Vatican's response to Irish Government



The Irish Times carries the video above of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin giving his comments to the press on the Response of the Holy See to the Government of Ireland. Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny alleged in the Dáil (Irish parliament) that the Holy See had attempted 'to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago'. Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore told Papa Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza 'that the Vatican had intervened to effectively have priests believe they could in consicence evade their responsibilities under Irish law'.

The response of the Holy See is measured and lacking rancour. Archbishop Martin says of Mr Kenny's comments in the Dáil and the subsequent comments by is office 'merits explanation'.

I think that Mr Kenny's speech acted as a conduit for the anger that so many Irish people felt, including those who have stayed in the Church - and the Taoiseach spoke as one of them - and perhaps brought it home to some in the Vatican that this whole situation has done enormous damage to the Church and to its ability to carry out its mission.

Archbishop Martin notes favourably that the new Irish government is the first in the history of the state to set up a cabinet ministry for children. (The cabinet is constitutionally limited to 14 members).

I hope that this diplomatic row has cleared the air to some degree and that it will help Church and State to work together for the sake not only of those who have already been hurt but for the sake of children in the future. I hope too that all involved directly will listen to Archbishop Martin's plea that this not become another opportunity for polemics, which helps no one, least of all those who have been abused.

But more reports are on their way, that of the Diocese of Raphoe in the north-west of the country and one of the Garda Síochána, the Irish police force, that has been looking at records of their own going back 80 or 90 years.

The 'one or two bad apples' doesn't wash anymore. But I know that the vast majority of Irish priests are upright and honest men. We have seen from examples in Belgium, Austria and the USA that it is possible for a man to imprison and abuse his own children for years without the next door neighbours knowing. But it's also possible for a community to turn its eyes from awful abuse within families, as two recent examples in Ireland, where the perpetrator was the mother, have shown. Mr Kenny referred to one such case in his Dáil speech. There have been similar cases in England in recent years when social workers could have prevented the deaths of children but didn't.

And the awful reality remains that the victims of priests in Ireland are fewer that four percent of all victims of sexual abuse, according to the 2002 Savi Report, Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland.

'Where two or three meet in my name . . .' Sunday Reflections, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, 4 September 2011

Prayer of the Penitent Monks, Alessandro Magnasco (1667 – 1749)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 18:15-20 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England @ Wales, Ireland, Scotland).

Jesus said to his disciples: 'If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, is between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.

'I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

'I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.'

Soiscéal Matha 18:15-20 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail “Má dhéanann do bhráthair peaca i d’aghaidh, gabh chuige á áiteamh air is gan ann ach é agus tú. Má éisteann sé leat, tá tú tar éis do bhráthair a thabhairt leat; ach mura n-éisteann, beir leat duine nó beirt eile, chun go mbeadh focal a dó nó a trí d’fhinnéithe ag deimhniú gach scéil. Má dhiúltaíonn sé éisteacht leo sin, inis don eaglais é; agus má dhiúltaíonn éisteacht leis an eaglais féin, bíodh sé ina phágánach agus ina phoibleacánach agat.

“Deirim libh go fírinneach, gach uile ní a cheanglaíonn sibh ar talamh beidh siad ceangailte ar neamh, agus nithe ar bith a scaoilfidh sibh ar talamh beidh siad scaoilte ar neamh.

Agus deirim go fírinneach rud eile libh má bhíonn beirt agaibh ar talamh ar aon aigne faoi rud ar bith a bhíonn le hiarraidh acu, beidh sé le fáil acu ó m’Athair atá ar neamh. Óir, mar a mbíonn beirt nó triúr tagtha i gceann a chéile i m’ainmse, bím féin ansin ina measc.”

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The painting of Alessandro Magnasco ties in with both aspects of the gospel, the call to repentance, which the Church has an obligation to do in the name of Jesus, and the invitation to pray with one another for needs that we see. 

I remember years ago having to deal with a dispute between two young seminarians under my care. I had come back on Sunday night, drained after a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend. One of the things we learn there is that a couple have the power to forgive through the sacrament of matrimony. In this sacrament Jesus is more than being  'there with them'. He is the one who makes husband and wife one.

