November2 in Year A 11

Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week of Ordinary Time to Feast of St Andrew

Click on any date to go to the Thought for that Day

Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Pope Benedict's general intention for November is: "For the eastern Churches, that their venerable tradition may be known and appreciated as a spiritual treasure for the entire Church."

His mission intention is: "That the African continent may find in Christ the strength to fulfill the path of reconciliation and justice, indicated in the second Synod of Bishops for Africa."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Entrance Antiphon Jer 29: 11, 12, 14 The Lord said: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. You will call upon me, and I will answer you, and I will lead back your captives from every place.

Collect Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Margaret of Scotland was a truly liberated woman in the sense that she was free to be herself. For her, that meant freedom to love God and serve others. Not Scottish by birth, Margaret was the daughter of Princess Agatha of Hungary and the Anglo-Saxon Prince Edward Atheling. She spent much of her youth in the court of her great-uncle, the English king, Edward the Confessor. Her family fled from W St Margaret Of Scotland

illiam the Conqueror and was shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland. King Malcolm befriended them and was captivated by the beautiful, gracious Margaret. They were married at the castle of Dunfermline in 1070. Malcolm was good-hearted, but rough and uncultured, as was his country. Because of Malcolm’s love for Margaret, she was able to soften his temper, polish his manners and help him become a virtuous king. He left all domestic affairs to her and often consulted her in state matters. Margaret tried to improve her adopted country by promoting the arts and education. For religious reform, she instigated synods and was present for the discussions which tried to correct religious abuses common among priests and lay people, such as simony, usury and incestuous marriages. With her husband, she founded several churches. Margaret was not only a queen, but a mother. She and Malcolm had six sons and two daughters. Margaret personally supervised their religious instruction and other studies. Although she was very much caught up in the affairs of the household and country, she remained detached from the world. Her private life was austere. She had certain times for prayer and reading Scripture. She ate sparingly and slept little in order to have time for devotions. She and Malcolm kept two Lents, one before Easter and one before Christmas. During these times she always rose at midnight for Mass. On the way home she would wash the feet of six poor persons and give them alms. She was always surrounded by beggars in public and never refused them. It is recorded that she never sat down to eat without first feeding nine orphans and 24 adults. In 1093, King William Rufus made a surprise attack on Alnwick castle. King Malcolm and his oldest son, Edward, were killed. Margaret, already on her deathbed, died four days after her husband.

"When [Margaret] spoke, her conversation was with the salt of wisdom. When she was silent, her silence was filled with good thoughts. So thoroughly did her outward bearing correspond with the staidness of her character that it seemed as if she has been born the pattern of a virtuous life" (Turgot, St. Margaret's confessor). (AmericanCatholic.org)

While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ “ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’ “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’ “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’ “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’ “ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. (Luke 19:11‑28)

The Kingdom Our Gospel passage today tells us that “while they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.” In Luke’s narrative, our Lord’s journey to Jerusalem is highlighted and many of his doings and sayings strung together in tandem with this journey. There is especially his frequent reference to “the Kingdom of God” and to life in this “Kingdom.” The climax of the journey up to the City would be his Passion, Death and Resurrection. While the crowds had no idea of the coming upshot of the journey in process, our Lord warned his disciples of it (such as in Luke 18:31-33), but they did not understand (18:34). However, there must have been a growing anticipation among the crowds that “the kingdom of God was going to appear,” and “at once.” Expectation was in the air. God’s Kingdom was coming, coming soon and even now. It was clear that Jesus was the King. Within a short time, Jesus would be standing before the Roman Procurator and being asked if it was true that he was a “king.” The chief priests would be accusing him before Pilate of stirring up sedition, and claiming to be a “king” in opposition to Caesar — all of which Christ would sovereignly deny and which Pilate himself would see to be baseless. But this is the context of what we read, that the people listening to Jesus, watching him and accompanying him “thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear at once,” especially perhaps as the Holy City was approached. They were not wrong. The Kingdom of God was very near indeed, and the Holy City would be the scene of its inauguration and establishment here on earth. That Kingdom would be present in the Person of Jesus Christ, sacrificed as the Lamb of God and given to the Father on mankind’s behalf, risen from the dead, triumphant in his glory, ascended and seated at the right hand of the Father, and with the Father bestowing the Divine Spirit on his body the Church. The scene of this cosmic and pivotal run of events in which the Kingdom “was going to appear at once,” would be the holy city of Jerusalem and its immediate vicinity. The eyes of heaven were all on this City.

But of course, neither the crowds nor even our Lord’s disciples (except the greatest of them, his own blessed Mother) yet understood the “Kingdom” nor the “baptism” that it would entail. It was something far grander than anything they imagined. It involved a new creation. It had to do with taking away the sin of the world and the bestowal of the holiness of God. For all of this to happen, the Messiah had a chalice from which to drink. Those who wanted places in his Kingdom, even places at his right and his left, had yet to understand what it was they were asking for. Our Lord was at pains to explain it, and when the Spirit was given, they would remember and understand. In today’s parable our Lord explains a very important facet of life in the Kingdom. The “nobleman” — the “well-born” man — “went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then to return.” Our Lord was returning to his Father “to receive for himself” the Kingdom. But he would eventually return and when he did there would be a rendering of an account. So then, in our parable the King would be absent from sight for a period of time while he went afar to receive his kingdom. Presumably the context of such an imagined scenario was the likes of lesser kings (such as Herod the Great, and later his sons) going to Rome to receive their authority. In the parable, there are two groups that the king leaves behind when he goes to the distant country: there are his subjects and there are his servants. To ensure that his interests flourished among his prospective subjects during this absence, he placed in the hands of his servants important responsibilities. He could not leave his realm without due supervision, for then its prosperity would drain away and be usurped by others. “So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.'” So there are officers in the Kingdom, those who have special duties of service to the King. But then when the King departs, the “subjects” have their say and it is a negative one. They “hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.'” Despite this, he received the kingdom and returned, and then both subjects and servants were subject to his judgment.

Several things are insisted on in our parable today. The “Kingdom” is, of course, union in an obedient friendship with Christ the King, and a sharing of his life. He is absent from visible, physical sight, but he requires a loving obedience from both his subjects and his servants. The subjects must accept his lordship over them. Very especially, the servants must diligently strive to promote his interests in accord with the responsibilities given to them. Our Lord is painting a broad picture of his body the Church, the bearer of his divine Person and therefore of the Kingdom. Whatever be our place as members of the Church, let us so fulfil our duties to Christ as to receive his abundant reward and not suffer the terrible lot of a final loss of his favour.

“Everyone who has will be given more” There is no getting around it. We are placed on this earth to work and so to contribute to the betterment of the world. On one occasion when Our Lord was criticised for working on the Sabbath he answered by saying that since his own Father was working — he was implying that his heavenly Father was working unceasingly — then he too would work. Of course, our Lord insisted on the Sabbath rest, but rejected the Pharisaical interpretation of this. But God continues to work, though he has created the world. His work of creation and sanctification never ceases. At the beginning of the Bible God gives to man the mission of filling the earth and mastering it — managing it so that it serves man’s truest and best interests. In our Gospel passage today (Luke 19: 11-28), Our Lord tells the parable of the appointed king who returned to see how much profit his servants had made for him. He intended that they increase his wealth. The servant who did nothing with the money was condemned and what he had was taken from him.

Whatever we have been given by God, then, he means us to put it to work for his glory and his interests. This is the meaning of life and the key to enduring happiness. It squares perfectly too with what we could call Nature. We naturally know that we must work, and the success of a person’s life depends on the degree to which he works and works well. So much of a child’s upbringing centres around preparing him for his life’s work. Well, it is this that we are called to supernaturalise, we could say. We are to sanctify our work, and in this way be sanctified, and in turn sanctify others. A person’s life hinges around his work and this fact applies equally to the Christian who unites himself to Christ in and through his work. Let us make our work both a work for God and a work of God.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I understood you very well when you confessed to me: I want to steep myself in the liturgy of the Holy Mass.

In her short life Elizabeth manifested such great love for the poor and suffering that she has become the patroness of Catholic charities and of the Secular Franciscan Order. The daughter of the King of Hungary, Elizabeth chose a life of penance and asceticism when a life of leisure and luxury could easily have been hers. This choice endeared her in the hearts of the common people throughout Europe. At the age of 14 Elizabeth was married to Louis of Thuringia (a German principality), whom she deeply loved; she bore three children. Under the spiritual direction of a Franciscan friar, she led a life of prayer, sacrifice and service to the poor and sick. Seeking to become one with the poor, she wore simple clothing. Daily she would take bread to hundreds of the poorest in the land, who came to her gate. After six years of marriage, her husband died in the Crusades, and she was grief-stricken. Her husband’s family looked upon her as squandering the royal purse, and mistreated her, finally throwing her out of the palace. The return of her husband’s allies from the Crusades resulted in her being reinstated, since her son was legal heir to the throne. In 1228 Elizabeth joined the Secular Franciscan Order, spending the remaining few years of her life caring for the poor in a hospital which she founded in honour of St. Francis. Elizabeth’s health declined, and she died before her 24th birthday in 1231. Her great popularity resulted in her canonization four years later.

Elizabeth understood well the lesson Jesus taught when he washed his disciples' feet at the Last Supper: The Christian must be one who serves the humblest needs of others, even if one serves from an exalted position. Of royal blood, Elizabeth could have lorded it over her subjects. Yet she served them with such a loving heart that her brief life won for her a special place in the hearts of many. Elizabeth is also an example to us in her following the guidance of a spiritual director. Growth in the spiritual life is a difficult process. We can play games very easily if we don't have someone to challenge us or to share experiences so as to help us avoid pitfalls. (AmericanCatholic.org)

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:41‑44)

The choice David Hume (1711–1776) is counted as one of the greatest and most acute philosophers in the British tradition and has spawned a constant industry of commentary. His great errors have had the beneficial effect on theists and defenders of objective morality of forcing them to clarify their intellectual foundations. Fr. Ted Tyler

One notable position of Hume is that morality is ultimately a mere feeling, involving no apprehension of anything truly objective. Starting with his dictum that everything we can know is observable by the senses and reasoned about on that basis, he considered “morally wrong” actions and situations. No matter what we find about the situation (with our senses and reason), he declared, we shall never find the actual existence or quality of vice. The “ought” of things cannot be derived from the “is” — that is, from the facts about it. This, the “ought,” is only to be found in “your own breast” — it is simply a “sentiment of disapprobation.” So that is what so-called objective morality is. It is a personal feeling that you have. Hume’s “guillotine” chopped off morality and consigned it to the bin as being without objective substance. So it is that, in the world of thought and philosophy, we have a widespread doubt, scepticism and rejection of the objectivity of the moral law. Concrete empirical facts are objective, but not “morality” because, well, where is it? Point to it, please! Let me see and touch it! What is all this business about the natural law? I can’t see, feel or hear it, so it must simply be your preference or the preference of many societies. Such is the claim. But this has to be regarded as nonsense and as flouting ordinary common sense. It is not necessary for the ordinary man and society to be able to specify what faculty of knowledge (over and above the senses) it is that perceives objective moral obligation. But there is no doubt in the mind of mankind that the moral law is just as objective as any physical law. It is just as clear that the moral law requiring that you not kill the innocent, is as real and as powerful as the physical law of gravity. If you do kill the innocent, you are justly subject to tremendous sanctions, and man has usually had the sense that if society does not catch up with you, the gods will. But of course, poor Hume had no place for the divine, because you cannot see or touch it.

Actually, even on Hume’s myopic criteria for human knowing, you can see and touch the divine — that is, you could do this when Jesus Christ walked the earth. He, a physical man, was God incarnate. The important point here, though, is that the great moral law is objective and it pervades all of reality, seen and unseen. It is the very law of God, the law of his being, for God is a moral God. All that he creatively touches is instantly imbued with the moral law. Man perceives with his reason that, in respect to himself and in respect to all other things, he is obliged to act in ways that are not just effective, useful and strategic, but morally right and good. It is only thus will he flourish, and if he does not so act, then he will decline and die in ways more profound than mere physical death. It is by choosing to think, speak and act in ways that are morally good that he becomes good himself and better as a man. If he chooses to do bad things, if he chooses to reject the moral law, if he chooses to disobey God, and if he knows that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and chooses to turn away from him in unbelief, then this moral choice will have tremendous repercussions. Moral laws are no less real than physical laws, and the results of the former are as real than those of the latter. If you do not take adequate care, and step on to the road without looking, the physical result will be your death from an oncoming car. The moral law is no less powerful if it is disregarded and flouted. Let us think of all this as we place ourselves in the Gospel scene of today as our Lord gazes on the City of his love. It has not wished to receive him. This is a moral choice, a moral response to the Blessing that has been offered to it by the Lord of all. How sad the fact! “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace— but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Christ then foretells the consequences of this moral choice: “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ... They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God's coming to you” (Luke 19: 41-44).

Let us never slip into the prevalent assumption that moral obligation is little more than a private feeling, a personal bent, a feature of one’s upbringing or temperament, with no objective foundation or sanctions. As you choose, so will you be as a person, and it will all catch up with you. The Christian is very specific about this: the moral law is God’s law, and God gazes on all that he sustains in being. More specifically still, the moral task of our life is to meet, accept, believe, love and follow Jesus Christ. If you wish to be perfect, go, divest yourself of all that holds you to other things, and come back and follow him, the Lord of all, Jesus Christ our God and Saviour. That is the supreme moral call of man, and everything hangs on his choice.

