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S outher n C ross www.scross.co.za

January 25 to January 31, 2017

Priest: From crack addict to ordination

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When the Holy Family came to Africa

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Second Daswa feast on Feb 1 STAFF REPORTER

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When her baby brother Luca was baptised in Holy Trinity church in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, four-year-old Gabriella Pereira proved to be a great “volunteer server” to Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, with whom she prays in this picture. (Photo: Devin Lester Photography)

OUTHERN Africa’s faithful have been urged to celebrate the second feast of Bl Benedict Daswa with a special liturgy, prayers and a novena, while a programme of events will take place in the martyr’s home diocese of Tzaneen.

Bl Daswa became the first South African to be beatified, the final step before canonical recognition of sainthood, in September 2015.

He was martyred by a mob near Thohoyandou, in what is now Limpopo, for refusing to participate in a witch-hunt.

“We encourage all dioceses and parishes throughout South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland to celebrate this feast using the proper liturgical texts approved by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome,” said Sr Claudette Hiosan FDNSC, the promoter of Bl Daswa’s sainthood cause.

The approved liturgy is available from the official Benedict Daswa website (www.bene dictdaswa.org.za).

“Visitors to the diocese of Tzaneen wishing to celebrate the feast in the parish of Thohoyandou will have the opportunity of visiting sites associated with the life and martyrdom of Bl Benedict,” Sr Hiosan said.

On the day before the feast, January 31, the faithful are invited to spend a period of silent adoration, prayer and reflection in the church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Nweli, the church Bl Daswa helped build and where his remains are kept.

From 15:00 to 18:00 there will be adoration of the exposed sacrament. Priests will be available for confession.

It will “be a time of grace, reconciliation and healing close to the place where the mortal remains of Bl Benedict Daswa rest,” the programme for the feast notes.

“Before entering the church, all will receive a short, personal message [by Bl Daswa], inviting them to live more deeply the Gospel call of loving kindness and mercy,” it says.

“This atmosphere of prayerful silence will offer all the opportunity of listening to Jesus speaking in their hearts, and of having a heart-to-heart chat with him about their lives, hopes, fears, deep longings and needs,” the programme says.

Exposition will close with benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

The church will remain open afterwards for those who wish to spend more time there.

Bl Benedict Daswa pictured in December 1989, less than two months before his martyrdom. His feast day is on February 1.

The celebrations of the feast of Bl Daswa, February 1, will be held at Tshitanini village, where the beatification took place in 2015, and where the future shrine and pilgrimage centre will be located.

From 7:00 there will be veneration of the relics of Bl Daswa during which priests will be available for the sacrament of reconciliation.

The feast’s Mass will be celebrated at 9:00, followed by veneration of the relics until noon.

A novena began on January 23, to end on the 31st. The faithful are urged “to perform three acts of kindness each day of the novena in remembrance of the three acts of charity which Bl Benedict performed the day he was martyred”.

Sr Hiosan encouraged the faithful “to pray earnestly through the intercession of Bl Benedict for the graces and favours they need from God”.

“An ever-widening circle of prayer will be the most powerful means of begging God to grant the miracle required for Bl Benedict to be proclaimed a saint of the Universal Church,” she said. n See page 11 for your cut-out-and-keep prayer for the canonisation of Bl Benedict Daswa.

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The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

LOCAL

PE cathedral to celebrate until April P

BY COLLEEN CALLAHAN

ORT Elizabeth’s cathedral is gearing up for the final few months of celebrating the 150th anniversary of its consecration. The jubilee year of events which began in April last year will end on April 23.

Consecrated on April 25, 1866, St Augustine’s has stood sentinel over the city streets of Port Elizabeth since then, and has been the spiritual home of generations of men and women, a haven for those seeking practical and spiritual help.

St Augustine’s was first consecrated as a parish church, and was declared a cathedral in 1939.

The walls of St Augustine’s are more than stone and mortar, for they are living walls echoing the prayers of generations of people: prayers of the Eucharist; petitions of the clergy, religious and laity who

have served this parish community; prayers of rejoicing for those receiving the sacraments; prayers for guidance; prayers of the marginalised; intercessions for healing, for peace and justice; prayers of mourners for comfort; prayers of those far from the shores of their motherlands for whatever reason; prayers of thanksgiving.

The jubilee year began with a thanksgiving Mass and anniversary dinner on April 23, and a luncheon for clergy and religious of the diocese on April 25. This was followed by a concert by the Grey High School orchestra, conducted by Shaun Lyons.

Another concert was hosted on August 28, with Richard Cock leading a Songs of Praise event that reflected the spirit of the cathedral and gave honour and thanksgiving to God. At the end of July the cathedral

Port Elizabeth’s cathedral of St Augustine was packed for a ‘Songs of Praise’ concert in August which formed part of the year-long celebrations of the church’s 150th anniversary of consecration. hosted an international food evening, with many of the parishes in the deanery running food stalls

in support of the cathedral maintenance fund.

In November the cathedral was

transformed with a floral art exhibition by renowned floral artist Gail Taverner.

The floral creations helped visitors to reflect on the beauty of creation and how God’s hand is always at work in our lives.

Masses of thanksgiving were celebrated for all those who had been baptised and confirmed in the cathedral, and for all couples who were married there.

The events for 2016 ended with a carols by candlelight service.

This year’s events include an organ recital by Prof Albert Troskie on February 22, and a St Patrick’s Day dance on March 17.

The jubilee year will end with a thanksgiving Mass in April. n For more information contact parish secretary Leigh Borman at 041 585 2161 or Colleen Callahan at 072 138 6312.

Prosper Tehou, a Comboni missionary from Benin who is working in vocation promotion in South Africa, was ordained to the diaconate

by Archbishop William Slattery in Silverton, Pretoria.

Daniel Wansteker has sold The Southern Cross before and after Mass for the past 28 years at the Holy Name parish in Observatory, Cape Town.

The Southern Cross staff is delighted to see so many people selling and promoting the country’s national Catholic weekly. Please keep your photos of Southern Cross sellers coming. Send them to pics@scross.co.za

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The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

LOCAL

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Priest: follow gangsters in their making of plans

BY LEViNiA PiENAAR

T Fr Francis Malaka blesses schoolchildren of Maria Goretti parish in Worcester at the start of the new year, advising them to look ahead and plan for their futures.

HERE is only one way in which to emulate gangsters: by planning, a priest told children at a Mass.

In a homily aimed specifically at schoolchildren, who were asked to wear their school uniforms, Fr Francis Malaka of Maria Goretti parish in Worcester, Oudtshoorn diocese, urged learners to be focused.

He pointed out that even gangsters plan their crimes to succeed in their evil activities. While young people must not emulate criminals in any other way, they must also

plan for their futures and be focused on their exams.

He offered several examples to illustrate the point. He referred to a student who excelled at school and wanted to become a pharmacist.

But because she had not planned properly, no matter how well she passed, she could not become a pharmacist because she had chosen geography and history as main subjects, and not the required subjects of science, maths and biology.

Fr Malaka emphasised that children from a young age must be taught how to be accountable for their actions. Moreover, parents

must also be accountable and responsible for their children.

The priest told the children that to succeed in life, one has to be obedient and have humility, respect all adults and other people, plan and respond accordingly, and accept and see other people for who they are.

During the Mass, Fr Malaka blessed the children and their shoes—for the children to walk to school only and not to “bunk” school or become school dropouts.

He blessed their uniforms, for the children to be thankful to have clothes to wear and also to be proud of the schools they are attending.

Three generations of one family are now girls of Holy Rosary in Edenvale, Johannesburg.

Seen here are Grade 0 pupil Taylor Michie (centre) with (from left) Grade 0 teacher and past pupil Diane Horsten (née Munro of 1984, great aunt of Taylor), Helen Bamberger (née Munro, of 1975, grandmother of Taylor), and Kerryn Michie (2002 and mother of Taylor).

Ecumenical meetings recall closed institutions

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N ecumenical body that looks to heal the wounds of the past has held two events of joint liturgy and discussion in the Eastern Cape, with another coming up in Pietermaritzburg next month.

The Church Unity Commission, on which the Catholic Church of Southern Africa is represented, celebrated the contribution of the faculty of divinity at Rhodes University in Grahamstown and the Federal Theological Seminary at Alice near the Fort Hare campus,

both of which are now defunct, by holding the events under the theme “Remember, Rejoice and Renew”.

The event in Pietermaritzburg will be held on February 18.

All three events follow the same format. A visit to the appropriate sites and prayers are followed by a discussion focusing on ecumenical theological education, its practice and its effect.

The discussions reflect on the theme: “What have we lost and how do we regain that with the clo-

sure of these institutions?”

After lunch an ecumenical service is celebrated.

“The main reason for this work is that we would want to heal some of the hurts from the past, restore trust and envision possible future cooperation in theological education,” said Methodist Bishop Paul Verryn, who convened the events for the Church Unity Commission. n For more information contact Bishop Paul Verryn on 082 600 8892 or paul verryn@gmail.com

School’s new tradition: Ringing in the school year Grade 1 pupils at Sacred Heart College in Johannesburg ring the chapel bell at the start of their school careers, a new tradition at the college.

