Sunday Reflections

Sunday Reflections

‘Have you anything here to eat?’ Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B

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Supper at Emmaus, Caravaggio, 1606

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan [Web Gallery of Art]


Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:35).

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Luke 24:35-48 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)   Then they told what had happened on the road, and how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Responsorial Psalm [Philippines, USA]


St Pope John Paul II skiing in 1984

Both St John Paul II and I skied, though never together. He skied most of his life, managing to ‘escape’ even when pope to do so. My career was limited to one glorious day early in January 1969 in Toggenburg, near Syracuse in Upstate New York. If I could re-live one day in my life that is the one I would choose. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the air was crisp and clean and I remember devouring mandarin oranges and laughing for about ten minutes when I fell off the ‘T-bar’ while going back up to the top of the beginners’ slope.


T-bar lift, Sweden [Wikipedia]


I had been ordained less than 13 months before and was studying music in Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York, north of New York City, run by the Religious of the Sacred Heart. One of the students, Regina McGann, invited me to spend some days with her family in Jamesville. She came from a large family and her parents, Harold and Mary, made me feel most welcome.

If I could re-live that wonderful day of skiing it would have to include the family meal that evening in the McGann household – or any of the evenings I was there. We sat around a big round table and there was no rush. The emphasis wasn’t on eating but on enjoying a family mealtogether. The McGann Family was for me a great example of the truth of Fr Patrick Peyton‘s slogan, The family that prays together stays together. Father Peyton used a copy of Murillo’s painting below in his Family Rosary Crusade.


Virgin and Child with a Rosary, Murillo, 1650-55

Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art]


The McGann Family prayed the Rosary every night except Sunday, when the prayed Compline, the Night Prayer of the Church. This practice went back long before Vatican II, which encouraged lay people to pray parts of the Breviary, The Prayer of the Church.
But what I learned from this wonderful family is that The Family that eats together stays together. As an adult I came to see that it was through our family meals while growing up that I had experienced most of all being part of a family. The only time we were all together was in the evening. And Sunday dinner, in the early afternoon, was always something special, as it was for every family that I knew.

Today’s gospel opens with the two disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus recount how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. They had invited Jesus to dine with them and that is how they discovered who their companion on the road – whom they had invited to join them – really was.

And to show the disbelieving apostles and disciples that he is not a ghost Jesus asks, Have you anything here to eat? 

During the Easter Season we also hear at Mass gospel readings fromJohn 21 the chapter that includes the scene of the extraordinary catch of fish, some of which Jesus, the Risen Lord, cooked when he said,Come and have breakfast (John 21:12). After that meal he asks Peter three times, Simon son of John, do you love me?

This is a moment of great intimacy when Peter discovers that it is as his beloved friend that Jesus give him his mission – Feed my lambs . . . tend my sheep . . . feed my sheep.
It is clear from these gospel readings, and from many others, most especially the accounts of the Last Supper, that God reveals himself to us in the intimacy of a meal. If the family meal or meals with close friends are not part of our lives, how can we understand the meal aspect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? In the Mass, in which we unite ourselves with the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, he gives himself, the Risen Lord, body, blood, soul and divinity, as so many of us learned when we were young, as the Bread of Life. It is not a symbol of himself that he gives in Holy Communion, but his very self, carrying the scars of Calvary and giving us the strength to do the same.

But he also reveals himself to us in our ordinary meals, sometimes even over a cup of tea or coffee. I remember one person who was close to me who for many years had carried a resentment towards someone now dead, a resentment that was the result of a painful incident. She recalled what her father, long since dead, had said to her many years before: Never carry a grudge against anyone. Over that cup of tea she finally let go of her self-inflicted pain, forgave, and moved on with a new lightness in her heart. I have no doubt whatever that it was Jesus the Risen Lord who spoke to her that day through the words of her father. It was a kind of Resurrection experience, over a cup of tea.

Even when we’re not talking about profound things at a meal, when we see them as occasions when we most experience our humanity, when we see the link between the family or community meal, or a meal to which we invite someone living alone, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we can more readily understand the implications of the closing words of today’s gospel, You are witnesses of these things.

The simple Grace Before and After Meals can remind us gently of the presence of the Risen Lord at our table, as truly present as he was at the table in Emmaus, as truly present as he was when he asked the apostles, Have you anything here to eat?
Prayer before the meal, Adriaen Jansz van Ostrade, 1653British Museum, London [Web Gallery of Art]

]

Not Manchester United Football Club but Manchester United Methodist Choirs. This ancient Easter hymn is introduced by the arranger, Philip Stopford.

Christ the Lord is risen again!

Christ the Lord is risen again;

Christ hath broken every chain;

Hark! Angelic voices cry,

Singing evermore on high,

Alleluia!

He, Who gave for us His life,

Who for us endured the strife,

Is our Paschal Lamb today;

We, too, sing for joy, and say

Alleluia!

He, Who bore all pain and loss

Comfortless upon the cross,

Lives in glory now on high,

Pleads for us, and hears our cry;

Alleluia!

He Who slumbered in the grave,

Is exalted now to save;

Now through Christendom it rings

That the Lamb is King of kings.