“If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace!” It is absolutely essential that we prepare for the future. We know that we shall die, and we know from what God has revealed that following death there will be a divine judgment, to be followed by either heaven or hell. But of course, Fr. Ted Tyler

we should not only prepare for the future after death but we should prepare for the future prior to death too. We prepare for our future exams, our retirement, and so forth. It is the will of God that we prepare adequately for the future. But the danger is that if we are constantly preparing for the future, we can give insufficient regard to the present. If we are not giving ourselves over to the duties of the present then what God means to bestow on us precisely in the present will be missed. The present contains its own blessings which, of course, themselves prepare us for the future. In our Gospel passage today our Lord laments that Jerusalem did not recognise him for who he was. This was the day of blessings and of true peace, the day of his arrival, and yet they were blind to it. “If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes!” (Luke 19: 41-44). In their case the present was full of blessings, for the present brought them their Redeemer, and yet it was hidden from their eyes.

Let us give ourselves over to doing God’s will as perfectly as possible in the present, opening our minds and hearts to the grace of the Holy Spirit in the here and now. In this way, day by day we shall be preparing for the future in all its stages, right to the moment of death which is the door to an eternal future. But it all depends on how we live in the present.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How great is the value of piety in the Holy Liturgy! I was not at all surprised when someone said to me a few days ago, talking about a model priest who had died recently: “What a saint he was!” “Did you know him well?” I asked. “No,” he said, “but I once saw him saying the Mass.”

(November 18) Dedication of the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul
S tPeter's Basilica

St. Peter’s Basilica (Left picture) is probably the most famous church in Christendom. Massive in scale and a veritable museum of art and architecture, it began on a much humbler scale. Vatican Hill was a simple cemetery where believers gathered at St. Peter’s tomb to pray. In 319 Constantine built on the site a basilica that stood for more than a thousand years until, despite numerous restorations, it threatened to collapse. In 1506 Pope Julius II ordered it razed and reconstructed, but the new St Paul's Basilica

basilica was not completed and dedicated for more than two centuries.

St. Paul’s Outside the Walls (Right picture) stands near the Abaazia delle Tre Fontane, where St. Paul is believed to have been beheaded. The largest church in Rome until St. Peter’s was rebuilt, the basilica also rises over the traditional site of its namesake’s grave. The most recent edifice was constructed after a fire in 1823. The first basilica was also Constantine’s doing. Constantine’s building projects enticed the first of a centuries-long parade of pilgrims to Rome. From the time the basilicas were first built until the empire crumbled under “barbarian” invasions, the two churches, although miles apart, were linked by a roofed colonnade of marble columns.

“It is extraordinarily interesting that Roman pilgrimage began at an…early time. Pilgrims did not wait for the Peace of the Church [Constantine’s edict of toleration] before they visited the tombs of the Apostles. They went to Rome a century before there were any public churches and when the Church was confined to the tituli [private homes] and the catacombs. The two great pilgrimage sites were exactly as today—the tombs, or memorials, of St. Peter upon the Vatican Hill and the tomb of St. Paul off the Ostian Way” (H.V. Morton, This Is Rome). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Maccabees 4: 36-37.52-59; Psalm: 1 Chron 29; Luke 19:45‑48

When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’“ Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. (Luke 19:45‑48)

The Father! There are several features of our Gospel incident today which we could contemplate, but let us begin by comparing Luke’s account with that of the other three Gospels. In Luke’s account, the event takes place at the end of our Lord’s public ministry, during his final visit to Jerusalem and at the threshold of his Passion. It is the same in Matthew (21: 12-13). The accounts are nearly the same, with Matthew adding a little. Christ’s words are virtually identical. Mark has a fuller description of the incident (11: 15-17), but again Christ’s words are practically the same: “Is it not written, he said to them, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Mark also places the event at the end of the public ministry following his entry into the City amid acclaim, and with his Passion before him. What is the meaning of this event? Obviously, it shows forth the profound love of Jesus Christ for the Temple of Jerusalem, and in particular for his heavenly Father whose special abode here on earth this Temple was. But we are not really told much by the three Synoptic Gospels. The facts are there, and Christ’s words to the offenders whom he evicted are given. They were despoiling the atmosphere of prayer that should fill the precincts of the Temple. But what more are we told of Christ’s love for, and especially his revelation of, his heavenly Father? Now for this, we have to turn to the account given to us by St John. It is a moot point whether John is describing the same event as that which the other three Gospels present. In John’s account, Christ drives out the “those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business” very early in his public ministry (John 3:13-21), and not at the end. It may be the same event because John, though he gives an abundance of factual detail in his descriptions of events, may not be very concerned for strict chronological order in his overall account. The various incidents that make up his Gospel are almost units in their own right. However, John’s cleansing of the Temple may have been an early episode, repeated at the end. I myself suspect it is the same as that in the Synoptics. In any case, the point here is that John tells us more of what our Lord said of his heavenly Father.

In John’s account of this event — whether at the beginning or at the end of Christ’s ministry — there is a special stress on the fact that the Temple, being profaned by the religious commerce, was the House of Christ’s own Father. Further, this Temple would be succeeded by the Temple that was his body (John 2: 13-21). Very notably, Christ’s zeal “consumed” him because his heavenly Father, his own Father, was being dishonoured by this constant distraction. The God who abode in the Temple was his own Father. Indeed, this is an altogether special feature of the teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ — the way he referred to God. God was “my Father” — his own Father. There is this to be noticed in John’s account. In the Synoptic Gospels, the Father speaks at Christ’s Baptism and designates him as his own Son. But John, in his reference to the Baptism of Christ (1:32), does not gives us these words that came from the Father. Rather, it is at the cleansing of the Temple that Christ himself speaks and refers to God as his Father: you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade (2: 16). This was, arguably, almost as momentous a statement as the words from heaven at the Baptism, given in the Synoptics. The Temple of Jerusalem! It was the holiest site in the world for the Jews, and here was One who referred to it as the house of his own Father! It appears in John as Christ’s first reference to the God of Israel, Yahweh, precisely as his own Father. This is not present in the Synoptic account of the cleansing, as in today’s Gospel from Luke. But of course, there is no doubt that it was because the Temple was the house of his heavenly Father that Christ so intrepidly cleansed it. So we may refer to John’s account in understanding the event. Let us appreciate the uniqueness of Christ’s reference to God in this way. Various names are used of God in the Old Testament — very often, he is Elohim, stressing his sovereignty. He is El (God) with various compounds, such as Shaddai, Elyon, and Olam. Most commonly, he is Yahweh the God of the Covenant, with its various compounds. “Yahweh” denotes God as the One who is, and who is present with and for his chosen people. The sacred name’s numerous compounds add qualities of God’s character such as he “who provides,” or “my banner,” or “peace,” or “the Lord of hosts,” or “your Sanctifier.”

Now, there are some references to Yahweh (“Lord”) as father of his people (Exodus 4: 22-23, Isaiah 63: 16 and Malachi 1:6). He is “father” of David his “son” (2 Samuel 8:14), and of “his anointed” (Psalm 2: 2 and 7). But the title is used of God only some fifteen times in the Old Testament. By contrast, it is notoriously frequent on the lips of Jesus Christ — and as “my” Father. No other prophet referred to God in this intimate, familiar way, a way that exuded immense love, reverence and yet full equality. He is God’s own Son. So extraordinary was this, that it was a principal cause of his being put to death. This he accepted, bearing witness to the truth of his divine Personhood and Sonship in atonement for the sins of the world. It is this to which he was bearing witness in cleansing the Temple, “my Father’s house.” Let us be filled with wonder at Jesus Christ. He surpasses all possible comparison.

"Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling." Some have said that one of the most notable phenomena in so many churches is the amount of small talk and chatter going on within them, despite the abiding Real Presence of Christ in the Tabernacle. It may indicate a neglect and forgetfulness of the Real Presence. We could at least say that were there a reverent and hushed silence every time we enter a Catholic church, it would show a general awareness that Christ our God is there. Our Gospel passage today has something to tell us about this. In our Gospel scene, Our Lord himself puts an end to the distracting activity going on in the Temple, reminding the offenders that the Temple is God’s dwelling place, his house, a house of prayer. Our passage from 1 Maccabees (1 Maccabees 4: 36-37, 52-59) narrates the dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem and the joy with which the people celebrated the occasion, showing the centrality of the Temple in the life of the Old Testament dispensation. We are reminded of the tremendous importance of our places of worship in the life of the Church. In our Gospel scene (Luke 19: 45-48), our Lord is presented as teaching in the Temple every day, and the people hung on his words. Christ now abides in our churches, and he is active in offering grace and teaching.

Our Lord continues his presence constantly in our churches, but now he is present with greater power because it is the risen Jesus who is there, active in his sacraments and in his word. Let us cultivate a profound devotion to our churches as the house of God, the place where God himself dwells in the Person of the Eucharistic Jesus. Let us strive to be like Our Lord himself in our zeal for the church, for there Jesus lives and gives himself to us in word and sacrament.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since you call yourself a Christian, you have to live the Sacred Liturgy of the Church, putting genuine care into your prayer and mortification for priests — especially for new priests — on the days marked out for this intention, and when you know that they are to receive the Sacrament of Order.

Agnes was the sister of St. Clare and her first follower. When Agnes left home two weeks after Clare’s departure, their family attempted to bring Agnes back by force. They tried to drag her out of the monastery, but all of a sudden her body became so heavy that several knights could not budge it. Her uncle Monaldo tried to strike her but was temporarily paralysed. The knights then left Agnes and Clare in peace. Agnes matched her sister in devotion to prayer and in willingness to endure the strict penances which characterized their lives at San Damiano. In 1221 a group of Benedictine nuns in Monticelli (near Florence) asked to become Poor Clares. St. Clare sent Agnes to become abbess of that monastery. Agnes soon wrote a rather sad letter about how much she missed Clare and the other nuns at San Damiano. After establishing other Poor Clare monasteries in northern Italy, Agnes was recalled to San Damiano in 1253 when Clare was dying. Agnes followed Clare in death three months later. Agnes was canonized in 1753. God must love irony; the world is so full of it. In 1212, many in Assisi surely felt that Clare and Agnes were wasting their lives and were turning their backs on the world. In reality, their lives were tremendously life-giving, and the world has been enriched by the example of these poor contemplatives. Charles de Foucald, founder of the Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, said: "One must pass through solitude and dwell in it to receive God’s grace. It is there that one empties oneself, that one drives before oneself all that is not God, and that one completely empties this little house of our soul to leave room for God alone. In doing this, do not fear being unfaithful toward creatures. On the contrary, that is the only way for you to serve them effectively" (Raphael Brown, Franciscan Mystic, p. 126). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. Teacher, they said, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her? Jesus replied, The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive. Some of the teachers of the law responded, Well said, teacher! And no‑one dared to ask him any more questions. (Luke 20:27‑40)

Our resurrection Any religion I have studied, primal or otherwise, has a belief in something after death – except the “faith” of fundamentalist atheists and agnostics who believe in nothing except this not very sunny life. There is virtual consensus that the early children of Israel believed in some sort of ethereal existence after death in a place called Sheol. Fr. Ted Tyler

But it seems that generally death was the end of all that was good. The curse of Genesis 3: 19 was very great: “you shall return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Sheol was a place of twilight (we might say) to which the dead go. Jacob, distraught at the reported death of Joseph and refusing to be comforted, exclaims: "I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning" (Genesis 37:35). In Job 7:9 we read: "As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him any more.” The Afterlife is imagined as a dim abode. In Psalm 6:4–5 we read, "Turn, O Lord, save my life;.. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise?” In Sirach 17: 27-28 there is the sad lament, “Who will sing praises to the Most High in Hades, as do those who are alive and give thanks? From the dead, as from one who does not exist, thanksgiving has ceased; he who is alive and well sings the Lord's praises.” There appeared, on the face of it, no reference to the Afterlife in the Pentateuch — and it seems this was the only true Canon of Scripture for the Sadducees of our Gospel today. At the same time the picture elsewhere is mixed. While Genesis 3: 19 dooms sinful man to the dust, we read in Genesis 5: 24 that “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Famously, in 2 Kings 2:11 there is Elijah’s ascension: “it came about as they were going along and talking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.”

There are, occasionally, sparks of great light in the Old Testament, but the authority of the Books in which they occur was contested at the time of Christ, and earlier. We read in Daniel 12.2-3, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” In the deutero-canonical second book of Maccabees 12: 38-46, we read that “under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear.” So “the noble Judas” ordered an expiatory sacrifice to be offered for these dead. It is then observed that: “In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.” All up, it was by no means clear to many what exactly God had revealed on the Afterlife. The Sadducees, our contenders with Christ today, were aristocrats. They tended to be wealthy and held prominent positions in the religious society of the day. They held strictly to those Books that were certainly the written word of God — meaning, as they took it, the Pentateuch. So, as we see from our Gospel today — there was no resurrection for them. The books of Moses do not mention it, and reason shows the doctrine to be ridiculous. Our Lord routed their argument in but a moment, and showed to their surprise that the very first theophany to Moses, their grand author, implied that there is an Afterlife for the good, a resurrection. God declared himself to Moses to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — so these persons were alive to God. They were not just a memory, dead bones and ash. This encounter with Jesus showed how the Scriptures needed an Interpreter. Jesus was both Interpreter and the Interpretation, and he revealed to man his future glory.