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RADE 1 learners at Sacred Heart College in Johannesburg each had a turn to ring the bell of the school chapel—a recently established bell-ringing tradition which marks the start of their school careers.

At the end of this year, the matric class of 2017 will ring the bell at their valedictory Mass to mark the end of their school careers.

Both the bell and the chapel are of significance to the college.

The bell came from the third general house of the Marist Brothers in Grugliasco, Italy, where it had hung since the late 19th century.

The first general house was in

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France, as was the second, but when all religious institutes were expelled from France in 1903, the brothers moved to the third general house at Grugliasco in northern Italy.

In 1958, Brother Jordan, the principal of Sacred Heart College in the late 1950s and responsible for the building of the chapel, asked that the bell at Grugliasco, which had called the brothers to prayer and meals for over 50 years, be given to the college for its chapel.

Many Sacred Heart College past pupils gave their lives in the two World Wars.

The 49 Old Boys who died in World War I are commemorated

with a plaque that hangs in the college hall.

The current chapel at Sacred Heart was erected in 1956 as a memorial to past pupils who fell during World War II. Gazing down from behind the altar of the chapel is a statue of St Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers. The statue was sculpted by Hungarian sculptor and artist Zoltan Borbereki.

Today, the historically significant Grugliasco bell and the college chapel have joined to form a new tradition that will become part of the personal journey of each Sacred Heart learner.

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The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

INTERNATIONAL

Bishops visit Holy Land, see settlement encroachment

BY JuDiTH SuDiLOVSKY

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ISHOPS from Europe and North America lauded a 100-year-old hilltop family farm southwest of Bethlehem as an example of the non-violent resistance needed to oppose Israeli expansion onto Palestinian land.

“This farm is what we want to encourage—a peaceful resistance... a moral voice to the international and local community,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, chairman of the US Committee on International Justice and Peace.

A Canadian bishop agreed.

“Nonviolence is very important.

This is what the pope has been telling us. He said that the first reaction to a violent situation is to become violent if you don’t have other values. One of these values is respect for the human rights of others,” said Bishop Lionel Gendron of SaintJean-Longueuil, Quebec.

Thirteen bishops from North America and Europe visited the Tent of Nations as part of the Holy Land Coordination, which meets every January to focus on prayer, pilgrimage and solidarity with the Christian communities in the Holy Land.

When the bishops arrived at the farm they were greeted by brothers Daoud and Daher Nasser.

Embroiled in a legal battle to protect their property from confiscation by the Israeli government for 25 years, the Nasser family has made their farm—the last Palestinian controlled hilltop in the area—a symbol

of non-violent resistance simply by remaining on their land and farming and bringing in international volunteers of all religions for their varied activities under the slogan “We refuse to be enemies.” The Lutheran brothers are also the only Christian family who remains in the area.

The cooperation among people of different faiths, including Jews, created at the Tent of Nations through different programmes throughout the year was an encouraging sign during a trip that included visits to the Gaza Strip and Hebron, West Bank, said Bishop William Nolan of Galloway, Scotland.

Bishop Nolan was one of three bishops who travelled to Gaza. He said although they saw some new construction, he left feeling “sad and helpless” at the poverty and lack of basic commodities, mainly due to the Israeli blockade imposed following the election of the Hamas-led government in 2006. The United States and the European Union have listed Hamas as a terrorist organisation and have imposed economic sanctions against them.

F

ollowing their visit to Hebron, the bishops criticised the Israeli “encroachment” on Palestinian land.

The visit was led by a member of the Israeli non-governmental organisation Breaking the Silence, made up of Israeli Defence Force veterans who served in the Palestinian territories since the second intifada.

“It becomes clearer that [the set-

tlements] are not just about outlying settlements but something more systematic; more about infiltrating Palestinian land and forcing Palestinians out by making them so uncomfortable with such limited freedom they don’t want to continue living there,” said Bishop Cantu.

He said the tension in the streets of what used to be Hebron’s main market area, now closed off to accommodate the security needs of some 800 Israeli settlers, is immediately noticeable.

“Hebron is a sad situation not all are aware of,” said Bishop Nolan, commenting on the amount of land Palestinians are not allowed to enter.

“The continuing encroachment on Palestinian land does not give much hope for the future.”

However, Bishop Cantu noted the importance of having been led by a group of Israeli veterans who have had a part in the conflict.

“It is encouraging that this truth is breaking out,” he said. “Unfortunately, their voice is disparaged by many in the Israeli government.”

Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, England, said he was encouraged by the people’s faith exhibited during two separate Masses the bishops attended, one in Beit Jalla, West Bank, with Palestinians and the other in Jaffa with migrant workers.

“They were celebrating their faith in Christ. We need to make people back home aware of the situation.”

—CNS

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Fr Claude Paradis, former addict turned priest, founded Notre-Dame-dela-rue (Our Lady of the Street), which ministers to the homeless.

From crack addict to the priesthood C LAUDE Paradis was impoverished and homeless, living on the streets of Montreal, Canada. He struggled with addiction to both alcohol and drugs, with a future so bleak, he considered ending his own life.

He did not end his life, however, and today he is a priest who dedicates his time to serving the physical and spiritual needs of those trapped in poverty, prison and prostitution.

“The street brought me to the Church and the Church in the end brought me back to the street,” the priest told the Journal Métro.

This past December, as a sign of his closeness and solidarity with the homeless, Fr Paradis decided to sleep on the street for the whole month, to care for the homeless people there with solidarity and charity.

His hope was that he could accompany people in a difficult situation while also making the citizens of Montreal aware of the harsh reality faced by those living on the street.

Fr Paradis founded an institution called Notre-Dame-de-la-rue (Our Lady of the Street). Each night, he goes out to bring food and shelter to those living on the streets. He also

administers the sacraments, celebrates the Eucharist and even presides at funerals.

Fr Paradis knows how hard life on the street is. He came to Montreal 25 years ago. However, he was unable to find a job. “Isolation and despair took hold of me,” he said.

Living on the street, he thought about committing suicide. “I started doing cocaine and then crack,” he recalled.

In a letter posted on the website of La Victoire de l’Amour (“The Victory of Love”), Fr Paradis tells how he met the Lord.

“I had the privilege of meeting God just at the moment I was doubting him. On a little back street in Montreal, passing by the old church, impelled by I don't know what instinct, I turned back in there.”

At that moment, he had a deep and intense encounter with God. He realised he did not want to die, but rather wanted to become “a man of the Church”.

The 57-year-old priest has dedicated the rest of his life to serving the poor, saying that “on the street is where I want to be, until I die”.— CNA

Morgan Freeman in seach of God again

BY MARK PATTiSON

D

ESPITE reports of church attendance falling across denominations and low percentages for believers worshipping across the globe, belief in God remains strong, said actor Morgan Freeman, the narrator of a documentary series that bears his name.

The nature of belief is “universal”, said Freeman, who presents The Story of God With Morgan Freeman, the second season of which premiered on the National Geographic Channel in the US in mid-January.

“Wherever you go, there are people who believe in a higher power, a divine power. There is nobody who thinks that man is in charge,” he said.

“Belief is fundamental, an intuitive state,” said James Younger, one of the executive producers of the series. “When we think about religion, belief gets conflated into laws and doctrine. Belief is an inner feeling you have, an inner peace, an inner connection you have with the divine or the eternal.”

The debut episode, “The Chosen One”, looks at those believed to be ordained by God to be leaders of their faith and, by extension, their people. Mr Freeman also interviews a Korean Christian missionary who risked his freedom to evangelise in North Korea.

Mr Freeman, who did a memorable star turn playing God in the 2003 comedy Bruce Almighty, said the production team’s work in doing

Morgan Freeman hosts the second season of The Story of God With Morgan Freeman on the National Geographic Channel. more than scratching the surface of religious belief, found more similarities than differences.

“There is so much more commonality than difference among the belief systems,” he said. “We all have similar tenets: heaven and hell, the afterlife—a place to go—how to get there. They’re all very, very similar.

All pretty much the same thing.”

Mr Freeman said his own faith has not been changed through his work on the series. “I have not found any alteration in my relationship with God. And I don’t think any of us have altered our relationship with what we have heard. What we have come away with is a head full of knowledge we didn’t have before,” he said.

“However, talking about how ignorance is the catalyst for negativities that surround religion,” he added, “the more you know about peoples and their religious undertakings, the better you feel about all of it.”—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

5

Malta bishops: Some divorced Catholics can get Communion

BY CiNDY WOODEN

U A photographer stands outside the window as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, looks out from a window during the inauguration ceremony of the Palestinian embassy to the Holy See in Rome. The pope and Mr Abbas discussed the peace process and expressed hope that “direct negotiations between the parties may be resumed to bring an end to the violence” and to find “a just and lasting solution”.

“To this end, it is hoped that—with the support of the international community— measures can be taken that favour mutual trust and contribute to creating a climate that permits courageous decisions to be made in favour of peace,” the Vatican said. (Photo: Max Rossi, Reuters/CNS)

Global papal prayer network growing

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AST year, more than 13 million people around the world watched Pope Francis explain one of his specific prayer intentions each month.

The 90-second, personal explanations in “The Pope Video”, first launched in January 2016, encouraged people to join an estimated 50 million Catholics who already had a more formal relationship with The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network— better known by its former title, the Apostleship of Prayer.

