Columban Fr Frederick Hanson RIP: Obituary and funeral homily

Fr Frederick Hanson

8 September 1916 – 15 February 2015

Fr Frederick (‘Fred’) Hanson was born on 8 September 1916 in Belfast. Educated at St Brigid’s National School, Holy Family National School and St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ School, Belfast, he came to the Old Dalgan, the original St Columban’s seminary, in Shrule, County Galway, in 1933. He was a member of the last class to be ordained in Shrule in December 1939, before the seminary relocated to St Columban’s, Navan.

Donegall Square, Belfast, in the early 1900s [Wikipedia]

The Second World War prevented his being assigned overseas, so he was assigned to parish work in the Diocese of Down and Connor for three years. He joined the Royal Air Force as a chaplain in 1943 and served until 1950. This appointment clearly suited Fred’s talents. The RAF Chaplain-in-Chief pleaded that he be allowed serve a further three years, ‘Fr Hanson is a most zealous priest and has done heroic work in looking after young Irishmen in several RAF stations . . . I cannot conceive of anybody doing greater work for the glory of God than he is doing in his present position.’ 

The Spitfire, above, is a symbol of the RAF’s victory in the Battle of Britain in 1940. The song and the singer, Dame Vera Lynn, born seven months after Father Fred and still happily with us, are symbols of  the World War II period for older people in Britain.

He was assigned briefly to Korea, but the outbreak of war in that country resulted in a change of assignment to Japan. From 1953 until 1958 he served as Editor of Tosei News (an English news service for missionaries) and NCWC correspondent for Korea and Japan.


Chuncheon Cathedral and Cemetery

Columban Bishop Thomas Quinlan was the first Bishop of Chuncheon and is buried there with some other Columbans.

From 1958-1964 he was assigned once again to Korea where he served as secretary to Bishop Quinlan of Chuncheon, Korea. There followed two years doing pastoral work on a temporary basis in parishes in England. Then he was assigned to the Parish of St Teresa, Glen Road, Belfast and later to Holy Family Parish where he served until the year 2000. 


St Teresa’s, Glen Road, Belfast

Father Fred was a big man, big in stature and with a  voice to match. He was generous and kind, devoted to his sister Mary, and managed his long illness with patience and occasional outbursts of exasperation.

May he rest in peace.

Last December Father Fred and his classmate Fr Daniel Fitzgerald celebrated the 75th Anniversary of their ordination, the first Columbans to do so. Father Dan attended the funeral Mass of his friend of more than 80 years.

Homily for the Funeral of Fred Hanson  

Columban Fr Neil Collins gave this homily at the funeral Mass on 17 February.  

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me’ (John 14:1).

First Assignment

Fred Hanson read these words many times during his wonderfully long life. I’m sure there were moments when he heard them addressed to him personally. He was ordained on 21 December 1939 and appointed to Hanyang, China, but the outbreak of WWII prevented him from going to the missions.


Cave Hill, overlooking Belfast [Wikipedia]

In 1942, after helping in several parishes in Down & Connor, he got permission to apply to be a chaplain in the RAF. There were postings in the Midlands and the north of England, and in 1945 he even had three months in France.  After the War he asked to be demobbed, but the Principal Chaplain, Mgr H. Beauchamp, wrote to the Superior General on 11 Feb 1948:

‘Father Hanson is a most zealous priest and has done heroic work for me in looking after young Irish boys in several RAF stations in the vicinity of where he lives. Were it not for him they would be assigned to the care of English Priests who really would not understand them, neither would they understand them. I would, therefore, ask you if you would be so kind to allow Father Hanson to remain with me for another three years. I cannot conceive anybody doing greater work for the glory of God than he is doing in his present position.’

Dr Jeremiah Dennehy (Superior General), who had been a chaplain himself, sympathized with the Monsignor but refused, citing the needs of the missions, and arguing that Fred needed to go East as soon as possible while still young enough to learn a language and make the necessary adjustments. On 1 February 1949 he appointed him to the Prefecture of Kwoshu, Korea. Unfortunately the North Koreans invaded on 25 June 1950, and we have a photo of Fred on a boat for Pusan, with a caption, ‘the climax to a hectic twenty four hours evacuating from Mokpo’.