There have been religions and religious founders that insisted on a judgment after death, and an appropriate reward and punishment flowing from this Judgment. The religion of ancient Egypt, for instance, and that of Mesopotamia, had surprising doctrines on this. But nothing and no-one has brought before man the splendid and dazzling prospects God intends for us his children which were revealed by Jesus Christ and brought to mankind by his Church. God intends us for glory, which no eye has seen nor ear heard the like. It is for “those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead” (Luke 20: 27-40). It is worth the effort, then, of loving and serving Christ our Lord. It will be tragic if we do not.

“This, I am convinced, is why these misfortunes have overtaken me, and why I am dying” Cardinal Newman writes in one of his books (A Grammar of Assent) that one of the ways whereby man can come to know God naturally (as distinct from Revelation) is through the course of the world’s events. Fr. Ted Tyler

He is referring especially to the providence of God and what is revealed in the way God governs the world. Of course, there is not a lot in respect to God that we can discern with certainty from the course of events, but our conscience does suggest various things. In our first reading today we have one instance which we may suppose has the sanction of the inspired author. It is the testimony of King Antiochus (1 Maccabees 6: 1-13), lying on his bed full of melancholy and despair at the way things had turned out in his kingdom. Everything was going wrong, and his guilty conscience suggested what was the reason for it. “I have been asking myself” he says, “how I could come to such a pitch of distress.” The answer came to him: “I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem when I seized all the vessels of silver and gold there.” Our conscience is a precious means of being in union with God, including for the pagan. Apart from guiding us in what we should be doing, it helps us discern what is happening in our lives. It suggests or confirms that God is a holy God who rewards the good and punishes the wrongdoer. It suggests at times (and it can only suggest it) that he may be rewarding and punishing now with a view to our repentance while there is time.

Let us treasure this monitor within us and resolve to be faithful to its promptings. We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit who teaches us through the word of God and the Church’s teachings. But for his voice to be heard our conscience must be sensitive. It will be more and more sensitive if we are faithful to it. Our conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit who reminds us of the Church’s teaching and testimony, will guide us to the holiness to which God is calling us. Newman called the Conscience the “aboriginal vicar of Christ” (Letter to the Duke of Norfolk) — the representative of Christ which Nature provides. Let us strive to ensure it is well formed and guided, and then let us be faithful to its indications, especially in small things.

(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Offer your prayer, your atonement, and your action for this end: ut sint unum!—that all of us Christians may share one will, one heart, one spirit. This is so that omnes cum Petra ad lesum per Mariam — that we may all go to Jesus, closely united to the Pope, through Mary.

Entrance Antiphon Rev 5: 12; 1: 6 How worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and divinity, and wisdom and strength and honour. To him belong glory and power for ever and ever.

Collect Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the universe, grant, we pray, that the whole creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service and ceaselessly proclaim your praise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Born in Grenoble, France, of a family that was among the new rich, Philippine learned political skills from her father and a love of the poor from her mother. The dominant feature of her temperament was a strong and dauntless will, which became the material — and the battlefield — of her holiness. She entered the convent at 19 without telling her parents St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

and remained despite their opposition. As the French Revolution broke, the convent was closed, and she began taking care of the poor and sick, opened a school for street urchins and risked her life helping priests in the underground. When the situation cooled, she personally rented her old convent, now a shambles, and tried to revive its religious life. The spirit was gone, and soon there were only four nuns left. They joined the infant Society of the Sacred Heart, whose young superior, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, would be her lifelong friend. In a short time Philippine was a superior and supervisor of the novitiate and a school. But her ambition, since hearing tales of missionary work in Louisiana as a little girl, was to go to America and work among the Indians. At 49, she thought this would be her work. With four nuns, she spent 11 weeks at sea en route to New Orleans, and seven weeks more on the Mississippi to St. Louis. She then met one of the many disappointments of her life. The bishop had no place for them to live and work among Native Americans. Instead, he sent her to what she sadly called "the remotest village in the U.S.," St. Charles, Missouri. With characteristic drive and courage, she founded the first free school for girls west of the Mississippi. It was a mistake. Though she was as hardy as any of the pioneer women in the wagons rolling west, cold and hunger drove them out — to Florissant, Missouri, where she founded the first Catholic Indian school, adding others in the territory. "In her first decade in America Mother Duchesne suffered practically every hardship the frontier had to offer, except the threat of Indian massacre — poor lodging, shortages of food, drinking water, fuel and money, forest fires and blazing chimneys, the vagaries of the Missouri climate, cramped living quarters and the privation of all privacy, and the crude manners of children reared in rough surroundings and with only the slightest training in courtesy" (Louise Callan, R.S.C.J., Philippine Duchesne). Finally, at 72, in poor health and retired, she got her lifelong wish. A mission was founded at Sugar Creek, Kansas, among the Potawatomi. She was taken along. Though she could not learn their language, they soon named her "Woman-Who-Prays-Always." While others taught, she prayed. Legend has it that Native American children sneaked behind her as she knelt and sprinkled bits of paper on her habit, and came back hours later to find them undisturbed. She died in 1852 at the age of 83.

Divine grace channelled her iron will and determination into humility and selflessness, and to a desire not to be made superior. Still, even saints can get involved in silly situations. In an argument with her over a minor change in the sanctuary, a priest threatened to remove her tabernacle. She patiently let herself be criticized by younger nuns for not being progressive enough. Through it all, 31 years, she hewed to the line of a dauntless love and an unshakable observance of her religious vows. “We cultivate a very small field for Christ, but we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self.... The truest crosses are those we do not choose ourselves.... He who has Jesus has everything.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Ezechiel 34:11‑12, 15‑17; Psalm 23:1‑3, 5‑6; 1 Corinthians 15:20‑26, 28; Matthew 25:31‑46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:31‑46)

The King The images and notions of the divine in possession among men and societies have been almost boundless. It is an intriguing thought, that — as we know certainly from historical Revelation — the one God created all things, and from these things man has formed his notions of the Powers of heaven. Yet how varied are these notions, how little in agreement among their possessors they are, and how far from the truth they can be! Aristotle worked out a philosophy of the First Cause that is, of course, far from the popular religion of his own Greek society and culture. In his Metaphysics there is posited the Being who is pure actuality, and whose life is self-contemplative thought. This Pure Act imparted movement to the universe by being desirable (“as the soul is attracted by beauty”). According to this, God never leaves the eternal repose in which His blessedness consists. Features of Aristotle’s theodicy are brilliant and have been appropriated by Christian thought, but its overall contrast with divine Revelation is obvious. The God who revealed himself to his chosen people is a living, dynamic, sovereign Person, with, notably, a heart. He has a heart. He is immensely compassionate and comes to the aid of the distressed. The prayer of Mary in the presence of her kinswoman Elizabeth (Luke 1: 46-55) sums up much of the doctrine on God in the Old Testament: He is mighty; he is holy, he is merciful: “his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.” He scatters the proud and “has filled the hungry with good things.” He has “helped Israel his servant in remembrance of his mercy.” This is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and for all Aristotle’s efforts to pierce the heart of things and get to the First Cause, the real First Cause was immensely more engaging than he ever imagined. The God of the Hebrews is the Lord of the world and King of kings. He is holy and kind to those who fear him. He is near to man, indeed he described himself through the mouth of his prophets as Bridegroom to his people. His people is his spouse. This is language that never occurred to anyone and certainly not to the likes of Aristotle. God is King, but of a unique kind.

God’s kingship is holy, merciful and compassionate. The Sacred Scriptures foretold the coming of the Messiah-King, and when he came he surpassed all predictions. Jesus is not only the Christ, but is the Son who reveals God his Father. This Jesus is the predicted King, and he came revealing and establishing the Kingdom of God his Father. It is the Kingdom of which he is the appointed King in virtue not only of his divine Sonship, but in virtue of the sacrifice of himself for the salvation of the world. The idea of the Kingdom and his own position as King is central to the New Testament — and therefore to the fulfilment of the Old. The recurring theme of Christ’s preaching in the Gospels is the Kingdom of God. It will prevail over all other kingdoms, and it will never have an end. He himself is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and all authority has been given to him, risen from the dead and now in glory but present in his body the Church. On this day we celebrate Jesus Christ as the King of kings. It is a profoundly Scriptural notion and image. It is at the heart of the Gospels, often repeated by St Paul, and is the fulfilment of “all the Scriptures,” including “Moses and all the prophets” (Luke 24:27). St John wrote his Gospel so that we might believe that “Jesus is the Christ (i.e., the Messiah-King), the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (John 20: 31). The sign over the head of Christ as he lay dying on the cross — his royal crown, as it were — was “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” It was put there, ironically, by the Roman Empire which he, Jesus, would conquer by his word in the time to come. He is the King of compassionate love who, as St Paul writes, “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Those who accept him in faith and share in his life know they must live as he did, loving and serving the least. So it is that Christ tells us what will be a key element of our Judgment when he comes as King and Judge at the end. It will hang, largely, on how we have served those in need. Whatever we do to the least, he, the King, will count as being done to him.

We read that at the Judgment, “the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.’” That is the kind of King we love and serve. It is he who is Lord of the world. Let us remember that Christ our King is not speaking merely of physical hunger and need. It is especially the spiritual need of man that he came to remedy, and this is especially the need of our neighbour that we ourselves ought dedicate ourselves to answering. We do it by bringing to the world the Person of Christ the King.

All authority One of the most prevalent intellectual and moral snares of the age in which we live is that of relativism. Modern Western man finds it difficult to admit the fact of absolutes, especially moral and religious absolutes. Characteristically his stance is a ‘liberal’ one, one that right to the end allows for the legitimacy of a contradiction to the ‘truth.’ Ultimately, his presumption is that all so-called ‘truth’ is relative to the one making the claim. ‘Truth’ is a subjective phenomenon. Now, if such a presumption gains a hidden footing in a person’s mind and heart, it will be impossible to be a total Christian after the mind of Christ because Christ has made absolute claims. Being a Christian means accepting Christ on his terms which are absolute in character. A fundamental claim made by Christ and by the Church is that Christ is the Lord of all. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” the risen Jesus told his disciples. “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations.” Therefore no other person in history, no other religious leader or teacher can be compared with him or raised to his rank. Christ is the universal King and Lord of Lords, and this is what we think of and celebrate today.

We ought pray for a deep conviction of this revealed truth, for it is only if we have this conviction that we shall be able to proclaim it to a world stamped by relativism. It is very difficult for modern man to accept that Christ has all authority and that his is the truth that is to guide mankind. There are many other claimants: Mahomet, Buddha, Confucius, and a long line of others. Let us renew our intention to bring the one King and Lord into our own lives, and by our example and words to all around us. As we read in today’s Gospel (Matthew 25: 31-46), at the Judgment it is he and he alone who will decide.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You ask me, my child, what you can do to make me very pleased with you. If Our Lord is satisfied with you, then I am too. And you can know that he is happy with you, by the peace and joy in your heart.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 85 (84): 9 The Lord speaks of peace to his people and his holy ones and to those who turn to him.

Collect Stir up the will of your faithful, we pray, O Lord, that, striving more eagerly to bring your divine work to fruitful completion, they may receive in greater measure the healing remedies your kindness bestows. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Gelasius was born in Rome, in the fifth century, the son of an African named Valerius. Later, ordained a priest, he was elected Pope on March 1st, 492. Gelasius had a reputation for learning, justice, holiness, and charity. However, he was burdened with difficulties caused by a conflict with Euphemius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, over the Acacian heresy. He also protested the encroachments by Constantinople on Alexandria and Antioch. Gelasius was influential in setting aside Roman pagan festivals. Moreover, in opposition to the Manichaeans, he ordered reception of the Eucharist under both species. Gelasius is known to have composed liturgical Prefaces and Orations for Sacramentaries, which may be part of the Leonine Sacramentary. However, he had nothing to do with the Gelasian Sacramentary or the Gelasian Decree (listing the Canonical books of the Bible) — which have been erroneously attributed to him. He died at Rome on November 21, 496. (www.catholic.org)

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. I tell you the truth, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. (Luke 21:1‑4)

The poor widow There is always the temptation to think that big is better. A bigger house is a better house. A bigger country is a better country. A bigger shopping mall is a better mall, a bigger company is a better company. A bigger landscape is a better landscape: who could improve on the great Niagara Falls? Fr. Ted Tyler

What is more breathtaking than the very size of the universe, almost incalculable in extent as it is — for will we ever know what is the ultimate star or planet? I remember when I first visited St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and I was deeply impressed by its majestic size. Its vast proportions had a memorable effect on me. If you see or meet a very tall and properly proportioned person who by his very size dominates the scene or the crowd, are you not very impressed? Perhaps you are instinctively led to expect that he will be “better” in some sense than a person who is physically somewhat diminutive. Put the two persons together, and without yet having engaged with each, what will you expect? I think you will expect to be impressed more by the much bigger person. Experience of each may change that, but probably your initial assumption is that bigger is better. Consider the mark you might be leaving on things by your presence, your character and personality, and your daily work. You may hope that, in a fashion somewhat like the very big man who dominates the scene by his size, your presence and work will dominate the scene and attract the notice of many — and in that sense be “big.” If it is bigger it will be better. If it is small, it will be of little value. I suspect that this tends to be our assumption because we are creatures of sense. We start by taking in what we see, hear and feel. We tend not only to take this in but to be guided by it. If what we see is big, it strikes our imagination accordingly and, if we do not think carefully, our intellect and judgment too. In 1973 a famous book was published: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered. It is a collection of essays by the British economist E. F. Schumacher. It resisted the economic assumption that a big output with big technology is what matters. Rather, let there be small units within big businesses, and let those small units become beautiful, and make the big beautiful.

