'My words will not pass away.' Sunday Reflections, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus, El Greco, 1578-79

Chapter House, Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial, Spain [Wikipedia]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Mark 13:24-32 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Jesus said to his disciples:

 “But in those days, after that suffering,

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.

 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 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 forth 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 tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

In recent months refugees have been in the news almost daily, refugees from the Middle East and from Africa heading for Europe, Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar heading for other countries in Asia. For most of these people, many of whom have died in their efforts to find a better life, the words of Jesus in today's Gospel, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, are already in the past tense.

The Christians of Iraq and Syria, all of them Arabs and with 2,000 years of living the Christian faith behind them, are facing annihilation as a community because of the actions in recent years of ISIS/ISIL/IS. And the Christians of Iraq now face another blow. The Iraqi parliament recently passed a bill that would force some Christian children to become Muslims.

Kiribati

Jesus tells us in the Gospel, From the fig tree learn its lesson. He's using a simple example from nature that everyone in Israel would have understood. In Ireland, where I'm from, when we see the daffodils in bloom we know for sure that spring is here.

The young men in the photo above and the two girls in the photo below are from Kiribati, a republic in the Pacific that consists mostly of atolls and has a population of about 100,000, more than half of them Catholics.

Kiribati

The people singing joyfully in St Theresa's Church live on Christmas Island, Republic of Kiribati, which is different from Christmas Island, the Australian territory where many refugees are being held at present.

Fiji-based Columban Fr Frank Hoare recently visited Kiribati. He noted, Kiribati is full of children and young people as it is not unusual for couples to have ten or more children. They have a carefree energy for life. 

Fr Hoare pointed out too that the leaders of the country have 'learned its lesson from the fig tree'. The Kiribati Government bought a property of some thousands of acres from the Anglican Church in Fiji for resettlement of people in the future. The President has said that the sea will cover Kiribati by the end of this century. Government officials have asked Australia and New Zealand to accept Kiribati people as permanent refugees. So global warming is not a matter of inconvenience and of changed conditions for the I Kiribati people. It is a matter of losing their homeland and being cast adrift to find shelter in different foreign countries. This would threaten the survival of their culture. This is one example of those causing least damage to the environment being made to suffer most because if it. 

The leaders' fears are not without reason. The country is at sea-level, with no hills. The Guardian (London) carries a report as I write this on 13 November 2015, Collapsing Greenland glacier could raise sea levels by half a metre, say scientists. This could well mean that the children of the young people of Kiribati in the photos above will be born elsewhere, their homeland no longer existing.

The Christians of Iraq and Syria and the people of Kiribati will have many descendants but they will almost certainly be living in other countries. And like some of the churches in Syria and Iraq where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass had been celebrated for centuries, in some cases nearly as far back as the time of the Apostles, St Theresa's Church on Christmas Island, Kiribati, will have no celebration of the birth of Christ, the feast that gave its name to the island, of his Resurrection, of Pentecost. There won't be any people around.

And there are the daily tragedies where for individuals the sun is darkened and the moon no longer gives its light.

Aleppo, Syria

The two girls in the photo in Kiribati are probably unaware of what may face them in the future. But the two girls in Aleppo know the experience of war and terror. Yet the parish priest of the Latin Catholic Parish of St Francis in Aleppo, Fr Ibrahim Alsabagh OFM, sees hope and finds Christians and Muslims Encountering God while waiting in line for a bucket of water.

Speaking at a meeting in Rimini, Italy, the Damascus-born Franciscan friar says, I am here to share the joy of the faith. He tells the people at the meeting, We are living in chaos and we are lacking everything. Alongside the real problem of security – his neighbourhood is controlled by the Syrian government but the Caliphate troops are just a short distance away – there is also the difficulty of getting hold of things due to rising costs and the scarcity of resources. But whenever a need is satisfied, we appreciate it more, even something as simple as a glass of water.

