Posts

Showing posts with the label Fr William Doyle SJ

'The men simply stood silently and reverently round the little improvised altar of ammunition boxes.' Sunday Reflections, Corpus Christi, Year B

Image
Supper at Emmaus Caravaggio [ Web Gallery of Art ] Corpus Christi, Year B The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B   In most countries, including the Vatican, this solemnity, formerly celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, is now celebrated on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday, this year replacing the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 14:12-16, 22-26   (English Standard Version, Anglicised) And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to Jesus, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”   And he sent two of his disciples and said to them,  “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him,     and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest

'Being configured to Christ the eternal High Priest . . .' Sunday Reflections, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Image
From  The Gospel of John  (2003)  Directed by Philip Saville. Jesus played by Henry Ian Cusick; narrator, Christopher Plummer. [Today's gospel ends at 2:54] Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 6:51-58 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) Jesus said to the crowd: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’  So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my f

'This is the struggle of our life - to let Christ rule.' Sunday Reflections, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Image
Salvation of Peter , Andrea da Firenze   [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Matthew 14:22-33 ( NRSV, Anglicised Catholic Edition )   Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,  but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.  And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake.  But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is y

'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.' Sunday Reflections, Christ the King, Year C

Image
Crucifixion ,  Pedro de Campaña, c.1550 Musée du Louvre, Paris  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Gospel   Luke  23:35-43  ( NRSV,Catholic Ed )   The people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at Jesus, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah   of God, his chosen one!’     The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine,   and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’   There was also an inscription over him,   ‘This is the King of the Jews.’ One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding   him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah?   Save yourself and us!’   But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?   And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’   Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into   your kingdom.’   He replied, ‘Truly I tell you

'My sheep hear my voice.' Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Easter, Year C

Image
The Good Shepherd , Marten van Cleve   Gospel   John 10:27-30  ( NRSV, Catholic Ed . , Canada)  Jesus said:  “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.   I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.   What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.   The Father and I are one.” 'My sheep hear my voice' I know nothing about tending sheep and until I looked at the video above never quite understood the reality of the words of Jesus in today's gospel:   ‘My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me' . An extraordinary example of the power of words is a story involving   Fr Willie Doyle SJ , the army chaplain who was killed in 1917 in Belgium during the Great War. Some years before the War he was giving a retreat to a community of nuns in Ireland. He got a telegram on the last day from his Provincial Superior telling him to

'The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.' Sunday Reflections, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Image
The Gospel of John  (2003)    Dir. by Philip Saville. Jesus played by Henry Ian Cusick; narrator, Christopher Plummer.  [Today's gospel from 1:31 to 2:54] Gospel   John 6:51-58  ( NRSV, Catholic Edition , Canada)  Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.    Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because