The prayer network, which is more than 170 years old, continues to evolve.

After the debut in 2016 of the monthly video on www.thepopev ideo.org, the new year began with Pope Francis adding a second monthly intention—an urgent prayer appeal. For January the appeal was for the homeless struggling with cold temperatures and indifference.

For decades the Apostleship of Prayer distributed two intentions for each month: one focused on needs in mission territories and the other on a matter considered more universal. The lists were published a full year in advance after going through a long process of collecting suggestions, getting input from Vatican offices and being translated.

Pope Francis has decided now that the prepared list of prayer intentions will alternate each month between a missionary concern and a universal one. The second prayer for the month will be announced at the beginning of the month by the pope during his Sunday Angelus address.

The urgent intention will then be shared with members of the prayer network through its websites, social media and email.

Jesuit Father Luis Ramirez, assistant international director of the prayer network, said that the urgent prayer request does two things. First, it strengthens the spiritual experience of those who are joining in prayer, letting them know they do not pray alone. And, more importantly, it lets those suffering know that the pope sees their pain and is trying to rally assistance.—CNS

Swiss Cardinal dies at 94

S

WISS Cardinal Gilberto Agustoni, who died at the age of 94 in Rome on January 13, served as head of the Apostolic Signature, the Church’s supreme court, from 1992 to 1998. He began a series of assignments at the Vatican in 1950 and retired in the city in 1998.

Cardinal Agustoni was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in July 1922. He completed his compulsory education in his hometown.

He finished his high school studies at the diocesan seminary in Lugano and was sent to Rome to study. He earned a philosophy degree at St Thomas University, but because of World War II, his bishop called him back to Switzerland to complete his studies.

After earning his theology degree from the University of Fribourg, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1946. Four years later, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani called him to Rome.

The cardinal had to get permission from Pope Pius XII to hire thenFather Agustoni for a position at the Holy Office, because the Swiss priest was not yet even 30 years old. While working at the doctrinal congregation, Fr Agustoni attended Rome’s Lateran University, earning a degree

Cardinal Gilberto Augustoni in canon law. Later he was also a commissioner, dealing with marriage cases, in the then-Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments.

In 1970 he was appointed a judge in the Roman Rota, the court of appeals for decisions regarding marriage annulments and other matters.

He worked at the Rota for 16 years before being named an archbishop and secretary of the Congregation for Clergy in 1986.

While still secretary of the clergy congregation, the future cardinal was named a member of the Apostolic Signature by Pope John Paul II, who named him head of the court in 1992 and inducted him into the College of Cardinals two years later.— CNS

NDER certain circumstances and after long prayer and a profound examination of conscience, some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics may return to the sacraments, the bishops of Malta said.

With “an informed and enlightened conscience”, a separated or divorced person living in a new relationship who is able “to acknowledge and believe that he or she is at peace with God”, the bishops said, “cannot be precluded from participating in the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist”.

The Maltese “Criteria for the Application of Chapter VIII of ‘Amoris Laetitia,’” Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, was published after being sent to all the country’s priests by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo.

The bishops urged their priests to recognise how “couples and families who find themselves in complex situations, especially those involving separated or divorced persons who have entered a new union” may have “‘lost’ their first marriage,” but not their hope in Jesus.

“Some of these earnestly desire to live in harmony with God and

Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta. under certain circumstances some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics may return to the sacraments, said the bishops of Malta, responding to Pope Francis’ exhortation Amoris Laetitia. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) with the Church, so much so, that they are asking us what they can do in order to be able to celebrate the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist,” the bishops wrote.

The first step, they said, always

must be to affirm Church teaching that marriage is indissoluble.

Then, the bishops said, the couple’s specific situation should be examined to determine if their first union was a valid marriage. If not, they should be encouraged to seek an annulment.

Without an annulment, the bishops said, couples living in a new relationship should be encouraged to abstain from sexual relations since the Church does not consider their new union a marriage. Sometimes, however, the couple will find practising the virtue of “conjugal continence” impossible.

Archbishop Scicluna and Bishop Grech urged priests to devote time to such couples, guiding them in a reflection on their first union, their contributions to its failure, the impact on their children and a host of other questions.

“This discernment acquires significant importance since, as the pope teaches, in some cases this help” from the Church in growing in holiness “can include the help of the sacraments”, the Malta document said.

“While exercising our ministry, we must be careful to avoid falling into extremes: into extreme rigour on the one hand and laxity on the other,” the bishops wrote to their priests.—CNS

6

The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Look past ‘confusion’

B

EWARE of those who claim that Pope Francis’ approach on divorced and civilly remarried Catholics is causing “confusion”. The case is, in fact, quite clear.

Over two Synods of Bishops on the Family, in 2014 and 2015, the pastoral problem was raised of how the Church can accompany Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried without having obtained an annulment, and who are therefore excluded from the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Some bishops argued against admitting any such Catholics, who in Church teaching live in a perpetual state of adultery, to the Lord’s Table unless these couples undertake to refrain from sexual relations. A majority of bishops voted that ways should be identified by which at least innocent parties in a divorce might receive the Eucharist.

Pope Francis accounted for both points of view in Chapter VIII of his apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia, which was the result of the two synods.

To be clear: Amoris Laetitia does not change the magisterium on divorce. The Church’s teaching that marriage is indissoluble is intact, and the default position remains that sexually active divorced and remarried Catholics may not receive Communion without having obtained a canonical annulment.

But every Church law requires a pastoral application, especially if a doctrine is creating pastoral concerns.

Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia, and in particular footnote 351— which allows for access to “the sacraments” to individuals in irregular unions “in certain cases”— offers guidance on how to address the pastoral problem by proposing a pastoral solution rooted in mercy.

If there was cause for confusion initially, it was in how to interpret the pope’s words. Pope Francis clarified his intent when he endorsed the guidelines issued by bishops in Argentina.

The pope praised their document, saying that it “completely explains the meaning of Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia”, and adding: “There are no other interpretations.”

The document, which inspired that issued by the bishops of Malta this month (see page 5), emphasises the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage but allows that in “complex circumstances” when the remarried couple could not

“obtain a declaration of nullity”, access to Holy Communion can be possible.

If the priest recognises that “in a particular case there are limitations that diminish responsibility and culpability [in the breakdown of the first marriage]…Amoris Laetitia opens the possibility of access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist”.

For example, a woman whose ex-husband had abandoned her might, after a thorough examination of conscience, be admitted to the sacraments, whereas her philandering husband probably would not.

This is rooted in sound moral theology. A person may be in grave sin objectively, but their culpability may be diminished because of ignorance, intention or circumstances.

This provides no blanket amnesty for every divorced and remarried person. The default remains that they should not receive Communion.

The Church’s law has not changed— but it allows for occasions of mercy.

Amoris Laetitia also gives the Church in Africa the tools with which to deal with regional pastoral predicaments, such as cases of polygamy.

The Church’s teaching is that those in a polygamous marriage cannot be licitly admitted to the sacrament of the Eucharist. But by applying the principles proposed in Amoris Laetitia, it may be possible to extend mercy towards, for example, a wife who entered into such an irregular arrangement unwillingly and is unable to change her situation.

This would not legitimise polygamy any more than extending mercy to an abandoned spouse would legitimise divorce.

The real problem with Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia resides not with its pastoral provisions, but with their practical implications.

Will parish priests have the time to accompany people in irregular marriage situations on the long road of discernment? Should there be a situation where one parish priest (or bishop) embraces Amoris Laetitia but his neighbour doesn’t?

Clearly it is vital that the provisions of Amoris Laetitia—the magisterium of Pope Francis—be better understood and taught, and its implementation be standardised.

And then, finally, we can get to work on the document’s other eight important chapters on family life.

VIVA SAFARIS

Connected threads in tapestry of life

R

EADING M Bruce’s letter (January 4) and rereading the three letters mentioned in it of the November 16 issue, I think perhaps God sometimes gives us a glimpse of connecting threads at the back of the “tapestry of life”.

Archaeologist Werner Keller (The Bible as History) feels that while the account of the visit of Alexander the Great to Jerusalem where, according to Flavius Josephus, he was received with ceremony by the people and the High Priest, and offered sacrifices in the Temple and granted favours, is probably only a legend, it may contain a seed of truth—”that the Greek conqueror tolerated the theocracy of Judah”.

And again, at the foundation of

Alexander no mere pagan leader

M

ANY readers would take exception to M Bruce’s reference (January 4) to Alexander the Great as merely a “pagan military man”.

When he captured Jerusalem, this “pagan” military man was addressed from the Temple by the trembling Jewish priests, scrolls in hand, reminding Alexander that he is mentioned in the Book of Daniel in the Great Testimony of the Hebrew God—our Old Testament. (See Daniel 2:40 and Daniel 11:2-4.)

One small correction, though, on my part—Alexander did not commission the translation of the Septuagint, as I previously incorrectly stated.

While the military conquests of Alexander are extraordinary, his lasting influence came through the spread of Greek philosophy, language and culture.

His Hellenisation of the eastern world was so complete that a mere 100 years after his death, 70 Jewish scholars in Alexandria were sponsored to translate the Old Testament into Greek.