Father Ibrahim tells a story that reminds one of Jesus meeting the woman at the well - the parish happens to have a well. People queue for hours but despite this, nothing happens. Just cheery and smiling people waiting their turn. A Muslim approached me and whispered in my ear: ‘This is very strange, there is something great here among you. When I walk around the city, I see people fighting, almost killing each other over a bucket of water. But here it’s different.’ Speaking to everyone about Christ is difficult in the context in which we live. But it is through these small gestures of peace of heartfelt joy, of patience and humility that we manage to say so much to those who thirst for something great. A faith that is communicated not with grandiose speeches but simply by using the method Jesus taught us: ‘Come, follow me’.

This is the greatest wish of Father Ibrahim: We don’t know when it will all end, but it doesn’t matter when and how it will end. The important thing is to bear witness to Christ, only then will the political and humanitarian solution come. Bearing testimony to the Christian life by loving, forgiving and taking also into consideration the salvation of those who harm us.

Jesus tells us today, My words will not pass away. They live in the hearts of persons such as Father Ibrahim, in the hearts of the leaders of Kiribati, in the hearts of the young girls and the young men in Kiribati, in the hearts of the young girls in the midst of suffering Aleppo who live in the hope that there is something better.

May the words of Jesus live in the heart of each of us.

Antiphona ad Introitum     

Entrance Antiphon  Jeremiah 39: 11, 12, 14 

Dicit Dóminus: 

The Lord said:

Ego cógito cogitatiónes pacis, et non afflictiónis:

I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. 

invocábitis me, et ego exáudiam vos: 

You will call upon me, and I will answer you,

et redúcam captivitátem vestram de cunctis locis.

and I will lead back your captives from every place. 

Vs. Benedixísti, Dómine, terram tuam: avertísti captivitátem Jacob. 

You have favored, 0 Lord, your land; you have restored the well-being of Jacob. 

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto;

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

et nunc, et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

as it was, is now and will be for ever. Amen

The Lord said:

Ego cógito cogitatiónes pacis, et non afflictiónis:

I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. 

invocábitis me, et ego exáudiam vos: 

You will call upon me, and I will answer you,

et redúcam captivitátem vestram de cunctis locis.

and I will lead back your captives from every place. 

The text in bold is used in the Mass in the Ordinary Form while the longer version is used in the Extraordinary Form, though it may also be used in the Ordinary form.

'But she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.' Sunday Reflections, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Mark 12:38-44 [or 12:41-44] (New Revised Standard Version, CatholicEdition, Canada) 

[As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”]

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

Head of a Peasant Woman with Greenish Lace Cap, Van Gogh, 1885

Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Netherlands [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 about forty years ago in Ozamiz City, Mindanao. It was quite late and I was looking out through an upstairs window in the convento (presbytery/rectory) of the Cathedral. As we say in Ireland, 'there wasn't a sinner' 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 an out of classrooms in schools, doodle on the board and leave without having distracted anyone. 

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

St Martin of Tours and the Beggar, El Greco, 1597-99

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC [Wikipedia]

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 crowd putting money into the treasury. And he saw 'Guria' there. Perhaps she looked like the Dutch 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 Christ shows himself frequently to us, if we have eyes to see, as he showed himself to me through Guria 40 years ago, and on many other similar occasions down the years.

A bronze mite, Judea, 1st century BC [Wikipedia]

In the video below is the story of Kesz Váldez, from Cavite City, near Manila, who when still a 'mite' from a very impoverished background shared what he had, his 'widow's mite', with other children on his seventh birthday, the first he had ever celebrated. He received the International Children's Peace Prize in 2012.

'Rejoice and be glad . . .' Sunday Reflections, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day

The Coronation of the Virgin, Fra Angelico, 1434-35

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) 

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

Gospel Matthew 5:1-12a (New Revised Standard Version, CatholicEdition, Canada) 

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

Dublin buses [Wikipedia]

When I go home to my native Dublin I use public transport all the time. I often find God's presence in in those around me, passengers and drivers. So does Columban Sr Mary Nolan, now based in Dublin, who worked for many years in Peru and also served a term as Congregational Leader of the Missionary Sisters of St Columban. Here she shares such a moment on the 150 bus - and by chance Wikipedia has a photo of a 150 bus!

