150th Anniversary of Birth of Blessed Charles de Foucauld

A priest-friend texted me this morning to remind me that today, 15September, is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Charles de Foucauld. We both belong to the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests, one of many groups in the Church inspired by this extraordinary Frenchman. You can read about him here and here.

Brother Charles' Prayer of Abandonment

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do,I thank you.
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;I offer it to youwith all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.

'Only in da Philippines' and 'Mama Mary'

Thanks to Jackie Parkes for Murillo's Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Tomorrow is the memorial of the Holy Name of Mary.

‘Only in da Philippines’ is an expression that Filipinos us when they are bemused or angered or amused at something that happens here. It’s kind of self-explanatory but often is used in the sense that my mother used to say ‘Poor Ireland. She’s rearing them still!’ when somebody would do something particularly stupid.

A couple of months ago I really smiled when I saw a white Mercedes being towed by a motorcab, ie, a motorcycle with a side-car for passengers, the two linked together by a bamboo pole! Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera. But it was truly an ‘Only in da Philippines’ moment.

Last Monday, the Birthday of our Blessed Mother, I flew from Bacolod to Manila, a 50-minute flight, on Cebu Pacific. They usually have a game as an excuse to give three prizes, basically small giveaways. They might ask, for example, for someone to raise a senior citizen’s ID. The first to do so would then get one of the prizes.

However, last Monday, the cabin attendant asked those celebrating their birthday, and with something to prove that it was their birthday, to raise their hand. She reminded us that it was the Birthday of ‘Mama Mary’, as Filipinos often describe our Blessed Mother. She had some giveaways but, unfortunately, there were no birthday celebrants on board. I turned to my companion, Fr Pat O’Donoghue, from Cork City, our new superior in the Philippines, and said, ‘You wouldn’t hear that on Aer Lingus or Ryanair!’

I must confess that I dislike the expression ‘Mama Mary’ but the cabin attendant was expressing her own faith in such a simple and unselfconscious way that I was moved. And I was thinking that we need more such ‘Only in da Philippines’ moments. And there are plenty for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time Year A: some resources

Twenty-third Sunday Ordinary Time Year A, 7 September 2008

‘We cannot live without Sunday’: Martyrs of Abitene, Italy, AD304. 'Without Sunday, without the Eucharist, the Christians in Iraq cannot survive': Fr Ragheed Aziz Ganni, Martyr of Iraq, 3 June 2007. Fr Ragheed is on the left in the photo. He belonged to the Chaldean Rite of the Catholic Church.


New American Bible version (used in Philippines, USA).


Jerusalem Bible version (used in Ireland, England and Wales, Scotland, etc).


Online homily resources from http://www.catholicireland.net/

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Fr Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap, Papal Household preacher.

The Duty of Fraternal Correction

ROME, SEPT. 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- In the Gospel this Sunday we read: "Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your brother sins, go and admonish him privately; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.’"Jesus speaks of all sins; he does not restrict the field to sins committed against us. In this latter sort of case, it is hard to know whether what moves us is zeal for truth or our own wounded pride. In any case, it would be more of a self-defense than a fraternal correction. When the sin is against us, the first duty is not correction but forgiveness. Full article here.

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The Debt of Love

Peter H. Harries O.P.

Fr Peter Harries shows that the love of Christ has nothing to do with wishy-washyness.

St Paul tells the early Christians in Rome to avoid getting into debt. Sensible advice we might think in any age, though mortgages and student loans would be difficult to avoid for many young (and not so young) people in Britain today. Full article here.

Fr Peter Harries is chaplain to the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust.

Read homilies from the same source for the same Sunday in previous years: 2005 , 2002 .

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Looking for Trouble!

© Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio
To download and listen to the PodCast of Looking for Trouble, Click here!

I used to think that God’s law was like those dumb rules we have to put up with in grammar school, like "Thou shalt not chew gum in class." They are arbitrary laws that some bureaucrats came up with to keep them happy and the rest of us miserable. The goal of the student is to break such rules whenever they can get away with it. The only bad consequence would be to get caught. Full article here.

