Christmas Memories of my Auntie Madge

 

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town

Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie

Arranged by Jim Clements

Sung by Voces8

My Auntie Madge (Margaret Collins) would have been ten or eleven when this song first appeared in 1934. But she never heard the marvellous arrangement above of the song that has just been issued by Voces8, the British choir that I have often used in Sunday Reflections, singing a different kind of music.

Auntie Madge was the youngest of my mother's six sisters Jennie, Nan, Neita, Bridie, Eileen and Madge. I'm not sure where Bridie, who died in infancy, came in the sequence but I often heard my mother, Mary, talking about her. Three boys, Mick, Paddy and Jack, completed the family of my maternal grandparents, William Patrick Collins and Annie Dowd. My grandfather died early in 1945 when I was nearly two but I don't have any memories of him, though I am happy that he knew me, his third grandchild, and that he held me. He was only 59 when he died of lung cancer.

My first experience of the death of someone close to me was that of Auntie Madge on 3 February 1950 at the age of 26. I was a few months short of seven. She had rheumatic fever when she was twelve and it caught up with her in January 1950. I remember my mother and father, John, taking turns, along with my aunts, in spending nights in my grandmother's house when Madge was in her last illness. My father was with her when she died. I heard him say, If Madge doesn't get to heaven there's not much chance for the rest of us. That was his way of saying that she was a particularly kind and caring person.

My mother, God bless her, took me to the wake in my grandmother's home in Blackhall Place, Dublin, where the family had grown up. I still remember that vividly.

Auntie Madge wasn't married but had a boyfriend. Years later I learned from my mother that he also had another girlfriend who died and never married. We often have no idea of the sadness in people's lives.

Blackhall Place, Dublin

My grandmother's house was the sixth to the right of the house with the white door.

I have many happy memories of my Auntie Madge who was tall and pretty. One I treasure is her taking three of us cousins, Joan Martin, Auntie Neita's eldest, Billy Kiernan, Auntie Nan's first-born and myself, all born in 1943, to Pims department store in South Great George's Street in Dublin to meet Santa Claus. That was either in December 1949, shortly before her death, or the year before that. I don't remember specifically meeting Santa on that occasion but what I recall vividly is riding on a 'train' with Joan and Billy. We were in a carriage, the 'train' rocking and the 'scenery' flashing by on the outside. When I was somewhat older I realised that this was on some kind of large spool. That lovely memory has stayed with me down the years.

My Auntie Eileen, who was my mother's bridesmaid and my godmother, was married the following summer. This was my first wedding and the reception was held in the one-storey terraced house where her husband, Willie Gallagher, had grown up. I was surprised when Auntie Eileen began to cry, as I thought you were supposed to be happy at your own wedding. A child doesn't always put two-and-two together and years later I realised that she was still grieving for her sister  Madge. Willie's sister Mona, who introduced her brother to my Auntie Eileen - they were both hairdressers - turned 101 last September, the only one of my parents' generation still living.

A Christmas song I associate with Auntie Madge is one that is unabashedly a tearjerker: The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot, published in England in 1937 and made popular by Vera Lynn. (Nat King Cole had a hit with it in 1953, I think.) I must have heard Auntie Madge sing it or talk about it. It was one of the most popular Christmas songs when I was a child. The little boy wrote a note to Santa for some soldiers and a drum. The soldiers in question were made from lead, were about 7 cms high and many little boys got some from Santa.

I don't have any photos of Auntie Madge with me here but the black and white photo of Very Lynn in the video below reminds me of her, especially the hairstyle from the 1940s.

The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot

Sung by Vera Lynn

Auntie Madge never forgot the 'little boy' who is typing this. And he still remembers her fondly and misses her almost 73 years after her untimely death. And he feels sorry for his younger cousins who never knew their Auntie Madge. One of them is named after her.

Rest in peace, Auntie Madge, and may we meet in heaven.

There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory, when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you for all the ages and praise you without end (from Eucharistic Prayer III when used at Masses for the dead).

Our Lady of Guadalupe / Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

 

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Feast Day: 12 December

Patroness of the Americas, of Mexico, of Unborn Children and Secondary Patroness of the Philippines

The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Opening Prayer of the Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe 

O God, Father of mercies, who placed your people under the singular protection of your Son’s most holy Mother, grant that all who invoke the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, may seek with ever more lively faith the progress of people in the way of justice and of peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Las Mañanitas a la Virgen de Guadalupe - Basilica de Guadalupe 2012

Las Mañanitas is a Mexican birthday song, sung very early in the morning to the celebrant. Every year after the solemn Mass on her feast day in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe some of Mexico's top singers and musicians face the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe on the tilma (cloak) of St Juan Diego and serenade her with Las Mañanitas.

A Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

 

Virgin of Guadalupe,
Patroness of unborn children,
we implore your intercession
for every child at risk of abortion.
Help expectant parents to welcome from God
the priceless gift of their child’s life.

Console parents who have lost that gift
through abortion,
and lead them to forgiveness and healing
through the Divine Mercy of your Son.