Their effort is known as the Septuagint, a work that was often used

by New Testament writers when quoting the Old Testament.

Indeed, the influence of Alexander not only on history, but on the history of the Catholic Church, has been considerable.

Under Alexander’s generals, Seleucid, Ptolemy and Antiochus the Great, Jews were subsequently treated fairly and with respect.

For much of the first millenium, the official liturgy of the Catholic Church (the Mass) was in Greek, before Latin, thanks also to the Hellenisation efforts of Alexander.

In 331BC, Alexander became the new ruler of the Persian empire, and at the time of his death at the age of 33, he had control of lands stretching from Greece to the

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northern borders of India.

As a mark of his humanity and greatness, Alexander endeavoured to learn as many of the customs and languages of the people he conquered as he could, even to dressing in the fashions of the people of those lands, and encouraging his soldiers to marry among the women of these conquered lands.

No mere pagan soldier this, but one of the great men of history who, by the age of 33, through his insatiable search for knowledge, educated as he was by the great Greek philosopher Aristotle, had brought much of the known world under his sway, and considerably influenced the course of history and, indeed, even of the Catholic Church.

John Lee, Johannesburg

Not all Catholics pick and choose

T

HE letter from Henry R Sylvester (January 11) is presumptuous to say the least.

He infers that all Catholics pick and choose Church teachings and disciplines, and that we have become silent on topical issues of faith and morals out of fear.

He also says our Bibles have become doorstops. This is utter rubbish. All the Catholics I know are definitely not like this.

He should have said some Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus are like this, and not generalise or condemn us Catholics Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

Tony Wyllie & Co.

for what he does.

Dave Hunter, Johannesburg

Back Church on gender equality

Y

OUR front-page headline “Church to back gender equality on slave’s feast” (January 4) caught my eye. Wonderful news indeed!

As the SACBC acknowledges, “Despite men and women being equally children of God, women have been massively discriminated against”, and outlines the December 2016 SACBC pledge “for an end to abuse wherever it occurs, in the Church, in the family or elsewhere”.

Well, we don’t have to look very far for “the plank in our own eye”, do we? And I could not help wonder whether Jesus would perhaps have applied his well-known “white sepulchres” description to that statement, when one considers that the Church persists in relegating Catholic women to second-class status?

If that is not regarded as “abuse” or “discrimination”, then what is?

In accurately describing the dangers of abuse inherent in a patriarchal society, the bishops cannot afford to ignore the patriarchal nature of the Church. To do so would be the height of hypocrisy.

Perhaps the SACBC will outline precisely how it intends tackling this long-entrenched abuse?

Maybe the February 8 feast of St Josephine Bakhita will bring about radical changes in the Church’s attitude towards our women—but I am not holding my breath!

May 2017 bring many blessings to The Southern Cross and its readers—and especially the women of our Church, without whom the Church would never be the same.

It is high time their role was fully recognised.

Geoff Harris, Rooi Els, Western Cape

469 Voortrekker Rd, Maitland, Tel: 021 593 8820

CASA SERENA

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Alexandria in Egypt, “Alexander issued instructions which were to be of the highest future significance”—he guaranteed to the Jews the same rights as his own Greek countrymen.

When the Septuagint was produced, what was previously made known only in the sanctuary, the old Jewish tongue, and only to one nation, was available to the world.

The letters in The Southern Cross about Centering Prayer may encourage others to find out more and sow seeds of stronger faith.

Jesus said: “If you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry [sycamine] tree, ‘Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea’ and it

would obey you” (Lk 17:6).

Cecil Cullen’s letter about his struggle to uproot his mulberry tree (and bad habits) emphasises how much strength of faith, and prayer, we need to overcome the self-centredness of our basic instincts.

Jesus, the “human face of God’s mercy”, was aware of this when he taught us to pray with faith for God’s help in order to learn to “love one another” (Jn 13:34), “our neighbour” (Mk 10:21), and even “our enemy” (Lk 6:27).

Let us follow up the “tapestry threads” by praying, alone or with others, inviting them to pass on the invitation locally and overseas, for their country, continent and the world, saying the rosary and the St Francis prayer.

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PERSPECTIVES

Thank God for the flower I AM a fully paid-up city-dweller. For 28 of the last 30 years, I have lived in places that count their populations in millions: London, New York, Birmingham, Johannesburg and now Durban.

I adore the excitement, unpredictability and variety of cities, and also enjoy the noise, the smells and the people.

Many readers may be horrified by this and would not give up the tranquillity of a small-town or rural setting. I too can appreciate those places, which is why, like many other urbanites, I spent some time over the holidays outside the city, enjoying the South African countryside.

In fact—if I can let you glimpse inside the writer’s craft—I am typing this while gazing out across the Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape, looking at fields of citrus trees, listening to babbling water and the gentle sounds of birds and insects. And last night, thanks to a complete absence of light pollution, I was able to see the magnificent display of stars in an African sky which are, of course, always above my head but which I can barely glimpse when in a city. Bliss!

Whether we live in a rural idyll or seek to escape from the city to a farm or mountain or beach over the holidays, we can all appreciate the beauty of the countryside.

Long before the days of atheists and rational materialists, the Book of Wisdom warned us that we cannot be amazed at the beauty of creation without also acknowledging the Creator. And it is hardly surprising that historically our retreat houses and monasteries have been placed in stunningly beautiful locations with great views.

While the early German Trappists were clearly focused on evangelising the poor, they did not do too shabby a job of building their missions in some of the most lovely valleys in KwaZulu-Natal: Mariannhill, Centocow, Reichenau.

But unless you have the good fortune to live in a spot as lovely as those, does that mean that you have to wait till another holiday before you can enjoy the splendour of God’s creation? Of course not.

F

irst of all, even when sitting in a smoky township or a noisy city office, we have the traditional means of reconnecting with those natural views through postcards and photographs and paintings. The magic of technology means images of the whole world are now immediately accessible on a laptop, tablet or smartphone.

But that is a second-hand experience. We can still get back in touch with a first-hand experience without having to flee to the countryside.

I fear that those of us in cities don’t spend enough time connecting with the pockets of nature that are hidden around us in the city—the little bits of Eden on our doorsteps.

Some of those spots are world famous: the Company’s Gardens in Cape Town, the Botanic Gardens in Durban, the Rose Gardens in Bloem (in bloom!). But every city and town has somewhere a patch of green, a few plants, some flowers that are an echo

“The most ordinary flower soon becomes extraordinary when you stop to look at the way the petals intersect or how the leaves are composed.”

Walking the talking A LMOST a month into the new year means it’s a bit late for resolutions, but maybe still a time for checking out what they were and how we’re doing so far.

When I first conceptualised the theme “Families Walk the Talk” for MARFAM’s 2017 Family Year Planner, I had the idea in mind that it would be an invitation or even a challenge to do what should be done about witnessing to one’s faith.

As this is about families, obviously the point is that parents (or other family members) are the first educators of children. This is stated repeatedly in Church documents from the time of Vatican II until Pope Francis.

The Holy Father simplifies it somewhat.

He is fond of saying that family members should learn to say “please”, “thank you” and “I’m sorry”. These are not just words but express attitudes of appreciation, gratitude and willingness to take responsibility for wrongdoing or hurt. That’s an invaluable tool in building family relationships.

Walking the talk is also a way of saying: “Practice what you preach.” Don’t just talk about being grateful, loving, just, fair and honest but live out these values. Evaluating behaviour is in fact an examination of conscience.

What strikes me is how complex walking the talk can be at any one of many levels.

For me there is still some work on motherin-law level, but this is between mother- and daughter-in-law, and not just one-sided.

Family is always like that. One cannot be family alone. We do often pray alone, for many of us that is all we can do as we watch members of our extended family walking their talk.

However, a very real challenge in our era is communication about this life-walk. Find-

A good way of family-building is the walktalk, Toni Rowland suggests. ing time is crucial, making time the only way. Taking a talk-walk once every so often is an excellent idea. Such a talk-walk was once suggested to me by De La Salle Brother George Whyte who encouraged it as a periodic family-bonding event for a whole family of all ages.

Schools and parishes have Big Walks as fundraisers but the emphasis there is on the number of laps covered or who gets there first. A family talk-walk is different. We walk together at the pace of the slowest. We amble along, talking, sharing stories, memories, hopes and dreams. We smell flowers or chase butterflies. As you can see, it almost needs to be done out in nature, not through township streets.

A

talk-walk needs to be an experience of beauty and companionship, a retreat even. It probably needs to be a deliberate choice, because such a kind of pilgrim walk experience is foreign to many of us and there may well be resistance to the idea.

Not enough of us walk for pleasure. For

The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

7

Raymond Perrier

Faith and Society

of nature, however faint.

We might be dismissive of these, especially when in many cases they are not what they were. And not every garden can be Kirstenbosch. But before you disparage your local run-down park, stop and “smell the roses”. I mean really smell the roses (or the daisies or the proteas or whatever you find).

Not because there will necessarily be a strong scent but because the act of putting your nose close to a flower forces you to start looking at it in more detail.

That is when you begin to notice that the grandeur of God’s creation is not just in the great vistas of the Drakensberg or the wide expanse of the St Lucia beach or the awesome scale of the Karoo, but in fact in every small work of nature.