Start a Change with Prayer: Grace Before Meals 4 September 2008

I'm handing over most of my space today to Fr Leo Patalinghug of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, USA, who was born in the Philippines but grew up in Maryland. He uses his talent in cooking as part of his apostolate to families. He has many other gifts. You can find a link to his blog at the bottom of the page.

I never read his recipes, as I know little or nothing about cooking, though I can claim a number of very tenuous connections with Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for Vice President in the US Elections. I did a supply (filling in for the regular priest - if there is one) in Skagway, Alaska, in June 1991. There's no resident priest there. I also celebrated the first Mass organized by the Filipino community in Juneau that time. After Mass, in typical Filipino style, there was a pot-luck dinner to which everyone was invited. Tourists from 'The Lower 48' who happened to be at the Mass - it was a Sunday afternoon - were amazed and delighted.

(Church of St Therese of the Child Jesus, Skagway, AK).

Sarah Palin also hunts moose. I'm not an advocate of hunting, but I'm probably the only Columban priest who has cooked moose liver - and four times at that, during a supply in June 2005 in Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, Canada, which I first visited while in Skagway in 1990. The two places aren't too far from each other as the crow flies, but I don't think too many crows make the journey.

(Our Lady of the Way, Haines Junction, YT)

The parish priest had shot a moose the previous winter and put the meat in the freezer. He otld me I was welcome to use any of it while there. One night I took out what I was certain was a steak. Next morning I found it was moose liver. I cooked one big portion for lunch and the second for supper, since I thought you weren't supposed to put defrosted meat back in the freezer.

Next time I made doubly sure that what I was taking out of the freezer was a steak. I was certain it was, since I could feel the 'bone'. Alas, it was moose liver again. It tastes pretty much like cow's liver, not too bad, and is 'good for you'. However, you can only eat so much of it! After that I just bought meat I could see at the local supermarket.

One area where I have more than a tenuous link with Sarah Palin is respect for the unborn child and respect for persons with disabilities, especailly those with mental disabilities. I can truthfully claim that I have helped quite a few young women in Bristol Palin's situation in practical ways and on 14 September I'll be attending the annual pilgrimage of members of Faith and Light in Manila. This is always held on or near the Birthday of our Blessed Mother.

Over now to Father Leo

Start a Change with Prayer!

This past weekend marked a time of much change . The celebration of Labor Day in the U.S. begins a transition from the lazy days of summer to the busy start of the school year. This weekend, the seminarians began their first full week of the new semester, while college students got acclimated to their new courses. For seminarians and students, that’s a big change . Finally, this past weekend in the St. Joseph Cathedral of Wheeling West Virginia, I witnessed the wedding of a young couple whose lives are now transformed in the Sacrament of Marriage. Here’s the before and after picture.

Change is inevitable, and yet we often forget that it will happen to us. The father of the bride, in a heartfelt speech, recalled the many changes he experienced watching his three daughters grow from newborn babies to married women. And now with his youngest daughter married, he humbly admitted he never expected this change to be so difficult!

The fact that we are creatures of habit means we crave stability. Stability is a good thing; however, a life without change can lead us to a life of routine, which a s comfortable as it seems, will only dull our senses, stunt our emotions, and limit our potential to grow. Change is tough , but it is necessary for growth. As Christians, we are on a pilgrimage throughout life and are always changing. It’s called ongoing conversion.

After one year of seminary formation work, I realize how good change requires prayer. The orientation period for seminarians provides great opportunities for prayer and our new men need it. They faced a tough week of learning what it means to be a seminarian, a completely new lifestyle for them. The men took time to re-orient themselves through prayer t his weekend while they were on a silent retreat. They prayed like they have never prayed before! I snapped this picture of the seminarians asking for prayers at the tomb of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, buried less than two miles from the seminary.

Talk about a saint who experienced change. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was an Episcopalian wife and mother, who became a widow at a young age . Her biography tells us she accepted these changes through prayer. She experienced even more change when, after years of serious prayer, she converted to the Catholic Faith, despite the possibility her family might disown her. She moved from big city Baltimore to very rural Emmitsburg, MD. She took on a religious habit with a mission to educate poor children. While raising her own children in very poor conditions, she felt the pain of having to bury three of them. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton handled each of these changes with such prayer and grace that she eventually experienced the greatest transformation of all: she was canonized a saint. Prayer is the only thing that will get us through difficult changes. This time of year, accepting your kids have grown up and are going to college can be painful. It’s hard for me to accept that Tim and Megan Watkins, now off at college, are the same children in the original Grace Before Meals video trailer that was filmed 6 years ago! Check out the trailer and you’ll see how quickly they have grown up.

