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I am the Light of the World Letter from Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB Page 4

Alasdair Roberts & Ann Dean recall the inspirational life of Bernadette Moran Page 23

North Is s u e 34, S p r i ng, 2017 Shelagh Noden and the legacy of the St Louis Jesuits Page 27

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R.C. Diocese of Aberdeen Charitable Trust, a registered Scottish Charity no. SC005122

Fr Domenico Zanrè visits the site of Jesus’ burial Page 29

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contents

O DEATH WHERE IS THY STING?

diocese 2 obituary 12

witness 15 liturgy 18 educationandformation 19 faithandculture 22 humour 34 crossword 35

Light of the North Managing Editor Deacon Tony Schmitz

Editor Cowan Watson 07816344241 editor@lightofthenorth.org

O GRAVE WHERE IS THY VICTORY? It may seem like an odd time of the year to be sharing an anecdote about bees but this particular story, which I heard recently, would never-the-less seem to be particularly relevant to the Easter season. It concerns a young boy and his father who are taking a drive in the countryside on a glorious summer’s day. The car is getting quite stuffy and the boy, unseen by his father, has rolled down the passenger window.

Suddenly, though not unexpectedly, a bee buzzes in through the open window.

“Dad, dad, do something, there’s a bee!”

Now it turned out that the boy should never have opened the window as he was known to suffer from a severe allergy to bee venom which could result in anaphylactic shock, a condition which can be fatal. Nowadays, sufferers usually carry what’s called an ‘adrenaline auto-injector’ with which they can inject a shot of adrenaline into the thigh muscle. This can rapidly reduce the symptoms. However, these sort of injectors weren’t available at that time.

The boy’s father pulled in to the side of the road by which time his son was really beginning to panic. The bee was now crawling over the dashboard. Very slowly, the concerned parent reached his hand over the deadly insect and then suddenly snatched the bee up. Looking across at his son he smiled and then slowly opened up his hand. The bee scrambled free and, buzzing angrily, resumed circling the air.

“Dad, dad, why did you let it go?” wailed the youngster.

His dad turned the palm of his hand so his son could see the swelling red mark of a bee sting.

You probably know where I’m going with this story! Yes, at this time of Easter we reflect on what Christ has done for us, not only reconciling us with God through his suffering but also, by his rising, removing from us the sting of death.

Hopefully you’ll find lots in this issue to celebrate this season, not least Bishop Hugh’s letter on the following page in which he asks that we might discover a sense of the Church as our Mother this Easter. Also, Alasdair Roberts and Ann Dean share some memories of the courageous Bernadette Moran (p23), Shelagh Noden looks at the musical legacy of the St Louis Jesuits (p27), and don’t miss Sr Janet Fearn’s review of a very special book, “ Dementia: Hope on a Difficult Journey “ (p32).

A very Happy Easter, Cowan

Editorial Advisor Canon Bill Anderson

Advertising Manager Jim Skwarek 01233 658611  jim.skwarek@geeringsprint.co.uk Light of the North Ogilvie Centre 16 Huntly Street Aberdeen AB10 1SH

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up front

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ur cover this issue features ‘The Resurrection’ (painted enamel on copper, 1553), a work by the great French enameler, Léonard Limosin which is now in the Louvre Museum.

Limosin was born in Limoges, which had been famous for its enamelers and goldsmiths since the Middle Ages. Like other contemporary Limoges enamellers, such as the Penicauds and Pierre Reymond, Limousin began working with traditional and religious imagery before establishing himself as an important court portraitist.

Encouraged by the Bishop of Limoges his prolific workshop produced more than a thousand pieces between 1533 and 1574 including plates and plaques with mythological and religious subjects, tableware, and jewelry boxes. His most ambitious works are two altarpieces representing the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, each more than a meter high.

Limosin was an exponent of the Fontainebleau style, begun by Italian painters working in France and, as apparent in ‘The Resurrection’, characterized by elegant forms, elongated figures, decorative strapwork and surfaces intended to suggest jewels. His profound influence on enamel work lasted through the 1600s.

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A Letter from Bishop Hugh Gilbert O.S.B.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This edition of Light of the North should reach you just before Easter. May it prove nourishing and stimulating!

Lent and Eastertide are times when we can experience a reality very dear to Pope Francis: the Church as mother. At Easter Vigils throughout the world, new believers are reborn through the Sacrament of Baptism. Christians from other denominations are received into the fulness of the Church. And our own faith is given new life. By the word of God and the grace of the Sacraments, Christ’s life is born and reborn, again and again, in us. As Mary the mother brought Christ into the world, so our mother the Church brings him to birth in us and our communities.

In our towns and villages, there are many churches and chapels, by no means all turned into pubs! But to be a Catholic in the north of Scotland is to be in a minority. Socially speaking, the Church is not a major player. It – and we – are on the edge.

This is not necessarily a bad place to be. It is has something Christ-like to it. It brings its own kind of modest purpose with it. But it can unconsciously create an inferiority complex. It can over-embarrass our sense of identity. It can erode the right kind of pride. It can diminish our sense of the Church. All the more, when we hear of things shameful, scandalous or inappropriate in the life of the Church, and even experience them ourselves.

So, yes, we feel our smallness and sometimes our shame. But these must not eclipse the light of faith. The Church is more than the sum of her members. She is more than her official representatives. She is more than her realisation in a particular place and time. She is the Body of Christ. She has been in the Father’s heart for all eternity, was foreshadowed from the world’s beginning, prepared for in the history of Israel, was founded

by Christ, is sustained by the Holy Spirit and will be brought to a glorious completion when Christ returns (cf. CCC 759769). “Just as God’s will is creation and is called ‘the world’, so his intention is the salvation of humanity and this is called ‘the Church’” (Clement of Alexandria). She is the true home of the human race, and she is our mother. Despite divisions, sins, heresies and limitations, she remains one, holy, catholic and apostolic. She is the place of grace. She holds the world together. She teaches us how to live and forgive, accept suffering and die. As a simple, verifiable fact, there is no entity that contributes so much to our world in the fields of education,

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healthcare and the alleviation of poverty. The Church, through countless people and agencies, lifts the lives of millions. This is going on in believing families, in schools, hospitals, parishes, communities, centres and initiatives of all kinds. Above all, the Church gives us Jesus. Every day, she gives out the Gospel. Every day, she lifts up the Lord in the Eucharist. Every day, she prays.

Every day can be a day of forgiveness. The gates of the Kingdom never close. Our own weaknesses may muddy the water, but they cannot stop it flowing and giving life. In a mysterious way, they can even become redemptive. It is another plain, verifiable fact that, thanks to the Church, we have the Scriptures and the Sacraments and that the whole Christian ‘thing’ and the Christian ‘spirit’ remain present in the world. The Church is the mother of saints and the saints preserve the world.

‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overpower it.’ It is good to be aware of our own limits and sins, corporately as well as individually. But they need never be the final horizon. This Easter, may a sense of the Church as our Mother rise from the dead in us – and a huge gratitude!

With my blessing and asking your prayers, + Hugh OSB

If you have access to the internet do take a look at some of the many inspiring talks and homilies given by Bishop Hugh Gilbert and other members of the clergy and which are now available on “You Tube”. These include videos of the Diocesan Faith Formation Seminars led by Bishop Hugh which cover a wide range of topics such as “Why does God allow evil?” and “The Seven Deadly Sins” . To access these videos just go to the You Tube site and search for the Diocese of Aberdeen channel.

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Daughters of Divine Love Congregation - a fruit of prayer and meditation Sr Mary-Grace Ogbaje DDL

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ne March day in the 1960s, the Most Rev Dr Godfrey Mary Paul Okoye C.S.Sp, of happy memory, then Bishop of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, was praying. He meditated on the feast of the day, ‘The Annunciation of the Lord’. Overwhelmed by the mystery of this feast he wrote, ‘This is the most glorious elevation of the human being, that God should condescend to take flesh.’ Our founder desired to respond to this ‘Mystery of Love’, and a seed began to grow in his heart. The fruit of that seed is the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Love.

The Congregation was born on the Feast of Our Lady of Carmel, July 16, 1969 when Godfrey Mary Paul Okoye was the Bishop of Enugu, in Eastern Nigeria. The Feast of the Annunciation is our principal feast because our founder conceived the idea of the Community on that feast and reflected that, “It is the day God manifested the infinite love he has for humankind.’ The Daughters are to ponder on Mary’s Fiat, her whole spirit, “Behold the hand maid of the Lord…” (Lk 1:38). We are to copy and imitate Mary’s life.

Like the Feast of the Incarnation, God’s entry into our world of work, disappointment, frustration and sacrifice but ultimate joy and hope, the Daughters of Divine Love were founded in the midst of the agonising suffering of a ravaging civil war’, the Nigeria/Biafra War. In spite of the misery of this situation the new foundation trusted in God’s Mercy and Love and was content.

The Daughters are specially founded to commemorate the infinite love and mercy of God, and by his grace to do him honour, to give him glory and to make a return of love to him, and to convert, sanctify and save souls for him. We are to be known in a special manner for our love of God and love of our neighbour, coupled with deep humility, selfsacrifice and solid piety. Our motto is ‘Caritas Christi, Urget Nos’ (The Love of Christ, urges us on (2 Cor. 5:14)).

Our Spirituality is ‘Divine Love in action expressed in contemplation of God and deep fraternal love and apostolic action’. We exist because of a fruitful meditation, so we are dedicated to both contemplation and apostolic action, as seen in our Lord himself. Our founder stressed the importance of this: ‘Always be conscious that yours is a Congregation that combines contemplation and apostolic action, and therefore find Christ in everything you do or suffer…seeing that you were founded to model his life and

ministry that expressed itself in contemplation, prayer, and action.’ (Father Founder’s Talks, p.222). For a Daughter, the interior life of prayer is essential. Every Christian is called to a life of prayerful relationship with the Lord but according to their state of life.

Our Congregation is particularly dedicated to the infinite love of God, to the Sacred Heart, and to the Holy Spirit of love. It is under the special protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Divine Love.

The charism of the Daughters is ‘a generous loving response to divine love incarnate’. The love which we are founded to reciprocate has no boundaries. The Daughters respond to the needs of the local Church according to the availability of Sisters with the right qualifications and ability. Carrying bravely our shield of Christian faith, we undertake boldly any apostolate for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Here, in Aberdeen Diocese where we are based and among the people of the Highland Deanery, the Daughters share their life and charism in pastoral work and the apostolate of our presence in the parishes. We visit and take Holy Communion to the sick and the lonely in nursing and residential care homes and hospitals. We visit the local prison with the chaplain. Occasionally, we visit and encourage different group activities at St Mary’s, Beauly. In our parish church of St Mary’s, Inverness, we are very much involved: we help in the parish office; we are committed to teaching Confirmation and First Holy Communion groups and to the formation of a Young Believers’ group (emerging from the previously confirmed); we promote the Divine Mercy and First Friday devotions and the Holy Rosary.

We have also formed an exciting and growing Lectio Divina group. Lectio Divina is a Latin phrase for ‘Divine Reading’. This is prayerful reading of the sacred text and is a traditional Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, a practice which Pope Francis has recently encouraged in his Apostolic Letter ‘Misericordia et Misera’ (para. 7).

Our Tuesday’s Craft group is doing very well. Members enjoy ‘a cuppa and a chat’ while knitting and crocheting.

They also learn new craft skills from one another and make new friends. We always end our activity joyfully with the Angelus Prayer.

In addition the Daughters support the local Catholic primary school, St Joseph’s, in a number of different ways: in the classroom, the playground, the refectory and the after school club. We assist with the teaching of religious education in some classes and occasionally with Page 5

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sacramental instruction. It is interesting when the children come and share with us how they have been practising their faith at school and at home and what they have learnt from their religious instruction at school. They also tell us with excitement about their enjoyment of Sunday Mass.

We know that the priests and the parishioners of St Columba’s and St Ninian’s appreciate our presence among them on certain Sundays and at other times when we join in their celebrations and activities. We hope to extend our apostolate to other parishes once we have established their need.

The Daughters aim to encourage the renewal of devotional groups in parishes. Such groups have been very useful in the past, bonding parishioners together. As the saying goes: “the family that prays together stay together”.

The Church is our bigger family and meeting together as

members of one faith strengthens each of us. Prayer is the key to life. It helps us to know God’s will and how to effect it and to be happy. Most of our Catholic devotions are scriptural, which means people are listening and reflecting on the word of God as they raise their hearts to him in prayer. Also, people learn a lot about one another in group meetings and can develop good and lasting friendships.

In future, we hope to organise other activities such as a ‘Divine Love Day’ when we will have the opportunity to share the basics of our Catholic faith with others and assist them with their faith formation.

‘Caritas Christi, Urget Nos’ Sr Mary-Grace Ogbaje DDL

Diocesan pilgrimage to Orkney and reconciliation, this Pilgrimage will be a moment to celebrate and embody those very values. You are warmly invited.”

There will be three days of celebrations:

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s part of events planned by Orkney Islands Council to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the death of St Magnus, and with the support of the Bishops Conference of Scotland, the Bishop of Aberdeen, Bishop Hugh Gilbert O.S.B, has announced a unique diocesan pilgrimage to Orkney, to take place over the weekend of 28-30 July 2017.

