My friend Peter

As anyone from the parishes where I have served will know, I love St Peter. He jumps out of the pages of the New Testament and sort of grabs me.  So whenever he is in the Sunday gospel I can never resist talking about him, and especially about his humanity. 

So this evening I went on the internet to try and find an image that would capture this.  There are loads of paintings of him denying Our Lord, walking on water etc. But in all of them he looks so serious. I'm sure a fisherman from Galilee would have enjoyed a good laugh too, so I was very happy when I found this depiction of him. Here he is, human, approachable, full of faith and love - and smiling a great big smile. I've only ever seen one picture of Jesus himself laughing, so I'm glad I found this one of Peter too.

   

Master KG - Jerusalema

                                           

This video has been viewed over 100 million times. It originates in South Africa and has spread across the world. You can catch different versions on YouTube. And the surprise is that it's a religious song. Opening words are "Jerusalem is my home, Guard me, Walk with me, Don't leave me here".  Try NOT tapping your foot!

The next stage?

Some interesting things are emerging now in the process of reopening our churches and streaming from St Brigid's.

On Saturday evening Mass at Christ the King we reached our maximum number for the first time, amd so not everyone could get in.  A nice problem to have, but not so nice for the unlucky late arrival. We now have to do some thinking about times etc. maybe.

Secondly, some statistics came through about people watching services via the camera in St Brigid's. There's quite a variation in the Sunday numbers, which there is anyway in normal times, but also every so often on a weekday we seem to also get a big number. This was puzzling me until I realised it was the days of funerals, and so many mourners were watching who could not be present.  I think that alone makes our buying into 24/7 streaming worthwhile.

I also realised recently how few churches of other denominations have reopened. We have even had enquiries from folks with no connection to the Catholic Church about weddings, as their churches are shut and not taking any queries.

As so many have said - strange times indeed! 

 

A Hungarian theme

Time for music - and it's off to Hungary and Croatia...

I recently came across a video here of a performance of John Williams' music for "Schindler's List", the film about Oskar Schindler who saved about a thousand Jews during World War II. It takes place in what is apparently the biggest synagogue in Europe, the Dohany Street Synagogue in Buda pest, Hungary. A packed audience (or is it congregation?) listens attentively as a young solo violinist plays the haunting theme accompanied by organs. The camera lingers here and there, capturing various human reactions. Watch out for the elderly lady gently resting her head against the pew end, and the young couple, she resting her head on her man's shoulder. Left is a picture of the synagogue's interior, that you can see in the video. 

 

On a lighter note but keeping up the Hungarian theme, here are Croatian cellist  Hauser and American violinist Caroline Campbell (right) hamming it up playing some czardas (Hungarian dances) from the festival he has promoted in his hometown of Pula. He used to be one half of the duo "2 Cellos" but has fashionably dropped his first name, grown his hair longer and, yes, plays a mean cello...

 

Learning from Dominica

Back in 1988 I was in Dominica over Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. On Pentecost I was invited to go and celebrate Mass in one of the outstations of the cathedral, the village of Trafalgar, situated in the interior of the island. Near the village are the beautiful Trafalgar Falls (left, with viewing platform not there in 1988!)

Someone came to pick me up in a Jeep kind of thing, and when I asked what time Mass would be, he said "When you get there, Father", as if it was the most obvious answer. First leson of the day - we are obsessed with time. Clock time that is, the time by our watches and clocks. When we reached Trafalgar, the whole village was already there in the square, chatting and laughing, men on one side, women on the other. After lots of smiling greetings and a little while after I disappeared into the sacristy, they slowly made their way in too. Lesson #2 - the celebration of Mass grew from their own gathering, a natural progression. When I got to the sacristy I was greeted by a lady in her 30s I would say, who introducd herself as the pastoral leader there. She told me everything I needed to know about celebrating Mass there, and clearly knew it all herself . She was charming and exactly what a priest wants when you waft into a strange sacristy. I discovered she had a diploma from the island's Pastoral Institute (the chapel below don't forget the whole population was only 75,000, yet it supported such a place). Lesson #3 - invest in your people. At the end of her ultra-helpful chat she asked how many hymns I would like, clarifying that she meant at the beginning of Mass. "Whatever is usual" I answered, a bit quizzically. Sometimes they had two, sometimes three, just at the beginning before the rest of the Mass! Lesson #4 - let the music help the celebration, build the community.