Teach us to cherish
and to care for family and friends
until God calls them home.
Help us never to see others as burdens.

Guide our public officials
to defend each and every human life
through just laws.
Inspire us all to bring our faith into public life,
to speak for those who have no voice.

We ask this in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ, who is Love and Mercy itself.
Amen.

¡Viva La Virgen de Guadalupe!

'Go and tell John . . . the deaf hear.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A

 

St John the Baptist in Prison

Juan Fernández de Navarrete [Web Gallery of Art]

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3; Gospel).

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 11:2-11 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way before you.’

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge 

Fr Joseph Coyle 

(28 February 1937 - 18 December 1991)

I have used this material before but it fits in with one of the themes in today's readings: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped (Isaiah 35:5; First Reading), It is the Lord . . . who raises up those who are bowed down (Responsorial Psalm), Go and tell John . . . the deaf hear (Matthew 11:5; Gospel). 

Fr Joseph Coyle was a Columban priest from Derry city, Northern Ireland. He died in the Philippines on 18 December 1991, aged 54, and is buried in a Catholic cemetery in Bacolod City. Father Joe and I weren't related - my Coyle ancestors moved centuries ago from the north-west of Ireland, where the surname originated, to Rush, a fishing village north of Dublin city - but we felt a sense of kinship. He was ordained on 21 December 1961 during my first year in the Columban seminary in Ireland.

Father Joe spent most of his life as a priest in the island of Negros. He gradually became aware of persons with disabilities and of how their needs weren't being met. He was able to obtain artificial limbs for some. But he noticed that there was one group in every community that was almost totally isolated because they didn't share a common language with those around them, not even with their own families. These were persons who were profoundly deaf.

More and more Father Joe became involved with deaf people, celebrating Mass in Sign Language in a number of places. In the late 1980s he established Welcome Home in Bacolod City as a residence for out-of-town deaf students so that they could attend special schools in the city. Special Education has spread now to many towns and that particular need is no longer urgent. But Welcome Home Foundation, Inc. continues with a school for young children, deaf and hearing, catechetical programmes in public schools with both deaf and hearing catechists, and other activities.

Father Joe's death was devastating initially to the young deaf people with whom he had worked. But his vision was continued and developed by others, most noticeably by Mrs Salvacion V. Tinsay who died in 2008. Her daughter Mrs Agnes T. Jalandoni, President and CEO, along with her board and staff have enabled the work begun by Father Joe to grow and adapt to current needs.

May I ask your prayers for the soul of Mrs Teresing V. Lizares who died recently. She was a founding trustee of Welcome Home Foundation and a sister of Mrs Salving V. Tinsay.

Fr Mike Depcik preaching in American Sign Language on today's readings (also spoken)

Fr Mike Depcik OSFS is an Oblate of St Francis de Sales and one of very few profoundly deaf priests in the world. He has his own vlog, Fr. MD's KitchenTable, where, among other things, he posts videos of homilies for Sunday Masses in American Sign Language, such as that above for this Sunday's Mass.

John the Baptist sends his followers to ask Jesus,  Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? Jesus replies, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news brought to them. 

For Catholics who are profoundly deaf, priests such as Fr Mike Depcik, deaf from birth, and Fr Joe Coyle, who became aware of the isolation of the profoundly deaf, especially within their own families, are included in the response of Jesus to his cousin St John the Baptist: the deaf hear. The deaf aren't isolated to the same degree as before, though I have known of priests and people who consider a signing interpreter at Mass as a 'distraction'. 

And the ministry of priests such as Fr Depcik and Fr Coyle isn't limited to the deaf. Indeed, part of their ministry, and of those who work with them, whether deaf or hearing, is to bring about the change of heart that is central to Advent, not only a turning away from sin but a recognition of the needs of others that we weren't aware of before. It was through having friends who were deaf in varying degrees from birth and through knowing Father Joe that I became aware of the isolation of the deaf within the Church and in society at large. The same can be said to some extent of persons with other disabilities. But profound deafness is the only physical disability that of its nature can totally isolate a person from the community.

There will always be some, for whatever reason, on the margins. The gradual inclusion of those who are profoundly deaf in all activities of the Church and of wider society shown, for example, in the use of signing interpreters at public functions and on television, is one of the signs that Jesus spoke about to assure St John the Baptist that he, Jesus, truly is the one who is to come.

Maria durch ein Dornwald ging

Mary walked through a wood of thorn

Traditional German Advent carol

Arranged by Stefan Claas and sung by Voces 8

Mary walked through a wood of thorn
Kyrie eleison.
Mary walked through a wood of thorn,
Which seven long years no leaf had borne;
Jesus and Mary.

What bore Mary beneath her heart?
Kyrie eleison.
A little child without any smart
Mary bore beneath her heart,
Jesus and Mary.

Then roses sprang from out the thorn;
Kyrie eleison.
As the Christ child through the wood was born,
Roses sprang from out the thorn;
Jesus and Mary.