Schumacher tells us that man is actually small, and therefore small is beautiful. I am not suggesting that Schumacher’s fundamental philosophy on the human being is in all respects correct. But I do suggest that we be aware of, and beware of, our tendency to think that bigger is better. Let us re-frame Schumacher’s caption to, “small can be beautiful” — but of course what is big can be beautiful too. What is small can be ugly, and man who is small can be ugly too. All of this brings us to our Gospel passage today (Luke 21:1-4), in which our Lord is shown in the Temple, watching people contributing to the Treasury. He “saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury” — their contributions were big, and therefore they themselves and probably those observing them thought that those big contributions were better. Not only were their big contributions deemed to be better, but they were deemed to be better persons too, as a result of their bigger contributions. Not so, for we read our Lord’s judgment on the scene: “he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood’” (Luke 21:1-4). In this case, small was certainly beautiful, and it was much, much more beautiful than the much bigger. So we have it from the lips not just of a human philosopher but from the Son of God made man himself, that small can be very beautiful indeed. That poor widow far surpassed the rich in her very contributions in God’s sight. This ought be very consoling to the average human being, and the overwhelming proportion of the human race is made up of the very little people, with not a lot with which to make of their lives something beautiful, indeed very beautiful. How can they do it? They do it by giving to God all they have to live on, such as it is. This they do by doing, to the best of their ability and with the aid of his grace, the will of God as it is manifested to them in the duties of their daily life. What is my duty here and now and today? I shall do my very best with this and give my all to fulfilling it, and I shall do this because God wants me to.

That poor widow whom our Lord saw and held up before his disciples is the heroine of Everyman who has before him his ordinary life with all its ordinary humdrum. We need not be big in order to be better — better, that is, than what we might be. The way to be “better” is to make beautiful the small reality we see ourselves to be. This we can do — and the widow of our Gospel passage did it. Our Lord called to his side not the King Herods, not the chief priests and Temple aristocracy, not the Caesars, but the little people. In fact, the big people have to become small to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the little ones, who, taking up the call to be Christ’s disciples, make of their lives and all of creation, something very, very beautiful for God.

"She from the little she had has put in all she had to live on." One of the very insidious dangers to the spiritual life of the Christian is the feeling of futility. Fr. Ted Tyler

A sense of futility can pervade and cripple a person’s efforts to spend his life doing work for God. One’s efforts can seem so inconsequential, so lacking in obvious fruit. It may seem that others have been far more blessed with success, and a form of bitterness can set in, or at least a languor in the face of past failures and present difficulties. One’s efforts seem to have been a non-event, or worse. It can be discouraging, especially if one is often comparing oneself with others — which, of course, one should not be doing. Our Gospel today (Luke 21:1-4) reminds us that God does not compare us with others. He looks at our heart. Our Lord was sitting in the Temple and watching the rich put a great deal into the Treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in hardly anything. What she put in would have made hardly any difference. Some would have thought it was worthless. But Our Lord made a different judgment. What she put in, he said, amounted to more than any of the others. Why? Because she gave to God all she had to live on.

This should be very consoling to the little person who thinks he has little to show for all his efforts. What God wants is that we give our all, and that we give it to him — like the poor widow. He then will do the rest. Let us resolve to love God with our whole being, and to show this love for him in the dedication with which we fulfill his will in our daily work. If we do this, our lives will receive the praise that was given to the poor widow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A clear mark of the man of God, of the woman of God, is the peace in their souls: they have peace and they give peace to the people they have dealings with.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 85 (84): 9 The Lord speaks of peace to his people and his holy ones and to those who turn to him.

Although Cecilia is one of the most famous of the Roman martyrs, the familiar stories about her are apparently not founded on authentic material. There is no trace of honour being paid her in early times. A fragmentary inscription of the late fourth century refers to a church named after her, and her feast was celebrated at least in 545. According to legend, Cecilia was a young Christian St Cecilia

of high rank betrothed to a Roman named Valerian. Through her influence Valerian was converted, and was martyred along with his brother. The legend about Cecilia’s death says that after being struck three times on the neck with a sword, she lived for three days, and asked the pope to convert her home into a church. Since the time of the Renaissance she has usually been portrayed with a viola or a small organ. Like any good Christian, Cecilia sang in her heart, and sometimes with her voice. She has become a symbol of the Church's conviction that good music is an integral part of the liturgy, of greater value to the Church than any other art. In the present confused state of Church music, it may be useful to recall the following words of Vatican II: “Liturgical action is given a more noble form when sacred rites are solemnized in song, with the assistance of sacred ministers and the active participation of the people.... Choirs must be diligently promoted, but bishops and other pastors must ensure that, whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful may be able to contribute that active participation which is rightfully theirs.... Gregorian chant, other things being equal, should be given pride of place in liturgical services. But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded.... Religious singing by the people is to be skilfully fostered, so that in devotions and sacred exercises, as also during liturgical services, the voices of the faithful may ring out” (Constitution on the Liturgy, 112-118). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Some of Jesus’ disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down. Teacher, they asked, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place? He replied: Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away. Then he said to them: Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:5‑11)

He is Lord The present tends to be seen as everything, because the present is all that actually is. So we who live in the present (as we must), tend to think that what is present is more important and more “real” — in the sense of more enduring — than whatever else has been or will be. At this point of time in history, the United States of America is the most powerful nation on the globe despite its ominous and potentially catastrophic debt. But the time may come when it is but a minor power. Impossible? Hard to imagine? Perhaps, but remember the well-nigh invincible power of classical Rome and the long dominance of that city over the civilized world. At the time of Rome’s ascendancy, the Macedon and Greece of Alexander the Great were a shadow of their former selves. The Jews presumed to revolt against it, and were utterly crushed, the holy City with its grand Temple being left a vast dump yard littered with smouldering ruins. The United States has dominated the recent stage for many decades, but its dominance cannot be compared with that of classical Rome — and consider the doldrums into which Rome has sunk since then, and look at Rome now! It is but one of many cities of the world with no military power to speak of, its most significant feature being, and having long been, the papacy. Kingdoms rise and fall. I remember, when I was finishing my schooling, the Modern History teacher telling us that China will be the nation to watch in the future. This is possible. Will China and India dominate the military and political scene in years to come, with the United States falling into decline? We cannot say, but a mere smattering of knowledge of history ought teach us that we cannot invest enduring hope in the centres of strength around us at any point of time, on this our earthly stage. The picture of much of history is as our Lord describes it in our Gospel today: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in divers places, and plagues and famines and terrors from the heavens, and there will be great signs” (Luke 21:5-11). We cannot, as the Psalmist puts it, trust in chariots nor in horses for they will fail. Our trust has to be, rather, in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20).

In our Gospel scene today our Lord is with some people who remark to him on the dazzling beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem. Our Lord predicts its crash. It will be swept away, and “there will not be left a stone upon a stone that will not be thrown down” — and how like the monuments and shrines of so many of man’s religions this is. Our Lord is here saying this of the greatest shrine of the ancient world, the Temple of Jerusalem. It was the greatest, not only as Herod’s magnificent building, but the greatest in the sense that, as our Lord said, it was the House of his, Jesus Christ’s, heavenly Father. For a thousand years it had been the special dwelling place of the true God, confirmed as such by the prophets and above all by Jesus Christ himself. It would be smashed to pieces. But what our Lord then says is important for the men and women of every age: “many will come in my name, saying, I am he; and the time is at hand. Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and seditions, do not be terrified. These things must first come to pass but the end is not so soon.” That is to say, amid the vicissitudes of this life and amid the numerous claimants for attention and allegiance, we have a sure Hope. It is Jesus Christ, the Lord of the world, the Lord of history, and the Lord of each and every human being. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” he said on having risen from the dead (Matthew 28:18). This sure Stay is ever at hand, ever near, ever accessible, ever kind and compassionate to the little person who is so easily swept away and below the ebb and flow of the tides of history. We may sink like a stone, seemingly without trace. Our mark may be quickly forgotten. I knew a wonderful lady once who cheerfully endured great trials in her marriage. The tiny plaque over her grave does her no justice. There may even be no gravestone to perpetuate one’s memory. But if we have clung to the One who is the one enduring Master and Lord, all will be well. With him we shall reign. As St Thomas More, whose sacrifice was unappreciated, forgotten and who then took four centuries to be canonized, said: “I may lose my head, but I’ll come to no harm.”

Let us, every day, connect profoundly with the One who is the Foundation, the Centre, the Height and the Depth. Jesus Christ our Brother and our God, our Redeemer and our King, is the One with whom we must remain profoundly connected in knowledge and love. All else may buffet us and pull us hither and thither, or it may deal with us graciously, as the case may be. But the one thing we can be sure of is the love of Jesus Christ through whom all things have come to be. He is our life and our light. Let us then resolve to know, love and serve him above all else.

“The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” We have in our first reading from Daniel one of the many Old Testament prophecies of the coming Kingdom of God. God would set up a Kingdom which would never be destroyed. The great expectation lived on among the people: a Kingdom was coming which would last forever (Daniel 2: 31-45). Finally the time came, and the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and informed her that God wished her to be the mother of the Messiah. His would be the throne of David his father, and of his Kingdom there would be no end. John the Baptist came preaching that the Messiah was nigh, and our Lord told the people that the Kingdom of God was among them. As Our Lord once told his disciples, prophets and kings longed to see the day of Christ, and never saw it. We are children of this Kingdom. In a certain sense there is nothing further, essentially, for us to await or expect: only the fulfilment in ourselves of what has already arrived. That fulfilment will find its definitive expression in the final glorious coming of Christ. But we are in the end times now. We have “the goods” now. The “goods” are contained in the Person of Christ. In having Christ, we have every heavenly blessing. What we must do is put it all vigorously to work while we have life and breath. There is no further searching for the ultimate meaning of things nor for the more ultimate blessings attainable. We have Christ. He is our all. Our task is to get to know, love and serve him as perfectly as possible, and to bring the knowledge of him to as many as possible so that they too may be children of this promised Kingdom that has arrived.

The tension now lies, not in awaiting something vague and ill-defined that the heart longs for and which has yet to come. Rather, it is that of seeking the perfect fulfilment, in our hearts and in our world, of the reign of Christ which has already arrived. That reign will reach its fulfilment and it will last forever. Assuredly so. This has been promised. The task is to ensure that we all are fully part of it. So then, now I begin!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get used to replying to those poor “haters,” when they pelt you with stones, by pelting them with Hail Marys.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 85 (84): 9 The Lord speaks of peace to his people and his holy ones and to those who turn to him.

¡Viva

Cristo Rey! (Long live Christ the King!) were the last words Father Pro uttered before he was executed for being a Catholic priest and serving his flock. Born into a prosperous, devout family in Guadalupe de Zacatecas, he entered the Jesuits in 1911 but three years later fled to Granada, Spain, because of religious persecution in Mexico. He was ordained in Belgium in 1925. He immediately returned to Miguel Pro A Nov23, 1927

Mexico, where he served a Church forced to go “underground.” He celebrated the Eucharist clandestinely and ministered the other sacraments to small groups of Catholics. He and his brother Roberto were arrested on trumped-up charges of attempting to assassinate Mexico’s president. Roberto was spared but Miguel was sentenced to face a firing squad on November 23, 1927. His funeral became a public demonstration of faith. He was beatified in 1988.

In 1927 when Father Miguel Pro was executed, no one could have predicted that 52 years later the bishop of Rome would visit Mexico, be welcomed by its president and celebrate open-air Masses before thousands of people. Pope John Paul II made additional trips to Mexico in 1990, 1993 and 1999. Those who outlawed the Catholic Church in Mexico did not count on the deeply rooted faith of its people and the willingness of many of them, like Miguel Pro, to die as martyrs.