Appointment to Japan

Fred, with some other Columbans, was transferred to Japan where the superior used them to open new parishes. After language school he became ‘the first priest Hashimoto has ever seen’, conspicuous by his height and his dreadful Japanese. He wrote several informed articles for the Far East resulting in an invitation to become editor of Tosei News and NCWC correspondent. His accreditation as a war correspondent enabled him to travel freely between Japan and Korea and in 1955 the society assigned him to Seoul. A term as Bishop Quinlan’s secretary followed.

Assignment to Ireland


St Peter’s Catholic Cathedral, in the Falls Road area of Belfast. [Wikipedia]

In the mid-1960s, with minimal Japanese and no Korean, Fred was shocked when he was re-assigned to Ireland. From October 1966 to March 1988 he worked in St Teresa’s on the Glen Rd, Belfast, and then in Holy Family. In 1968 the RUC attacked a civil rights march in Derry and in 1969 loyalists burned the nationalist Bombay St in Belfast. Fred was on the Glen Rd. For those who don’t know Belfast the Glen Rd is the upper part of the Falls Rd. There were many funerals, many times when the priest had to read today’s gospel, searching for words that would comfort grief-stricken families. How could you say, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me?’

Retirement to Dalgan

By the year 2000 an 84-year-old Fred decided that his active ministry was over. He moved to Dalgan (St Columban’s Retirement Home). I remember him saying, ‘Neil, don’t grow old. There’s no pleasure in it.’ Among the crosses he had to bear was the death of his sister Eileen in December 2000. When Mary showed increasing signs of Alzheimer’s Fred brought her to Dalgan to let her see our retirement home, and then the Kilbrew Nursing Home, where he visited her until she died in 2008.

I go to prepare a place for you

In today’s gospel, (John 14:1-6) on that first Holy Thursday, Christ said simply, ‘I go to prepare a place for you’. It was a remarkably undramatic way to describe what was about to happen – the Agony, the Scourging, the Crucifixion. Fred shared in that suffering. Now he has heard the rest of Christ’s words, ‘After I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me, so that where I am you may be too’.

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

The Adoration of the Magi, Velázquez, 1619

 Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art]

 
Readings for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

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

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

Readings (Jerusalem Bible)

Alleluia and Gospel for the Epiphany



Alleluia, alleluia!

 Vidimus stellam eius in Oriente,

 We have seen his star in the East,

et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum.

 and have come with gifts to adore the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia!

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

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

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

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

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



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

 Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence [Web Gallery of Art]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An arrangement by John Rutter of the old carol

‘A new teaching – with authority!’ Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St Joseph and the Christ Child, El Greco, c.1600

 Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo, Spain [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Gospel Mark 1:21-28 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.  They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Remains of the 4th century synagogue, Capernaum

 [Wikipedia, David Shankbone]

 
On Friday 9 January my brother Paddy, with many of his classmates, attended the funeral in Dublin of the man they knew in 1954-55 as ‘Mr O’Donohue’ when he taught them in Second Class (Grade Two) in O’Connell Schools, Dublin. At the time they saw him as very senior in age but he was only 22, starting out as a primary school teacher. Years later they were to come to know Sean Gerard O’Donohue as their friend ‘Gerry’ because of the enormous and formative impact he had on their lives.

Towards the end of the 1954-55 academic year, which in Ireland runs from late August or early September to the end of May or early June, depending on the level, he asked them ‘What’s special about today?’ None of them saw anything of note until he pointed out that it was 5/5/55. Then he said, “It would be nice if you wrote to me on 6/6/66 to let me know how you’re doing’.

Twenty responded to his request and out of that came a series of dinner reunions on 6/6/66, 7/7/77, 8/8/88, 9/9/99 and on 5/5/05, with some coming from overseas, including the USA. Gerry was at all of these, as he was on 12/12/12 in the new century/millennium. But this time they gathered for lunch – starting at 12:12pm. And it was given a spot on national radio for which a niece of Gerry’s works.
Primary teachers had to have music classes where they would teach certain songs in Irish and in English that would, so to speak, have the approval of tradition. But that year a big hit was The Ballad of Davy Crockett.


The boys of Second Class adopted this as their class song, with the full approval of their young teacher, allowing them to ‘stretch’ tradition a little. (Both my brother and I have inherited a strong respect for traditions, which are living realities that create special bonds within families, within larger groups, and between generations, from our mother who wasn’t, however, a doctrinaire ‘traditionalist’.)