Alleluia!

[He Whose path no records tell,

Who descended into hell;

Who the strong man armed hath bound,

Now in highest heaven is crowned.

Alleluia!


Now He bids tell abroad

How the lost may be restored,

How the penitent forgiven,

How we, too, may enter Heav’n.

Alleluia!]


Thou, our Paschal Lamb indeed,

Christ, Thy ransomed people feed:

Take our sins and guilt away,

Let us sing by night and day

Alleluia!

Prayer Intentions of Pope Francis April 2015: Creation; Persecuted Christians

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Apostleship of Prayer

 

Pope Francis addressing the European Parliament [Wikipedia]

Universal Intention – Creation

That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God. 

 

Evangelization Intention – Persecuted Christians

That persecuted Christians may feel the consoling presence of the Risen Lord and the solidarity of all the Church.

‘He saw and believed.’ Sunday Reflections, Easter Sunday

From The Gospel of John (2003) directed by Philip Saville

 Gospel of the Mass during the Day, John 20:1-9

 

 

The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night


Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

From the Ordo (Philippines): The entire celebration of this sacred Vigil must take place at night, so that it begins after nightfall and ends before the dawn on the Sunday. (Universal Norms, 21). This rule is to be taken according to its strictest sense. The Easter Vigil is not to be celebrated at the time of day that is customary for anticipated Sunday Masses.

The Easter Vigil is not an ‘anticipated Mass’. It stands on its own and is the most important liturgical celebration of the whole year. One may fulfil one’s Sunday obligation by attending either the Easter Vigil or the Mass during the Day. One may also receive Holy Communion at both.


The Resurrection of Christ, Rembrandt, c.1639

 Alte Pinakothek, Munich [Web Gallery of Art]

At the Mass during the Day

 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                

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

Gospel John 20:1-9 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.



Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem [Wikipedia]

 [Referred to in the poem below as ‘Church of the Saviour’]

 
Father Pádraig Ó Croiligh is a priest of the Diocese of Derry in Ireland. He is also a poet. The following poem is from his book Brúitíní Creidimh (Mashed Potatoes of Faith) published by Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradálta in 2005. I have added my own interlinear translation.


Calvaire (Calvary)

 
Ag barr na gcéimeanna

At the top of the steps

In Eaglais an tSlánaitheora

In the Church of the Saviour

Tá séipéal tógtha thart ar rian na croise,

There’s a chapel built around the mark of the cross,

An dara stáisiún déag dearaithe are a chúl

The twelfth station drawn at the back

Agus poll sa talamh faoi

And a hole in the ground beneath

San áit a mbíodh an chrois

In the place where the cross was

Ag an am ar tharla an crith talún.

At the time of the earthquake.


Ach níl an tarlú fein ná an duine

But neither the event nor the person

Í láthair anseo anois,

Are present here now,

Ach in áiteanna brúite buartha

But in crushed sorrowful places

Ar fud na cruinne

Throughout the world

Agus i láthair an uaignis.

And in the midst of loneliness.


An fear a fuair bás anseo,

The man who died here

Den bhás a rinneadh anseo,

Of the death inflicted here,

Tá sé beo agus aiséirithe.

He is alive and risen.

Tá Íosa ina Chríost go foill!

Jesus is still the Christ!

 

 Jesus is still the Christ!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

 Sung in English and in Ukrainian, arranged by John Rutter


One of the ‘crushed sorrowful places’ in today’s world is Ukraine. ButJesus is still the Christ there!
There are many ‘crushed sorrowful places’ in the news just now: Kenya, Somalia, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan. The list goes on.

Lebanon is a country that went through a brutal civil war between 1975 and 1990 in which 120,000 were killed, out of a population of not much more than four million. It is affected today by the conflicts in neighbouring countries. Four years ago it gave what is one of the most joyful proclamations of the Resurrection that I have ever come across. One does not need to understand Arabic to know what is being celebrated. Jesus is still the Christ!

 

We can proclaim the Resurrection of Jesus Christ through any medium. One medium is the cartoon, a medium that was used by early Christians in times of persecution when they used the Ichthys sign, the ‘Sign of the Fish’, to identify themselves secretly to other believers.

 


B.C. by Johnny Hart

 

Johnny Hart was an American syndicated cartoonist who created theB.C. cartoon strip and was co-creator of the Wizard of Id strip. Especially around Holy Week and Easter he sometimes used the B.C.strip to express his Christian faith, as in the example above.

 


A quotation from the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

A dying man asked a dying man for eternal life; a man without possessions asked a poor man for a Kingdom; a thief at the door of death asked to die like a thief and steal Paradise. One would have thought a saint would have been the first soul purchased over the counter of Calvary by the red coins of Redemption, but in the Divine plan it was a thief who was the escort of the King of kings into Paradise. If Our Lord had come merely as a teacher, the thief would never have asked for forgiveness. But since the thief’s request touched the reason of His coming to earth, namely, to save souls, the thief heard the immediate answer:

‘I promise thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43).