St Magnus is the patron saint of Orkney. He was killed on the island of Egilsay by his cousin Haakon. Although the actual date is known, (April 16th), the year is less certain but most probably 1117. Magnus was declared a saint about 20 years after his death and his nephew, St Rognvald, began the construction of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall in 1137 to his memory.

Bishop Hugh commented: “The diocese of Aberdeen is blessed to include the islands of Orkney, so rich in history and prehistory, landscape and seascape, and kindly creative folk. As Catholics we are also blessed by a culture of sanctity.

We believe that the Body of Christ transcends time, and that the holy men and women of the past are still our companions today. This year Orkney is celebrating the 900th anniversary of its martyr for peace, Earl Magnus, a layman, a Norseman, a key figure in the Christianisation of the northern edges of Europe.

The diocese of Aberdeen and the Catholic Church in Scotland wants to mark this anniversary too, and will be doing so on the weekend of the 28th to 30th July 2017. There will be a series of events and opportunities for pilgrimage, culminating in a Mass in the beautiful Cathedral of St Magnus in Kirkwall, at 2.30 on the afternoon of Sunday 30th. Our celebrations have met with the support of the Orkney Island Council, the Cathedral of St Magnus and other groups and churches. Enthusiasm is growing. At a time when there is often a deadly deficit of peace Page 6

Friday 28th July A series of talks on the theme, Magnus and his Legacy, in the St Magnus Centre: Dr Ben Whitworth, “Celebrating St Magnus in Music.”

Fran Flett-Hollinrake, “The History of St Magnus Cathedral.”

Dr Alison Gray, “St Magnus and George Mackay Brown.”

The Orkney Pilgrimage Group, “The Development of the St Magnus Way.” Saturday29th July Pilgrimage to the Island of Egilsay where St Magnus was martyred including transport from Kirkwall, a service at St Magnus Church and lunch on Egilsay.

Pilgrimage to Birsay where St. Magnus’s body was initially buried, starting at Costa and including an ecumenical service at St Magnus Kirk, Birsay.

Vigil Mass in Our Lady and St Joseph’s Church, Kirkwall.

Sunday 30th July Mass in St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall with music by the Aberdeen Diocesan Choir led by Elizabeth Meiklejohn and accompanied by the Orkney County Organist Heather Rendall.

Those interested in attending should refer to the website: www.magnus900.co.uk.

If you want to travel to Egilsay, please register with the Aberdeen Diocesan Office: joyce@rcd-abdn.org or call 01224-319154.

Updates will be posted on the Diocesan website: www.dioceseofaberdeen.org/archives/8698.

Please note that pilgrims will need to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements and wwww.visitorkney.com provides a valuable guide for visitors.

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St Joseph’s sacristan Chrissie receives Papal Award

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hristina Thomson, affectionately known as Chrissie, received a Bene Merenti medal in recognition of her long service and dedication to the Church on Sunday 22nd January to the delight of her many friends at St Joseph’s.

Chrissie was born in Aberdeen, and following her marriage to Peter in 1954 she was received into the Catholic Church.

The couple were dedicated to their faith and to supporting the Church. Peter was sacristan and altar server at St Joseph’s, Woodside for over thirty years.

After his death 12 years ago Chrissie took over as sacristan - she had in any case been helping Peter for many years, on account of his failing health.

Although Chrissie is now 83 she still carries out her sacristy duties, devoting much time each week to preparing for services. She is also as an Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Eucharist.

Fr Stuart Chalmers presents the Bene Merenti medal to Chrissie Thomson at St Joseph’s , Woodside, Aberdeen

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB crowns new statue

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Deacon Tony Schmitz, Fr Keith Herrera, Canon William Fraser, Bishop Hugh Gilbert, Br Gladson D’Abreo and Fr Gabor Czako

ishop Hugh Gilbert crowned a new statue of Our Lady of Aberdeen on the 12th November, 2016 in St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen. The new statue was commissioned by the Wellsprings of Hope Trust which every year organises the New Dawn Pilgrimage Conference in St Andrews. The statue was sculpted in Mumbai, India, and was blessed by Archbishop Leo Cushley just prior to the New Dawn Conference in July 2016. The statue will take pride of place in the annual

New Dawn Rosary Procession in honour of Our Lady and St Andrew.

The statue is presently on a tour of Scotland’s Cathedrals as well as Carfin as part of a programme to pray for the conversion of Scotland. The Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham is simultaneously touring the English Cathedrals as part of a prayer initiative for the conversion of England.

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Fr Andrzej Niski’s ordination Mass

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congregation of over 400 were in attendance at the Ordination Mass of Deacon Andrzej (Andrew) Niski on Friday, 6th January. It was the first Ordination Mass in Inverness for 12 years, the last being that of Fr. James Bell, the current Parish Priest at St. Mary's.

The Ordination Ceremony was a spectacular event, with bishops, priests, clergy and visitors from across the UK, joining Fr. Andrew's family and friends, to welcome him to the priesthood.

At the Ordination Service, the Bishop of Aberdeen, the Rt Rev Hugh Gilbert OSB, announced that, Fr. Andrew Niski will begin his Ministry as a Curate (Assistant Priest) at St. Mary's, Inverness.

Fr. Andrew conducted his first Mass on Saturday morning, surrounded by family and friends from his homeland of Poland, and members of the local congregation. After his first Mass, a special meal was laid on for all those gathered, in the church hall.

Fr Andrzej Niski

Bishop of Aberdeen, Rt Rev Hugh Gilbert OSB, pictured centre, with Fr. Andrew Niski and centre left, Emeritus Bishop of Aberdeen, Rt Rev Peter Moran. They were joined by priests, deacons and seminarians from throughout the Aberdeen RC Diocese, along with seminarians from St. John's in Wonersh, Guildford in Surrey, where Fr. Andrew completed his priestly studies.

A joyful Bishop Hugh after the Ordination Mass

Father Andrzej Niski with member of his family from Poland, A beautiful sight! A packed St Mary's, with more than 400 together with Bishop Hugh in attendance.

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Saint’s relics come to Aberdeen Diocese

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etween Friday 20th and Sunday 22nd January the relics of St Maximilian Maria Kolbe visited Aberdeen, accompanied by fellow Conventual Franciscans, Fr. Jobe Abbass from Canada and Fr. Piotr Cuber from Poland. Throughout that time, hundreds of people had the opportunity to hear about the life of this remarkable man and to venerate his relics.

Fr Maximilian Martin of the Aberdeen University Chaplaincy commented: “We are deeply grateful to Bishop Hugh OSB for initiating this visit, which brought to a close for now, an extended tour of St. Maximilian’s relics around the world. Over the course of the three days we gathered for Mass and Services of Celebration which presented the story of St. Maximilian in word, prayer and song. Each event concluded with the opportunity for people to come forward with their prayers, and venerate the relics. Events took place in King’s Chapel on the university campus The reliquaries during the Friday evening. Saturday containing the included a visit with the relics to the Saint’s remains monks at Pluscarden Abbey, where we shared Mass, veneration and lunch, and then on to St Mary’s Cathedral Aberdeen for the afternoon and evening.

Sunday was spent again in St. Mary’s Cathedral, so that attendees to all the Masses had the opportunity to share in this event. The weekend concluded on Sunday evening in King’s College Chapel with the Student Mass including veneration. Following this, a reception was held in the Chaplaincy, which gave our students the opportunity to meet with our visiting friars in a more informal way before their departure with the relics.”

There were many highlights over the weekend, not least of all the number of people who attended the events; some travelling many miles to do so. Fr. Piotr met with many people from the Polish community, and as a result of this, a local group of the devotional society the Militia Immaculatae is in the process of being established. This society grew from a vision realised by St. Maximilian in 1917, whereby a movement was founded for members to dedicate themselves to spreading the Gospel of Christ throughout society by means of particular identification

The relics are venerated at a Student Mass celebrated at King’s College Chapel at the University of Aberdeen with Mary Immaculate and under her guidance.

St. Maximilian lived his vocation as a Franciscan priest with an unflagging commitment to the spreading of the Gospel, especially through devotion to the Blessed Mother and also by making full use of the emerging technology of multi-media including printing, radio and film. Ultimately, in an act of selfless love that would earn him the unique title “Martyr of Charity”, Father Maximilian stepped forward to take the place of a condemned fellow prisoner in the horror of the Auchwitz concentration camp.

St. Maximilian was canonised on 10th October, 1982; of him, the bishops of his native Poland have said, “The life and death of this one man alone, can be proof and witness of the fact that the love of God can overcome the greatest hatred, the greatest injustice, even death itself.” After his death, Fr. Maximilian was cremated along with so many other prisoners, and the only extant remains of him are fragments of his beard that was shaved off prior to his arrest by the Nazis. However, as people came forward to venerate these tiny remains, they reflected back an exemplary life that shows how the deepest darkness can be completely dispelled through one act of charitable love. Fr Maximilian Martin concluded by saying that “from the eternal light of heaven, St. Maximilian remains an encouragement to us all, that in our way, we might always be seeking to give of ourselves to the loving service of the Gospel.”

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evotee’s of BBC 1 series 'Father Brown' may be interested to learn that Catholic Consultant to the series is Jesuit Priest, Fr. Tony Nye SJ of Farm Street Church in London.

Fr. Tony Nye SJ, a personal friend of Fr. James Bell at St. Mary’s Inverness, is a regular visitor to the Diocese of Aberdeen and has held various Missions at St. Mary's Inverness and visited churches throughout the Highlands, including during Lent last year.

Fr Nye is also a composer whose Eucharistic hymn “O God we give ourselves today” features in many Catholic hymnals.

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Devoted St Mary’s parishioner receives highest papal award

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iss Winifred Kelly, a retired school teacher from Inverness, who taught at St. Joseph's Primary School, received the highest medal of honour for a lay person in the Catholic Church, at the 11am Mass on Sunday 5th March.

Miss Kelly of Bruce Gardens, Inverness, a life-long parishioner of St Mary’s Huntly Street is a consecrated member of the Servite Institute, and in the last twenty years of her service with that Institute, she has been world Vice President, with the responsibility for formation and continuing formation.

She was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal (translated from the Latin as, “For the Church and for the Pope”). This papal award is also known as “The Decoration of Honour”.

Presenting her with the award on behalf of Pope Francis, was Fr. James Bell, parish priest at St. Mary's Inverness and Dean of the Highland Deanery. He said that, "Miss Winifred Kelly was an inspiration to all parishioners for her devotion to the church and her example of many years of dedicated voluntary service to the St. Mary's Parish." He went on to wish her, "a well- deserved, long and happy retirement from her parish secretary duties,"and thanked her for, "her many years of dedication to the church, its parish priests, and its smooth running for the benefit of all its parishioners."

Fr. Bell further commented, “Miss Winifred Kelly is already a recipient of the Bene Merenti papal medal, which she received in 2003. This additional award, the highest honour for a lay person, came as a completely unexpected, yet wonderful surprise to her."

Miss Winifred Kelly receives the Pro Ecclesia et Pontiface award from Fr James Bell on behalf of Pope Francis

SVdP Conference help to establish hospice library

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t Ninian’s Conference of the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Inverness, have helped to establish a new library to mark the reopening of the Highland Hospice in Inverness.

The project was inspired by a visit to the hospice last December and a meeting with Andrew Leaver, head of fundraising.

Peter Kelly, the conference president, explained what happened: “The conference were given a tour of the hospice which has been extensively refurbished and which serves the Western Isles and from Caithness to Fort William.

The tour ended in what was described as a “Quiet Room”; a large circular room, furnished appropriately where families and patient can retire to. All that was missing were books to make up a library to fill the empty shelves that were built into the walls.

“We decided then and there that this was what our Conference would do. We purchased a substantial amount of books from Waterstones and approached the Inverness Courier and the West Highland Free Press with a view to

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From left to right: Fr. Allen, the conference’s spiritual director, Andrew Leaver, Peter Kelly (President), Brian McGlennon (Treasurer), and Charlie Grant a founder member buying what ever they could offer. In both cases they made a generous donation. The Inverness Courier donated twelve volumes of “Old Inverness” and the West Highland Free Press donated a considerable number of new hardback books, works of both history and fiction and often with a local slant.”

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Dunfermline pilgrimage Br. Meinrad Gibson RIP to shrine of St Margaret n Thursday 5

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his year St Thomas' Deanery intends to organise a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Margaret Queen of Scotland in Dunfermline on Sunday 11th of June.

The day will include opportunities to visit St. Margaret's Memorial Church which houses her relic; the abbey where she was finally laid to rest in 1250; St. Margaret's Cave and the famous tower where it is thought she was married to King Malcolm III. A procession is to be led by Archbishop Cushley with the relic of St. Margaret through the streets of Dunfermline to the Memorial Church where he will concelebrate Mass.

A small group hired a minibus last year and were greatly uplifted by the whole pilgrimage experience. There will be a covered area in Pittencrieff Park where pilgrims can meet up and congregate for their lunch.

This year the deanery hope to focus on prayer, asking for St Margaret intercession so that God's will may be done in Scotland in these uncertain times.