Though I wanted to go to bed I knew I had to deal with this dispute. I met each of the two separately and asked each to describe factually what happened, what he was feeling and what he wanted to happen. I then sent each to the chapel to tell the Lord what he had told me and that I would then meet them together after half an hour. One was hardly there a few minutes when he came out and said 'He won't talk to me'. I asked 'Who?' 'The other student'. 'I told you to talk to the Lord', I reminded him, while inwardly smiling.

When they came out I met them together. After their prayer they were both ready to forgive each other. It also helped when I told them that each had described the incident in exactly the same way. In this case the two witnesses were the two 'perpetrators', though the other seminarians had drawn the matter to my attention as soon as I had arrived in the house. They were both young me of good will who wanted to follow Jesus with generosity. And when they were in the chapel together each was praying to Jesus for what he desired - reconciliation.

Jesus has given us his solemn word that in such a situation God the Father cannot but listen to our prayer.

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The video above is or the Kyrie eleison, Lord, have mercy, from the Missa de Angelis, the best known and most widely used of all the Masses in Gregorian Chant. Gregorian Chant gets its name from St Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 610, on whose feast, 3 September, I am writing this. Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, promulgated 4 December 1963, says in No 116: 'The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services'.

No 119 says, 'In certain parts of the world, especially mission lands, there are peoples who have their own musical traditions, and these play a great part in their religious and social life. For this reason due importance is to be attached to their music, and a suitable place is to be given to it, not only in forming their attitude toward religion, but also in adapting worship to their native genius'.

The Missa Luba is described in Wikipedia as 'a version of the Latin Mass based on traditional Congolese songs. It was arranged by Father Guido Haazen, a Franciscan Friar from Belgium, and originally performed and recorded in 1958 by "Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin", a choir of Congolese children from Kamina'.  At the time of the recording what is now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo was still the Belgian Congo and the saintly King Baudouin the monarch. The recording was released internationally in 1963 and I remember it was very popular with my fellow seminarians, though we never tried to sing it. 

The Missa Luba anticipated what Vatican II would encourage. 

Kyrie Eleison is the only part of the Ordinary of the Mass in the Latin Rite that is in Greek. No matter what language we sing or say it in it is especially appropriate for today's Mass.

 



'Please stand to welcome our celebrant, Father . . .'



Pope Benedict celebrating Mass ad orientem in the Sistine Chapel on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2008 when he baptised 13 children.

A very irritating experience I have here in the Philippines occasionally is when I am invited to celebrate Mass on some special occasion such as a recollection day for students. Usually there is a commentator. I would love to see this role abolished, since it serves no useful purpose. Many parishes here still have someone telling them when to sit, stand or kneel, which is not the business of the commentator at all.

The General Instruction of the Roman Mass No 105 b) clearly describes the commentator's job: The commentator, who provides the faithful, when appropriate, with brief explanations and commentaries with the purpose of introducing them to the celebration and preparing them to understand it better. The commentator's remarks must be meticulously prepared and clear though brief. In performing this function the commentator stands in an appropriate place facing the faithful, but not at the ambo. (My highlights).

I have heard commentators cutting across the priest as he is saying 'Let us proclaim the mystery of faith' by telling the people, 'Please stand'. (Here in the Philippines the people stand for the rest of the Eucharistic Prayer. I would prefer if they stayed kneeling). There are no more courteous people than Filipinos but the role of commentator seems to distort the personality of some. After more than 40 years of the new Mass people don't need to be told when to sit or stand, except maybe on occasions such as weddings when the ceremony is a little more complicated. And many haven't been in church since a previous wedding or funeral.

And readers get in on the act too telling people, 'Please stand to honour the Gospel'.

On 16 August Fr Edward McNamara LC answered in Zenit a question from Liberia: During the celebration of the Mass, where, who or what is the center of focus? Is it the altar or the tabernacle or the celebrant? Fr McNamara began his answer with: These is really only one true center of the Eucharistic celebration around which all the rest revolves, and that is Christ and his saving mystery.

At the end of his answer he wrote: The priest, although he acts in the person of Christ, is not really a focus of the celebration. He is indeed most effective when he manages to deflect attention from himself and guides the faithful toward Christ's mystery. Indeed, the use of vestments, song and special location are meant to emphasize the priest's ministerial role rather than his person. The priest is a "pontifex," a bridge between God and man, and a bridge may be admired from a distance but is only useful when we trample over it.