The most ordinary flower soon becomes extraordinary when you stop to look at the way the petals intersect or how the leaves are composed or observe the complex structure of the elements.

A gardener friend of mine used to challenge me to name how many multiple hues of colour there were in a patch that I would initially describe as “just green”.

The poet, William Blake, captured this idea in his famous stanza: To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.

Something as simple and as ordinary and as commonplace as a grain of sand or a wildflower, one among millions, when looked at closely contains within it the immensity and intensity of God’s creation: if only we will bother to stop and look.

Continued on page 11

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

too many it is a burden—carrying water, wood or school books, maybe walking for long distances to work. Others “Walk for Life” as more a form of timed exercise while here and there some may be walking for life to protest against the destruction of unborn life, commemorating the implementation of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 20 years ago, in February 1997. Protest marches are different forms of walks too and ones that do incorporate “Walking the Talk”, following an ideal.

So Walking the Talk happens in many ways, but the value of a family talk-walk should not be ignored.

Afterwards there could be a chance to reflect. Did we talk companionably as we walked? Are we conscious of hazards and handicaps faced?

Walking is symbolic, symbolising a journey through life. Walking the Talk is symbolic too, a metaphor for how we engage with life and its issues.

Walking with loved ones is also walking with God in our midst, a provider, sustainer and protector. Walking the talk is a prayer that can be verbalised.

The other part of the theme for the year which is teased out each month in the context of a particular family situation is taken from the prophet Micah: “Act justly, love mercy and tenderness and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8) MARFAM has been active since 1995, and this “Family Friendly” column has continued for more than ten years now.

Who knows how long this walk will continue?

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Pray with the Pope

What are you doing about the crises?

Intention: That all those who are afflicted, especially the poor, refugees, and marginalised, may find welcome and comfort in our communities.

HIS intention expresses a wonderful sentiment, but how hard it is to put it into practice. It is far easier to pray for it than to do it.

When Syrian refugees were pouring into Germany recently, some courageous individuals braved negative public opinion by holding up signs proclaiming “Refugees welcome”. Some families took refugees into their homes.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to persuade her compatriots to be open-armed. We admire and salute such people, but most of us would be very nervous about throwing open the doors of our homes to refugees or the homeless people we find on our own streets.

To take in the stranger is to run a risk. One might discover, for example, that the refugee is psychologically as well as materially afflicted. Many refugees come out of traumatic situations and this can seriously affect behaviour. Victims can often be more demanding than grateful.

Then there is the question of how long one’s welcome extends. Will a refugee family stay for a month, or a year, or might they want to move in forever? Asking people to leave, after having previously welcomed them with open arms, is a recipe for embitterment.

We can, of course, welcome people by pressuring our governments to make provision for them and to protest against xenophobia. But no government can simply throw open its borders and few societies have the resources to sustain such an open door policy. Large and sudden influxes of people from another country can be politically and economically destabilising, and providing stability is one of a government’s first priorities.

Here in South Africa, the uncontrolled influx of white settlers caused the indigenous inhabitants to lose political and economic control of their ancestral territories.

T

S

ome of the populist political movements in the West at the moment are riding the wave of such fears. Whether founded or not, these fears have to be handled seriously as well as firmly, with understanding coupled with realism. Policies for receiving refugees have to be prudent as well as compassionate. If the far right gets into power in Europe, the prospect for refugees will become even bleaker than it is at the moment.

Most of us will pray and contribute money to charitable organisations as our way of supporting the poor, the marginalised and refugees. Well, the intention is indeed asking us to pray.

However, the implication is that our prayer will work on ourselves and make us more open to those for whom we pray. Hence, if I feel I am not able to welcome outcasts into my home or community, the question is then what else I might be able to do to contribute to the alleviation of their plight?

One response to mass suffering is to shut down in the face of the enormity of the crisis, to say that I am simply unable even to make a dent in such a vast problem. We are not always like that.

The largest natural disaster in living memory was the tsunami of 2005. We remember how, despite the fact that a quarter of a million people had died and millions more were left homeless, this did not deter many communities, some very poor, from holding collections for the survivors. What they had to offer wasn’t much but offering it anyway showed the natural, human response of spontaneous compassion.

And there was enormous symbolic power in poor communities reaching out and not standing back and expecting the rich nations to do everything.

The first step on the journey towards assisting the poor of Yahweh is to overcome the sense that we are of no account.

“What are these among so many?” say the disciples, but Jesus takes their paltry offering anyway and feeds everyone.

For brief but powerful videos illustrating the pope’s intentions go to www.thepopevideo.org.

8

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The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

FAITH

9

Christian persecution still on the rise million Christians there in a population of over 196 million.

An estimated 700 Christian women and girls were abducted in 2016, many of them raped and forced to marry Muslim men. The country’s strict blasphemy laws— which carry a death sentence—enable mob violence against Christians and accusations of blasphemy committed with impunity.

Persecution of Christians has had a disturbing increase in Asia, Open Doors noted, including in the world’s second-most populated country of India, there are 15 attacks against Christians every week— mostly by militant Hindu nationalists—and probably more than that number since some attacks are not reported by fearful victims.

There were “at least ten” abductions of Christians there in 2016, ten rapes of Christian women, and over 800 physical attacks on Christians, the report said. Laos, Bangladesh and Vietnam have also seen greater persecution of Christians by religious nationalists.

In the Middle East, Christians have been “caught in the crossfire” of wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

“The Saudi-backed civil war in Yemen has reduced the country to a wasteland, with many Christians caught in the crossfire, such as the 16 people killed in an attack on a Christian care home for the elderly and disabled,” the report said.

Other problems of persecution include Islamic extremism in sub-Saharan Africa, and attempts to destroy the homes of Christians who have been driven away by violence, in the hope that they permanently resettle elsewhere.—CNA n See www.opendoors.org

Somali women walk in front of the destroyed cathedral in Mogadishu, Somalia. The East African country is ranked the second-worst country for persecution of Christians. (Photo: Feisal Omar, Reuters/CNS)

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omalia, ranked the second-worst country for persecution of Christians, “has persecution levels nearly as high as in North Korea”, Open Doors UK noted.

“Islam is Somalia's state religion and all Christians come from a Muslim background,” the group explained. This means that if their conversion is discovered, it can mean persecution and even a “rushed beheading”.

“If a Christian is discovered in So-

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malia, they are unlikely to live to see another day,” Ms Pearce noted.

There are only hundreds of Christians in the country with a population of over 11 million.

At least 12 Christian converts were killed in Somalia in 2016, the report said. The country is ruled by a “tribal system” and is “basically lawless”, which means that entities like the terrorist group al-Shabaab can “persecute Christians with impunity”.

Afghanistan is number three on the list, another tribal country where being a Christian is illegal.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is fourth, where more Christians were recorded as having been killed for their faith in 2016 than in any other country. There are almost 4

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lets and pray.”

All top 10 countries with the worst persecution of Christians are in Asia and Africa. Somalia ranks second on the list, followed by Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Eritrea.

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LOBAL persecution of Christians has risen for the fourth year in a row and is on a “rapid rise” in Asia, the advocacy group Open Doors UK warned in its annual report on Christian persecution, which was released this month.

“Religious nationalism is sweeping the globe,” said Lisa Pearce, CEO of Open Doors UK & Ireland.

“Persecution levels have been rising rapidly across Asia and the Indian subcontinent, driven by extreme religious nationalism which is often tacitly condoned, and sometimes actively encouraged, by local and national governments,” she said.

Open Doors’ annual World Watch List on the state of global persecution of Christians ranks the countries where the worst persecutions of Christians are taking place, based on information gathered from field workers and “independent experts”.

Open Doors was founded in 1955

by Dutch Brother Andrew van der Bijl who smuggled bibles into Communist Eastern Europe in his blue Volkswagen Beetle. Since then, the organisation has grown to aid Christians in 50 countries by sending them bibles and other needed materials, and speaking out for their wellbeing.

Overall persecution of Christians has risen from last year, Open Doors

UK noted, stating that “Christians are being killed for their faith in more countries than before”.

“Christians living in these countries need the support of their family, the body of Christ, to help them stand firm in their faith,” Open Doors stated.

Pakistan had the most fatal attacks against Christians, “even more than Northern Nigeria”, the report noted.

Mexico also saw a violent spike in the killings of 23 Christian leaders in 2016, including the abductions of several priests. The crime-ridden country has seen 15 priests killed since 2012. Another name was added to that list this month with the abduction and murder of Fr Joaquín Hernández Sifuentes in northern Mexico.

For the 16th consecutive year, Communist dictatorship North Korea was determined to be the “worst place on earth for Christians”, Open Doors UK said. There are 300 000 Christians in the population of 25,4 million.

Christians there suffer from a totalitarian police state that closely monitors their actions and requires them to worship the ruling family, the report said. They must pray privately. Those discovered by the state to be Christian may end up in harsh labour camps where an estimated 50 000-75 000 Christians currently suffer.

“Every day was as if God was pouring out all ten plagues on us simultaneously,” revealed a Christian woman who escaped from a camp.