It was the thief’s last prayer, perhaps even his first. He knocked once, sought once, asked once, dared everything, and found everything. When even the disciples were doubting and only one was present at the Cross, the thief owned and acknowledged Him as Savior.

Johnny Hart echoes the words of Archbishop Sheen in the cartoon below published on Easter Sunday 2007, the day after his sudden death on Holy Saturday, 7 April. He often featured anthropomorphic ants in B.C., often at ‘Skool’, such as here:


[Panel 7: ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Panel 8: ‘Assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise.’ Panel 9: ‘It is finished.’ ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.’]

 

Entrance Antiphon  Antiphona ad introitum (Longer form)

At the Mass during the Day

‘We wish to see Jesus.’ Sunday Reflections, 5th Sunday of Lent, Year B

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Submitted by FatherSean on Fri, 03/20/2015 – 15:06.


Sheaves of Wheat, August 1885, Nuenen, Van Gogh

 Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Netherlands [Web Gallery of Art]

 
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24).

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel John 12:20-33 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.  They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”  Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 

Christ on the Cross, with the two Marys and St John

El Greco, c.1588, National Gallery, Athens [Web Gallery of Art]

 
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32).

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. This was the request of some Greek pilgrims to Jerusalem who spoke to Philip. Jesus when told of this said to Philip and Andrew, Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Presumably, these words were conveyed to the Greeks by the two apostles or perhaps repeated to them by Jesus himself.



St Philip, El Greco, 1610-14

 Museo de El Greco, Toledo, Spain [Web Gallery of Art]

 
The Lord was making it very clear that there are consequences to following him. Philip himself was to end his life as a martyr.

On 12 March Pope Francis addressed the bishops of Korea during their ad limina visit. He recalled his visit to Korea last year when he beatified a group of martyrs. The Bishop of Rome said [emphasis added]: For me, one of the most beautiful moments of my visit to Korea was the beatification of the martyrs Paul Yun Ji-chung and companions.  In enrolling them among the Blessed, we praised God for the countless graces which he showered upon the Church in Korea during her infancy, and equally gave thanks for the faithful response given to these gifts of God.  Even before their faith found full expression in the sacramental life of the Church, these first Korean Christians not only fostered their personal relationship with Jesus, but brought him to others, regardless of class or social standing, and dwelt in a community of faith and charity like the first disciples of the Lord (cf. Acts 4:32).  “They were willing to make great sacrifices and let themselves be stripped of whatever kept them from Christ…Christ alone was their true treasure” (Homily in Seoul, 16 August 2014).  Their love of God and neighbor was fulfilled in the ultimate act of freely laying down their lives, thereby watering with their own blood the seedbed of the Church.

Last Sunday there were attacks on a Catholic church and a Protestant church in an area of Lahore where many Christians live as my Columban confrere Fr Liam O’Callaghan, who is based in Pakistan, reports. Pope Francis expressed his grief during his Angelus talk later in the day and noted: Our brothers’ and sisters’ blood is shed only because they are Christians.

 

When we say, We wish to see Jesus we have no idea what this might entail. But we do have the assurance of Jesus himself today where our following him will lead us: Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Let us pray for the Christians of Pakistan, the Christians of the Middle East, the Christians in those parts of Africa where they are being persecuted simply for being followers of Jesus. May the promise of Jesus, Whoever serves me, the Father will honor give them courage and honour.

 

.

Responsorial Psalm (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) 



Antiphona ad introitum  Entrance Antiphon Cf Psalm 42[43]:1-2

 

Iudica me, Deus,

 Give me justice, O God,  

 et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta;

and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless.

ab homine iniquo et doloso eripe me, 

 From the deceitful and cunning you rescue me,

quia tu es Deus meus et fortitudo mea.

for you, O God, are my strength.

‘Those who do what is true come to the light.’ Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Lent, Year B

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From The Gospel of John (2003) directed by Philip Saville

 [Today’s Gospel begins at 2:02 and ends at 3:10]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel John 3:14-21 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)

Jesus said to Nicodemus:“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”


Nicodemus, Unknown Flemish Master

 Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, Belgium [Web Gallery of Art]

 
The Pharisees generally have a bad name and the adjective ‘pharisaical’ is defined in Merriam-Webster as marked by hypocritical censorious self-righteousness. Those words could certainly describe most of the Pharisees we meet in the gospels. But they do not apply to Nicodemus. He was patently a good man who said to Jesus when he met him at night, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God (John 3:2). He was also with Jesus at the end helping to prepare for the burial. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds (John 19:39).

This good Pharisee can help us come to the light, especially when that involves walking through the darkness. Physical darkness is part of the reality that God has given us and can protect us from the cosmic powers of this present darkness (Ephesians 6:12), as it did Nicodemus when he came by night to visit Jesus.

God has given us many examples of persons willing to confront the cosmic powers of this present darkness even at the risk of their lives. One such person is Patience Mollè Lobè, a 57-year-old widow and member of the Focolare Movement. An engineer, she became a very senior official in the Department of Public Works in Cameroon. She saw at first hand the powers of darkness in the corruption she encountered there. Here she relates how attempts were made three times to kill her.

