Reality April 2017

THE SOLEMN NOVENA

JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN

ITS AMERICAN ORIGINS

WALKING IN A STRANGER’S SHOES

APRIL 2017

FASTING FOR ALEPPO

SOLIDARITY WITH THE SYRIAN PEOPLE

Informing, Inspiring, Challenging Today’s Catholic

WITH JESUS AT THE CROSS

OUR TO ALL

MATTHEW’S UNIQUE ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF JESUS

THE WOMAN AT THE TOMB WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT MARY MAGDALENE?

www.redcoms.org

THE FIFTH LATERAN COUNCIL A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?

Redemptorist-Communications @RedComsIreland �2.50 �2.00

RS

READE

SPRING

Ennismore Retreat Centre

Sunday 30th April Lectio Divina “Your Word is a lamp for my steps and a Light for my path” (Psalm 119:105) Introducing the practice of Lectio Divina: reading, recongnising, resting in, and reflecting on the Gospel of the day.

The Journey with the Word will conclude with the celebration of the Eucharist.

Fr. Joseph Ralph O.P. 10.30a.m. - 4.30p.m. Cost: €60 Friday 2nd June - Sunday 4th June Meditating with the Breath.

Fr. Louis Hughes OP Cost: Res - €175/ Non Res €100 (Option of coming Saturday only is available - Please enquire at office)

ST DOMINIC’S

Sun 25th June – Thurs 29th June “So few things necessary, indeed only one” ( Luke 10:42) – Discerning the heart’s desire.

Martina Lehane Sheehan Cost: Res: €385 Sat 1st July – Thurs 6th July “The Three from Nazareth and their message for today”.

Fr. Benedict Hegarty OP Cost: Res: €400

Mon 31st July – Thurs 3rd Aug “Meditation, Mindfulness and Mysticism”.

Dr. Stefan Reynolds Cost: Res: €440 Sat 5th Aug – Fri 11th Aug “A meditative retreat on the Trinity: God’s self-giving” Fr. Stephen Cummins OP Cost: Res: €440

Sun 16th July – Fri 21st July Centering Prayer Intensive Retreat.

Sr. Fionnuala Quinn OP Cost: Res: €460 Sun 23rd July – Sat 29th July Individually Directed Retreat Sr. Peggy Cronin Cost: Res: €465

For ongoing programmes please contact the Secretary or visit our website at www.ennismore.ie Tel: 021-4502520 Fax: 021-4502712 E-mail: ennismore@eircom.net

IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE FEATURES 12 MATTHEW’S THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS Exploring the Gospel account of Jesus' death

By Jonathan Burroughs

18 THE WOMAN AT THE TOMB Mary Magdalene – how much do we really know about her?

By Brendan McConvery CSsR

21 THIS IS THE NIGHT! Fire, light, and water – the rich symbolism of the Easter vigil and how to celebrate it with joy

By Sarah Adams

24 THOSE WONDERFUL NOVENAS

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A piece from the archives on how the Solemn Novena spread throughout the US before arriving in Ireland Reviewed by Paul Copeland

26 JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN Black like me: the journalist who went the extra mile to understand the trials of the African American community

By Mike Daley

28 GOING HUNGRY FOR ALEPPO We hear about a very practical attempt to shed light on the suffering in Syria

By Sarah Adams

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35 WOUND WITH MERCY How can we put mercy into action in our world?

By Carol Rittner RSM

OPINION

REGULARS

THE FIFTH LATERAN COUNCIL Lessons from the 16th century council that attempted to reform a church in crisis

By Salvador Ryan

11 TRÍONA DOHERTY

04 REALITY BITES

17 DAVID O'DONOGHUE

07 POPE MONITOR

31 CARMEL WYNNE

08 FEAST OF THE MONTH

41 STATIONS OF THE CROSS

44 PETER McVERRY SJ

38 A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?

THEN AND NOW Denis McBride’s new book offers a fresh approach to the traditional devotion of the Stations Reviewed by Kate Green

09 REFLECTIONS 32 PRAYER CORNER 42 TRÓCAIRE 45 GOD’S WORD

REALITY BITES DRIVE-THROUGH ASH WEDNESDAY GALWAY

ASHES TO GO

A ‘drive-through’ Ash Wednesday initiative in a Galway parish has been branded a huge success, after hundreds of parishioners availed of the facility.

Glenamaddy parish priest Fr Paddy Mooney came up with the idea in discussion with the parish pastoral council, after he was inspired by an initiative taken

by Bishop Fintan Monahan of Killaloe to offer confession in a shopping centre in Ennis.

The ‘ashes to go’ event was held between 8am and 9.30am on Ash Wednesday, as a way

of reaching out to those who were sick or found it difficult to walk, families with school-going children, commuters, and anyone who wished to receive ashes but could not attend Mass that day.

Hundreds of parishioners pulled up at the door of the church to receive ashes from Fr Mooney, assisted by three members of the pastoral council. A spokesperson for the parish described as a “reverent, respectful” event: “There was a wonderful atmosphere and people were very complimentary.”

Fr Paddy Mooney (and insert) distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday © Courtesy of Glenamaddy Parish Facebook

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NEW COMMUNITY OF SISTERS FOR ELPHIN DIOCESE ROSCOMMON

MINISTRY TO YOUNG PEOPLE

A new community of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother is to be established in the diocese of Elphin. Bishop Kevin Doran signed an agreement on February 16 with Mother Ana Maria Campo, following a number of meetings both in Ireland and at the Mother-house of the community in Zurita, just south of Santander in Spain.

The community of four sisters is to take root in Sacred Heart Parish in Roscommon town on May 13, the 100th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. The leader

of the Roscommon community will be Sr Ruth Maria, a native of Dublin. The other Sisters are Sr Bernadette Maria from Cork, Sr Michelle Maria from Minnesota, USA, and Sr Karen Maria, from Florida, USA. Welcoming the new community, Bishop Kevin said: “These are four joyful young women of faith, who bring between them 40 years or more of living the consecrated life. I am confident that, with their special charism of ministry to young people, they will be friends and spiritual guides

for many young women in our diocese in the years ahead. I want to thank Fr John Cullen and his parish team for their encouragement and their willingness to make this initiative possible. Please God it will bear the fruit that God wants.”

The Sisters’ mission in Roscommon will include prayer guidance and retreat ministry with young people, the development of catechetical resources using social media, promoting devotion to the Eucharist and Mary, and visiting the elderly.

Bishop Kevin Doran with the new community of Servant Sisters and Mother Ana Maria Campo, Superior General

© Courtesy of Elphindiocese.ie

REALITY APRIL 2017

N E WS

ANGLICAN EVENSONG CELEBRATED AT ST PETER’S VATICAN CITY

CLOSER TIES BETWEEN COMMUNITIES

Pope Francis greets Anglican Archbishop David Moxon, the archbishop of Canterbury's representative to the Vatican.

For the first time ever, an Anglican Choral Evensong has been celebrated at the altar of the Chair of St Peter, in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. The historic service was led by Archbishop David Moxon, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, while the preacher was Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the Vatican.

Music was sung by the Choir of Merton College, Oxford. Permission for the service, which took place on March 13, was given by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica, during

HERO SISTER WHO SHELTERED JEWS ENGLAND

a meeting with Archbishop Moxon.

The service marks an important step towards closer ties between the Roman Catholic and Anglican communities. It follows a joint celebration of Vespers last October by Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in the Basilica of San Gregorio al Celio in Rome, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Anglican Centre.

The date of March 13 was chosen as the nearest available day to the feast of St Gregory the Great, the unofficial patron of relations between the two churches.

The late Sr Agnes Walsh

HOMETOWN RECOGNITION FOR SR AGNES WALSH

Twenty-four years after her death, a religious Sister who sheltered Jews from the Nazis has been honoured in her hometown of Hull in the UK. Sr Agnes Walsh helped to save a Jewish family from deportation during the Second World War, during her time in a convent in southern France.

A plaque was unveiled in her honour on the site of her childhood home in Hull on January 26, with the lord mayor describing her as “a nun and humanitarian who protected Jews during the Holocaust”.

Born Ada Vallinda Walsh, Sr Agnes joined the Daughters of Charity and spent time in Ireland and Jerusalem before moving to a convent in Cadouin in the Dordogne region of France. A Jewish acquaintance of the convent’s M o th er S u p er i o r, Pi er re Cremieux, who had fled the

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north of France, sought refuge at the convent with his wife, two nine-month-old babies and their six-year-old son, Alai, to whom Sr Agnes gave English lessons. They stayed for almost a year, though many of the Sisters did not know the real reason they were there. Sr Agnes herself was pretending to be Irish rather than English at the time.

The Cremieux family kept in touch with Sister Agnes after they left the convent, up until her death in 1993. Although she was honoured as a ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, in 1990, one of only 21 Britons to be recognised as such, her family only heard the story in recent years. Her grand-nephew Ian Judson said her recognition in her hometown was “long overdue”. continued on page 6

REALITY BITES KNOCK VISIONARY TO BE REBURIED IN ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL NEW YORK PILGRIMS TO FLY FROM KNOCK AIRPORT It’s not every day that one can catch a direct flight from Knock to New York – but on Monday May 8, for the first time in history, a group of pilgrims will be doing just that.

The group, led by rector of Knock Shrine Fr Richard Gibbons, will undertake a special seven-day pilgrimage to have the remains of the youngest Knock Apparition witness, John Curry, re-interred at Old St Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday May 13. A special Requiem Mass will be celebrated in honour of the occasion by Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

John Curry was a native of Knock, who was just five years old when he, along with 14 others, witnessed the miraculous phenomenon at the gable wall of Knock

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Parish Church on August 21, 1879. As a young man, he went to New York where he remained until his death in 1943. He lived out his final years with the Little Sisters of the Poor, and is currently buried at Pine Lawn Cemetery, Long Island.

“I like to think of the re-interment as us, the people of Knock, bringing John Curry home.

Rather than having the ability to bring him back home to Knock, he will be brought to Old St Patrick’s Cathedral, which will give him the recognition he deserves as a witness to the Apparition and as someone who is so central to the rich history of the Shrine.

Those coming on the pilgrimage will have the opportunity to be a part of something very special,” said Fr Gibbons.

‘BITTER LENT’ IN SYRIA, SAYS ARCHBISHOP DAMASCUS

SIX YEARS OF CIVIL WAR

In a pastoral letter to mark the beginning of Lent, the Maronite Archbishop of Damascus, Samir Nassan, has painted a bleak picture of life in Syria.

“In six years of war the face of Syria has changed quite a lot. It is a huge disaster zone of debris, carbonised buildings; burned down houses, ghost neighbourhoods and towns destroyed to the ground,” he writes in a letter released on Ash Monday, the beginning of Lent in the Eastern and Oriental Catholic Church.

“Several millions have left the country in search of more merciful skies. Many are waiting for mercy in camps of misery, some have drowned attempting to leave, and others are in line at embassies, nomads in search of a welcoming land.”

The archbishop goes on to describe the impact of the war on the country’s children. “They have paid a great price for this merciless violence…

How do we restore the spirit of these children destroyed by violence and barbaric scenes?”

He adds that parishes are losing parishioners, with priests unable to provide support and REALITY APRIL 2017

struggling to remain in the country themselves.

The focus now is only on survival. “This is a hard blow weakening the place and role of the Christian minority already in decline,” he writes.

“Their daily combat is finding bread, water, gas and fuel, which are harder and harder to find…

This little Syrian population lives this reality with pain visible in silent looks and streams of tears.”

He concludes his letter with a plea to use this “bitter Lent” to commit to the church in the midst of distress, and to find hope in Christ, quoting Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Syria today

John Curry

SEÁN IS FIRST HONORARY PRISON CHAPLAIN NEWRY

MOUNTJOY FRIENDSHIPS

A young Newry man has becomethefirsteverHonorary Chaplain at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Seán McMillan from Dublin Road in Newry makes the journey to Dublin Seán McMillan © Courtesy of Columba O'Hare every few weeks, along with his father John and local Dominican priest Fr Vincent Travers, to meet with prisoners and serve at the Sunday morning Mass in the prison.

Seán was presented with a plaque in January by the Governor of Mountjoy, naming him as Honorary Chaplain and allowing him to visit at any time. An altar server at St Catherine’s Dominican in Newry, Seán first visited Mountjoy in 2016 with Fr Travers who is part-time chaplain at Mountjoy and Arbour Hill Prisons.

Fr Travers says Seán has the right approach to his new ministry. “He is what a prison chaplain should be, he goes in there with all his vulnerability and all his love and everybody loves him. Their faces light up when they see him.”

N E WS

POPE MONITOR KEEPING UP WITH POPE FRANCIS PAPAL VISIT TO FATIMA IN MAY

COPYRIGHT ON THE POPE?

Pope Francis is to visit Portugal next month to mark the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions of Fatima. His pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima will take place from May 12-13, at the invitation of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the bishops of Portugal.

The Maran apparitions of Fatima began on May 13, 1917, when three shepherd children first reported seeing the Virgin Mary. They continued once a month until October 13, 2017.

Fr Carlos Cabecinhas, rector of the Fatima shrine, said it would be a “great joy” to welcome Pope Francis. "We know that those days will be a pilgrimage marked by this festivity that, on the one hand is for the centennial of the apparitions and, on the other hand, marks the presence of the pope in our midst and a pope as beloved as Pope Francis," he said.

Pope Francis will be the fourth pontiff to visit the Marian shrine, following in the footsteps of Blessed Paul VI, Saint John Paul II, and most recently Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

Fatima Shrine, Portugal

The Vatican has warned that it will take steps to “protect” the image of Pope Francis and the crossed keys emblem of the Holy See. In a statement released on February 22, the Secretariat of State 7 of the Holy See said it intended to “monitor the ways in which the image of the Holy Father and the coats of arms of the Holy See are used, [and] if necessary intervene with appropriate action”.

The reason for the move, according to the statement, is to “protect the image of the Holy Father, so that his message can reach the faithful intact and that his person not be exploited”.

POPE DONATES €���,��� FROM ART PROJECT TO CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL The proceeds of a Vatican Museum project has been donated to the Bangui Children’s Hospital in the Central African Republic, at the request of Pope Francis.

A sum of €200,000 was raised during a mercy-themed art project entitled ‘Christo’s box, between Art and Mercy, A Gift for Bangui’, which was presented at the Vatican Museums in May 2016. Pope Francis expressed his wish that the proceeds were to go to the hospital to care for all children in need of medical care, “without distinction of religious

belonging, because all children need care and attention”.

The pope visited the Bangui Pediatric Hospital during his Apostolic visit to the Central African Republic in November 2015. According to reports, what struck him most were the malnourished children, and the fact that there was no equipment at the hospital to provide oxygen to, or resuscitate children.

The ‘Christo’s box’ project is the work of artist Christo, a Bulgarian-born US citizen, who is well known for works of art that

involve “packaging” or wrapping – in this case, packaging a fragment of Raphael's ‘The School of Athens’.

The work was specially created for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Speaking at the launch of the project, then-Vatican Museums director, Antonio Paolucci, said: “Many years ago, Pope Julius II used Raphael to celebrate himself and his Church,… five centuries have gone by and another pope is using a Raphael for a work of mercy to help one of the poorest and most marginalised countries of sub-Saharan Africa.”