We would very much welcome the participation of other groups from Aberdeen Diocese on the day!

More information about the event is available at: www. stmargaretsdunfermline.co.uk/events/st-margaretsnational-pilgrimage-2017/ or any intending pilgrims may contact: Robin Hassall, Chairman of St Thomas’ Deanery at: robin_hassall@outlook.com.

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January Dom Meinrad Gibson, monk of the Pluscarden Abbey community died in a holy and very peaceful manner, in his monastic cell, surrounded by the prayers of his brethren, and supported by all the rites of holy Church.

Brother Meinrad was in the 83rd year of his age and the 47th year of his monastic profession. He was a Dean for over 40 years, and also served as Prior, Sub-Prior and Br. Meinrad (James) Gibson Assistant Cellarer.

The manner of his final approach to death and the peaceful resignation of his soul to the Lord bore powerful witness to his life’s dedication as a monk. His memory will be cherished by all who were privileged to know him.

The Requiem Mass, followed by the Burial in the abbey cemetery was held on Friday 13 January.

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New marriage ordo marks significant moment in Scotland’s liturgical history

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n the evening of Tuesday 6 December, at the Gillis Centre, Edinburgh, Mr Fergal Martin, the CEO of the Catholic Truth Society, formally presented the new Order of Celebrating Matrimony to the bishops of Scotland. It was a significant moment in Scotland’s liturgical history. This book contains the rites and prayers for the celebration of the Sacrament of Matrimony in the Catholic Church in Scotland.

It is the official translation and adaptation of the 1990 Latin editio typica altera of the Ordo Celebrandi Matrimonium, itself a fruit of the Second Vatican Council.

In his introductory words, Bishop Hugh Gilbert, President of the National Liturgical Commission, thanked all those who had contributed to this new liturgical book. Much labour lies behind it. It’s a testimony to collaboration between the Holy See, the International Commission for English in the Liturgy, and hard work here in Scotland. He paid warm tribute to the competence and diligence of Frs Stephen McGrattan and Gerard Byrne in helping prepare the text, and thanked the Catholic Truth Society for producing such a dignified and attractive ritual book.

The new Order of Celebrating Matrimony came into force, appropriately, on the Feast of the Holy Family. It therefore replaces its predecessor, The Rite of Marriage, used since 1978.

It retains the specifically Scottish features of the marriage rite and includes a useful appendix on the Scots Law on Religious Marriages. It also contains formulas for the blessings of engaged couples, and of married couples on significant anniversaries.

One enrichment found in the 1990 Latin Ordo and much to be welcomed, is the incorporation of an explicit invocation of the Holy Spirit in the Nuptial Blessings. This brings this major liturgical prayer into harmony with the other great blessings of the Church’s liturgy, such as the blessing of baptismal water, the Eucharistic prayer, the prayer of consecration of a virgin and of

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epresenting the Bishops Conference of Scotland on the 19th November, the Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert OSB, bore witness to the recent increase in the Catholic population of Norway when he celebrated at the consecration of the new Cathedral at Trondheim at a magnificent Solemn Pontifical Mass.

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Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews & Edinburgh and Bishop Hugh Gilbert at the formal presentation of the new Order of Celebrating Matrimony in Edinburgh religious profession, and the prayers of ordination. So now the liturgy prays for the spouses: ‘Send down on them the grace of the Holy Spirit and pour your love into their hearts that they may remain faithful to the marriage covenant’, and equivalents in the two other formulae. It is heartening to think of the power of the Holy Spirit being called down on couples as they embark on their married life.

Bishop Hugh said, “This new Ordo emerges at a time when the Church wants to do all she can to strengthen and sanctify marriage and family life, uphold their true nature and support every man and woman who, as they marry, wish to invite the grace of Christ into their mutual love and shared life. Used well, the Order of Celebrating Matrimony will surely enable transformative celebrations of this sacrament. May its prayers and rites be a means of evangelization and catechesis and a stimulus to the prayer and life of the spouses. May it be a cherished and effective part of the Church’s pastoral commitment to a married Jericho 1 11/11/15 08:58 Page 1 life ‘in the Inns:Layout Lord’.”

The Jericho JERICHO BENEDICTINES Benedictines – Eighth Page Combine the Spiritual Life with the running of ‘Jericho Inns’ for those being passed by on the other side’ The Drug & Alcohol Addicted Victims of Domestic Violence Homeless Men & Women Holidays for those on low income Enquiries & donations gratefully received Fr. James Monastery of Jesus, Harelaw Farm KILBARCHAN Renfrewshire PA10 2PY

Goodness of North East Folk

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Jim Pirie

n an afternoon in late December I went for a cycle along the Deeside Way. Little did I know that the events which were about to unfold, would leave me with such a memorable experience.

Along the Way I came across a young woman with two children. She asked me how far it was to Banchory and, as the light was fading, I advised her that it would be better to go by bus. A cyclist joined us and kindly offered to pay the bus fare which was politely refused. We cycled away and I often wondered how she and the children fared.

My next stop was Banchory for a cup of coffee. However, when I looked for my wallet it was missing. A helpful lady assisted me in my search but with no joy. I then went to the Police Station but found it closed. A sign gave me a number to call and, when I did, I found myself in a queuing system. Disappointed, I gave up but then my mobile rang and a warm and friendly voice said, "Hello, Police Scotland .”

Somewhat surprised I explained the situation and the lady officer was extremely helpful and calmed me down.

I thought to myself, “That's the second act of kindness today!” which helped to lift my spirits. The lady I had met previously was continuing to look for my wallet but then she stopped and asked, "How are you getting home?" and with that offered me five or ten pounds for my bus fare. I graciously accepted her first offer which I promised to pay back in full. I smiled to myself as this was the third act of kindness in less than two hours. I thanked the lady for being so kind and helpful and decided to phone my wife only to find my mobile phone was dead.

An elderly lady who had witnessed my frantic search for my wallet saw how frustrated I was and very kindly

Jim’s guardian angel working overtime on the Deeside Way offered me her phone to call home. I thought there must be a guardian angel with me today with this fourth act of kindness. I offered my thanks and gratitude to this lovely lady, said my goodbyes and boarded the bus with the bike in the luggage compartment. I cycled home to find the garage door open for my arrival, my wife beaming and smiling with the news that some good honest person had handed in my wallet to the Police Station and that my credit cards and money were all there. I shook my head in disbelief; this fifth act of kindness in such a short time was incredible and made me feel proud of our North East folk. It was the 29th of December and very definitely the season of good will! Thank you so much to all who were so kind and honest at this special time of year.

Knitting and nattering for some great causes

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he Catenian Ladies Knit and Knatter group meet monthly and have produced over 70 tiny baby hats for a local neonatal baby unit. They have also knitted a good number of considerably larger hats and scarves for seamen which were recently handed over to Doug Duncan the Apostleship of the Sea chaplain in Aberdeen.

In addition the ladies have been making ‘twiddle muffs’ which are a knitted hand muff made from different textures of wool and with items such as buttons and ribbon sewn on to them. They will be given to Northcote Lodge Care Home for the use of residents with dementia to keep their hands busy.

Meantime the group are busy knitting hats, jumpers and blankets for premature babies in Ghana which will be distributed by the Benedictine Monks at Kristo Buase Monastery.

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diocese

Ben Saunders workshop hits all the right notes

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en Saunders, Leeds Diocesan Director of Music, visited Aberdeen on Saturday 12 November to lead a workshop at which he shared his expertise as a music director and consultant to church music programmes.

In the morning Ben spoke to clergy, musicians and Catholic head teachers about the outstanding work carried out in the musical education programme for young people in primary and secondary schools in the Leeds Diocese.

Ben shared information on a ‘Schools Singing Programme’ which included regular singing classes during the school day, led by professionally trained choral directors, and his involvement with after-school auditioned choirs, in Leeds, Bradford, Keighley and Huddersfield. The success of the diocesan model in Leeds resulted in staff advising many UK Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals about methods of recruiting and financing children’s choirs.

Ben has acted as a consultant to church music programmes in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and he was recently presented with the 'Associate of the Royal School of Church Music' award for his achievements. He said, "With regard to our successful schools singing programme, it is very important that the Church engages with the next generation.

We have constantly to grow and refresh, and one of the best ways to achieve this is through music."

In the afternoon he provided a music workshop in the Bishop’s house for parish group leaders, teachers in RC schools, people who sing in church choirs or music groups, and others

Bishop Hugh Gilbert with Ben Saunders (centre) flanked by workshop participants interested in developing their skills in the singing of chant.

The workshop also afforded an opportunity to learn common introits, Mass settings from the Kyriale, settings of the Gloria and Creed and Antiphons to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ben’s dynamic and inspiring approach made this session very enjoyable and of great benefit to all who share in his enthusiasm for improving music in Catholic schools and churches.

The day culminated with a Vigil Mass in St Joseph’s School Chapel celebrated by Bishop Hugh Gilbert who had also participated in the workshop. The singing of the Mass was especially noteworthy following an afternoon of Ben’s expert training and positive encouragement!

YOUR WILL

Don’t just make it, review it update it.

There have been some significant changes introduced Raeburn Christie Clark & Wallace 1/2 page by the new Succession (Scotland) Act 2016. The reform signals a good opportunity to review your existing Will or to consider putting a Will in place.

Don’t delay and see us about your Will today.

Call Douglas Crombie on 01224 332 400 or email Douglas.Crombie@raeburns.co.uk www.raeburns.co.uk Page 14

diocese

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n October 22 the parish of St. Marys, Beauly celebrated the Feast of Pope St. John Paul II. Frs Maximilian Nwosu and James Anyaegbu hosted the event at which were gathered more than 18 children and their parents and guardians, pilgrims from the Krakow World Youth Day, sisters from the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Love and Rev Andrew Niski (Fr.). Guests from other Christian denominations were also in attendance.

The day started with Holy Mass followed by praises and readings by those present. It was a great opportunity for young adults and children to practice and develop their faith.

Fr. James Anyaegbu

Here’s how ........... not to be caught out by the new Succession Law NEW SUCCESSION LAW – ARE YOU COVERED? Myles Cormack

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uccession law – which governs who can receive your assets when you die – changed for the first time in more than 50 years this month. Do you know what it means for you?

The previous Succession (Scotland) Act was enacted in 1964, and since then society has significantly changed. As a result the Succession (Scotland) Act 2016 was developed and came in to effect on November 1. But do you know what impact it could have on you and your loved ones?

Myles Cormack from the Private Client department at Raeburn Christie Clark & Wallace, has highlighted the key changes in a simple to digest format.

Making changes to Wills after someone has died There is now a new court-based procedure for making changes and corrections to Wills after the death of the testator (the person who made the Will). The Act allows the court to rectify the Will if: • It was drafted by someone other than the testator • It can be shown that the wording in the Will does not give effect to the testator’s intentions Divorce Until now, even if a relationship with a spouse or civil partner ended in divorce or dissolution before the testator died, any wishes laid out in the Will to transfer assets to them would be carried out. That is no longer the case –

A se r look ies whi c s prac at som h t and ical iss e ue co eve ncerns s ryda y life of .

there needs to be specific wording stating the testator’s former partner is still to receive assets. This rule also applies to Survivorship Destinations, terms contained in the title deeds of property including land and buildings.

For those who still wish to leave provision for an exspouse or ex-civil partner in their Will it is advised that their Will be reviewed to ensure appropriate wording is included.

Revival of Previous Wills Unlike the previous legislation, the new Act states that when a new Will is executed after November 1, 2016 and it revokes any previous Will, the revoked Will cannot be revived in the future.

Uncertainty of Survivorship When two people, irrespective of their relationship, die simultaneously the rule is that neither survived the other for inheritance purposes.

In some Wills there is provision that a legacy is subject to the legatee (the person receiving the legacy) surviving for a specific time period, usually 30 days after the deceased.

The new Act states that if it is uncertain whether the legatee survived for this period, they will be presumed not to have.

These are some of the significant changes introduced by the new Act and as a result many people should review their Will, or if they don’t have one, consider getting one.

If you wish to discuss the new Act in more detail or want to make an appointment to discuss a Will, please contact Raeburn Christie Clark & Wallace’s Private Client Department on 01224 332400.

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witness

Six Decades in the Carmel Light In the second of a three part series, Tina Harris continues her personal journey which highlights her association with the Carmelite tradition, dating from primary school and leading to her current work with the Apostleship of the Sea.

Tina Harris THE THIRD DECADE – of trials Having graduated without ceremony, I spent a year teaching infants in a small Catholic school in north London.

But my training had not been in the real world.

I wanted to make a seamless transitional pathway for these children, but not in the classroom, where I was imprisoned by the National Curriculum.

I retrained in psychiatric social work, and returned once more to the squalid backstreets, shelters and soup kitchens on the other side of the river.

‘For I know the plans I have for you…to give you a future and a hope’ Jeremiah 29:11 I became a parent, and moved to Dublin. Here was a niche opportunity where I worked in a hostel for the homeless; the reward of a small bedsit. I was on a level with the residents.

