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).
I came across this video yesterday, Tuesday 1 December, and posted it on Facebook. When I opened Facebook this morning I found a message from Loren herself, whom I have never met, and one from a mutual friend in the Philippines, Gwen Llano, who has been involved in Faith and Light for many years. Gwen gave a seminar in Lebanon in 2020 and met Loren there.
The website of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has a report on Loren's talk here. The report by Roy Lagarde says: Pope Leo XIV on Monday said migrants’ experiences must push Christians to oppose war and build communities where no one seeking safety feels unwelcome, after hearing a Filipino woman’s testimony.
Loren Capobres, a former Filipino domestic worker in Lebanon who now works with Jesuit Refugee Service, shared stories that illustrate both the human cost of conflict and the Church’s moral responsibility.
Capobres described her work with migrants through Couples for Christ Lebanon, the Arrupe Migrant Center, and St. Joseph’s Tabaris Parish, which she calls her second home.
She said the parish, supported by Jesuit Refugee Service, became a shelter for migrants who lost homes, work, and security during fighting.
Lebanon is a country that knows suffering. The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) led to 150,000 deaths and a million people leaving the country. The population in 1970 was 2,386,114.The country has also given refuge to people fleeing from other wars in the Middle East.
Catholic immigrants such as Loren Capobres bring a deep and generous faith and enrich the countries wherever they go. Here in Ireland I'm often struck by the Catholic faith of Filipinos, Indians from Kerala, who trace their faith back to St Thomas the Apostle, and Nigerians in particular. They come from countries that are very different culturally in many ways from Ireland, but share with us here the deepest identity of all: our Catholic faith received at baptism that when lived leads persons to serve others generously.
May God continue to bless Loren Capobres and so many others like her, wherever they may be.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
GospelLuke 16:19-31 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus said
to the Pharisees:
‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple
and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered
with sores, who longed
to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs
would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels
to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up
and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in
water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your
lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things;
but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has
been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so,
and no one can cross from there to us.” He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my
father’s house— for I have
five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this
place of torment.” Abraham
replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to
them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the
dead.”’
An Indian Missionary of
Charity who was based in Hong Kong for some years told me of something that
happened there shortly before Christmas 2009. Yang was what Sister called a
‘street-sleeper’, ie, someone living on the streets. Strictly speaking he
wasn’t, as he had a little place where he lived with his mother. Both were
Buddhists. Yang was in poor health and couldn’t get a job. He mixed mostly with
those who were ‘street-sleepers’.
He first came across the
Missionaries of Charity when they were distributing lunch-boxes to very poor
people in the street. He began to come to their place regularly for a meal and
made a point of coming to the annual Advent celebration when gifts would be
distributed and a meal provided. Yang’s mother often wondered where he got his
regular meals. ‘From Sister’ was his answer to her queries but she didn’t know
who ‘Sister’ was.
Yang didn’t attend the
Advent celebration in 2009 because he was in hospital but he asked his mother
to go in his place. When she arrived the celebration was over but the Sisters
had kept one meal in case someone would arrive late. So they gave it to her.
A day or two later, around
19 0r 20 December, Yang died. Some time after that his mother came to the
Sisters to express her profound gratitude to them for their kindness and
hospitality to her son and to herself.
Yang and his mother
experienced the personal love of Jesus for them through the Missionaries of
Charity who took care of the many Lazaruses outside their door. And Sister told
me that food never ran out. It was constantly supplied by hotels and
restaurants.
Jesus gives a name to Lazarus but not to
the rich man, though 'Dives', the Latin for 'rich', is often used as a name for
him, such as in the ballad below. It is difficult to give a name to each person
in a refugee camp where there may be tens of thousands, a sight we are all too
familiar with. Yet people are extraordinarily generous when a calamity occurs,
whether caused by nature or by man. And there are many who leave the comfort of
their own home and homeland to take care of those in such places who have
nothing. This Sunday is the 105th World Day of Immigrants and Refugees. The message of Pope Francis for the day is here. A quotation from the document: Dear brothers and sisters, our response to the challenges posed by contemporary migration can be summed up in four verbs: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. Yet these verbs do not apply only to migrants and refugees. They describe the Church’s mission to all those living in the existential peripheries, who need to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated.