It was no big surprise when Mr O’Donohue, who spent his whole career in the one school became its principal. Though he never taught me, he always greeted me by name and on occasions when I’d visit the school while home from the Philippines he remembered me.

What this man had, and what drew such respect, loyalty and affection for him for six decades was an inner authority, the kind of authority that the people recognised in Jesus in today’s gospel and that is noted in a number of gospel stories. Gerry O’Donohue respected the more than 40 youngsters with whom he spent that academic year. 

In those days the one teacher in primary school taught everything to the pupils. I don’t know if Mr O’Donohue ever used the leather strap that teachers had in those days to ‘biff’ students – on the palm of the hand – for misdemeanours. If he did it would have been very sparingly. Another genial teacher whom my brother had in primary school, Mr Maher, known as ‘Ned’, took out the leather strap at the beginning of the year and said, ‘You play ball with me – and I’ll play ball with you.’ He then put it in the drawer and the youngsters never saw it again. He too had an inner authority, with respect for the youngsters he was teaching and a desire to enable them to grow as human beings and in their faith. Our school was a Catholic school for boys, the teachers all men, and each taught catechism every day. The most effective were those in whom we saw the faith lived quietly.


In his general audience last Wednesday Pope Francis spoke about fatherhood. He acknowledged that he was emphasising the darker side of this – so that this coming Wednesday he could focus on the beauty of fatherhood. He said:

They are orphans, but within the family, because the fathers are often absent, also physically, from home but above all because, when they are home, they do not behave as fathers, they do not have a dialogue with their children. They do not fulfil their educational task; they do not give to their children – with their example accompanied by words –, those principles, those values, those rules of life that they need, just as much as they need bread. The educational quality of the paternal presence is all the more necessary the more the father is constrained by work to be far from home. At times it seems that fathers do not know well what place to occupy in the family and how to educate the children. And then, in doubt, they abstain, they withdraw and neglect their responsibility, perhaps taking refuge in an improbable relation ‘on par’ with the children. However, it is true that you must be a companion to your child but without forgetting that you are the father. However, if you only behave as a companion on a par with your child, you will not do the child any good.

My brother and I were blessed with parents who led by example. A regular threat from Dad was ‘I’ll give you a good clip in the ear if you do that again.’ It was always a ‘good clip’ never just a ‘clip’. But whether good or otherwise it was never delivered because we both saw clearly the inner authority of the deep faith that he lived quietly, not piously, and how it was integrated with every other aspect of his life, especially his family and on the building (construction) sites where he spent all his working life, most of it as a highly respected general foreman and mentor. He attended Mass every day of his life, including t12 August 1987, the day he died suddenly.

Teachers such as Gerry O’Donohue and Ned Maher, both married, though the latter had no children, deepened the sense of fatherhood for young boys whose experience with their dads was good. For those who had lost their fathers, either through death or absence, they saw in their teachers something of what fatherhood is.

In his meeting with families on his recent visit to Manila Pope Francis spoke about St Joseph: Just as the gift of the Holy Family was entrusted to Saint Joseph, so the gift of the family and its place in God’s plan is entrusted to us. Like Saint Joseph. The gift of the Holy Family was entrusted to Saint Joseph so that he could care for it. Each of you, each of us – for I too am part of a family – is charged with caring for God’s plan. He was here recognising the authority of St Joseph as the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus – since he was the one who named him.

And something that struck me forcibly, though I didn’t read or hear any comment on it, was that Pope Francis cut short his visit to Tacloban City – the very reason he had come to the Philippines – because the pilot of his aircraft had told him that the approaching storm made it imperative that they leave at 1pm instead of 5pm. Like Jesus as a child and adolescent yielding to the proper authority of St Joseph, whose name Pope Francis has added to Eucharistic Prayers II, III and IV, the Holy Father yielded to the proper authority of the pilot.

They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”


Composed by Carlo Gesualdo (1566- 1613)

 Sung by the Oxford Camerata directed by Jeremy Summerly

 

Antiphona ad communionem   Communion Antiphon Cf. Ps 30:17-1

 

Illumina faciem tuam super servum tuum,

Let your face shine on your servant.

et salvum me fac in tua misericordia.

