'In him I have spoken and revealed all.' Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C

 

Linaioli Tabernacle, St John the Baptist

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 3:1-6 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
    and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

 

Every valley shall be exalted

from Messiah by Handel

Tenor: Jon Vickers; conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham

This is Handel's setting of the last part of today's gospel.

Charles Kuralt was an American journalist who worked for many years for the CBS TV network in the USA. He was especially noted for his 'On the Road' features on the CBS Evening News. These started in 1967, the year I was ordained, and I became familiar with them when I went to study in the USA the following year.

I vividly remember one particular story - they were never from the highways but from the byways of the United States - about a man somewhat on the older side who lived in a small town somewhere in the heartland of the country. I forget the particular state. The nearest town was only a few kilometres away but there was no road connecting the two. People had to take a very long way around to get from one to the other.

The residents of both towns tried for years to persuade their politicians to build a road connecting them, without success. So this particular elderly citizen decided he'd start to build a road himself, using planks. When Charles Kuralt caught up with him he hadn't got very far - but he had started.

Legion of Mary Altar

[Wikipedia; photo]

This man was engaged in what the Handbook of the Legion of Mary calls Symbolic Action. The Handbook was written almost entirely by Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion.

The Handbook says, It is a fundamental Legion principle that into every work should be thrown the best that we can give. simple or difficult, it must be done in the spirit of Mary . . . 

But sometimes we are faced with works which are really impossible, that is to say, beyond human effort . . .

'Every impossibility is divisible into thirty-nine steps, of which each step is possible' - declares a legionary slogan . . .

Observe: the stress is set on action. No matter what may be the degree of the difficulty, a step must be taken. Of course, the step should be as effective as it can be. But if an effective step is not in view, then we must take a less effective one. And if the latter be not available, then some active gesture (that is, not merely a prayer) must be made which, though of no apparent practical value, at least tends towards or has some relation to the objective. This final challenging gesture is what the Legion has been calling 'Symbolic Action.' Recourse to it will explode the impossibility which is of our own imagining. And, on the other hand, it enters in the spirit of faith into dramatic conflict with the genuine impossibility.

The sequel may be the collapse of the walls of that Jericho.

I saw Charles Kuralt's broadcast some time between 1968 and 1971. In the autumn of 1982 I was working in a hospital in Minneapolis as a chaplain on a three-month Clinical Pastoral Education programme. Charles Kuralt came to town while I was there to give a lunchtime lecture in an auditorium near the hospital and I went along to hear him. When he invited questions from the very large audience someone asked him, What happened to that road the old man began to build? So I wasn't the only one who had remembered the story.

Mr Kuralt told us that the man had since died - but that the road between the two towns had finally been built by the authorities. 

The chances are that the man featured in Charles Kuralt's story, since he was from the heartland of the USA, was familiar with today's gospel. St John the Baptist is quoting the Prophet Isaiah and asking each of us to Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. He assures us that Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;  and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Jesus asks for our cooperation. When he was faced with the hungry crowds he asked the Apostles what food they had and then told them to feed the people. Their cooperation with their feeble resources enabled him to show God's bounty in a way they could not have imagined. At Cana Jesus told the servants to fill the water containers - and changed the water into the equivalent of about 600 bottles of the very best wine. (I once read a commentary that advised the reader to take that in a symbolic sense. I really don't see why we should diminish God's bounty! What Jesus did is indeed a symbol of God's bounty precisely because it was an act of that bounty in a specific situation.)

Linaioli Tabernacle (shutters open)

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

We have no idea what God can do with a seemingly insignificant or purely personal action. When the young St Anthony of the Abbot went of to live as a hermit in the desert, rather like St John the Baptist, he had no idea that it would lead to the foundation of monasteries of contemplatives around the world. 