FEAST OF THE MONTH WIDENING THE HORIZONS OF FRIENDSHIP ST BRONACH: APRIL �

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It was the millennium year when an invitation to give a lecture on Celtic spirituality arrived from St Bronach’s School of Celtic Christian Studies. The request came from Canon Dermot Jameson of Rostrevor, County Down. Stationed in Dundalk at the time, I decided to find out who Canon Jameson was, who St Bronach was, and what was St Bronach’s School of Celtic Christian Studies.

Well I got into the car, drove the short distance to Newry, followed the signs for Warrenpoint, and then took the exquisitely beautiful coast road to the picturesque village of Rostrever. There I made inquiries for the rectory – Dermot is Church of Ireland – but nobody seemed to know where that was. Then I asked a bunch of youngsters if they knew Canon Jameson. “Sure everybody knows him!” came the swift response. On meeting Dermot and his wife Sheila, they explained to me that the School of Celtic Christian Studies wasn’t so much an institution as a concept, but for lecture purposes it became embodied in the Church of Ireland hall.

And then there was St Bronach. Well, she too was in the realm of a concept. She was the patron of the parish of Kilbroney; her well, her cross, and the ruins of the mediaeval church were in the parish cemetery; her bell was preserved in the Catholic church, she was patron of the local school and loved by both Catholics and Protestants alike; the spirit of her benign presence pervaded Kilbroney.

When it came to biographical detail, however, the well of knowledge ran dry. She cannot have been far removed from the days of Patrick and Brigid but apart from that one can only say that she was an early Christian religious woman – a nun or hermit – who once lived among the hills of South Down and announced the Gospel message in word and deed to the people of her day.

Meeting the members of St Bronach’s School of Celtic Christian Studies opened up new horizons for me, particularly at an emotional or affective level. Over the years I have grown comfortable not only with sharing prayer but sharing food, and enjoying one another’s company and common humanity. Our membership is largely Church of Ireland and Catholic but not confined to these.

I rejoice in never having discovered exactly the ‘who’s who’ in our midst.

By the way, that first lecture I gave on Celtic spirituality was well received, so much so that when I got another letter from Canon Dermot I noticed that he had me down in print as one of the three directors of the school – without notifying me. I recognised from that gesture that we were kindred spirits and that we would get on well together, and we did.

My role in St Bronach’s School emerged as being that of historian and tour guide. You see, each year St Bronach’s embarks on a few days’ pilgrimage. Canon Dermot dreams up the venues and looks after all the planning. Over the years we have gone to Iona in Scotland, to Inisfallen in Killarney’s famed Lough Lene, to the Irish Midlands, Donegal, and the West of Ireland. Further afield, like our early Celtic saints, we have gone to Britain and the Continent. I particularly enjoyed the outing to Northumbria which included Lindisfarne Island, St Hilda’s monastery in Whitby, and that of Jarrow near Newcastle-on-Tyne where St Bede the Historian of the English People lived and died. Last year St Bronach’s School went to Santiago de Compostela, and the Canon has told me to be prepared for this year’s outing to Rath Croghan, where the epic tale of Maeve and Ailill and the Táin – ‘The Cattle Raid of Cooley’ – is set. The highlight of all these religiouseducational outings was surely In the footsteps of St Columbanus to Luxeuil and Bobbio.

When I first asked about Canon Jameson in Rostrevor I was told that “everybody knows him”, and it appears that they do. Even the Queen of England knows him because in her 2017 New Year’s Honours List she names Rev Canon Dermot Jameson a BEM for services to the Rostrevor community. Congratulations Dermot a char.

John J O’Riordan CSsR REALITY APRIL 2017

Reality Volume 82. No. 3 April 2017 A Redemptorist Publication ISSN 0034-0960 Published by The Irish Redemptorists, Unit A6, Santry Business Park, Swords Road, Dublin 09 X651 Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Web: www.redcoms.org Email: sales@redcoms.org (With permission of C.Ss.R.)

Editor Tríona Doherty bmcconvery@redcoms.org Design & Layout David Mc Namara CSsR dmcnamara@redcoms.org General Manager Paul Copeland pcopeland@redcoms.org Sales & Marketing Claire Carmichael ccarmichael@redcoms.org Administration & Accounts Michelle McKeon mmckeon@redcoms.org Printed by Nicholson & Bass, Belfast Photo Credits Catholic News Service, Shutterstock, Trócaire REALITY SUBSCRIPTIONS Through a promoter (Ireland only) €20 or £18 Annual Subscription by post: Ireland €25 or £20 UK £30 Europe €40 Rest of the world €50 Please send all payments to: Redemptorist Communications, Unit A6, Santry Business Park, Swords Road, Dublin D09 X651 ADVERTISING Whilst we take every care to ensure the accuracy and validity of adverts placed in Reality, the information contained in adverts does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Redemptorist Communications. You are therefore advised to verify the accuracy and validity of any information contained in adverts before entering into any commitment based upon them.

When you have finished with this magazine, please pass it on or recycle it. Thank you.

Update on our editor!

As you will know, Fr Brendan McConvery is taking a break from his duties as he recovers from surgery. The good news is that Brendan is recovering well. He sends his thanks for all the prayers and best wishes.

REFLECTIONS Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.

ST JOHN PAUL II Being disguised under the disfigurement of an ugly crucifixion and death, the Christ upon the cross is paradoxically the clearest revelation of who God is.

HANS URS VON BALTHASAR

Here the whole world (stars, water, air, And field, and forest, as they were Reflected in a single mind) Like cast off clothes was left behind In ashes, yet with hopes that she, Re-born from holy poverty, In Lenten lands, hereafter may Resume them on her Easter Day. CS LEWIS Epitaph for his wife, Joy Davidman

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

A Mystery in short is an invitation to the mind. For it means that there is an inexhaustible well of Truth from which the mind may drink and drink again in the certainty that the well will never run dry, that there will always be water for the mind’s thirst.

If I let myself really understand another person, I might be changed by that understanding. And we all fear change. So as I say, it is not an easy thing to permit oneself to understand an individual.

FRANK SHEED

CARL ROGERS

Why must we be always seeking for the lost Child? Why must we be always feeling the pain of loss? If we did not, we should not realise that our idols are not God, are not Christ. Bad as they are, they match our limitations; and if they could content us, we should never know the real beauty of Christ: we should not become whole.

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.

I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment.

PAUL TILLICH

CARYLL HOUSELANDER

I don't believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone, are guilty of the war. Oh no, the little man is just as guilty, otherwise the peoples of the world would have risen in revolt long ago!

The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim Him with their mouths and deny Him with their actions is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.

KARL RAHNER

ANNE FRANK

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.

Truly a faithful friend is the medicine of life. Truly a faithful friend is a strong defence. For what will not a genuine friend perform? What pleasure will he not afford? What benefit? What security? Though you should name infinite treasures, none of them is comparable to a genuine friend.

EMILY DICKINSON

SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

QUEEN ELIZABETH

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

Every perfect life is a parable invented by God. SIMONE WEIL

If I am not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there.

MARTIN LUTHER

To love someone is to learn the song they have in their heart.

ITALIAN PROVERB

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E DI TO R I A L UP FRONT TRÍONA DOHERTY

EVER ANCIENT, EVER NEW

I

recently read The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, an author best known for her novel Room. Set in late 19th century Ireland, The Wonder follows the story of a young girl who claims not to have eaten anything for a number of months, yet is miraculously thriving.

Told from the perspective of a non-Catholic, English nurse dispatched to investigate, the novel explores, in a critical yet reasonably gentle way, the way of life and beliefs of the Irish girl, her family and community.

Young Anna is a charming girl who structures her days around her favourite prayers and hymns and has an unshakeable belief in the afterlife. However the nurse, Lib, is frequently baffled at the unfamiliar religious practices she encounters, from the daily Rosary and twicedaily Angelus and the significance attached to religious objects, to the mysterious Sunday evening sodality attended by the lady of the house.

While the story is set in a very a different Ireland from today, it struck me that some of the practices and expressions of popular piety that were so alien to the nurse would still be remembered by a certain generation.

Members of my own family have passed down stories of sodalities and confraternities, the Children of Mary, and the annual Corpus Christi and May processions involving the whole community. No so long ago, most Irish Catholic homes would have had a Sacred Heart picture, a papal marriage blessing, and perhaps a Marian altar.

Certainly, some of these practices have all but died out, and in many ways Ireland has changed almost beyond recognition from the country described by Ms Donoghue, even from our own childhoods. Yet, there are signs that all is not lost. As we saw at the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday services are well attended, the ashes a tangible invitation to turn away from sin – a reminder of our

roots, in more ways than one. Parish missions continue to attract large crowds. Pattern days at holy wells, pilgrim walks, and household Stations remain strong traditions, and have even been revived in some parts of the country. The Child of Prague statue has made something of a comeback in recent years, as many a wedding photographer will attest to!

There are many familiar markers of what was once known as ‘Catholic Ireland’.

It is natural, of course, to be sad about the elements of our faith that seem to have been left behind, and we can feel as if we don’t have the tools to navigate our rapidly changing world. But this is not a new experience for the church; from the very first disciples, each generation of believers has had to find a home in the midst of the surrounding cultural forces.

Indeed, some of our own religious practices emerged during troubled times, such as the Stations from the time of the Penal Laws.

Writing in Reality in March 1981, Fr Raphael Gallagher CSsR posed the question: ‘Where is the prophet?’ In the face of the urgent issues of the day – a familiar litany of violence, injustice, poverty and religious indifference – he lamented the failure of the church to move beyond a ‘reactionary’ approach to the latest crisis. It is an easy trap to fall into, and it can lead to a sort of misguided nostalgia for the past, with no sense of how we might move forward. Fr Gallagher ended with a call for new ways to preserve the great ‘pearl’ of our faith: “Each person and each generation must search for it. My worry is that as a people we are becoming so individualistic and selfish about our survival and our faith that we don’t care deeply about reshaping our culture and our faith around new and more creative ideas.

Enter the prophets, please.”

There are prophets in every generation and we have many in our midst, including those who fight for justice, help marginalised groups, and work hard to keep the faith alive. Those

who come up with creative ways to inspire young people in our parishes and schools deserve special mention. On the Feast of St Brigid, for example, grandparents are often invited into primary schools to show the children how to make crosses out of rushes.

Schools organise pilgrimages for transition year groups to sites such as Knock, Croagh Patrick, or Lough Derg. Many parishes hold graveyard Masses during the summer months, which help us to remember our dead and strengthen community and family bonds. A host of new traditions are also developing on a ‘green’ theme, with parishes celebrating ‘Creation Time’, planting bulbs and trees, organising walks, and planning liturgies inspired by our native saints and our Celtic tradition.There are green shoots sprouting up all around us, and these expressions of faith are what our children and grandchildren will remember and cherish.

In his Confessions, penned around 400AD, St Augustine of Hippo describes his discovery of God’s love as “ever ancient, ever new”. It can seem as though we are constantly plunged into “ever new” circumstances, with the challenge of retaining the “ever ancient” beauty and traditions of our faith.

But all is certainly not lost. We can mourn the loss of things that have meant a lot to us, or we can think about new ways of bringing them to life. The pearl of our faith is worth passing on.

We wish all our readers and their families a happy and blessed Easter!

Tríona Doherty Editor

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C OV E R STO RY

MATTHEW’S THROUGH THE SUBTLE USE OF LANGUAGE AND THE WORDS SPOKEN BY DIFFERENT CHARACTERS, MATTHEW’S ACCOUNT OF THE CRUCIFIXION HAS A LOT TO TELL US ABOUT JESUS AND THE MISSION HE SETS FOR HIS FOLLOWERS.

BY JONATHAN BURROUGHS

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REALITY APRIL 2017

S THEOLOGY of theCROSS The

question of why Jesus had to die on the cross is a common one.

While there are many ways to attempt to answer that question, one way is to explore what happens in the Gospels when Jesus dies. In that regard, the Gospel of Matthew is distinctive. Not only does Matthew describe the moment of Jesus’ death in a unique way (27:50), but what immediately follows reveals some particular characteristics of Mathew’s theology of the cross. In the First Gospel, the death of Jesus provokes certain supernatural (27:51-53) and human responses (27:54): the narrator describes the tearing of the temple curtain (27:51a) and the raising of the holy ones (27:51b-53), while in 27:54 the centurion and those with him acclaim Jesus as the Son of God. But what do those immediate responses tell us about how

Matthew understands the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross?

APPRECIATING THE ROLE OF THE SPIRIT AT THE CROSS (27:50) The role of the Spirit in Matthew’s narration of the death of Jesus has been largely underappreciated by commentators. This is despite the narrator referring to the Spirit at the moment of Jesus’ death in 27:50: “Jesus, again crying out with a loud voice, released the Spirit (in Greek, aphēken to pneuma).”

The Greek phrase used by Matthew here, aphēken to pneuma, is key to understanding his theology of the cross. While the NRSV, for example, renders those words as “he breathed his last”, a literal translation from the Greek renders them as “he released the Spirit”. With this phrase the Evangelist seeks

to communicate both the moment of Jesus’ death and the releasing of the Spirit.

While this phrase is sometimes interpreted anthropologically (denoting Jesus’ human spirit), there are reasons for interpreting 27:50 as referring to the divine Spirit. Some reasons include: (1) Matthew does not use a possessive pronoun to indicate that Jesus releases his spirit, (2) in all other Matthean descriptions of death (see 2:19-20; 9:18, 24; 14:1-5; 21:33-41; 22:23-28), there is no reference to the releasing of “the Spirit” or to the particular verbal construction of aphēken to pneuma (Matthew uses other verbs to denote death in his narrative), and (3) the Evangelist uses the phrase to pneuma to refer to the divine Spirit in 4:1 and 12:31.

Matthew constructs his description of Jesus’ death in such a way to show that the Spirit,

Similar to the baptism account, the releasing of the Spirit at the cross is accompanied by supernatural occurrences

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which comes upon Jesus at his baptism (see 3:16) and empowers his ministry (4:1; 12:18, 28), is released at the moment of his death on the cross. What happens next in the narrative further reveals the significance of the releasing of the Spirit on the cross.

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GOD’S ACTION AT THE CROSS (27:51-53) When the Spirit of God comes upon Jesus at his baptism (3:13-17), there are unusual (or supernatural) occurrences, namely, the descent of the dove and the voice from heaven. Similar to the baptism account, the releasing of the Spirit at the cross is accompanied by supernatural occurrences.

In particular, the narrator reports the tearing of the temple curtain in two (27:51a) and states that the earth shakes and the rocks split, that the holy ones are liberated from their tombs, and that they appear to many in the holy city (27:51b-53). These supernatural occurrences are narrated with “divine passives” (ie, “was torn”, “was shaken”, “were split”, “were opened”, “were raised”). Divine passives are biblical conventions used by the sacred authors as a way to indicate the action of God. In Matthew, God is narrated not by direct, but by mediated encounters through biblical conventions such as angels, fulfilment quotations, and importantly, divine passives. Matthew offers the supernatural phenomena in 27:51-53 to reveal the action of God at the cross. They are God’s immediate response to the releasing of the Spirit and the death of Jesus. But what do they tell us about Matthew’s theology of the cross?

