crawled out to him, absolved and anointed him, and then, half dragging, half carrying the dying man, managed to get him within the line. Three officers came up at this moment, and Mclnespie was sent for some water. This he got and was handing it to Fr. Doyle when a shell burst in the midst of the group, killing Fr. Doyle and the three officers instantaneously, and hurling Mclnespie violently to the ground. Later in the day some of the Dublins when retiring came across the bodies of all four. Recognising Fr. Doyle, they placed him and a Private Meehan, whom they were carrying back dead, behind a portion of the Frezenberg Redoubt and covered the bodies with sods and stones.

On 14 August Remembering Fr William Doyle SJ carried a photo of his last letter to his father, written two days before his death. Read the full post here.

I first learned about Father Willie Doyle from Sister Stanislaus, the Irish Sister of Charity who was principal of the boys' kindergarten I attended in Stanhope St, Dublin. She also prepared us for First Holy Communion. I learned mor about him in my first year in St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, when I entered the seminary there in September 1961. Remembering Fr William Doyle SJ is a blog that is a work of love and a reminder to me of what a priest is called to be.

Prayer for Priests by Fr Doyle

O my God, pour out in abundance Thy spirit of sacrifice upon Thy priests. It is both their glory and their duty to become victims, to be burnt up for souls, to live without ordinary joys, to be often the objects of distrust, injustice, and persecution.

The words they say every day at the altar, 'This is my Body, this is my Blood,' grant them to apply to themselves: 'I am no longer myself, I am Jesus, Jesus crucified. I am, like the bread and wine, a substance no longer itself, but by consecration another.'

O my God, I burn with desire for the sanctification of Thy priests. I wish all the priestly hands which touch Thee were hands whose touch is gentle and pleasing to Thee, that all the mouths uttering such sublime words at the altar should never descend to speaking trivialities.

Let priests in all their person stay at the level of their lofty functions, let every man find them simple and great, like the Holy Eucharist, accessible to all yet above the rest of men. O my God, grant them to carry with them from the Mass of today, a thirst for the Mass of tomorrow, and grant them, ladened themselves with gifts, to share these abundantly with their fellow men. Amen.

'Set your minds on things that are above.' Sunday Reflections, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Fr Jacques Hamel

(3o November 1930 - 26 July 2016)

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Colossians 3: 2-4. Second Reading.)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Luke 12:13-21 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’  Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Some martyred priests of our time

Fr Jacques Hamel, Archdiocese of Rouen, France

30 November 1930 - 27 July 2016

Fr Ragheed Ganni 20 January 1972 - 3 June 2007 and Archbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho 20 November 1942 - February or March 2008

Both of the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, Iraq

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, Archdiocese of Warsaw, Poland

14 September 1947 - 19 October 1984

Blessed Óscar Arnulfo Romero, El Salvador

15 August 1917 - 24 March 1980

Fr Vernon Francis Douglas, Columban, New Zealand / Philippines

22 May 1910 - 27 July 1943

Blessed Miguel Pro SJ, Mexico

13 January 1891 - 23 November 1927

This is what the priesthood is about

This is what the Mass is about

This is what the Catholic Church is about

Kyrie eleison

Christe eleison

Kyrie eleison

[Thanks to Fr Ray Blake of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton in England who posted the photo from Aleteia above with the caption beneath on his blog.]

Both Blessed Óscar Romero and Fr Jacques Hamel were murdered while celebrating Mass. Fr Ragheed Ganni was murdered just after celebrating Mass

Church of Saint-Étienne (St Stephen's) 

Father Jacques, born on the feast of St Andrew, Apostle and Martyr, was martyred in his parish church, named after St Stephen the First Christian Martyr, on the day after the feast of his patron St James, Apostle and Martyr. (Jacques is the French form of James).

The three readings today remind us of what is essential. 

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! (First Reading).

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.(Second Reading).

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Gospel).

Homily on Father Jacques Hamel at ‘Mass in Time of Persecution’ 

This Mass was celebrated in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday 27 July.

In his homily below Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP of Sydney refers to the many killings by terrorists in recent weeks in different parts of the world - and most victims were Muslims. He refers to Fr Jacques's friendship with Muslims. He also reminds us of the response of leaders of the Islamic faith in France to the killing of Fr Hamel.

‘A church is a place of peace and love, and when he is saying Mass the priest stands in the place of eternal Love, who is Jesus Christ Himself. So this attack is an attack on a particular priest, his congregation, his community, his country; but it also an attack on all priests, all congregations, all communities, all countries because its aim is to undermine people's sense of security everywhere, freedom of religion everywhere, and our love of peace.’

We need to be always prepared for a sudden death, not matter in what way it may come. And we need to prepare for that by frequent confession, as Pope Francis has reminded us so many times, especially in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. It is believed that Fr Francis Douglas was scourged by Japanese soldiers while tied to one of the pillars in St James' church, Paete, Laguna, because he would not break the seal of confession.

Blessed Óscar Romero:

How easy it is to denounce structural injustice, institutionalized violence, social sin! And it is true, this sin is everywhere, but where are the roots of this social sin? In the heart of every human being. Present-day society is a sort of anonymous world in which no one is willing to admit guilt, and everyone is responsible. We are all sinners, and we have all contributed to this massive crime and violence in our country. Salvation begins with the human person, with human dignity, with saving every person from sin. 

Source: The Violence of Love

Fr Ragheed Ganni:

Without Sunday, without the Eucharist the Christians in Iraq cannot survive . . . Christ challenges evil with his infinite love, he keeps us united and through the Eucharist he gifts us life, which the terrorists are trying to take away. 

Fr Aidan Tory CP, an Irish Passionist now working in France, speaks from first-hand experience of violence while he served in Belfast, Northern Ireland.