These are the first three stanzas of seven but have acquired a life of their own. Their context is the Visitation. Wikipedia notes: The dead thorn wood, a symbol of infertility and death, begins to bloom when Mary walks through it with the divine child.

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-11-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7. Gospel: John 1:19-28.

A Pair of Shoes

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

John answered them, “I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” {John 1:26-27; Gospel).

'So was the Word made incarnation / In Mary’s womb, a son.' The Immaculate Conception

The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, observed on 8 December, is a holyday of obligation in many countries, eg, Ireland, the Philippines. 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Luke 1:26-38 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)  

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 

Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

The Annunciation

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

This is but one of many paintings of the Annunciation by El Greco.

The Incarnation

by St John of the Cross

Translation from the Spanish original by Roy Campbell

Then He summoned an archangel,
Saint Gabriel: and when he came,
Sent him forth to find a maiden,
Mary was her name.

Only through her consenting love
Could the mystery be preferred
That the Trinity in human
Flesh might clothe the Word.

Though the three Persons worked the wonder
It only happened in the One.
So was the Word made incarnation
In Mary’s womb, a son.

So He who only had a Father
Now had a Mother undefiled,
Though not as ordinary maids
Had she conceived the Child.

By Mary, and with her own flesh
He was clothed in His own frame:
Both Son of God and Son of Man
Together had one name.

This poem is in The Divine Office (Breviary) approved by the hierarchies of Australia, England and Wales, Ireland. I found it online here.

Ave Maria

Setting by Franz Biebl, Sung by Voces8

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae et concepit de Spiritu sancto.
(The angel of God declared unto Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.)

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.

(Hail Mary, Full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.)

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

(Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, Holy Mary,

pray for us now and in the hour of our death. Amen.)

'Behold the joy which comes to you from God.' Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A

 

St John the Baptist Preaching

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1; today's Gospel).

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 3:1-12 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
    make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Léachtaí i nGaeilge 

The Naming of St John the Baptist

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

A major theme in the texts for this Sunday's Mass is the call to repentance. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . You brood of vipers! . . . Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire . . . His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he [the Messiah] will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

St John the Baptist is echoing the words of Isaiah in the First Reading about the Messiah who is to come: with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Sin has been with us since the time of Adam and Eve. That is why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). No human being except Jesus and Mary has been sinless. Sin is ultimately the rejection of God's love.

In our time, within the last few decades, Western society in particular has accepted as 'good' and as 'rights' practices that have always been seen by Christians and by others as sinful. It has largely rejected what we read in Genesis  1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Linked to that is the rejection of Genesis 2:24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. A powerful international lobby has persuaded many Western countries to deny both of these statements, to legalise a parody of marriage and to undermine the family, all in the false name of 'equality'. 

In some Western jurisdictions it is lawful to genitally mutilate perfectly healthy bodies of adolescents who may be going through the 'turbulence' that hits everyone of that age to one degree or another.

Another new phenomenon is surrogacy, hiring women who almost always are struggling financially and living in another country, to bear a child conceived artificially outside of the way nature itself teaches us. Alongside that we have the widespread destruction of children in their mothers' wombs. This is not something new in itself but it was never presented before as a 'good' or as a 'right' promoted and paid for in many instances by the state on an industrial scale.

All of these things are a grave affront to God our loving Creator who made us to be with him for ever in heaven.

We are preparing in Advent to celebrate the arrival of the Christ-Child, God who became Man, 2,000 years ago. More importantly, perhaps, we are also preparing to welcome him, now the Risen Lord Jesus coming in glory, when he returns at the end of time. At the same time we are preparing to face the Lord Jesus at the end of our individual lives.

Jesus died so that each and every one of us would seek his forgiveness and be with him for ever in glory in heaven. His coming into the world in a stable in Bethlehem was a personal act of love by God for each of us individually and for all of us as the only creatures made in his own image.

St John the Baptist says to the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism in language that would be considered 'offensive' by many today and perhaps labelled as 'hate language' by some politicians, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. The great saint was reminding them - and us - never to take God's mercy for granted, never to forget that God's mercy is shown above all in the death of Jesus on the Cross.

But the Entrance Antiphon - far too often omitted at Mass - expresses God's desire for all of us with the note of joy that is central to Advent: O People of Sion, behold the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart.

The Communion Antiphon expresses something similar: Jerusalem, arise and stand upon the heights, and behold the joy which comes to you from God.

May each of us judge wisely the things of earth and hold firmly to the things of heaven. Through Christ our Lord (Prayer after Communion).

Conditor Alme Siderum - Creator of the Starry Height

Translation from Latin by Monsignor Ronald A. Knox

Musical setting by Flor Peeters

Traditional Latin Mass

Second Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-o4-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 15:4-13. Gospel: Matthew 11:2-10.

St John the Baptist in Prison

Juan Fernández de Navarrete [Web Gallery of Art]

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you he who is to come, or is to come, or shall we look for another? (Matthew 12:2-3; today's Gospel).