Save me in your merciful love.

Domine, non confundar, quoniam invocavi te.

O Lord, let me never be put to shame, for I call on you.

The Creator seen in our planet. Fr Shay Cullen. 26 January 2015

 

The Creator seen in our planet

by Fr Shay Cullen

It struck at 3.35 AM last week, in the darkness of the night,a loud rattling grew in intensity as the roof tiles went off like castanets clacking and clicking rising to a crescendo as the building shook violently.

It was another earthquake,a strong one,5.9 on the Richter scale and
I leapt from sleep and called on all in the house to evacuate. Then the  violent shaking stopped as suddenly as it had begun. It was over but taking no chances the volunteers hurried out side. A second quake could strike but mercifully it did not .

Standing a safe distance from the sturdy building the earthquake reminded us all of the powerful destructive forces of nature on this planet on which we came and live and depend for our every existence. An earth that we need to respect and care for.

The heaving and trembling of the earth, the rattling roof,the shaking  buildings was a vivid reminder of that shocking and terrible day that Mount Pinatubo began its eruption in 1991.It began with a violent earth tremor that grew in strength.  I was  trying to stay standing upright as the ground shook and then whopping bang  Mount  Pinatubo, thirty kilometers away, blew it’s top with mighty boom.Within seconds it was belching and blasting what seemed like a billion cubic meters of ash and smoke and a thousand tons of rock half a kilometer into the sky.

Full column here.

Links to other recent columns by Fr Shay Cullen

Pope Francis Must Speak on Children’s Rights

Pope denounces ‘scandalous inequalities’ in the Philippines

Child Abuse in Jails

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

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

 Private collection [Web Gallery of Art]

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


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

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

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

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

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


The Prophet Jonah Before the Walls of Nineveh

Drawing by Rembrandt, c.1655 [Wikipedia]

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

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

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

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


The Calling of St Matthew

Caravaggio, 1599-1600 [Wikipedia]

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

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

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

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

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

Repent . . . believe . . . follow me.

Homily at funeral of Fr Daniel Baragry

Fr Daniel M. Baragry

11 May 1930 – 9 January 2015

The homily at the funeral Mass of Fr Daniel M. Baragry on Tuesday 13 January was given by his nephew Fr Daniel Baragry CSsR, the newly-elected Provincial of the Dublin Province of the Redemptorists. He spent some years in the Philippines as a seminarian and as a priest.

Fr Dan Baragry CSsR with Sr Maria  Sidorova OSsR

 