During his homily at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II said that Father Pro “is a new glory for the beloved Mexican nation, as well as for the Society of Jesus. His life of sacrificing and intrepid apostolate was always inspired by a tireless evangelizing effort. Neither suffering nor serious illness, neither the exhausting ministerial activity, frequently carried out in difficult and dangerous circumstances, could stifle the radiating and contagious joy which he brought to his life for Christ and which nothing could take away (see John 16:22). Indeed, the deepest root of self-sacrificing surrender for the lowly was his passionate love for Jesus Christ and his ardent desire to be conformed to him, even unto death.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Daniel 5:1-6.13-14.16-17.23-28; Psalm: Daniel 3; Luke 21:12‑19

Jesus said to his disciples, But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life. (Luke 21:12‑19)

Christian witness We naturally tend to underestimate the difficulties ahead. A student has just finished his Honours degree and enrols for his Ph.D., eagerly anticipating interesting research and writing ahead, and coming out of the long process with the letters to his name. He strikes problem after problem. He has intellectual impasses, Fr. Ted Tyler

and his moderator is not very helpful either — indeed, his moderator finds the business a tiresome distraction from his own research. It becomes something of a nightmare, and he gradually gives it away. He had no idea of the difficulties — all he thought of were the joys. A couple gets married, and the wedding is a wonderful occasion. The husband is gradually discovered to be moody, irascible, religiously neglectful, and over the years a tremendous trial to his very good wife. She had no idea what was ahead — but she is faithful and gradually wins him back to a life of greater responsibility. Both had little expectation of the difficulties of marriage — all they thought of were the joys. In her case, the sufferings were very great and yet she ends her life undaunted in her kindness and good cheer. Southern Sudan breaks off from the North, and launches into its own independence. The joys ahead, the joys of freedom to choose, and the joys of freedom from past oppression, are what fill the minds of the new population. But ah! Difficulties then arise and will arise. So it has generally been in the history of man, and it is no surprise that our Lord solemnly issues the warning to his disciples of grave difficulties for them ahead. John the Baptist went into the region about the Jordan preaching repentance and the coming of the salvation of God. All were to prepare. The people were in expectation — and John indicates who it is who will make this happen. Andrew meets Jesus, and goes to his brother Simon with the joyful news, and brings him to Jesus. Philip brings Nathanael: “We have found him of whom Moses spoke in the Law and the prophets also” — “come and see,” he tells him (John 1: 40-46). The joy of the new beginning is contagious. It is about Jesus of Nazareth, who then rapidly far surpasses John. He announces the coming of “the Kingdom” — the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, in him the Kingdom has in some way arrived.

One gets the impression, “reading between the lines” of the Gospel narrative, that the disciples had little sense of there being difficulties ahead. It was the joy of the Kingdom, and Jesus their Master would be the King. On one occasion the mother of the sons of Zebedee came with her two sons — who would in time prove to be magnificent — to ask a favour. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked. They wanted to be allotted the place at his right and left in his glory. That was the Kingdom for them: he was the absolute Centre, but they wanted the joy of being at his very side. They looked to the joys, and had no idea of the difficulties. But whatever about the difficulties inherent in any important project, whether it be a higher degree, or some special work, or a marriage, in the business of serving at the side of Jesus Christ and following in his footsteps to the end, there are difficulties of a special order. That would seem to be the message that our Lord strove to convey to his wide-eyed, ardent, generous, and as yet naive disciples. Perhaps Judas Iscariot was shrewd enough to see some of the difficulties — and did not like it. Who knows! Our Lord began to insist with his disciples: he was going to his doom. He would be delivered up to his enemies. He would be rejected by the highest in the nation, and especially by them. He would be put through a terrible end, an end that would assuredly come. He would be strung up. But then on the third day he would rise again — but they could not grasp all this. It was beyond them. Further, our Lord took pains to tell them that their lot in due course would be similar. He was clear about it: “they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.” By his own death he would bear witness to the truth of his Person and saving mission, and their coming sufferings will also be the occasion of their bearing witness. “This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict” (Luke 21:12-19).

We need to pray about this, and we need to pray for it — by that I mean that we need to pray for the grace to appreciate our Lord’s words, to accept them, and for the grace of his help in the doing of it. That is to say, we must pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to accept and embrace the special difficulties of being one who readily bears witness to Jesus Christ and his revelation, and to the Church which is the divinely-instituted conduit of it to the world. Let us pray for the grace to bear successful witness to Jesus Christ amid the predicted difficulties. Our greatest calling is to follow the Master in his Passion, Death and Resurrection. Thus shall we reign!

“Men will seize you and persecute you; ..and that will be your opportunity to bear witness” One of the most mysterious things in life is difficulty and suffering, especially when it seems to be undeserved. Cardinal Newman regarded it as, potentially, a tremendous obstacle to belief in God. Fr. Ted Tyler

He wrote that were it not for the unmistakable testimony of his Conscience, the fact of evil would lead him to unbelief. Good people who try to obey God and follow their conscience experience suffering and evil. Why is this, when there is a good God? We do not know, but there are various hints given by Our Lord which help us make sense of it. Today Our Lord warns his disciples that persecution and suffering await them precisely because of their fidelity to him — they “will bring you before kings and governors because of my name”. What is the meaning of this? It will “be your opportunity to bear witness” (Luke 21:12-19). This is very important when we think of the things that have happened, do happen, and will happen to us. All such circumstances will be opportunities to do good for others, and the greatest good will be that of bearing witness to Christ and his truth. The supremely adverse circumstance will be the unjust taking away of one’s life “because of my name” — and the witness will constitute martyrdom. The martyr is the one who bears witness to Christ with his very life. Now, this witness can be given in all sorts of ordinary ways in the midst of everyday difficulties such as sickness, contradictions, clashes of personality, difficulties in work, or whatever.

Every difficulty in life will be “your opportunity to bear witness.” And Christ’s help will be with us “because I myself will give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.” Let us then rely on the help of Our Lord as we turn all occasions into opportunities. Our Lord assures us that “your endurance will win you your lives.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don’t worry if your work seems barren just now. When it is holiness that is being sown, it is not lost: others will gather in the harvest.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 85 (84): 9 The Lord speaks of peace to his people and his holy ones and to those who turn to him.

(November 24) Saint Andrew Dung-Lac, priest and martyr, and his companions, martyrs

St. Andrew was one of 117 martyrs who met death in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862. Members of this group were beatified on four different occasions between 1900 and 1951. Now all have been St Andrew Kim Taegon In Korea

canonized by Pope John Paul II. Christianity came to Vietnam (then three separate kingdoms) through the Portuguese. Jesuits opened the first permanent mission at Da Nang in 1615. They ministered to Japanese St Andrew Dung-Lac And Companions

Catholics who had been driven from Japan. The king of one of the kingdoms banned all foreign missionaries and tried to make all Vietnamese apostatize by trampling on a crucifix. Like the priest-holes in Ireland during English persecution, many hiding places were offered in homes of the faithful. Severe persecutions were again launched three times in the 19th century. During the six decades after 1820, between 100,000 and 300,000 Catholics were killed or subjected to great hardship. Foreign missionaries martyred in the first wave included priests of the Paris Mission Society, and Spanish Dominican priests and tertiaries. Persecution broke out again in 1847 when the emperor suspected foreign missionaries and Vietnamese Christians of sympathizing with the rebellion of one of his sons. The last of the martyrs were 17 laypersons, one of them a 9-year-old, executed in 1862. That year a treaty with France guaranteed religious freedom to Catholics, but it did not stop all persecution. By 1954 there were over a million and a half Catholics—about seven percent of the population — in the north. Buddhists represented about 60 percent. Persistent persecution forced some 670,000 Catholics to abandon lands, homes and possessions and flee to the south. In 1964, there were still 833,000 Catholics in the north, but many were in prison. In the south, Catholics were enjoying the first decade of religious freedom in centuries, their numbers swelled by refugees. During the Vietnamese war, Catholics again suffered in the north, and again moved to the south in great numbers. Now the whole country is under Communist rule.

It may help a people who associate Vietnam only with a recent war to realize that the cross has long been a part of the lives of the people of that country. Even as we ask again the unanswered questions about United States involvement and disengagement, the faith rooted in Vietnam's soil proves hardier than the forces which would destroy it.

“The Church in Vietnam is alive and vigorous, blessed with strong and faithful bishops, dedicated religious, and courageous and committed laypeople.... The Church in Vietnam is living out the gospel in a difficult and complex situation with remarkable persistence and strength” (statement of three U.S. archbishops returning from Vietnam in January 1989). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus said to his disciples, When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfilment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:20‑28)

He will come We notice distinct components in Luke’s account of our Lord’s words to his disciples about the End — it is usually called his “eschatological discourse.” Luke’s presentation of it (21: 6-36) goes for some 31 verses, while Matthew’s for some 43 verses (Matthew 24: 2-44). The two are quite similar. Mark’s goes for 35 verses (13: 2-37). Luke’s text (as does Matthew) begins with his prediction of the destruction of the magnificent Temple, with all its “noble stones and offerings.” The days will come when “there shall not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (21: 5-6). Then he refers to “wars and tumults” — they were not to be “terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once” (21: 9). Conflicts between nations and natural disasters are then described, and “terrors and great signs from heaven.” Christ’s disciples will be severely persecuted “for my name’s sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony....By your endurance you will gain your lives” (21: 10-19). In our passage today which is the immediate sequel, our Lord seems to repeat in different words the two elements of turmoil he has just mentioned. There will be the utter destruction of the Holy City. When armies begin to surround it, his disciples are to depart, for “Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (21: 20-24). Then our Lord passes once more to the general cosmic upheaval, with “men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world” (21: 25-26). The wages of sin, then, are being paid. The Temple and its City will fall, and in time so will the world. All will crack, rend asunder and implode for, because of sin, the system of things is separated from its only Source, the God who sustains and loves it. Most seriously, as St John says in his Prologue — “he came unto his own and his own did not receive him... the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1: 11-14). Our Lord’s words portray those faithful to him being in a world that is at odds with God and Jesus Christ, and therefore with them. They cannot rely on things or persons about them, but only on their Master who will come at the End. He is their Stay and their sure Hope.

The notable thing about the vivid description of the “wars and tumults” and the “terrors and great signs” is the coming of Jesus Christ as Lord. All things may pass away, but Jesus Christ will not. He is the Lord, and in his hands there rests all authority in heaven and on earth. With him there is all power and all glory. Hence whatever we see “coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken,” in Jesus Christ there is an absolute anchor. “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:20-28). All will be well for those who place their trust and allegiance in him. In Matthew’s account of Christ’s trial, our Lord stood before the Sanhedrin and was put under oath to declare whether he claimed to be both the Messiah and the very Son of the Living God (and therefore possessing the nature of God). That was the one moment amid the various accusations when he did speak (Matthew 26: 63-64). He answered the high priest with the utmost clarity, knowing that he was delivering himself into their hands: “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Luke’s account is a little different, but Christ’s testimony about himself is the same: the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke, indeed, makes the interrogation clearer still: “they all said, ‘Are you the Son of God, then?’ And he said to them, ‘You say that I am.’ And they said, ‘What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips’” (Luke 22: 69-71). In our Gospel today, our Lord’s prediction of the End in the presence of his disciples has its climax in the coming of the Son of Man “in a cloud with power and great glory” — he is coming not only as the Son of Man of the Book of Daniel, but as God our Judge. But when that happens, his disciples are to “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:20-28). Christ’s coming is to be a cause of rejoicing for those who have accepted him.

Christ is the great Foundation on whom all may rely. The “eschatological discourse” of Jesus Christ about the End Times adds this singular feature to the various apocalyptic descriptions and passages of the Old Testament: the defining element is the Person of Jesus Christ. All of history looks to his final coming, and the entire life of each individual ought have his coming at the end of life as its defining pole. Let us so live as to be ready for the Bridegroom when he comes. When he comes, the cry will go out: the Bridegroom is here! Go out to meet him. Let us live in such a way as always to be ready, whenever be the day, whenever the moment.

“Then you will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” If we are to be Christians with a profound and clear-sighted conviction, we have to be alert to the hidden assumptions of our culture that will, if they take root, undermine firm convictions. They are the starting points that ground beliefs and values. They are the first principles of social and individual action. Now, one of the most pervasive assumptions, a position that is widely taken for granted, is that truth is relative to each person. It is widely assumed that what each person regards as the truth is simply a personal and subjective opinion about the truth. Objective truth, it is widely assumed, is unattainable in matters philosophical and religious, including the ultimate issue, God. If we are not careful, we will slip into assuming this ourselves, without quite realising it. If this happens, we can find ourselves reluctant to believe that there is one Lord and King to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been granted. We can be reluctant to think this with firmness and conviction, simply because others deny it or are sceptical about it. The effect of this denial can be that, deep in our own minds and hearts, we can fail in firmness of belief.

To this temptation, our readings today address their teaching. The first reading from the book of Daniel (Daniel 6: 12-28) concludes with the testimony of King Darius that the God of Daniel is “the living God, he endures forever, his sovereignty will never be destroyed, and his kingship never end.” In our Gospel passage Our Lord assures us (Luke 21: 20-28) that all “will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory”. Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to give us an unshakeable conviction of this, and to enable us to bring it to others.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even though you gain little light in your prayer, even though it seems dry and irksome, you should consider, with a sure, ever-new insight, that you need to persevere in every detail of your life of piety.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 85 (84): 9 The Lord speaks of peace to his people and his holy ones and to those who turn to him.

Columban was the greatest of the Irish missionaries who worked on the European continent. As a young man he was greatly tormented by temptations of the flesh, and sought the advice of a religious woman who had lived a hermit’s life for years. He saw in her answer a call to leave the world. He went first to a monk on an island in Lough Erne, then to the great monastic seat of learning at Bangor. After many years of seclusion and prayer, he travelled to Gaul with 12 companion missionaries. They won wide respect for the rigor of their discipline, their preaching, and their commitment to charity and religious life in a time characterized by clerical slackness and civil strife. Columban established several monasteries in Europe which became centres of religion and culture. Like all saints, he met opposition. Ultimately he had to appeal to the pope against complaints of Frankish bishops, for vindication of his orthodoxy and approval of Irish customs. He reproved the king for his licentious life, insisting that he marry. Since this threatened the power of the queen mother, Columban was ordered deported back to Ireland. His ship ran aground in a storm, and he continued his work in Europe, ultimately arriving in Italy, where he found favour with the king of the Lombards. In his last years he established the famous monastery of Bobbio, where he died. His writings include a treatise on penance and against Arianism, sermons, poetry and his monastic rule.