These supernatural occurrences provide theological commentary on Jesus’ death and the events at the cross. Taken together, they signify a universal access to God’s presence and symbolise a mission to all nations. The temple was the physical symbol of God’s presence among his people. God’s presence, until now veiled behind the curtain, is torn in two in 27:51a and is no longer symbolically veiled from the people. The resurrection of the holy ones in 27:51b-53, which is unique to Matthew, can be interpreted as prefiguring a mission to all nations. The identity of the holy ones is left unspecified, although it is a term sometimes used for Christians (see Rom 15:25-26; 1 Cor 1:2).

On the other hand, it can also refer to devout Israelites (see Dan 7:21). There is an “openness” to the text here, whereby the holy ones may be Jewish, Christian, or even Gentile. Nevertheless, what is important is that the releasing of the Spirit in 27:50 results in a life-giving event; it is implied that the releasing of the Spirit makes possible the resurrection of others.

JESUS IS ACCLAIMED AS THE SON OF GOD (27:54) The immediate response to the supernatural occurrences at the cross is the reaction of the centurion and those with him who acclaim Jesus as the Son of God (27:54). For some commentators, the words of the centurion and those with him are a continuation of the mockery of Jesus as the Son of God (for example, in 27:40 the bystanders taunt Jesus: “if you are the Son of God, come down from

the cross” [see also 27:43]). On the other hand, the words of the centurion and those with him dramatically mirror the acclamation of Jesus by his disciples in 14:33 and 16:16, who acclaim him as the Son of God. They also echo the point of view of the voice from heaven at the baptism in 3:17 and the transfiguration in 17:5. In this way, the centurion and those with him share the same point of view as God and Jesus’ disciples, who recognise the sonship of Jesus. The narrator uses the acclamation of the centurion and those with him to indicate, once again, the sonship of Jesus. In a manner similar to the baptism of Jesus (3:13-17), when he received the Spirit of God (ie, voice from heaven), the releasing of the Spirit is accompanied by Jesus being acclaimed as the Son of God. Unlike in Mark’s description of the events at the cross, where the centurion is the first human character in Mark to recognise Jesus as the Son of God, the acclamation functions differently in Matthew; Jesus has already been acclaimed as the Son of God by his disciples (see 14:33; 16:16). Nevertheless, the acclamation does reveal something new to the reader; the centurion and those with him are the first Gentiles in the Gospel to acclaim Jesus as the Son of God. In Mark the acclamation comes from a single centurion, while in Matthew it comes from the centurion and those with him. The identity of those with the centurion is uncertain, however, it most likely refers to Gentile soldiers. It is ironic that a centurion testifies to Jesus’ identity, as centurions were part of the group that implemented the crucifixion of Jesus. Matthew now presents them as paradigmatic of proper response to Jesus. It is significant that, after the tearing of the temple curtain (27:51a) and the raising of the holy ones (27:51b-53), some Gentiles acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. This foreshadows Jesus’ commissioning of his disciples to make disciples of all nations in 28:19. The Evangelist shapes his narrative in such a way that the centurion is a “type” for the mission to all nations.

THE MISSION TO ALL NATIONS (28:16-20) The immediate responses to the death of Jesus tell us much about Matthew’s theology of the cross. The supernatural occurrences (27:51-53) signify a universal access to God’s presence and symbolise a mission to all nations, which is given a

REALITY APRIL 2017

The centurion and those with him are the first Gentiles in the Gospel to acclaim Jesus as the Son of God concrete example through the acclamation of the centurion and those with him at the cross (27:54).

The death of Jesus and the releasing of the Spirit is transformative, in the sense that the Spirit is now to be experienced more widely than was narrated during the ministry of Jesus (in his narration of the ministry of Jesus, Matthew is predominantly concerned with the Spirit and Jesus). Significantly, Matthew will conclude his Gospel with the resurrected Jesus commissioning his disciples with a mission to baptise all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (28:1620). Ultimately, it is the risen Jesus, after the releasing of the Spirit on the cross (27:50), who commissions a mission to all nations (28:19). Matthew’s theology of the Spirit is subtle, whereby he deftly implies that the community receives the Holy Spirit through the Risen Lord’s commissioning of his disciples to baptise all nations in the name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy Spirit (28:19). In this way, the Holy Spirit and the mission to all nations comes through the Risen Lord.

Although the Great Commission concludes the Gospel, there is an open ending. The final words of Jesus to his disciples project the Gospel narrative into the world of the reader; the Gospel of Matthew opens outward. In this way, Matthew’s Jesus commissions not only his disciples but also its audience: its reader has become a disciple of Jesus.

It is now the reader who is commissioned to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . .”

Dr Jonathan Burroughs is a lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at Mary Immaculate College, St Patrick’s Campus, Thurles. Jonathan’s PhD dissertation was a narrative-critical investigation of the Spirit in the Gospel of Matthew.

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COMMENT THE YOUNG VOICE DAVID O’DONOGHUE

ON THE COBBLESTONE, THERE THE CHURCH IS BUILT

SOMETIMES SIMPLY STOPPING FOR A CHAT CAN BE ALL IT TAKES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. One hardly expects to have a moment of real pilgrimage and spiritual reawakening in the heart of the bustling city of London. The city moves like a pumping heart, breathing commuters in and pumping them out at the end of the work day in systolic beats. At night its arteries turn to neon and fill with the neurotransmitter buzz of revellers drinking craft beers.

Certainly not exactly the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

And yet my week-long holiday rediscovering a city I hadn’t visited in years had the feeling of a long trip to encounter some holy relic. It was as much a journey into myself as it was a journey through city streets. All the while neo-monastic Christian activist Shane Claiborne was my constant accompaniment as I read through his fantastic book The Irrestible Revolution.

Claiborne presents an image of Christianity that emerges from the roots of American Protestant fundamentalism – a movement for which I have equal fascination, admiration and disdain – which returns to the roots of the church as a socially active and powerful platform for justice and love in the tradition of the Gospel and the early monastic tradition. As much as my spirit soared as I spent long, amber-hued evenings admiring the autonomous energy of the city by sunset, its skyline like an architectural bruise against the soft skin of the clouds, I found even more fulfilling the small and

personal interactions I had with strangers, from poets to political activists.

I was walking in Piccadilly to meet an old friend when I happened upon Marcus. I had been disturbed throughout my holiday by the number of homeless people on the streets of London. In an x-ray of the arterial alleyways of this bustling metropolis, here were the dark shadows that most passerbys hope to ignore and which the shining neon advertisements of attractions pointedly erase from existence. I watched stretch limos glide through the streets by night, passing huddled forms in doorways with sleeping bags and a meagre supply of handrolled cigarettes. I passed Marcus while I was in a rush to get to Buckingham Palace to start a night of reminiscence and revelery. I caught him in the periphery of my vision and managed to make it a few steps beyond him before I stopped.

Claiborne’s book weighed down a pocket and my King James weighed down another.

I paused, clogging up the relentless flow of the street.

Chinese tourists stepped around me and suited English professionals balanced their cups of coffee carefully as they weaved by this sudden, contemplative Irish obstacle. I turned around to look at the man who was sitting on a backpack and holding up a little cardboard sign. The words “What you have done unto the

least of these...” boiled in my brain, smarting like a fresh and immortal brand. I dropped some change into the cup in front of Marcus, crouched down and introduced myself. He shook my hand with a smile and a little chuckle and after some small talk he realised I certainly wasn’t from London and enquired as to the origin of my accent. After I explained that I was Irish his eyes lit up.

“Italia ’90!”

He threw his hands in the air in joy and I laughed with the serendipity of recognition.

There on a public street I had a wonderful moment of spontaneous human connection.

Marcus and I enjoyed a coffee together and I explained to him the sport of hurling, the kind of thing that only sounds alien and bizarre when you suddenly have to explain it to someone who has no point of reference for the concept. Marcus gestured to the sky, from which strands of sunlight spun like great unwinding spools of thread.

“It is a nice day today. And dry thank God,” he remarked.

I thought of the previous day I had spent in Camden where rain poured continously and marked my vision like television static.

For me, escaping it was simply a matter of ducking into a café, a shelter of which, I was suddenly sharply aware, Marcus could not avail. We discussed religion for a while and Marcus said that his faith kept his spirit unbroken

in his time on the street but he felt distressed at the failings of the institutional church. I commiserated and recalled the early Christian conception that ‘the church’ was a moveable feast, not built of bricks and mortar but of love and human connection. To this Marcus said something that moved me immeasurably. He spoke of how it wasn’t so much money he was grateful for from people, but just the opportunity to have a chat and a laugh with another human being.

“I really needed to talk with someone today,” he said.

While we must always rage against structural injustice and fight to make the world a better place, Marcus reaffirmed my belief that a simple conversation can be as much an act of faith and social justice.

David O'Donoghue is a freelance journalist from Co. Kerry. His work has appeared in The Irish Catholic, the Irish Independent, and The Kerryman. He is the former political editor of campus.ie and holds an abiding interest in all things literary, political and spiritual.

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THE WOMAN AT THE TOMB

RECLAIMING MARY MAGDALENE MARY MAGDALENE IS ONE OF THE MOST P OPUL AR OF THE WOMEN SAINTS. SHE HAS BEEN INVOKED AS PATRON OF CONVERTS, GLOVE MAKERS, HAIRDRESSERS, PENITENT SINNERS, PEOPLE RIDICULED FOR THEIR PIETY, PERFUMEMAKERS, PHARMACISTS AND TANNERS. MANY HISTORIC CHURCHES HAVE BEEN DEDICATED TO HER, INCLUDING THE ABBEY OF VÉZELAY, BELIEVED TO CONTAIN HER RELICS, AND A DISTINGUISHED CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE BEARS HER NAME. YET THERE IS MUCH CONFUSION ABOUT JUST WHO MARY WAS: WAS SHE A CONVERTED PROSTITUTE OR WOMAN OF A CERTAIN SOCIAL STATUS?

BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR REALITY APRIL 2017

addition to the Mother of Jesus, several women called Mary are named in the New Testament. They include a woman, apparently living in Galilee with her sister called Martha (Luke 10:39). Another Mary and Martha live with a brother called Lazarus in the village of Bethany on the outskirts of Jerusalem (John 11). Mary, the wife (or daughter) of a man called Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene stand near the cross of the dying Jesus (John 19:35). Another Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, goes with Magdalene to the tomb on Easter Sunday (Mat 27:56). The house of yet another Mary, the mother of John Mark, was the meeting place for the Jerusalem church (Acts 12:12), and Paul greets a person in the Roman church called Mary who ‘has worked hard among you’ (Rom 16:6). This is hardly surprising, as it has been calculated on the basis of tomb inscriptions, that almost one in three women in first century Palestine were called either Mariam or Miriam, the Semitic form of Mary. It was popular at every level of society, from the peasants of Galilee to members of the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties.

There has also been a tendency to identify two unnamed women in the Gospel narrative with Mary Magdalene. The first of these is “a woman who was a sinner” and who brought an expensive jar of ointment to anoint Jesus (Luke 7:37). Less frequently, she has been said to be the unnamed woman taken in adultery (John 8:4).

MARY’S HOME TOWN Magdala is on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, about nine kilometres north of Tiberias.

Recent archaeological excavations needed to clear the way for building a pilgrimage centre have led to interesting discoveries about Mary’s home town. Among other things, they brought to light the remains of a synagogue, a market place and a harbor. The synagogue is particularly important as it is the only one from the time of Jesus to have been discovered so far in Galilee where Jesus exercised his preaching ministry. The better known synagogue in Capernaum is a later construction on the site of the one mentioned in the Gospels. The synagogue’s date was confirmed by the discovery in it of a coin, minted in the nearby city of Tiberias in 29 CE. Given that he cured Mary and visited a place called Magadan

(Matt 15:39, probably another form of Magdala), it is likely that Jesus preached in this synagogue.

Magdala is probably the same place as Magdala Nunayya, the “Tower of the Fish”, mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Pesah 46b). The Jewish historian Josephus, who commanded the garrison of resistance fighters in the town during the Jewish War, calls it Tarichiææ (Life 157; Jewish War 2.21.8; 3.9.7–3.10.5). This is a Greek word for pickling or smoking fish. It is likely that this was the major industry of the town as another Roman writer, Pliny, mentions it and says that it produces “excellent salt fish; it also produces fruit-trees, resembling apple-trees” (Natural History XVI).

MARY AS APOSTLE AND WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION In many medieval missal manuscripts, Mary Magdalene’s feast day had the heading ‘Apostola Apostolorum’ (‘Apostle of the Apostles’). This ancient title probably goes back to the early third century, when it was used by the early Christian writer, Hippolytus. Phrases like ‘King of Kings’, or ‘Song of Songs’ are common in Hebrew. They often denote excellence or first rank, ie “the real King” or “the greatest song there is”. Mary’s title might suggest that she is foremost among the apostles.

Her old title was restored in June 2016 by order of Pope Francis during the Jubilee of Mercy in order “to stress the importance of this woman, who shows great love for Christ and was very dear to Christ”.

The four Gospels vary somewhat in naming the women who visit the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning, but all of them name Mary Magdalene.

1.

According to Mark, probably the oldest of the Gospels, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome” come to anoint the body with the spices they have brought (Mar 16:1).

2.

According to Matthew, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre” (Mat 28:1 RSV).

3.

According to Luke, “it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them” who reported the empty tomb and the angel’s message to the Apostles (Luke 24:10).

4.

In the Fourth Gospel, Mary alone is mentioned as going to the tomb and then reporting it and returning to receive an appearance of the Risen Christ, but she does tell the apostles

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“we do not know where they have laid him”(20:2), suggesting the presence of the other women.

THE ARTISTRY OF JOHN’S ACCOUNT By focussing exclusively on Mary as the person who discovers the tomb empty and who eventually experiences the presence of the Risen Christ, John is resorting to a technique he has used elsewhere in his Gospel, describing an intense moment of personal encounter between an individual and Jesus. We have, for example, lengthy accounts of meetings between Jesus and Nicodemus (Jn 3) or with the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4). There are also briefer moments of encounter

but the personal element is still foremost – for example, between Jesus and individuals he cures (the paralytic in Jn 5 and the blind man in Jn 9), or between Martha of Bethany and Jesus (Jn 11:20-27). There is also a certain ‘gender balance’ in these encounter stories – the male Nicodemus

Almost one in three women in first century Palestine were called either Mariam or Miriam, the Semitic form of Mary is balanced by the female Samaritan, just as Mary’s personal encounter will be matched with another moment of personal encounter with a male disciple,

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Thomas (Jn 20: 26-29). If anything, the women are quicker on the uptake than the males are.

The moment of recognition in John’s version of the tomb story is when Jesus calls Mary by name. As dialogues go, it is very brief – a single word “Mary” and “Rabbouni” from each of the participants in the dialogue. John has already prepared the way for this scene in the Good Shepherd discourse of chapter 10.

Less obvious are the echoes of an Old Testament text which the liturgy often reads in conjunction with the story of Mary at the tomb. Taken from the Song of Songs 3:1-5, it has been described as “the night-time quest for the beloved”. A young woman whose overpowering love prevents her from sleeping goes out into the darkened city to search for her beloved. It would be very daring for a girl of good family to wander alone through the dark streets of the city at night. She meets the watchmen who might be expected to notice any suspicious movement during the hours of darkness and asks them if they have seen her lover. His appearance on the scene is sudden and unexpected. Clinging to him, she will not let him go but will bring him “to her mother’s house”.