Today is a sad day for us as we come to bury Dan; yet it is also an opportunity for us, the two pillars of Dan’s life, family (Baragry/McDonald) and Society (Columbans) to celebrate and give thanks for his life.
Dan was born in Tipperary town on May 11th 1930 the second eldest of four brothers, one of who, Frank, was also a Columban. The Baragry boys were into boxing in their youth and would have had very happy memories of summers spent with relatives in Wicklow (Coolnarrig and Baltinglass) and I am sure Dan would have often recalled the hills of Wicklow as he trudged the hills of Mindanao in later years. He was educated by the Christian Brothers at the Abbey school in Tipperary.
At an early age Dan decided that he wanted to be a priest and surprisingly to be a Columban. I say surprisingly because for me one of the great mysteries of Dan’s life is why or how he became a Columban – after all he had an uncle and a granduncle who were Redemptorists at the time! I asked Dan once what the reaction of the family was when he told them the news and he admitted that his mother sent him into Mount St. Alphonsus in Limerick to talk to a Redemptorist about his vocation – probably hoping that they would “sort him out”. In Limerick Dan met a wise old Redemptorist who having listened to his story told him that if he really wanted to be a Missioner then he would not recommend that he join the Redemptorists because it could not be guaranteed that he would end up being sent on the foreign missions. Dan I am sure happy made his way home to Tipperary to share the “good” news.
A Missionary at heart
I mention this little incident because I believe it’s important if you are to really know and understand Dan Baragry – he was at heart a Missioner, it is what shaped his life and his values, attitudes and outlook toward life. He was a hard working, totally committed Missioner. Its what brought him to Dalgan in 1948 where he was ordained just over 60 years ago in 1954; what brought him to the Philippines and what makes sense of his 45 years of service there in Mindanao and Cebu.
Though he was out of Ireland for that long period of the life Dan never lost touch/contact with his family. Our home in Limerick became Dan and Frank’s home and they would spend all of their vacations from the Philippines with us. My mother, Kitty, didn’t know what she was getting into when she took on the Baragrys – four young children, a father-in-law and every few years these two extra “brothers” or better still perhaps “older children” turning up. There was always fun and laughter in the house when Dan and Frank were around – we children probably got away with murder while they were at home! We have very good and positive memories of our childhood with uncles Dan and Frank – they were significant figures in our young lives.
Parish Ministry – Dan never took the easy option
In the Philippines Dan spent 35 years in Parish Ministry, very much a time and mission of activity in his life. He had 11 major assignments over that period and what strikes me about this time in Dan’s life is his sense of availability – he never took the easy option, always the more demanding and gave himself fully to it. Two of those parish appointments stand out for me; Anakan was a mountain parish, with 80 communities which Dan visited regularly by motor bike and on foot; Dan spent eight years here and was extremely happy. I visited him there once and following the Sunday morning mass he discovered a Five Peso note in the collection, worth about 10 cent, such “wealth” had never before been seen in the Anakan collection plates and it took a lot to convince Dan that I had not put it in! Tandag was a new area taken on by the Columbans in the early 80s. Dan was the first to volunteer and was assigned to Marihatag where his house was built on the beach, Dan built a veranda on to the house which he claimed “saved my sanity” as he listened to the waves of the Pacific rolling in. Even the Columbans regarded Tandag as a hardship station, It was over eight hours drive for the Central House in Cagayan and as a result the lads only got up to Cagayan about every six to eight weeks rather than weekly. Once while waiting in Cagayan for Dan and the others to arrive from Tandag the superior of the house said to me “Look, they will be arriving in about 20 minutes, just take no notice of them and they will be alright in about half an hour.” Sure enough they arrived and were as “high as kites”, talking loudly, shouting, laughing, walking on tables! No one paid the slightest attention to them; just left them at it and within the half hour they had returned to normal, relaxed and you could finally engage with them.
Outreach Ministry to the sick in Cebu
When he finished with parish ministry Dan took three units of CPE in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin before returning to the Philippines and moving to Cebu to began a ministry in the psychiatric unit of Southern Islands Hospital – it was very much a mission and ministry of presence – where in some sense he saw or experienced few results and yet Dan gave himself fully to the situation and patients there working to improve the quality of their lives and like any good Missioner strove to leave something behind him to continue and consolidate this ministry, which he did by inviting and facilitating a group of Sisters to continue the work.
Retirement to Dalgan
Dan returned to Ireland in 2001 but this was not the end of his missionary life.  His last and perhaps most demanding mission took place here in Dalgan where he spend over 10 years in the Nursing Home. It was very much a mission of acceptance and trust. During his final years Dan never complained, his gentleness and good humour came to the fore.  He was always thankful and grateful for all the care, help and support he received. He lived a simple, graceful life which revolved around some very simple and basic realities; daily Eucharist, during which he prayed for us all, meals, the rosary and of course the glass or two of whiskey!
On behalf of the family I want to thank Dan’s Columban Confreres, for your friendship, care and support to and for him. Dan was a Columban at heart, he enjoyed your company, the banter and fun amongst you and was able to give as good as he got! Even in his worst days when I was not sure if he recognised me or had forgotten the family he never lost contact with the Columbans, I could always usually draw him out with questions about Columbans – Where is so and so now? Who is that over there? What’s the name of that man passing? Dan could always come up with an answer and a name – eventually!
Sincere thanks also to the nursing staff and carers in the St. Columban Nursing Home here in Dalgan. As a family we were always aware and grateful that Dan was being so well looked after and cared for. He was I know a good patient, liked and loved by you and he liked and loved you in return. Dan got on well with all his carers, male and female but it won’t come as a surprise to my family when I say that he enjoyed the company of women – you brought out the best in him and I am sure that he enjoyed being surrounded by women in his final years.
Dan, at rest and at peace
The Missioner’s journey has finally come to an end – Dan is at rest and at peace. I believe that there is always a restlessness in the heart of a Missioner – he or she can identify with and make their own the words of St. Augustine “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you O Lord.” A Missioner is always to an extent “a stranger in a strange land.” In your youth you leave your own country and your father’s house and you follow a call often to the far side of the world where you give yourself totally to a new people but where to some extent you always remain “a stranger” because of the colour of your skin, the culture or as in the case of the Philippines your big nose!! When you finally return home you find that things have changed – it’s good to be home but you continue to feel a stranger, without deep roots, and anyway your heart is miles ways with a people that you have grown to love.
Dan has finally come home – to the house of his Father – where he will find rest and will never be a stranger – where he meets the God whom he has served and searched for all of his life. May he rest in peace and keep us all in his prayers.

