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The Good Samaritan (after Delacroix), Van Gogh [ Web Gallery of Art ] You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Mt 22:39). Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel Matthew 22:34-40 ( NRSV, Anglicised CatholicEd .) When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan , Archbishop of Seoul (1922 - 2009) This time three years ago I visited Korea to attend the ordination to the

The Repentant Peter , El Greco  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Matthew 16:21-27 ( New Revised  Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition )   From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want t

The Calling of St Matthew (detail), Caravaggio [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings  (NAB: USA) Readings (Jerusalem Bible) Gospel Matthew 10:37-42 ( NR SV, Catholic Ed ) Jesus said to his Apostles: ‘Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’ Post-World War II Japan [ Source ] Whoever loves father

The Good Shepherd, Martin van Cleve the Elder [ Web Gallery Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings (Jerusalem Bible: ) Gospel John 10:1-10( NRSV, Catholic Edition , Canada) Jesus said: "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the

The Adoration of the Magi ,  Velázquez, 1619 Museo del Prado, Madrid [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings for the Solemnity of the Epiphany Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  The readings above are used both at the Vigil Mass and at the Mass during the Day. Each Mass has its own set of prayers and antiphons. In countries where the Epiphany is observed as a Holyday of Obligation on 6 January, eg, Ireland, the Mass of the  Second Sunday after the Nativity  is celebrated. The same readings are used in Years A, B, C: Readings   (Jerusalem Bible) Alleluia and Gospel for the Epiphany Alleluia, alleluia! Vidimus stellam eius in Oriente, We have seen his star in the East, et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum. and have come with gifts to adore the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia! The same text

St Matthew and the Angel ,Vincenzo Campi,  San Francesco d'Assis, Pavia, Italy [ Web Gallery  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines,  Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  Matthew 22:34-40  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition : Canada)    When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,   and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.   “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”   He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’   This is the greatest and first commandment.     And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’   On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In preparation for the visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January 2015 Luis Ant

The Virgin of the Grapes , 1640s, Pierre Mignard  Musée du Louvre, Paris  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Winegrowers in France celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of Mary  as the  Feast of Our Lady of the Grape Harvest . Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Matthew 21:33-43  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition : Canada)  Jesus said to the chief priest and the elders of the people:   “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.   When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.   But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.  Again he sent other slaves, more than the first;

Columban Fr Noel O'Neill with Myeong Sek in Kore The  Universal Prayer Intention of Pope Francis  for September is  That the mentally disabled may receive the love and help they need for a dignified life . Fr Noel O'Neill is a Columban priest from Limerick, Ireland, who has been in Korea since 1957. In  this article  from the September-October 2014 issue of  MISYONonline.com , the magazine of the Columbans in the Philippines that I have been editing for 12 years now, he shows how he has been living this prayer intention - and how he himself has received love and help for a dignified life from two persons in particular, among others, whom he describes as 'differently abled' and who were on the fringes of society because others didn't recognise the gifts that God had given them. With Myeong Sek at the grave of  You Ha Myeong Sek, Theresa, was special. She was special because she was differently abled. She was special because it was she who a

The Crucifixion of St Peter , Caravaggio, 1600-01 Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Populo, Rome [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel   Matthew 16:21-27  (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition: Canada)     From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.   And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”   But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themse

Saint Peter, El Greco,1610-13 Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial, Spain [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel   Matthew 16:13-20  (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada)  Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”   And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”   He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”   Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,   the Son of the living God.”   continue gospel reading> Pope Francis in Korea , 13-18 August 2014 [ Wikipedia ] In his  homily on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June 2013 , Pope Francis said:  I would like to offer three thoughts on the

Christ the Good Shepherd Murillo, c.1660, Museo del Prado, Madrid [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings  (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                 Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 10:1-10   ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)  Jesus said:  "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.   The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.   The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them,

Adoration of the Magi , Francisco de Zurbarán, 1639-40 ( Web Gallery of Art ) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel   Matthew 2:1-12   (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for fr