The parallels between the poem and the story of Mary at the tomb are striking. Like a woman bereft, she goes alone to the garden seeking at least the presence in the closed tomb of someone she had loved and whose unconditional love she had experienced. In the darkened tomb she sees two angels who ask what she is seeking. When she has discovered Jesus, she clings to him and “held him

firmly and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother’s house, to the inner room of the woman who conceived me”.

It is good to remember at Easter the role of this remarkable woman as the first witness to the Resurrection and her status as an apostle.

Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR taught scripture for many years in Maynooth College. He is currently editor of Reality.

Five things the Gospel tells us about Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene

by Pietro Perugino 1446 – 1523

REALITY APRIL 2017

The Gospels were not interested in giving us even a potted history of Mary Magdalene. Here are five key things the Gospel tells us about her: 1. From her name, she was a native, or at least an inhabitant, of a town called Magdala on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The town has recently been explored by archaeologists and their discoveries provide us with some interesting background.

2. She followed Jesus because she had experienced some kind of a healing. Both Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2 identify her cure with the expulsion of “seven demons”. Seven here is a symbolic number, suggesting serious demoniacal possession. What precisely that entailed is impossible to define. Possession suggests many things, including serious personality disturbances that today might be equated with profound psychiatric disorder.

3. According to Luke, she belonged to a group of women disciples who followed Jesus and “who provided for them out of their resources” (Luke 8:3). The sparse details in this verse suggest that some of them had a higher social and economic status than we normally associate with the disciples of Jesus. It may be reasonable to assume the same of Mary.

4. According to both the Synoptics and John, she was one of the small group of women disciples who witnessed the crucifixion, whether from a distance (Matt 27:55, Mark 15:40, Luke 23:55), or directly under the cross, along with his mother and beloved disciple (John 19:25).

5. All four Gospels name Mary as a witness to the empty tomb, either in company with other women according to the Synoptics (there is some variation in their names) or alone (John). All four Gospels described an ‘angelophany’ (vision of angels), while Matthew, John, and what is probably a later addition to Mark (16:9) refer to an appearance of the Risen Jesus. In John this vision is described in the greatest detail and with real literary art.

In Tune with the Liturgy A series that highlights some of the features of the Church’s worship in the month ahead

THIS IS THE NIGHT! CELEBRATING THE EASTER VIGIL

THE RICH SYMBOLISM OF THE EASTER VIGIL ENGAGES ALL OUR SENSES, AND REMINDS US WHY WE ARE MEMBERS OF THIS BELIEVING COMMUNITY.

BY SARAH ADAMS

This

is the night! It is a dark, often chilly night in March or April. A large crowd gather around a burning brazier. Darkness, solitude and quiet draws people together.

From antiquity the church has recognised the power of a night watch when we take time to gather, put aside the occupations of the world, and enter the world of the Divine presence. Here, in this encounter with God, we can be transformed. It is not surprising then that the ‘Night of Nights’, the night of the ‘Pascha’, the ‘Easter Vigil’, has become the night of transformation par excellence. This is the holiest night of the church’s year where words, music and ritual echo around the world. As people gather, the air is electric with anticipation and expectation. This is the night!

It is the night of our Passover Feast when we tell stories; we remember and we celebrate the power of darkness overcome, evil dispelled, guilt washed away, innocence restored; joy comes to mourners, hatred is cast out and peace prevails.

The Easter Triduum, which began on Thursday evening

with foot washing and Eucharist, has been marked by fasting and prayer, watching and waiting, in solitude and sometimes with others. It reaches its pinnacle with the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday Night. This yearly Passover

inspired the Christian celebration and later developed around the need to bring to a climax the long initiation process for those people (catechumens) becoming members of the church for the first time.

Darkness, so often associated with evil, is the place to confront our own demons, the darkness within each of us: anger, jealousy, unbelief, violence, greed, to name just a few of which we are all capable.

If we imagine ours elves standing in total darkness it can be very debilitating, difficult to find our way, rendering us blind. It is why so many of us do not like being in the dark.

Darkness makes us know our need of light, and especially our need of the light who is Christ.

We willingly enter the darkness of the Easter Vigil because we know in our hearts our need of the One who has overcome the darkness forever. As we gather together we support one another, sustaining each other by our hope when faced with dark times. At the Easter Vigil we come to witness the power of God’s work in those who are coming for the first time into the church. We must be clear. These new members are here, not because of anything we have done, but because of God’s initiative and their faithful response.

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In Tune with the Liturgy

By Sarah Adams

rarely lost on people as they wait in hopeful anticipation. In a world where today there seems to be so much darkness it is not surprising that when the light of the candle shines out, there is a tangible sense of joy and relief.

In liturgical terms, when we gather as a parish, the quality of our preparation for this celebration is paramount. Just from this description of the first part of the Easter Vigil, the power of the symbols can be seen. It is so important then, to ensure that they are not diminished.

Wherever possible people should be gathering around a fire that everyone can see – a tiny barbeque tray is not worthy of this great night. The Paschal candle should be beautifully prepared and large enough to

FIRE AND LIGHT The Easter Vigil is full of rich symbolism. Each moment of ritual engages the senses in remembering and restoring the heart of why we are there at all. The lighting of a new fire, carving of a candle, the cry of proclamation ‘Lumen Christi’ echoed by the assembly, the spreading of fire as candles are lit from one to another, and the solemn bearing of the candle gives us a tangible sense of the presence of the Risen Christ right there among us.

Often people stay away from the Easter Vigil, believing it to be too long. In doing so they miss out on a liturgy of spectacular proportions, when every word and every action really matters.

The metaphor of darkness is

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dominate the proceedings. After all, this is the symbol of Christ in our midst. It is the candle from which Baptismal candles will be lit. It is the candle which will stand tall at the end of someone’s life, by their coffin, at their funeral service. It must be worthy of all these occasions and a sign for everyone to see when they come into our churches.

As ‘Lumen Christi’, ‘Christ our Light’, echoes in the night

deliverance and reconciliation, and hope against hope. They are not just any stories. They are chosen because they represent the kernel of who we are as a people of God. They are chosen to enable us to go deeper into our own story and into the reality of each one. When we listen attentively we are able to recognise that these stories are not about a distant past – they are our stories too. We too are

In a world where today there seems to be so much darkness it is not surprising that when the light of the candle shines out, there is a tangible sense of joy and relief everyone processes into the church. There is only the light of candles to hear the Easter Proclamation ring out and then we sit and hear stories which recall the journey of our salvation. The seven readings from the Hebrew Scriptures speak of suffering and slavery,

sinners who have been saved, we too can be weak one minute and strong the next. There are situations that bind us and those which free us. It wasn’t just our ancestors in faith who experienced these things – we do too! This is why liturgically it makes no sense to restrict these

readings to the one compulsory story – the crossing of the Red Sea by Moses and the Israelites.

Pastorally, it may be wise or necessary to limit the readings to three or four, but those chosen should enable the community to enter fully into their own story and history of salvation.

NEW LIFE IN BAPTISM The heart of the Vigil comes with the celebration of Baptism (new life) and a sharing in the Eucharistic meal. Here we rely on the power of ritual actions to allow us to plunge into the depths of the Paschal mystery that frees us from darkness and sin. We join with the saints of God in prayer for those who have chosen to follow Christ, that they will have the light and strength to persevere with resolute hearts. The blessing of the baptismal waters completes the Scripture proclamation that tells of divine action in creation

and human history. Again in this beautiful prayer images of water prevail: waters of creation, of flooding, of the Red Sea, of the Jordan where Jesus was baptised, and the completeness in the gift of Christ’s blood and water that ultimately gave us the church.

These strong images, spoken of while the candle is ritually plunged into the water three times, gives foundation to the hope we have that God will be faithful again. Through this ritual action the waters of the font are unsealed so that they may cleanse from sin and give new life to those who enter into them.

The lack of candidates for Baptism at the Easter Vigil can make this part of the liturgy seem like an empty ritual. It is another reason why we might not ‘bother’ with the Easter Vigil.

Yet, this is to become ‘parochial’ and not universal church. We never celebrate in isolation. As one church, we join ourselves

with every community around the world and with every person who becomes a child of God in the waters of Baptism this night.

They become our brother or sister in Christ. As we engage in the ritual of blessing we pray for all those baptised, not only on this night but in the weeks and months throughout the rest of the year. We may not be able to observe a Baptism but when we come to renew our own baptismal promises we renew within ourselves our own pledge to renounce sin and profess our promise to be faithful to our own dying and rising in Christ.

Of course the Vigil does not end at this point. A powerful invocation to the Holy Spirit to come down on those newly baptised to strengthen them is followed by the lavish signing with sweet smelling oil in the anointing of confirmation. It is yet another powerful ritual of the signing of the cross on

the foreheads of those who have committed themselves to following Christ, even to the Cross. The sacraments of initiation are completed at the table of Christ’s body and blood. The experience of receiving Eucharist for the first time is almost impossible to convey. A deep sense of joy is what most people seem to speak of, alongside a great sense of humility that what we receive is the result of God’s sacrificial giving.

This is the night – a profoundly rich expression of our faith. Make sure your parish celebrates it with the love and dignity it so deserves.

Sarah Adams studied liturgical theology at Maynooth. She now lives on a farm in Devon, working for the Diocese of Plymouth as a Religious Education adviser. She enjoys hiking on Dartmoor and the surrounding countryside.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES May/June 1944 To celebrate 80 years of The Redemptorist Record / Reality Magazine, we are delving into our archives to bring you some hidden gems from throughout the years. Reviewed by Paul Copeland

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REALITY APRIL 2017

ORIGINS OF THE

THE NOVENA

We are all familiar with the Novenas to Our Mother of Perpetual Help which attract tens of thousands to Redemptorist churches throughout Ireland each year. This editorial from 1944 reflects on the first Novena celebrated in New York in 1871 and how its popularity spread throughout the US before arriving in Ireland. It is clear that the Clonard Novena was destined to be a success from the very first year!

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By Mike Daley

JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN

WALKING IN A STRANGER’S SHOES EAGER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT FELT LIKE TO BE A BLACK MAN IN 1950s AMERICA, JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN TOOK A DRASTIC STEP. HIS EXPERIENCE FORCED HIM TO CONFRONT HIS OWN PREDJUDICES.

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“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

Since

1975 these words have begun what many have said is one the greatest TV shows of all time—Saturday Night Live. Over the years, we’ve witnessed amazing comedians like John Belushi, Gilda Radnor, Bill Murray, and Tina Fey and seen humorous sketches based on the Coneheads, the Land Shark, the Church Lady, and Matt Foley the Motivational Speaker.

In addition to the humour, there has also been a fair amount of social commentary as seen through SNL’s satirical skits. Not one person, whether president or pope, or cultural issue, including the ones you aren’t supposed to bring up in polite conversation, is immune to the show’s cutting and sarcastic parodying.

One of SNL’s most memorable skits in this regard happened on December 15, 1984. It was entitled ‘White Like Me’.

What makes the skit so hauntingly hilarious, yet uncomfortably truthful, is that you could

REALITY APRIL 2017

show it today and be forced to admit how little has changed.

It begins with Eddie Murphy in mockumentary fashion suggesting that racial prejudice may be a problem in America. He then states that there might actually be two Americas – one white, the other black. He goes on to say: “But talk is cheap.

So I decided to look into the problem myself, firsthand. To go underground and actually experience America as a white man.”

After some make-up (to lighten the skin), a wig, a false mustache, and a suit, Murphy, now called Mr White, is ready to meet the world. His first stop is a newspaper stand. Putting money on the counter, the attendant, noticing that no one else is around, encourages Mr White just to take the paper. Which he hesitantly does. In doing so, Mr White remarks that when left alone white people like to give each other free stuff.

A bus ride follows. When the lone black rider gets off, an impromptu party breaks out. Mr

White then proceeds to a bank to get a loan – with no collateral, no credit, or ID. During an interview with a black loan officer, a white bank manager interrupts, urging the black loan officer to take a break. Mr White then is given his $50,000 loan, no questions asked.

Summarising this social experiment, Murphy concludes by saying we “still have a long way to go before all men [and women] are truly equal.”

CROSSING OVER Unlike SNL and Eddie Murphy’s parody of race relations, John Howard Griffin actually did it. Challenged by the words of friends that “the only way a white man could hope to understand anything about this reality was to wake up some morning in a black man’s skin,” this Texas-based journalist became black. In 1959, with the assistance of a dermatologist, Griffin chemically altered his skin.

Griffin’s first encounter with his new black

self was telling: “Turning off all the lights, I went into the bathroom and closed the door. I stood in the darkness before the mirror, my hand on

which, progressively, led to total blindness in 1947.

This, however, would give him a central insight: “The blind can only see the heart and intelligence of a man, and nothing in these things indicates in the slightest whether a man is white or black.”

In the succeeding years, Griffin returned to France to study Gregorian chant, wrote several novels, married and had children. A pivotal the light switch. I forced myself to flick it on. moment in the midst of it all was his conversion to In the flood of light against white tile, the face Catholicism and baptism in 1951. Unexpectedly and shoulders of a stranger – a fierce, and inexplicably, his sight bald, very dark Negro – glared at me returned in 1957. This from the glass. He in no way resembled miracle set the stage for me. The transformation was total and his moral journey two shocking. I had expected to see myself years later to help bridge disguised, but this was something else. I the racial gap for which was imprisoned in the flesh of an utter he would become famous stranger, an unsympathetic one with and, later, be burned in whom I felt no kinship.” effigy.

As open-minded and empathetic a Griffin’s concern for man as Griffin was toward the cause civil rights continued of civil rights, looking at himself in the This 1961 photo shows John Howard Griffin, left, and Donald Rutledge, and brought him into contact with mirror even he was forced to admit his who shot the photos for Griffin's book Black Like Me, about his important people including another own prejudices (often unconscious) experiences posing as a black man in the South. (Courtesy of Rutledge family) famous Catholic convert, the Trappist toward blacks. Griffin called it the monk Thomas Merton. Throughout his “great delusion”; that he was brought up in Shortly after his arrival in Tours in 1935, his talks and travels, he was quick to point out that a “tainted atmosphere of white superiority”. ‘genteel’, Southern roots got the better of him. he did not speak for all people, especially African For some six weeks, travelling the American Though delighted to be with black African Americans.

South – from New Orleans, Louisiana to students in school, being out in public with them Beset by multiple health problems, Griffin – a Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama was another matter. Seeing one at the same café journalist, novelist, music teacher, photographer, to Atlanta, Georgia – Griffin experienced he, like any other Southern bigot, asked a fellow activist for civil rights – died in 1980. firsthand the daily grind of making ends meet classmate, “You allow them to eat in the same Decades removed from Griffin’s life-changing and the mental toll of dignity denied that place as us?” His schoolmate, with irritation in his event and death, Chris Pramuk, professor of racism took on the lives of blacks in Jim Crow voice, replied, “Why not?” At which point Griffin theology at Xavier Unviversity and author of the America. Under the appearance of “separate got the terrible feeling, “How could I have lived 15 book Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters but equal”, Jim Crow was the name given to a years and never heard anybody ask ‘Why not?’”