Jesus, through the words of Isaiah repeated by St John the Baptist is calling us to actively prepare for his coming, in so many unexpected ways in our daily lives, through joys and sorrows, through the Mass and the sacraments, and in glory at the end of time. We are also preparing to celebrate the birthday of Jesus. However, that First Coming in the flesh has already taken place. 

St John of the Cross

Francisco de Zurbarán [Wikimedia]

St John of the Cross wrote in The Ascent of Mount Carmel, When he (God) gave us, as he did, his Son, who is his one Word, he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say. This is part of the Second Reading in the Office of Readings for Monday in Week 2 of Advent.

There is nothing further for him to say.

St John of the Cross goes on to write in the same passage, Consequently, anyone who today would want to ask God questions or desire some vision or revelation, would not only be acting foolishly but would commit an offence against God by not fixing his eyes entirely on Christ, without wanting something new or something besides him.

God might give him this answer, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.' I have already told you all things in my Word. Fix your eyes on him alone, because in him I have spoken and revealed all. Moreover, in him you will find more than you ask or desire.

The writings of St John of the Cross and of other great theologians do not reveal to us anything new but rather bring us into a deeper understanding of the Word. Likewise, the messages that the Church recognises as having been received in such places as Lourdes, for example, do not reveal to us anything new but rather emphasise some aspect of the Word, usually a call to penance and to prayer, in other words, Prepare the way of the Lord.

God asks us to look to the future in active, sometimes symbolically active, hope like the old man in Charles Kuralt's story. Be ready to meet Jesus in whatever guise he comes and whenever he comes, each day, at the hour of our death, at the end of time.

Antiphona ad Communionem  

Communion Antiphon Baruch 5:5; 4:36

Ierusalem, surge et sta in excelso, 

Jerusalem, arised and stand upon the heights,

et vide iucunditatem, quae veniet tibi a Deo tuo.

and behold the joy which comes to you from God.

‘Jesus Christ . . . is also the foundation of hope.’ Sunday Reflections, 1st Sunday of Advent, Year C

 

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

.

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves . . . (Luke 21:25; today’s gospel).

We begin Year C, which highlights St Luke's Gospel

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars of Night)

An ancient Advent hymn sung by the Christendom College Choir & Schola Gregoriana

Pope Benedict XVI in Auschwitz, 28 May 2006

[Wikipedia; photo]

The God in whom we believe is a God of reason - a reason, to be sure, which is not a kind of cold mathematics of the universe, but is one with love and with goodness (Pope Benedict in Auschwitz). 

Pope Benedict's Angelus Talk on the First Sunday of Advent, 29 November 2009. [I have highlighted some parts.]

Dear Brothers and Sisters

This Sunday, by the grace of God, a new Liturgical Year opens, of course, with Advent, a Season of preparation for the birth of the Lord. The Second Vatican Council, in the Constitution on the Liturgy, affirms that the Church 'in the course of the year... unfolds the whole mystery of Christ from the Incarnation and Nativity to the Ascension, to Pentecost and the expectation of the blessed hope of the Coming of the Lord'. In this way, 'recalling the mysteries of the redemption, she opens up to the faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present for all time; the faithful lay hold of them and are filled with saving grace' (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 102). The Council insists on the fact that the centre of the Liturgy is Christ, around whom the Blessed Virgin Mary, closest to him, and then the martyrs and the other saints who 'sing God's perfect praise in Heaven and intercede for us' (ibid., n. 104) revolve like the planets around the sun.