As with the Mass I took part in at San Sauveur with the Caribs, there was tremendous joy and deep reverence. With that and with the lessons I learned, I felt I received far more than I gave. As so often in life and priesthood, you go expecting to give, you come back overflowing with what you have received. The lady at Trafalgar politely turned down my offer that if she ever wanted a job in my parish back home...

Dominica

Dominica is located in the Eastern Caribbean, the most northerly of the Windward Islands. It lies between the French Overseas Departments (DOMS) of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Dominica is only about 29 miles long and 16 miles at its widest point. Even though it's small its highest point is Morne Diablotin at 4,747ft. Dominica has some of the richest mountain rainforest in the Caribbean. Dominica is volcanic in origin with rich fertile soil and abundant tropical rain forests. Sometimes it's called “The Nature Island of the Caribbean”, with rugged landscape of green slopes, waterfalls, and cloud-drenched mountain peaks. It boasts about 130 species of birds including the Sisserou Parrot (Amazona Imperialis) which is endemic to Dominica and is on the endangered species list. Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a World Heritage Site, and is home to one of the largest boiling lakes in the world.

There are fewer than 75,000 inhabitants nowadays. The original inhabitants were Arawaks, driven out later by the Caribs. In colonial times, it was discovered by Columbus in 1493 on a Sunday, hence "Dominica", but the Spanish didn't stay. It became a French colony, which is why the name is pronounced with the stress on the second "i"  - "domineeka" - as in French. However, it became British in 1761, and part of the slave trade. It has now been a republic since 1978. It's very prone to hurricanes such as in 1979, 2007 and 2017.

Because it has few beaches and is mostly volcanic, tourism is not very developed. When I was thee in 1987 I stayed at the cathedral clergy house in the small capital, Roseau (right). The vast majority are of African descent, with a small number of Europeans descent, and with a unique community of about 3,000 Kalinago (formerly known as Caribs) living in villages on the east coast. They were either wiped out or driven out on the neighbouring islands. I attended an amazing feast day of patron St Isidore there at the village of San Sauveur. A beautiful memory is the ladies dancing the offertory procession with baskets of fruit on their head.

There are storms and storms

 

I'm writing this in the middle of a terrific thunderstorm. Lightning, thunder, rain - it's all happening.  About time really, as it's been threatening for quite a while, and has happened already in different parts of the country. It's been sticky hot today and earlier I had that particular kind of headache I sometimes get before storms.  

Of course it never really lasts very long here, but we had great storms in Rome when I was in seminary there. A few weeks after we got out there each September, the hot summer would collapse into a mild autumn in a few days of downpours in October maybe, where the thunder and lightning might go on for an hour.

 

 Another place where I experienced a completely different kind of downpour was the island of  Dominica in the Caribbean, where I spent a week half way through my canon law studies in Canada in the 80s. I was staying in the cathedral clergy house where there was a courtyard with luscious trees.  I was warned not to walk there in the evening as most days the rain would suddenly come and the breadfruit (right) would drop off the trees. And if one of those landed on your head you would certainly know it. 

Dominica is a brilliant place. I also visited Antigua and Barbados, but this was different. No tourists because no white beaches, no big resorts, no cruiseliners (there are a few of those now). I was one of very few white people, and the bishop was the last European bishop in the Caribbean.  I think I'll share a bit more about Dominica next time...

ps This is not the Dominican Republic, a completely different place, but confusingly also in the Caribbean!

The gentle breeze

Today's first reading in Mass spoke of Elijah's hearing God in the gentle breeze. The icon shows him listening hard. That breeze does not have to be purely spiritual or "internal". It can be something small, even casual or passing.

