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Commentary on Song of Songs 8:6-7; Luke 10:38-42

The two Scripture readings speak of the close relationship between Scholastica and her Lord. The First Reading from the Song of Songs speaks of the nature of true love. Speaking to the young man whose company she longs for, the lover says:

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.

True love is all-embracing. Such was Scholastica’s passion for her Lord. For:

Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.

Such love can never be fully possessed; it always beckons one further. It is the task of a lifetime.

If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.

The Gospel is the lovely scene in Bethany where Jesus is a guest of the sisters Martha and Mary. As Martha fusses in the kitchen preparing the meal, Mary sits quietly at the feet of Jesus. Martha complains to Jesus:

Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?

Jesus replies:

Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.

Anxiety and worry should never be the characteristic of a follower of Jesus, and Martha has totally misread the situation. Mary has not been doing nothing. On the contrary she has been listening to Jesus—the Word of God.

It is only when we listen to Jesus that we know what we should be doing. Only then can we begin to be active. Martha was very busy, but was she busy about the right things? We will not know what the right things are unless we spend time listening to Jesus.

Scholastica spent many hours in prayer and reading listening to Jesus and, because of that, she knew what she had to do. When she was busy, she was busy about the right things. What about me? Am I more like Martha or Mary?

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Scholastica was born about 480 AD in Nursia, Italy, and was the twin sister of St Benedict. She died near Monte Cassino about 543 AD. Almost everything we know about her comes from the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, himself a monk and abbot. She was consecrated to God at a very early age, but probably continued to live in her parents’ home. Some accounts of her story indicate that she preceded Benedict in piety, and that he came to holiness after she did, and under her influence.

When Benedict established his monastery at Monte Cassino, Scholastica founded a convent in nearby Plombariola, about 8 km south of Monte Cassino. The convent is said to have been under the direction of her brother; thus she is regarded as the first Benedictine nun. In fact, we do not know what rule her community followed, although it seems most likely it was the Rule of St Benedict.

Benedict and Scholastica, like many twins, were close, but the respective rules of their houses proscribed either entering the other’s monastery (the rules of ‘cloister’ normally forbade people of different sexes from access). However, it is told that once a year she would go to visit her brother in the vicinity of Monte Cassino. They would spend the day praying together, discussing sacred texts and issues of common interest.

There is a delightful story, told by St Gregory, of the very last meeting she and Benedict were destined to have. At the end of the day, they had supper and continued their conversation. When Benedict indicated it was time for him to leave, she protested, and begged him to stay with her for the evening so they could continue their discussions. He refused, insisting that he needed to return to his cell. At that point, Scholastica closed her hands in prayer, and after a moment, a wild storm rose up outside the house where they were staying. “What have you done?” asked Benedict. To which his sister replied:

I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery.

But, because of the storm, Benedict was unable to return to his monastery, and they spent the night in discussion.

According to the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, three days later, from his monastic cell, Benedict saw his sister’s soul leaving the earth and ascend to heaven in the form of a shining white dove. He placed her body in the grave he had prepared for himself, and arranged for his own to be placed there too after his own death. As Gregory says:

So death did not separate the bodies of these two, whose minds had ever been united in the Lord.

Her relics were, as alleged by the monk Adrevald, to have been transferred on July 11 to a rich silver shrine in Saint Peter’s Church in Le Mans, France. This may also have been when Benedict’s were moved to Fleury.

St Scholastica is usually depicted in art dressed as a nun, holding a crozier and crucifix, with her brother. Sometimes, she may be shown:

– receiving her veil from St Benedict;
– with her soul departing her body like a dove;
– with a dove at her feet or bosom; or
– kneeling before St Benedict’s cell.

She is the patroness of Monte Cassino and all Cassinese communities, and she is invoked against storms. She is also the patron saint of convulsive children, and of nuns.

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Paul Miki, born into a rich family, was the son of a Japanese military leader. He was born at Tounucumada, Japan and educated at the Jesuit college of Anziquiama. He joined the Jesuits in 1580, and became known for his eloquent preaching.

The authorities, fearing the Jesuits’ influence, made them an object of persecution. Miki was jailed along with other Christians. He and his Christian companions were forced to walk about 1,000 km (600 miles) from Kyoto as a punishment for the whole community. On the way they sang the Te Deum, the Church’s hymn of praise and thanksgiving. Finally they arrived at Nagasaki, the city which had the most conversions to Christianity.

Paul, still a Jesuit scholastic (i.e. a Jesuit in training) and aged 35, was crucified on 5-February 1597, along with 25 other Catholics. He preached his last sermon from the cross and it is maintained that, like his Master, he forgave his executioners, stating that he himself was a Japanese.