“That’s how hard it was. But God also comforted me and brought a secret fellowship into existence. Every Sunday we would gather in the toi-

D

Persecution of Christians keeps rising, as a new report shows. MATT HADRO reports

10

The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

FAITH

When the Holy Family came To Africa On February 5, the faithful of Cape Town and Port Elizabeth recall their diocesan patronal feast: the Flight into Egypt. GüNTHER SiMMERMACHER looks at the story of the Holy Family coming to Africa.

T

HE Holy Family’s Flight into Egypt, to escape the murderous designs of King Herod, has particular relevance in the present age when nations around the globe are affected by the refugee crisis.

Especially Christian nations seem to resent the influx of refugees from predominantly Muslim countries.

In that context, we do well to remember that the Holy Family also were refugees; that Jesus himself was a refugee.

Biblical scholars may argue over the reliability of the account of Herod’s massacre of the Innocents and the need of the Holy Family to escape his henchmen. Their argument is that Matthew’s gospel—the only one to mention it—was conveying an allegory with Moses which the Jewish audience he was aiming at would understand as fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea (1:10).

Historians tend to dismiss the murder of the Holy Innocents for lack of evidence. Surely, they argue, there would have been some kind of extra-biblical mention of such an extraordinary event in the well recorded life of King Herod.

Even Josephus Flavius, the Jewish

The Flight into Egypt is represented on an icon by Cape Town-based artist Br Richard Maidwell CSsR; the route of the Holy Family is mapped out at the church of Abu Serga in Old Cairo; the Flight into Egypt in olive wood, carved in Bethlehem, where the journey began. historian of the first century who entertained an undisguised hatred for Herod, fails to mention it. And surely the Romans would have acted on a mass slaughter of infants, since that sort of thing breeds sedition and unrest among the people.

More likely, a historian might point out, Matthew borrowed from Herod’s documented assassinations of three sons (one of them just months before his own death) and his beloved wife when he thought they posed a threat to his rule.

And yet, Bethlehem was a little village. The number of first-born infant boys there would have been

small; perhaps too insignificant to be headline news in Judea. Would a king who is willing to preserve his power by killing his own sons not stop short of murdering a few infants in a small village?

B

ut even if the absence of a Herodian threat from which to escape does not rule out the Flight into Egypt, we still have to navigate Luke’s report that the Holy Family went to Jerusalem to present Jesus in the Temple before going home to Nazareth (2:22).

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple took place 40 days after his birth (hence the February 2 feast day). This might have preceded the arrival of the Magi, and their inadvertent tip-off to Herod about this new king.

For all the objections the scholar may care to raise, the Holy Family’s migration to Egypt is plausible. Perhaps they went as refugees, as Matthew says. Perhaps they went for other reasons.

Since Egypt, like Judea and the territories north of it, was occupied by the Romans, it was easy to travel across borders, and migration between the two regions had been taking place for many centuries. The cities around what is now Cairo— such as Memphis and Heliopolis— had significant Jewish communities.

For the Coptic Church, as the Egyptian Christian community is known, the Flight into Egypt is a pivotal event. For Copts, there is no doubt that the Holy Family came as refugees.

Left: The Flight into Egypt pictured on a stained glass window in Milan’s Duomo. Right: The Holy Family returns from exile, depicted on the door to the basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

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More than that, in the Coptic narrative, the Holy Family remained on the run, from Herod’s agents and from pagans who saw the power of the special infant, until it was safe to go home after the king’s death.

Apocryphal writings have constructed many pious stories to accompany the Holy Family’s Egyptian journey. They record trees bowing before the infant and animals paying homage to him, pagan idols tumbling at the approach of the baby Jesus, spiders weaving a thick web to conceal Mary and the infant in a tree, and a chance encounter with the Good Thief who’d die on the cross next to Jesus in Jerusalem.

Less fantastical, an extra-biblical story has the future disciple Salome accompanying the Holy Family as a nurse. In Mark’s gospel, Salome is among women who witness the crucifixion and one of the three women who went to Jesus' tomb to anoint his body with spices, only to find the stone had been rolled away.

In some traditions, Salome is a relative—either a cousin or a sister— of Mary, the mother of Jesus. So it’s quite possible that she was with the Holy Family in Egypt.

At the best of times, it would have been an arduous journey— going most likely on the Via Maris trade route, via Gaza through the coastal region of the Sinai desert— especially with a baby on board.

And being on the run, the Holy Family wouldn’t have gone as part of a caravan, as was normal, but alone and taking detours across the wilderness to evade detection.

T

he Coptic Church has mapped out an itinerary of places where the Holy Family took refuge, starting in Farma in the Sinai desert.

Monasteries and churches mark, or marked, most of the 25 stations which the fourth-century Coptic Pope Theophilus claimed Mary dictated to him in a dream. These, it is believed, tended to confirm, rather than create, existing oral traditions.

Many of these places are in Cairo, but before the Holy Family even came there, they travelled west into the desert, taking refuge in Wadi Natroun where four ancient monasteries continue to operate today. One of them, now known as the Syrian monastery, marks the place where the Holy Family stayed.

From there they headed to Matariyah and Ain Shams (the ancient Heliopolis), both now suburbs of Cairo. At the former there is a tree named after Mary under which, according to lore, the Holy Family rested.

The most important site of the Flight into Egypt is that of the church of Abu Serga in Old Cairo.

The fourth-century church, formally the church of Ss Sergius and Bacchus, marks the place where the Holy Family stayed when they arrived in the city.

It is near the Ben Ezra synagogue, first built in the 11th century on the grounds of a former Coptic church,

which tradition marks as the spot where Baby Moses was found.

The Holy Family’s reputed home is in the Abu Serga church’s crypt, 10m below the ground. This means that when the levels of the Nile are high, the crypt can get flooded.

Abu Serga is one of two places in the precinct of the mighty Roman Babylon fortress where the Holy Family was hiding; the other is the church of Babylon El-Darag (Babylon of the Steps), officially dedicated to the Holy Virgin.

It is tantalising to imagine the Holy Family sneaking in a visit to the pyramids of Giza, which were known then already as being among the Seven Wonders of the World.

When Jesus was born, the pyramids were already more than 2 500 years old. It is a humbling thought that there are 500 more years between the construction of the pyramids and the life of Christ than there are between Christ and us today.

In the Cairo suburb of Maadi, the church of al-Adaweya (the church of the Ferry Crossing) marks the traditional spot from where the Holy Family sailed south, up the Nile.

At the southern tip of their journey, near the modern city of Asiut, the Muharraq monastery was built around a large cave where Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus are believed to have lived for six months and ten days. Its church of al-‘Adhra (or Virgin), right at that cave, is said to date back to the first century.

More than a million Copts gather at the monastery every August for the “Festival of the Virgin”. During one of these events, in 2000, the Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared there; the Coptic Church accepts the apparitions as real.

About half of the 400 000 people of Asiut, which is 400km south of Cairo, are Christians. That did not prevent an arson attack on the ancient monastery in 2013 by radicals aligned to the deposed Muslim Brotherhood. The attack was a reminder of the monastery’s name, Deir el-Muharraq, which means Burned Monastery—a testimony to many past attacks by anti-Christian invaders over its long history.

It is at this place that the Holy Family’s exile came to an end, with the angel appearing to Joseph with the words: “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead” (Mt 2:20) And with that, the Holy Family made its way home, travelling down the Nile, through the Sinai, then into Gaza.

But their Herod-related troubles weren’t over. Matthew seems to suggest that the family planned settling in Judea—maybe returning to Bethlehem or living in Jerusalem—but when Joseph heard that King Herod’s cruel son, Herod Archelaus, was ruling that region, he decided to return to Nazareth.

And so they settled down at the place where in Luke’s gospel the story of the incarnation began with the Archangel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary.

The Southern Cross, January 25 to January 31, 2017

CLASSIFIEDS

Thank the Creator for every flower Continued from page 7 So may I offer you this as a late New Year’s resolution? If you are in a city, make sure you take some time to visit a park or a garden or even to spend some time sitting (not working) in your own garden and pause to just gaze in wonder.

If there is not a suitable garden at the moment, think about what you can do—perhaps working with your friends or fellow parishioners to develop a piece of greenery in your area to help you and others to contemplate.

Don’t wait for someone to give you permission— just start planting and weeding and watering (though do observe whatever restrictions are in place). And you will be surprised at how quickly other people want to join in.

And wherever you are, sit down with a flower or a leaf or even just a blade of grass and wonder at the splendour of God’s creation, and then give thanks to the Creator. n Catch up with previous columns by Raymond Perrier on the web at www.scross.co.za/category/perspectives/ raymond-perrier/

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 743. ACROSS: 5 Monk, 7 Anno Domini, 8 Bush, 10 Heavenly, 11 Edison, 12 Slings, 14 Presto, 16 Second, 17 Confetti, 19 Item, 21 Sentiments, 22 Arch. DOWN: 1 Lamb, 2 Sophists, 3 Goshen, 4 Finals, 5 Mile, 6 Negligence, 9 Under cover, 13 Inclined, 15 Outing, 16 Spirit, 18 Fish, 20 Muse.