This is the reality of the Liturgical Year seen, so to speak, 'from God's perspective'. And from the perspective, let us say, of humankind, of history and of society what importance can it have? The answer is suggested to us precisely by the journey through Advent on which we are setting out today. The contemporary world above all needs hope; the developing peoples need it, but so do those that are economically advanced. We are becoming increasingly aware that we are all on one boat and together must save each other. Seeing so much false security collapse, we realize that what we need most is a trustworthy hope. This is found in Christ alone. As the Letter to the Hebrews says, he 'is the same yesterday and today and for ever' (Heb 13: 8). The Lord Jesus came in the past, comes in the present and will come in the future. He embraces all the dimensions of time, because he died and rose; he is 'the Living One'. While he shares our human precariousness, he remains forever and offers us the stability of God himself. He is 'flesh' like us and 'rock' like God. Whoever yearns for freedom, justice, and peace may rise again and raise his head, for in Christ liberation is drawing near (cf. Lk 21: 28) as we read in today's Gospel. We can therefore say that Jesus Christ is not only relevant to Christians, or only to believers, but to all men and women, for Christ, who is the centre of faith, is also the foundation of hope. And every human being is constantly in need of hope. 

Dear brothers and sisters, the Virgin Mary fully embodies a humanity that lives in hope based on faith in the living God. She is the Virgin of Advent: she is firmly established in the present, in the 'today' of salvation. In her heart she gathers up all past promises, and encompasses the future. Let us learn from her in order to truly enter this Season of grace and to accept, with joy and responsibility, the coming of God in our personal and social lives.

+++

The Visitation

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Three years ago on 24 November I was travelling on a bus here in Ireland. I overheard a passenger say to another person, It's Christmas now. Not quite. There was still a full month to go before the beginning of the Church's Christmas Season begins on the evening of 24 December either with the Vigil Mass in the early evening or, more commonly, with the Mass During the Night, formerly known as the Midnight Mass.

Advent is the liturgical season that has been largely sidelined, even in Catholic institutions such as schools which usually hold Christmas parties before Christmas has even begun. In my last few years in the Philippines I tried, with some success, to have these parties called Advent parties. Some groups I was associated with adopted the term while others compromised with the 'Pre-Christmas' party. I reminded them that a wedding banquet takes place after the wedding and a baptismal party takes place after the birth and baptism of the child.

In El Greco's painting of the Visitation above we see two women, Mary and St Elizabeth, vibrant with a dance of life, each carrying a child in her womb. Each was preparing for the birth of her child. And the young Mary, in the early stages of pregnancy, went specifically to be of help to her much older relative who was, according to tradition, about six months later in her pregnancy. Mary wanted to help Elizabeth prepare for the birth of St John the Baptist.

In the opening sentence of his Angelus talk Pope Benedict states clearly that Advent is a Season of preparation for the birth of the Lord.

In the weekday Masses in the earlier part of Advent we listen to a prophecy from the Old Testament and then a gospel reading that shows how that prophecy has been fulfilled with the coming of Jesus. This is meant to bring us hope for the future, that God who came into the world more than 2,000 years ago as a human being and is now risen from the dead will continue to be with us as individuals and as a community as we journey towards eternal life.

And Mary continues to bring Jesus her Son to us and to lead us to her Son, in accordance with the will of the Father. Pope Benedict's Angelus message ends with these beautiful words: In her heart she gathers up all past promises, and encompasses the future. Let us learn from her in order to truly enter this Season of grace and to accept, with joy and responsibility, the coming of God in our personal and social lives.

Ad te Domine, Alessandro Scarlatti 

Antiphona at introitum  Entrance Antiphon Cf Ps 24[25]:1-3

 

Ad te levavi animan meam, Deus meus,

To you, I lift up my soul, O my God.

in te confido, non erubescam.

In you, I have trusted, let me not be put to shame.

Neque irrideant me inimici mei,

Nor let my enemies exult over me;

etenim universi qui te exspectant non confundentur.

and let none who hope in you be put to shame.