Coming from the city on the 150 bus recently I shared a seat with a woman whom I had never met before. Her name is Breda.  She told me she has been a widow for the past 29 years; her Dad suffers from Alzheimer’s and her Mom cares for him down in their home near Carlow.  Breda’s daughter Ashling was 11 years old when her father died.  There was another little girl four years younger who died of hepatitis at 7 months.  Ashling was traumatized but gradually came through it and did well at her studies.  She is a churchgoer, and a turning point for her was when she attended YOUTH 2000.  At that youth celebration Ashling met her future husband, a young man who is spina bifida.  They’re happily married since last year.

By the time I had heard that story my bus had arrived at St Agnes’ Road, where our convent is, and it was time to part from Breda.  I was amazed that such a happy faith-filled woman could have come through so much suffering. 

The Solemnity of All Saints celebrates the countless saints whom the Church has never canonized and never will, people who have gone before us who in their lifetime, like Breda on the 150 bus in Dublin, accepted whatever life brought, sadness and joy, believing in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for them and in doing so being an inspiration to those around them.

I think that Ashling, Breda's daughter, attended one of the four-day faith festivals organised each summer by YOUTH 2000. The video above is a promo for this year's.

Songs for All Saints' Day

Here is a rousing version of For All the Saints, words by Anglican Bishop William Walsham How and music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The video is taken from an edition of the BBC's weekly progamme Songs of Praise, which has been running since 1961.

A poem for All Saints' and All Souls' Days

Lochearnhead and Glen Ogle, Scotland [Wikipedia]

I don't know much about the faith of Scottish poet Norman MacCaig (1910 - 1996). Wikipedia tells us that he described it as 'Zen Calvinism' - 'a comment typical of his half-humorous, half-serious approach to life'.

A favourite poem of mine is Country Postman. It expresses for me something of the reality of the Communion of Saints that we celebrate and remember in a special way on these two days. I've no idea if Norman MacCaig was thinking of the Communion of Saints when he wrote it. But it captures something of what holds us all together as a community. With email, Facebook and all the ways of communicating in 'this digital continent', as Pope Benedict calls it, perhaps the role of the postman has changed, though he is still vital in rural communities, not only to deliver the mail but to keep an eye on older persons living on their own, some of whom perhaps are reclusive but who still welcome him.

The poem too catches something of the fragility in all of us, especially in those who serve the broader community quietly and generously for so many years. And could Jesus, who turned water into wine at a wedding for people like those whom this mail deliverer served, turn away this poor man who died after probably celebrating a little too much?

It is persons such as MacCaig's Country Postman whom we remember on All Souls' Day and it is our prayers that help them move from being numbered among All Souls to being numbered among All Saints.

Country Postman

Before he was drowned, 

his drunk body bumping down the shallows 

of the Ogle Burn, he had walked 

fifteen miles every day 

bringing celebrations and disasters 

and what lies between them to

MacLarens and MacGregors 

and Mackenzies.

Now he has no news to bring 

of celebrations or disasters, 

although, after one short journey, 

he has reached 

all the clans in the world.

['Burn' here means 'creek'.]

Columban Fr Patrick Crowley RIP

Fr Patrick J. Crowley 

(1926-2015)

Fr Patrick (Pat) J. Crowley died suddenly on 25 October, 2015, in St Columban's Nursing Home, Dalgan Park, Navan, Ireland. Born in Caheragh Parish (Diocese of Cork and Ross), County Cork, on 18 March 1926, he was educated in Dromore National School,  Bantry, and St Colman’s College, Fermoy, County Cork. He joined the Columbans  in Dalgan Park in 1945, was ordained priest on 21 December 1951, and was assigned to Japan.

River Blackwater, Fermoy [Wikipedia]

He soon became Bursar for the Region of Japan and after a term of seven years, he took on the same task in Whitby, England. There followed appointments  as Bursar  in Australia (Essendon and Perth) in 1963, and later in Wellington, New Zealand, before he was reassigned to Britain where he became District Superior in 1972. As he put it himself: 'it was a case of out of the frying pan into another frying pan'.  Finishing that term in 1979  he became Manager of the Mission Office in Ireland, where he computerised the office systems, before being appointed as Director of the Irish Region in 1983 for a term of four years.