So 'Please stand to welcome our celebrant, Father . . .' is totally out of order. A variation I sometimes hear and that is not totally wrong is 'Please stand to welcome Christ in the person of Father . . .'. Yes, the priest is an alter Christus, another Christ, but it is Jesus who is welcoming us. And in most churches he is present already in the tabernacle. (Father McNamara rightly points out: The tabernacle is not a center of attention during the Eucharistic celebration even though it should have a prominent and even central place in the church building for adoration outside of Mass. So the priest should bow to the altar and not to the tabernacle before he reads the Gospel, for example).

Early last year, when I was giving an eight-day retreat to junior professed Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation of Blessed Mother Teresa, I celebrated Mass a number of times ad orientem, with priest and people all facing in the same direction. For many years I used the terminology 'the priest saying Mass with his back to the people' until I read the then Cardinal Ratzinger's book The Spirit of the Liturgy. His explanation of ad orientem made everything look totally different. And when I was grwoing up, with the old Mass, I never heard anyone speak of the priest as being with his back to the people.

Most Sundays I celebrate Mass in Holy Family Home for Girls here in Bacolod City. It's run by the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. On Monday I Mass with the Sisters. Last year I celebrated the Sunday Mass ad orientem a number of times in the large multi-purpose building when we ahd some people from outside. I explained beforehand why I was doing this.

On the feast of the Queenship of Mary I celebrated Mass ad orientem in the Sisters's chapel for the first time. Last Sunday, when we had Mass there, with part of the overflowing congregation of Sisters and girls in the lobby outside the chapel, the Sisters had prepared the altar for celebration ad orientem, as they did yesterday. I hadn't asked them to do this but was very happy that they had.

Nobody has ever made any comments, good, bad or indifferent, after I celebrated Mass ad orientem. But I believe it helps everyone, including the priest, to focus on 'Christ and his saving mystery' as Father McNamara puts it.

I also celebrate Sunday Mass regularly in Sign Language with the Deaf. Some of the commentators there used to say 'Let us stand to welcome our celebrant . . .' but no more. They now say 'Let us stand for our opening hymn'.

I am conscious of the fact that the hymns we sing at Mass aren't part of the text. I always read the Entrance Antiphon even if there is a hymn and the Communion Antiphon before the people come for Holy Communion. And I usually follow the 'default' position for the Offertory - saying the prayers very quietly, enabling the people to have some of the silence that every Mass is supposed to have.

I would love to be able to celebrate Mass always ad orientem. That's not possible. And I have no difficulty about celebrating versus populum, facing the people. But because of the influence of Pope Benedict I try to ensure that there is a large crucifix, if possible, on the altar, which is a focal point for all.

'What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?' Sunday Reflections. 22nd Sunday Ordinary Time Year A, 28 August 2011

Sir Thomas More, Hans Holbein the Younger, painted 1527

Readings (New American Bible, used in the Philippines and USA).

Gospel Matthew 16:21-27 (Jerusalem Bible, used in Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotlanc)

Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. 'Heaven preserve you, Lord;' he said 'this must not happen to you'. But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God's way but man's.' Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life? 'For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour.

An Soiscéal Matha 16:21-27(Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin amach, thosaigh Íosa á thaispeáint dá dheisceabail nárbh fholáir dó dul go Iarúsailéim agus mórán a fhulaingt ó na seanóirí agus ó uachtaráin na sagart agus ó na scríobhaithe, agus a chur chun báis, agus éirí an treas lá. Ach thug Peadar ar fhód ar leith é agus thosaigh ag tabhairt casaoide dó: “Go bhfóire Dia ort, a Thiarna,” ar seisean, “agus i bhfad uait sin!” Ach d’iompaigh Íosa thairis agus dúirt le Peadar: “Siar i mo dhiaidh leat, a Shátain! is ceap tuisle dom thú, mar ní hiad smaointe Dé atá i d’aigne ach smaointe daoine.”