Today is a sad day for us as we come to bury Dan; yet it is also an opportunity for us, the two pillars of Dan’s life, family (Baragry/McDonald) and Society (Columbans) to celebrate and give thanks for his life.

Dan was born in Tipperary town on May 11th 1930 the second eldest of four brothers, one of who, Frank, was also a Columban. The Baragry boys were into boxing in their youth and would have had very happy memories of summers spent with relatives in Wicklow (Coolnarrig and Baltinglass) and I am sure Dan would have often recalled the hills of Wicklow as he trudged the hills of Mindanao in later years. He was educated by the Christian Brothers at the Abbey school in Tipperary.

At an early age Dan decided that he wanted to be a priest and surprisingly to be a Columban. I say surprisingly because for me one of the great mysteries of Dan’s life is why or how he became a Columban – after all he had an uncle and a granduncle who were Redemptorists at the time! I asked Dan once what the reaction of the family was when he told them the news and he admitted that his mother sent him into Mount St. Alphonsus in Limerick to talk to a Redemptorist about his vocation – probably hoping that they would “sort him out”. In Limerick Dan met a wise old Redemptorist who having listened to his story told him that if he really wanted to be a Missioner then he would not recommend that he join the Redemptorists because it could not be guaranteed that he would end up being sent on the foreign missions. Dan I am sure happy made his way home to Tipperary to share the “good” news.

A Missionary at heart

I mention this little incident because I believe it’s important if you are to really know and understand Dan Baragry – he was at heart a Missioner, it is what shaped his life and his values, attitudes and outlook toward life. He was a hard working, totally committed Missioner. Its what brought him to Dalgan in 1948 where he was ordained just over 60 years ago in 1954; what brought him to the Philippines and what makes sense of his 45 years of service there in Mindanao and Cebu.

Though he was out of Ireland for that long period of the life Dan never lost touch/contact with his family. Our home in Limerick became Dan and Frank’s home and they would spend all of their vacations from the Philippines with us. My mother, Kitty, didn’t know what she was getting into when she took on the Baragrys – four young children, a father-in-law and every few years these two extra “brothers” or better still perhaps “older children” turning up. There was always fun and laughter in the house when Dan and Frank were around – we children probably got away with murder while they were at home! We have very good and positive memories of our childhood with uncles Dan and Frank – they were significant figures in our young lives.

Parish Ministry – Dan never took the easy option

In the Philippines Dan spent 35 years in Parish Ministry, very much a time and mission of activity in his life. He had 11 major assignments over that period and what strikes me about this time in Dan’s life is his sense of availability – he never took the easy option, always the more demanding and gave himself fully to it. Two of those parish appointments stand out for me; Anakan was a mountain parish, with 80 communities which Dan visited regularly by motor bike and on foot; Dan spent eight years here and was extremely happy. I visited him there once and following the Sunday morning mass he discovered a Five Peso note in the collection, worth about 10 cent, such “wealth” had never before been seen in the Anakan collection plates and it took a lot to convince Dan that I had not put it in! Tandag was a new area taken on by the Columbans in the early 80s. Dan was the first to volunteer and was assigned to Marihatag where his house was built on the beach, Dan built a veranda on to the house which he claimed “saved my sanity” as he listened to the waves of the Pacific rolling in. Even the Columbans regarded Tandag as a hardship station, It was over eight hours drive for the Central House in Cagayan and as a result the lads only got up to Cagayan about every six to eight weeks rather than weekly. Once while waiting in Cagayan for Dan and the others to arrive from Tandag the superior of the house said to me “Look, they will be arriving in about 20 minutes, just take no notice of them and they will be alright in about half an hour.” Sure enough they arrived and were as “high as kites”, talking loudly, shouting, laughing, walking on tables! No one paid the slightest attention to them; just left them at it and within the half hour they had returned to normal, relaxed and you could finally engage with them.