Across the Color Line, speaks of his legacy: “Griffin’s set of laws restricting access to all things public After his lycée studies he went to medical school life can throw fresh light into dark places, helping – education, restaurants, parks, restrooms, and at the University of Poitiers. There Griffin sought us to navigate difficult but crucial questions… transportation – for African Americans. to combine his interests in medicine, music, and in our own cities and neighborhoods. Are we Griffin’s encounters and thoughts during psychology. World War II intervened however in really capable of empathy for those who live and this time soon appeared in Sepia, a magazine 1940. Shortly thereafter, working out of a mental struggle just outside our comfort zones? And focused on black culture and concerns, in a hospital, Griffin joined the French Underground what accounts for our stubborn resistance to series entitled ‘Journey into Shame’. When and helped to pass Jewish children out of the solidarity, especially when it comes to building he first proposed the idea to the magazine’s country. Eventually, after his name appeared on relationships of friendship and understanding owner, Griffin was told, “It’s a crazy idea. You’ll a Nazi death list, he fled back to America across the colour line?” get yourself killed fooling around down there.”

Returning home to America in 1941, Griffin Later, the articles were collected and became joined the US army. They sent him to the South Mike Daley is a teacher and writer from Cincinnati, OH where the best-selling book Black Like Me (1961). A Pacific as an intelligence officer amongst the he lives with his wife June, and their three children. He is a major motion picture based on the book came indigenous people. Toward the end of the war, he frequent contributor to Reality. His latest book is Vatican II: out in 1964. sustained an injury during a Japanese air bombing, Fifty Personal Stories (Orbis).

WHY NOT? Just as revealing as Griffin’s journey as a black man was the process which led up to it. Born in 1920 in Dallas, Texas, Griffin spent his early childhood in Fort Worth. An academically and musically gifted child, he made the surprising decision, with his parents’ permission, to apply to a French lycée.

Are we really capable of empathy for those who live and struggle just outside our comfort zones?

27

F E AT U R E

GOING HUNGRY FOR ALEPPO EATING ONE MEAL A DAY TO SHINE A LIGHT ON THE SUFFERING OF THE SYRIAN PEOPLE

BY SARAH ADAMS

We

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are all aware of the ongoing tragedy that has been unfolding in Syria. A conflict, which started in March 2011, has left more than 300,000 Syrians dead including 86,000 civilians and 11 million others forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar alAssad and those opposed to his rule battle each other – as well as jihadist militants from so-called Islamic State. Hospitals have been bombed and though medical staff continue to try and work, the situation is desperate.

Hearing about the huge loss of life and the appalling tragedy afflicting the ordinary people, I wanted to help. I didn’t really know what I could do but in the end, I decided that I would raise money and awareness of the plight of the Syrians and particularly those in Aleppo. I decided to limit myself to one small meal a day and eliminate anything ‘extra’ from my diet for the month of November. Before I started I made sure that I had a guarantee from my chosen charity CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development)

REALITY APRIL 2017

that any money raised would go to the Syrians and in particular Aleppo. CAFOD does have people in Aleppo but for their safety there is no information about exactly where they are.

Throughout this time, I wrote a reflection and posted it on a special Facebook page, so that others would be reminded of why I had chosen to do this. Each reflection offered the opportunity to do something in solidarity with me and so for example on day four I wrote: ‘We are all inextricably linked by the common thread of humanity – if we break it we are all undone. We may never meet a man, woman or child from Aleppo but they are our brothers and sisters. Join me, today, in drinking only water.. you can still eat!’

And on November 5, known as Guy Fawkes Night in the UK when firework displays are common, I wrote: ‘Tonight when you see the rockets in the sky and the bangers exploding into an array of colour, be thankful that you can do this in the safe

knowledge that the rockets being fired are not missiles intent on killing or maiming you. God be with the people of Aleppo.’

Often my reflections came out of trying to make sense of what is happening in Syria in the light of the daily Gospel. Like so many, I cannot understand why anyone would want to cause another person such pain. We might think we never would but there are times when each of us does that by diminishing others or excluding them.

‘Once more Aleppo is under siege. It seems in our world today, that it is increasingly acceptable to 'do away' with those who do not fit our way of thinking or being. Instead of seeing everyone as a child of God we diminish and ostracise as 'the other'. It is deeply disturbing. We might ask ourselves, who is my brother or sister? Let us challenge ourselves to see how in our daily life we find ourselves to be excluding, diminishing or even annihilating. As Christians we are called to be counter-cultural, to not be terrorists or politicians but to embrace the other, and always, always be merciful.’

Stripping away what I ate to a small meal of protein and vegetables presented me with the opportunity to consider how much we rely on a certain way of living without even knowing it. I found myself suddenly bereft of reasons for eating out. One of my favourite treats is breakfast on a Saturday in one of my favourite coffee shops – this had to go by the wayside. I didn’t expect that.

Missing the social side of eating was a small price to pay when I could see that in Syria people are lucky if they have food at all.

As the month progressed, I found myself looking

at the world and wondering why the people perpetrating these acts of violence do not see what they are doing for what it really is. They seem blind to the futility of it all. On November 14, the Gospel for the day concerned a blind man who cries out to Jesus asking him to take pity on him.

Jesus responds by asking, “What do you want me to do for you?” My reflection that day became something of a plea: ‘As I struggle to make sense of what is happening in Syria and other parts of our world, I find myself asking Jesus to help me to see and understand.

If I could, I would like to do something amazing, something that will open the eyes of the whole world, change hearts and minds. Instead I do the small thing that I can and hope it contributes, just a little, to the tapestry of love and peace which we all long for.’

As the month moved on, the challenge of fasting became just that. It wasn’t the temptation of cakes, biscuits or chocolate, which seemed to be in abundance wherever I went. I confess it was the sheer tedium of the lack of variety. Perhaps this was to do with my culinary skills but I think it was more to do with lack of time to be inventive.

Thinking of this tedium, I began to recognise more deeply the plight of the people in Syria and all refugees. The small food they may have is likely to be a handful of rice or potato. They are probably very grateful for this small morsel but I imagine that they long for something different, a proper meal, some fruit, or cake, anything to break the monotony and give a sense of normal life.

I was grateful for the one meal I had. If it was tedious it was my doing for I did have the scope to make it more interesting.

They do not.

So, just as things were getting challenging,

everything changed for me when a little girl came to the attention of the world via the social media site, Twitter. Her name is Bana. Whilst she may just be an ordinary seven-year-old girl who loves to read and wants to become a teacher, her story is extraordinary. She was communicating to the world via Twitter from her home in Aleppo. She wanted the world to know what it was like to live with the constant fear of being bombed out of existence. Just an ordinary little girl, with hopes and dreams for a better future, but living in constant fear, with little food and a knowledge far beyond what any child should have to face. I started to follow her because it seemed to me to be a direct link with the situation there. She was someone that I, along with thousands of others, could communicate directly with and send messages of support and hope. Following Bana was difficult, disturbing and often sad. Her tweets said it all: November 21: ‘Why would they bomb us and kill innocent people?

November 23: ‘My friends this is not the moon, this is bomb falling now. Pray for us tonight. I am afraid.’

November 24: ‘Good morning from Aleppo.

We are still alive.’ But later she wrote: ‘Oh dear world, I am crying tonight, this is my friend killed by a bomb tonight. I can’t stop crying. Someone save us now. I am hiding in my bed.’

November 25: Bana’s mother writes: ‘You see we can die anytime. This bomb is so near.

I sincerely appeal to the world to save us now.’

On the same day Bana wrote: ‘Allow in food. Just allow, just….Please allow it for the thousands starving here.’

November 28: ‘Last message…under heavy bombardment now we can’t be alive anymore.

When we die keep talking for the 200,000 still inside. Bye.’ Fortunately the family survived but they lost their home and they had to flee. Bana spoke of being hungry, afraid and not wanting to die. Later she wrote: ‘I am sick, I have no medicine, no home, no clean water. This will make me die even before a bomb.’

Bana’s story is deeply disturbing and very sad but it is the story of many people in Syria today. They are the voiceless victims of a

political and bloody war. Bana and her family now live in a refugee camp in Turkey. She continues to tweet.

My official fasting came to an end on December 1, though as I write just before Lent begins I plan to start once more. On December 29, the Syrian government and rebel groups agreed a nationwide ceasefire. It is tenuous but in January, Russian troops began to leave Syria and now in March we find that, though fighting continues in other parts of Syria, the ceasefire has held in Aleppo. Please God, 2017 will see a return of the Syrian people to begin the long and arduous task of rebuilding their lives.

To date ‘One Meal a Day for Aleppo’ has raised over £4,000.

It will provide much needed food and clothing for a stoical people who need our love and support.

To support Sarah’s fundraising efforts, visit www.justgiving. com/fundraising/SarahAdams33 To follow Bana’s journey, see twitter. com/AlabedBana

Sarah Adams studied liturgical theology at Maynooth.

She writes a regular column on liturgy for Reality. Sarah is passionate about raising awareness of the plight of people caught up in the Syrian war and supports the efforts in her local community to alleviate the sufferings of refugees.

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COMMENT FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS CARMEL WYNNE

DIFFERENCE IN COMMUNICATION STYLES

OUR WORDS ARE IMPORTANT BUT THEY ARE ONLY ONE ELEMENT OF HOW WE CONNECT WITH OTHERS. Have you ever tried to have a meaningful conversation with a family member or colleague who doesn’t make eye contact when you are speaking? My first instinct is to ask the person to look at me. Eye contact is an important nonverbal communication, especially for women whose brains are wired to respond to people and faces.

Allan and Barbara Pease are among the world’s foremost experts on body language. They say that typically a woman can see an average of six different facial expressions in a ten-second period, reflect and give feedback on the other woman’s emotions.

Picking up on intonation and body language, women can read the meaning of what is being said and accurately name the emotional response when another person feels joy, sadness, surprise, anger, fear, or desire.

Men simply cannot do this.

Brain scans show that men feel emotions as strongly as women but they remain impassive when listening and avoid showing their emotions. The Peases say that the emotionless mask that men wear while listening allows them to feel in control. Understanding these differences in our styles of communication may be helpful for any woman who believes that her husband isn’t listening when he doesn’t make eye contact.

Long before social conditioning has had time to have an effect, there are scientific, measurable difference between the sexes.

Men and women’s brains are wired differently. The brain circuitry of each sex causes them to focus on

words and body language, but by what we do and don’t do, by what we say and don’t say, by the messages we intend to communicate, and with a host of mainly unconscious non-verbal signals.

different things and what is really interesting is that by listening to the words people use we can gain insights to help us communicate better.

Effective communication is not so complicated once you understand gender differences and communication styles.

Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the originators of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), discovered that people think in different ways and that these differences correspond to the three principal senses – visual, auditory and feeling, which they called kinesthetics.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman; your thinking is more inclined to one of three representational systems than to the other two. Internally we talk, have feelings, or generate visual images. Auditory people use words such as 'listen', 'tune in', 'sounds like' and can take an age to reply when you ask them a question.

They will often break eye contact, not because they are disinterested but because they are paying close attention. If you interrupt them when they are preparing an answer they can get frustrated.

Visual people tend to talk and behave as if they are picturing everything. They use words such as, 'view', 'look', 'see', and 'show'. If they are interrupted it can cause them to lose part of the picture and interfere with their train of thought. Some visual people have a tendency to look around and lose eye contact. This does not signal a lack of respect or interest but it can be irritating.

Sometimes when two people have different conversational styles they grate on each other. Visual people tend to speak quickly and to use their hands to complement whatever they are saying. This can be most irritating for the auditory person who needs quiet to listen to the words and mentally engage in internal dialogue about what s/ he wishes to say. Kinesthetic people can be judged as introverted and over-sensitive because they attach great importance to their intuition and gut reaction. They make assumptions about how other people feel and relate to others as if their assumptions are facts.

In order to be effective communicators we need to be aware of how we are constantly communicating, not just with

What happens at the non-verbal level of communication has far more impact on how we relate than we realise. Men and women may have very different styles of communicating with words, but effective communicators understand that words play only a small but important part in how we connect emotionally and develop loving family relationships.

Having an extensive vocabulary and a good command of language, and understanding gender difference will help you to become more articulate. But there is a world of difference between hearing the words “I love you” and the experience of a warm hug that communicates a reality that is beyond words. We can put words on a physical reaction – “I went weak at the knees when he looked at me” – but language is inadequate to describe our emotional feelings.

There are no words to convey the depth of love and tenderness that can be communicated through eye contact. A loving glance will always communicates more than words can say.

Carmel Wynne is a life and work skills coach and lives in Dublin. For more information, visit www.carmelwynne.org

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P R AY E R

prayer corner

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In this series, Fr George Wadding invites us to take an imaginative look at some familiar Gospel stories, imagining how the characters might have told their story if they were alive today. Using the imagination can be a powerful way of entering into reflective contemplative prayer. Find a quiet corner, read the article slowly a few times, think about it and pray as the spirit leads you.

The Labourers In The Vineyard Most

of my working life I have been an itinerant farmhand. I have no special skills beyond those I have learned from experience since I was a lad. I have never had a steady job and so no guaranteed wages. Life has been very rough, at times brutal. There were times our children and ourselves went to bed hungry, with no hope that the morrow or the next day would be any better. Every morning people like me gathered at the crossroads outside the village praying that some landowner might hire us for the day. Even an hour's work would be better than none at all; at least I could bring a loaf of bread home with me. Though I can work as hard as any man, I look scrawny and weak. I was nearly always the last to be chosen. Walking the dew early in the morning I caught many's the cold. In the spring I watched the busy birds flying in and out of their nests feeding

REALITY APRIL 2017

their young. They found worms and berries aplenty and their young chirped merrily in their bed. Yet my young and my wife had very few occasions for merriment.

I blamed myself. I was the bread-winner in my home, and I failed to do what was expected of me. The shame was worse than the hunger. Even though it wasn't my fault I felt I was a failure and a let-down for my wife and family. To give her her due, my wife took in washing and did whatever jobs she could find to keep the wolf from the door.

Of course, the knockers said we were idlers and wasters. If we couldn't provide for our children we shouldn’t have had any. Easy for them to criticise us and they with their bellies full. There was no one to plead our cause.

We were at the mercy of the landlords and they had little or none. Their only concern was their own takings. They paid a pittance to us and even that was given grudgingly.

STORYTELLER One day a ray of sun burst through the gloom.

A group of us were standing in our usual pitch hoping to be hired. A Galilean Rabbi and his followers were passing through the village and heading west. He was called Jesus, from Nazareth. He was a friendly chap and stopped to chat with us. At the same time the landlord's agent arrived to pick some of the lucky ones. In our eagerness to get chosen we turned away from the Rabbi to the agent.

He began picking his men when the Rabbi said, “Would you like to hear a story?” Before we had time to answer he began his story anyhow. Even the agent, out of respect, was forced to listen.

“The Kingdom of God is like this,” he began.

We all groaned audibly, another sermon! – but he continued: “There was a vine-grower once,” - that got our immediate attention.

“It was harvest time and he needed

In his parables, Jesus took everyday situations, familiar to the people of the time, and encouraged his listeners to look at things in a new way. There was often an unexpected twist in the tail.

(Read this meditation and keep your Bible handy, open at Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 and following.)