Ansin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail: “Más áil le haon duine bheith ar mo bhuíon, séanadh sé é féin, tógadh suas a chros agus leanadh mé. Óir cibé arb áil leis a anam a shaoradh, caillfidh sé é; ach cibé a chaillfidh a anam mar gheall ormsa, gheobhaidh sé é. Óir cá fearrde duine go ngnóthódh sé an domhan go léir dá ligfeadh sé a anam féin ar ceal? Nó cad a d’fhéadfadh duine a thabhairt mar mhalairt ar a anam?

Óir tá Mac an Duine le teacht faoi ghlóir a Athar lena chuid aingeal, agus ansin cúiteoidh sé le gach duine de réir mar a rinne. Deirim libh go fírinneach, tá daoine anseo i láthair nach mblaisfidh an bás nó go mbeidh Mac an Duine feicthe acu ag teacht ina ríocht.”

The above is one of the great dramatic scenes in a movie or a play. A Man for All Seasons, based on the life of St Thomas More, was written by Robert Bolt. It began life as a radio play on the BBC in 1954, was reworked as a one-hour TV play in 1967 and then as a stage play in 1960, a great success in London and on Broadway. The 1966 film, produced and directed by Fred Zinnemann, won six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor. The latter was for Paul Scofield who played Sir Thomas More.

In this scene during the trial Sir Richard Rich (played by John Hurt), an ambitious young man who once tried unsuccessfully to bribe the upright More, is being questioned by Thomas Cromwell (played by Leo McKern), perjures himself. As the witness leaves Sir Thomas asks to see his chain of office and learns that Sir Richard had just been appointed Attorney General for Wales. He looks sadly at Richard and says ironically, 'For Wales? For, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for Wales?'

This year has seen a number of long-term rulers toppled, in Tunisia, in Egypt and now in Libya. Each time a dictator goes I ask myself, 'Will they never learn?' None ends up as a free man. St Thomas in the trial scene says 'I am a dead man'. But, unlike Sir Richard Rich, he is a free man. He takes Jesus at his word: 'anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it'. He then goes on to quote to Richard the next sentence, 'it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world' ('What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?' in the Jerusalem Bible translation).



This Sunday is the tenth anniversary of the death of a Columban confrere and close friend who, like St Thomas More, died violently. Fr Rufus Halley (in photo above) was ambushed and shot dead while riding on his motorbike from an inter-faith meeting in Balabagan to his neighbouring parish in Malabang, Lanao del Sur, in the southern Philippines, both towns and the area predominantly Muslim. Father Rufus came from a privileged background in Ireland and spent the earlier years of his priesthood in a Catholic area of the Philippines, near Manila. He felt called by God to move to live among Muslims in the Prelature of Marawi, an area where only about five percent are Catholic and nearly all the others Muslim. He lived in constant tension, sometimes danger. He learned two new languages, Maranao, that of the majority of the Muslims in the area, and Cebuano-Visayan, that of the Christians.

Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, wrote an article about Father Rufus for Misyon, the online Columban magazine I edit, for the July-August 2006 issue, when we still were a print magazine. The Cardinal got to know Father Rufus when he was a young auxiliary bishop of Manila with responsibility for the area where Father Rufus was assigned. Here are some of the things the Cardinal wrote.

• We decided we’d celebrate Mass the next day back at the centro. We slept on the floor.
•  I learned from the late Father Patrick Ronan, then parish priest in Morong, that Father Rufus came from a privileged background. That was a revelation to me, as I had always been struck by the simplicity I saw in his life. Father Ronan, another Irish missionary with a great sense of humor and known to his fellow Columbans as ‘Pops’, had spent time in jail in China after the Communist takeover in 1949.
• Around 1980 Father Rufus felt called by God to leave the security of living in an overwhelmingly Catholic community to work in the new Prelature of Marawi, which includes all of Lanao del Sur and part of Lanao del Norte, where 95 percent of the people are Muslims. He was very aware of the long history of tension and occasional outright conflict between Christians and Muslims. He also became fluent in two other languages, Maranao, spoken by the Muslims in the area, and Cebuano, spoken by the Christians.
• I knew of the intensity with which Father Rufus lived his own Christian faith, how he began each day with an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, the centrality of the Mass in his life. A big influence on him was the life of Charles de Foucauld, 1858-1916, beatified last November. This Frenchman was also from a privileged background. Unlike Pareng Rufus, he lost his Catholic faith and became a notorious playboy before re-discovering it, partly through the example of Muslims living in North Africa. He spent many years as a priest living among the poorest Muslims in a remote corner of the Sahara, pioneering Christian-Muslim dialogue by discovering himself as the Little Brother of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and as the Little Brother of the Muslims who came knocking at his hermitage door.
• On 1 December 1916 Charles de Foucauld died at the hands of a young gunman outside his hermitage and on 28 September 2001 Pareng Rufus died at the hands of gunmen who ambushed him as he was riding on his motorcycle from a meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders in Balabagan to his parish in Malabang. The local people, both Christian and Muslim, mourned for him deeply. The grief of the Muslims was all the greater because the men who murdered my Pareng Rufus happened to be Muslims. This great missionary priest brought both communities together in their shared grief for a man of God, a true follower of Jesus Christ.