I saw my value in being able to find solutions for them, instead of focussing on their problems. Corporal works of mercy. Street value. But the real value was knowing their names, listening to their stories and enabling them to make a difference to their lives.

The nuns of Carmel were just up the road at St Joseph’s.

There were gardens, which I found therapeutic and spiritual.

It was here that I first connected with prayer and healing, in 1973, in the troubled world that was Ireland.

Living in Dublin, where every breath is a prayer, it was difficult to forget your faith. You were reminded at every corner. Three times a day the angelus bell rang. The country was in political turmoil, and by the time I was expecting my fourth baby, in 1980, simply existing was hard work.

And then my world changed. It felt like being in a hammock in the clouds, where material things fell through the netting because they were not needed. All that was left was my family, my faith and my life.

My baby arrived too early. Someone baptised him, someone resuscitated him. Strangers who cared.

I clung on to that hammock for over a year. Time that was out of my hands. Young men were dying for their country.

I did not want my son to die for nothing. The twelve men on hunger strike in Northern Ireland had mothers who were distressed and grieving, hoping that their sons would live.

We were all of the same faith, and we all knew the suffering of our blessed Mother.

The crib and the cross are closely connected. When the Virgin Mary brought the Child to the temple, she received the prophecy that a sword would pierce her soul.

Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) saw this as the prediction of the Passion, of the struggle between light and darkness….

There were several things that happened in the next year.

My son survived against all the medical odds. There were Page 16

countless times of doubt, but time is a great healer.

God had chosen a path for him on earth.

And within that first year of my son’s fragile life came a second test of faith. A lesson in acceptance of the will of God. Once more I became pregnant, and rejoiced with my children on the feast of St Patrick. But it was not to be. There was a loss, and I was without feeling. It was during Passion Week and my hope was that their twin souls might have risen upwards. During the sixteen weeks of my pregnancy most of the Irish hunger strikers had died.

It was out of my hands. Intangible grief brings a cold silence.

In such circumstances there is no-one to talk to but God. And He led me to a transitional place of peace and healing, to a garden with a cruciform water feature, to the rear of the hospital. Just a few months earlier I would spend hours there, alone, in some kind of spiritual oasis, whilst my son fought for his life inside in the premature baby unit.

The water, rippling in its cross- shaped pond was my only link to reality. Friends came and went, and sat with me, but my focus was that cross, in the ground in front of me, filled with water; commemorating the troubles of twentieth century Ireland. Leaves floated, like boats with no purpose or direction.

‘Frequently, only silence can express my prayer’ St Therese of Lisieux Eight months later we relocated to Scotland.

I felt bereft, as I sat with my family waiting for the Liverpool ferry on the last day of 1981.

We lodged in a house which was not ours in a country where I had not chosen to be. I could see no future.

THE FOURTH DECADE – finding peace After five years in rural Aberdeenshire, relying on home visits from Scotland’s oldest working priest, Canon John Lewis MacWilliam, we moved to the cathedral city of Aberdeen.

I joined a sailing club and reunited with my alma mater, the sea. I had to get away. It was on these short trips on the cold North Sea that I found peace, solitude, and time to contemplate. This was indeed a blessing, and I found that being alone with the sea gave a peace which I had not yet found.

liturgy

MY F A V O U R I T E HYM N S Friar Maximilian Martin, OFM Conv., a member of Aberdeen’s Franciscan Friary and a Catholic Chaplain for the University of Aberdeen, discusses his favourite hymns with Dr Roger Williams MBE, former Master of Chapel and Ceremonial Music at the University.

“Hymns are an integral part of the liturgy, particularly of the Reformed Church where they often have a central part to play. When I choose hymns for a Mass, I start with the Gospel theme and then build something for reflection, then for the Offering, and so on around this theme. What I love about a good hymn is its capacity to tell a story, transmit a narrative appropriate for a given situation. I was brought up a Catholic then found myself in an Anglican order which is where, as a Friar, I discovered the idea and concept of hymnody in which a Sacrament can be presented within a broader context. The theology of hymns with their core message can be ‘synonymous with Mass’. A good hymn also has the capacity for full participation by members of a congregation. St.Augustine wrote in his Confessions: ‘I am inclined to approve of the custom of singing in church, in order that by indulging the ears, weaker spirits may be inspired with feelings of devotion.’”

Friar Max’s first choice of hymn O Bread of Heaven, has words by the seventeenth century St. Alphonsus Liguori. The words fit well to the lilting melody Tynemouth by the French composer Hemy, harmonized by R.R.Terry (the first Music Director of Westminster Cathedral): “There is a prayerful and reflective element in this hymn which really gets ‘under the skin’. The matching of text to music is an important part of the presentation and gathering round the Altar, and the final words – ‘For how can he deny me heav’n, Who here on earth himself has giv’n?’ – are not only at the heart of the Eucharist, but the sentiments are a strongly drawn response to the ‘giving-ness’ of God. They demand a free-will response in a not-so-gentle challenge.

The second choice of Hymn is Holy Virgin by God’s decree,

Friar Maximilian Martin, OFM Conv. with words by Jean-Paul Lécot to a tune which has a strong folk element in its tuneful melody. This is a Marian hymn and was frequently sung in pilgrimages to Walsingham which played an important part in Friar Max’s life.

“Mary leads us to her Son, on a holy journey of deep devotion showing the path to Christ with Our Lady. There is also a familial aspect to this hymn, Mary as Mother gathering all as a family – just as the Church does.

“I love the harmonies of the carol In the bleak midwinter with words by Christina Rossetti and music by Gustav Holst.

This hymn is one that really works for me with the slightly folksy tune – with adjustments to fit the words for each verse. The Birth of Christ is such a pivotal event and yet is timeless – for everyone, in every place, at every time – even if the imaginative picture might be regarded as inappropriately specific, the sense of universality is of greater importance.

There is no complicated theology here, just the giving of one’s self, as God has done. As a Franciscan, verse two, beginning ‘Our God, heaven cannot hold him’, chimes with Blessed John Duns Scotus as pure inestimable love.

“Eternal Father, strong to save with words by William Whiting set to the tune by J.B.Dykes titled Melita. This I find an awe-inspiring hymn, ostensibly about the sea but that image can be taken figuratively to mean the sea of life, or indeed any voyage. I often listen to the Radio Four Shipping Forecast at the end of the day, with its introductory tune Sailing by.

My late Grandfather was in the navy during the war and he loved this hymn. This therefore gives me a sense of strong connections, bringing to mind the family, memories and my own roots. There is in this hymn a sense of gratitude; and it is a good vehicle for praying for people.

“Now the green blade riseth has words by the nineteenth century John MacLeod Campbell Crum, and a French carol melody Noel Nouvelet. I love singing this at Eastertime. The tune has that imagery of green shoots rising from the ground, Page 17

educationandformation giving new life. As a former Morris dancer this tune appeals to me, and I sometimes wonder whether the speed of the first two verses (which should be fairly brisk) could be increased for the last two verses – to reflect the sheer joyousness of a dance?

It seems to me a perfect dance tune in that traditional way.”

In conclusion, Friar Max talked about music as a springboard, allowing, even encouraging, the mind to access

Calling on the Holy Name The Holy Name of Jesus refers to the theological and devotional use of the name of Jesus. In the fifth instalment of this series of articles Eileen Grant examines the influence of St John Climacus, Abbot of St Catherine’s at Mt Sinai in the 7th century, and author of the guide to achieving stillness in the presence of God, ‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’.

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Eileen Grant

n 1300 Gregory of Sinai, the “last great Sinaite”, came to Mount Athos where his revival of the hesychasm (stillness in the presence of God) tradition echoes to this day. His teaching centred around the quest for unity of man with God, that unity lost through the Fall. He offered training in the practical virtues and in unceasing prayer, aided by controlled breathing for which he gave practical instructions.

“In one who is advanced in prayer the Holy Spirit evokes a light wind of flame which visits the soul in the same Holy Spirit and in Christ, and secretly reveals itself. That is why God told Elijah on Mount Horeb that he would not be in the first, nor in the second vision that passed by. This signifies, then, that God’s gentle flame does not breathe in the several practices of beginners, but rather in the prayer of those who are perfect.”

And that other great exponent of hesychasm, associated with Mount Athos in the 14th century, St Gregory Palamas, added: “… every Christian ought to dwell always in prayer … when we are engaged in manual labour and when we walk or sit down, when we eat or when we drink, we can always pray inwardly and practise prayer of the mind, true prayer, pleasing to God. Let us work with our body and pray with our soul.

Let our outer man perform physical work, and let the inner man be consecrated wholly and completely to the service of God and never flag in the spiritual work of inner prayer.”

This is still the tradition of monastic contemplative life laid

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areas which words by themselves are not able to do. He was reminded of chant and how the singing of the Mass texts can lead to an enhanced sense of those texts, with increased levels of concentration leading to a greater significance of meaning.

“Words and music working together in harmony – that is what is important to me.”

down by St Benedict – the hands at work, the mind and heart with God. The best writings of the Fathers of Eastern Spirituality were gathered in the late 18th century by Nicodemos of Athos and Macarios of Corinth in the Philokalia (“love of beauty”), paving the way for a huge upsurge of interest in prayer of the heart in the 19th century, which is when an anonymous Pilgrim enters the scene. In the words of Nicodemos in the Preface: “The Spirit revealed … a method … whereby grace can be rediscovered. This was to pray continually to our Lord Jesus Christ; not simply to pray with the intellect and the lips alone; but to turn the whole intellect towards the inner self; within the very depths of the heart, to invoke the all-Holy Name of the Lord, and to implore mercy from Him, concentrating our attention solely on the bare words of the prayer, not allowing anything else whatever to gain entry from without or within, but keeping the mind totally free from all forms and colours.”

Nineteenth century Russia saw an incredibly rich flowering of the spiritual life, with many outstanding spiritual guides, among whom could be singled out St Seraphim of Sarov.

He combined a hermit existence with exceptional spiritual counselling, face to face and by correspondence. He urged the invocation of the Holy Name as a means whereby to enter the still presence of God and once told a pilgrim, “Having purified the soul beforehand by repentance and good deeds, and with faith in the Crucified One, having closed the bodily eyes, immerse the mind within the heart, in which place cry out with the invocation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then, to the measure of one’s zeal and warmth of spirit towards the Beloved, a man finds in the invoked name a delight which awakens the desire to seek higher illumination.” St Seraphim had great faith in the power of the Holy Spirit who could work marvellous things in the one who possessed Him – a power which he believed was accessible to monk and layman alike.

The Way of a Pilgrim is a simple little treatise written in the 19th century by an anonymous Russian seeker after truth, who hears one day, as if for the first time, St Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing (1Thess. 5:17) and forthwith sets out to discover, if he can, how this is possible in the midst of a normal daily life. After much journeying and asking every likely person he meets for an explanation, irritating some and mystifying many, he encounters an old starets (a kind of spiritual director) in a Russian Orthodox monastery.

The Starets tells him about the Jesus Prayer and gives him a copy of the Philokalia, that compilation of the writings of the Early Fathers on prayer of the heart. The pilgrim does not prove to be greedy for spiritual goodies, looking for a quick escape from worldly life into an easy, instant relationship with God. Instead, he sets out to discover the accumulated wisdom of the Fathers who will act as his guides as he journeys towards

educationandformation that inner communion with the Lord, repetition of the Jesus Prayer a constant aid and reminder of the Person whom he is seeking.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The Prayer may be shortened as required, but in its complete form, could be said to contain all the essential elements of prayer: it is brief, may be repeated frequently, gives Jesus several of his titles, implores his mercy, raises one up towards Abba!

A modern translation by Helen Father!, providing us Bacovcin of the Russian Classic, with a means of attaining “The Way of a Pilgrim”.

the goal of every interior life – communion with God in unceasing prayer. If we master the prayer and abide in the presence of God, we may come to that state of the Pilgrim: “Sometimes my heart would feel as though it were bubbling with joy, such lightness, freedom and consolation were in it.

Sometimes I felt a burning love for Jesus Christ and all God’s creatures. Sometimes my eyes brimmed over with tears of thankfulness to God who was so merciful to me, a wretched sinner.”

A century ago another Orthodox monk (Lev Gillet) suggested this wonderful consequence of the Prayer: “Jesus’ Name is a concrete and powerful way of transfiguring men in their deepest and most divine reality. The men and women we meet in the street, factory, office, and especially those who seem to be irritating and unlikeable, let us go toward them with Jesus’ name in our heart and on our lips. If we see Jesus in each man, if we say Jesus over each person we will go through the world with a new vision and with a new gift of our own heart. We can thus transform the world, as much as it is within us, and make our own the word Jacob spoke to his brother: ‘I saw your face and it was like seeing God’s face’ (Gen. 33:10).”

He descended into hell A. Philokalos “What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son.”

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very year, this ancient Homily is read during Vigils of Holy Saturday while we are, as it were, holding our breath in anticipation of the proclamation of the Resurrection.

