Today is the feast day of St. Mary’s College Oscott.  Past and present Oscotians (Seminarians of Oscott) were here to celebrate Mass and have a festive meal with us.  Priests who have studied here over the years and the current Oscott community all shared a wonderful day together.

The college is dedicated to Virgin Mary – “Our Lady seat of Wisdom”.  The college crest above shows the infant Jesus “the Wisdom” sitting on Mary’s lap.  Mary is the seat for Jesus.  That is why she is called “Our Lady Seat of Wisdom.”

Our last hymn during Mass was “Holy light on earth’s horizon”.  The college has over the years added an additional verse to this hymn.  Which I’ll type out below.

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom:  Pray for us.

“We beseech thee, Seat of Wisdom,

intercede for us today.

Thou art bless’d, O Virgin Mary,

help us on our pilgrim way.

We do love thee, as our Mother,

we adore thy glorious Son,

and we pray for all Oscotians

as they follow thy dear Son.”

Today we read the parable of the mustard seed from the Gospel according to Mark  (4: 26 – 34).

“What can we say the kingdom of God is like?  It is like a mustard seed which the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.”

The Gospel reading is concerning us with our spiritual growth.  The seed of God’s Word was first planted in our hearts at Baptism, and it is our task to water and tenderly care for it,  so that it can work powerfully within us.  The Gospel speaks about the importance of coming to God in prayer and good works, in order to grow in God’s favour and friendship.  The mustard tree reminds us about the truth of Christian life:  the seed of God’s life within us grows slowly and invisible.

Through prayer and reading the Word of God we are asked to perform good works, and live out the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.  This allows us not only to perform good acts, but also to give the best of ourselves.  We need to be open to transformation, to become more like Christ and to show love to our neighbours.  In this way we will make the seed in our hearts blossom in abundance.

The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds.  We may feel small and insignificant in this big world of ours.  What can we do to make a difference?
It reminds me of the film “Evan Almighty” (YouTube clip).  It talks about how we can change the world.  “One Act of Random Kindness” at a time.
The importance of Love and Charity cannot be underestimated, performing good works and acts of loving kindness in our daily lives is central to being a Christian.

Let us be fruitful, let us blossom in abundance,
let our hearts overflow with Jesus’ Divine Love.

Sin, as we all know is an offence against God.  It is our own doing, our free will which distances us away from God.  When we sin it sits uncomfortable on our shoulders, deep down there is an unwillingness to admit that we are wrong and to express penitence for our offence.  If we don’t admit our faults we cannot receive God’s forgiveness.

Like Adam and Eve, we hide.  Adam hid because he was guilty and felt ashamed and embarrassed for what he had done, eating the forbidden fruit.  Automatically shifting the blame onto Eve, saying “It was the women you put with me”.  When Eve was confronted she accused the serpent.  It shows our human weakness of avoiding and not accepting responsibility for our own actions.  We have an urge to shift the blame and profess our own innocence because we feel ashamed of what we have done and we don’t want to own up to them.

The Gospel reading shows us healing, strength, forgiveness and a way out of our difficulties.  Jesus’ whole life was a renewal between God and His people.  Jesus’ final sacrifice on the Cross was for the forgiveness of the whole world from their sins.  Saving us for eternal life in the ‘Kingdom of God’ with Him, only if we believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God.

It is so important for regular confession, the Church provides the ‘Sacrament of Reconciliation’ which washes away all mortal and venial sins from our souls, leaving us in the same pure state as our Baptism.

Sin is like a wall being created, and each sinful act is a building block separating us from God.  The more we sin the greater the wall will become, which will overwhelm us, taking us deeper into evil temptations and the devil will make us think there’s no way back.  Confession breaks and destroys this wall restoring us back to God’s loving embrace.

But we are also warned in the Gospel of Mark (Ch 3).  If we blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, there will be No forgiveness from God, they are guilty of an eternal sin.

The only time we should mention the names of the Most Holy Trinity on our lips:  God the Father, God the Son (Our Lord Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit is when we are in prayer.

The Sacred Heart is the centre and wellspring of Jesus’ passionate and infinite love for us.
It represents Jesus’ woundedness, both the physical wound incurred to his physical heart on the cross – by the centurion’s spear, and the spiritual wound of a love so great that He gave up His life, even while this love is scorned by those for whom it was so generously given.

Prayer:  O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins I offer you his poor heart of mine.  Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will.  Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you.  Protect me in the midst of danger.  Comfort me in my afflictions.  Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death.  Amen

I have just arrived back from a five day silent retreat from St. Beuno’s in North Wales.  (No mobile, no internet, no social media aloud.)
It was nice to get away after the examinations to concentrate and refocus myself in prayer and meditation, in the silence of my heart with no distractions.