Though born into privilege, like St Thomas More, Father Rufus had no interest in clinging on to it. Though honoured as a priest by the people in his parish he chose to let go of the prestige that carried in order to answer God's call to live in a place where he would experience insecurity and danger. Like St Thomas More, he took Jesus at his word: 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it'.

Very few of us will be called to martyrdom or to violent deaths because of being Catholic Christians. But what are the areas in our lives where we are prepared to ignore what is right in order to have some passing power or privilege, such as Sir Richard Rich sought? It may not be a matter of bribery or perjury but of excusing ourselves because 'everyone does it', 'things are different now', etc, etc.

St Thomas More is the patron saint of statesmen, politicians and lawyers.

A note on Wales

 

Wales, in red, is now part of the United Kingdom but has its own language, far older than the English language, and national assembly, (a regional parliament with limited powers). It is about one-and-a-half times the size of the island of Negros in the central Philippines, where I live, but, with 3,000,000 people only three-quarters of the population of the island.

'Can life still be something grand, even when suffering unexpectedly enters it?'

For many years I've had some involvement with persons with disabilities. Last Sunday I officiated at a wedding for two Deaf people. I regularly celebrate Sunday Mass in Sign Language. I'm not very good in that language and find conversations difficult, since I'm poor at reading signs. I've asked a number of experienced interpreters and their experience has been similar to mine. When you are learning a spoken language you reach a point when you can understand far more than you can express. With Sign Language it is the opposite.

I've also been on the fringes of Faith and Life for many years. It is a movement, born from a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1871, that is made up of 'communities made up of persons with an intellectual disability, their families and friends, particularly young friends, who meet together on a regular basis in a Christian spirit, to share friendship, pray together, fiesta and celebrate life'.

San José Foundation



Some of the 200 Faith and Light pilgrims from Zimbabwe, Colombia, Portugal, United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Spain attended the talk that Pope Benedict gave to persons with disabilities at the San José Foundation, run by the Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God, last Saturday. Here are the Pope's remarks, some of which I have highlighted. I've also added some [comments].

I thank you most sincerely for your kind greeting and heartfelt welcome.

This evening, just before the Prayer Vigil with the young people from throughout the world gathered in Madrid for this World Youth Day, we have this chance to spend time together as a way of showing the Pope’s closeness and esteem for each of you, for your families and for all those who help and care for you in this Foundation of Saint Joseph’s Institute.

Youth, as I have said more than once, is the age when life discloses itself to us with all its rich possibilities, inspiring us to seek the lofty goals which give it meaning. [Pope Benedict never short-changes young people.] So when suffering appears on the horizon of a young life, we are shaken; perhaps we ask ourselves: “Can life still be something grand, even when suffering unexpectedly enters it?” In my Encyclical on Christian Hope, I observed that “the true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer … A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through ‘com-passion’ is a cruel and inhuman society” (Spe Salvi, 38). These words reflect a long tradition of humanity which arises from Christ’s own self-offering on the Cross for us and for our redemption. Jesus and, in his footsteps, his Sorrowful Mother and the saints, are witnesses who shows us how to experience the tragedy of suffering for our own good and for the salvation of the world.