We proclaim this belief each time we recite the Apostles’ Creed, each time a baby (or adult) is baptized, and we answer “I do [believe it] when we renew our own baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil. Not only Catholics do this; it is the formula used in baptism by all mainstream Christian churches. It is worth pausing to ponder on this amazing truth: Jesus Christ, Son of God, and God himself, truly descended into the realm of the dead, into the world of shadows, between his death on the Cross and his Resurrection from the dead. It caught the imagination of his apostles and has been a source of fascinated inspiration to Church Fathers, artists, poets and musicians ever since. In the Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Rite Churches it has always been the focus of the Resurrection: iconography never depicts the actual rising of Jesus from the tomb – for no

Fra Angelico, Christ's descent into Limbo, 1441 - 1442 one witnessed this event – but looks rather to the descent of the crucified Jesus to Hades and the Holy Women waiting by the tomb to anoint his body.

However, the image of Christ descending to liberate the souls in the nether regions caught the imagination of Christians in the West also and from the early centuries on, it became firmly fixed in Catholic Church teaching, writing, painting, carving, Page 19

educationandformation illuminated manuscripts and music. It has both the testament of scripture and the witness of tradition. And the fact that we still affirm that “[Christ] descended into hell” confirms the doctrine as orthodox, pointing to the truly wondrous action of the crucified Jesus, before rising and ascending to the Father in Heaven, first going as low as it is possible to descend, in order to raise up into the light the souls languishing in darkness.

We find several signposts in the Old Testament pointing towards this action of Christ – in Hosea: Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction?

In Jonah: Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called to the Lord out of my Adam and Eve raised from hell distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. In Zechariah: As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. And Psalm 23, Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in, has been declared to point to the Lord’s breaking down of the gates of the Underworld, as depicted in so many paintings and icons, crushing the demons underneath.

Another text is to be found in St Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible, from the Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, found by Jerome in an ancient Latin translation. In English translations it is found only in the Douai-Reims Bible and in Mgr Ronald Knox’s translation, but was accepted by St Jerome and Early Church Fathers. It is a particularly beautiful text which finds an echo in the Benedictus of St Luke’s Gospel: I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord.

In the New Testament, St Matthew relates how, after Jesus died on the Cross, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. St Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians muses, When it says, He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?

I imagine it must have been a topic of conversation amongst the disciples for long after the Resurrection and Ascension. St Peter declares even more emphatically: He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.

The Early Church Fathers, some of whom possibly heard the story from those acquainted with the first disciples, wrote and Page 20

preached on the topic: The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation (St Justin Martyr). Later, many artists, East and West, took further inspiration from the non-canonical Gospel of Nicodemus and The Golden Legend.

In the former book are quoted the scriptural texts already cited, with dramatic embellishments, which really caught popular imagination and devotion. In the Nicodemus narrative is quoted several times the psalm verse: Lift up your gates, O ye rulers; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates; and the King of glory shall come in; and then the brazen gates guarding hell are shattered, the devil concedes defeat and the King of glory stretched out His right hand, and took hold of our forefather Adam, and raised him. Then turning also to the rest, He said: Come all with me, as many as have died through the tree which he touched: for, behold, I again raise you all up through the tree of the cross.

Small wonder that this credo gave rise to such rich beauty in icons, paintings, sculpture, literature and music, from the early days of the Church to our own time. It is a truth which should not be forgotten or neglected but be a focus for prayer and contemplation. Our painting by Fra Angelico here depicted could aid us in such meditation.

“In the Incarnation, the Son of God became one with human beings – with Adam. But only at this moment, when he accomplishes the supreme act of love by descending into the night of death, does he bring the journey of the incarnation to its completion. By his death he now clasps the hand of Adam, of every man and woman who awaits him, and brings them to 2017 LIGHT OF THE NORTH QUARTER PAGE AD_Layout 1 30/01/2017 the light” (Pope Benedict XVI)

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educationandformation

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

E

Clare Benedict

very parish church, large or small, contains a lectern, in a fixed position, to one side of the altar. It must be in a position that allows everyone to see clearly what is happening there, so it is easily spotted whenever we enter a church and start looking around. Why the prominent position? It has a place of honour because the Word of the Lord is proclaimed from it, the first readings and the Gospel; the homily and Prayers of the Faithful are also usually delivered from the lectern. Lecterns vary a great deal, differing in size, materials and decoration. I want to take a look at the lectern in St Mary’s Cathedral as it contains much symbolism commonly found centred on the place of Liturgy of the Word. It is a particularly beautiful example, made mainly from wrought metal with added gilt.

In the centre, is the ChiRho symbol, made up of the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ – Christos or Xristos – formed in such a way that the vertical stroke of the rho – R intersects the centre of the chi – C. This symbol for Christ has been used by Christians since the 4th century and has always been useful in times of persecution when usually only other Christians would understand its significance.

One story of how it came to be adopted concerns Emperor Constantine. The contemporary Church historian Eusebius relates how, on the eve of the battle of Milvian Bridge against his main rival, Constantine had a dream in which he saw a shining cross against the sun. Another Latin historian, Lactantius, tutor to Constantine’s son, goes further and tells how Constantine had a dream in which he was ordered to put a “heavenly divine symbol” on the shields of his soldiers. At the battle, Constantine was victorious and his reign as Emperor secured, at the same time securing the place of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. And so the ChiRho symbol was set upon the shields of Roman soldiers, a tradition kept up by his Christian successors. (Another symbol often found on lectern frontals is IHS, the first three letters of Jesus in Greek – Iesous.)

On the left and right sides of the lectern are gilt images of four winged creatures: on the left, a winged man and a Ezekiel’s Vision by Raphael ca.1518 winged lion; on the

The lectern in St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen right, a winged ox and an eagle. They are there to point to the significance of the lectern as the place from which the Gospel of the Lord is proclaimed during Mass. They symbolise in turn the Four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John: a winged man to represent St Matthew; a winged lion to represent St Mark; a winged ox to represent St Luke; and an eagle to represent St John. Why these images for four 1st century evangelists?

We first encounter these four “living creatures” in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, he of the strange visions.

Ezekiel sees a fiery cloud “and from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures”, each with four faces and four wings. “As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man in front; the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle at the back.” The creatures are bearing the God of Israel, the vision often depicted in paintings as a mighty fiery chariot from which comes the thunderous voice of God. The Prophet later realises that the creatures are in fact cherubim, angels.

Centuries later. another vision presents a similar image to St John the Evangelist in his prison on Patmos when he sees the throne of God: “And round the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four Page 21

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living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within. Day and night without ceasing they sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”

These four “living creatures” were adopted as symbols of the Evangelists in the early centuries of the Church, first by St Iranaeus in the 2nd century, then by St Augustine in the 4th, then definitively by St Jerome in the late 4th century and confirmed by Pope St Gregory the Great in the 6th century. In the Preface to his Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, St Jerome applied the winged creatures/angels to the Four Gospel writers and firmly asserted Scriptural authority for so doing. He set out the reasons for applying each symbol to each Evangelist and so since the 4th/5th centuries his criteria have been widely accepted: “The first face of the man signifies Matthew, who began to write as of a man (Jesus), ‘The book of the generation

of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.’ The second is Mark, in which the voice of a lion roaring in the desert [John the Baptist] is heard, ‘A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ The third is that of the ox, who prefigures the Evangelist Luke, who took his beginning from the priest Zachariah [a priest making sacrifice]. The fourth is the Evangelist John, who taking the wings of an eagle, and hastening to higher matters, treats of the Word of God.” St Jerome added a stern warning: “By all these things, it is clearly shown that only the four Gospels ought to be received, and all the ditties of the apocrypha [non-canonical books] ought to be sung by the heretics, who are dead, rather than by the living men of the Church.”

So, even a piece of Church furniture may become a focus for prayer.

Oot ‘an’ Aboot with Ron Smith The Abbey of Fontenay Ron Smith, the Light of the North's roving correspondent, has visited many of the most significant religious landmarks in Europe for the Light of the North.

In this issue Ron reports from Fontenay Abbey in Burgundy which was founded in 1118 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the French mystic and religious leader, and is the oldest preserved Cistercian abbey in the world.

T

he Burgundy/Franche Comté region of east-central France has more than its fair share of wonderful ancient Catholic churches Abbeys, Monasteries and cloisters – several of which have been classified as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. I visited the Abbey of Fontenay, see www.abbayedefontenay. com. This initially reminded me of our own Pluscarden, as it is tucked away in a little verdant valley of its own, where peace, tranquillity and calm suddenly wrap around you. It is a huge site, with a fascinating history.

St. Benedict of Nursia, born around 480 and died around 547, established one of the most influential religious rules in Western Christendom, the “Rule of Saint Benedict”, containing Page 22

A bird’s eye view of the immaculately preserved Abbey of Fontenay precepts for his monks. In France the great monastery of Cîteaux was established in 1098. This grew, and with its lands was self sufficient, and started to be wealthy, with an attendant softening of the stricter parts of the Rule.

Deciding that they would start their own monastery, keeping strictly to the Rule, several monks, led by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, found an ideal site in Burgundy, and started construction in 1118. Their valley had all that they needed: A good water supply; vast forests; stone for construction; iron ore for metal working and, equally important, peace and tranquillity.

From the 12th to the 16th centuries Fontenay flourished.

faithandculture

It attracted many men to become monks. There was plenty of work to do, cultivating the land, expanding the range of buildings, and working the iron. They had one of the earliest iron works. The water powered a large hammer, so that the monks were able to make iron implements for themselves and increasingly for sale.

Then came change. In the 16th century the law changed and the abbots were no longer elected by the monks, but nominated by the king. The new abbots had houses built for them, rather than living in community with their brethren, and they lived off the wealth that was generated by the work of the monks.

The number of monks diminished. By the French Revolution of 1789 they were down to about a dozen brothers.

Under the new regime, all religious orders were banned, and all religious property confiscated by the state and sold off. In 1790 Fontenay was put up for sale, and sold in 1791 to Claude Hugot. This actually turned out to be a change for the better as it preserved the complex from destruction. Mr. Hugot had realised that the location was ideal for a paper mill.

In 1820 it was sold again, this time to Élie de Montgolfier

The Lark Still Sings Alasdair Roberts and Ann Dean

A

s noted in the last issue this is the title of a booklet

by Bernadette Moran. She was a daughter of James Joseph Moran the redoubtable Irish journalist who created a stir in Catholic Aberdeen. A great extrovert, words ‘sang’ in his writing and in the books he chose to publish. He also gave voice in dramatic productions at the Cathedral hall in North Silver Street which became Milne’s auction rooms. Despite a distinctly Irish brogue he gave elocution lessons close to the Cathedral. Sad to relate, he was silenced too soon by cancer of the throat.

Bernadette shared her father’s nature (she always loved books) but was born with a cerebral palsy which rendered speech difficult. She did not walk until the age of four. Recognising ‘the glint of intelligence’, however, Moran and his wife refused to accept the official verdict of ineducable. Starting school in the early Thirties, she was never labelled at the old St Peter’s in Constitution Street. Under well-remembered primary teachers Bernadette was ‘one of the brightest pupils in my class and I loved school.’ The illustrations show Priest Gordon’s major

(Nephew of the inventor of the hot air balloon.) who continued to expand the paper business. About 200 workers were employed at that time. Eventually the mill closed in 1903.

In 1906 a remarkable man, Édouard Aynard, bought the whole site and set about clearing away all the industrial clutter.

In the following six years he cleared four hectares of industrial buildings, and his son, René who carried on the work, demolishing the 60 metre high chimneys. In turn, his son, Hubert, continued with the massive restoration work, giving us the splendid buildings that were recognised by UNESCO as being a World Heritage Site in 1981. Continuing the family tradition, Hubert’s son François still cares for Fontenay, and the family still live here, in the middle of the complex of buildings.

Today, over 100,000 people come every year to walk through the buildings and to wonder at the incredible work of the monks who built it. They lived and worshipped here, and laid the foundations for the industry that flourished in this beautiful valley, eventually dying out to allow the peace and tranquillity to descend again on this most venerable of abbeys.

Ann Dean’s impression, in ink and watercolour, of the old St Peter’s school in Aberdeen’s Constitution Street physical achievement in the city (Blairs College was another) and his statue which followed pupils to their new school in Nelson Street.

Then tragedy struck when the thirteen-year-old was looking forward to her first time away from home at school camp: ‘I was running down Nelson Street when I slipped on the kerb and smashed my jaw.’ An abscess followed which poisoned the system, and six months off school proved too much for a girl who had lost concentration and confidence. She left at fourteen, consoled by having won a prize for essay writing though ‘never trusted with a pen.’ As an adult she graduated to typing but composition was always very slow.

Meanwhile big sister Molly had come back from Edinburgh as a qualified teacher. The story becomes one of lifelong mutual support, with the added challenge of an aged mother who nearly burned to death at Huntly Street when her nightdress caught fire. Sister Molly entered religion ‘in the World’ as a result of ten years which they both spent with the Good Shepherd community at Bishopton near Renfrew. Taking early retirement from teaching, Molly’s apostolate was an active one and, in a return to family tradition, she took over the Cathedral’s new Page 23

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Book Centre.

Bernadette studied to become an oblate of the Sisters of Jesus Crucified, an order which enabled afflicted women to experience the Benedictine rule. Challenging journeys to a priory in Somerset led to postal assignments, but then a stroke further affecting speech and mobility stopped her completing the course. Spondylosis of neck and jaw made it difficult to eat.