Your prayer to cut and collect

Liturgical Calendar

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • in memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,70 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday 29, 4th Sunday of the Year Zephaniah 2:3, 3, 12-13, Psalms 146:6-10, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Matthew 5: 1-12 Monday January 30 Hebrews 11:32-40, Psalms 31:20-24, Mark 5:1-20 Tuesday January 31, St John Bosco Hebrews 12:1-4, Psalms 22:26-28, 30-32, Mark 5:21-43 Wednesday February 1, Bl Benedict Daswa Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15, Psalms 103:1-2, 1314, 17-18, Mark 6:1-6 Thursday February 2, Presentation of The Lord Malachi 3:1-4 or Hebrews 2:14-18, Psalms 24:7-10, Luke 2:22-40 Friday February 3, Ss Blaise and Ansgar Hebrews 13:1-8, Psalms 27:1, 3, 5, 8-9, Mark 6:14-29 Saturday February 4, Saturday Mass of Our Lady Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21, Psalms 23, Mark 6:30-34 Sunday February 5, 5th Sunday of the Year Isaiah 58:7-10, Psalms 112:4-9, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Matthew 5:13-16

Prayer for the Canonisation of Bl Benedict Daswa

L

oving God, we thank you for the gift of Blessed Benedict Daswa, a man of deep faith, fearless courage and generous charity. We give you praise for his wonderful example as a devoted family man, educator and faithful catechist.

Led by your Holy Spirit, Blessed Benedict remained faithful to your Gospel of truth and goodness in the face of violent opposition and hatred. May the example of his generous sacrifice inspire us to grow in appreciation of the sacredness of every human life.

IN MEMORIAM

BRAAF—Eugene David. in loving memory of my beloved husband, our father, grandfather and father-in-law who passed away 21/01/2010 and still sadly missed. May his dear soul rest in peace. You are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. Fondly remembered by your wife Daphne, children Eugenie, Michael, Noleen, Wayne and Carol, daughter-in-law Lucretia and grandchildren Ryan, Andrea, Amy-Leigh and Tehillah.

HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you i have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my

PRICE CHECK

We make this prayer through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. AMEN.

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Getting our parishes to survive

Page 9

Page 3

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5016

BY MANDLA ZIBI

A

MID growing claims of demonic possession and Satanism in South Africa, the bishops have arranged a series of workshops—including one during next week’s plenary session in Pretoria—to educate priests about exorcism.

“There have been many requests from people to priests asking to be exorcised,” Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria, spokesman for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), told The Southern Cross.

He said the usual plea is, “I am possessed

by Satan, can you help me?”, the archbishop noted, adding that “priests are nervous in that situation because they do not have adequate training in exorcism and do not fully understand what is involved”.

Many dioceses do not have official exorcists, which are priests appointed by the bishop specifically for the task, in line with canon law.

“Evidence of Satanism is constantly arising when priests conduct healing workshops,” said Archbishop Slattery.

“Many people today speak of Satanism being prevalent in society. While there may be exaggeration of reports of Satanism and possession, it seems that people get into serious spiritual trouble when they start dabbling in occultism,” he said.

Observing that there “seems to be sects and cults involved in worship of Satan”, the archbishop cited the case of a young man who claimed the right to worship the devil as part of South Africa’s constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.

The issue of exorcism was raised by the Southern African bishops during their ad limina visit to the Vatican in April 2014.

“We requested the Vatican to offer us a workshop on exorcism. During the upcoming bishop’s plenary session next week, a day and a half has been set aside for a workshop on exorcism, where two exorcist experts from the United States will lead the discussion,” said Archbishop Slattery.

This will be followed by three more workshops in February; at the Bertoni Centre in Pretoria (February 1-2), in Benoni (February 3-5) and in Cape Town (February 7-8).

These workshops have been designed to assist priests and bishops to recognise the signs of satanic possession.

Archbishop Slattery explained that sometimes people imagine they are possessed and the Church needs to discern whether they need a simple blessing, a prayer for deliverance, or full scale exorcism.

“In my opinion, Satan acts through the evil in human hearts expressed in everyday actions rather than in extravagant displays of transcendent power,” said Archbishop Slattery, adding: “This is a more effective management procedure for Satan.”

He noted hat the devil’s aim is to destroy and he does that effectively by tempting people into serious sin.

“The first cure for Satanism is confession.

In a true and humble confession Satan comes face to face with Jesus,” he said.

In earlier times, exorcising was a matter of individual charisma and many practised it without ordination.

The rite of exorcism was conducted by bishops during baptism. Pagans were also exorcised, which often attracted them to Christianity.

The first exorcist in the Church was always the bishop, while exorcists’ ordinations were a step towards priesthood.

With time, an exorcist’s function was limited to priests officially chosen and appointed by the bishop. Some believe that no other ministry has so many traps and none demands such an ability of recognition and such special preparation. The ordination of exorcists as one of priestly ordinations was abolished in 1972, two years before the hit movie The Exorcist brought the issue to wider public awareness.

Several other issues are expected to arise when the bishops gather next week in Pretoria for their plenary.

These will include the launch of the Laity Council; the upcoming Mini World Youth Day which will take place in Durban; continuing discussion of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia; discussion of the pope’s encyclical on the ecology, Laudato Si’, and the outcomes of the recent plenary meeting of the Inter-regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) in Lesotho.

Moungondo Martin Jacquy, a daily communicant at Nazareth House in Cape Town, has been selling The Southern Cross there for the past few years. He is well-known to parishioners, residents and children, always willing to help push the wheelchairs and share a joke or two, said Nazareth Sister Margaret Craig. Please keep sending photos of people selling The Southern Cross in your parish to editor@scross.co.za

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Our bishops’ anniversaries

January 27: Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein on his 73rd birthday.

January 27: Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg on the 26th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

January 28: Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town on the 10th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

January 31: Bishop Joe Sandri of Witbank on the 7th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

February 1: Bishop Siegfried Mandla Jwara of Ingwavuma on his 60th birthday.

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(60), Poland (22), Brazil (13), France (10), India (eight), the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Hungary (seven each), Portugal (six), and the Philippines (four).

Of the 351 candidates, Cardinal Amato said, 58 are potential martyrs.

In 2016, he said, there were 14 beatifications and 10 canonisations with the new saints coming from eight different nations: Mexico, Albania, Argentina, France, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

The new saints included one bishop (St Manuel Gonzalez Garcia from Spain), four priests (including the Argentine “gaucho priest”, St José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero), three religious women (St Teresa of Kolkata, St Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad of Sweden and French Carmelite writer and mystic, St Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity), and two martyrs, including St José Sánchez del Rio, a 14-year-old Mexican boy martyred for refusing to renounce his faith.

From these “dry statistics”, Cardinal Amato said, “flow wildly and abundantly, like fresh water in a desert oasis, the vital lifeblood of holiness that bursts forth into the world” making it fertile.—CNS

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

Catch our interviews with Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher every Friday on 8:30am

or HE overwhelming majority of sainthood causes in the past decade have originated in Italy, according to the head of the Vatican office responsible for investigating the causes.

Of the 351 dossiers documenting the holiness of candidates for sainthood received by the Congregation for Saints’ Causes between 2006 and 2016, nearly 40% of them—139 causes—were from Italy, said Cardinal Angelo Amato, the congregation’s prefect.

The cardinal spoke at the start of a twomonth course offered each year by the congregation to teach future postulators to navigate the “laborious Church process” of promoting a sainthood cause.

The dossier, called a positio, documents the virtues, miracles or martyrdom of a potential candidate as part of a process for determining his or her holiness.

In that ten-year period, the cardinal said 43 countries around the world submitted at least one positio. One of these was from South Africa—that of Bl Benedict Daswa, over whose beatification Cardinal Amato presided in September 2015.

The leading countries after Italy are Spain

O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help me and show me where you are, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth i humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. There is none who can withstand your power, O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Holy Mary, i place this cause in your hands.

FATHER in heaven, everliving source of all that is good, keep me faithful in serving you. Help me to drink of Christ's truth, and

www.radioveritas.co.za streaming live

Durban port chaplain: I’m a missionary

Bishops to act on the rise in Satanism in SA

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelifeabortion isevil.co.za ABORTION ON DEMAND: “This is legalised daily murder in our nation, our silence on this issue is the reason why it continues.

Avoid pro-abortion politicians.”

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S outhern C ross

Nun, 104, on long life: Always serve God

fill my heart with his love so that i may serve you in faith and love and reach eternal life. in the sacrament of the Eucharist you give me the joy of sharing your life.

Keep me in your presence.

Let me never be separated from you and help me to do your will.

THANkS be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me, For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, May i know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, And follow thee more nearly, For ever and ever.

in Johannesburg & beyond

For the price of one issue of The Southern Cross you get four cigarettes The

petitions. in return i promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. Thank you to Our Lady of Fatima and Our Mother of perpetual Help. C.H.

PRAYERS

Listen favourably, we pray, to the intercessions of Blessed Benedict on behalf of your faithful people who seek healing, strength and courage. May his prayers obtain for us the miracles needed for your Church to proclaim him a saint of our time and apostle to our present world.

January 18 to January 24, 2017

CLASSIFIEDS

Feed your soul with The

S outher n C ross

IT’S WORTH IT!