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extra hands in the vineyard. So he came at cockcrow to where the labourers were standing – just like you – and he picked a few of them to work for him. They agreed a wage, a silver denarius.”

“That's fair enough!” we all agreed, “more than we usually get.”

“Well, it so happened that he returned again at nine o'clock wanting more help.

He assured the workers that he would give them a fair wage. So, off they went with him to his vineyard. By midday, the weather was threatening so he came back looking for more hands. And he was back again at three o'clock.”

“They must have thought all their Hannukahs had come at once,” said the man beside me, making us all laugh.

“But it wasn't finished yet. At five o'clock with only an hour of daylight left he came back for the few remaining workers.”

A FAIR WAGE I thought to myself, “I would surely have been in that bunch. But, at least, it would be better than nothing.”

“Well, it came to pay time,” said the Rabbi, warming to his story. “He paid the denarius as he promised to those he hired first. And what did he do next? He paid a denarius as well to all the hired hands.”

“Even to those who only came at five o'clock?” I asked.

“Even to those who only came at five o'clock,” he answered. “Of course, the early starters were furious. But the vine-grower took them on. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘we agreed on your wages from the very start and you thought it was reasonable and just. Why are you so angry just because I am generous to the others who have families to raise?’”

His story seemed to fall on deaf ears. The hiring agent who was still with us was livid,

muttering something about the Rabbi being a dangerous innovator, telling yarns like that.

The lucky ones who got hired most days were no better than those in the Rabbi's story.

They moved off with the agent, mumbling to themselves about the injustice of the world.

So much for solidarity!

But the rest of us clapped and cheered.

Wouldn't it be just fantastic if all landlords were like the one in the story! And if God is that generous, then I for one would like to belong to his Kingdom. But, I suppose, it will always be the same, as long as the world lasts.

The rich will get the kudos and the poor will get the dregs - if they're lucky.

Father George Wadding is a member of the new Redemptorist Community, Dun Mhuire, Griffith Avenue, Dublin D09 P9H9

F E AT U R E

WOUND WITH MERCY THE SUNDAY AFTER EASTER, APRIL 23, IS DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY, A FEAST DEDICATED TO THE MERCY AND FORGIVENESS OF GOD. BUT WHAT DOES MERCY REALLY MEAN? THIS STORY FROM WORLD WAR II SHOWS US HOW WE MIGHT BEGIN TO PUT MERCY INTO ACTION.

35

BY CAROL RITTNER, RSM Holocaust Memorial Museum

St

Columba's Church in Derry city, also known as the Long Tower, was built on the site of a 12th century church. It is a place where many good and holy people have stood, and knelt, and prayed for hundreds of years. In July 1848, six Sisters of Mercy arrived in Derry. It was here, in the Long Tower Church, that those Sisters of Mercy, as well as hundreds of Sisters who followed in their footsteps, prayed, celebrated Mass, and lent their ‘listening ear’ to generations of Catholics. Buried in a vault in the sacred grounds of this church are the remains of 66 Sisters of Mercy, including Sister Mary Ann Doyle, an original companion of Dublin’s Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy in 1831.

Although the Jubilee Year of Mercy is officially over, Pope Francis continues to encourage all of us Catholic Christians to make mercy an integral part of our lives. He has said that “there is no mercy without concreteness”. But what is mercy?

Mercy is “a mode of relationship and a power that is wounded by the suffering of others”.

Mercy propels one to act on behalf of the person or persons who are suffering. Mercy opposes injustice and whatever is demeaning or degrading to another. Mercy means involving yourself where there is evil, where there is sickness, where there is hunger, where there is human exploitation.

ANNE FRANK AND THE HOLOCAUST The face of Anne Frank is universally recognisable.

She personifies the tragedy of the Holocaust and is a symbol of what might have been. Hidden for most of the war in the annex of an Amsterdam house by very brave people, the Frank family was discovered, betrayed, and transported to Nazi Germany’s death camps in 1944. Only Anne’s father survived.

But what if she, and many other Jewish families, had been given refuge in unoccupied Europe, away from Nazi Germany’s control? Neither Eamon de Valera’s neutral Ireland nor the government of Northern Ireland – technically, the government of the United Kingdom – acted

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with magnanimity during World War II and the Holocaust. Neither did my own government, the American government, act with anything close to generosity when it came to helping refugees from Nazism. The policy of the American government and of the governments of Ireland and the UK was to keep the majority of the refugees – in particular, Jewish refugees – out. Doesn’t that behaviour, unfortunately, echo the attitude of our governments toward refugees today?

When, as a young nun and new teacher, I taught The Diary of Anne Frank to my Catholic high school students, I knew very little about the historical events surrounding Anne and the Jews of Europe. Of course I knew Jews had suffered during World War II, but, about the Holocaust, Hitler’s planned systematic attempt to annihilate every Jew on the face of the earth, I still had much to learn. As a young teacher, it did not occur to me to raise questions about antisemitism, about collaboration, or about resistance against the Nazis in Holland, Germany, Hungary, or any place else in Nazi-occupied Europe. I was not able to probe beneath the surface of the words Anne had written during the two years she lived in the shadow of death in that cramped attic on the top floor of the narrow building on that canal in Amsterdam. I read – and taught – The Diary of Anne Frank as a story about the “triumph of the human spirit”, not as a primary document revealing a historical catastrophe. But what I missed when I read and taught The Diary of Anne Frank, I could not avoid when I read Victor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning.

Perhaps it was because I was more mature, more free emotionally and intellectually, when I read Frankl’s book. I cannot say now, but I do remember that when I finished reading Man’s Search for

How, I asked myself, could a place like Auschwitz have existed within the very heart of so-called ‘Christian Europe’?

Meaning, I was shattered. How, I asked myself, could a place like Auschwitz have existed within the very heart of so-called ‘Christian Europe’? How REALITY APRIL 2017

Jane Haining

could human beings turn their most ferocious powers on themselves? How could they separate Jews from others in the human family, force them into concentration camps, demean and starve them, then funnel them into gas chambers and burn them in ovens? Where were the Christian churches – Catholic and Protestant alike? Where were Christians – Catholics and Protestants alike?

Why didn’t they help the Jews in their time of need? What, I asked myself, had happened to the great teachings of Jesus to Christians through the ages: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you”; “What you do to the least of your brothers and sisters, you do unto me”; “Greater love a person does not have than to lay down his or her life for a friend”?

When it came to the Jews and their suffering during World War II and the Holocaust, mercy was in short supply, but it was not totally absent.

“There is no mercy without concreteness”, without action on behalf of others.

“NO MERCY WITHOUT CONCRETENESS” Jane Haining (1897-1944), a Protestant Christian, was born in Dunscone near Dumfries, Scotland.

Her sister, Agnes ‘Nan’ O’Brien lived for years in the Waterside area of Derry – Londonderry – Northern Ireland. Jane’s mother died when she was just five years old, which as you can imagine, had to be tough on a young child. After leaving Dumfries Academy, where she was an excellent student who was good at languages, Jane took a secretarial job

at the huge JP Coats weaving factory in Paisley, Scotland. She worked there for ten years, and might have worked there even longer except for the fact that her life changed forever when she attended a meeting in Glasgow about the Church of Scotland’s Jewish Mission in Hungary. She told a friend, “I have found my life-work.”

Always a faithful Christian – Jane Haining attended church at Queen's Park West in the Crosshill area of Glasgow – she gave up everything with which she was familiar to move to Hungary in 1932, where she became matron of the Church of Scotland’s school in Budapest.

Some 400 children attended that school, a mix of Christians and Jews. She loved her work at the school. For these young women, Jane Haining embodied the values of fairness, tolerance and equality, values that drove the whole Scottish mission.

Less than a year after Jane arrived in Budapest, Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Nazi Germany. He was the most powerful force in the turning against Jews that occurred across Europe in the 1930s.

When World War II broke out in 1939, Jane was on leave in Scotland, but she was determined to return to Budapest and her girls. She immediately undertook the difficult journey back to Budapest.

After she returned, she did all she could to ensure that school life continued as normally as possible for the girls – all the girls, Jews as well as Christians – but the situation was deteriorating in Europe as Nazi Germany invaded and occupied country after country. The church ordered its personnel back to Scotland, but Jane refused to obey. She felt the children needed her more than ever. Her friend Frances Warburton Lee recalled, “I can see her now – ‘No, Frances [she said to me]… The Jews are now entering their most dangerous period – nothing would induce me to desert them.’”

Jane told her sister, Nan O’Brien – the sister that lived in the Waterside area of Derry – “If these children need me in days of sunshine, how much more do they need me in days of darkness?”

By 1944, Nazi Germany had invaded Budapest and the school’s Jewish pupils were in increasing danger. The order came that all Jewish children had to wear the yellow Star of David on their clothing. Jane did what she could to shield her Jewish girls from the Germans and their Hungarian

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sympathisers. She wept bitterly as she sewed the Star of David on their clothing.

Eventually, Jane was denounced to the Nazi authorities as a Jewish sympathiser. The Gestapo raided her office. They gave her 15 minutes to gather a few belongings, took her away for questioning, and imprisoned her in Budapest. She was charged with working among Jews, trying to help them, weeping when sewing on the yellow stars, listening to the BBC, visiting British prisoners of war, and other ridiculous offences. In Nazi-occupied Europe, showing human kindness and concern had become a crime.

In May 1944 Jane was deported along with some of her Jewish children to the death camp Auschwitz.

She could have escaped her fate if only she had abandoned her Jewish students, but she refused to do so. Exactly when Jane died in Auschwitz is not known for certain, but she was probably gassed along with a group of Hungarian women on August 16, 1944, ten months before the end of the war.

Jane Haining, a committed Protestant Christian woman, was murdered by the Nazis for showing

The Dunscore Memorial to Jane Haining

human kindness to Jews, to POWs, and to others.

She was arrested, deported to Auschwitz, murdered more than 70 years before Pope Francis reminded us that “there is no mercy without concreteness.”

Jane Haining understood better than I, a Sister of Mercy for more than 50 years, that mercy means caring about human beings. Jane understood that mercy is not doing something good while passing by on the other side of the road when someone is hurting.

Mercy means involving yourself where there is

evil, where there is sickness, where there is hunger, where there is human exploitation. Jane involved herself. She did what she could, where she was, with what she had – even to the point of laying down her very life for her friends.

May Jane Haining’s life, her actions in solidarity with her Jewish students, and unnamed others, inspire us to live lives of caring and concern for others – lives of concrete mercy – so that we can make real God’s active and practical love in our families, in our work places, and in our world.

As the poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “I say that we are wound/ With mercy round and round/ As if with air…” May that mercy envelop us, and encourage mercy in us, so that we may be mercy for all those in our fractured world who need us.

Carol Rittner, RSM is an American Sister of Mercy who is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey (USA).

Breaking the Word in April 2017 www.proclaim.ie

Please pray for the Redemptorist Teams who will preach the Word and for God’s People who will hear the Word proclaimed this month in:

Cloone, Aughavass, Co Letrim (1st – 7th April 2017)

Monkstown, Co. Dublin (22nd – 28th April 2017)

Mission preached by Laurence Gallagher CSsR, Denis Luddy CSsR and Niamh O’Neill

Mission preached by Laurence Gallagher CSsR and Keiran Brady CSsR

Kingscourt, Co Cavan (1st – 9th April 2017)

Mission preached by Johnny Doherty CSsR & John Hanna CSsR

Mission preached by Brendan Keane CSsR & Johnny Doherty CSsR

Palmerstown, Co Dublin (10th – 12th April 2017) Triduum Mission preached by Ciarán O’Callaghan CSsR

Dunsford & Ardglass, Co Down (22nd – 30th April 2017) Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan (April 29th – May 1st 2017) Triduum Mission preached by Peter Burns CSsR in honour of St Joseph the Worker

The details above are accurate at the time of printing. If you have any views, comments or even criticisms about Redemptorist preaching, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested in a mission or novena in your parish, please contact us for further information. And please keep all Redemptorist preachers in your prayers.

Fr Johnny Doherty CSsR, Email: dohertyjohnny@gmail.com Tel: +44 28 90445950

Fr Laurence Gallagher CSsR, Email: missions.novenas@redemptorists.ie Tel: +353 61 315099

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A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?

THE FIFTH LATERAN COUNCIL (1512-17)

AS PART OF OUR REFORMATION SERIES, WE FOCUS ON THE FIFTH LATERAN COUNCIL – AN OFTEN OVERLOOKED ATTEMPT TO REFORM A CHURCH IN TURMOIL.

BY SALVADOR RYAN

Later

this year we will be commemorating the 500 th anniversary of the beginning of the European Reformation, which is traditionally dated from Martin Luther’s iconic nailing of ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows’ Eve. Minor as

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the incident might have been regarded at the time (if, indeed, it ever happened), the actions of this zealous Augustinian friar would have ramifications far beyond what anyone could have imagined. Luther’s protest is sometimes seen as taking a church that was reluctant to reform itself unawares and, caught in the

headlights of all that followed, ecclesiastical authorities could only circle the wagons, eventually excommunicate the messenger and languish largely in a state of paralysis until the calling of a General Council at Trent some 28 years later in 1545 when it was far too late to put the genie back in the bottle. In this view, the Catholic

church largely sleep-walked into the Reformation, hamstrung by its own torpor.

But this year also marks another 500th anniversary, one which will largely be overlooked in our remembering of the Reformation.

On 16 March 1517 the Fifth Lateran Council, which had met since 1 May 1512, came to a close.

council did not provide itself with the appropriate tools to implement effective reform, nevertheless a wholesale dismissal of the council and its participants is unwarranted.

Indeed, I hope to show that there were some significant voices at the time which astutely identified areas of the church that were in need of reform, but that these were largely lost amidst a sea of competing concerns.

This was the last general council of the church to meet before the Reformation and, if not passed over in a couple of sentences in discussions of the period, it is often employed to demonstrate just how unwilling the church was to make a serious effort to reform itself just months before Martin Luther’s protest. The consensus for long among historians was that this council was largely forgettable, a dead letter; that is, if it was, indeed, a legitimate council at all. In this article I would like to take a closer look at the genesis of the council and some of its deliberations.

Although historians are largely correct in concluding that the

WHY WAS THE COUNCIL CALLED? The calling of the Fifth Lateran Council by Pope Julius II has to be understood against the backdrop of over a century of tension between popes and church councils. From the late 1370s a crisis in the church saw two rival papacies – one at Rome and another at Avignon – each claim legitimacy. Both sides were deeply entrenched in their positions and it seemed as if the schism would continue indefinitely, for what mechanism might be used to judge between two rival popes? This intractable situation gave rise to an increased interest in the idea of conciliarism, that is, the belief that general councils of the church exercised greater authority than individual popes and could be employed to depose them. A general council at Pisa in 1409 went on to do precisely this, installing its own candidate on the See of Peter; however, it didn’t work out as well as it might have done, for the two sitting popes refused to step down to make way for the third conciliarsponsored pontiff. Now the number of popes had increased to three: this clearly was not progress. It would take another council, held at Constance in 1415, to finally resolve the issue and return to a papacy of one uncontested pope. It seemed,

then, as if conciliarism worked after all. Thereafter, the plan was that general councils would be held frequently as a matter of course, but, like all good intentions, this was later reneged upon by popes who quickly forgot their need of councils. It didn’t help, either, that the Council of Basel in 1431 soon found itself caught in the crosshairs of another struggle with papal authority, leading eventually to the council itself splitting, one cohort remaining in Basel and another moving to Italy to meet at Ferrara and Florence. This conciliar schism helped to take the wind out of the conciliarists’ sails, and popes developed an even greater aversion to the notion of councils, avoiding calling them if at all possible.