[There’s a transcript of the video here] 


Patience Mollè Lobè is yet another example of a layperson living fully the vision of Vatican II. So many have the idea that carrying out a particular kind of liturgical service, eg, being a reader, is what being a good lay Catholic is all about. It’s much more than that. It is a way of life in following Jesus, living every moment according to the Gospel, bringing the values of Jesus into every human situation. In the words of St Paul in today’s Second Reading: For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life (Ephesians 2:10).

Here in the Philippines many of us have known persons like Patience Mollè Lobè, some of whom have died for confronting the cosmic powers of this present darkness. Their witness to Jesus and the Gospel brings us the light of hope and proves the truth of his words today, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 

Antiphona ad introitum  Entrance Antiphon  Cf Isaiah 66:10-11


Laetare, Jerusalem, et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam; 

 gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristis fuistis,ut exsultetis,

et satiemini ab uberibus consolations vestrae.


Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.

Be joyful, all who were in mourning,

exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.


+++


On 11 March it was announced that the the poem below by Irish poet Seamus Heaney (1939 – 2013) had been chosen as Ireland’s best-loved poem of the last one hundred years.



When all the others were away at Mass 
by Seamus Heaney
In Memoriam M.K.H., 1911-1984


 

 When all the others were away at Mass

 I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.

 They broke the silence, let fall one by one

 Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:

 Cold comforts set between us, things to share

 Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.

 And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes

 From each other’s work would bring us to our senses.

 So while the parish priest at her bedside

 Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying

 And some were responding and some crying

 I remembered her head bent towards my head,

 Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives–

 Never closer the whole rest of our lives.

‘Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!’ Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B

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From The Gospel of John (2003) directed by Philip Saville

 
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel John 2:13-25 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people  and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.



Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple 

 Rembrandt, c.1626. Pushkin Museum, Moscow [Web Gallery of Art]

 
In 1990 I went to renew my driving licence in Dublin. It took about twenty minutes, as I had to go to three or four different persons. But everything was orderly. Now you only have to go to one and the procedure, apart from filling up the form, takes less than a minute.

When I reached the last official he told me that I’d get my licence in the post (mail) in a day or two. I told him that I was leaving for Iceland the following day. (I was going on a pastoral visit to the Filipinos living there and was to drive around the whole country).

The clerk looked at me. And while he didn’t swear at me, he said something to the effect, ‘You stupid idiot. Why didn’t you say so before?’ I had no reason to do that since on previous occasions I had received my licence then and there. Now there was a new system.

On the face of it, the clerk was insulting me. But in a very ‘Dublin way’ he was being most helpful. He got up from his desk and came back a minute or two later with my new licence.

I had met an official with common sense, a person with a sense of public service.

Over the years here in the Philippines I have heard far too many stories of officials in situations like that who make it extremely difficult for members of the public, especially poorer ones, and who use delaying tactics unless something is passed across the counter.

In today’s Gospel Jesus uses physical force to show his utter disgust at the Temple being used as a market. He knew that some of these people took advantage of those who were poor. There are such persons in every community.
Jesus was emphasising the sacredness of the Temple, the only place where Jews offered sacrifices to God

 

But the First Reading links worship with daily life. It gives us the Ten Commandments, which spell out how our relationship with God and our relationship with those around us are intertwined. When the connection is not made evil follows, as the death of Floribert Bwana Chui in the video above shows.

I knew of a provincial engineer here in the Philippines who was never promoted. The reason? He used all the money allotted to build an excellent road nearly 50 years ago between two towns, by far the best in his own and in the neighbouring provinces. No ‘brown envelopes’. No kickbacks. Every centavo allotted went into the road. Many Columbans knew this man and told me of his deep faith and integrity.

When we truly worship God at Mass and on other occasions in the church or other designated sacred places, we come to see that every place, every situation, is meant to be sacred also. My mother more than once in scolding me said, House devil, street angel! In effect she was calling me to integrity, the kind of integrity I saw, for example, in my father’s life.

St Paul, so to speak, nails the life of the follower of Jesus to the Cross in today’s Second Reading: We proclaim Christ crucified. The sacrifices offered in the Temple foreshadowed the Sacrifice of Jesus in which all of us share each time we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Some God calls, after strengthening their faith especially through the Eucharist and his Word, to share literally in the Sacrifice of Jesus. Floribert Bwana Chui was one of those. 

Pope Francis has spoken frequently about the martyrs of our time. On 6 February, the feast day of the Martyrs of Japan, he said, I think of our martyrs, the martyrs of our times, men, women, children who are being persecuted, hated, driven out of their homes, tortured, massacred.  And this is not a thing of the past: this is happening right now. It would do us good to think of our martyrs. Today, we remember Paolo Miki, but that happened in 1600. Think of our present-day ones! Of 2015.

 We can see clearly the martyrdom of someone killed simply for being a Christian. There have been many such martyrs in recent years in the Middle East and in parts of Africa. What we don’t see so clearly, perhaps, is that a person who is killed for refusing to give a bribe, for refusing to tell a lie, for refusing to cooperate in crime, for demanding and working for justice, is also a martyr. There are many such persons such as Floribert Bwana Chui. 