Together with him died Santiago Kisai, also a Jesuit scholastic, and Diego Kisai (or Kizayemon), a Jesuit brother, in addition to 22 priests and lay people. This took place during the persecution of Christians under the Taiko, Toyotomi Hideyoshi—who ruled Japan in the name of the emperor.

Among the Japanese who died were: Francis, a carpenter who was arrested while watching the executions and then crucified; Gabriel, the 19-year-old son of the Franciscans’ doorkeeper; Leo Kinuya, a 28-year-old carpenter from Miyako; Joachim Sakakibara, a cook for the Franciscans at Osaka; Peter Sukejiro, sent by a Jesuit priest to help the prisoners, and who was himself arrested; and Cosmas Takeya from Owari, who had preached in Osaka. Also killed was Ventura from Miyako, who had been baptized by the Jesuits, but had given up his faith on the death of his father. He subsequently became a Buddhist monk, but was then brought back to the Church by Franciscans.

All were canonized as the Martyrs of Japan by Pope Pius IX in 1862.

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Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Luke 9:23-26

The Gospel reading comes from Luke. It is part of the first prediction of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection which follows immediately after Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus follows the prediction of what is going to happen to him by calling on his disciples to follow in his footsteps.

These words, of course, apply to all who carry the name ‘Christian’. Anyone who wants to be a follower of Jesus must be prepared to deny themselves and follow the Way of Jesus. The paradox, of course, is that such denial is a personal enrichment of one’s life. It is the setting aside of urges and appetites to be replaced by a life of love and fellowship and the care of one’s brothers and sisters.

For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves?

These are words which Agatha clearly took to heart. No doubt if she had agreed to the proposals of her suitor, she could have led a life of great pleasure and luxury, but it would also have been a self-centred life of self-destructive indulgence. Our society today is full of such temptations.

In the First Reading which is taken from the First Letter to the Christians of Corinth, Paul gives them words of encouragement. Most of them are people of little account in their society. But Paul reminds them that:

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong…

Agatha was a simple, defenceless girl. Her suitor, who was a powerful man in his society, thought she could be easily manipulated and tempted by what he had to offer. But she had an inner strength, based on her commitment to Christ and his Gospel, that he could not overcome either by cajoling or torturing.

The spirit of Agatha is very much needed in our pleasure-seeking society and in our Church today. Let me pray to have that spirit in me as the only way to true joy and peace and fulfilment.

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Agatha was martyred at Catania in Sicily, probably during the persecution by the Roman emperor, Decius (250-253). She is among the saints commemorated in the Roman Canon. Although she is one of the most highly venerated of the virgin martyrs in the early Church, there is little reliable information about Agatha beyond the fact that she died a martyr’s death. She is known to have been put to death because of the courageous profession of her Christian faith.

Although the martyrdom of St Agatha is accepted as genuine and her veneration as a saint had spread beyond her birthplace already in early times, there is still no reliable information of how she met her death. According to the Acts of the Martyrs (in both Latin and Greek), Agatha, daughter of a distinguished family and a girl of great beauty, was pursued by a Senator Quintianus who had fallen in love with her. As his proposals were resolutely spurned by the young girl, he put her in the charge of an evil woman, whose efforts at seduction were thwarted by Agatha’s commitment to her Christian faith. Quintianus then had her subjected to various cruel tortures. Of these, the most barbaric was an order to have her breasts cut off. This became the peculiar characteristic in medieval images of the saint. She is often depicted carrying her excised breasts on a platter.

However, it was said that Agatha was consoled by a vision of St Peter, who healed her miraculously. Her scorned admirer eventually sentenced her to death by being burnt at the stake. However, she was saved from this fate by a mysterious earthquake. She later died in prison as a result of the repeated cruelties inflicted on her. However, it must be said that this narrative from her story in the Acts of the Martyrs cannot really claim to have any historical reliability.

Both Catania and Palermo in Sicily claim the honour of being Agatha’s birthplace. Her feast is kept on 5 February, and her office in the Roman Breviary is drawn in part from the Latin Acts of the Martyrs. Catania honours St Agatha as its patron saint, and throughout the region around Mt Etna she is invoked against eruptions of the volcano, and elsewhere against fire and lightning.

In some places bread and water are blessed during Mass on her feast after the Consecration, and called Agatha bread. It is thought that this blessing of the bread may have come from the mistaken notion that, in images of her, what she was carrying on the platter were loaves of bread. In more recent times, St Agatha has been venerated as the patron saint of patients living with breast cancer.