Now that public sexual license is approaching the extreme, we need the Church's jolting memory of a young man as concerned about chastity as Columban. And now that the comfort-captured Western world stands in tragic contrast to starving millions, we need the challenge to austerity and discipline of a group of Irish monks. They were too strict, we say; they went too far. How far shall we go?

Writing to the pope about a doctrinal controversy in Lombardy, Columban said: “We Irish, living in the farthest parts of the earth, are followers of St. Peter and St. Paul and of the disciples who wrote down the sacred canon under the Holy Spirit. We accept nothing outside this evangelical and apostolic teaching.... I confess I am grieved by the bad repute of the chair of St. Peter in this country.... Though Rome is great and known afar, she is great and honoured with us only because of this chair.... Look after the peace of the Church, stand between your sheep and the wolves.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus told them this parable: Look at the fig‑tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Luke 21:29‑33)

The Kingdom is near In 1927 Monsignor Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist and Catholic priest, proposed that the receding movement of the spiral galaxies from the Earth was due to the expansion of the Universe. In 1931 he went further and suggested that the evident expansion of the Universe, Fr. Ted Tyler

if projected back in time, meant that the further in the past the smaller the Universe was, until at some finite time in the past all the mass of the Universe was concentrated into a single point, a "primeval atom" where and when the fabric of time and space came into existence. After World War II, two distinct possibilities for explaining the development of the Universe emerged. One was Fred Hoyle's model of a steady state in the Universe — which had long prevailed. In this model, the Universe is roughly the same at any point in time. The other was Monsignor Lemaître's Big Bang theory — he himself termed the event the "big noise." Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, who disliked the idea, designated the creation event "Big Bang" (in a Radio broadcast in 1949). So, ironically, it was Hoyle who coined the phrase that came to be applied to Lemaître's theory. The Big Bang is now viewed as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos, but even so, little is claimed to be known scientifically about the earliest moments of the Universe's history. In the 1920s and 1930s almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal steady state Universe, and several complained that the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious concepts into physics. This perception was enhanced by the fact that the originator of the Big Bang theory, Georges Lemaître, was a Catholic priest. Pope Pius XII declared, at the 1951 opening meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, that the Big Bang theory accorded with Catholic teaching on creation. Now, why do I mention all this? The Big Bang is an hypothesis — like Evolution — to help in understanding the origin of the world. What it does illustrate is the amazing fecundity and power which God has planted in material creation, which he sustains by his almighty touch. The world is capable, by the power of the loving Creator who continually supports it, of amazing transformations.

Of course, to appreciate this we do not have to have recourse to scientific hypotheses involving astronomy and the origins of the Universe. As John Henry Newman wrote in one of his sermons (PPS IV, 13), “Once only in the year, yet once, does the world which we see show forth its hidden powers, and in a manner manifest itself. Then the leaves come out, and the blossoms on the fruit trees, and flowers; and the grass and corn spring up. There is a sudden rush and burst outwardly of that hidden life which God has lodged in the material world. Well, that shows you, as by a sample, what it can do at God’s command, when He gives the word. This earth, which now buds forth in leaves and blossoms, will one day burst forth into a new world of light and glory, in which we shall see Saints and Angels dwelling.” Were we not to have had constant experience of the change in nature, we would scarcely imagine such great changes to be possible. As said just above, the world is capable, by God’s power, of amazing transformations. Our point here, though, is that this feature of change to something higher and better is a harbinger of the greatest thing that is to come: the Kingdom of God. Thus are we brought to our Gospel passage today (Luke 21: 29-33). The problem with us moderns is that we assume that this world is really all that there is. But our experience of this changing and surprising world and our speculations on its processes ought suggest to us that what is ultimately coming could far surpass anything we now imagine. In our Gospel today our Lord is speaking of the Kingdom of God — in Matthew, it is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of God is the goal of human history. It is the goal of each individual life. It was the goal of our Lord’s mission. It was the object of his preaching. He wished all to prepare for the Kingdom of God, and its fulfilment would occur at the end of time when this world will pass away and be transformed into something truly glorious. If we look back, and choose to understand the world in terms of the Big Bang, or in terms of Evolution, or if we look at our world from month to month and year to year, remarkable change is, we might say, a matter of course. Our Lord is assuring us that the most remarkable changes are yet to come.

“Look at the fig-tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” Essentially, the Kingdom of God is present in its fulness in the Person of Jesus Christ. It extends when a person enters into union with him and begins to share his life by grace. Christ has commissioned the Church his body to bring him to the whole world, and to make disciples of all the nations. At the end, he will come in power and glory, and then his Kingdom will have no end. God will be all in all — and how terrible for those who are not in the Kingdom! Let us resolve to enter it, then, and to live accordingly. This Kingdom is the goal of all, and is the ultimate purpose of all that God is doing in and for his creation.

"And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man" It is very profitable to meditate on the titles that are used of Our Lord in the New Testament. St John the Baptist referred to Our Lord as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He directed the people’s attention away from himself stating that he was not the Fr. Ted Tyler

Christ, but that the Christ was about to come. Our Lord challenged the scribes and the Pharisees to consider what John had said in pointing to him. They and the people asked Our Lord if he was the Messiah who was to come. Our Lord was reluctant to answer because of the kind of person all expected the Messiah to be. So then, what titles did Our Lord give to himself? The most common was “the Son of Man”, and in our first reading from the book of Daniel, the prophet foresees the eventual coming of the “Son of Man” (Daniel 7: 2-14). The coming of the "Son of Man" that the prophet Daniel here foresees is clearly his final coming. Our Lord refers to this at times in the Gospels — notably at the beginning of his Passion when on trial before the leaders of the people who were about to condemn him to death. In Daniel’s vision kingdoms will rise and fall, but finally the One of great age will take his seat to judge. The beast will be killed, and then on the clouds of heaven will come “one like a son of man.” On him will be conferred “an eternal sovereignty which shall never pass away.” The One predicted in this splendid passage is Jesus Our Lord.

In placing our faith in him and in cleaving to him in our daily life we entrust ourselves to the One who will take us safely through the vicissitudes of history into an eternity of absolute security. The Son of Man is our Brother and the Lord of lords and King of kings. Let us dwell on the vision of the Son of Man described by Daniel, for it is how our Lord referred repeatedly to himself. If Our Lord loved to use the title, we ought love to think of it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You grew in the face of difficulties in the apostolate when you prayed: “Lord, you are the same as ever. Give me the faith of those men who knew how to correspond to your grace, who worked great miracles, real marvels, in your Name...” And you finished off: “I know that you will do it: but I also know that you want to be asked. You want to be sought out. You want us to knock hard at the door of your Heart.” At the end you renewed your resolve to persevere in humble and trusting prayer.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 85 (84): 9 The Lord speaks of peace to his people and his holy ones and to those who turn to him.

According to the Legend of St. Catherine, this young woman converted to Christianity after receiving a vision. At the age of 18, she debated 50 pagan philosophers. Amazed at her wisdom and debating skills, they became Christians — as did about 200 soldiers and members of the emperor’s family. All of them were martyred. Sentenced to be executed on a spiked wheel, Catherine touched the wheel and it shattered. She was beheaded. Centuries later, angels are said to have carried the body of St. Catherine to a monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

Devotion to her spread as a result of the Crusades. She was invoked as the patroness of students, teachers, librarians and lawyers. Catherine is one of the 14 Holy Helpers, venerated especially in Germany and Hungary. The pursuit of God's wisdom may not lead to riches or earthly honours. In Catherine's case, this pursuit contributed to her martyrdom. She was not, however, foolish in preferring to die for Jesus rather than live only by denying him. All the rewards that her tormenters offered her would rust, lose their beauty or in some other way become a poor exchange for Catherine's honesty and integrity in following Jesus Christ. “Therefore I [King Solomon] prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me. I preferred her to sceptre and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; Because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendour of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands; and I rejoiced in them all, because Wisdom is their leader, though I had not known that she is the mother of these” (Wisdom 7:7-12). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus said to his disciples, Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:34‑36)

On the watch The human eye is a complex organ that enables us to see physical reality. Just like every other organ in our bodies, the eye is susceptible to a variety of diseases. Glaucoma is a common disease of the human eye that is characterized by a group of conditions that slowly deteriorate the optic nerve, eventually causing blindness. It is the second leading cause of blindness and is typically caused, but not always, by abnormally high pressure inside the eye called intraocular pressure. A person may not notice any signs or symptoms and for many, by the time glaucoma is discovered, it is already at the advanced stages. Damage done by glaucoma cannot be reversed but may be slowed with the proper treatment. Cataracts are another common disorder that affect the eyes and are described as a clouding of the generally clear lens of the eye. Macular degeneration is a condition of the eye that damages the core of the retina, which is called the macula. Damage to the retina can make it increasingly more difficult to see fine details. With macular degeneration, damage is also done to the area around blood vessels that supply the macula. These are instances of the gradual loss of the power to see, and they each require different strategies to halt the loss, or with some, to regain vision. But now, there is, in a higher sense, a very common gradual loss of vision. It is the loss of the power to see spiritually, to see the things that God would have us especially perceive. These things are of maximum importance. Many with excellent physical sight are simultaneously suffering a silent but relentless loss of spiritual sight, and they do not know it. What is worse, they do not care. One of the most important things to do when it comes to the preservation of physical sight — as with health generally — is to be on the look-out for tell-tale symptoms. Check-ups with the appropriate experts ought be regular. In other words, as the years advance a person ought be on the watch lest a deterioration set in which can reach such a pass as to be irreversible. This having been said, a major problem is that many think that the only important dimension to health is the physical — because it is this life alone that matters.

The fact is that as a person advances in years, if he does not look out, slowly and silently a serious spiritual decay can set in. Of course, it is very possible that due to parental and educational neglect, a young person may never launch into a substantial spiritual and religious life. But even if a beginning has been made in a genuine relationship with God, this can — as with physical health — deteriorate, become diseased and fade completely away. The serious feature of this is that, especially due to declining interest in one’s spiritual life and health — because one’s interests lie elsewhere — all this may be little noticed and what is noticed may be left unattended. A person reaches the age of fifty, or sixty or more, and his life has become filled with various interests and ambitions (or perhaps relatively empty of them), and things that are of God fade from the horizon. He is becoming blind and does not know it. A high pressure from the things of this world are pressing on the eye of the soul, and spiritual glaucoma sets in. Or to use another image, the lens of the soul is becoming clouded and a cataract is veiling the heart. As said above, not only is there the loss of vision, but there is the loss of interest to do something about it. Life rapidly passes, and its end looms ahead either suddenly or gradually as the case may be. But the person has lost his spiritual sight, or it may be seriously impaired. He is helpless in the midst of his spiritual disease, and cannot rise to the occasion of the coming “of the Son of Man.” Somehow grace has to penetrate the blindness, and if there is simply no response from the person himself, what can be done? His sorry state is the fruit of a vast number of previous neglects and refusals. All of this reminds us of the critical importance of our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel: “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21: 34-36).

Be always on the watch, our Lord tells us. How can we do this? We do it especially by cultivating an abiding spirit of prayer day by day. Let us strive every day to live in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God-with-us. Let us take practical steps to grow in this habit. As soon as we awake in the morning, let our firm habit be to turn to God in prayer immediately. Let us raise our minds and hearts to God very frequently during the day amid our work. If we wake at night, well, let us turn our hearts to God then too. There are many means of being ever on the watch to ensure we live in the state of grace, but daily and frequent prayer is essential among them.

“Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen” During this last week of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year we are treated with the rich passages from the prophet Daniel foretelling the coming of the eternal kingdom of the Messiah. At the end Christ will come in glory to judge the living and the dead, and of his kingdom there will be no end. This is what we profess in the Nicene Creed. Our passage today from Daniel finishes with the words, “His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty and every empire will serve and obey him” (Daniel 7: 15-27). This is what Our Lord prophesied of himself: he will come again to judge all the nations, the living and the dead. Well then, what are we to do about this? We do not know when Christ will come again to judge. Our Lord, when asked, replied that no one knows when this will be, only the Father. It can happen any time, so we should live in the light of that fact. It means, to use the words of Our Lord himself in today’s Gospel, “Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened, ... and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap” (Luke 21: 34-36). We are to live in such a way that were Christ to come suddenly, now, today, or this week, we would be ready, and would be able “to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.” More than this, the thought of being ever ready for Christ’s coming ought impel us to be apostolic so that others too, as many as possible, will likewise be able to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.

Let us live in the thought of the coming of Christ. He comes every day to us in his grace, in his word, and in the Sacraments of the Church. He will come at our death, and none of us knows when that will occur. He will come at the end, whenever the end will be — and none of us knows when that will be. We ought so live for Christ as to be ready for him, and we ought bring the good news of Christ to others, as many as possible, so that they too will stand ready.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When you are troubled...and also in the hour of success, say again and again, “Lord, don’t let go of me, don’t leave me, help me as you would a clumsy child; always lead me by the hand!”

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 25 (24): 1-3 To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. Nor let my enemies exult over me; and let none who hope in you be put to shame.