Yet by the early 16th century, there were many reform-minded individuals who wished for another council to be called. When Pope Julius II had been elected in 1503, as a condition of his election he had sworn to call a reforming council within two years, stating that if he didn’t, others were welcome to do so. However, Pope Julius failed to make good on his promise and so King Louis XII of France and Emperor Maximilian of Germany jointly called a council at Pisa in 1511, which would have a reformist agenda (it should be remembered that in the first millennium of the church it was secular and not religious leaders who called ecumenical councils). They also asked if Pope Julius would preside at it, which he refused to do. Instead, it was led by the learned Spanish cardinal Bernardino López de Carvajal and enacted decrees limiting the wealth and ostentatious

displays of prelates, banned simony in the election of popes and bishops, moved against cardinals holding multiple posts and allowed for the deposition of criminal clerics – all worthy developments. If Pope Julius had initially given this council his blessing, Lateran V would never have happened. However, rather than do

From the late 1370s a crisis in the church saw two rival papacies – one at Rome and another at Avignon – each claim legitimacy this, he found himself calling his own rival council in order to stamp his authority on matters. This met for the first time on 1 May 1512 as the Fifth Lateran Council.

THE POLITICS OF THE FIFTH LATERAN COUNCIL Pope Julius II’s council had its genesis in an act of one-upmanship, specifically directed against the French king, Louis XII, with whom relations were far from ideal. For some years now, Julius had been consumed with the expansion of the territory of the Papal States and the extirpation of French power in Italy, and in 1511 had entered a Holy League with Venice, Spain and England, something that greatly antagonised the French. As the French withdrew from Italy, the council which Louis XII had called at Pisa was forced to move to Asti and later to Lyons. Pope Julius’ Lateran Council condemned its Pisa rival, calling it a conciliabulum (a mini-council or, in a freer, but more fitting translation, “a little talking-shop”). Julius was successful in stealing the council’s thunder for, by late December 1512, even Emperor Maximilian had nailed his colours to Julius’s Lateran mast.

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But there were also other matters equally important to Julius than condemning the rival council.

His poor relations with King Louis XII of France had led to the French king re-enacting what was known as the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1438). This, among other provisions, recognised the authority of ecumenical councils to be superior to that of popes, and laid down that appointment to ecclesiastical office would be by election in the monasteries and the cathedral chapters and not by papal appointment. It also forbade appeals

by French clergy to Rome and ended the payment to the papal coffers of the annates (the revenue accrued in the first year of an ecclesiastical appointment). Resolving this state of affairs, however, would be left to his successor, Pope Leo X who took up office in 1513.

The 37-year old Leo X (a cardinal since 13 and the son of Renaissance prince, Lorenzo de Medici, but not a priest at the time of election) was an astute political operator and managed, first, to convince King Louis XII to drop his claim to the legitimacy of the Council of Pisa and, secondly, to convince his successor, King Francis I in 1515 to revoke the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. But there would be a trade-off. In exchange for a recognition of papal supremacy and the restoration of the payment of the annates and appeals to Rome, Pope Leo was willing to concede to the French king the power to appoint to bishoprics, abbacies and other major ecclesiastical offices.

The resulting Concordat of Bologna in 1516 recognised the supremacy of papal power (even over councils) while effectively making King Francis I the master of a French national church. The conciliarist threat had been quashed.

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Pope Julius II

Pope Leo X

CALLS FOR REFORM Lest it be thought that the Fifth Lateran Council was primarily political, it’s important to take heed of the reformist voices within the council itself. In a famous opening address to the council in 1512, general of the Augustinian order, Giles of Viterbo, lambasted the papacy and curia, demanding action and not words in calling for renewal in the church. He called for the church to return to its roots and to “finally … call religion back to its old purity, its ancient brilliance, its original splendour, and its own sources”. Addressing Pope Julius, he stated that “[God] commands you to tear down, root up and destroy errors, luxury and vice, and to build, establish, and plant moderation, virtue and holiness”.

The following year (1513) there was another call for reform, submitted by two Venetian Camaldolese monks, Vincenzo Querini and Paolo Giustiniani, to the new pope, Leo X (1513-21) in the form of the Libellus ad Leonem X, a memorandum which alleged that the vast majority of clergy could not properly read Latin liturgical rites, that the majority of the laity knew absolutely nothing about the faith, and that superstition was the order of the day. Moreover, the blame for all of this was laid directly

at the feet of the pope himself. The memorandum recommended that the papacy should lead the path to reform, that general councils should be called every five years, and that bishops should hold regular synods in their dioceses. Furthermore, candidates for ordination should be carefully examined by their bishops to ensure that they knew scripture and that they had, in fact, read the entire Bible. In addition, the Bible should be translated into the vernacular so that it could be accessed by the lay faithful. There should also be a revision of Canon Law, a new missal, a new breviary, and a new church calendar which would be standardised among all Catholics.

The centralising reforms suggested here, in fact, foreshadowed much of what would emerge after the Council of Trent. However, in the end, nothing was done. For example, the papal bull Supernae dispositionis arbitrio (1514), which emerged from session 9 of the council, reiterated earlier condemnations of clerical abuses, but no measures were put in place for its enforcement and so its words had no teeth, precisely what Egidio of Viterbo had warned against. It was a similar case with Supernae majestatis praesidio (1516), the conciliar decree on preaching, which condemned the appeal to prophecy and apocalyptic signs

by preachers, called for a return to scriptural study and for a reform of the morals and the conduct of the clergy, and stipulated that there should be proper screening by bishops of those permitted to preach.

By 1517, Pope Leo’s mind was also on other things, not least a plot by some dissident cardinals to have him poisoned. The ringleader, the cardinal of Siena, Alfonso Petrucci, was subsequently executed and his associates imprisoned. On 11 March 1517 Pope Leo closed the council and returned to what, for him, were the more pressing matters of politics and hunting (but not before calling for a new crusade against the Ottoman Turks). In the end, though, Leo X had no real appetite for reform and those attending the council, many of whom were genuinely reform-minded individuals, could do little without papal support.

Despite the concerns expressed at the Fifth Lateran Council by many who were genuinely interested in reforming the Christian church, when the Reformation actually did happen it found a papacy asleep at the wheel. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that when a reform commission was established by Pope Paul III, 20 years later, and presented its report to the pope in March 1537, it laid the blame for the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation squarely on the papacy, the cardinals and the hierarchy. Giles of Viterbo and the Camaldolese monks, Querini and Giustiniani, who had levelled similar criticisms during Lateran V, would surely have felt vindicated.

Salvador Ryan is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He has recently edited (with Declan Marmion and Gesa E. Thiessen), Remembering the Reformation: Martin Luther and Catholic Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017).

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE STATIONS OF THE CROSS – THEN AND NOW REVIEWED BY KATE GREEN ‘Doing the Stations’ is a devotion dating backtothefourthcentury,whenChristians wentonpilgrimagetoJerusalemtowalkin the footsteps of Christ along the Via Crucis inpenance,supplicationandthanksgiving.

By the fifth century, churches at home began depicting scenes from Christ's Passion and death to enable people to make this pilgrimage in their own way.

It became a popular public practice, particularly as a penance given after receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or as a personal devotion in Lent, on Good Friday, or throughout the year. Artistic representations of the Stations abound in two- or three-dimensional form, and the riches of the internet allow us to avail of the graces inherent in accompanying Christ in this last great act of love.

However, it could be said that what Fr

McBride calls the “public performance" of the Stations seems to have slipped quietly intothebackgroundofmodernCatholiclife in recent times. It is interesting therefore to note that during his address on World Youth Day in 2016, Pope Francis gave a new generation eight profound reasons to reclaim this channel of grace. And it is in this spirit that Denis McBride's latest book Stations of the Cross - then and now offers a fresh, imaginative and vibrant reinterpretation of these events, ever-old and ever-new.

The visual pattern, carried throughout the book, is set on the front cover, with its Curd Lessig painting of Jesus lying dead in HisMother'sarms,abovethenow-famous photo of a Turkish policeman tenderly carrying the dead body of drowned little Alan Kurdi.

The connections, the raison d'etre of the book, are clearly established: suffering and death are our common lot; the innocent and vulnerable lie always at the mercy of the powerful; injustice and evil touch every human life – but ultimately, goodness and gracewillshatterthedarkness.Christwalks our personal Via Crucis with us, imbuing us with hope, teaching us to be merciful and forgiving, and, above all, pointing towards the unwritten 15th Station, the Resurrection.

Each meditation follows a simple and effective format: a Scripture passage; a modernpaintingoftheStation;areflection; amodernphotograph;ameditationonthis image; and a closing prayer.

The reader is invited to dwell on the timeless climax of our salvation story, and its relevance for every human life.

In each reflection, the author addresses Christ directly, questioning, commenting, observing.Insodoing,heinvitesthereader into the shared, sacred space of Christ's silence, pregnant with possibilities. Our creativeimaginationsaregivenfreerein,our personalpainiswelcomedwithgentleness, love and understanding, for here is a Christ who has been there before us.

As an aid to prayerful contemplation for theindividualorgroup,StationsoftheCross - then and now is to be recommended as a powerful encounter with the suffering Christ, present in in our brothers and sisters inthemanyGolgothasofthe21st century.

Stations of the Cross - then and now is available from Redemptorist Communications

Available from Redemptorist Communications

Denis McBride’s STATIONS of the CROSS

then and now

The way of the cross is not confined to a lonely road in Jerusalem two thousand years ago: it is a busy highway winding through every village, town and city in our modern world.

Fr Denis McBride C.Ss.R. reflectively guides us along the way of the cross. He contrasts the beauty and solemn simplicity of the more traditional Stations by artist Curd Lessig with modern images that challenge us to link Jesus’ story to the struggle of our everyday life. Through its rich array of scripture passages, paintings, poetry, prayers, photographs and reflections, Stations of the Cross – then and now becomes a companion not only on our Lenten journey but throughout the year: suffering is not limited to one liturgical season. Whether we walk in solitude or with others, this book translates the passion of Jesus into our own life and times.

To Order: Call 00353 (0) 1 4922488, Email: sales@redcoms.org or go to shop at www.redcoms.org

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DE V E LO P M E NT IN ACTION

LIVING ON THE EDGE IN NORTHERN HONDURAS TRÓCAIRE’S DAVID O’HARE RECENTLY VISITED HONDURAS IN CENTRAL AMERICA WHERE HE SAW COMMUNITIES STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE IN THE FACE OF HUGE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES.

BY DAVID O’HARE PHOTOGRAPHY BY NIAMH McCARTHY

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“From

the moment we know the storm is coming, we know we will lose something. We can’t eat. We can’t sleep. We’re so worried. I panic when I hear the water is coming. I feel fear for my daughter.” These are the words of Miriam Marivel Campos Perez (31) from Cuyamel on the northern Honduras coast.

I met Miriam and other members of her community when I visited Honduras in February.

At first glance the place where they live looks like a tropical paradise – lots of palm trees and a white sandy beach. However on closer inspection the ruins of houses and mounds of debris scattered everywhere are plain to see.

This community is struggling to survive an onslaught from the sea. They have lived here for 100 years and are a fishing and farming community. Life was hard but they made the best of it. However the last ten years have seen an increasing threat to their way of life. The sea used to be 500m from their homes – a safe buffer in times of extreme weather. However the effects of REALITY APRIL 2017

David O'Hare from Trócaire with Miriam and her daughter Maria from Cuyamel in northern Honduras who feature in this year's Trócaire Lenten campaign.

climate change have seen the sea encroach until it is literally on their doorsteps. Many houses have already disappeared under the waves and there are only eighty families left here. The land is unable to support crops because of the salt water damage

and the huge amount of rubbish brought by the flooding affects the fishing.

Honduras is the country suffering most from severe weather resulting from changes to the climate. “In January the waves literally ran through

metal but that was all.”

The couple are now living in a temporary structure they have constructed in the grounds of the local church.

Elvia says their lives have been turned upside down. “My husband built our house himself 42 years ago. We raised our six children there. There is no future here now for our grandchildren.

The only thing that is getting us through this Candido Zaldivar Flores (70) and his wife Elvia Murcia Dezaldivar (65) with their is our faith in God.” great-granddaughter Kritza (4), in front of their destroyed home.

Trócaire has been the house,” Miriam told me. “We didn’t have time supporting this community, and others like it, to take anything with us – we just had to flee. to prepare for when the inevitable happens.

When we came back the house was in terrible Evacuation plans have been put in place and condition. I had a garden and a pig but they were canals have been dredged to make sure an escape route by boat is clear in times of need. Support is washed away. I felt like crying.” also given to a local man who ferries the people to safety in his fishing

In January the waves literally ran through the house, We didn’t have time to take anything with us – we just had to flee Miriam’s biggest fear is that something will happen to her little seven-year-old daughter, Maria. “I am so frightened for my daughter. When the floods come they usually bring big pieces of timber and other things. There is a real risk of serious injury.” And it’s not just the immediate future that fills Miriam with dread. “I think my little girl will have to grow up somewhere else and I don’t know if the community will be able to stay together.”

I spoke to Candido Zaldivar Flores (70) and his wife Elvia Murcia Dezaldivar (65). Their house was destroyed in the floods in January. Candido described what happened. “At around 3am the sea surged up and knocked down one of the walls of our house. We had to run for our lives with nothing. We had no food for two days and had to borrow clothes. After the storm passed, we went back and managed to salvage some timber and

boat when disaster strikes. I met this man, Santos Francisco Diaz (50), down at the shore.

He described what happens in an evacuation.

“First we take out the children and elderly people.

I ferry them five kilometres away where they are picked up by vehicles. While I am doing this, other people try to make their way to my house because it is raised up off the ground and safer. It takes me around 15 trips to evacuate everyone in this community and a neighbouring one. Each round trip takes about an

hour. This place is really dangerous but I feel it is my duty to help. I really appreciate the support we have been given – it has made a huge difference.”

Trócaire is not just supporting this community in times of emergency. They are also being supported to lobby their government so that they can be provided with a safer place for their community to move to so that the nightmare of regular flooding is banished.

This year’s Lenten campaign highlights the unprecedented scale of humanitarian need across the world. Over 70 million people will require emergency food aid this year, while the number of people displaced from their homes is at its highest level since World War II. With the support of people in Ireland, Trócaire will deliver humanitarian aid to up to one million people in crisis this year.

The generosity of people here at home will mean Miriam and Maria (who appear on this year’s Trócaire Box) and millions like them will have a chance of a better future free from fear.

For more information about Trócaire’s Lenten campaign, please visit trocaire.org/lent.

Santos Francisco Diaz Romero (50) who is the community's lifeline in times of disaster.

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COMMENT REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ

WARNING – THERE IS A VIRUS ABROAD

INDIVIDUALISM HAS INFECTED OUR CULTURE – BUT IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE SOLIDARITY THAT THE GOSPEL DEMANDS OF US.