Throughout the five days I meditated on different scripture passages.
Psalm 139 “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me”.
Mark 14:12 – 26 Readings for Corpus Christi from last Sunday.
Luke 9: 1 – 9 Jesus sends out His disciples – and how that links to being a parish priest in the diocese.
Luke 19: 1 – 10 – Jesus’ meal invite in Zacchaeus house – How would you welcome Jesus into your house. (How would I host Jesus)
John 21 – Breakfast with the Lord on the sea of Galilee.  (Jesus being the host)

I received a lot from these readings and I would like to share one of my reflections with you today.

Welcoming Jesus into my house – (based on the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10)

After receiving an invite from Jesus I would be conscious about how clean my house is?  Is it tidy and presentable for Jesus to enter?  Will I need help in the preparation of the food, am I able to entertain Jesus myself?  How best to entertain him?  What topics of conversation will crop up?  Or will I be too excited and overwhelmed to think of any of these things, and just go with the flow, enjoying being in the presence of Jesus’ company.  For Zacchaeus, he was a chief tax collector and a wealthy man, he would probably have had cooks and servants to help with the preparations.

I am also reminded of the story when Jesus visited Mary & Martha (Luke 10:38 – 42).  Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His teachings, and Martha distracted with all the preparation work.  Which one would I be?  Difficult doing both at the same time.  It would be nice to imagine being at the Lord’s feet listening to everything He says.  But having a responsibility of hospitality, I’ll probably end up in the kitchen being distracted with the food preparations.

Zacchaeus had a life changing experience and a movement of heart.  He said “Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
If the Lord was in my house, I would wish that I could have a life changing experience and to follow Him.

All this relates to my our lives today.
Jesus is inviting himself into our hearts.  Is it tidy?  Clear from sinful thoughts and desires?  Is it a place suitable for the Lord to stay?  How could it be improved?
When Jesus enters your heart, would you spent time in prayer with Him, like Mary at His feet?  Or Continue being distracted by daily activities, ignoring Him and not speaking to Him.  Like all good relationships communication is the key, in order to grow in love and compassion for one another.

We would never have known that God is a family of three persons had it not been told by Jesus.  He revealed his startling nature to us for the first time after his baptism.  As he came out of the waters of the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove, the heavens opened and a voice said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  (Mk 1:11) Throughout his life on earth Christ was forever talking about God as his Father and his mission was to do the will of his Father.  He referred to himself as God’s only son, and we learn that the Spirit’s job was to carry on and continue in the church the work he had begun.

Today’s feast of the most Holy Trinity celebrates the mystery of three persons in the one God, all bonded together by love.  In the Trinity our minds are brought into loving contact with the complexity and wonder of God, which no language is adequate to describe.  His greatness and goodness exceed the boundary of all thought and are beyond our human attempts to comprehend.  We should never look on the Trinity as a problem to be solved, Christ has given us this special insight into the inner nature of God to make us aware of the life we share at out baptism, when the Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts, making us adopted children of the Father.

On this feast we pray the simplest of Christian prayers:

‘Glory be to the Father
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning
is now and ever shall be,
world without end.  Amen.’

Universalis wrote for today’s memorial:  http://universalis.com

“The Blessed Virgin Mary has been given the title of ‘Mother of the Church’ since she gave birth to Christ, the Head of the Church, and she became the Mother of the redeemed people before her Son had given up the spirit on the Cross.

Blessed Pope Paul VI solemnly confirmed the title in an address to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council on 21 November 1964 and decreed that the whole Christian people should, by the use of this beautiful title, give still greater honour to the Mother of God.
‘The joyous veneration given to the Mother of God by the contemporary Church, in light of reflection on the mystery of Christ and on his nature, cannot ignore the figure of a woman (cf. Gal 4:4), the Virgin Mary, who is both the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.  In some ways this was already present in the mind of the Church from the premonitory words of Saint Augustine and Saint Leo the Great.

In fact the former says that Mary is the mother of the members of Christ, because with charity she cooperated in the rebirth of the faithful into the Church, while the latter says that the birth of the Head is also the birth of the body, thus indicating that Mary is at once Mother of Christ, the Son of God, and mother of the members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church’ (Decree of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship).”

St. John I was a priest of Rome. He became pope after the death of Pope St. Hormisdas in 523. At that time, Italy’s ruler was Theodoric the Goth, an Arian. (The Arians did not believe that Jesus is God.)

In 523 Emperor Justin of Constantinople decreed that the Arians had to give back to the Catholics the church buildings they had taken. This made Theodoric angry. He forced Pope John to go with a delegation of five bishops and four senators to speak to the emperor. The emperor and all the people of Constantinople went out to meet the pope with a joyful welcome. Justin listened to Pope John, and decided to change his harsh policy.

But Theodoric was not satisfied. He imagined there was a conspiracy against him. He thought that Pope John and Justin I were against him. When the pope was returning to Rome he was kidnapped in Ravenna, Theodoric’s capital. Pope John was thrown into prison by Theodoric’s soldiers. There the pope died of thirst and starvation in 526.