Wellington, New Zealand [Wikipedia]

He was appointed General Secretary to the Central Administration of the Society in 1987, and continued working with the General Council for over twenty years, accepting the jobs of Society Archivist and History Coordinator as well.  It was only occasionally that his dedicated and painstaking work could be seen and admired.  In his annual publication of the Society Personnel Directory he tried to keep up with all the personnel changes  across the world.  But it was his bi-annual updating of Those who Journeyed with Us, where he managed to assemble profiles and photos of the more than seven hundred deceased Columbans, that really reflected his many years of determined effort.

St Columban's Cemetery, Dalgan Park

This is Fr Pat Crowley's final resting place as it is of so many others whom he lovingly honoured in Those Who Journeyed With Us, the book of obituaries of deceased Columbans, many editions of which he compiled and edited.

After the General Council left Dublin for Hong Kong in 1988, Father Pat remained on to manage the house in Donaghmede, Dublin,  until ill health obliged him to enter the Nursing Home in Dalgan in June 2012. Father Pat left us with memories of  a caring missionary, a quiet-spoken, discrete man with a deadpan sense of humour who served others without thought of reward or recognition. 

May he rest in peace. 

Bantry Bay sung by John McCormack

'Some are gone upon their last logged homing,
Some are left, but they are old and gray,
And we're waiting for the tide in the gloaming,
To sail upon the Great Highway,
To the land of rest unending,
All peacefully from Bantry Bay.'

This song about the people and the place where Father Pat grew up was written by James Molloy. The photo used in the video is by Pam Brophy and taken from Wikipedia. Thanks to Frs Noel Daly and Cyril Lovett for the text of the obituary.

Columban Fr Oliver C. Kennedy RIP

Fr Oliver Canice Kennedy

(1922 - 2015)

Fr Oliver Kennedy was born in Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland, on 3 November 1922, the year the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland, separated from the United Kingdom as an independent state. He was educated at St Brendans National School, Loughrea, and St Josephʼs College, Ballinasloe, County Galway. In 1941, he was a member of the first class to be admitted to the new Dalgan Park at St Columbanʼs, Navan, County Meath. He was ordained priest on 21 December 1947.

St Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea, Diocese of Clonfert [Wikipedia]

His first appointment, in 1948, was to Burma, but because of the difficulties in obtaining a visa he was subsequently appointed to Korea. He was to spend the next twenty years there, working in the

Kwangju area as pastor of Koksung and later of Posong, before becoming director of Catholic Relief Services in Kwangju.

Flag of South Korea [Wikipedia]

In 1989 he was appointed to the General Mission Office in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He spent almost twenty years there in various roles. Affable and hard-working, he enjoyed good relationships with all the office staff.

Montego Bay. Jamaica [Wikipedia]

The Columbans worked for some years in the Diocese of Montego Bay.

Then, in 1986 he was appointed as a member of the pioneer Columban team to Jamaica. Jamaica was characterised by high levels of violence, and by a lack of family life values, due in large part

to the suffering in slavery of so many of the early inhabitants. After seven years working there, Father Oliverʼs health demanded that he be reassigned to the USA. There he worked once again, for as long as he was able, in the Omaha Mission Office.

St Columban's, Dalgan Park

Father Oliver was in the first group of Irish Columban seminarians to start their studies in this, the 'New Dalgan', when it was opened in 1941. The 'Old Dalgan' in Shrule ahd served as our seminary in Ireland from 1918 until 1941. He studied here for seven years and spent the last two years of his life in the nursing home here.

He was admitted to the Dalgan Nursing Home in June 2013. His last two years were difficult, but he was treated with immense kindness and patience by all the members of the Nursing Home staff. May he rest in peace.

St Columban's Cemetery, Dalgan Park

Father Oliver's brother Joseph, also a Columban priest, is buried here too. He was ordained in 1942 and worked on mission in China, Japan, Britain and Peru. He died on 18 February 1997. The light of heaven on both of them.