Collect Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Born in Lucera (southeast Italy), Francesco St Francesco Fasani

entered the Conventual Franciscans in 1695. After his ordination 10 years later, he taught philosophy to younger friars, served as guardian of his friary and later became provincial. When his term of office ended, Francesco became master of novices and finally pastor in his hometown. In his various ministries, he was loving, devout and penitential. He was a sought-after confessor and preacher. One witness at the canonical hearings regarding Francesco’s holiness testified, "In his preaching he spoke in a familiar way, filled as he was with the love of God and neighbour; fired by the Spirit, he made use of the words and deed of Holy Scripture, stirring his listeners and moving them to do penance." Francesco showed himself a loyal friend of the poor, never hesitating to seek from benefactors what was needed. At his death in Lucera, children ran through the streets and cried out, "The saint is dead! The saint is dead!" Francesco was canonized in 1986.

During his homily at the canonization of Francesco, Pope John Paul II reflected on John 21:15 in which Jesus asks Peter if he loves Jesus more than the other apostles and then tells Peter, "Feed my lambs." The pope observed that in the final analysis human holiness is decided by love. "He [Francesco] made the love taught us by Christ the fundamental characteristic of his existence, the basic criterion of his thought and activity, the supreme summit of his aspirations" (L'Osservatore Romano, vol. 16, number 3, 1986). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7; Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples, “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back — whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’“ (Mark 13:33-37)

Responsibility One of the very great Hollywood actors of the second half of the twentieth century was Charlton Heston (1923-2008), born John Charles Carter, the son of a mill operator. An actor of film, theatre and television, he is known for heroic roles in films such as El Cid, The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes and Ben-Hur, Fr. Ted Tyler

for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. His stage name “Charlton Heston” was drawn from his mother's maiden surname (Charlton) and his stepfather's surname (Heston), and was used for his first film, Peer Gynt. He was a larger-than-life man, and politically involved. I once watched an interview conducted with him on television, and especially remember his saying that one of the most notable things about modern life is the lack of the acceptance of responsibility for what one does. I do not recall exactly what he was referring to, but I remember the general point. It is a point that could be stressed for all times and places, because it is near to the heart of human living. A person who does not understand his responsibilities or who, having an idea of them, never rises to fulfilling them, is far from being the person he should be. He is immature and ill-developed. It is precisely the non-acceptance of responsibility that is characteristic of the child. No-one is very surprised if a child fails to carry through with a “responsibility” he is given, or fails to accept responsibility for what he has done — although he will be corrected for the failure. But it is a serious matter if a grown person acts like a child in this respect. The non-acceptance of responsibility destroys the prospects of growth in man. This is certainly the case in our relationship with God. Our Lord makes it clear that God will hold us to our responsibilities, which is to say the responsibilities that he has given us. He gives us various responsibilities, and this he does through a variety of means and occasions — for he is the sustaining Creator and Lord of the world. Our objective duties, duties that our reason and our conscience recognize as being such, are ultimately God-given. God will hold us to these responsibilities, and it will not do to shirk them. When he comes, there will be no avoiding the account that will have to be rendered.

So we must be on guard against whatever may distract us from our duty before God, or lead us to neglect it. Our Lord says, “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back— whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'” (Mark 13:33-37). Our Lord says this to “everyone.” It is an essential feature of the human life, as it is of Revealed Religion. Every man and woman, whatever be his or her religion (or none), will have to face the coming of the “owner of the house” who will inevitably come, whatever be the hour. Our Lord has given us fair warning. At his first coming, God came without any brilliance, unknown by most, prolonging the mystery of his hidden life by many years. He was born in a manger as the foster-son of a humble craftsman. He went here and there like an ordinary man. When he came down from the mountain of the Transfiguration, Jesus asked his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. But his second coming will not be like that. “As the lightning from the east flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:27). It will be the time of judgment and of sentencing. The Lord will not appear as a doctor, but as a judge. His sovereignty will be manifest. It is an inextricable feature of human life that it is ever liable to come to its end. Its end is marked by a Coming, the coming of the One from whom each human being has received various responsibilities — the responsibility to be a good and holy person, the responsibility to meet the obligations perceived by one’s conscience, the responsibility to care for those entrusted to us, the responsibility to do what we can to meet the needs of our neighbour, and above all the responsibilities revealed by God, especially through the mouth of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ.

All this is to say, we must not, as we say, let the ball drop. We must be on guard, alert, ever on the job entrusted to us by our Lord and Saviour, the Master who will assuredly come. Human life and history is not just a succession of events which happen to occur. There is an End point, a Goal. We have been told about it. For the individual it is his death and then the divine Judgment on how he has met his God-given responsibilities. For all of mankind it is the final Coming of that Judge, to demand an account of all the living and the dead. Then of his Kingdom there will be no end. Let us ensure that we are found by his side when that moment and that day comes.

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1731-1738 (Responsibility and imputability)

"Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." Today we begin a new twelve month liturgical year (Year B), and it begins with the liturgical reliving of the preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The Church calls it the special liturgical season of Advent. The Christian knows that in Christ is given every heavenly blessing and that the Old Fr. Ted Tyler

Testament period was God’s preparation of his people for his coming. Part and parcel of the mystery of Christ is the divine preparation for his coming. Therefore the liturgical year’s celebration of the mystery of Christ includes also a liturgical celebration of this preparation. By reliving the sentiments God instilled in his people prior to the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 63: 16-17.19; 64: 2-7) we shall be more disposed to receive Christ when he comes to us again, now in our everyday life and especially at the end. The attitude and posture which the Church invites us to make our own today is that contained in today’s Gospel passage (Mark 13: 33-37). We are to stay awake, Our Lord tells us, because we never know when the time will come. What does this mean, in concrete terms? Our Lord provides us with a simile. “It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task.” So being ready for the coming of the Master means working at the task he has given us to do, whatever that may be — seemingly unimportant perhaps. It means trying to do the best we can with the task the Master has given us to do, however unnoticed it may be before the gaze of men. Were the Master to arrive suddenly, he will find us diligent at his work. “He must not find you asleep.”

The greatest task ahead of each person is his own sanctification. As St Paul writes in one of his letters, “This is the will of God: your sanctification.” Christ must not find us asleep at the wheel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aquae multae non potuerunt exstinguere caritatem! — the great turmoil of waters could not quench the fire of charity. I offer you two interpretations of these words of Holy Scripture. First: the throng of your past sins, now that you have fully repented of them, will not take you away from the Love of our God; and a second one: the waters of misunderstanding, the difficulties that you are perhaps encountering, should not interrupt your apostolic work.

James was born in the Marche of Ancona, in central Italy along the Adriatic Sea. After earning doctorates in canon and civil law at the University of Perugia, he joined the Friars Minor and began a very austere life. He fasted nine months of the year; he slept three hours a night. St. Bernardine of Siena told him to moderate his penances. James studied theology with St. John of Capistrano. Ordained in 1420, James began a preaching career that took him all over Italy and through 13 Central and Eastern European countries. This extremely popular preacher converted many people (250,000 at one estimate) and helped spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. His sermons prompted numerous Catholics to reform their lives and many men joined the Franciscans under his influence. With John of Capistrano, Albert of Sarteano and Bernardine of Siena, James is considered one of the "four pillars" of the Observant movement among the Franciscans. These friars became known especially for their preaching. To combat extremely high interest rates, James established montes pietatis (literally, mountains of charity) — non-profit credit organizations that lent money at very low rates on pawned objects. Not everyone was happy with the work James did. Twice assassins lost their nerve when they came face to face with him. James was canonized in 1726.

James wanted the word of God to take root in the hearts of his listeners. His preaching was directed to preparing the soil, so to speak, by removing any rocks and softening up lives hardened by sin. God’s intention is that his word take root in our lives, but for that we need both prayerful preachers and cooperative listeners. "Beloved and most holy word of God! You enlighten the hearts of the faithful, you satisfy the hungry, console the afflicted; you make the souls of all productive of good and cause all virtues to blossom; you snatch souls from the devil’s jaw; you make the wretched holy, and men of earth citizens of heaven" (Sermon of St. James). (AmericanCatholic.org)

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering. Jesus said to him, I will go and heal him. The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 8:5-11)

The centurion’s prayer Polybius (about 200–118 BC), was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic, its gradual domination of Greece and especially its defeat of Hannibal. The sixth section of Book VI of The Histories is on the Roman military system, and in number 24 he writes the following of the centurions.: “From each of the classes except the youngest they elect ten centurions according to merit, ..... They wish the centurions not so much to be venturesome and daredevil as to be natural leaders, of a steady and sedate spirit. They do not desire them so much to be men who will initiate attacks and open the battle, but men who will hold their ground when worsted and hard-pressed and be ready to die at their posts.” The point to note here is that the centurion is a man of merit, a natural leader, having strength of mind, steady when in adversity and ready to die at the post if necessary. The centurions mentioned in the New Testament are spoken of in terms of praise, whether in the Gospels or in the Acts. In the account of Christ’s death, Mark refers to the centurion who was present. “When the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was a son of God!” (15:39). Luke’s account (23: 47) also mentions the centurion, and his report is: “when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, and said, “Certainly this man was innocent!” In the Acts of the Apostles (10:1-2), we read that “At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.” Later, Simon Peter said, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (10:34-35). In Acts 27: 1-3, we read that “When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius.... and Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for.” Later Julius protected him (27:43).

The New Testament portrays centurions favourably. I say this to provide a context for the introduction of our centurion in today’s Gospel text. In Matthew’s account, which is our text for today, “When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering ” (Matthew 8: 5). In Luke, our Lord “entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death” (7:1-2). We learn from Luke that the centurion came to Jesus (as in Matthew) in the sense that he sent “some Jewish elders to him, asking that he come and heal his slave” (Luke 7:3). The Jewish elders tell our Lord that “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us” (Luke 7:4). This detail is missing in Matthew. Luke, generally understood to be a Gentile convert, was perhaps especially interested in the centurion and took care to record more details of him and of the incident than did Matthew. In Matthew, as soon as our Lord is requested by the centurion and told of the servant’s condition, he says “I will come and cure him.” In Luke, as soon as the Jewish emissaries make their request of Jesus, our Lord “went with them.” In both Matthew and Luke, the words of the centurion are remarkable. In Matthew, our text today, he says when our Lord announces his intention of coming, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” The centurion had a remarkable religious faith in the goodness and power of Jesus. Christ was amazed, and placed it above what he had encountered among the children of Israel. In Luke, the account of the centurion’s words and of Christ’s praise for him is virtually the same. According to Jesus Christ, then, the prayer of the centurion was a superb prayer of faith. It was manifestly humble and believing. To be noted is how the centurion addressed our Lord: he is kurie (Lord — O Lord), which is “sir” in the sense of “Master” or “Sire.” It denotes authority and high position.

The Church has taken the centurion’s words to Jesus Christ and has canonized them for use in the celebration of Holy Mass. When the priest holds up before the congregation the Eucharistic Jesus, he asks them to behold the Lamb of God. The congregation makes its own the words of the centurion: “Lord I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. But only say the word, and my soul will be healed.” It is a magnificent prayer, and we ought to use it frequently making what spiritual masters call “spiritual communions” with Jesus Christ. Let us do this often. May our faith be like that of our excellent centurion, who assuredly is now with Christ in heaven.

The gift of faith Much that we have been given we simply take for granted. Across the pages of the Gospel we see Our Lord looking for faith, extolling it, and condemning the lack of it. The implication is that there is every reason why we ought be growing in our faith, and when we have little of it, God will hold us accountable. Consider today’s Gospel passage (Matthew 8: 5-11). The centurion gives expression to the faith in our Lord that he has, and for his part our Lord praises the degree of faith he has. “I tell you solemnly,” our Lord says to those following him, “nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this.” Our Lord goes on to intimate that in the life of faith, many coming from outside will put those within the household of God to shame: “I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.” Turning to ourselves, we of the family of God have been given the great gift of faith. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to us at our baptism, disposing us to entrust ourselves to the God who has revealed himself and to accept his revelation where it is to be found – in the Church — precisely because it comes from him. This gift of faith which is the foundation of our Christian life is a great personal responsibility. We are responsible for our life of faith and its growth in our souls. It is by means of faith that we are able to know and cleave to Christ as God, and to make his teaching the foundation of our daily lives.

Let us then never entertain any thought that could place this gift in danger. Let us be on guard against dangers to faith, and dangers there are aplenty in a society and culture which regards “faith” as unworthy of an educated and thinking person. Let us be grateful to God that he has chosen to endow us with this gift, and let us be determined to nourish it unto holiness.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Work on to the end, to the very end! My child, qui perseveraverit usque in finem, hik salvus erit — it is the one who perseveres right to the end who will be saved. We children of God have the means we need: you too! We will finish, we will top out our building, for we can do all things in him who strengthens us. With God there are no impossible’s. They are overcome always.

At a time when the Church was heavily embroiled in nationalistic rivalries within Europe, it was also reaching across Asia to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Mongols. John of Monte Corvino went to China about the same time Marco Polo was returning. John was a soldier, judge and doctor before he became a friar. Prior to going to Tabriz, Persia (present-day Iran), in 1278, he was well known for his preaching and teaching. In 1291 he left Tabriz as a legate of Pope Nicholas IV to the court of Kublai Khan. An Italian merchant, a Dominican friar and John travelled to western India where the Dominican died. When John and the Italian merchant arrived in China in 1294, Kublai Khan had recently died. Nestorian Christians, successors to the dissidents of the fifth-century Council of Ephesus’ teaching on Jesus Christ, had been in China since the seventh century. John converted some of them and also some of the Chinese, including Prince George from Tenduk, northwest of Beijing. Prince George named his son after this holy friar. John established his headquarters in Khanbalik (now Beijing), where he built two churches; his was the first resident Catholic mission in the country. By 1304 he had translated the Psalms and the New Testament into the Tatar language. Responding to two letters from John, Pope Clement V named John Archbishop of Khanbalik in 1307 and consecrated seven friars as bishops of neighbouring dioceses. One of the seven never left Europe. Three others died along the way to China; the remaining three bishops and the friars who accompanied them arrived there in 1308. When John died in 1328, he was mourned by Christians and non-Christians. His tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage. In 1368, Christianity was banished from China when the Mongols were expelled and the Ming dynasty began. John’s cause has been introduced in Rome.