If it’s hard for me to accept they are growing up, what’s it like for their parents? For students leaving home for the first time, the experience can be a painful change, too. Believe me parents, I do a lot of talking with college freshmen who are a bit sad to be away from home. Yes, they miss you too! This change isn’t easy for them either.

I consider how seminarians must also change but from within, which is the most difficult change to make.

Prayer doesn’t always change the situation, but it can help us understand and accept the lessons that change brings .

This past weekend marked a change for many of our Grace Before Meals families. When it gets tough accepting these changes, you may want to slightly modify your g race before meals. Instead of rushing the prayer before you eat, take some extra time and say an special prayer for parents feeling the change of an empty nest; for newly married couples living a life no longer for themselves but for the other; and for seminarians called to re orient their lives to do the Father’s will.

Timmy’s Meal Before College: Beef and Zucchini

FYI: Timmy Watkins is the second of Tim Watkins' three children. Tim Watkins is the producer of Grace Before Meals and a good friend who has invited me to his house for dinner on many occasions, though I usually do the cooking! H is wife is a great cook and kind enough to give me free range of her kitchen. Timmy has been my assistant chef for many of these meals, but this meal was my going away gift to him before he left for college.
Click here for the recipe.

A Prayer to Say During a Change in Life

Heavenly Father, help us to accept change with grace. Help us to ask for grace when change comes into our lives. Help us to see how these changes, no matter how painful , can be great sources of grace for us! We ask this through Christ o ur Lord. Amen!

Ask Fr. Leo for fatherly advice.Any submissions may be used in future Grace Before Meals publications.

Please forward Fr. Leo’s weekly email blast to anyone you think would benefit. If you haven’tsigned up for the Food for the Body, Food for the Soul weekly email blast, go here to register now. Also visit our blog.

'Unequal rites for all'

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).

Patsy McGarry, the religious affairs correspondent of The Irish Times, had an interesting article on last Saturday's paper about the inconsistencies in Catholic funerals in Ireland. The recent funeral of Ronnie Drew led to letters in the paper, some from people who weren't allowed the same latitude with regard to music at the funerals of family members as the Drew family was.

Patsy McGarry: Ronnie Drew's funeral has opened a debate about inconsistencies in the way guidelines for funeral Masses are applied, with 'secular' elements such as popular songs and eulogies being allowed in some cases but not in others, leading to charges that some bereaved are more equal than others.

Different dioceses in Ireland have different approaches. Nearly all of the funerals I have attended in Ireland have focused on the Mass. Music, if any, was Church music, some good, some bad, but not secular. However, many 'homilies', particularly at priests' funerals, have tended to be eulogies. One or two have borne a more than passing similarity to some of the awful drivel given by a half-drunk best man after a wedding dinner.

I think that a homily at a funeral can link the word of God to some aspect of the life of the person who has died where the deceased has exemplified some aspect of Christian life. But there should never be any premature 'canonization' of the person, especially if there are aspects of their lives known to all that were at variance with the Gospel.

We no more help the dead, or those who mourn them, by giving them false praise than if we were to give false praise to a starving man while failing to give him something to eat.

When the faith was strong in Ireland people faced death squarely and prayed for the dead. I've been at many joyful funerals, including some in recent years, when along with praying for the repose of the soul of the person who had gone ahead, there was a sense of gratitude to God for having been blessed by and through that person. And our faith in the Resurrection is the source of our joy. But funerals were funerals.

I've been unable to find an account of the funeral of Paddy Harrington, the father of golfer Padraig Harrington, who died three years ago. But I distinctly remember reading at the time that before he died, Paddy asked that his funeral be an occasion for people to pray for him and that the funeral Mass was to be an expression of faith, not a celebration of his sporting prowess. He played Gaelic Football for Cork in the 1950s. He also spotted the talent of his son Padraig and helped him develop it, while also training him in good manners, something Padraig is noted for.

