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Showing posts with the label Philippe de Champaigne

‘It is meaningless to preach at a funeral Mass if we don’t mention the resurrection of Christ.’ Sunday Reflections, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

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  Moses with the Ten Commandments Philippe de Champaigne [ Web Gallery of Art ] Teacher, Moses wrote for us . . .  (Luke 20:28, today's Gospel) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 20:27-38 [or 20:27, 34-38] ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) There came to Jesus some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,   [ and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.   Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children.   And the second   and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.   Afterwards the woman also died.   In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had he

St Joseph, Husband and Father; fatherhood.

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The Presentation in the Temple Philippe de Champaigne [ Web Gallery of Art ] A few years ago while at home from the Philippines I was celebrating Sunday Mass  in Blanchardstown, Dublin, when I noticed a family coming in a little late. I realised the parents were Filipinos. They came right up to the front of the church. What touched me was that the husband/father was carrying the couple’s infant. In November 2014 I was in the pre-departure area of Incheon Airport, Seoul, for a flight back to Manila. I saw a Filipino father with his son who clearly had just recently learned to walk and was taking sheer delight in running around. He wasn’t disturbing anyone as there was plenty of space. The child’s father stayed at a distance, moving around and keeping an eye on his son while giving him space. I can imagine St Joseph doing exactly the same with the Child Jesus when he had just learned to walk. Philippe de Champaigne’s painting shows St Joseph carrying Jesus into the temple, just as the yo