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A destructive virus has corrupted our society. It was introduced, quite deliberately, by the advocates of the neoliberal model which dominates the global economy; then it became widely entrenched in our culture and mind-sets, and has even spread to our churches and their dominant spiritualties. This virus is known as ‘excessive individualism'.

‘Excessive individualism’ presumes that everyone is born equal and has equal opportunities in life. Those who succeed economically, therefore, do so because of their hard work, dedication and self-sacrifice.

Those who fail, do so because they are lazy, irresponsible and seek only short-term pleasures. So why, ask those infected by this virus, should people pay higher taxes to pay for hotel accommodation for homeless families, or for drug treatment services, or for long-term unemployment welfare payments? This only allows irresponsible people to continue behaving irresponsibly and sponge off the state. These supports should be withdrawn – or at least left to charities and do-gooders, who will no doubt return in the evening to their comfortable homes feeling good about themselves – and those people, now supported by the hard working taxpayer, should be forced to “lift themselves up by their shoelaces”. “Why don’t homeless people go out and get a job?” I am constantly asked by people who are unaware that some homeless people do have a job but are still homeless!

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This virus has infected our culture. We have become very judgemental. Suggestions that many who are homeless or unemployed or on disability benefits are simply scamming the system are regularly heard – even from some decision-makers. The Government’s justification for reducing the welfare payment of young people under 25 to €100 per week in 2014 was to get them off the couch and out looking for work – even though at that time there was only one advertised job for every 32 jobseekers! The mind-set, that people get what they deserve as a result of their efforts and talents, has become widely entrenched. The role of birth, chance, and old-fashioned luck is deleted by this virus from our reasoning. Others believe that one of the regrettable, but inevitable, consequences of economic growth is that there are ‘casualties’ who cannot compete and get left behind.

They even quote the Gospel

(out of context), “The poor you will always have with you.” (John 12:7).

So the fact that our society is becoming more and more unequal (in December 2014, there were 2,858 adults and 880 children homeless; after two years of economic recovery, in October 2016, there were 4,377 adults and 2,470 children homeless), with the majority of the benefits of economic growth going to a small percentage of the population, is considered by many as just a natural state of affairs. The suggestion that an economic system which produces more inequality, exclusion, and misery is a fundamentally immoral system is deleted by this virus. Conservative parties in every country, including Ireland, propagate this virus as their membership, and core constituency, are predominantly the better-off and the more ‘successful’ in society.

And this virus has contaminated the dominant spirituality of our churches.

They tell us that the primary objective of our life on earth is to get to Heaven, and that to get there we must observe all the laws that God has laid down.

The focus of this spirituality is on what I want, and on what I have to do to get what I want.

The objectives of such a selfcentred spirituality may be spiritual and the path laudable, but it does not differ too much from someone whose objective is making money and chooses to go to Trump University to learn how to achieve it (except they, at least, got a refund for false advertising!) We are essentially all individuals walking side by side along the same road to Heaven.

Community, then, belonging to a church, becomes more or less irrelevant if what is important is that I, as an individual, obey the rules and reach my goal.

The spirituality of the Gospels, however, is a spirituality which is based on the value of ‘solidarity’, which is the exact opposite of ‘excessive individualism’. It is focused, not on me and what I want, but on others and what they need. Remembering that “I am my brother’s keeper,” we walk the path of self-giving, not self-seeking.

The Last Judgement Scene in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew chapter 25) reminds us that we will, ironically, only get to Heaven by forgetting about Heaven!

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH LORD OF LIFE The story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead is the last great sign or miracle that 5th SUNDAY Jesus works in John’s IN LENT Gospel. It is a powerful demonstration that Jesus is the life of the world.

Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, is ill. His sisters ask Jesus to come to see him. But Jesus delays a while. By the time he finally arrives, Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days. Upset

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and disappointed, Lazarus’s sister, Martha, goes to meet him. In the conversation that follows, Jesus describes who he is and makes an astonishing promise: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Later, gathered around the tomb with Martha, Mary, his disciples and some friends who had come to console the grieving sisters, Jesus works a sign to show his power and to demonstrate that he is indeed the “resurrection and the life.” He asks that the stone sealing the tomb be removed.

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PASSION (PALM) SUNDAY

PILATE’S HAND-WASHING Each of the four Gospel writers has an account of the passion of Jesus and, while they agree on the main lines of the story, each has different tones and emphases. This year we read Matthew’s account.

Matthew alone mentions the wife of Pilate. As the trial of Jesus reaches its climax, she sends her husband a message: "Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him." When Pilate’s efforts to release Jesus prove futile, he washes his hands in the sight of the crowd and declares himself innocent of shedding his blood.

Matthew is probably evoking an ancient ritual described in the Book of Deuteronomy. When the body of a murdered person is discovered but the circumstances of the murder are unknown, the elders of the town were to offer a sacrifice and wash their hands over it, saying, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it. Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel” (Dt 21:7-8).

Matthew is clearly suggesting that Gentiles like Pilate and his wife, and later the centurion who was in charge of his execution and declares him to

Then he prays, and bids Lazarus to come out.

Still in his burial clothes, Lazarus comes out alive.

For John, the raising of Lazarus is a sign that Jesus has the power to give eternal life. It is also a promise that on the last day he will raise our mortal flesh. Lazarus, the one whom Jesus loves, can be seen as representing all those whom Jesus loves. Just as Jesus gave life to Lazarus, he gives life to us, too.

Today’s Readings Ezk 37:12-14; Ps 129; Rm 8:8-11; John 11:1-45

be God’s Son, were convinced of the innocence of Jesus, and so guilt for his death must be laid at the door of the Temple hierarchy and their cronies.

According to Matthew, those who demanded the death penalty greet Pilate’s gesture with the cry, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

This is a difficult text and it has often been used to support hostile attitudes to Jews by holding them responsible for the death of Jesus.

Matthew certainly wants to shift the blame from the Romans to the Jewish authorities, but he does not intend to blame the entire Jewish people.

The phrase “to wash one’s hands of” has become a popular figure of speech. It means to refuse to accept responsibility for someone or something, or to want nothing more to do with someone or something. It is how we are inclined to understand Pilate’s actions. But Pilate wasn’t simply abandoning Jesus to his fate. He was declaring publicly that he thought Jesus was an innocent man. Pilate’s biggest failing was his human weakness; he could have done more to save Jesus.

A good question for us to ask as we journey through Holy Week is how well or effectively do we defend Jesus. Do we witness to him to the best of our ability every day or do we quietly wash our hands of him when the challenge becomes too big?

Today’s Readings Is 50:4-7; Ps 21; Phil 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66

God’s Word continues on page 46

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GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH EASTER HOPE Easter is the great feast of hope, and it invites – even more, it demands - a response from us. Other EASTER SUNDAY than feasting on Easter eggs and nice food, what should our response be?

First, simply to acknowledge it, to let it sink in. We can be so familiar with the story of Easter that it loses its impact. It’s something we celebrate every year; just another event on the church calendar, something that doesn’t rank as important in the public mind as the feast of Christmas. We can get more emotional about a football match or a piece of music or a plotline in Eastenders than that God died and was raised for us.

We can be more passionate about politics or fashion than about the good news of the resurrection. So remember what it is we are 46 celebrating this Easter day. Remember and give thanks and shout alleluia.

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APRIL

PEOPLE OF FAITH Today’s Gospel tells the wonderful story of how Thomas the Doubter SECOND SUNDAY became Thomas the OF EASTER Believer. It’s the evening of the first Sunday after Jesus’ crucifixion, and his disciples have gathered together behind locked doors. They’re afraid that those who crucified Jesus will come looking for them too, and so they bolt the door.

Suddenly, Jesus appears before them. They are flabbergasted and bewildered, but Jesus shows them his wounds, and they know it is the Lord.

One of the disciples, Thomas, was absent that evening, so when they tell him the extraordinary news that Jesus is alive, he doesn’t believe them.

He knows that Jesus had been put to death during Holy Week, so how could he be alive?

A week later, the disciples are in the locked room again and this time Thomas is with them.

Once more, Jesus appears. He knows what Thomas had said about him and so he offers

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Second, the resurrection is proof of the extent to which God loves us. The resurrection is our hope. It tells us that hope has triumped over despair, light over darkness, good over evil, life over death. That the last barrier between God and humanity has been destroyed.

Easter tells us that even though people and institutions may let us down, God does not let us down; even though banks and economies might fail us, God does not fail us; even though the church might disappoint us sometimes, God never disappoints us; even though we may feel broken and weighed down by personal worries or financial concerns, God is always there with us to sustain us.

God’s love, God’s fidelity, God’s promise are greater than human weakness and human promises and our weakness. Easter tells us we are a redeemed people, and hope has had the last word.

The third way we respond to the good news

of the resurrection is to live as Easter people – people who bring life and hope and good news to others by the values that we hold, the attitudes that we have, the words that we speak, the compassion that we show, by everything that we do. It’s striking how Pope Francis has managed to do that in such an effective way. His actions have spoken even louder than his words – and they speak of humility, simplicity, service, mercy, love of the poor, inclusiveness. And people notice it and respond to it.

So it must be with us. As resurrected people we must live resurrected lives. We must witness to what we believe by the way we live. We must live as people redeemed.

him an invitation. "Put your finger here; see my hands. Put your hand into my side. Doubt no more but believe."

Thomas doesn’t need to touch Jesus. Seeing Jesus with his own eyes is enough. He falls on his knees and gives the most wonderful profession of faith in all of history: "My Lord and my God!" In reply, Jesus offers words of comfort and praise for all future believers: "You believe because you can see me; happy are those who have not seen and yet believe."

Today’s Gospel says three things about the gift of faith.

First, it reminds us of the need to value our faith and to not let it go. We know that sometimes we can be a bit like doubting Thomas, unsure of the resurrection, doubting God’s love. We know also that we live in an increasingly secular age, where many are falling away from the faith. Our faith is precious. It is a gift that offers strength and comfort, especially in the difficult times.

We need to cling to it.

Second, it reminds us of the importance of

witnessing to our faith. This is not easy to do in our modern society. To say that you go to church is to risk being dismissed as a holy Joe or Josephine. Even to display a religious emblem can be to invite ridicule.

But faith is meant to be shared. It is not a private thing. Just as the disciples left their locked up room to proclaim the Gospel, so also are we called to proclaim the Gospel every day not just by the words we speak, but by the lives we live.

Third, today’s Gospel reminds us to value our faith community. As baptised members of the church, we are part of a community, the Body of Christ. It is here in the parish community that we get spiritual nourishment and support. When our faith is weak, when we are feeling low, it is the community of faith that gives us strength.

Today’s Readings Acts 10:34.37-43; Ps 117; Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-9

Today’s Readings Acts 2:42-47; Ps 117; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

THE REALITY CROSSWORD NUMBER 3, APRIL 2017

HEAVENLY PARTY Most of us like a party, a celebration. It’s not just the food and the drink that attract us – though good food is nice, especially if we don’t have to cook it ourselves – it’s the conversation and the THIRD SUNDAY craic as well. The people and the togetherness are OF EASTER what really make it memorable.

It’s amazing how often in the Gospels we find Jesus taking part in parties. He loved table fellowship. And not just for the food and drink, but because it was a chance for him to really engage with people. Around the table he spoke about God and God’s plan, and invited those present to change and grow, to become new people. It was a grace-filled encounter that transformed their lives.

And that’s what happens on the Emmaus road. Two dejected disciples understand the scriptures in a whole new way as they listen to Jesus explain God’s plan, and then, in the breaking of the bread, they recognise who he really is. They see Jesus as the risen Lord. And everything changes for them. They become new people, Good News people, transformed.

That’s what happens every time we gather round the Eucharistic table. In the Liturgy of the Word, we hear God’s word explained to us, just as it was to the disciples on the Emmaus road. And in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, when the bread is blessed and broken, the risen Lord is made present to us, just as he was to the astonished disciples on that extraordinary day. When we receive the bread and wine, we enter into communion with Christ and with each other, becoming new people, one family, transformed.

It is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, when we will party with God forever.

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SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 1 ACROSS: Across: 1. 1. Samson, 5. Panama, 10. Offered, 11. Twister, 12. Hubs, 13. Peter, 15. Thin, 17. Den, 19. Avenue, 21. Yahweh, 22. Dresden, 23. Zigzag, 25. Naiads, 28. Job, 30. Pine, 31. Benin, 32. Roam, 35. Eponyms, 36. Gabriel, 37. Cathay, 38. Reeked.

DOWN: 2. Affable, 3. Sort, 4. Nudged, 5. Poteen, 6. Nail, 7. Matthew, 8. Joshua, 9. Branch, 14.

Tension, 16. Sudan, 18. Banal, 20. Erg, 21. Yen, 23. Zipper, 24. Gondola, 26. Agonise, 27. Sample, 28. Jersey, 29. Bigger, 33. Myth, 34. Oboe.

Winner of Crossword No. 1 Sr Stephanie Conway, St Marys Convent of Mercy, Nenagh

ACROSS 1. Optical illusion in the desert. (6) 5. A small settlement for the Prince of Denmark. (6) 10. Inability to understand or produce speech, as a result of brain damage. (7) 11. Professions of those crucified with Jesus. (7) 12. A state formally cooperating with another. (4) 13. King who ordered the slaughter of males aged two years and younger. (5) 15. Great desert of China and Mongolia. (4) 17. Sink in the middle through weight or pressure. (3) 19. Christian widow brought back from the dead by Peter. (6) 21. A complete and ludicrous failure. (6) 22. The smallest quantity required. (7) 23. Protein dangerous to coeliacs. (6) 25. String of beads used to count prayers. (6) 28. Tree affected by a Dutch disease. (3) 30. The original man. (4) 31. A French goodbye. (5) 32. Large loose hood forming part of a monk's habit. (4) 35. Most neatly arranged and ordered. (7) 36. Oblivious of a situation or fact. (7) 37. A fisher of fish. (6) 38. Literary term for ancient Britain. (6)

DOWN 2. Breathing device for asthmatics. (7) 3. Part of a church that is shaped like a half circle. (4) 4. Rubs out. (6) 5. Snack on a sweltering canine. (3,3) 6. Materials handled by the postal system. (4) 7. Feeling a desire to have what someone else has. (7) 8. A danger or risk. (6) 9. An indigenous Arctic person. (6) 14. Italian dumping dish. (7) 16. A brief appearance by a known person in a film. (5) 18. The first name of St. Peter. (5) 20. A transgression against divine law. (3) 21. Coating formed inside pipes by hard water. (3) 23. Mythical beings of superhuman size. (6) 24. Nationality of a native of Kampala. (7) 26. Major ingredient of guacamole. (7) 27. Made a short shrill bark like a dog. (6) 28. Person in charge of a publication. (6) 29. Greek monster with snakes for hair. (6) 33. Stagger from the Irish dance. (4) 34. A young sheep. (4)

Entry Form for Crossword No.3, April 2017 Name:

Today’s Readings

Address: Telephone:

Acts 2:14.22-33; Ps 15; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35 All entries must reach us by April 30, 2017 One €35 prize is offered for the first correct solutions opened. The Editor’s decision on all matters concerning this competition will be final. Do not include correspondence on any other subject with your entry which should be addressed to: Reality Crossword No. 3, Redemptorist Communications, Unit A6, Santry Business Park, Swords Road, Dublin 09 X651

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