Another such is Clement Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani politician assassinated on 2 March 2011 because he saw his life as a politician as his vocation in following Christ:

My name is Shahbaz Bhatti. I was born into a Catholic family. My father, a retired teacher, and my mother, a housewife, raised me according to Christian values and the teachings of the Bible, which influenced my childhood. Since I was a child, I was accustomed to going to church and finding profound inspiration in the teachings, the sacrifice, and the crucifixion of Jesus. It was his love that led me to offer my service to the Church.

The frightening conditions into which the Christians of Pakistan had fallen disturbed me. I remember one Good Friday when I was just thirteen years old: I heard a homily on the sacrifice of Jesus for our redemption and for the salvation of the world. And I thought of responding to his love by giving love to my brothers and sisters, placing myself at the service of Christians, especially of the poor, the needy, and the persecuted who live in this Islamic country.I have been asked to put an end to my battle, but I have always refused, even at the risk of my own life. My response has always been the same. I do not want popularity, I do not want positions of power. I only want a place at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak of me and say that I am following Jesus Christ.

Floribert Bwan Chui, whom I learned about only a few days ago, and Shahbaz Bhatti, whom I have written about many times, understood how the Temple and the ‘Marketplace’ – the latter in its proper ‘location’ – are related in terms of following Jesus. And they both embodied fully the vision of Vatican II for the lay person:

For man, created to God’s image, received a mandate to subject to himself the earth and all it contains, and to govern the world with justice and holiness; a mandate to relate himself and the totality of things to Him Who was to be acknowledged as the Lord and Creator of all. Thus, by the subjection of all things to man, the name of God would be wonderful in all the earth.

This mandate concerns the whole of everyday activity as well. For while providing the substance of life for themselves and their families, men and women are performing their activities in a way which appropriately benefits society. They can justly consider that by their labor they are unfolding the Creator’s work, consulting the advantages of their brother men, and are contributing by their personal industry to the realization in history of the divine plan (Gaudium et Spes, 34).

Clement Shahbaz Bhatti

 9 September 1968 – 2 March 2011 [Wikipedia]

]

Antiphona ad introitum  Entrance Antiphon Cf Ps 24 [25]:15-16

[The shorter version is used in the ‘New Mass’, the longer in the ‘Old Mass’]

Oculi mei semper ad Dominum,

My eyes are always on the Lord,

quia ipse evellet de laqueo pedes meos.

for he rescues my feet from the snare.

Respice in me et miserere mei, 

Turn to me and have mercy on me, 

quoniam unicus et pauper sum ego.

 for I am alone and poor.

 
Ad te Domine levavi animam meam:

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

Deus meus, in te confido, non erubescam.

O my God, in you I trust;do not let me be put to shame.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, As it was in the beginning, is now, 

et in saecula saecolum. Amen.and will be for ever. Amen.


Oculi mei semper ad Dominum,

My eyes are always on the Lord,

quia ipse evellet de laqueo pedes meos.

for he rescues my feet from the snare.

Respice in me et miserere mei, 

Turn to me and have mercy on me,

quoniam unicus et pauper sum ego.

for I am alone and poor.

‘We . . . have come to pay him homage.’ Sunday Reflections, The Epiphany of the Lord.

The Adoration of the Magi, Velázquez, 1619

 Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art]

 
Readings for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

The readings above are used both at the Vigil Mass and at the Mass during the Day. Each Mass has its own set of prayers and antiphons.

In countries where the Epiphany is observed as a Holyday of Obligation on 6 January, eg, Ireland, the Mass of the Second Sunday after the Nativity is celebrated. The same readings are used in Years A, B, C:

Readings (Jerusalem Bible)

Alleluia and Gospel for the Epiphany



Alleluia, alleluia!

 Vidimus stellam eius in Oriente,

 We have seen his star in the East,

et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum.

 and have come with gifts to adore the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia!

The same text (cf. Matthew 2:2), without ‘Alleluia, alleluia,’ is used as the Communion Antiphon at the Mass during the Day.

Gospel Matthew 2:1-12 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,  asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”  When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:‘

And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.



Adoration of the Magi (detail), Filippino Lipi, 1496

 Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence [Web Gallery of Art]

 
While based in Britain from 2000 till 2002 I was able to spend Christmas with my brother and his family in Dublin, a short flight from England, in 2000 and 2001. During the holiday in 2001 I saw a documentary on RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcasting service, about Filipino nurses in Ireland. These began to arrive in 2000, initially at the invitation of the Irish government to work in government hospitals. Very quickly there was an ‘invasion’ of Filipino nurses and carers, now to be found in hospitals and nursing homes in every part of the country.

One of the nurses interviewed told how many Filipinos, knowing that the Irish celebrate Christmas on the 25th, unlike the Philippines where the culmination of the feast is on the night of the 24th, offered to work on Christmas Day so that their Irish companions could be with their families. This also helped to dull the pain of being away from their own families.