Lazarus also lives in Dublin
Each person in a refugee camp has a name, a family, a history, hopes,
God-given talents, an invitation to live with God for ever in heaven. And even
in the relatively affluent West many are in need because of the economic
situation.The Capuchin Day Centrein Dublin, for example, which
initially helped individuals really down on their luck, as we say in Ireland,
is now helping families that in the past didn't experience hardship. Pope Francis visited the Centre in August 2018.
There is much to be done to
bring the Gospel to change the lives of the many Lazaruses throughout the world
- working for peace, working for justice at the level of legislation and so on.
God calls some to serve Lazarus in this way. But while the slow work of
peace-building and the rest goes on, Lazarus is outside our door each day in
need of sustenance to help him survive till the following day.
‘Dives' is the Latin word for 'rich'. Though Jesus
gave a name only to the beggar in the parable, Lazarus, 'Dives' is often used
as a name for the rich man. Above is an old English ballad based on the
parable. Some of you may recognise the melody as the same one used for the
Irish song The Star of
the County Down. I found the lyrics of the song here but adjusted them in places. Ballads have variations. 'Divès'
becomes 'Diverus' at times.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Mark 16:1-7 (New Revised Standard
Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and
Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and
anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had
risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will
roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they
looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been
rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a
white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said
to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they
laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of
you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ The Roman Missal states: The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil must take place during the night, so that it begins after nightfall and ends before daybreak on the Sunday. The Mass of the Vigil, even if it is celebrated before midnight, is a paschal Mass of the Sunday of the Resurrection. The Easter Vigil is not an 'anticipated Mass'. It stands on its own and is the most important liturgical celebration of the whole year. One may fulfil one's Sunday obligation by attending either the Easter Vigil or the Mass during the Day. One may also receive Holy Communion at both.
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel John 20:1-9 (New Revised Standard
Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)
Early on the first day of the
week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the
stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have
taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid
him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the
tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter
and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen
wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went
into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that
had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a
place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also
went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the
scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Mark 16:1-7, as at the Easter
Vigil (above) or Luke 24:13-35 may be read
instead.
Courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem[Wikimedia]
[Referred to in the poem below as 'Church of the Saviour']
Father Pádraig Ó Croiligh is a priest of the Diocese of Derry in Ireland. He is also a poet. The following poem is from his book Brúitíní Creidimh (Mashed Potatoes of Faith) published by Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradáltain 2005. I have added my own interlinear translation.
Calvaire (Calvary)
Ag barr na gcéimeanna
At the top of the steps
In Eaglais an tSlánaitheora
In the Church of the Saviour
Tá séipéal tógtha thart ar rian na croise,
There’s a chapel built around the mark of the cross,
An dara stáisiún déag dearaithe are a chúl
The twelfth station drawn at the back
Agus poll sa talamh faoi
And a hole in the ground beneath
San áit a mbíodh an chrois
In the place where the cross was
Ag an am ar tharla an crith talún.
At the time of the earthquake.
Ach níl an tarlú fein ná an duine
But neither the event nor the person
Í láthair anseo anois,
Are present here now,
Ach in áiteanna brúite buartha
But in crushed sorrowful places
Ar fud na cruinne
Throughout the world
Agus i láthair an uaignis.
And in the midst of loneliness.
An fear a fuair bás anseo,
The man who died here
Den bhás a rinneadh anseo,
Of the death wrought here,
Tá sé beo agus aiséirithe.
He is alive and risen.
Tá Íosa ina Chríost go fóill!
Jesus is still the Christ!
Every day 'crushed sorrowful places' are in the news. The wars in Iraq and Syria seem to have gone on for ever. Lebanon is a country that went through a brutal civil war between 1975 and 1990 in which 120,000 were killed, out of a population of not much more than four million. Now it has six million people. It is affected today by the conflicts in neighbouring countries, especially Syria. It is estimated that there are around 1,500,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Seven years ago in a shopping mall in Beirutthis small country gave what is one of the most joyful proclamations of the Resurrection that I have ever come across. One does not need to understand Arabic to know what is being celebrated. Jesus is still the Christ!