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Saint John de Brito – Commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1; Ps 123; John 15:18-21 Read Saint John de Brito – Readings »

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St John de Brito, Priest; Blesseds Rodolf Acquaviva, Priest, and companions; Francis Pacheco, Charles Spinola, Priests and companions; Jacques Berthieu, Priest – all ‘Jesuit Martyrs of the Missions’ (Memorial) Read Saint John de Brito »

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Brigid of Kildare (Irish: Naomh Bhríde; lived 451-525 AD) was an Irish nun, abbess, and founder of several convents. Like many early saints there is much debate among scholars and even Christians as to the authenticity of her biographies.

The earliest writing about the life of Brigid is the Vita Brigitae of Cogitosus which is thought to have been written no later than the year 650. According to tradition, Brigid was born at Faughart near Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. Her parents were said to be Dubhthach, a pagan chieftain of Leinster, and Brocca, a Christian Pict who had been baptized by Saint Patrick. Some accounts suggested that Brigid’s mother was actually Portuguese, kidnapped by Irish pirates and brought to Ireland to work as a slave in much the same way as Patrick.

Brigid was given the same name as one of the most powerful goddesses of the pagan religion which her father Dubhthach practised. Brigid was the goddess of fire, whose manifestations were song, craftsmanship, and poetry, which the Irish considered the flame of knowledge. From an early age she was said to have been inspired by the teaching of St Patrick (who began his mission in Ireland in the year 432).

Against the will of her father, she was set on entering religious life. There are many stories of her piety and her deep concern for the poor who were never turned away. Her generosity did not please her father, but when she gave away his bejewelled sword to a leper, he accepted the nature of her vocation and she was sent to a convent.

She received the veil from Saint Mel and professed vows dedicating her life to Christ. She is believed to have founded her first convent in Clara, County Offaly. But her major foundation was in Kildare.

Around 470, she founded Kildare Abbey, a double monastery for nuns and monks on the plains of Cill-Dara, “the church of the oak”. Her cell was made under a large oak tree. As Abbess of this foundation she wielded considerable power. Brigid was known for her common-sense and most of all for her holiness. Even in her lifetime she was regarded as a saint. Kildare Abbey became one of the most prestigious monasteries in Ireland, its fame spreading throughout Christian Europe.

She died at Kildare about 525 and was buried in a tomb before the high altar of her abbey church. After some time, her remains were exhumed and transferred to Downpatrick to rest with the two other patron saints of Ireland, Patrick and Columba (Columcille). Her skull was extracted and brought to Igreja de Sao Joao Baptista (Lumiar) in Lisbon, Portugal by three Irish noblemen, where it remains.

There is widespread devotion to her in Ireland where she is known as the “Mary of the Gael” and she is considered one of Ireland’s patron saints along with Saints Patrick and Columba.  Her cult was brought to Europe by Irish missionaries, such as Foillan, in the centuries after her death. In Belgium there is a chapel (7th-10th century) dedicated to Sainte-Brigide at Fosses-la-Ville.

Her feast day is February 1, the traditional first day of spring in Ireland.

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Gabhaim molta Bríde (An ancient invocation sung by Cathie Ryan)

Gabhaim molta Bríde, iníon í le hÉireann
Iníon le gach tír í, molaimís go léir í. 

I give praise to Brigid, who is a daughter of Ireland
Daughter of all lands, let us all praise her.

Lóchrann geal na Laighneach, soils’ ar feadh na tíre
Ceann ar óigheacht Éireann, ceann na mban ar míne.

The leader of Ireland’s youth, leader of gentle women.
The bright torch of Leinster, shining across the country

Tig an Geimhreadh dian dubh, gearra lena géire
Ach ar lá le Bríghde, gar dúinn earrach Éireann.

The house of Winter is black, hard, cutting with its sharpness.
But on Brigid’s Day, spring in Ireland draws near to us.

Gabhaim molta Bríde, iníon í le hÉireann
Iníon le gach tír í, molaimís go léir í.

I give praise to Brigid, she is a daughter of Ireland,
Daughter of all lands, let us all extol her.

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Commentary on Malachi 3:1-4 or Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40

Today’s Gospel says:

…they brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”)…

The actual ritual is not described, but we are introduced to two elderly people who were in the Temple at the time. 

The first of these was a devout man called Simeon. He had been told that he would not die until he had first laid eyes on the promised Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, he came into the Temple and recognized Mary’s child as the long-awaited Messiah. He makes a prayer of thanksgiving to God for answering his prayer “for my eyes have seen your salvation”. And what he has seen is:

…a light for revelation to the gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.

Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, is a divine revelation to the non-Jews and the glory of God’s own people from whom he came. 

Mary and Joseph are quite amazed at the words being spoken. There is a lot they still do not know about their Son. But Simeon then had some ominous words for the Mother:

This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.

This is the paradox of Jesus. He comes as Saviour bringing life for the whole world, and yet there will be people who will reject his message of truth and life. His own people will be deeply divided over him. This will be a source of deep pain for his Mother, something she will not realize fully until she sees him die in agony before her eyes. Though at the time, Simeon’s words must have been very puzzling and even alarming to Mary and Joseph.

The second person to greet the parents and their Child was another deeply religious person. She was Anna, who:

…lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four.

She spent all her time in the Temple in prayer and fasting. On seeing the Child, she gave thanks to God and spoke about him to everyone she met. 

In the past, when this feast was called the Purification of Our Lady, there was for a long time a custom in the Church for mothers to go through a purification ceremony after giving birth. Such a rite is now seen as unnecessary, but the revised Rituale Romanum (Roman Ritual) still provides for the “blessing of a woman” both before and after childbirth. The latter is only in cases where the mother could not be present at the baptism of her child. In general, it would seem highly appropriate for a special blessing to be given to mothers on this day.

The feast is now called the Presentation of Our Lord and the emphasis is more on Jesus than on his Mother. The blessing and the procession of candles, as well as the Scripture readings, focus on Jesus who is the “Light of the World”.

The First Reading* is from the prophet Malachi. It consists of a prophecy which can be applied to the Messiah, and hence to Jesus. The opening sentence reminds one of John the Baptist:

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me…

But then the rest of the paragraph foreshadows today’s feast:

…the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

This is a clear reference to Jesus as the Word of God and the one who will inaugurate the New Covenant between God and his people. The prophecy goes on to warn that the coming Messiah will be a real challenge; he will be “like the refiner’s fire”. He will:

…purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

For those who welcome his message and his call, Jesus is good news, but for those who will reject his call, it will mean death and the end of life. 

The alternate First Reading (or Second Reading when the feast falls on a Sunday) is from the Letter to the Hebrews. It speaks of the meaning of God’s Son coming to live among us as one of us—which, of course, is the theme of today’s feast. For the Son of God came to share our flesh and blood and all that goes with it. It was in this way that he would:

…destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…

On the contrary, for us he has come to:

…free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.

In order to do this, the Son:

…had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.

And, on the cross, Jesus will be both Priest and Victim, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 

As the reading concludes,

Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

All of this is foreshadowed in the warnings that Simeon gives to Mary about the sword of sorrow which will pierce her heart.
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*During years when this feast falls on a Sunday, both First Reading options are read as a First Reading and Second Reading.

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Today, forty days after the birth of Jesus, we celebrate the end of the Christmas season with a festival of light. Candles are blessed and they are carried in procession to welcome Christ, the Light to enlighten the Gentiles and the Glory of his people. Until the year 1969, the feast, which is of Eastern origin, was known in the West as the feast of the Purification of Our Lady and also as Candlemas.  Now it is referred to it as the Presentation of the Lord.

It was Jewish belief that, because of bleeding, a mother was ritually unclean after giving birth and hence was in need of ritual purification.  On giving birth to a son, a Jewish woman would be in semi-seclusion for 40 days (in the case of a girl, the period was longer).  At the end of that period, the mother would then, in the case of her first-born, present him to the Lord in acknowledgement of his being the source of all life. First-born animals were also presented and sacrificed to God.

In today’s feast we see Mary and Joseph—40 days after the birth of Jesus—submitting to the Law of Moses in bringing their Son to be offered to God as their first-born, and for the purification of the mother after giving birth, even though we believe that Mary did not need such purification. For this ceremony, they have traveled from Nazareth to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Today’s feast brings to an end a whole period which resonates with a sense of light.  Christmas itself, taking place just after the winter solstice, is the celebration of the end of the darkness of winter and the coming of light into the world, especially the Light of the World.   Twelve days later, there is the feast of the Epiphany when the light of a star guides gentile outsiders (the Magi) to pay homage to the Light of the World. 

Today then, we bring the celebration to a close with this feast of light.  Traditionally, it has been a day for processions, as we remember the Lord’s entry into the Temple, the house of his Father, for the first time.  These processions originally replaced pagan celebrations.  Later, it was identified with the blessing of candles carried in procession in honour of Christ, the:

…light for revelation to the gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel. (Luke 2:32)