I was moved to tears at the testimony of one nurse, from Mindanao as I recall, speaking about her job and her first Christmas in Ireland in 2000. She spoke very highly of her employers, of her working conditions and of her accommodation, which she compared with that of the Holy Family on the first Christmas night. She spoke of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in this situation as if they were members of her own family, as in a very deep sense they are, or we of their family.

Here was a young woman from the East powerfully proclaiming, without being aware of it, that the Word became flesh and lived among us. The fact that she wasn’t aware of it, that she was speaking about her ‘next door neighbours’, made her proclamation of faith all the more powerful. She would have known many in her own place, and very likely knew from her own experience, something of what Joseph and Mary went through in Bethlehem. Her faith in the Word who became flesh and lived among us wasn’t something in her head but part of her very being.

For much of the last century thousands of Catholic priests, religious Sisters and Brothers left Europe and North America to preach and live the Gospel in the nations of Africa, Asia and South America. Some of the countries and regions from which they left, eg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Quebec, have to a great extent lost or even rejected the Catholic Christian faith. The Jewish people had, in faith, awaited the coming of the Messiah for many centuries. But when He came it was uneducated shepherds who first recognised him and later Simeon and Anna, two devout and elderly Jews who spent lengthy periods in prayer in the Temple.

Today’s feast highlights wise men from the east, not ‘believers’ in the Jewish sense, led by God’s special grace to Bethlehem to bring gifts in response to that grace, explaining, We . . . have come to pay him homage.They reveal to us that God calls people from every part of the world to do the same and to bring others with them.

Will nurses from the Philippines and from Kerala in India, migrants from Korea and Vietnam, from the east, bring the gift of faith in Jesus Christ once again to the many people in Western Europe and North America who no longer know him in any real sense? Will they by the lives they lead as working immigrants gently invite those in the West who have lost the precious gift of our Catholic Christian faith to once again come to pay him homage?

An arrangement by John Rutter of the old carol

‘Repent . . . believe . . . follow me.’ Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The Calling of St Peter and St Andrew Jacob Willemsz de Wet the Elder

 Private collection [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 Mark 1:14-20 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. 


Speaking in Rome to members of ecclesial movements on the evening of Saturday 17 May 2013, the Vigil of Pentecost, Pope Francis told this story:

One day in particular, though, was very important to me: 21 September 1953. I was almost 17. It was ‘Students’ Day’, for us the first day of spring — for you the first day of autumn. Before going to the celebration I passed through the parish I normally attended, I found a priest that I did not know and I felt the need to go to confession. For me this was an experience of encounter: I found that someone was waiting for me. Yet I do not know what happened, I can’t remember, I do not know why that particular priest was there whom I did not know, or why I felt this desire to confess, but the truth is that someone was waiting for me. He had been waiting for me for some time. After making my confession I felt something had changed. I was not the same. I had heard something like a voice, or a call. I was convinced that I should become a priest.

In an interview with Sergio Rubin, an Argentinian journalist, in 2010 the then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ of Buenos Aires said:

In that confession, something very rare happened to me. I don’t know what it was, but it changed my life. I would say that I was caught with my guard down. … It was a surprise, the astonishment of an encounter. I realized that God was waiting for me. From that moment, for me, God has been the one who precedes [to guide me]. … We want to meet him, but he meets us first.

What is striking is that the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio experienced God’s call to the priesthood unexpectedly and within the context of confession.


The Prophet Jonah Before the Walls of Nineveh

Drawing by Rembrandt, c.1655 [Wikipedia]

The First Reading, from the Book of Jonah, shows the people of Nineveh, from the King down, believing the reluctant prophet and then fasting and repenting.
In the Gospel Jesus preaches, Repent, and believe in the good news. It is in the context of that proclamation to the people in Galilee that Jesus invites Simon and Andrew, James and John, to follow him. Each of the four could make the words of Pope Francis their own: For me this was an experience of encounter: I found that someone was waiting for me. Yet I do not know what happened . . . I was not the same. I had heard something like a voice, or a call. That call was to lead the four of them to leave everything to follow him, a decision that was to bring three of them to martyrdom. The young Jorge Mario Bergoglio could not have had the slightest idea that listening to God’s call would lead him to Rome.

Twelve or thirteen years ago I did a mission appeal in a parish in England where the then recently appointed parish priest had inherited a filthy rectory/presbytery/convento from his predecessor. He had managed by then to clean up only his own bedroom. He could not invite me to stay at his place because the guest room was filthy and so had me put up by a neighbouring parish priest.

The people of Nineveh cleaned up the the ‘room’ of their inner heart by turning away from sin and allowed the word of God to enter. The Gospel suggests that the two sets of fishermen-brothers had done the same and were able to hear and respond to the call of Jesus there and then.

There is nothing to suggest in the Pope’s story about his encounter with the Lord at the age of 17 that he was a great sinner. But it was while confessing his sins and receiving absolution, that great act of the mercy and compassion of God, the theme of his recent visit to us in the Philippines, that he heard God’s call to the priesthood very clearly.