American Thanksgiving Day

I'm posting this on American Thanksgiving Day. I am grateful for the Thanksgiving Days I spent in the USA, for the many American friends I have and for the wonderful hospitality I have received in the USA while studying and visiting there. I wish readers of this blog who celebrate today, a great family day where the stranger is welcome, a Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Below is a lovely song written for Johnny Cash by Josef  Anderson.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Sung by Johnny Cash for whom the song was written by Josef Anderson

'She gave me a glimpse into the Kingdom of God, a gift that has lasted all these years.' Sunday Reflections, Christ the King, Year B

 

From The Gospel of John (2003) 

Directed by Philip Saville. [John 18:33-37, today's Gospel]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 18:33-37 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

 

Christ Before Pilate

Tintoretto [Web Gallery of Art]

The Kingdom of God breaks into our lives very often in quiet, apparently insignificant ways. More than 50 years ago, shortly after I was ordained, I was stopped by an elderly woman in a poor part of Dublin, just around the corner from where I had gone to school. She wasn't well dressed but didn't ask me for anything. She simply wanted to tell me how lonely she was. She kept repeating that.

I never met that woman again but I have not forgotten her. I often pray for her soul and also pray that one day she will welcome me into the heavenly home that God wills for all of us. That encounter at a street corner in Dublin has been an on-going grace for me, an experience of the Kingdom of God breaking through in what would seem to have been a totally insignificant event.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells us at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3). Being poor in spirit means knowing one's need of God. The woman who stopped me in the street was expressing that because she saw that I was a priest and in some way a representative of the Lord.

The only thing I could give that poor woman, who was old enough to be my grandmother, was a listening ear. But she gave me a glimpse into the Kingdom of God, a gift that has lasted all these years.

My kingdom is not from this world, Jesus tells us in today's gospel as he stands before Pilate. But his kingdom is constantly breaking through in this world, in very ordinary, unplanned encounters when God gives us the grace to see and to hear - and we accept that grace. And our accepting of that grace is in itself a grace, a gift, from God.

Head of a Woman

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

The story of the old woman I met on a street corner in Dublin reminded me of a poem by Irish writer Padraic Colum (1881 - 1972), An Old Woman of the Roads. The words appear on the video blow to the background of Carolan's Farewell played on the harp. When Colum wrote this poem there were many homeless men and women in rural Ireland who would find a welcome for the night from families along their way. Today the homeless are in the cities and larger towns.

And I am praying to God on high,

And I am praying Him night and day,

For a little house - a house of my own

Out of the wind's and the rain's way.

Hail Redeemer, King Divine

Words by Patrick Brennan CSsR, music by  Charles Rigby

The Last Judgment

Florentine Master, c.1300 [Wikipedia]

PopePius XI established the Feast of Christ the King in 1925, to be celebrated on the last Sunday of October. When the new Church calendar came into effect in 1969 it moved the feast, now a Solemnity, to the last Sunday in Ordinary Time. Those who celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass observe the feast on its original Sunday.

'The word of God, a seed of eternity that transforms this world from within.' Sunday Reflections, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

St Michael in Victory

Murillo [Wikimedia Commons]

At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time (Daniel 12:1. First Reading). 

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

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 13:24-32 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Pope Benedict XVI n Zagreb, Croatia, 2011

[Wikimedia Commons]

This week I will use the Angelus talk given by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday 15 November 2009 when he spoke about today's Gospel. I have highlighted  some parts.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have reached the last two weeks of the liturgical year. Let us thank the Lord who has once again granted us to make this journey of faith old and ever new in the great spiritual family of the Church! It is a precious gift, which enables us to live the mystery of Christ in history, receiving in the furrows of our personal and community existence the seed of the word of God, a seed of eternity that transforms this world from within and opens it to the Kingdom of Heaven. This year, we have been accompanied along our itinerary through the Sunday biblical Readings by St Mark's Gospel, which today presents to us part of Jesus' discourse on the end of times. In this discourse is a phrase whose terse clarity is striking: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Mk 13: 31). Let us pause a moment to reflect on this prophecy of Christ.