Food shopping at Presto’s round the corner in Union Street could not be done alone. But five visits to Lourdes over the years were rewarding for someone named for the saint of that place: ‘I felt at home there and no one paid me much attention as most of the other handicapped people were far worse.’

Years spent opposite the Cathedral premises (which a kind of agoraphobia made her unsure about for meetings). Mutual friends did their best to take Bernadette out of herself but country drives were stressful. Huntly Street had changed from the early bookshop days, with the Workshop for the Blind moving away and offices replacing families in the tenements nearby. People called, or hesitated to call when neither sister was able to answer the bell. There were eighteen steps to street level. The over-active Sister Molly grew weak with a leaking heart valve, and was finally honoured with Bishop Conti and five priests at her funeral. Bernadette moved to Nazareth House where her life ended in 1999.

During the time away from Aberdeen the sisters had their first experience of prayer groups for lay people. They brought the idea north and met with others who became friends in an upstairs room. Molly prepared the weekly talk but Bernadette also had a part to play: ‘I usually contributed a few lines about the chosen theme. They often took a jocular turn, and we

finished up with laughter – and a prayer.’

She had come to realise the nature of her vocation which was ‘being’ - close to the crucified Christ - rather than doing.

Following in the spirit of her father the communicator, Bernadette could only manage a few lines. Sufferers more or less in today’s ‘locked-in syndrome’ might find special consolation in her other published work, although anyone could lighten their Lenten prayer with Dear Holy Spirit. Described as a series of short meditations for everyday use by Sister Bernadette Moran CV, it merits an honourable place in the Book Centre.

In our next issue Alasdair Roberts and Ann Dean will be taking a look at the life of Fr Charles Gordon who founded St Peter’s in Constitution street, Aberdeen and whose statue (left) you can just see in Ann Dean’s fine illustration.

“Priest” Gordon, as he was affectionately known, was so popular that, on his death in November 1855, the whole city turned out to his funeral.

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faithandculture

To tempt or not to tempt

R

Sr Janet Fearns FMDM

ecently finding myself in Glasgow with an hour to wait for a bus, I window-shopped along the Argyll Arcade where many of the city’s top jewellers have their home. Captivated by the beauty and “fire” of the gems, I remained unimpressed by the massive £240,000 diamond. Who would wear something so big and brash except to show off and would they not be afraid of thieves or damage? Such an unusually large gem might only be purchased by way of an investment, to stay forever within the dark interior of a safe deposit box in a bank vault? Dainty jewels at a fraction of the cost and in exquisite settings were a much more practical option – even at £100,000!

A jeweller emerged through a shop doorway. “These are glorious!”I gushed enthusiastically. He agreed. “Yes. Some of them we cut ourselves and others are made to order.” I was not finished. “I just love the purity of colour of those three yellow diamonds.” I then pointed to three other rings, their stones an unusual shade of pale pink. “As for the clarity and shade of those, they are just unbelievable!”

The jeweller smiled knowingly. “Hmmm. That you have seen three yellow gems together is because we went out looking for them. Only one in every 4,000 diamonds is that colour.” Then came the surprise question: “Would you like to come into the shop and try some of them on?” Oh boy!

Would I just! I reluctantly declined the offer and, clutching my £3 bargain ticket to Perth, headed to the bus station.

Had I wanted to buy a ring, something plastic might have been more affordable. Inside the shop, an assistant dealt with two customers who evidently had greater means at their disposal.

A fascinating television documentary recently went behind the scenes at the renowned Christie’s Auction House (currently auctioning a skateboard with a starting price of £8,000). The auctioneer quickly disposed of great artworks at eye-watering prices. Christie’s staff expertly tackled multi-billionaires, suggesting that such-and-such an item would look good in their office – and smilingly gracious oil magnates agreed, unhesitatingly adding a few more millions to their day’s budget. For sure, some of the works of art deserve to be preserved – but at such a cost?

I happened to watch the Christie’s documentary a few hours after visiting the National Portrait Gallery and, in the Royal Festival Hall, the prizewinning exhibits in a worldwide photojournalism competition. A good portrait gives a sense of the character and personality of the subject – and the National Portrait Gallery, on behalf of the world, preserves true treasures... but the photographs in the Royal Festival Hall? Most were from the Middle East or of refugees on

boats or in camps. Within seconds, several photos brought tears to my eyes. Nobody, absolutely nobody, should ever be subjected to such conditions. Why should someone squander tens of millions when, just down the road, that same sum of money could transform people’s lives?

But bring the story to a more tangible level, one which touches the lives of millions of people across the UK. If art experts can tackle the super-rich and encourage them to buy paintings and sculptures they do not really need, what about the massive growth in targeted marketing through catalogues and the Internet? Companies send out vast amounts of promotional material, knowing that only one in ten of their glossy publications will bring about a result.

In other words, nine out of ten people recognise that they do not need the “stuff” they are tempted to buy and dump glossy brochures and flyers into their recycling bin – but what of the tenth person? Is it someone who is savvy or is it someone who is vulnerable or just plain gullible; who falls for the exaggerated and often false promise of inexpensive convenience, colour, luxury or whatever other benefit the commodity promises? How many companies use their well-known brand names to disguise their use of the same manufacturer by applying their own label and pretending that they alone have the unique solution to their potential customer’s wants? How many friendly doorstep vendors, with a friendly smile, kind words – and perhaps a small child in tow – use their best marketing skills to pressurise householders to part with their cash, preferably on a monthly basis? It is a well-recognised tactic: first of all shove the catalogue through the door; secondly, make a personal follow-up visit to collect the order – and the money – and then, a few days later, make a third visit, to deliver the goods. They build up a relationship so that the customer feels guilty for not buying something. You know the situation: “Morag is coming on Thursday and I’ve still not had a chance to look at the catalogue in case there is something I need. I feel bad if she makes the effort to come and I send her away empty-handed” ... and so Mrs MacGregor pays £5.99 for an “exclusive” unnecessary item which she could easily buy in Poundland for £1.

Some marketing is appropriate and some is exploitative and unjust. The salespeople at Christie’s speak of patiently building up their client base over many years, making great efforts to know people, their tastes and resources so that they can suggest vast expenditure, far beyond the wildest dreams of the rest of civilisation: ”This is a good piece and will cost you, in the auction, somewhere between £25-£35 million.” Yet the same strategies, albeit on a smaller scale, abound in catalogues and on the doorstep, where “might Page 25

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want” becomes “must have” – but the customers do not have vast funds at their disposal and, at the end of the month, the mortgage, telephone, water, gas and electricity bills will clamour for their attention.

Take another example. On visiting your supermarket, how often have you been tempted by a voucher which tells you that when you spend £20 or even £30, you will receive so many bonus points? It just so happens on that day your shopping list is small and virtually inconsequential – but

the temptation is there.

There is a real problem, isn’t there? The diamonds costing huge sums of money were no temptation because I simply did not have the money. It’s a bit different, isn’t it, when it’s a cut-price bar of chocolate or a pair of shoes. Temptation can be very real – and risky – and marketers know. What would happen if a few more businesses, rather than dreaming of financial rewards, thought of the people whom they serve?

On a Wing and a Prayer with Father Peter Barry

A selfie with a Sufi!

I

t’s Friday in Khartoum, Sudan, and I am in a small minivan skirting around tombstones in a vast cemetery. We are in the desert scrub at the edges of the city.

Around 1000 Sufi dancers have gathered, and as I walk nearer, the pounding of drums and the tinkling of finger bells get louder.

A huge circle of Muslim men are swirling and dancing in a hypnotic fashion. ‘Blissful’ is the only way to describe their faces.

I worry that I seem to be the only European present, and wonder how I will be received. Then I hear Scottish accents: two young lads tell me they have just completed a course in Arabic at St. Andrew’s University, and are under contract to teach English as a second language.

I feel a bit safer now, but all are remarkably friendly.

“Salam Eleyakum“ is repeated as dozens of hands reach out to shake mine.

“Who are you, and where do you come from?“, they ask. As always, and wherever I am in the world, I reply very simply: “My name is Father Peter, and I come from Scotland “.

They cleave a passage through the crowd, to give me a better view. I have a little camera with me, and a young man holds it and takes a picture of me with a Sufi. In the dusk, the image looks good.

Some Dervishes have dreadlocks, wear amulets and

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Although Sufis are relatively few in number they have shaped Islamic thought and historytalismans. The crowd rocks back and forth as the music takes on a powerful tempo.

The experience is mesmeric, and after an hour the dancers look exhausted. Some lie on the ground, as if in a trance-like state.

And just as people begin to leave, a large man, showing all the tell-tale signs of madness, approaches me. Whether he wants to shake my hand or hug me, I am uncertain. He holds his hands as if he has a gun, and a punch lands on my shoulder. He is pulled away, and Sufi men beside me say they are deeply ashamed of what has happened.

“We are a peaceful people”, they say. “You can leave a million dollars on the road, and next day no-one will have stolen anything”.

A man called Ahmed takes me back to my hotel, and will accept no recompense. He is keen to tell me about his family.

That night I pray for Ahmed, for his wife who teaches English as a second language, and his three children.

I check the image on my camera. This isn’t quite a “Selfie with a Sufi”, but clear enough for publication. The experience was worth the fading bruise on my shoulder.

faithandculture

The legacy of the St Louis Jesuits Shelagh Noden

M

ost people reading this will be aware of one or more of the following songs: Be not afraid; Here I am, Lord; City of God; Come to the Water; One bread, one body; Though the mountains may fall; Blest be the Lord; I know you are near; Only this I want.

Like ‘em or loathe ‘em, these and many other songs by the group of composers known as the St Louis Jesuits are regularly heard in Catholic churches today, and hailed as examples of modern, forward-looking liturgical music, even though they first appeared over 40 years ago. What are the reasons for the enduring popularity of this music?

The original ‘St Louis Jesuits’ were five seminarians: Bob Dufford, John Foley, Tim Manion, Roc O’Connor and Dan Schutte, who met as students in St Louis, Missouri. Only John Foley had received a musical education, the others were selftaught, but they shared an ambition to write and perform new sacred music. John Foley later commented ‘Just at [that] time, the guitar started to be allowed in the new liturgy. I thought “well, they need music, so let’s go”.’

The growing popularity of their output among their fellow students led them to make copies of their music and eventually to produce a recording. Their first collection, Neither Silver nor Gold was originally an amateur production, much of it made in student accommodation (in places a fridge door can be heard closing) and contained 46 songs, including ‘You are near’ and ‘Sing a New Song’. This collection established the verse-response form to which most of their songs adhered. A year later their

second collection, Earthen Vessels sold over one million copies and led to invitations to take part in workshops and presentations, which further enhanced the reputation of the group. Publishers began to take an interest in them, and more collections followed.

In 1980 they were given a grant to receive formal training in composition at the University of Seattle, with Professor Kevin Waters, himself a Jesuit. Revealingly they resisted the academic instruction offered, preferring, as Professor Waters later commented, ‘to get right down to writing a finished product’.

Much of the reason for their phenomenal success can be put down to the time at which they were writing. The second Vatican Council, which ended in 1965, brought about significant changes in the liturgy, notably the introduction of the Mass in the vernacular, and an emphasis placed upon the active participation of the congregation. When the text of the new Mass in English was published there was no official guidance as to appropriate music to accompany it. ‘Serious’ composers were slow to take up this challenge, with the result that a torrent of pseudo-folk hymns burst upon the scene. One commentator has put it: ‘The post-Vatican period saw a grassroots movement of liturgical simplification (and confusion) in which the musical motifs of the then-popular Urban Folk Revival were adapted to religious ends.’ Much of this ‘folk’ music was of a very low standard, and its creators frequently took it upon themselves actually to rewrite the texts: think of the ‘Israeli Mass’ the ‘Peruvian Gloria’, the ‘Ash Grove Gloria’ the ‘Dambuster Gloria’ [yes, really!]

Another approach was to borrow Protestant hymns, and this produced the ‘four-hymn sandwich’ which is still the norm for Mass in many places today. Although the council had emphasised the importance of Gregorian chant, it was not until 1974 that Pope Paul VI issued Jubilate Deo, a book of simple chants, by which time the opportunity of popularising chant had been lost.

Little attempt was made to learn from the Anglican experience of chant with English texts. In 1972 the US bishops’ conference dismissively stated that ‘musical settings of the past are usually not helpful models for composing truly liturgical pieces today’.

Into this vacuum came the St Louis Jesuits. Later John Foley remembered that ‘When we started, every slot was empty in the Mass for this kind of music. We had this almost unlimited opportunity.’ Their output was several steps above much of the existing material, especially after professional musicians had created new arrangements of it. The group took their texts from Scripture. Dan Schutte has said, ‘For me, it was the most natural place in the world to go. All our Jesuit prayer was built around Scripture.’ Originally intended for extra-liturgical events such as prayer groups, their songs soon started to be used during Mass and were included in hymnals. The group themselves refused to give concerts, preferring to give presentations that more resembled prayer services. Some music critics hailed their work; Edward J. McKenna, associate editor of Worship magazine, wrote in 1982, ‘After a simply awful beginning [i.e. ‘folk’ liturgical music] in the late 60’s, quality became an evident norm with the work of the St. Louis Jesuits’. Publishers of sacred music were keen to promote their output, and this may be the single factor that most accounts for the enduring quality of this style of music.