The Calling of St Matthew

Caravaggio, 1599-1600 [Wikipedia]

 
Pope Francis spoke to the young people assembled at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, about the painting above. It was on the feast of St Matthew that he had that encounter with the Lord in confession. Inhis impromptu speech he said:

Think of Saint Matthew. He was a good businessman. He also betrayed his country because he collected taxes from the Jews and paid them to the Romans. He was loaded with money and he collected taxes. Then Jesus comes along, looks at him and says: ‘Come, follow me’. Matthew couldn’t believe it. If you have some time later, go look at the picture that Caravaggio painted about this scene. Jesus called him, like this (stretching out his hand). Those who were with Jesus were saying: ‘[He is calling] this man, a traitor, a scoundrel?’ And Matthew hangs on to his money and doesn’t want to leave. But the surprise of being loved wins him over and he follows Jesus. That morning, when Matthew was going off to work and said goodbye to his wife, he never thought that he was going to return in a hurry, without money to tell his wife to prepare a banquet. The banquet for the one who loved him first, who surprised him with something important, more important than all the money he had.

Perhaps very few experience God’s call to their vocation in life, whether it is to marriage, to the consecrated life as a religious or as a lay person, to the priesthood, to remaining single, in as clear a way as Jorge Mario Bergoglio did. But in order to hear God’s call, in order to respond to God’s will, in order to live out God’s call till the end of our life it is necessary to have a pure and uncluttered heart.

This is expressed in the Lord’s Prayer: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven . . . forgive us our trespasses . . .

The Our Father sung in Tagalog during the meeting of Pope Franciswith young people at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, on 18 January. [There was no Mass celebrated on this occasion.]

Repent . . . believe . . . follow me.

Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B; Feast of the Santo Niño (Philippines)

 

From The Gospel of John, directed by Philip Saville

 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel John 1:35-42 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,  and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.  When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.  One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). 

 
Links to the readings and some reflections for the Feast of the Santo Niño  are further down.


Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

God calls each of us to our particular vocation in life in a unique way. Pope Francis has told us, for example, that it was on the occasion of going to confession when he was 17 that he saw clearly that God was calling him to be a priest. A couple at whose wedding I officiated some years ago were members of the same Catholic organisation in the university they attended. They became an ‘item’, as they say here in the Philippines, when they were the only members of the group to turn up at the appointed time for an outing. While waiting for the others to arrive they discovered that they were more than just casual friends. Now they are happily married.

I’m always amused by the Second Reading from the Office of Readings for the feast of St Anthony the Abbot, today, Saturday, as I write this. St Athanasius tells us: He went into the church. It happened that the gospel was then being read, and he heard what the Lord had said to the rich man ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’

The young man Anthony, whose parents had died about six months previously, took these words to heart and went to live in the desert. He became, without planning it, the ‘Father of Monasticism’ in the Church. And perhaps if he had not been late for Mass that day the Gospel might not have struck him as it did. He was to be ‘later’ than most in another sense in that he was 105 when he died, a remarkable age to live to now but even more remarkable in the fourth century! Unlike the married couple above whose punctuality led them to discover God’s call for them, it was through being late for Mass that Anthony discovered what God had in mind for him.

Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, in 1964 invited two men with learning disabilities, Raphael Simi and Philippe Seux, who had been living in institutions, to live with him in a small cottage that he bought and renovated in France. Having done so he realized that he had made a commitment to these two men and that his commitment involved remaining single. He had no intention of founding a movement but, in God’s plan, that’s what came about.

Fr Hans Urs von Balthasar, a great theologian from Switzerland, much admired by St John Paul II, in reflecting on today’s Gospel from the First Chapter of St John, links it to an incident in the last chapter, John 21: 15 ff [starting at 0:55 in the video below].

 

Fr von Balthasar writes: In the last chapter of the book Peter will be the foundation stone to such a degree that he will also have to undergird ecclesial love: ‘Simon, do you love me more than these?’

John 21:15-17 was the gospel read at the Pope’s Mass in Manila Cathedral yesterday, Friday, with priests, religious, consecrated persons and seminarians. This passage shows what is at the heart of every call from God, whether to marriage, to the priesthood, to the consecrated life, to the single life. The call is above all to an intimate relationship with Jesus. Pope Francis highlighted this in his homily yesterday: For us priests and consecrated persons, conversion to the newness of the Gospel entails a daily encounter with the Lord in prayer. The saints teach us that this is the source of all apostolic zeal! For religious, living the newness of the Gospel also means finding ever anew in community life and community apostolates the incentive for an ever closer union with the Lord in perfect charity. For all of us, it means living lives that reflect the poverty of Christ, whose entire life was focused on doing the will of the Father and serving others.

Pope Francis also said, The poor. The poor are at the center of the Gospel, are at heart of the Gospel, if we take away the poor from the Gospel we can’t understand the whole message of Jesus Christ.

Living the Gospel within the context of a deep personal relationship with Jesus the Risen Lord involves seeing reality through the eyes of those with little. Pope Francis showed this in a beautiful way by an unplanned – at least it wasn’t on the official schedule – to a group of very poor children at TNK in Manila, near the Cathedral. (‘Tulay ng Kabataan’means ‘A Bridge to Children’).