11

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Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, News Editor: Mandla Zibi (m.zibi@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: Yolanda Timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za) Directors: R Shields (Chair), J O’Leary (Vice-chair), Archbishop S Brislin, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, J Mathurine, R Riedlinger, G Stubbs, Z Tom Editorial Advisory Board: Fr Chris Chatteris SJ, Kelsay Correa, Dr Nontando Hadebe, Prof Derrick Kourie, Claire Mathieson, Fr Lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu, Palesa Ngwenya, Sr Dr Connie O’Brien i.Sch, Kevin Roussel, Fr Paul Tatu CSS

Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff, directors or advisory board of The Southern Cross.

the

5th Sunday: February 5 Readings: Isaiah 58:7-10, Psalm 112:4-9, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Matthew 5:13-16

I

N a darkened world, we long to see the light of God. And how are we to do that?

The readings for next Sunday offer a few suggestions.

In the first reading, the Israelites have returned from exile, in response to the prophet’s demands, and they find that being back in Jerusalem is not all that it was cracked up to be, and they ask what God could be doing in their darkened world; they point to their religious activity and wonder why the Almighty is taking no notice.

The answer that Isaiah gives them is to remind them what God asks of them: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them.”

Only then, he argues, (and he uses the idea twice) “will your light break forth like the dawn…your light shine forth in the darkness”. And, best of all, the Lord will say: “Here I am.”

The psalm for next Sunday picks up the idea of light: “[the one who fears the Lord] shines in the darkness, light for the upright, the one who is gracious and lends…the just

S outher n C ross

shall be eternally remembered; they are not afraid of rumour; their heart is established; they trust in the Lord.”

And above all, they radiate the light of their generosity: “They give generously to the poor.” That is how you and I are to find light in the coming week.

Paul, in the second reading, still dealing with the factionalism that had broken out in Corinth, reminds them of his first arrival in that unpromising city, fresh from the disaster and mockery that he had experienced in Athens, according to Luke: “I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified —you see I came to you in sickness and fear and much trembling.”

And yet light fell, somehow, upon those Corinthians, but not through any rhetorical techniques of Paul’s: “My message and my proclamation was not a matter of the persuasive rhetoric of cleverness, but of the revelation of the power of the Spirit.”

Do you see the point? The light comes not from our own sophistication, but from what God is doing; “so that your coming-to-faith

O

Conrad

sense that life had not been fair to him.

Consequently he was forever somewhat focused on self-protection and was resentful of those who could step forward openly in self-confidence and love.

“I hate it,” he shared, “when I see people like Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul speak so with such easy self-confidence about how big their hearts are. I always fill with resentment and think: ‘Lucky you!’

You haven’t had to put up with what I’ve had to put up with in life!”

This man had been through some professional therapy that had helped bring him to a deeper self-understanding, but it still left him paralysed in terms of moving beyond his wounds. “What can I do with these wounds?” he asked.

My answer to him, as for all of us who are wounded, is this: Take those wounds to the Eucharist.

Every time you go to a Eucharist, stand by an altar, and receive Communion, bring your helplessness and paralysis to God, ask him to touch your body, your heart, your memory, your bitterness, your lack of selfconfidence, your self-absorption, your weaknesses, your impotence. Bring your aching body and heart to God. Express your helplessness in simple, humble words: “Touch me. Take my wounds.

Take my paranoia.

Make me whole. Give me forgiveness. Warm my heart. Give me the strength that I cannot give myself.”

Pray this prayer, not just when you are receiving Communion and being physically touched by the body of Christ, but especially during the Eucharistic prayer, because it is there that we are not just being touched and healed by a person, Jesus, but we are also being touched and healed by a sacred event.

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his is the part of the Eucharist we generally do not understand, but it is the part of the Eucharist that celebrates transformation and healing from wound and sin.

In the Eucharistic

Sunday Reflections

should not be a matter of human cleverness but of God’s power”.

Then in the Gospel we find the theme of light again. It comes after the astonishing beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, those remarkable “beatitudes”; and now Jesus turns to us who are listening, and tells us what is expected of us.

“You are the salt of the earth—but if the salt loses its edge, how is [the earth] going to be salted?”

In that society, of course, with no refrigeration, the principal function of salt, apart from flavouring food, is to prevent it going off. Our task, then, is to keep the world (or the “land”) in just that pristine flavour that God intends; otherwise it is only useful for being “trodden underfoot”.

Then he switches metaphor and we come back to the idea of “light”: “You are the light of the world.”

Then Jesus explores the meaning of the metaphor, and it has to do, not surprisingly, with visibility: “A city cannot be hidden if it is lying on top of a mountain!” Then he

Take your wounds to the Eucharist NCE a man came to me, asking for help. He carried some deep wounds, not physical wounds, but emotional wounds to his soul.

What surprised me initially was that, while he was deeply wounded, he had not been severely traumatised either in childhood or adulthood. He seemed to have just had to absorb the normal bumps and bruises that everyone has to absorb: some belittling, some bullying, never being the favourite, dissatisfaction with his own body, unfairness within his family and siblings, career frustration, unfairness in his workplace, the sense of being chronically ignored, the sense of never being understood and appreciated, and the self-pity and lack of self-confidence that results from this.

But he was a sensitive man and the combination of all these seemingly little things left him, now in late mid-life, unable to be the gracious, happy Elder he wanted to be.

Instead, by his own admission, he was chronically caught up in a certain wounded self-absorption, namely, in a selfcentred anxiety that brought with it the

Nicholas King SJ

Let God shine within you

makes a joke: “And people don’t light a torch and put it under the measuring-jug! No—they put it on the lampstand, and it shines for everybody who is in the house.”

This may not be the funniest joke that you have heard this week, but the sense of humour is not easy to reproduce across cultures.

Then the message is sounded, loud and clear: “So let you light shine before human beings, that they may see the good things that you do, and glorify your Father, the one who is in heaven.”

Now we are moving towards the central message of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the idea of the fatherhood of God. That was an insight that was right at the heart of Jesus’ religious experience, and it is what his disciples are supposed to live out.

And if you feel that your world is particularly darkened just now, then perhaps you might ask for the grace to let that light shine which is already within you.

Southern Crossword #743

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

prayer we commemorate the “sacrifice” of Jesus, that is, that event where, as Christian tradition so enigmatically puts it: “Jesus was made sin for us.”

There is a lot in that cryptic phrase. In essence, in his suffering and death, Jesus took on our wounds, our weaknesses, our infidelities, and our sins, died in them, and then through love and trust brought them to wholeness.

Every time we go to the Eucharist we are meant to let that transforming event touch us, touch our wounds, our weaknesses, our infidelities, our sin, and our emotional paralysis and bring us to a transformation in wholeness, energy, joy and love.

The Eucharist is the ultimate healer.

There is, I believe, a lot of value in various kinds of physical and emotional therapies, just as there is immeasurable value in 12step programmes and in simply honestly sharing our wounded selves with people we trust.

There is too, I believe, value in a certain willful self-effort, in the challenge contained in Jesus’ admonition to a paralysed man: “Take up your couch and walk!”

We should not allow ourselves to be paralysed by hyper-sensitivity and self-pity.

God has given us skin to cover our rawest nerves.

But, with that being admitted, we still cannot heal ourselves. Therapy, self-understanding, loving friends, and disciplined self-effort can take us only so far, and it is not into full healing.

Full healing comes from touching and being touched by the sacred. More particularly, as Christians, we believe that this touching involves a touching of the sacred at that place where it has most particularly touched our own wounds, helplessness, weaknesses and sin—that place, where God “was made sin for us”.

That place is the event of the death and rising of Jesus and that event is made available to us, to touch and enter into, in the Eucharistic prayer and in receiving the body of Christ in Communion.

We need to bring our wounds to the Eucharist because it is there that the sacred love and energy that lie at the ground of all that breathes can cauterise and heal all that is not whole within us.

ACROSS

5. Religious brother (4) 7. Indian Moon rises on the present era (4,6) 8. Moses’ burning vision (4) 10. Something of no earthly good? (8) 11. St Alfred is only partly an inventor (6) 12. Surgical supports one throws? (6) 14. Tempo for fast musicians (6) 16. He backs you up in an instant (6) 17. The shower on the bride and groom (8) 19. Single mite comes back (4) 21. I’m sent twice about my opinions (10) 22. Bishop’s architectural feature (4) Solutions on page 11

DOWN

1. Animal or mild-mannered person? (4) 2. Ancient Greek philosophers (8) 3. Song he ruined where Jacob was told to settle (Gn 45) (6) 4. Examinations not to be repeated? (6) 5. Generously go one extra (4) 6. Failure to take care (10) 9. Could be the spy with the open umbrella (5,5) 13. Disposed towards being not on the level (8) 15. Journey from home (6) 16. Kind of level the ghost may find (6) 18. Good Friday fare (4) 20. Be absorbed in thought about goddesses (4)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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HE new priest was making house visits to his parishioners. At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but nobody answered the door.

So the priest took out a business card and wrote “Revelation 3:20—Behold, I stand at the door and knock” on the back of it and stuck it in the door.

After Mass on Sunday he found his card in the collection basket, with the message, “Genesis 3:10”.

Reaching for his Bible, he looked up Genesis 3:10—“I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid, for I was naked.”

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