These witnesses speak to us, first and foremost, of the dignity of all human life, created in the image of God. No suffering can efface this divine image imprinted in the depths of our humanity. But there is more: because the Son of God wanted freely to embrace suffering and death, we are also capable of seeing God’s image in the face of those who suffer. This preferential love of the Lord for the suffering helps us to see others more clearly and to give them, above and beyond their material demands, the look of love which they need. But this can only happen as the fruit of a personal encounter with Christ. [Pope Benedict constantly speaks of the importance of this personal encounter with Christ.] You yourselves – as religious, family members, health care professionals and volunteers who daily live and work with these young people – know this well. Your lives and your committed service proclaim the greatness to which every human being is called: to show compassion and loving concern to the suffering, just as God himself did. In your noble work we hear an echo of the words found in the Gospel: “just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).

At the same time, you are also witnesses of the immense goodness which the lives of these young people represent for those who love them, and for humanity as a whole. In a mysterious yet real way, their presence awakens in our often hardened hearts a tenderness which opens us to salvation. [I have seen priests who would be very tough inconfronting injustices while living in difficult circumstances and vocal in discussions showing a real tenderness towards older and sick brother priests.] The lives of these young people surely touch human hearts and for that reason we are grateful to the Lord for having known them.

Dear friends, our society, which all too often questions the inestimable value of life, of every life, needs you: in a decisive way you help to build the civilization of love. What is more, you play a leading role in that civilization. As sons and daughters of the Church, you offer the Lord your lives, with all their ups and downs, cooperating with him and somehow becoming “part of the treasury of compassion so greatly needed by the human race” (Spe Salvi, 40).

With great affection, and through the intercession of Saint Joseph, Saint John of God and Saint Benito Menni, I commend you to God our Lord: may he be your strength and your reward. As a pledge of his love, I cordially impart to you, and to your families and friends, my Apostolic Blessing. Thank you very much.

'Who do you say I am?' Sunday Reflections, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, 21 August 2011

Baldacchino, St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Gian Lorezo Bernini, 1624

Readings (New American Bible, used in the Philippines and the USA). 

Gospel Matthew 16:13-20 (Jerusalem Bible, used in Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland).

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets'. 'But you,' he said 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,' he said 'the Son of the living God'. Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.' Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

An Soiscéal Matha 16:13-20 (Irish Gaelic)

San am sin ar theacht isteach i gceantar Chéasaráia Philib dó, d’fhiafraigh Íosa dá chuid deisceabal: “Cé hé a deir na daoine Mac an Duine?” Dúirt siad: “Deir cuid acu Eoin Baiste; cuid eile acu Éilias; tuilleadh acu Irimia nó duine de na fáithe.” Dúirt sé leo: “Ach cé a deir sibhse mé?” Dúirt Síomón Peadar á fhreagairt: “Is tú an Críost, Mac Dé bheo.” D’fhreagair Íosa agus dúirt sé leis: “Is méanar duit, a Shíomóin Bar Ióna, óir ní fuil agus feoil a d’fhoilsigh duit é ach m’Athair atá ar neamh. Agus deirimse leatsa gur tú Peadar agus is ar an gcarraig seo a thógfaidh mé m’eaglais, agus ní bhuafaidh geataí ifrinn uirthi. Agus tabharfaidh mé duit eochracha ríocht na bhflaitheas; rud ar bith a cheanglaíonn tú ar talamh beidh sé ceangailte ar neamh, agus rud ar bith a scaoileann tú ar talamh beidh sé scaoilte ar neamh.” Chuir sé mar acht ar na deisceabail ansin gan a rá le duine ar bith gurbh é féin an Críost.

Entrance Antiphon (Latin)



Inclina Domine aurem tuam et exaudi me.
Salvum fac servum tuum, Deus meus, sperantem in te.
Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam ad te clamabo tota die. (Ps 85 [86]:1-3).

Entrance Antiphon (English)

Listen, Lord, and answer me.

Save your servant who trusts in you. .

I call to you all day long; have mercy on me, O Lord. (Ps 85 [86]:1-2)/

It is fitting that this is the gospel on the Sunday on which World Youth Day ends in Madrid, with Pope Benedict the main celebrant and the homilist at the closing Mass. In the gospel Jesus asks Peter directly, 'Who do you say I am?' Jesus is putting the same question to each of the young pilgrims from all over the world, estimated to number between 500,000 and 1,000,000.
 