I think that it is proper for a family member, or a representative of a family, say a few brief words of thanks at the end of Mass to those attending. And I think it is quite legitimate to even say a few words about the deceased. Once or twice I've been at funerals where the priest totally ignored the grieving family and just went through the motions, as it were, forgetting the emotions of people. This has left me feeling angry.

In Ireland people usually gather for something to eat after a burial, in a hotel or at home. I think that this is perhaps the time to celebrate in a 'secular' way. It's not a liturgical setting but it's part of the whole process of grieving. People can share their tributes and the favourite music of the deceased to their hearts' content.

A famous British TV comedy series, Only Fools and Horses, had a hilarious episode where Del Boy and his brother Rodney, the two central characters, went to a fancy-dress party as Batman and Robin. When they got there they discovered that the host had died suddenly and that they were at a wake instead. Nobody had informed them.

I think that some funerals are like that. At least Del Boy and Rodney felt embarrassed.

Photos of Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, where my parents and maternal grandparents are buried. The photo at the top is that of the grave of Liam Whelan of Manchester United, killeed in the Munich crash on 6 February 1958. I always stop and say a prayer for him when visiting my family's graves. I found this photo here and that it was taken by a man named Andrew Coyle, who I don't know. I know that Liam, a devout Catholic, had sent money to his mother to go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. she used the money instead towards the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes over her son's grave.

'I get nothing out of Mass'

Young African woman crawls 2.5 miles to attend Sunday Mass

Olivia (Photo courtesy of AVAN)

Valencia, Aug 28, 2008 / 01:42 am (CNA).- The Little
Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly in Chissano (Mozambique) took into their home this week a 25-year-old African young girl named Olivia, who despite not being baptized at the time and not having any legs, crawled 2.5 miles (more than 4 kilometres) every Sunday to attend Mass.

According to the AVAN news agency, the nuns said that one day, they saw “something
moving on the ground far away,” and when they drew near they saw, “to our surprise, that it was a young woman.”

“We were able to talk to her through a lady who was walking by and who translated into Portuguese what she was saying to us in her dialect", they said.

The sisters said that although “the sand from the road burned the palms of her hands during the hottest times of the year,” the young woman crawled to Mass, “giving witness of perseverance and heroic faith.”

The young woman received baptismal preparation from a catechist, who periodically visited her at home. After she was recently baptized, one of the benefactors of the sisters donated a wheel chair for Olivia.

Was St Monica an 'Irish mother'?

I had a pleasant lunch today at Colegio de San Augustin-Bacolod as the Augustinian Friars celebrated the feast of the great St Augustine (354-430). Present too were the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation who run La Consolacion College, beside San Sebastian Cathedral here in Bacolod. This congregation was founded in the Philippines and has more than 230 sisters. Some of the friars of the Augustinian Recollects, known in the Philippines as the Recoletos, were also present. They own the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) here in Bacolod.

Both the Augustinian and Recollect friars played a large part in the evangelization of the Philippines in Spanish times.

The second reading in the Office of Readings for the feast of St Monica (332-387) yesterday always brings a smile to my face and leads me to ask, ‘Was St Monica an “Irish mother”?’ St Augustine’s brother had said to their mother when she was dying that it might be better if she died in her homeland in north Africa, rather than in Italy. The extract from St Augustine’s Confessions goes on: But as she heard this she looked at me and said: ‘See the way he talks’. And then she said to us both: ‘Lay this body where it may be. Let no care of it disturb you: this only I ask of you that you should remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be’.

The latter part of the last quotation appears on innumerable memorial cards and I don’t know of a better request for prayers for the dead. But it’s the ‘See the way he talks’ that makes me smile. May’s the time I heard my own mother – and other Irish mothers – say, nearly always in a family-type context, ‘Did you ever hear such nonsense?’ It’s the kind of thing that only people intimately related can say to one another, conveying gentle criticism/a reprimand and affection at the same time.

Both St Monica and St Augustine were from the north-east of present-day Algeria. Hippo, where Augustine was bishop, is also located in Algeria. Today there is hardly a trace of Christianity in most of north Africa. Is Europe heading the same way? Our faith is a gift. We can lose it as individuals and as communities, as I often remind people.