Our Fishing GroundA friend has sent me this translation by John Campbell of a Gaelic poem by Dòmhnall Iain MacDhòmhnaill. It is beautiful. May your hand O Christ, be always with us. Our seed to grow, our garden of roses; Our Autumn of harvest, our Read More
ResurrectionI have written about my experience of discovering Mahler’s Second Symphony as a boy aged fifteen. This singular music can touch a universal string in the human heart, a string that some of us, as a result, are made conscious Read More
Golden Age DreamsThe other day I re-read Mary Eberstadt’s essay from 2008, ‘The Vindication of Humanae Vitae‘. It gives much food for thought regarding baleful results of the sexual revolution. This afternoon, I found myself before The Golden Age by Lucas Cranach Read More
CorruptionIn a recent essay, Ian Cawood writes: ‘From the groundbreaking work of scholars such as Frédéric Monier, Mark Knights and Jens Engels, it has become clear that, historically, corruption is that conduct by officials and corporations that public opinion (expressed Read More
Our Fishing GroundA friend has sent me this translation by John Campbell of a Gaelic poem by Dòmhnall Iain MacDhòmhnaill. It is beautiful. May your hand O Christ, be always with us. Our seed to grow, our garden of roses; Our Autumn of harvest, our barley store — Let us be in your granary at life’s end. You are our fragrant breeze, our May-morn dew, Our safe harbour in times of danger, Our fishing ground, our food, our plenty — Let us be in your nets at time of death. In childhood may your name live for us, In my old age may your love be with us, Guide us through our darkest clouds, Through storms, to our star of hope. Death is not our end but a new beginning — Fill us with your grace and stay close forever; so that when the end of our time comes, May’s young month will replace dark winter.
25 Sunday AAt this Mass, Fr Florian Pletscher was installed as parish priest of the cathedral parish. Isa 55.6-9: My thoughts are not your thoughts. Phil 1.20-27: Life to me is Christ. Mt 20.1-16: A landowner went out at daybreak. When we hear about the landowner who went to the market to hire labourers, we may think of the Trondheim market on an average Saturday in the middle of the day. There are lots of people. It’s impossible to get an overview. We understand how the man overlooked a few blokes who were standing around looking for work, and only picked them up when he came back later in the day. But hang on: the backdrop is not that of a modern metropolis (not even a modest metropolis such as ours) but of a Palestinian village of Antiquity, unlikely to have had more than a couple of hundred inhabitants. One will not have got lost in crowds. Also, the hirer first went out at daybreak, before the local traders had put up stalls. He would have had a good idea of the hands available for hire. This consideration matters. It helps us interpret the parable correctly. Jesus is not saying that four groups of job-seekers were standing in the market from cockcrow, and that the last crowd was only noticed at dusk. Those called last had either just arrived — having had other things to do, or having spent the day lazing — else they would have been standing around with hands in pockets, not seeking work. That only occurred to them when the day was almost done. Jesus tells us something about the landowners delicate generosity. He does not rebuke or humiliate the late arrivals. He gives them a chance to get stuck in without questioning their motivation. He knows the vineyard will form them. He chooses to believe that they can make themselves useful, even for not very long. The vineyard, we are told, is an image of the kingdom of heaven. There’s space there for all sorts. Everyone is welcome in. It is taken for granted that we will put in an effort: it isn’t a matter of a cruise with free drinks. But it is never too late to turn up. There’ll be something to do for everyone, whatever our competence or physical condition. If we give our best, in truth, our salary is sure. Above all, work in the vineyard is its own reward. It teaches us beatitude. This is something those first called, who’d been working since dawn, had lost sight of. When they see that the landowner, at dusk, gives to all the same reward, whether they’d worked for an hour or ten, they’re enraged. They start murmuring, something the Bible always reproves, for it stands for rebellion against God’s kindness. There had been no breach of contract. The salary for the day had been settled on before work began. It would amount to a denarius. That’s what everyone got. What provokes the early comers is not that they receive too little, but that the others get far too much. In this attitude we encounter two tendencies that call for self-examination. First we might ask: How do I respond when others freely, and fast, obtain grace I may have spent years of my life meriting? Do I rejoice in God’s goodness to others or turn sour when they easily get benefits for which I have laboured hard? We’ve a golden opportunity to ascertain whether we have really said yes to a life founded on grace or whether we stay avariciously cooped up, like Matthew the tax collector before he turned evangelist, counting small change. Then there’s this other question: Do I exult in being allowed to serve in God’s vineyard, in being called to build up his Church? In a hymn by Lars Oftedal we sing: ‘Oh, what joy to be yours! Thank you for letting me take part!’ To think that I might have a share in this! To grow in Christian maturity is to become ever more grateful, to live more and more eucharistically. We move in this direction not least by being conscious of the stages through which our Christian lives pass, mindful of God’s gift and of our response to it in the form of promises. It is good to commemorate the anniversary of our baptism and confirmation; it is good for married people to celebrate their wedding anniversaries, for priests and religious to recall the day of their ordinations and vows. The more we get into this habit, the more we shall rejoice in each moment spent in the vineyard. After all, we have tasted the new wine that gladdens the heart of man. At this Mass I instal Fr Florian as parish priest of the cathedral parish. He has been its administrator for a while. Will he from today do anything he hasn’t done before? Not really. So what’s the fuss about? We celebrate the fact that he now more explicitly assumes responsibility for this vineyard. For a year an a half he has been getting used to the terrain. He has seen where watering and weeding are required. He has got the hang of the machinery. He has learnt to tell the different sort of grapes apart. He has got to know his co-workers, you. And he has said: ‘Yes! I wish to serve in this place.’ The responsibility rests on his shoulders now. May it be a light burden, a pleasant yoke. After Fr Florian has made his oath of fidelity, I will conduct him to some of the crucial places of this church: to the baptismal font, to the confessional, to the tabernacle. At each station I’ll speak an exhortation that voices the specific goodness of God we receive in that place. This goodness is poured out on all who choose to receive it and correspond to it; the priest, and the bishop for that matter, is merely the goodness’s conduit and steward. May God’s generosity not provoke us to envy. May we see what strength we are given when we collaborate with it, each according to the Lord’s specific call. And may the vineyard of St Olav in this place bear fruit a hundredfold! Monks of Le Barroux doing autumn work in the vineyard. Photograph from Le Grand Pastis.