The expression Heaven and earth recurs frequently in the Bible in reference to the whole universe, the entire cosmos. Jesus declares that all this is destined to pass away; not only the earth but also Heaven, which here is meant in a purely cosmic sense and not as synonymous with God. Sacred Scripture knows no ambiguity: all Creation is marked by finitude, including the elements divinized by ancient mythologies; there is no confusion between Creation and the Creator but rather a decided difference. With this clear distinction Jesus says that his words will not pass away, that is to say they are part of God and therefore eternal. Even if they were spoken in the concreteness of his earthly existence, they are prophetic words par excellence, as Jesus affirms elsewhere, addressing the heavenly Father: I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me (Jn 17: 8). In a well-known parable Christ compares himself to the sower and explains that the seed is the word (cf. Mk 4: 14); those who hear it, accept it and bear fruit (cf. Mk 4: 20) take part in the Kingdom of God, that is, they live under his lordship. They remain in the world, but are no longer of the world. They bear within them a seed of eternity a principle of transformation that is already manifest now in a good life, enlivened by charity, and that in the end will produce the resurrection of the flesh. This is the power of Christ's word.

Dear friends, the Virgin Mary is the living sign of this truth. Her heart was ‘good soil’ that received with complete willingness the Word of God, so that her whole life, transformed according to the image of the Son, was introduced into eternity, body and soul, in anticipation of the eternal vocation of every human being. Let us now make our own in prayer her response to the Angel: Let it be to me according to your word (Lk 1: 38), so that in following Christ on the way of the Cross we too may be able to attain the glory of the Resurrection.

The Sower

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

Christ compares himself to the sower and explains that the seed is the word (cf. Mk 4: 14).

Antiphona ad communionem   

Communion Antiphon (Mark 11:23-24)

Amen dico vobis, quidquid orantes petitis,

Amen, I say to you: Whatever you ask in prayer,

credite quia accipietis, et fiet vobis, [dicit Dominus].

believe that you will receive, and it will be given to you [says the Lord].

'I will bring my gifts in thanksgiving and love.' Sunday Reflections, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

The Widow's Mite

James Tissot [Wikipedia]

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 12:38-44 or 12:41-44 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

[In his teaching Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the market-places and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretence make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”]

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Head of a Peasant Woman in a Green Shawl

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]  

There are moments that remain a grace from God for a person for the rest of his life, moments when he was simply an observer rather than a participant. One such moment for me happened one night more than 45 years ago in Ozamiz City, Mindanao. It was quite late and I was looking out through an upstairs window in the convent (presbytery/rectory) of the Cathedral. As we say in Ireland, 'there wasn't a sinner to be seen' on the cathedral plaza except for two persons. One was a man, a beggar, maybe in his 30s. The other was Gregoria, known to everyone as 'Guria', a 'simple' woman and very gentle who would often wander in and out of classrooms in schools, doodle on the board and leave without having disturbed anyone. 

I noticed Guria, who was perhaps in her 40s, approach the man. She had two small pieces of bread, what is called pandesal in the Philippines. She gave one to the beggar, just like St Martin of Tours who, when still a  soldier, cut his ample cloak in two and giving one half to a beggar. (St Martin's feast day is 11 November.)

St Martin and the Beggar

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

What Guria did was pure, unselfish love. And yet she was probably unaware of this and certainly totally unaware of the fact that someone was observing her. She did not have a strong gift of reflection whereas God has given this to me and to most of us. But we don't always use that gift.

St Mark tells us, Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the people putting money into the offering box. And he saw 'Guria' there. Perhaps the widow in the gospel looked like the peasant woman in Van Gogh's painting above. But it would seem that his disciples hadn't observed her until Jesus drew their attention to her.

It is said that St Martin, after he had shared his cloak with the beggar, saw Jesus in a dream wearing that half-cloak. The reality is that Jesus Christ the Risen Lord shows himself frequently to us, if we have eyes to see, as he showed himself to me through Guria more than 45 years ago, and on many other similar occasions down the years.

A Bronze Mite

[Wikipedia]

In Thanksgiving and Love

by Jude Nnam and the CACA Choir

(Catholic Archdiocesan Choir Abuja)

Abuja is the capital of Nigeria.