.

 

That video can act as a bridge to the celebration in the Philippines this Sunday and the gospel that will be read.

   

In the Philippines the Feast of the Santo Niño (Holy Child) is celebrated this Sunday. This year it coincides with the visit of Pope Francis. He will celebrate the Mass of the feast in Manila.

The original image, at the Minor Basilica of the Santo Niño de Cebú. [Wikipedia, Ellis Manuel Mendez]

 
You will find the readings for the feast, with the exception of the Gospel, and some reflections here.

Gospel: Mark 10:13-16

And people were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

‘Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.’ Sunday Reflections, The Baptism of the Lord, Year

The Baptism of Christ (detail), Tintoretto, 1579-81

 Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice [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) http://www.universalis.com/20150111/mass.htm

Gospel Mark 1:7-11 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)

John the Baptist proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved;with you I am well pleased.”

The Census at Bethlehem, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566

 Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels [Web Gallery of Art]

 
Two weeks ago, on the Feast of the Holy Family, I celebrated Mass in Holy Family Home for Girls here in Bacolod City. At the beginning of my homily I asked a number of the girls to look at a copy of the painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder above and to point out the Holy Family in it. None of them could find Mary and Joseph, just as none of the figures in the painting notices the young woman on the donkey and the man leading it.

Detail of Bruegel’s painting [Wikipedia]

 
In Tintoretto’s painting of the Baptism of Jesus it is clear who the two figures in the foreground are. But there are many people in the background. When Jesus asked John to baptize him the others in the line would not have known who he was. They would have presumed that, like themselves, he was a sinner instead of the Word whobecame flesh and lived among us (John 1:14).

In his birth and at the beginning of his public life Jesus is almost anonymous, a ‘nobody’. St Theodotus of Ancyra  reflects on this:

The Lord of all comes as a slave amidst poverty. The huntsman has no wish to startle his prey. Choosing for birthplace an unknown village in a remote province, he is born of a poor maiden and accepts all that poverty implies, for he hopes by stealth to ensnare and save us. 

If he had been born to high rank and amidst luxury, unbelievers would have said the world had been transformed by wealth. If he had chosen as his birthplace the great city of Rome, they would have thought the transformation had been brought about by civil power. 

 

 Suppose he had been the son of an emperor. They would have said: ‘How useful it is to be powerful!’ Imagine him the son of a senator. It would have been: ‘Look what can be accomplished by legislation!’ 

 

 But in fact, what did he do? He chose surroundings that were poor and simple, so ordinary as to be almost unnoticed, so that people would know it was the Godhead alone that had changed the world. This was his reason for choosing his mother from among the poor of a very poor country, and for becoming poor himself.

Pope Francis will be coming to the Philippines on 15 January. One of my priest-friends whose flight was delayed in Manila the other day for two hours – one of many delayed flights – in the context of many flights that will be cancelled on the day the Pope lands in Manila and on the day he leaves – said, only half-jokingly, He should be made wait two hours like everyone else! Bruegel’s painting, The Census at Bethlehem, suggests that Mary and Joseph will have a long wait when they join the queue outside the office to the left of the picture. And maybe Jesus the adult had to wait quite a while before reaching St John the Baptist, just as in my young days I often had to wait quite a while outside the confessional in my parish church in Dublin on Saturdays because there were so many sinners there before me.

 

Tacloban Airport after Haiyan/Yolanda [Wikipedia]

 
And in yesterday’s Philippine Daily Inquirer [9 January] Archbishop John Du of Palo, the archdiocese that includes Tacloban City devastated by Supertyphoon Haiyan/Yolanda in November 2013, is reported as asking security people to ‘soften’ their draconian security measures during the visit of Pope Francis to Leyte. Pope Francis specifically asked to visit Tacloban City so that he could meet survivors of the typhoon. He will celebrate Mass at the airport there on 17 January. But those who wish to attend will have to be there the evening before and will not be allowed to bring tents, umbrellas or bottled water, though there will be water stations at the airport. And tonight’s weather forecast says that an area of low pressure may hit where Tacloban is located around the time the Pope visits. If it does it will probably bring lots of rain.

The ordinary people of Leyte, many of them still living in makeshift houses, will be treated just as Joseph and Mary were along with the people outside the office in Bruegel’s painting. And the Pope’s very purpose in visiting Tacloban will be thwarted to some extent, even though tight security is sadly necessary in today’s world.

But the world of first-century Bethlehem, the world of Bruegel’s 16th-century Netherlands, the world of 21st-century Tacloban City is the world in which the Word became flesh and lived among us.
The Good News is that the Word who became flesh still lives among us.


 

This hymn by contemporary English composer John Rutter isn’t linked to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. But it is a hymn of thanksgiving to God for all that he has given us. The greatest gift of all is our Christian faith, received at our baptism. It is that faith, for which many Filipinos have a great sense of gratitude, that Pope Francis is coming to affirm. Please pray that his visit will bear fruit and bring all of us to focus our lives on Jesus Christ so that we, like St John the Baptist, may draw others to him.