ResurrectionI have written about my experience of discovering Mahler’s Second Symphony as a boy aged fifteen. This singular music can touch a universal string in the human heart, a string that some of us, as a result, are made conscious of for the first time, amazed that something within us sings. I have listened to a number of recordings, but had never until last night heard the work live. When I saw the Oslo Philharmonic would perform it under Semyon Bychkov, I decided I’d go. The sonorous universe to which Mahler admits us captivates, but does not bind. It enables inward freedom to spread beneficially like soul-sunlight. The strange thing is, one feels it throughout the audience. There were a few determined coughers and recalcitrant programme-note-readers; on the whole, though, the auditorium rose in palpable unanimity towards the affirmation: ‘I’d not be dismissed! I come from God, I’ll return to God! God the Beloved will give me a spark of light and conduct me into eternal, blessed life.’ It is grandiose that music can work such shared elevation.
Golden Age DreamsThe other day I re-read Mary Eberstadt’s essay from 2008, ‘The Vindication of Humanae Vitae‘. It gives much food for thought regarding baleful results of the sexual revolution. This afternoon, I found myself before The Golden Age by Lucas Cranach the Elder in Oslo’s National Museum. The visitor is referred by a curator’s note to Hesiod’s account of mankind’s dawn when ‘In harmony they lived, with countless flocks of sheep, at ease with all the gods’. Cranach renders the ideal in terms of innocent frolicking, with eros tamed to become harmless play. The heady revolutionary years from the late 60s were marked by much arrogance. It seems to me, though, impossible to understand them without acknowledging the dream, on the part of many, of historical fulfilment of Cranach’s vision. That dream has long since evaporated. Intense is the pain of innocence lost, also when the fact is unacknowledged. How vital, then, to remind the world that innocence can be restored, not by our endeavour, but by a grace that recreates nature. Human attempts to engender a golden age tend to have infernal consequence. The Age to Come that is of God, meanwhile, heals. It comes to each of us, if we will but freely receive it.
CorruptionIn a recent essay, Ian Cawood writes: ‘From the groundbreaking work of scholars such as Frédéric Monier, Mark Knights and Jens Engels, it has become clear that, historically, corruption is that conduct by officials and corporations that public opinion (expressed through elections, petitions, complaints to watchdogs, polling and the media – both factual and satirical) will not tolerate. If the public does not know about the extent of corrupt behaviour (as in many countries around the world with limited press freedoms or plutocratic control of the media), then it is possible to maintain a corrupt regime […]. What is far more troubling is when information regarding the poor standards of governance is widely reported, yet the public chooses to ignore it […]. This is the great danger of identity politics. As long as the political leader or party embodies the dogma that a significant proportion of the electorate supports […], the integrity of politicians and those they appoint, or the societal impact of the policies they implement, are of negligible importance to their supporters.’ This is, as Cawood notes, a deeply troubling state of affairs.
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Today, September 21st is the Feast of Saint Matthew, the Evangelist. He was a tax collector and as a result people hated and despised him. As a result of his lifestyle he was an outcast but yet Jesus saw beyond his Read More 1 Comments
Today is the feast day of St. Januarius - bishop and martyr 🙏 Januarius was born in Italy in the late third century, and rushed through his holy studies - being ordained at 15 and named Bishop at 20. He helped hide Read More 1 Comments
Kanturk & Lismire Parish To mark the Jubilee Year of St Francis of Assisi and the Season of Creation, the Parishes of Kanturk & Lismire and Castlemagner are delighted to host well-known Gospel Singer James Kilbane on Sunday September 27th at Read More 5 Likes