Outreach Ministry to the sick in Cebu

When he finished with parish ministry Dan took three units of CPE in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin before returning to the Philippines and moving to Cebu to began a ministry in the psychiatric unit of Southern Islands Hospital – it was very much a mission and ministry of presence – where in some sense he saw or experienced few results and yet Dan gave himself fully to the situation and patients there working to improve the quality of their lives and like any good Missioner strove to leave something behind him to continue and consolidate this ministry, which he did by inviting and facilitating a group of Sisters to continue the work.

Retirement to Dalgan

Dan returned to Ireland in 2001 but this was not the end of his missionary life.  His last and perhaps most demanding mission took place here in Dalgan where he spend over 10 years in the Nursing Home. It was very much a mission of acceptance and trust. During his final years Dan never complained, his gentleness and good humour came to the fore.  He was always thankful and grateful for all the care, help and support he received. He lived a simple, graceful life which revolved around some very simple and basic realities; daily Eucharist, during which he prayed for us all, meals, the rosary and of course the glass or two of whiskey! 

On behalf of the family I want to thank Dan’s Columban Confreres, for your friendship, care and support to and for him. Dan was a Columban at heart, he enjoyed your company, the banter and fun amongst you and was able to give as good as he got! Even in his worst days when I was not sure if he recognised me or had forgotten the family he never lost contact with the Columbans, I could always usually draw him out with questions about Columbans – Where is so and so now? Who is that over there? What’s the name of that man passing? Dan could always come up with an answer and a name – eventually!

Sincere thanks also to the nursing staff and carers in the St. Columban Nursing Home here in Dalgan. As a family we were always aware and grateful that Dan was being so well looked after and cared for. He was I know a good patient, liked and loved by you and he liked and loved you in return. Dan got on well with all his carers, male and female but it won’t come as a surprise to my family when I say that he enjoyed the company of women – you brought out the best in him and I am sure that he enjoyed being surrounded by women in his final years.

Dan, at rest and at peace

The Missioner’s journey has finally come to an end – Dan is at rest and at peace. I believe that there is always a restlessness in the heart of a Missioner – he or she can identify with and make their own the words of St. Augustine “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you O Lord.” A Missioner is always to an extent “a stranger in a strange land.” In your youth you leave your own country and your father’s house and you follow a call often to the far side of the world where you give yourself totally to a new people but where to some extent you always remain “a stranger” because of the colour of your skin, the culture or as in the case of the Philippines your big nose!! When you finally return home you find that things have changed – it’s good to be home but you continue to feel a stranger, without deep roots, and anyway your heart is miles ways with a people that you have grown to love.

Dan has finally come home – to the house of his Father – where he will find rest and will never be a stranger – where he meets the God whom he has served and searched for all of his life. May he rest in peace and keep us all in his prayers.

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

 

From The Gospel of John, directed by Philip Saville

 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

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

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


Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

.

 

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

   

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

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

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

Gospel: Mark 10:13-16

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

Columban Fr Daniel Baragry RIP

Fr Daniel M. Baragry

11 May 1930 – 9 January 2015

Fr Daniel (‘Dan’) Baragry was born on 11 May 1930 in Tipperary Town, County Tipperary, Ireland. Educated at Christian Brothers School, Tipperary, and The Abbey School, Tipperary, he came to St Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Navan, in September 1948 and was ordained priest on 21 December 1954.


Main Street, Tipperary Town [Wikipedia]

Father Dan was assigned to the Philippines and spent the next 45 years happily working in that country. The first 35 years were all spent in parishes in the southern island of Mindanao. He served in Pagadian City (Zamboanga del Sur), Mahinog (Camiguin Island), Malabang (Lanao del Sur), Tangub City (Misamis Occidental), Bacolod (Lanao del Norte), Anakan (Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental), Alubijid (Misamis Oriental), Marihatag (Surigao del Sur) and Linamon  (Lanao del Norte).