When we’re tempted to have mean thoughts about others, we can pray to St. John I.  He’ll help us avoid Theodoric’s terrible mistake of acting upon our angry or jealous thoughts.

St. John I pray for us.

St. Matthias was one of the Lord’s seventy-two disciples. He had been a follower of Jesus before the crucifixion. While waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit, 120 of Jesus’ followers gathered to pray. St. Peter asked them to choose an apostle to replace Judas. This was very important because that man would be a bishop, as the other apostles were. Peter said that they should choose someone who had been with Jesus from his baptism in the Jordan River until his resurrection.  The first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles tells us what happened. The group proposed two names. One was Matthias, the other was Joseph, also called Barsabbas. Then everyone prayed and asked the Lord to let them know which of the two men should take the place of Judas. Next they cast lots, and Matthias’ name was chosen. He became one of the twelve apostles.

St. Matthias was a dedicated apostle. He preached the Good News in Judea, Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey), and on the Caspian seashore. Many people listened to Matthias. They believed his wonderful message. The enemies of Jesus grew furious when they saw how people listened to Matthias. They decided to stop him by putting him to death. Matthias died a martyr at Colchis.   The story of St. Matthias reminds us that we are fortunate to be followers of Jesus and members of his Church. Let’s ask St. Matthias to show us how to be more grateful for all that we have received.

St. Matthias pray for us.

On 13th May 1917, three children were watching their sheep in a valley called the Cova da Iria, near the town of Fatima, in Portugal. They were ten-year-old Lucia dos Santos, and her cousins, nine-year-old Francisco and seven-year-old Jacinta Marto.

A flash of lightning suddenly startled them. The children thought a storm was coming, so they quickly began herding their sheep toward home. A second flash made them look around. They saw a beautiful young woman standing above a small oak tree. “Don’t be afraid,” she called reassuringly. “Come closer.” The woman wore a robe and mantle of white, with gold trim. Her hands, joined in prayer, were holding a rosary.  She shone with a light that was brighter than the sun.  Lucia asked the woman, “Who are you? What do you want?”  She answered, “I am from heaven. Come here on the thirteenth of each month for five months.

On 13th October, I will give a sign that will make everyone believe.”  The Blessed Mother kept her promise. The children saw her once more on 13th June and 13th July.  The mayor of the nearby town of Ourem didn’t like this story of a heavenly lady appearing to children. On the morning of 13th August, he offered Lucia and her cousins a ride to the Cova, where they were supposed to meet the lady again. But once he had them in his car, he brought them to the police station instead, and kept them in custody for two days. He couldn’t outsmart the Blessed Virgin, though. She simply appeared to the children several days later!

A priest of the diocese questioned Lucia about the visions. How many times had they seen the Blessed Virgin? How long did she stay with them? What did she look like? Lucia answered all the questions. The priest also knew that Mary had told the children a secret. But he did not pressure Lucia to tell him what it was. Lucia told the priest a little prayer that Mary had taught them: “My Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.”  The Blessed Virgin again visited the children at the Cova on 13th September.

On 13th October 1917, 70,000 people came to the Cova to witness the miracle that Mary had promised. It was a rainy day. But Lucia asked the people to close their umbrellas. The rain stopped. Mary appeared to the children. Suddenly, the clouds left the sky and the sun came out. The crowds saw it spinning and shooting out flames like a fireworks display. One by one the sun took on all the colours of the rainbow. This happened three times and the scene lasted for ten minutes. Then the sun seemed to fall from the sky toward the earth. The people fell to their knees. Many thought it was the end of the world. They wept and asked forgiveness for their sins. Suddenly the sun stopped its fall and returned to its normal colour and its usual place in the sky.

While the sun had been spinning and changing colours, only Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta had seen Mary appear as Our Lady of the Rosary, with St. Joseph beside her holding the Child Jesus. Then Jesus alone appeared and blessed the crowd. Mary also appeared as Our Lady of Sorrows and then dressed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Mary told the children what she wanted: She asked that people pray the rosary and change their lives. They should ask forgiveness for sins. She also asked that a chapel be built at the Cova da Iria. The chapel was begun in 1919. Together with Lourdes, Fatima has become the most popular place of pilgrimage for Christians.

In December 1918, both Francisco and Jacinta became very sick with the flu. In those days they didn’t have the medicines we have today, and Francisco’s illness turned into pneumonia. He died on 4th April 1919. A few months later, Jacinta’s sickness developed into pleurisy, a disease which seriously affected her lungs. She underwent surgery, but died on 20th February 1920. Lucia entered the convent in 1928, becoming a Sister of St. Dorothy. In 1948 she transferred to the Carmelite monastery in Coimbra, Portugal. As of the date this book was printed, she is still living there as a Carmelite nun.

Our Lady came to Fatima as a loving mother. She wants us to be truly happy and reminds us that this can only happen when we live as Jesus taught.

Let’s pray the rosary often, thinking about the lives of Jesus and Mary.

Our Lady of Fatima pray for us.