Early on the first day of the week, while it was
still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been
removed from the tomb.So she ran
and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and
said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know
where they have laid him.’Then Peter
and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb.The two
were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb
first.He bent
down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.Then Simon
Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings
lying there,and the
cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but
rolled up in a place by itself.Then the
other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and
believed;for as yet
they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
I
remember as a young priest, maybe in the summer of 1968 about six months after
my ordination, celebrating Sunday Mass in the chapel of the Irish Sisters of
Charity (now the Religious Sisters of Charity)
in Stanhope Street, Dublin, where I had made my First Holy Communion on 20 May
1950. The beautiful chapel is no longer there.
I
remember clearly that my mother was at the Mass and that I preached about the
Resurrection, probably quite eloquently and certainly with conviction.
However,
it was only when my mother died suddenly less that two years later that I got
any real grasp of what the Resurrection is. Within hours of receiving the news
at breakfast time in New York, where I was studying, I felt its truth in my
very being.
I
preached again about the Resurrection in the presence of my mother's remains at
her funeral Mass, again with conviction and maybe with some eloquence as
before. But my conviction, my faith in the Resurrection, was now rooted in my
heart, not just in my head.
After
the Mass my father, a man of deep quiet faith who went to Mass every day of his
life right up to the day of his own sudden death in 1987, told me that he had
felt utterly desolate going into the church but now felt at peace. A cousin's
husband thanked me for speaking about what really matters. Nearly 40 years
later a fellow Columban, who had been presentwhile
a seminarian, told me that he still preaches in his funeral homilies in Japan
whatever I had said at my mother's funeral Mass. I really have no idea what I
said but I remember vividly the change in my understanding of the Resurrection
during those days.
Anniversary of 1994 genocide in Rwanda
But the hope that the Death and
Resurrection of Jesus is not only for us as individuals. It can bring hope and
reconciliation to a whole nation. In 1994 in Rwanda, an overwhelmingly Christian
nation, more than half of its then between seven and eight million people
Catholics, between 500,000 and 1,000,000, mostly members of the minority Tutsi
people, were slaughtered between 7 April and the middle of July.
In the video above a man who lived through it, probably as a child, says outside a church in Kigali, the country's
capital, Today's Mass was about Resurrection. And I believe that one
day the souls of the people we lost will resurrect. Sister Mujawayezu Marie
Anastasie, a survivor of the genocide, says, I think now that
things are like before, even better than before. People are good to each other,
talking. People trust each other. For what I see it seems OK but I do not know
what's inside a person's heart.
Sister Mujawayezu's words express some
uncertainty but trust and hope win out. This is a fruit of the Resurrection,
that God's love has conquered evil and death. And the Rwandan Genocide was the
result mainly of neighbour killing neighbour. There have been reports and
photos in the media in recent years of individuals who had killed other individuals
not only asking forgiveness of someone they had widowed but working with that
widow to enable her to have a livelihood.
It is acts such as these that remind us
of the truth of the Resurrection, of the presence of the Risen Lord among us,
still carrying the scars of his Crucifixion, as the people of Rwanda who have
asked for forgiveness or who have forgiven their former enemies still carry the
scars of 1994.
Thecivil war in Rwandawas
short and brutal.That in Lebanonlasted from 1975 to 1990 with an
estimated 120,000 deaths and about a million leaving the country. Today it is
affected by the ongoing civil war in neighbouring Syria.
The people of Lebanon are
Arabs, nearly 40 percent of them Christian. Most of those are Maronite
Catholics who have always been in full communion with Rome. The vast majority
of Christians in the Middle East are Arabs, in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Palestine,
Syria. They are descended from the very earliest Christians. Islam originated
nearly six centuries after the death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Like the people of
Rwanda, the people of Lebanon carry the scars of their civil war. But the
Christians there also carry the living grace of the Resurrection of Jesus. I
have used the video below a number of times before but I know of no more joyful
proclamation of the Resurrection than Jesus is Risen, sung here in
Arabic in a shopping mall in Beirut three years ago at Eastertime.
No translation is
necessary, though you can switch on the English captions. You can see the look
of surprise on the face of a Filipina taking caring of a child and the look of
delight on the face of a young Muslim woman.
The truth and joy of the
Resurrection being proclaimed in Arabic by professional singers in a mall in
Beirut, Lebanon