And yet their work can produce deep divisions. Some critics claim that the style of their music trivialises the Mass. In fact Bob Dufford has admitted that his work is influenced by ‘Broadway music, popular music, and popular classical [sic] music along the lines of Handel’s Messiah’. Another criticism is that many of the songs are difficult for a congregation to sing. An example often cited is the Lenten hymn by John Foley, ‘Turn to me,’ which has several rests of unequal length in the refrain. Bob Dufford’s ‘Be not afraid’ has very complex rhythm in the verses, Page 27

faithandculture

apparently notated literally from a sung version, which makes it impossible for a congregation to sing accurately (though one obvious solution is to simplify the rhythm). In fact many of the difficulties associated with this music can be solved by doing as the composers intended and having a cantor sing the verses. This practice also addresses the ‘Voice of God’ problem, found in songs such as Dan Schutte’s ‘Here I am, Lord’, where the verses proclaim ‘I, the Lord of sea and sky’.

Traditionalists condemn what they see as the poor quality of the music, both in composition and performance. Some feel that the style is too secular, and inappropriate for liturgical use.

Such opinions are not new. In 1929 the first director of music at Westminster Cathedral, Sir Richard Terry, wrote an article called ‘Why is Catholic Church Music so bad?’ in which he fulminated against the ‘terrible contents’ of a popular hymnal of the time. In 1990 Thomas Day said much the same things in his book, ‘Why Catholics Can’t Sing’.

Of course tastes differ. The American Catholic broadcaster, Bill Kassell, speaking of the St Louis Jesuits and their imitators, has observed that ‘mixed in among all the sing-songy tunes, and insipid lyrics, there were a few pieces that stood up respectably as musical works of faith expression’. It should also be remembered that these comparatively unsophisticated songs can powerfully touch people’s hearts.

Perhaps in time the St Louis Jesuits will slip out of fashion as easily as they slipped into it, in the same way as did the music of the Cecilian movement in the early twentieth century. Once popular, the compositions of Cecilian composers are now rarely, if ever, heard. The songs of the St Louis Jesuits have now had over forty years of popularity, who knows how long this will last?

The St Louis Jesuits, then... and now

St Mary’s Monastery – Half Page

Page 28

Pilgrimage to the most sacred site of the Holy Land Earlier in January of this year Fr Domenico Zanrè, parish

priest of St Columbas, Culloden, joined a group of 24 priests from all over the UK, on an eight-day study pilgrimage in the Holy Land. In this extract from his pilgrimage log he records his impressions of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

N

Fr Domenico Zanrè

othing prepares me for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is a literal assault on the senses. The noise is quite pronounced, and reverence for this most sacred of places is not as it should be. The plethora of different traditions: Latin Catholic; Orthodox; Armenian; Coptic; Syriac, and Ethiopian, are almost too much.

We queue for an hour and a half, before finally making our way into the Holy Tomb. The outer chamber houses what is thought to be the remains of the stone that sealed the tomb. The inner chamber is the most sacred place in the Christian world - the site of Jesus’ burial and Resurrection. This is rightly the focal point of the entire basilica, erected by Crusaders on Byzantine foundations, dating to the time of Constantine the Great.

It is simply overwhelming. Matthew’s account does not quite express the enormity of the event, or of its subsequent importance for the history of humanity: “Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it (in) clean linen and laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed.” (Mt 27: 59-60).

On our last day in the Holy Land we returned once more to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where there are thankfully much less people, in order to see the Crypt of St Helena (mother of the Emperor Constantine), and the Chapel of the Finding of the True Cross. The walls on either side of the steps that lead to the Crypt are adorned with crosses made by grateful pilgrims down through the centuries. The crypt is now in the possession of the Armenians.

I return upstairs and make a second visit to the Holy Tomb. In his discussion of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Dominican Biblical scholar Jerome Murphy-O’Connor makes the following observation: “One expects the central shrine of Christendom to stand out in majestic isolation, but anonymous buildings cling to it like barnacles. One looks for numinous light, but it is dark and cramped. One hopes for peace, but the ear is assailed by a cacophony of warring chants. One desires holiness, only to encounter a jealous possessiveness: the six groups of occupants—Latin Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrians, Copts, Ethiopians—

The site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection watch one another suspiciously for any infringement of rights.

The frailty of humanity is nowhere more apparent than here; it epitomizes the human condition.” (The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700).

However, Murphy-O’Connor is much more positive in his opinions when it comes to the Holy Tomb: “Is this the place where Christ died and was buried? Yes, very probably. At the beginning of the C1 AD the site was a disused quarry outside the city walls ... Tombs similar to those found elsewhere and dated to the C1 BC and the C1 AD had been cut into the vertical west wall left by the quarrymen. These latter had also cut around a bank of inferior cracked stone and left it jutting out of the east wall. These facts are the meagre contribution of archaeology, but at the least they show that the site is compatible with the topographical data supplied by the gospels. Jesus was crucified on a rock eminence reminiscent of a skull outside the city (John 19: 17), and there was a grave nearby (John 19: 41–2). Windblown earth and seeds watered by winter rains would have created the covering of green in the quarry that John dignifies by the term ‘garden’. The most important argument for the authenticity of the site is the consistent and uncontested tradition of the Jerusalem community, which held liturgical celebrations at the site until AD 66. Even when the area was brought within the walls in AD 41–3 it was not built over. The memory of the site remained, and was probably reinforced by bitterness when Hadrian in 135 filled in the quarry to provide a level base for his Capitoline temple, which was flanked by a shrine honouring Aphrodite. Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem (314–33), was acting on a living tradition when in 325 at the Council of Nicea he petitioned the emperor Constantine (308–37) to demolish the Capitoline temple and to bring to light the tomb of Christ. An eyewitness, Eusebius of Caesarea (260–339), tells us what happened, ‘At once the work was carried out, and, as layer after layer of the subsoil came into view, the venerable and most holy memorial of the Saviour’s resurrection, beyond all our hopes, came into view’ (Life of Constantine, 3: 28). Graffiti probably identified the tomb of Christ, as they did the tomb of Peter at the Vatican.”

The relative peace and quiet allows a more measured experience of prayer. In the antechamber, I kiss what is believed to be part of the actual stone that was rolled in front of the tomb. Now I enter the tomb, with the marble slab on which the dead body of Christ lay. This is not just a place of death, but of life - “anastasis!”, cried St Paul. “He is Risen!”.

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faithandculture

Notes from a notebook SeneScenS SacerdoS

W

hen I showed the draft of this article to a friend who is legal advisor to an archdiocese, she said, “You can’t compare nuns to ‘Marmite’.” What l had meant was that people have the same opposing reactions to nuns as to the “love it or hate it” spread. Some people hold nuns in the highest regard, almost like the Belfast foreman who stopped his men pulling a curious nun out of the trench they were digging: “You can't touch a nun, she’s holy, use your spades”.

Others, like the majority of Convent school educated women I know are much cooler in response. They mutter words like "martinet” or "odd".

Personally, l am ambivalent. My secondary school had been a convent school until the L.E.A. took it over in the 1920's to become the Catholic academy for the city and region.

When l joined in 1948, the headmistress was a nun, greatly revered and respected in the city and district, and some principal teachers were nuns. Whatever knowledge l have of maths is due to Sister M. Agnes who rescued the duffers from a teacher who had come straight from army service in the war to teaching. Lack of understanding his hurried and opaque lessons he considered "dumb insolence" to be punished by the tawse.

On the other hand, my experience of nuns was not always so laudable. In my first year of priesthood, I was placed to be mentored by a retired priest with failing eyesight. At that time, there were convents in the south of England, refugees from the French 1901 anti-clerical laws, who still used French as inhouse language. My mentor spoke fluent French and was in demand for “la conference” and confession. My only task was to chauffeur him to the Convent as the 1914 Code forbade priests under the age of 40 to hear nuns’ confessions. As Fr. Thomas gave his talk and heard the confessions, I waited in the parlour.

One day, bored with the buxom nymphs and wimpy shepherds adorning the ceiling (Convent had been a stately home) I asked the sister who brought my coffee what the fees for the school might be.

“We have no set fees”, she replied, “Mother Superior assesses what the family can afford as they drive up to the door.” Not a good idea to take the Bentley, l thought.

Much later, as a P.P. of mature years, I incurred the wrath of a community of sisters by refusing to say morning Mass at an hour suitable only for the insomniacs in the parish.

All this is not to deny the valuable part nuns play in the mission of the Church. They witness to "things that are above" and the fleeting value of worldly goods. Nuns have been in Page 30

the Church from the beginning. The Roman Martyrology logs those brave women e.g. St. Lucy who chose death rather than break their vow of chastity - "brides of Christ".

As well as the desert Fathers there were female hermits in the Egyptian Desert. St. Pachomius (AD330) is said to have formed them into communities and given them a rule. In the 6th century, St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict, brought them under the Benedictine rule in the West. The eastern churches also had their communities of nuns. Within the rich history of the Church, other communities of women have followed other charisms -St. Clare in the Franciscan tradition, St. Teresa in the Carmelite and many more modern congregations in the lgnatian mould. l heard a story of a bishop who asked Rome for a list of female congregations. The list came back with a note:

“Whatever knowledge l have of maths is due to Sister M. Agnes who rescued the duffers from a teacher who had come straight from army service in the war to teaching”

“List incomplete. Consult the Holy Spirit."

Since Vatican II, there has been a return to the earliest tradition of women consecrating their lives with the traditional vows but living and working from home.

As well as keeping bishops from being sued, my learned friend is invited to give the occasional talk to religious sisters about their role in society. In one talk she makes these points: a) The life style of a sister calls out, poses questions and challenges the modern world. b) Sisters are a sign of hope to a despairing world. c) They give “meaning” to those for whom life is meaningless, especially the young. d) They show stability is possible to young people who may experience only the instability of dysfunctional family and relationships.

As part of the Church's missionary outreach, religious sisters have been outstanding, often pioneering work in the fields of medicine, social welfare and education. So often their work is known only to God whilst others lay, and clerical, take the merit. A Protestant minister in the 19th century said, “l don't worry about Catholic priests opening parishes, but I fear Catholic sisters."

I end these observations on a note of awe for the determination shown by nuns. A loop-hole in the 1914 Code stated that a priest, however young, could not refuse to hear a nun's confession, if she asked him. One convent I knew, who disliked the priest appointed by the bishop to hear their confessions, used to come to the parish Saturday Confessions en masse. I understand their confessor used to arrive weekly, have a cup of tea and go home. Nothing new. We know from her "Story of a Soul" that St. Thérèse showed equal determination to enter Carmel at 16 years, even button-holing the Pope.

faithandculture

Poetic Licence Canon Bill Anderson delves into some of his favourite inspirational verse

I

t’s always heartening to observe the Spring asserting itself with the lovely sequence of snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils. The latter besport themselves abundantly in Aberdeen, sometimes in people’s gardens, but sometimes too in serried ranks and public spaces (beside the dual-carriageway near the Bridge of Dee, for instance, or carpeting the embankment on the northern side of the Royal Infirmary) One of the best-known lyrics in English is “To daffodils” by William Wordsworth (178O - l85O). Many of us will have learned it by heart in our schooldays. Not that our poet was universally admired in his own day and in particular by fellow- poets. Lord Byron lost no opportunity to deride him, as in this couplet from “Don Juan”: “We learn from Horace, ‘Homer sometimes sleeps’; We feel without him, Wordsworth sometimes wakes.” On the other hand, Matthew Arnold and John Stuart Mill were among his most fervent admirers.

For most of us, a number of his short pieces still bring much delight. “My heart leaps up when I behold / A rainbow in the sky”, or “The solitary reaper.” The freshness, the vitality do not fade. The verses below may seem more ruminative in character, but Wordsworth’s affinity with the beauty of Nature allows him not only to describe what he sees, but to interpret it as well. Palgrave bestows upon the lines the title “A Lesson”, though what we are offered is not some conventional moral, but rather an insight into one man’s spiritual experience, arising from the flourishing and fading of a little springtime plant with yellow flowers.

A LESSON THERE is a flower, the Lesser Celandine, That shrinks like many more from cold and rain, And the first moment that the sun may shine, Bright as the sun himself, ’tis out again!

When hailstones have been falling, swarm on swarm, Or blasts the green field and the trees distrest, Oft have I seen it muffled up from harm In close self-shelter, like a thing at rest.

But lately, one rough day, this flower I past, And recognized it, though an alter’d form, Now standing forth an offering to the blast, And buffeted at will by rain and storm.

I stopp’d and said, with inly-mutter’d voice, ‘It doth not love the shower, nor seek the cold; This neither is its courage nor its choice, But its necessity in being old.

‘The sunshine may not cheer it, nor the dew; It cannot help itself in its decay; Still in its members, wither’d, changed of hue,’ And, in my spleen, I smiled that it was grey.