In his message for WYD 2011 Pope Benedict reflects on the theme for Madrid, Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith (cf. Col 2:7). He invites not only those who are strong in the faith to take part: I would like all young people – those who share our faith in Jesus Christ, but also those who are wavering or uncertain, or who do not believe in him – to share this experience, which can prove decisive for their lives. It is an experience of the Lord Jesus, risen and alive, and of his love for each of us.

In today's gospel St Peter had not yet met the Risen Lord but he already believed in Jesus. His response to the question or Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, led directly to Pope Benedict being in Spain this weekend, because he received through Peter the commission Jesus gave, You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church . . .

Pope Benedict, who refers in his message to his own experience as a young person under the Nazis, doesn't underestimate the youngL Part of being young is desiring something beyond everyday life and a secure job, a yearning for something really truly greater. Is this simply an empty dream that fades away as we become older? No! Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. Nothing else will ever be enough. Saint Augustine was right when he said 'our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you'.

My paternal grandfather, who spent his working life as a labouring man in Guinness's brewery in Dublin, used to say to me When you leave school get a nice, cushy job. I guess he didn't want me to have to do any backbreaking work. I was never inspired by his words, though I still remember them. Rather, I was inspired by stories of Columban priests in prison after the Communist takeover in China in 1949 and accounts of the lives and deaths of other Columbans who died in the Korean War.

Pope Benedict explicitly assumes the task given him by Jesus through Peter in today's gospel: As the Successor of the Apostle Peter, I too want to confirm you in the faith (cf. Lk 22:32). We firmly believe that Jesus Christ offered himself on the Cross in order to give us his love. In his passion, he bore our sufferings, took upon himself our sins, obtained forgiveness for us and reconciled us with God the Father, opening for us the way to eternal life. Thus we were freed from the thing that most encumbers our lives: the slavery of sin. We can love everyone, even our enemies, and we can share this love with the poorest of our brothers and sisters and all those in difficulty.

These are the central truths that the Church must constatnly proclaim and, with God's grace, try to live each day. Benedict doesn't offer the young, or any of us, a 'faith diet' suitable only for an unweaned child: Recognize and serve Jesus in the poor, the sick, and in our brothers and sisters who are in difficulty and in need of help.

Enter into a personal dialogue with Jesus Christ and cultivate it in faith. Get to know him better by reading the Gospels and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Converse with him in prayer, and place your trust in him. He will never betray that trust! 'Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed' (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 150). Thus you will acquire a mature and solid faith, one which will not be based simply on religious sentiment or on a vague memory of the catechism you studied as a child. You will come to know God and to live authentically in union with him, like the Apostle Thomas who showed his firm faith in Jesus in the words: 'My Lord and my God!'



The Pope reiterates his commission from Jesus in the service of the Church in his address at the welcome ceremony on 18 August at Madrid-Barajas International Airport: I have come here to meet thousands of young people from all over the world, Catholics committed to Christ searching for the truth that will give real meaning to their existence. I come as the Successor of Peter, to confirm them all in the faith, with days of intense pastoral activity, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life; to motivate the commitment to build up the Kingdom of God in the world among us; to exhort young people to know Christ personally as a friend and so, rooted in his person, to become faithful followers and valiant witnesses.

May each of us, like St Peter, desire to know Christ personally as a friend and so, rooted in his person, to become faithful followers and valiant witnesses.

Why do brides dress the way they do?

I used this video a few days ago. But I want to look at one particular part of it: a wedding 2:40 into the video. The bride is wearing a strapless dress. I have seen brides dressed in this way in different countries. It always embarrasses me because I know that most of them would never go to Mass on any other occasion wearing a similar dress. Why do they dress this way on one of the most important days in their life?

Irishman Percy French, one of the first persons I hope to meet in heaven, wrote Where the Mountains of Mourne Sweep Down to the Sea in 1896, a song I have been known to sing on occasion. One of the stanzas goes:

I believe that when writin' a wish you expressed
As to how the fine ladies in London were dressed
Well if you'll believe me, when asked to a ball
They don't wear no top to their dresses at all
Oh I've seen them meself and you could not in truth
Say that if they were bound for a ball or a bath
Don't be startin' them fashions, now Mary machree
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

I wonder what he would have made of church weddings today!