When John of Monte Corvino went to China, he represented the Church’s desire to preach the gospel to a new culture and to be enriched by it. The travels of Pope John Paul II have demonstrated the universality of the Good News and the urgent need to continue the challenging work of helping the Good News take root in a variety of cultural situations.

In 1975, Pope Paul VI wrote, "The Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert, solely through the divine power of the Message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieus which are theirs" (Evangelization in the Modern World, #18). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Luke 10:21-24

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No‑one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no‑one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Luke 10:21-24)

Jesus Christ It is well known that all through history various, several, and indeed numerous persons have had delusions of grandeur. Some such persons can be simply ridiculous in their claims, if only because the contrast between their claims and their manifest lack of position, influence and endowments is seen by all. Fr. Ted Tyler

Others have obvious psychiatric disorders and their delusions are nothing more than a function of those disorders. With others, the case is more serious: they have their delusions but they are persons of enormous talent. Further, they come to command influence and resources sufficient to impose their perspective on their own society, nation, and to a point, on the world. Alexander the Great, a young prodigy whose gifts in the area of military leadership may never be equalled, ended by regarding himself as divine — as did many other personalities of the ancient world. Pity help any who opposed Alexander! He brought mayhem, fire and sword wherever he saw the carrot ahead. If Napoleon Bonaparte had been content with his coronation as Emperor (crowning himself in the presence of Pius VII!) and then concentrated on peace and prosperity for France and Europe, all would have been well. But of course, he had enormous delusions of grandeur. The result was something close to a world war for several years. Untold lives were lost because of his ambitions and enormous talent. The only thing that the powers could do at the end, short of having him shot, was to confine him under guard out in the middle of the sea on the remote island of St Helena. There he died from his stomach cancer, still driven by his delusions of grandeur. There has been Adolf Hitler. There has been Joseph Stalin. Some such persons have brought elements of good amid their waves of change, others have become icons of evil for history to learn its lessons from. But a very common element has been the delusion of personal grandeur. In contrast to all of this, Mary the mother of Jesus is our model, proclaiming that “My soul magnifies the Lord” — which is to say, I proclaim that he is great, great beyond all compare. I am lowly — he has “looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid” (Luke 1: 46-48).

One of the many distinguishing features of Jesus Christ is his profound humility. He allowed himself to be reviled and scorned, rejected and beaten to, we might say, almost a pulp. Not a bone of his was broken, as the Scriptures predicted — for he was God’s Paschal Lamb — but the indignities and injuries heaped on him were beyond calculation. His sufferings were inflicted on him by his fellow-man, and this he humbly accepted in order to atone for the sin of the world. If you look carefully at the figure of Jesus Christ, humility was one of his most striking features. Such a path was beyond the imaginings of the world’s leaders of thought and religious endeavour. Could such a course have occurred to Plato or Aristotle? Could it have occurred to Zarathustra or to Mahomet? Scarcely! It was the divine plan, hidden from the perceptions of man, revealed in fits and starts in the Inspired Writings of God’s chosen people, and coming into full view in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. With good reason our Lord said, “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest...Take my yoke, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Humility is a distinguishing feature of the path of Jesus Christ and those who take up the call to follow him. At the same time, no-one made such audacious claims as he. No prophet dared — it did not occur to them — to claim to be what Jesus Christ claimed to be. He went to his death not only claiming to be the Messiah, but to be the very Son of God. When Pilate was told by the shouting, befuddled crowd, urged on by the jealous Temple aristocracy, that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and so deserving of death, he was afraid. He may have feared the offended religious sentiment of the crowd before him, but he may have feared laying a hand on Someone altogether special. He was a man of the Empire and they prided themselves on being “religious.” They honoured the gods — and was there one such before him? But soon what might have been a better instinct gave way before the pressure of the mob. The grandeur of Christ was set well aside. We, though, ought be constantly alive to the unsurpassed greatness of this Man of the ages.

In our Gospel today our Lord invites his disciples to be alive to this. Jesus Christ, man and God, is the Redeemer of the world, the Lord of lords, and the only way to the Father. “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no-one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (Luke 10:21-24). Let us take his words deeply to heart!

Christ Much of the history of civilization can be understood in terms of the influence of great minds. Consider the extent of influence maintained by the great religions of the world: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and others. They arose in response to the teachings of their great founders: Mahomet, Buddha, Confucius, and others besides. Fr. Ted Tyler

Consider the great philosophical currents that have shaped the culture of the West, and through the West other cultures of the world. These philosophical currents arose because of the work and the teaching of powerful philosophical minds: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and into the modern period the likes of Descartes, Hegel, Marx and many others. They were great minds and had great influence. But consider this too: So many of them were so very wrong and wildly astray of the truth if we take as our yardstick of the truth (as we must) what God has revealed in Christ. Our Lord, in today’s Gospel (Luke 10: 21-24), rejoices in the Holy Spirit and praises his heavenly Father for “hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.” That is to say, a wonderful divine wisdom and knowledge of the things of God is available to the humblest and lowliest of persons who receive in faith the revelation of Christ. In Christ, St Paul tells us, we receive every heavenly blessing, especially the blessing of light and wisdom, that light that can take us on to holiness of life, union with God and everlasting happiness in heaven. It is this light, the light of Christian faith and divine revelation, which the most ordinary of Christ’s faithful has the mission not only to live out in his everyday life, but to bring to the world about him in order that the world might be filled with the saving light of Christ. Every member of the Church is called to be apostolic, and being apostolic means bringing the doctrine of Christ to others.

Let us praise our heavenly Father in union with Christ for revealing these things to us and entrusting us with the light that comes from above.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes the immediate future is full of worries, if we stop seeing things in a supernatural way. So, faith, my child, faith — and more deeds. In that way it is certain that our Father-God will continue to solve your problems.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Mt 4: 18-19 Beside the Sea of Galilee, the Lord saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew, and he said to them: Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.

Collect We humbly implore your majesty, O Lord, that, just as the blessed Apostle Andrew was for your Church a preacher and pastor, so he may be for us a constant intercessor before you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy

Andrew was St. Peter’s brother, and was called with him. "As [Jesus] was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is now called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him" (Matthew 4:18-20). John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. When Jesus walked by one day, John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus. "Jesus turned and saw them following him and 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 you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day" (John 1:38-39a). Little else is said about Andrew in the Gospels. Before the multiplication of the loaves, it was Andrew who spoke up about the boy who had the barley loaves and fishes (see John 6:8-9). When the Gentiles went to see Jesus, they came to Philip, but Philip then had recourse to Andrew (see John 12:20-22). Legend has it that Andrew preached the Good News in what is now modern Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras.

As in the case of all the apostles except Peter and John, the Gospels give us little about the holiness of Andrew. He was an apostle. That is enough. He was called personally by Jesus to proclaim the Good News, to heal with Jesus' power and to share his life and death. Holiness today is no different. It is a gift that includes a call to be concerned about the Kingdom, an outgoing attitude that wants nothing more than to share the riches of Christ with all people.

“...The Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word’” (Acts 6:2-4). (AmericanCatholic.org)

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-22)

Andrew For reasons that are not very clear, and despite the fact that each Apostle has a feast day to his honour, the Apostles do not seem to feature very much in the spiritual life of the ordinary Christian, at least in the contemporary West. Yet they are very important personalities in the “great cloud of witnesses” that “surround” us (Hebrews 12:1). What can help us to regain a sense of their importance is to know something of the history of the celebration of them in the life of the Christian people. Consider Andrew, the brother of Simon whom Christ appointed to be the visible Rock of his Church. The Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him and his companion to follow Jesus (John 1:35-40). Thenceforth, he was a disciple of Christ. This occurred earlier than the formal call by Christ in Galilee, as recorded by St Matthew in our Gospel today. At that latter call, Andrew and his brother Simon, together with John and James, already disciples, were formally introduced to a share in Christ’s mission. To what lengths it would take Andrew! Eusebius (Church History III.1), relying, apparently, upon Origen, assigns Scythia as Andrew’s mission field: (Andras de [eilechen] ten Skythian). He thus became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Oration 33) mentions Andrew being in Epirus. St. Jerome (Ep. ad Marcell.) mentions Achaia; and Theodoret (on Ps. cxvi) mentions Hellas. Various other sources has him preaching in Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, then in the land of the anthropophagi and the Scythian deserts. He is also claimed to have been in early Byzantium, where he appointed Stachys as its first bishop, and in Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Achaia. By imperial order St. Andrew's relics were later translated from Patrae to Constantinople, and deposited in the church of the Apostles there, about A.D. 357 — Andrew is the patron saint of the patriarchate of Constantinople. The point here is that the Apostle Andrew has been eagerly appropriated by various Christian communities and formally recognized as their heavenly patron. Let us remember this, and learn to appreciate anew the figure of St Andrew the Apostle.

As already mentioned, Andrew appears on the scene of the Lord’s ministry as a disciple of St John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the prophets prior to the Messiah himself. He is the first of the Apostles mentioned by name in the Gospel of St John. (1:40). Imagine the soul of Andrew as he heard the words of the Baptist: “There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). They are most remarkable words, and nothing like them had been said of anyone by any prophet in the past. Here they were being said of the figure they saw walking in front of them, and they were said by a marvellous and holy man. Imagine the emotion with which John himself uttered his words: There he is! There is he who will take away the world’s sin! Coming from John, Andrew could not but believe him and doubtlessly John was inviting his two disciples to follow the One to whom he was pointing. I like to think that the two to whom John spoke, of which Andrew was one, were his choicest two because it was to them that John gave such a unique and precious testimony. The word was given and, as John would have expected, it fell upon good soil. Immediately the seed was sown, a shoot appeared — the two began walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Christ would say, if any man wishes to be my disciple, let him renounce himself and follow in my footsteps. Andrew began instantly to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. There was no hesitation, and he had been well prepared for he had been to that point an eager and docile disciple of the spiritual giant that was the Precursor. Whatever he had received from John, he would receive in far greater measure from his new Master whom John recognized as far surpassing himself. So Andrew followed Jesus and he never looked back. In the call of today’s Gospel (Matthew 4: 18-22), Andrew responded instantly. However, he had much to learn. He would flee when Christ was arrested in the Garden, but would return in earnest and go on to a glorious post-resurrection apostleship, and thence to martyrdom. Andrew came out of nowhere, a mere fisherman who, were it not for Jesus Christ, would never have been remotely heard of in history. Christ was the making of him, and Christ will be the making of each of us, if we give the Lord that chance. We must place ourselves in his hands, and never look back.

By celebrating the Apostle Andrew each year with his own feast day, the Church means us to contemplate him, to learn from him, and to seek his intercession before the throne of God. Let us resolve to hear the word of the Church about Jesus Christ just as Andrew heard the word about Jesus Christ from the Baptist. Hearing that word, let us follow him to the end. Andrew, having met and come to know Jesus, brought his brother Simon to him. That led to even greater things. Let us resolve to know and love Jesus Christ and to bring others to him — and that in turn may lead to even greater things. It is wonderful how the Lord may use each of us! But Christ is the Centre of it all. He is the making of us and of every other human being. Let us act on this, then!

Andrew Andrew was, to all appearances, a very ordinary person: one of any number of fishermen. He shared this trade with his brother Simon. They were devout Jews (After all, Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, and his brother Simon in one passage of the Acts of the Apostles tells the Lord that he had never eaten anything unclean or forbidden). They were devout but ordinary. They did not stand out. What made all the difference to their lives was the call of Christ to follow him. They were called, and they responded unhesitatingly. They left their nets at once and followed him. The result was that through Christ and his Church their lives assumed a significance reaching to the end of the world. No matter who we are or how seemingly ordinary our existence and status, the call of God to live in Christ makes all the difference. St Paul tells us that before the world began God chose us, chose us in Christ to be holy and full of love in Christ. So even if we pass through life making little impression or none at all, God will do his work, provided we remain in Christ and grow in him by humble obedience to his will. God will do his work in us and through us for others. Ultimately all will be well and our lives will attain an eternal significance known to God, even if out of sight of the world. The one thing that is important is being in Christ, and this was brought about in each of us at our baptism. We must live according to this reality and work at the tasks God gives us during life, having as our ambition the service of him and of others in him. Therein will lie the value of our lives, not in the acclaim of men.

The call of Christ makes all the difference, as we learn from St Andrew in our Gospel today. We have received Christ’s call to follow him. Let us, like Andrew, respond immediately.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

God’s ordinary providence is a continual miracle; but he will use extraordinary means when they are required.

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
33rd Week of Ordinary Time A-1				16	17	18	19
34th Week of Ordinary Time A-1	20 Christ the King	21	22	23	24	25	26
First Week of Advent B-2	27	28	29	30 St Andrew