To be a prodigal’s favourite—then, worse truth, A miser’s pensioner—behold our lot!

O Man! that from thy fair and shining youth Age might but take the things Youth needed not!

Wordsworth and the Lesser Celandine

The poet’s memorial in the Church of Saint Oswald, Grasmere in the Lake District. In relief on each side of the head are featured the daffodil, the snowdrop, the violet and the celandine.

Page 31

faithandculture

Dementia: Hope on a Difficult Journey: Practical and Spiritual Care Author: Adrian Treloar Paperback: 137pages Publisher: Redemptorist Publications (22 Nov. 2016 ISBN-10: 085231471X ISBN-13: 978-0852314715 List Price: £9.95

D

Sr Janet Fearns FMDN

uring my previous nursing career, I was one of many who dedicated a considerable amount of time and energy to the care of men and women with dementia. Sometimes those with dementia included Sisters from my own community.

Some were dearly-loved friends.

I therefore approached Dementia: Hope on a difficult Journey with a certain amount of practical experience, sharing with countless others the ups and downs of what really is a “difficult journey” – in fact, a frequently very difficult journey. The book’s author is not addressing a readership which is, as it were, a blank slate. Instead, he speaks to people with a certain degree of familiarity and know-how in caring for people with dementia; who, whatever their understanding and proficiency, need some reassurance and concrete support.

Dr Adrian Treloar is a consultant and senior lecturer in oldage psychiatry with more than twenty years’ experience in his field. He is a committed Catholic, but he has written in such a way that Dementia: Hope on a difficult Journey is accessible to all, regardless of religious belief or its absence.

Dementia: Hope on a difficult Journey can be read within a couple of hours. It also deserves to be read and reread, chapter by chapter, as one inevitable question after another raises its head. It is a genuine sharing of thoughts and experience in the hope of generating fresh ideas and caring behaviours. The book is a stepping stone, not the solution.

Here, at last, is a book which is full of information, delivered in simple language and in a style which is both gentle and personal. Its very directness helps the reader to feel that Dr Treloar is engaging with him or her in conversation, offering support in situations which can be very trying. There is a Page 32

lovely sense of equality and dialogue as he delivers what are sometimes hard facts and offers immensely practical ways of dealing with the challenges that occur. Nobody wants, for instance, to think about drawing up an agreement for Lasting Powers of Attorney or of restricting the movements of a wanderer who regularly loses his or her way. Yet these are genuine needs which Dr Treloar confronts with an empowering sensitivity and realism.

Its accessibility makes Dementia: Hope on a difficult Journey a valuable support, not only to the carer, but also to the person who has received the diagnosis and wants to understand more about his or her present and future.

Loss of memory and the ability to recognise loved ones are two painful aspects of dementia. Dr Treloar offers strategies which can help to maintain meaningful conversations even at a fairly advanced stage of the disease. He highlights the fact that someone’s spiritual awareness stays with them for a surprisingly long period – even to the end. Praying together can be an enormous source of peace and unity for both the carer and the person with dementia, who might have surprising and inspiring insight into what is happening in his or her life. To one who has been a regular churchgoer, the sacraments often remain an important anchor even as they cope with his or her increasing disability.

Throughout the book, Dr Treloar has inserted brief quotes from carers. These help to create a sense of solidarity: the dementia of a loved one is something which does not need to be faced alone. There are others who have “been there, done that” and are willing to share what they have learned in the process.

Dementia: Hope on a difficult Journey is a very special book, one which is relevant to the person with dementia, to his or her carers and extends to those with pastoral responsibility for the carers. Reading this book, I mused that a copy needs to be in the community room of every religious house, presbytery, doctor’s surgery, medical school, school of nursing, care home, hospice and library.

The next issue of the Light of the North will be published in the summer. If you would like to sponsor a page of the next issue, perhaps in memory of a loved one, or to celebrate a special occasion, please contact our advertising manager Jim Skwarek.

Tel: 01233658611 or Email: jimskwarek@ geeringsprint.co.uk

faithandculture

Margaret Bradley’s Food and Faith

T

he traditional Polish ceremony of the Blessing of the Food takes place on Easter Saturday. This is the time when the Polish community take a selection of their Easter Day celebration food, in brightly decorated baskets, to the church to be blessed by the priest.

The baskets are lined with a white cloth, colourful ribbons woven through the handle and the sides decorated with sprigs of greenery and flowers, especially daffodils as a sign of joy and new life. The food in the baskets has a special symbolic meaning: boiled eggs, a symbol of new life and Christ's resurrection from the tomb, bread, perhaps decorated with a fish, symbolic of Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, cooked ham, symbolic of great

Polish Sour Rye Soup 1 bottle of sour rye 1 packet of cooked Polish white sausage (or 2lbs uncooked sausage) 4 hard boiled eggs cut into wedges 2 leeks sliced 2 onions chopped 3 cloves of garlic chopped 2 floury potatoes peeled and chopped into cubes 2 sprigs marjoram 1 bay leaf mushrooms chopped 1 large spoonful of flour salt/pepper parsley and dill chopped

Polish Easter baskets joy and abundance and a small sugar or plastic sculpture of a lamb, symbolic of Christ. The eggs may be decorated, either by dyeing the shells brown by adding onion skins to the water when boiling them or left white and when cold decorated with colourful Easter symbols using edible paints.

On Easter Sunday after Mass the blessed food is eaten at an Easter Breakfast. First the blessed eggs are cut into wedges and handed round the members of the family as they exchange good wishes for wealth and prosperity. Then a Polish sour rye soup with white sausage is served, which is sometimes poured into and eaten from a special bowl-shaped bread. Some wedges of the blessed eggs, slices of the blessed ham and pieces of the blessed bread will be added to the soup. This will be followed by a buffet of cold meats, vegetables and relishes and then a special, very sweet, Easter cake called Mazurek. Although there are many versions of Mazurek, it is basically an almond pastry base which is topped with chocolate and decorated with nuts, dried fruits and icing.

All the ingredients mentioned can be bought from your local Polish supermarket including bottled sour rye. However, you can make your own sour rye at home by mixing flour with water and leaving the mixture to ferment for a few days.

Polish sour rye soup served in a bread bowl If using uncooked sausage boil the sausage for about 30 minutes, remove from the pot and reserve the liquid. Sauté the leeks, one onion and the garlic for about ten minutes; then pour the sausage liquid over them and bring to the boil. (If using the cooked sausage add water instead.) Add the potatoes, marjoram and bay leaf and cook until the potatoes are cooked. Discard the marjoram and bay leaf and liquidize the soup. Whisk the sour rye with the flour and add to the soup to taste. Cook the soup until thickened, about five minutes. Cut the cooked sausage into thick slices and fry with the other onion and the mushrooms; then add to the soup and season with salt and pepper. Serve the soup in individual dishes and garnish with dill, parsley and wedges of hard boiled egg. Slices of the blessed ham and pieces of blessed bread from the Easter Baskets can also be added.

My thanks go to the Polish community at St Mary’s Cathedral for sharing one of their favourite recipes.

Page 33

humour

Humour from the Vestry “You can defeat fear through humour, through pain, through honesty, bravery, intuition, and through love in the truest sense.” John Cassavetes Visual Aids A temperance lecturer was giving a special session to children. “Now children. Here I have in front of me two glass beakers. You can see that they look exactly the same. But the first beaker contains lovely clean water fresh from the tap. The other one contains pure Gin. Now I have here a worm (produced wriggling strongly). I put the worm in the beaker of water and, as you can see, it is quite happy and swims around in the water. I now take it out of the water and place it in the Gin. You will see that it immediately shrivels up and dies. Now children, what lesson can we learn from that?”

Bright boy: “Please sir, if you drink Gin you won’t get worms.”

Shame On You! The story is told that a certain Archdeacon Hopkins of Zanzibar was an expert in the more obscure elements of Anglo-Catholic liturgical practice. One Easter day after the reading of the gospel, he marched up to the Bishop’s throne in the Cathedral, made a reverence and announced in a loud voice: "Right Reverend Father in God, Christ is risen ! Alleluia!"

To which the Bishop made the liturgical response, "Good gracious Hopkins, what will you think of next!"

Peeved Plumber It was winter; there was a lot of illness about and the doctor had had a very busy day. He got home late at night, went to use the lavatory but found to his annoyance that it was not flushing properly. He picked up the phone and rang the local plumber. He explained what the problem was and “I want you to come out and fix it for me” “What ? at this time of night” “Well if you were taken ill you would expect me to come to you.”

“You want me to come to you in the same spirit as you would come to me.”

“Exactly” A little later the plumber arrived and was ushered in.

He went to the bathroom, fished in his pocket; took out a couple of aspirin tablets, dropped them down the ‘loo’, pulled the chain and said “Phone me if you’re no better in the morning.”

Drawn In A man walked into a cardiologist’s office and said, “Doctor, you’ve got to help me, I think I'm a moth.”

The doctor said, “I think you want the psychologist. His office is down the hall.”

The man replied, “I know, but your light was on.”

Page 34

Recessional Hymn On Sunday morning Pastor Larson announced to the congregation, “The same Jesus that called me to this church many years ago has now called upon me to leave and serve another church.”

Immediately the choir stood and broke into an impromptu rendition of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.

There was a prison break and I saw a midget climb up the fence. As he jumped down he sneered at me and I thought, well that’s a little condescending.

Have you heard about the corduroy pillow?

I hear it’s making headlines.

The spoon said to the fork “Who was that ladle that I saw you with last night” The fork replied “That was no ladle that was my knife !

Seen On The Door Of A Church nursery: Corinthians 15:51 “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”

NFO When a strange object was spotted flying over the local convent the police turned-up at the scene in order to question the sisters. The mother superior was asked by the investigating officer if she had noticed any thing unusual in the sky above the convent.

She didn’t know but asked if he would like to talk with one of the other sisters. The policeman replied, "No, that's alright I will just call it a Nun Identified Flying Object."

Not long after moving to the country a lady called the local council office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on the road outside her house. The reason: “Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don’t think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.”

Dead Turkey A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the supermarket, searching for one large enough to feed her family. Finally, she got the attention of a nearby shop assistant.

“I say, young man, do these turkeys get any bigger?”

The boy, clearly flustered, said, “No ma’am. They’re dead.”

“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” G. K. Chesterton Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch it to be sure.

crossword

WORD No.34

This issue’s competition winner will receive a copy of Thomas Merton’s famous autobiography, “The Seven Storey Mountain”. Just send your completed entry by the 1st July to: Light of the North, Ogilvie Centre, 16 Huntly Street, Aberdeen AB10 1SH. First correct entry drawn out of the hat is the winner.

riding whip ! (7) 7. Arabic word meaning peace and submission to God. (5) 13. The fallen angel. (7) 15. To say, state, or perform again. (7) 17. “----- me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and

I shall be whiter than snow.”

Psalms (5) 19. St Augustine of -----, saint and pre-eminent Doctor of the Church. (5)

Answers to crossword No. 33 Across 1. When 4. Casebook 8. Answer 9. Crambo 10.

Halo 11. Libretto 13. Midnight Clear 16. Included 19.

Grew 20. Gentle 22. Little 23. Cathedra 24. Nude Down 2. Hungarian 3. Newborn 4. Carol 5. Sackbut 6.

Brace 7. Orb 12. Travelled 14. Godhead 15. Lighten 17.

Latch 18. Delia 21. Era

Little Horror Sudoku No. 21 If you prefer sudoku to crosswords then you still have a chance to be a prize winner with our super tough sudoku puzzle.

Name .............................................................................

Address ......................................................................... ..........................................................................................

Telephone ......................................................................

Across 1. An angel of the second order, usually portrayed as a winged child. (6) 5. A style of letters that slant.

(6) 8. Firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah. (4) 9. A round fungus that bursts at the touch. (8) 10. Don Quixote tilted at one thinking it to be a monster.

(8) 11.Endorsement commonly seen on official correspondence from the government. (1,1,1,1) 12. Peace in Hebrew. (6) 14. Peninsula, comprised of Spain and Portugal. (6) 16. A long narrative poem. (4) 18. “Does it really matter what these affectionate people do—so long as they don’t do it in the streets and

-------- the horses! Mrs Patrick Campbell (8) 20. The writing on the wall for Belshazzar ? (8) 21. “Jesu grant me this I ---, ever in thy heart to stay” Hymn (4) 22. Caesar Augustus sent out one. (6) 23. They can be seen at the Tower of London. (6) Down 2. A purified resin prepared from the flowering tops of the female cannabis plant. (7) 3. “At the ----- earth's imagined corners: blow your trumpets, angels.“ Donne (5) 4. Got hot under the collar at the font maybe ? (7,2,4) 5. A characteristic of the Pope apparently. (13) 6. Bishop of Milan, 4th c. Saint and Doctor of the church whose emblem is often a

Name .............................................................................

Address ......................................................................... ..........................................................................................

Telephone ......................................................................

Congratulations to our last competition winner, A. Robertson from Aberdeen Page 35

e r a s “ Today’s seed ” d a e r b s ’ w o r r tomo You can help a family in Zambia to grow their own food.

yindeyi, David Mun ambia from Z

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