Pagadian City, on Illana Bay [Wikipedia]

A man of prodigious energy, he served for example in Anakan, a very rough, rugged, mountainous parish, which had a logging camp and a total of eighty-three small scattered communities. Dan was out almost every day on his motor-bike, visiting one or other community. On his return to the parish house, after a short rest, he had the energy to play tennis, and after a shower and supper, there was always the designated prayer time. A former superior said of him ‘Dan always wanted the hard assignments;  he worked hard, played hard and prayed hard’. When the new area of Tandag was taken on, Dan was one of the first to volunteer, even though his assignment was an eight-hour drive from the Columban Central House in Cagayan de Oro.


San Agustin Cathedral, Cagayan de Oro City [Wikipedia, Shubert Ciencia]

In the early 1990s, Father Dan took some units of Clinical Pastoral Education. Later, residing in the formation house in Cebu City,  he undertook a new apostolate with patients, and their families of the psychiatric wing of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, a government hospital.  In this apostolate he served those most neglected by society. By the year 2000 his own health required care and he spent a year in Manila before returning home to Ireland in April 2001. As long as he was active he did some book-keeping work in the farm office before being confined to the Dalgan Nursing Home where he died on 9 January after participating in the morning Eucharist. Father Dan was a quiet, dedicated, loyal Columban with a gentle sense of humour.

May he rest in peace.

Slievenamon is the unofficial anthem of people from Tipperary and is sung here by the late Frank Patterson, from Clonmel, County Tipperary.

 


Slievenamon, County Tipperary [Photo:Wikimedia Commons user Trounce]

Bishop Nereo P. Odchimar of Tandag, which covers the province of Surigao del Sur, wrote in an email to Fr Pat Raleigh, Columban Regional Director in Ireland: Kindly convey to the Columban Fathers and to Fr Dan’s family condolence and prayers from the Diocese of Tandag. Thanks for giving us a great missionary who was an inspiration for our younger priests.

Fr Raleigh noted that on the night that Dan died the nurse on duty, Ruby, and one of the carers, Susanne, were from the Philippines. How appropriate. 

Elma Guia O’Connell, a Filipina who served as a Columban lay missionary in Taiwan and is now married in Ireland, wrote your editor, We are on the way back to Dungarvan from Navan where we attended the funeral of Fr Dan Baragry yesterday in Dalgan. I don’t know much about Fr Dan but once you know one Columban who dedicated his life to the Filipino people, it feels like you know them all.

Your editor and Father Dan spent some years together on the formation team in Cebu City. Father Dan experienced real joy in spending every morning from Monday to Friday with the patients in the psychiatric wing of the hospital where he worked. He had great patience and remarkable kindness, a kindness that his late brother, Fr Frank Baragry who died in 1997, also had. Father Frank spent 40 years in Mindanao as a Columban missionary. Their nephew, Fr Dan Baragray CSsR, the newly-elected Provincial of the Dublin Province of the Redemptorists, also worked in the Philippines, first as a student and later as a priest. Long-distance phone-calls between the two Dan Baragrys used to cause some confusion when they had to be done through an operator!

Something your editor will always remember about Father Dan is his very firm and warm handshake.

Basílica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebú [Wikipedia]

 

The message of Pope Francis to Filipinos. 9 January 2015

Pope Francis giving his first homily as Bishop of Rome [Wikipedia]

The message of Pope Francis to Filipinos

by Fr Shay Cullen

 

The visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines on 15 January this 2015 is greatly awaited and what his message will be to this most catholic nation in Asia is a matter of intense speculation .
 
Of course there will be millions trying to see him and receive his blessing.Most are very poor and they will be praying that his spiritual aura and huge popularity will be influential in spreading virtue,good family values,respect for human rights and social justice in the Philippines.
 
Indeed despite this being the Asian nation that is  80% catholic ,it is for many a version of Catholicism that is at variance many times with the gospel message of compassion,respect and self-sacrificing service to poor and the downtrodden. 
 
Catholic schools and universities flourish,producing the educated middle class and the ruling elite many of whom are devoted mass goers and good catholics in the sense that they accept without question church teaching and participate in the church rites and rituals.The awareness and commitment to act for social justice is limited to the few.
 
Full article here.

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

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

 Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) http://www.universalis.com/20150111/mass.htm

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

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

The Census at Bethlehem, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566

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

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

Detail of Bruegel’s painting [Wikipedia]

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

Tacloban Airport after Haiyan/Yolanda [Wikipedia]

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

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

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


 

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