Twice today people have thanked me for small efforts. And one was nothing but a quick response to a Facebook posting.  A lady who was one of our housekeepers in St Francis, Ely,  had her 88th birthday today and her daughter took her out for a meal then posted pictures of it on her page. It brought back many memories of important years there, 1989-97, difficult sometimes but very fulfilling. The birthday girl was very much part of the team, keeping the presbytery going and Father's tummy well supplied. So I just added a comment for best wishes and love, remembering old times.  Quick as a flash, daughter came back and said my quick comment had made her Mum's day.

 

As the saying goes, it doesn't take much to reach out.  I suppose doing work in 3 churches and a big job for the diocese in canon law, it can be easy to forget these little things. I always remind myself, the Church - and the world - is made up of people, each with a story, all of us with our joys and hopes, our fears and sadnesses. 

So let the gentle breeze of your words and love blow this week, and, through that, the very breath of God. 

If it's September...

We're in August, so September is on its way. For 30 years September has meant pilgrimage time for me with the aptly named "September Pilgrims". Last year unfortunately it was at the time of our lovely trip to Burgundy that my arthritis flared up, so I withdrew from any plans for this year. A reduced plan for some to go to the Holy Land was got together, but of course the wretched pandemic put pay to that.... 

Just in the last few days I've been toying with the idea of putting together a virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, using YouTube, Zoom etc. One advantage over real pilgrimages is that we could visit the sites according to the chronological order of Our Lord's life, something it's impossoble to do there. So Nazareth - Bethlehem - Nazareth - Galilee - Jerusalem could work well, perhaps linking the events of Holy Week to their appropriate days of the week.  It's in very early days and may prove impractical, but we'll see...

Meanwhile, a couple of pictures from the gorgeous Senanque Abbey in Provence, where we visited and celebrated Mass in 2011. First with the lavender in full bloom, and second a monk harvesting the lavender in the last few days.

Yesterday, today, tomorrow

Many people appreciated words that Fr Andy quoted at the end of his homily at St Brigid's on Sunday and asked to see them.  So here they are.... author anonymous.

PS In looking up the poem on the net I discovered there is also a flowering plant called Yesterday today tomorrow plant, brunfelsia pauciflora (picture below).

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry,

two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow
with all its possible adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.

This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities

Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday

and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

Faith in the family

As a parish priest I often have access to people's lives, both everyday and at special moments. I never cease to be fascinated by family life, with all its varieties, variations, virtues and, sadly, sometimes vices.

How heart-warming is a loving family, and what a difference it makes at that most difficult of moments, the death of one of its own. Yet in those very tears there can be something particulalry heart-warming. This was the case in a funeral today where one could sense the love that a family has had and will continue to have for Mum, grandma and so on. I referred to this in the homily, talking about the two 'f's  of Faith and Family, which were at the heart of Maria's life.

Sometimes an image can capture this unique and beautiful reality of family love. I came across this little video today when it popped up in that righthand list that appears down the side of YouTube as users of that will know.  Take a look then at some random dad at Disney in Florida, joining a resident pianist for an impromptu "Ave Maria".  But, more particularly take a look at his daughter, gazing at daddy with utter pride and love. Call me a big softie, but I love it...  Click on this link

Come back, drink and believe

This evening I celebrated my first Mass in Christ the King church since the beginning of March, when the works started there before the lockdown. The church is looking lovely and brighter, and the floor of the sanctuary, which is  large stone tiles, has been very well restored. Everybody was very carefully following instructions that had been worked out based on Church and national directives. I was told there were 32 present, which was also good. All in all, it was great to be back there.

I felt a good strong message in the readings today. The Lord in the Old Testament through the prophet Isaiah invites us to come to the water, no matter who we are. In the Gospel Jesus invited all the 5,000 to come to him for food. When the apostles wondered how that was going to work out, a little divine frustration with them shows through, as the crowds are fed through the loving generosity of God.  Then in the second reading St Paul, in Romans, steeped in the OT has immersed himself in the person and mission of Jesus. This leads him to consier that nothing can separate us from the love of God made real in Jesus. I love this reading for its positive faith-filled message. In fact I chose it for my parents' funerals because of that. Great stuff, Paul! 

Here is John Foley SJ's well-known setting of the first reading from its original recording: