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Centenary Jubilee Year April 1 to April 7, 2020

How to ‘school’ your kids in lockdown

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Pope Francis: A leader in times of crisis

Fr Sebothoma: Lockdown is our retreat

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Lent 2020

Page 10-11

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Covid-19 in SA: Ramaphosa ‘got it right’

BY ERIN CARELSE

T Fr Zane Godwin welcomes a parishioner at the drive-through confessions offered at St John’s parish in Maitland, Cape Town. Before lockdown, Fr Godwin spent one hour in the morning and another hour in the afternoon on Saturdays sitting outside his church to offer the sacrament of reconciliation and spiritual chats in a setting that is appropriate for social-distancing. (Photo: Grant Stevens)

The Gospel in a minute STAFF REPORTER

A

BISHOP’S weekly “One-minute Gospel” reflection videos are now available on The Southern Cross’ website.

Bishop José Luís Ponce de León of Manzini, Eswatini, started posting his brief reflections on Instagram, YouTube and on his blog (www. bhubesi.blogspot.com), where they are also available.

“It has been pretty challenging to do it because I want it to fit into the Instagram video limit of 60 seconds—so every word counts,” Bishop Ponce de León told The Southern Cross.

“It started as an idea at the beginning of Advent and for the Advent season, but it is still on. I never know when I will stop doing it,” he said.

Initially the Argentinian-born bishop thought of just sharing it on his own media spaces, but “the kind of response I got kept me going”.

Sometimes he gives social communications ideas a try “so that our media office, or others, see how it works and if it can be improved”.

Doing a 60-seconds video is also a measure

A screenshot of Bishop José Luís Ponce de León delivering his “One-Minute Gospel” reflection on video. of discipline, “with all the times I get lost while talking or start laughing,” he said, joking that a video of him breaking out laughing could be “a huge success” of the kind he wouldn’t seek.

The videos are published on The Southern Cross website as they appear. Go to www.scross.co.za/one-minute-gospel/

HE government’s approach so far to the Covid-19 pandemic has been both credible and creditable, according to a Catholic political analyst.

Given that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his administration have come under increasing criticism lately for their handling of other major crises, such as Eskom, the collapse of SAA, and the overall decline in the parastatal sector, the way the government has dealt with the virus has been impressive and reassuring, said Mike Pothier, head of research at the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

“Not only that, but it has also been streets ahead of the lackadaisical and confused approach adopted by the governments of some northern countries which are routinely touted as more advanced and organised than we are,” Mr Pothier said.

He pointed out that various aspects of the government’s performance are notable: “To begin with, President Ramaphosa and his ministerial team have mostly been clear and decisive about what needs to be done to stem the spread of the virus, as opposed to the generally more dithering approach we have become used to.”

The government has often spoken of the need to make hard choices, especially on economic questions, but Mr Pothier said it has rarely had the nerve to carry them through.

“Here, too, things are different. There could hardly be a tougher choice than to effectively shut down an already-comatose economy for three weeks,” he said.

Linked to this, he added, is the refreshing exercise of political will that we have seen in the last ten days.

“Mr Ramaphosa has not qualified his remarks with the usual talk of consulting with alliance partners, seeking consensus, and so on. Neither has he set unrealistic targets to be met by some vaguely distant dates. He

has demonstrated leadership and firmness, and is clearly in command of the situation,” Mr Pothier said.

He noted that there has been remarkably little point-scoring and politicking, whether from the various opposition parties or from within the ANC’s factionalised ranks.

There seems to be a genuine willingness among politicians to work together, he noted.

President Ramaphosa’s decision to meet with all party leaders, briefing them on the government’s plans, inviting their cooperation, and holding joint press conferences with them has surely helped to construct a strongly unified position.

Government communication has also been significantly improved, and the president’s messages have been clear, comprehensive and well-packaged.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize “exudes calm”, Mr Pothier said.

“He neither underplays nor exaggerates the threat, and he manages to get across the gravity of the situation without fostering panic or despair.”

Social and traditional media have been used effectively to spread messages about hygiene, public health matters, the requirements of the lockdown, and what to do in the event of a suspected infection, and media houses have done excellent work themselves, for which they too deserve credit, he added.

For the most part, said Mr Pothier, government’s approach has avoided heavyhandedness. The words “encourage” and “discourage” have been used often, and the attitude has been one that tries to appeal to our common sense and to our sense of social solidarity.

Among ministers, one or two have been unable to resist bombast and are clearly enjoying their “little brief authority” to the maximum, but perhaps the president’s Continued on page 3

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The Southern cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

LOCAL

IMBISA bishops to raise awareness after human trafficking conference

by ERin cARElSE

T Sonali Rajdaw, a pupil at Holy Family college in Glenmore, Durban, won a matric dance date with stand-up comedian and actor Prev Reddy, who surprised her with a bunch of flowers at school before the country closed for the coronavirus lockdown.

HE bishops of the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) participated in a regional conference in Zimbabwe to help raise awareness of and combat human trafficking.

The conference, convened by the African Forum for Catholic Social Teaching (AFCAST), took place at Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare.

The governments of Zimbabwe and the United States; survivors of trafficking; faith-bodies, including those of Islam; and members of civil society were also represented.

Fr Dumisani Vilakati, director of the IMBISA secretariat, said the Church has a duty to embrace all people, especially victims and survivors of human trafficking.

“We were all aware that there is a lot of ignorance in the area of

human trafficking”, so there is a need for “ongoing formation and awareness of its dangers”, he said.

“Moreover, this ignorance is visible even among Christians and educated people. There is a need to work towards stopping this terrible scourge,” Fr Vilakati said.

“The pain of trafficked persons is felt not only in the period when they are enslaved by their captors.

On occasion, they are also rejected by their own relatives and communities once they escape from human traffickers,” he explained.

“The emotional and psychological scars may remain for a long time as they are sometimes also failed by law enforcement agencies.”

Janice Sister Maryknoll McLaughlin, a founder of AFCAST, recalled that St Patrick, whose feast was celebrated in March, had been

a slave in Ireland.

“Having worked for six years in Ireland as a slave, he managed to escape and head back to Britain, his homeland, subsequently receiving the vocation to the priesthood and going back to Ireland as a missionary,” Sr McLaughlin explained.

“In the same way, there is still hope for many people trafficked or sold into slavery to lead a good and productive life and thus contribute positively to society,” she said.

Survivors of human trafficking shared stories of being tricked into thinking there were lucrative job opportunities in places such as Kuwait and other Middle Eastern countries.

It was noted that human trafficking also happens in Southern Africa and within its countries’ borders.

Fr Vilakati said the IMBISA bishops have committed themselves to

work to disseminate information on protecting the vulnerable.

“The Holy Father never gets tired of reminding us [to take] care of enslaved persons,” Fr Vilakati said.

In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis wrote: “‘Where is your brother?’

(Gen 4:9). Where is your brother or sister who is enslaved? Where is the brother and sister whom you are killing each day in clandestine warehouses, in rings of prostitution, in children used for begging, in exploiting undocumented labour?

“Let us not look the other way.

There is greater complicity than we think. The issue involves everyone!

This infamous network of crime is now well-established in our cities, and many people have blood on their hands as a result of their comfortable and silent complicity,” the pope said.

Pilgrimage delays are ‘spiritual opportunity’ in difficult times

by ERin cARElSE

I

NTERNATIONAL travel restrictions in place due to the spread of Covid-19 have impacted on local pilgrimage tour operators, with several tours postponed.

Sandro Sfreddo, Micasa Tours cofounder, said the company is committed to protecting clients’ pilgrimage or trip investments in this unprecedented time of uncertainty.

“We have worked tirelessly to negotiate the waiver of penalties to

move all our tours currently scheduled for April, May and early June.

We are negotiating terms to move these tours to 2021, not cancel them,” Mr Sfreddo said.

“We care deeply about your safety, whether you are at home or travelling,” Micasa said in a letter to clients.

Fowler Tours has had to postpone three pilgrimages that were scheduled for April and May, going to places such as the Holy Land,

Rome, Lourdes and Medjugorje, according to owner Gail Fowler.

“We can’t predict how things are developing. Look at soccer, which is a billion-dollar business, and even they don’t know what will be in a few weeks’ time,” she said.

“So we just keep planning and adapting in the best interests of our pilgrims, and we’ll go on our pilgrimages when it is safe to do so, for our pilgrims and the people of the places we’re visiting,” she said.

Ms Fowler said her clients, and the priests and bishops leading affected pilgrimages, have been understanding and patient in dealing with postponements and uncertainties.

“Our pilgrims have been really fantastic. They understand the situation and appreciate being updated as circumstances change. I am praying together with them on WhatsApp that God may guide us through these difficult times,” she said.

She sees an occasion for spiritual

growth in these difficult circumstances. “In some ways, this [the postponements] is already part of our pilgrimage journey. We are praying together as groups already, and God is talking to us even in this experience,” Ms Fowler said.

“And one day, hopefully soon, this crisis is under control and we can give thanks at the various shrines we visit,” she added.

Other tour operators were contacted but declined to respond.

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Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, celebrates Read Aloud Day annually, to encourage all to continue to read for fun. This year, before the national lockdown, Grade 7 girls read to Grade 1 girls.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

3

When parents must become teachers at home

BY ERIN CARELSE

W

ITH schooling suspended due to the Covid-19 lockdown, parents have found themselves in an unexpected situation where, with little warning, they have taken on a new role as teachers.

Many parents are working remotely, so school and work are now at home, largely at the same time.

This is uncharted territory for many families, but with a little bit of planning, lots of discussion, an adaptable attitude, and some tips, they may be able to navigate this successfully.

Anne Baker, deputy director of the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) pointed out that the stress of this time must not be underestimated. The main thing parents must know is that they need to be really present for their children.

“Take time to have fun and just relax,” Ms Baker said.

“Parents must not allow home schooling to become a point of conflict. There might be a great deal of tension in homes as many parents have lost their jobs, others may work long hours as essential service

providers. So schoolwork should be approached as fun rather than a burden,” Ms Baker said.

She noted the problem of South Africa’s huge social inequalities.

“We have schools that have continued teaching online with exceptional resources. Other parents may not have access to the Internet, through not having money for data or not having devices which allow access to resources,” Ms Baker noted.

She recommended the amount of time children spend doing schoolwork should depend on their age.

“Primary school children should not spend more than 30 minutes without a break, when they run around or just play games,” she said.

“Even high school children may struggle to settle to work at home with distractions offered by television and their devices. It’s best to negotiate times with the older children and use encouragement,” she said.

Parents can also use household tasks as teaching devices.

“Things like baking can also be used to teach maths and life skills.

Gardening is another activity that can be done together—singing,

South African parents have suddenly found themselves as teachers in the home, and educators’ tips can help both parents and children. (Photo: Jessica Lewis) dancing, playing ball in the garden, if you have one,” Ms Baker said.

“Reading aloud to children of all ages is always good, and talking about a story and what it said [is a way of] checking comprehension.”

She said that making meals regular and sitting down together, even for tea, can have pedagogic value.

Imelda Diouf, director of the Sekwele Centre for Family Studies, pointed out that like adults, chil-

dren need structure, and even more so during this stressful time.

“Together with your child, carve up the day into segments, from getting up to sleep time. Make a pie chart that details time for schoolwork and reading, household duties, exercise and play, as well as fun and relaxation,” Ms Diouf, a Southern Cross columnist, advised.

Mothers and fathers should understand that it’ s not the fault of the

child that schools have closed down or that Covid-19 is devastating the economy and personal finances.

Parents and caregivers need to consciously practise patience and be aware of the tone of voice, body language and physical actions towards a child, and avoid lashing out at them to release frustrations.

“A joke, a laugh—even forced— a hug, a prayer or maybe just walking away until calmness is restored” can defuse situations.

She added that all children, from toddlers to teens, are aware of their environments, conscious of whispers, phone calls, television and radio news updates, and stress signals from their parents and caregivers.

“Not being in school is not a fun place to be under these circumstances. So adults should be willing to discuss with the child, using ageappropriate language, the why and what and how of the situation.

Why have the schools closed? What will happen now? How will we deal with things?” Ms Diouf counselled.

“Children need to participate in the family discussions that are unfolding in every household.”

Lockdown hits kids’ home hard

BY ERIN CARELSE

W

St Joseph’s Home in Cape Town for chronically ill children is being hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown, with walk-in donations and its annual Easter campaign now cancelled. The home is asking for financial support to help keep it going. Its Lily ward (above) was added a year ago for babies under the age of one.

ITH the lockdown, children’s homes are deprived of receiving walk-in donations in kind—for some at the worst possible time.

One such home is St Joseph’s Home (SJH) in Cape Town, which cares for chronically ill children.

For the past 85 years, SJH has served as an intermediate paediatric care facility for children with lifelimiting and life-threatening illness.

It has been a pioneer in treating and caring for vulnerable and ill children. Many come from informal settlements where clean water, electricity, sanitation and nutritious food are in short supply.

Even before the lockdown, the home was adhering to all regulations

Church praise for govt Passion Play tickets call Continued from page 1 measured tone will get through to them as well, Mr Pothier said.

“Certainly, the appeal to cooperation is more likely to have the desired effect than threats and bullying.”

Recalling the wholehearted public buy-in to provincial and local government policies during the Western Cape droughts two years ago, Mr Pothier said that “there is no reason why the success of that campaign cannot be repeated where Covid-19 is concerned, even if the effort will have to be a much larger and more widespread one”.

“The government has made a good start and has chosen to trust that the citizenry will respond positively and constructively to the lockdown and the other measures it is putting in place,” he said.

“The extent to which South Africans repay that trust will determine whether thousands of our countrymen and women live or die.”

T

HE Catholic Players’ Guild has asked supporters to consider donating their bought tickets for the cancelled Durban Passion Play towards the costs of the production.

With no income for the ticket sales, the financial implications of postponing the production are enormous. By not claiming for a refund, patrons will help offset the costs.

The Durban Passion Play, performed every five years, was scheduled for March 25 to April 12. It was cancelled due to government measures against Covid-19.

The Catholic Players’ Guild hopes the Passion Play might be staged next year at Easter, “but this is uncertain”, co-director Dawn Haynes said.

Any cash payments for ticket refunds must be claimed from Playhouse Theatre Box Office (031 369-9596 for info), not from Webtickets. All other payment options can be refunded by Webtickets.

to help stop the Covid-19 spread.

St Joseph’s values and mission are at the heart of the home, said resource development manager Alrika Hefers, and these values would now guide SJH as it faces the uncertainty and impact of Covid-19.

“A global and African challenge is our shared challenge, and we feel deeply for those already directly impacted by this outbreak,” she added.

The children and staff at SJH are being empowered with relevant information and guided on personal hygiene and preventative measures in the home. Safety measures have also been put in place.

Part of that—before, during and possibly after the lockdown—has been limitations on external visitors to the home’s premises in the sub-

urb of Montana.

Even before lockdown, no inkind donations were accepted after safety measures were introduced, Ms Hefers said.

Such donations, especially items such as nappies, are crucial in the running of St Joseph’s.

And the lockdown comes at the worst of times: Every year SJH runs an Easter campaign in which it requests donations not of chocolate eggs but much-needed toiletries.

Since such in-kind donations can no longer be received, St Joseph’s is now asking for financial support instead.

EFT donations can be made via their website (www.stjosephshome. org.za). For more information, contact 021 934-0352.

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The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

INTERNATIONAL

Churches offer buildings to help fight Covid-19

BY JONATHAN LUXMOORE

C

ATHOLIC dioceses and religious orders across Europe are offering to turn Church facilities into spaces needed for health care or housing during the Covid-19 pandemic—and a Spanish bishop said he would return to his former profession as a doctor, if the pope lets him.

Church leaders throughout Europe have been struggling to maintain Catholic religious devotions during enforced national lockdowns against the coronavirus, but have also sought ways, in addition to regular aid from Caritas and other Catholic organisations, of making resources available for health and social services.

In Ukraine, Fr Lubomyr Javorski, finance officer of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, said: “The Church also has many property resources which can be used during the pandemic. These facilities can be converted into hospitals, but also made available to physicians far from their workplaces, and to people returning from abroad with nowhere to spend their quarantine.”

Bishop Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa of Bilbao, Spain, said he, like other bishops, had been forced

Bishop Mario Iceta of Bilbao, a trained surgeon, has said that he is ready to return to his former profession as a doctor if needed, and if Pope Francis lets him. to close local churches, but was now preparing some for pandemic victims.

“We’ve responded to the appeal of civil authorities by making facilities and buildings available,” Bishop Iceta said.

“The conversion of a religious congregation building here is already underway, and the authorities are studying how to prepare other diocesan properties,” he said.

Bishop Iceta said he was ready to resume his previous career as a doctor, if Pope Francis consented.

“The Church, as Pope Francis says, is a field hospital—isn’t this a favourable occasion to deploy the services of this hospital?” said the 55-year-old bishop, who trained as a surgeon before his ordination.

“I haven’t practised medicine for a long time and would need to catch up on current advances. But if it were necessary and there was no better solution, there’s no doubt in my mind that I would offer to resume.”

In Italy, TV channels showed San Giuseppe church at Seriate being used as a depository for coffins, which were later gathered by military trucks for cremation as local authorities struggled with the scale of deaths.

In Germany, one southern diocese said it had opened a telephone hotline for needs ranging from shopping to childcare, while Benedictine nuns in Bavaria said they were manufacturing 100 reusable respiratory masks daily for local hospitals.

In Portugal, dioceses offered seminary rooms and other facilities to health professionals and civil protection teams.—CNS

Half million watch England’s rededication to Mary

T

HE website livestreaming England’s rededication as Mary’s Dowry crashed when an estimated 530 000 people attempted to join the ceremony at the basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk by digital means.

Catholics rededicated their country as Mary’s Dowry “in the eye of the storm” of the coronavirus pandemic.

Because of restrictions on assembly to slow down the transmission of Covid-19, the rededication was livestreamed—but the volume of website traffic was so high that it caused the website of the Walsingham shrine to crash, and with it the

stream.

The first dedication of England as Mary’s Dowry was carried out in 1381 by King Richard II amid great domestic turmoil, with the intention that the country was set aside for the guidance and protection of Mary.

In his homily during the rededication, Mgr John Armitage, rector of the Walsingham shrine, said: “Today we undertake this dedication in the eye of the storm,” he said.

“In the face of the peril that we find ourselves in today, in addition to the physical resilience we need to protect ourselves, a stronger spiri-

tual resilience will be needed to survive the ordeal ahead and to rebuild our society in the coming days.

“The fruitfulness of England in the days to come will be dependent on the faithfulness of her people,” Mgr Amitage said.

He added that England was at present also “humbled by the dedication of the thousands of men and women, who, in the face of such danger each day, serve the sick and those in need and enable our locked-down communities to survive”.

“May their dedication be blessed, and their spirits be strengthened,” he said.—CNS

Pope Francis celebrates the Easter Mass in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on April 21, 2019. This year, Easter liturgies will take place without the faithful present. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Vatican updates pope’s Holy Week and Easter

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

W

ITH public gatherings, including Masses, banned in Italy to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Vatican published an updated version of Pope Francis’ schedule for Holy Week and Easter.

The Vatican said that all Holy Week celebrations will be celebrated at the Altar of the Chair in St Peter’s basilica “without the participation of the people”.

The Vatican also said the release of the updated schedule takes into account the provisions made by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

For the first time, the pope’s schedule for Holy Week does not include the chrism Mass, which is usually celebrated on the morning of Holy Thursday. During the liturgy, priests renew their promises and the oils used for the sacraments are blessed.

This year also will be the first time Pope Francis will celebrate the evening Mass of the Lord’s

Supper in the Vatican instead of at a prison, hospital or other institution. The Congregation for Divine Worship said that “the washing of feet, which is already optional, is to be omitted” when there are no faithful present.

The congregation also said that bishops should advise the faithful of the times for the celebrations, so that they can pray at home at the same time.

Here is the updated schedule of papal liturgical ceremonies for Holy Week and Easter released by the Vatican: • April 5, Palm Sunday, 11:00.

• April 9, Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper 18:00.

• April 10, Good Friday, 18:00, liturgy of the Lord’s Passion.

• April 10, Way of the Cross, 21:00, in front of St Peter’s basilica. (No longer at the Colosseum).

• April 11, Easter vigil Mass, 21:00.

• April 12, Easter morning Mass, 11:00 followed by the pope’s blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).—CNS

Vatican stats show decline in religious

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

T

HE decrease in the number of religious Brothers and of women in religious orders is “worrying”, according to the Vatican statistics office.

While the number of religious brothers in Africa and Asia continues to increase, the number of religious Brothers worldwide experienced an 8% drop from 2013-18, while the number of women religious fell 7,5% globally in the same period.

However, the number of baptised Catholics increased by 6% from 2013-18, reaching 1,33 billion, or almost 18% of the global population.

The region with the highest proportion of Catholics, the yearbook reported,

is in North and South America with 63,7 Catholics per 100 inhabitants, followed

by Europe with 39,7 Catholics, Oceania with 26,3 and Africa with 19,4 Catholics for every 100 inhabitants.

The number of bishops of the world continued to increase in 2018 reaching 5 337 worldwide compared to 5 173 in 2013.

The report also stated that while the total number of priests—diocesan and religious—around the world increased slightly—by 0,3% in the 2013-18 period—the numbers “appear rather disappointing overall”.

Europe, it said, showed a decrease of more than 7% in 2018 alone, while the decline in Oceania was a little over 1%.

However, the 14,3% increase of priests in Africa and 11% in Asia over 2013-18 “is quite comforting”.

The yearbook also said that the number of permanent deacons is “rapidly evolving”, noting a significant increase from 43 195 in 2013 to 47 504 in 2018.

The number of priesthood candidates fell to 115 880 men at the end of 2018 compared to 118 251 men at the end of 2013, with Europe as well as North and South America accounting for the largest reduction in numbers.

Nevertheless, the report stated, “Africa, with a positive variation of 15,6%, confirms that it is the geographical area with the greatest potential to cover the needs of pastoral services”.—CNS

US politician leaves office, joins the Jesuits

T

HE lieutenant governor of the US capital Washington will not seek reelection and instead will enter the Society of Jesus later this year.

Cyrus Habib, a 38-year-old Democrat, will end his eight-year career in public office after what he described as “two years of careful and prayerful discernment” led him to apply to join the Jesuits.

Mr Habib, who was elected lieutenant (or deputy) governor in 2016, is the highest-ranking Iranian-American elected official in the United States.

As his discernment process was “almost entirely private”, Mr Habib said that he expected many of his constituents and supporters would find his decision to be a “major surprise”, particularly since he

Cyrus Habib, a rising star in US politics, will join the Jesuits after an 8-year term in office. was considered by many to have a bright political future.

“Many will be wondering why someone who has spent the last eight years climbing the political ladder and who has a not-insignificant chance of acceding to the governorship next year, would trade

a life of authority for one of obedience,” Mr Habib said in an essay explaining his decision in America magazine, which is published by the Society of Jesus.

In the essay, he credited his Catholic faith for initially motivating him to enter politics.

Mr Habib lost his sight at the age of eight due to cancer and is a three-time cancer survivor. He wrote that his life experience has given him a sense of empathy for those on the social margins.

Despite his political successes and bright prospects for the future, Mr Habib told America that recently he felt called to a different lifestyle, “albeit one that is also oriented around service and social justice”. —CNA

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

5

Bishop: Israeli schools Pope calls for a global ceasefire for pandemic are breeding bigotry P A BISHOP in Jerusalem has renewed a call to Israel’s educational leaders to address “bigoted attitudes” in the teaching of young people.

He stated that failure of the Israeli education system to promote plurality is threatening religious diversity in the Holy Land.

Religious tensions in the Holy Land are millennia old, but Christians in recent years say they have been attacked by some groups of Israeli settlers in traditionally Christian regions, and attacks on Christians have also been documented in the city of Jerusalem.

Most of the Christians in Israel are Palestinians belonging to either the Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox, or Roman Catholic Churches.

“It is undoubtedly a question of education, and one that is caused by a more general problem of a certain cultural outlook, namely the refusal to accept the diversity of the other,” Auxiliary Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

“We are extremely concerned because the mutual acceptance of others in society is the only sound basis of every society, above all amid the very great ethnic, cultural, religious and political diver-

The Dormition Abbey on Mt Zion in Jerusalem. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS) sity of Israel and the Middle East.”

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has repeatedly called for educational measures in response to vandalism attacks.

ACN cited an attack on Armenian Apostolic Orthodox seminarians in Jerusalem’s Old City on June 8, 2019, in which the seminarians were targeted by three young Jewish extremists who spat on them, saying, “Death to the Christians” and “We will wipe you out of this country”.

In December 2019, vandals slashed the tyres of over 160 vehicles and sprayed slogans such as “Arabs=enemies” in a Palestinian

neighbourhood of Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, the Associated Press reported.

Most recently, Bishop Marcuzzo pointed to an incident in the Christian-majority town of Jish, in which vandals slashed the tyres of dozens of cars and spray-painted slogans on buildings warning of Jewish-Arab “assimilation”.

The Benedictine Dormition Abbey, on Jerusalem's Mount Zion, a holy shrine where the Blessed Virgin fell into eternal sleep, has been vandalised on five different occasions in recent years, with anti-Christian graffiti written in Hebrew.—CNA

Priests arrested for saying Mass

A

MID lockdowns responding to the coronavirus pandemic, at least three priests were arrested on Sunday for celebrating Mass publicly, in alleged defiance of government orders banning religious gatherings during the pandemic in Uganda and India.

In Uganda, Fr Deogratius Kiibi Kateregga was arrested for celebrating Mass at St Joseph’s church in Mpigi. There were reportedly at least 15 Catholics in attendance at the Mass.

Local officials said the priest was arrested along with seven other Catholics and was detained at the Mpigi police station.

“He was found preaching in the

Ugandan Fr Deogratius Kiibi Kateregga was arrested for celebrating Mass. church in contravention of the presidential directives,” said Herbert Nuwagaba, Mpigi district police commander.

The priest was released after parishioners protested on his behalf at the police station, according to local media reports.

On March 18, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni suspended religious and cultural gatherings for at least 32 days in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19.

In India’s Kerala state, two priests, were charged with violating government orders after a Mass celebrated in a chapel at the minor seminary of the Congregation of Missionaries of Faith in the Wayanad district.

All seven were released after their arrest with a warning not to repeat their actions. —CNA

OPE Francis appealed for a global ceasefire as countries work to defend their populations from the coronavirus pandemic.

“The current emergency of Covid19…knows no borders,” Pope Francis said on Sunday in his Angelus broadcast.

The pope urged nations in conflict to respond to an appeal made by the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for an “immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world” to “focus together on the true fight of our lives”, the “battle” against the coronavirus.

The pope said: “I invite everyone to follow up by stopping all forms of war hostility, promoting the creation of corridors for humanitarian aid, openness to diplomacy, attention to those in a situation of greater vulnerability.

“Conflicts are not resolved through war,” he added. “It is neces-

Relics of St Corona will be displayed after 25 years

A

GERMAN cathedral will publicly display the relics of St Corona, an early Christian martyr, once the Covid-19 outbreak has ended in the country.

The Catholic cathedral in the city of Aachen, western Germany, was already planning to display the reliquary of St Corona before Covid-19 struck. The shrine was to be included in an exhibit on goldwork and gold craftsmanship, and has not been able to be viewed by the public for the past 25 years.

The cathedral, commonly known as the Imperial Cathedral because it was used by the Emperor Charlemagne, has housed the relics since the year 997 AD. A spokeswoman for the cathedral said that, due to the coincidence of the saint’s name and the subfamily of the virus that has infected thousands of people around the world, she expects there to be “more interest” in viewing the saint’s remains.

“We have brought the shrine out a bit earlier than planned,” said the

Rome’s homeless find refuge near the Vatican

A

LONG the edge of Bernini’s colonnade, the semi-circular rows of columns which wrap St Peter’s Square in Rome, many homeless spend time during the day and sleep at night, as tourists and locals walk by.

But during the coronavirus pandemic, which has led Italian authorities to lock down the country, close St Peter’s Square, and order everyone to stay home, where can those with nowhere to go find shelter?

There are an estimated 8 000 homeless in Rome, according to Massimiliano Signifredi, communications director for Sant’Egidio, a Catholic community and volunteer network based in Rome.

“Unfortunately, no one has thought of these people,” he said. “These people are at risk, not only because of the virus, but because of isolation.”

Of those 8 000 homeless, he explained, around 3 000 will not be able to find room

An elderly homeless man walks along the colonnade of St Peter’s Square days after its closure to tourists. (Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP/CNA) in shelters across the city, and instead choose “to live at the train stations and at places like St Peter’s Square, which continues to be a place of refuge for those without a home”.

sary to overcome antagonism and differences through dialogue and a constructive search for peace.

“The joint commitment against the pandemic can lead everyone to recognise our need to strengthen fraternal bonds as members of a single family,” Pope Francis said.

The UN secretary general said that a global ceasefire would “help create corridors for life-saving aid” and “bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to Covid-19”.

He pointed out that refugee camps and people with existing health conditions are most at risk of suffering “devastating losses”.

Mr Guterres appealed in particular to those fighting in Yemen to end hostilities, as UN humanitarian advocates fear the potentially devastating consequences of a Yemeni Covid-19 outbreak because the country already faces a significant humanitarian crisis.—CNA

During the coronavirus pandemic, with the streets abandoned and bars and restaurants closed, “those who do not have a home find themselves in great difficulty”, Mr Signifredi said. “Even to go to the bathroom is a problem without a house; and to wash your hands frequently, like we should, you cannot do if you are on the street.”

One state police officer who works near the Vatican said one of the places where many homeless typically sleep at night— under the gallery of one of the nearby buildings—is now empty.

But the outer edge of Bernini’s colonnade still hosts many of its usual guests, though numbers are slightly reduced.

“Some people really do not want to go; they prefer to stay outside,” the officer said, adding that the police cannot force anyone to go to a shelter against his or her wish.—CNA

The Palatine chapel in the Imperial cathedral in Aachen, Germany.

(Photo: Takashi images) spokeswoman, Daniela Loevenich.

St Corona, although not the patron saint of plagues and epidemics, was appealed to by farmers in times of bad weather.

The saint’s name, Corona, comes from the Latin word for “crown”. She is also known as St Stephanie, derived from the Greek word stephanos, which also means “crown”. St Corona is believed to have been martyred as a 16-year old in the second century, but few details are known about her. —CNA

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Abortion legal in N. Ireland despite 79% opposition

BY SIMON CALDWELL

T

HE British government has pressed ahead with the legalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland.

A right of access to abortion was included in the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act 2019, which passed into law last October, and a legal framework for abortion provision was announced earlier this month.

It allows abortion on demand in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, abortions up to 24

weeks for undefined mental or physical health reasons, and abortion up to birth if the foetus is considered to be disabled.

The law permits abortions to be performed outside of hospitals and abortion clinics, and limits the conscientious objection rights of medical staff.

The regulations, which were opposed by 79% of respondents during a consultation with the public on how they should be framed, took effect on March 31.

Dawn McAvoy of Both Lives Matter, a pro-life group based in Northern Ireland,

said: “The ground is moving beneath us. We are a nation in the midst of a pandemic, grieving for what is to come—the loss of life, security and the futures we imagined.

“Given this season of grief we face, it seems somewhat tragic that it is now that the new regulatory framework for abortion provision in Northern Ireland has been announced,” she said in a statement.

Ms McAvoy said that pro-life activists would work to offer “the practical, material and emotional services” pregnant women needed “to choose life”.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial: Frs Kelvin Banda OP, Stephen Beru M.Afr & Isaac Zachariah Mutelo OP

Where is God?

A

S the coronavirus crisis causes disruptions and even lockdowns in our societies, many people seek answers as to why this disease with such an impact has emerged.

With people being affected in many ways by the Covid-19 crisis, and some even dying from the virus, those of a shaken faith may ask: “If there is God, then God is not powerful, perfect, and almighty. And if God is there, and he is perfect and powerful but will not do anything about coronavirus and other forms of suffering and evil, then he is an unfair god who lacks compassion, mercy and kindness.”

Even those of strong faith may ask: “We know God gave us reason, freedom, and the ability to make choices, but surely if we are children of God, then why does he let us suffer? Why do we have to close churches? Why can’t holy water work? Why can we not seek refuge in Jerusalem, Mecca or the Vatican? Why can’t God do something through the Vicar of Christ?”

It would be wise to release God from the responsibility for this iniquity—one which we humans have, in fact, brought upon ourselves.

Are we not responsible for our actions? How is God responsible for our selfishness, greed and inhumanity? God gave us intelligence, but did he tell us to misuse it?

There are so many things we are enjoying today, such as smartphones and easy transport.

But at what cost did digital devices or mechanised transport come about?

We have abused nature for a very long time and now we are reaping the consequences, in health and ecological crises.

How does our misuse of intelligence concern God? Why question God for the consequences of our consumerist greed?

But when we cease to ask why God allowed this pandemic, we will have the time and space to enter into our inner selves, to dig deep down, so that we can repent, turn aside from our ways and return to God, asking for mercy and solutions to the coronavirus and the other conse-

quences of our ways.

Perhaps a wise question for reflection would be: “What does it say to us that the coronavirus emerged so rampantly during the time of Lent, Holy Week and Easter?”

Corona in Latin means “crown”. In Christianity, Christ is the King, who wears a crown.

Yet, in our world today, the corona is worn by business, politics, sports, entertainment, alcohol, drugs, gambling, and pornography. It is worn by corporations that place profit above everything, including and especially the welfare of people. It is worn by politicians who trade integrity and service for power and money.

The Lord is letting these crowns be worn by vice, for their reign is only temporary. But God is also asking us now to wake up, to spend time with him.

These things that we have made secular gods of can disappear fast. Look how quickly the markets can crash—in one moment we can lose everything.

But we do not need to lose our soul.

For many people, sport—to give an example—has become a “god”. They sacrifice going to church for sports. How many people centre their lives around bars without even having a single thought about God? The stadiums and bars have shut down, even if only temporarily, but God’s door is always open.

God is asking us to spend time with him. God is asking us to return to him, to be with him.

God didn’t create the coronavirus—humanity did—but he is calling us back to him right now.

In this lockdown, God is asking us to spend time with our families, in a busy age when families have little time to spend together.

The coronavirus presents us with an opportunity to review our lives and our relationship with God, and to recalibrate what needs changing.

This is a time of crisis, but it is also a time of grace when we are called to humbly return to God, to pray, and to unite with one another.

Even the devil knows that God is in charge

Y

OUR editorial “Faith and fear” (March 18), seems to give the devil a whole lot of praise for something which he does not deserve or had any control over or was in any way responsible for regarding the necessary actions taken by our leaders, both secular and spiritual.

Yes, for the moment, he is ecstatic at the chaos and may even be, as you put it, “rubbing his hands with glee”. He wants us to believe that this is his victory. But we all know, and the devil knows, that God is in charge.

At this time of the modern-day plague of coronavirus, God seems to be tired of the empty churches, especially in Europe. He has possibly decided it is time to curtail the evil,

Charity essential in Covid-19 times

O

UT walking this morning I passed a residence where a male garden worker stood at the gate. A woman came out and told him that he would not be required, because the spread of the Covid-19 virus prevented her from allowing any workers on the premises. He turned away without a word.

This is most probably the situation many domestic employees are having to experience in these times, and it would be difficult to blame any person attempting to minimise the infection risk for themselves and their families. But let's consider the position of the employee!

Their livelihood is dependent on the remuneration they receive, in many cases not a great amount— and now there is suddenly nothing.

We complain about stockpiling by some, making it difficult to obtain supplies, but these workers may not have the wherewithal to visit the same stores!

The duties performed by domestic employees will be done by householders themselves. They might have to accept less perfect conditions, but they will survive, perhaps even a little richer for not having to pay the help. What will they have lost in this situation?

Many householders are, commendably, continuing to pay their workers while foregoing their services. Could we not attempt to do the same, perhaps in a reduced amount if the penny is being pinched?

Times are tough for all, but we still have an obligation to help our neighbour where possible, and we have been told who is our neighbour.

The nation is pulling together, we are closer now in adversity than just a month or two ago—let us be

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The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion.

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greed and corruption in the world: the idol-worshipping in those packed football stadiums, cinemas, casinos and luxury cruise ships where, unfortunately and mostly, God has little or no place.

There is a new-world culture of spiritual complacency, do-as-youplease fun, selfishness, sex, abuse, disrespect, drug-infused excitement; all with tattoos and torn clothing.

Strangely and suddenly, the socalled fun places have become as empty as the churches. What to do now? How can we have some ungodly jollification?

Remember the ten plagues of Egypt. Remember Nineveh. It is God who decides on the necessary initiatives. I would suggest that the Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

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

as charitable as we can, consider the plight of those who depend upon us, and not send them into despair.

Cecil Cullen, Alberton

Our lockdown is God’s timing

T

HE current lockdown is God’s perfect timing for his people.

It is a calling for us all to be obedient, to make wise choices and to reevaluate our lives, our thoughts and actions. This time was prophesied in Isaiah, for our world today.

We might think our freedom has been limited, but in actual fact we are freer to seek true freedom in Christ. Freedom to love beyond boundaries, in our concerns for each other, in communicating through a smile, a word of encouragement (even in a phonecall).

It is in drawing closer to God, in repentance for our sins; in taking time to be still before God instead of rushing through our daily lives.

For some it can be a time to reconnect with our children, pray more as a family and appreciate things possibly taken for granted.

It’s a time that unites us in a common concern for our world. We pray for one another instead of fighting against each other. Let us not dwell on what we can’t do, but focus on what we can do through Christ who has overcome the world and enables us to find solutions to problems through prayer.

It is a time of self-awareness and true repentance. To turn back to

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evil one, like Jonah, is “very indignant” at what God has chosen to do but he will soon learn.

Time for the sackcloth and fasting; “and let everyone renounce his evil ways”. Time to repent and pray that we may soon be able to go back to our churches and for them to become places of worship, humility and faithfulness once again. For even our Church has needed to say mea culpa to too many misdemeanours in the past.

We must also pray for all those affected by the coronavirus and those caring for them and for our country and the world, that God will relent of the disaster, which has come upon us.

Tony Meehan, Cape Town God and find our true self in Christ.

Love casts out all fears and God is love (1 John 4:8).

“Don’t panic. I am with you.

There is no need to fear. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I am not letting go” (Isaiah 41:10, 13).

Catherine de Vallance, Cape Town

No ‘fake news’ on Cardinal Pell

I

AM quite puzzled by Vincent Couling’s allegation that I am spreading “fake news” regarding Cardinal George Pell’s case (February 5).

In fact, I have tried to find as much factual information as I possibly can. An example is this passage by respected journalist George Weigel: “The suggestion implicit in the majority decision rejecting Cardinal Pell’s appeal—that this atmosphere had no discernible effect on the jury that found the cardinal guilty—beggars the imagination: not least because the trial in which Pell was convicted by a 12-0 jury ballot followed a first trial that ended with a hung jury that voted 10-2 for acquittal.”

From my experience, Mr Weigel tends to err on the side of caution, so I would hesitate to “accuse” him of purveying “fake news”.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Durban

Give us corona services SABC!

I

T used to be the practice of the SABC to broadcast morning and evening services of quality, shared among the Churches by agreement.

This helped to preserve our traditions. What excellent sermons I have heard in the past, from various denominations. Now we are offered five-minute fervorinos, or endless Healing-on-Command.

The president asks for the Churches to assist with his Covid19 lockdown programme, even at this central time of Holy Week.

Isn’t this a great opportunity for the SABC to assist the Churches by broadcasting (from archives, or from EWTN and others live), bringing our faith back into our homes, digitally? Let’s ask (shout) for that.

Fr Vincent Hill, Pretoria

Fr Danker nexus

I

WAS interested to read the column on Fr Albert Danker (March 4).

Not that I ever met him, but your article mentions St Joseph’s—a parish my sister attended, and next to its church was a convent run by nuns. I attended that school when I arrived in Durban from Mauritius in 1947!

Furthermore, the column refers to Fr Allan Moss who recently was in Fort Beaufort on a mission for two weeks at St Michael’s. A small world!

I’m also interested in who the storyteller is? (Note: Sydney Duval) (Fr Charles Langlois is no relative.)

Andre Langlois, Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

PERSPECTIVES

Lockdown is our retreat W ITH a beaming smile on his face, Mr Khumalo remarked: “Father, I have never seen something like this in a long time.”

The curious thing I thought he was referring to was the baptism of fire he experienced as the chair of the Sacred Heart cathedral parish pastoral council.

Together with the top six of the council, they were ministering in all the five Sunday Masses introduced as a response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s directives of limiting Mass to no more than 100 people.

They had to make sure that the Disaster Management Act gazetted by government was adhered to: spraying hands with sanitisers and keeping individuals one metre apart in a usually crowded place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

I congratulated their noble sacrifice and said this was what pastoral care ministry is all about: “to serve and not to be served”.

But, as it turned out, that was not the reason for Mr Khumalo’s infectious smile.

“For the first time, after a long time, our family was under one roof on a Sunday. We shared meals, prayers and conversations.”

This dreaded virus, which has disrupted life as we know, now even to the point of locking us up in our homes, has had a positive side-effect on his family.

In the words of Winston Churchill, we must never let a serious crisis go to waste.

Some South Africans failed to adhere to President Ramaphosa’s call for self-quarantine and social distance, for the good of society. More and more people were spreading the virus to infect more people unknowingly.

Consequently, last week the government blessed us in South Africa with a 21day lockdown.

My local ordinary, Archbishop Dabula Mpako of Pretoria, like other bishops in their dioceses, subsequently issued a directive to suspend all public Masses, including the ceremonies of Holy Week, the Chrism

Mass and Easter Triduum until the national lockdown is lifted by the authorities.

At a deeper spiritual level, this is the real Lenten season we never wished for, thanks to Covid-19.

A

ll of us are challenged to self-isolate.

Jesus instructed us on Ash Wednesday: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

During the Ash Wednesday service we heard God clearly say that we must remember: “You are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

This verse will be repeated when our mortal remains are put in the ground.

Dust should remind us that we are vulnerable and fragile as we have witnessed thousands of people succumbing to this emergency. If we do not self-isolate or keep a safe social distance, we will become dust sooner than later.

Fr Joel Skhosana, in one of his audio messages, warned us against blaming Satan for the coronavirus.

He says sometimes we give the devil the dues which he does not deserve. This virus, like TB and HIV, is transferred from

The streets are empty during lockdown, but there is a Lenten grace in our isolation, suggests Fr Mathibela Sebothoma.

Fr Mathibela Sebothoma

Point of Reflection

person to person. God does not wish for us to die but have life abundantly here on earth and in heaven.

Let us try to keep to our Lenten resolutions we made on Ash Wednesday. Let us allow the Spirit of God to quarantine us as Jesus was led to the desert for 40 days and 40 nights (and let us pray that our lookdown will not extend to 40 days!).

It is never too late to restart our personal Lenten discipline. In the absence of official liturgies, we can turn our homes into domestic churches.

Our parents can assume their priestly duties by leading family prayers and gathering us around the table to share meals, as Jesus did with his disciples.

On Fridays we can take turns praying the Stations of the Cross (the recent Southern Cross poster can help you there. Click here).

On Palm Sunday we can make our palms and rejoice “Hosanna”.

At Easter we can light our own candles and renew our baptismal vows. At noon we can ring our self-made bells to pray the Angelus or the Regina Coeli.

We have ample time to read the Bible and do catechism at home.

Oh, let us pray for those working during this time while we are on retreat. After all the Church did not start with buildings and formal liturgies. The Church started in the upper room.

Priests will continue to celebrate daily Masses—you can still send them your Mass intentions via WhatsApp. The national lockdown does not mean an end to our spiritual life. We are still members of the Body of Christ. He is always with us, two or three gather in his name.

Let us not waste the crisis we are facing.

Soon we will echo Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Try family resources for Holy Week Toni Rowland T HIS year, Holy Week and Easter are undoubtedly going to be very different.

A large number of people, many of them maybe not even regular churchgoers, will be deprived of services and liturgies over the next few weeks.

Good Friday services and Easter liturgies will not take place, but that doesn’t mean there’s no Easter.

At this time, there are all kinds of realities facing us: health, economic, work, family relationships, managing family time and many more.

All of these are challenges, but at the same time there are also occasions for a more positive view, like greater use of technology for learning and sharing information.

Disunity among political parties, government and trade unions, and even religious groups and families themselves, could still bedevil the progress towards the common good, but to date there has been a remarkable spirit of common purpose, led by our state president.

One very useful aspect in the way forward could be a greater development of a family focus in Church life, in the parish and the home. After all, the family is a domestic Church, the first cell and little Church of the home.

Home liturgies for the special days to come could be particularly meaningful to add to the scripture readings, especially if appropriate symbols are used.

A pamphlet of the activities listed here will be made available by Marfam in print and digital format.

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We may not have the Easter Mass this year, but we can still celebrate Holy Week and Easter in the domestic Church.

A variety of current publications are available including the children’s booklet, God’s Plan of Love, The Resurrection Story (it can be ordered from Marfam at R25, including p&p). l Family Reconciliation Service. This is a simple activity for families built around the Our Father prayer, inviting members, also those not Catholic, to be reconciled with one another. l Palm Sunday. Families could make their own palm (or any leave) crosses, and display them during the week. Reading the Palm Sunday Gospel and the longer Passion can be done at home. l Holy Thursday. An activity sheet for a simple family prayer meal, using some of the elements of a Paschal Meal, is available with an overview of the usual ceremonies of the day.

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l Good Friday. A pamphlet, “Stations of the Cross for Families” is available in local languages. There is also a prayer sheet for a simple Veneration of the Cross at home.

A crucifix or a simple home-made cross can be used for this. Hot cross buns can be baked. l Easter Vigil. The lighting of the fire and Easter candle ceremony would be complicated at home, but we can certainly remember our baptism, taking stock of how we have lived up to our baptism promises. A simple reflection sheet is available. l Easter Sunday. To prepare, making an Easter garden can be a home project (provided, of course, you have a garden).

Families can also make chocolate Easter eggs, or have an egg hunt, maybe as a treasure hunt with biblical clues.

Easter Monday is not a religious day, but it can certainly be a time to be conscious of all family members and their needs and contributions.

Marfam will continue to publish the “Daily Thoughts” linked with the 2020 Family Year Planner, the scripture readings of the day and extracts from writings of Pope Francis. n See www.marfam.org.za for details.

S outher n C ross

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7

Fr Pierre Goldie

Christ in the World

Have you found Jesus?

I

THINK it is relevant to repeat how Christ has been marginalised, how he has been constrained, reduced to Lord of the poor and of the sick, without asking why there are poor people, and without the risk of being dismissed as a socialist or communist.

We recall how early theologians were mostly monks. They seldom theologised about politics, or the world of business, beyond some admonitions not to make a false god of money.

In African tradition, all life is holy—work, politics, nature, leisure, family, clan, religion. There is more emphasis on life in the present world than on our eventual escape to the afterlife.

There is no special word for religion; it is best described as a way of life which in most cases includes the invisible world of ancestors and God, who is seen as real but distant.

Perhaps the end of life is underestimated in African tradition, but at least there is a realistic focus on the present experience of life.

There are so many biblical admonitions to escape the world, to live in a type of secluded spiritual realm which ignores real life around us.

Jesus did come to make all things new, and surely this incorporates all areas of life. Pope Paul VI spoke of the drama of our times, namely the split between faith and life.

Our theology is expressed in ways which rarely take into account the changes in ways things are perceived. Theology does not change, but the way it is expressed can change. It needs to be expressed in a way that is familiar to the culture or context of the people to whom the message is being proclaimed.

St Paul, in his discourse to the people of Athens, started where they were, their familiar ground, namely their notion of the unseen god, and then attempted to lead them across to the unknown, the resurrected Lord.

If we catechise children about the saints, it would be wise to start with their context, say Justin Bieber! Ask them why this person is famous, and then record the answers on the board.

Then move from their familiar context to a particular saint, and how he or she contrasts with the pop star. Start with real life, and then evaluate it in the light of Scripture and Tradition.

This is, of course, a type of See-Judge-Act methodology. We look at real life (see), evaluate it in the light of Scripture and Tradition (judge) and recommend action (act).

We can easily talk past young people. We need to be constantly aware that our catechetics, theology, homilies, are already expressed in terms that may be dated, vague to outsiders of the culture or context, or of little relevance to their life experience. We are not getting important messages across efficaciously.

So, I expect to find the Risen Lord, Christ Jesus, in politics, business, government, science, entertainment, education, medical care, research and sport!

Do we not need to make Jesus relevant to daily life, rather than unpack him only on Sundays and then forget about him for the rest of the week? If so, have we truly found Jesus, or only a smaller part of him, and surrender him to a very limited role in our lives?

Vatican comments and documents cover a far wider range of topics than we imagine (such as media, advertising, sport). Paul referred to the Lord as Christ Jesus when he pointed to the risen Lord, and Jesus Christ when he referred to the historic Jesus. We need to incarnate the Risen Lord in all realms of life.

Some may recall that the Vatican Congregation for Culture has a Department of Culture and Sport, which has made interesting comments on sport, in a type of See-Judge-Act methodology.

Our 70 years or 80 for those who are strong is far more meaningful when we find the Risen Jesus in all the ingredients of our lives.

Jesus still needs to be incarnated in our modern world, to render it more meaningful to us and to let him make all things new.

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8

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

FAITH

MARONITE HOLY WEEK IN PICTURES

Palm Sunday Morning Mass: Our Lady of Lebanon here in Mulbarton, south of Johannesburg, began Holy Week with a 10:00 Palm Sunday Mass which concluded with a procession led by a young Jesus on a mare around the church grounds. Jesus on his donkey (Tony Zackey) followed by Fr Jean Yammine and parishioners.

Monday: Mass on Monday evening was celebrated by Fr Arrouk with Fr Younes talking about “Jesus King of Challenge” for Day 2 of the mini-mission. Mass was followed by a Passion Play, arranged by the teachers and performed by the children of the primary school of Our Lady Of Lebanon. Aidan Webster played the starring role of Jesus.

Holy Thursday: Fr Yammine celebrated Mass on this holiest of Thursdays: the night Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.

Twelve assistants were chosen this time to represent The Twelve. Fr Younes presented Jesus as “King Of Humility”. At the end of Mass, the Precious Body of Christ was moved to the temple of repose in the chapel by way of a procession around the church.

Last year, the parish of Our Lady of Lebanon in Mulbarton, Johannesburg, celebrated Holy Week with a mission according to the Maronite rite. This collection of photos by MARK KISOGLOO follows in sequence the events of that week (an experience which sadly cannot be repeated this year).

Tuesday: Tuesday evening Mass was celebrated by Fr Arrouk. Continuing with the mini-mission, Fr Younes presented Jesus as “King Of Love”.

A traditional Lebanese Lenten soup was served in the foyer afterwards for parishioners.

Good Friday: Good Friday began at 9:00 service of the Signing of the Chalice, celebrated by Fr Yammine.

This was followed by the Stations of the Cross, emulating the footsteps of Christ by climbing the way to a large cross which was erected on the hill across the road from the church.

Palm Sunday Evening: Maronite tradition of the Rite of Reaching the Harbour was celebrated, reminding parishioners that the “ark” which is the Church, is arriving safely from our Lenten journey at the Harbour of Salvation which is Christ himself. The faithful gather in front of the closed door of the church with candles, then the priest knocks on the church door three times before the door of the church is opened to let in the faithful of Christ. Mass was celebrated by Fr Georges Arrouk, assisted by Fr Jean Younes.

Wednesday: A special healing Mass was celebrated by Fr Arrouk. Parishioners were anointed with the oil of the sick, and oil was available to take home. Fr Younes presented Jesus as “ King Of Healing”.

Good Friday: The 15:00 service of the Burial of Christ was celebrated by Fr Yammine, assisted by Fr Younes and Fr Arrouk. The Crucified Christ was taken from his cross and placed in a casket of flowers. The casket was carried in procession through the church. Parishioners were then invited to lay hands on the casket, passing under it while volunteers held it up. Veneration of the cross also took place during this time. At the end of the service, the body of Christ was placed in a tomb. Seen here are (from left) Frs Arrouk, Yammine and Younes kneeling before Christ in the casket of flowers.

“Here I am Lord” Cell: +27 72 769 7396, or +27 83 471 6081 E-mail: vocation.office@dehonafrica.net www.scj.org.za

Good Friday: The casket is carried through the church in procession.

S outher n C ross

Holy Week Supplement

The

Exclusive to the subscribers’ version of our digital edition

Who was Pontius Pilate?

His name is in the Creed and we encounter him every Holy Week. But who was Pontius Pilate? GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks at the man who sentenced Jesus to death.

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ONTIUS PILATE: From the Gospels we know the Roman prefect of occupied Palestine as the vaguely sympathetic ditherer who engages in a philosophical discussion with Jesus before he reluctantly sentences him to death with the words: “Ibis in crucem”—crucify him.

Part of that dreadful sentence was the whipping and humiliation of the condemned man, all in public so as to deter others from engaging in unruly behaviour.

The punishment Pilate ordered—and it wasn’t the Jewish religious leaders who urged that Jesus be scourged—supports the notion that Pilate was not a particularly mild man.

His method of maintaining order was predicated on a cruel temperament, an image quite at odds with the handwringer of the Passion account. Mercilessness was a requirement of managing the Roman occupation.

History, written in the first century, has recorded Pilate’s unsavoury side, more of which later.

But other than some recorded events during his ten years in Palestine, there is very little biographical material about the man who handed down history’s most famous and significant judgment.

To begin with, we do not know by what name his mother rocked him to sleep. We do know that it was neither Pontius nor Pilate.

Pontius was a clan name, after the Pontii. They were ethnic Samnites from what today is the central Italian region of Abruzzo.

The clan name counters the legends that he was born in Spain—even if Seville boasts a house dedicated to Pilate’s birth— or in Germany, a tale even its medieval chronicler acknowledged to be apocryphal, or in Scotland.

Mrs Pontius did not call her boy Pilate, or indeed Pilatus, either. That is a moniker he probably acquired in the army. It designated somebody who excelled at throwing the javelin— and here we are talking about killing prowess with a spear, not accomplishment in a discipline of field athletics.

We can safely surmise that Pontius Pilate was a soldier who had seen active battle. From his later appointment as prefect we learn that he was an equestrian knight, but of the lowest of the three aristocratic orders.

Pilate likely came from a middle-class family, and entered the army with some prospects of rising up the ranks, but with no hope of entering the patrician class, for that was hereditary.

So a posting as prefect of a minor province was a stepping stone, rather than a reward, even if such an appointment created good opportunities for more prestigious offices in the future—as

well as the welcome accumulation of wealth.

The Roman empire was profoundly corrupt, and in Palestine Pilate would have expected to have his palms lavishly greased for all manner of concessions, permits and appointments to high positions—and for their renewals.

It is very likely that the high priest Josephus Caiaphas paid Pilate for his unusual successive reappointments, and in return enjoyed his protection. It is probably no coincidence that Caiaphas’ long stint as high priest ended not long after Pilate’s departure from Judaea.

The prefect’s function was primarily that of colonial governance, but also included responsibility for the collection of taxes and oversight of the judiciary, particularly in cases which the Jewish courts, the Sanhedrin, could not or were not authorised to adjudicate. This included capital cases, which is why we have cause to remember the man in the first place.

Arrival in Palestine Pilate arrived in Judaea in 26 AD. He likely was still a young man when he arrived, perhaps just over 30, the youngest age at which one could be appointed a prefect.

His relative youth is suggested by the ancient texts by the firstcentury Jewish historians Philo of Alexandria and Josephus Flavius whose testimonies introduce a man who was immature and arrogant, lacking in wisdom and tact.

His predecessors had treated Judaism with some respect—like Pilate, they might have known Jews in Rome or other parts of the empire.

Previous governors had been careful not to cause unnecessary offence to the Jews, and so removed all images of the Caesar from their standards whenever they entered Jerusalem, because depiction of craven images violated Mosaic law. In receiving such special treatment, Jerusalem was unique in the entire Roman empire.

Pilate, quite redundantly, sought to assert Roman power by revoking this special status. He provocatively restored human images and pagan effigies, and delib-

erately disregarded Jewish customs. On coins, hitherto decorated with plants and branches so as to placate the sensitive Jews, Pilate had imprinted pagan images.

With that he created avoidable unrest among the people whom he was appointed to keep peaceable and compliant.

According to his contemporary Philo, Pilate even received a reprimand from the emperor, Tiberius, who, for all his cruelty and paranoia, used to counsel his governors to act “like shepherds”.

Philo, it must be said, was no friend of Pilate. A Jewish philosopher and Roman citizen living in Alexandria, Egypt, from about 20 BC to 50 AD, Philo had close links with Jerusalem’s priestly classes and visited the city at least once. He had so much influence that he persuaded Caligula not to erect a statue of himself in Jerusalem (at least according to his own account).

Philo described Pilate as being of “vindictiveness and furious temper […] naturally inflexible, a blend of self-will and relentlessness”. He accused Pilate of all sorts of injustices: “The briberies, the insults, the robberies, the outrages and wanton injuries, the executions without trial constantly repeated, the ceaseless and supremely grievous cruelty.”

Even when Pilate tried to do what he thought was benevolent, it backfired.

A brutal ruler When he decided to bring the people of Jerusalem a steady supply of clean water by building an aqueduct, he contrived to cause immense outrage by financing the project with qorban, the taxes raised by the temple authorities, ostensibly for holy projects.

But don’t feel sorry for the temple authorities. The exploitative extraction of qorban, which was demanded of people regardless of their other financial obligations, was condemned by Jesus (Mk 7:613). Their corrupt practices, the “den of thieves”, are attested to in the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the Jewish Mishna, and in Second Temple-era Jewish texts. Even Josephus Flavius comments on corruption in the Temple.

When Jerusalem’s Jews

Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”), Antonio Ciseri’s depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to the people of Jerusalem.

Pontius Pilate introduces Jesus in this statue at the base of the Holy Stairs in Rome. Rather than being the ditherer of the Gospels, history records Pilate as a man of cruelty. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) protested in their thousands outside Pilate’s residence, he waited until the abuse became too excited. According to Josephus Flavius, he gave a sign to undercover soldiers dressed in local garb to start beating the protesters with clubs.

The resultant massacre and stampede killed and injured multitudes.

And this was the character whom Jesus encountered in the praetorium, the headquarters Pilate occupied when he came from his base in Caesarea, on the Mediterranean coast, to Jerusalem, a place he no doubt despised.

Pilate would visit the city three times a year, to supervise his army in the case of sedition and insurrection during the three pilgrimage festivals—Pesach (or Passover), Sukkot and Shavuot. At those times Jerusalem would be packed with pilgrims—as well as potential rebels.

And it was on a Pesach, probably in the year 33, that he ordered Jesus of Nazareth executed on the grounds of sedition.

Pilate knew much about selfproclaimed messiahs. Messianic movements were a dime a dozen at the time, and they always spelled trouble. The Romans were quick to put these pesky messiahs to death.

Josephus Flavius names four of them: Judas, son of Ezekias; Simon, slave of Herod; Athronges; and Jesus of Nazareth.

Pilate probably had few misgivings about putting to death another troublemaker, less so if it was demanded by his collaborator Caiaphas. If Pilate had any hesitation, then it might have related to Jesus’ popularity among other

Jews. History records which consideration prevailed.

The sign which the condemned men would have to bear and which then would be affixed to their cross—in Jesus’ case inscribed with the mocking inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”—was intended to shame and deter other insurrectionists.

We can also be fairly certain that Pilate did not, as Matthew’s Gospel has it, wash his hands off the case—it was a Jewish custom not used by Romans. It is improbable that Pilate, who despised the Jews, would have adopted their customs. Matthew, who wrote for a Jewish audience, presumably used the hand-washing to drive home a point in a way his readers would understand.

Pilate’s ten-year governorship came to an abrupt end in 36 AD when he was removed following a massacre in Samaria for which he was responsible. His fate thereafter is not reliably recorded.

Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, writing in the fourth century in his Historia Ecclesiae, referred to unnamed accounts which reported that Pontius Pilate was exiled to Gaul where he committed suicide in 39 AD. Or he might have been ordered to kill himself during the reign of Caligula (37-41 AD).

It seems unlikely, however, that this cruel man, who was slavishly devoted to his pagan emperor, converted to Christianity—a curious legend that secured Pontius Pilate the unlikely honour of being a saint in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. n Günther Simmermacher is the author of The Holy Land Trek.

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Easter Supplement to The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

HOLY WEEK

The sites of Christ’s Passion in Jerusalem in photos Following the main portion of the Palm Sunday Gospel reading of Christ’s Passion from Mark chapters 14-15, illustrated with photos from the actual sites of these events. All photos by Günther Simmermacher

And they all left him and fled. Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.

O

N the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

He sent two of his disciples and said to them: “Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”‘ Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.”

The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples: “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be troubled and distressed. Then he said to them: “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch.”

He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass by him; he said: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.”

The Cenacle, or Upper Room, on Mount Zion. This is a Crusader structure which stands on a site that seems to have been venerated by early Christians as the place of the building with the Upper Room.

When it was evening, he came with the Twelve. And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said: “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”

They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, “Surely it is not I?” He said to them: “One of the Twelve, the one who dips with me into the dish. For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”

While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said: “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them: “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Mass at the Rock of the Agony in the church of All Nations at Gethsemane.

When he returned he found them asleep. He said to Peter: “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

Withdrawing again, he prayed, saying the same thing.

Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open and did not know what to answer him.

He returned a third time and said to them: “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.

Get up, let us go. See, my betrayer is at hand.”

Then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.

His betrayer had arranged a signal with them, saying: “The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him and lead him away securely.” He came and immediately went over to Jesus and said, “Rabbi”. And he kissed him. At this, they laid hands on him and arrested him.

One of the bystanders drew his sword, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear. Jesus said to them in reply: “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs, to seize me? Day after day I was with you teaching in the temple area, yet you did not arrest me; but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.”

The actual steps from the first century BC on which Jesus was led to the high priest’s palace on Mount Zion.

They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. Peter followed him at a distance into the high priest’s courtyard and was seated with the guards, warming himself at the fire.

The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they found none. Many gave false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. Some took the stand and testified falsely against him, alleging: “We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.” Even so, their testimony did not agree.

The high priest rose before the assembly and questioned Jesus, saying: “Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?” But he was silent and answered nothing.

Again the high priest asked him and said to him: “Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?” Then Jesus answered: “I am; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

At that, the high priest tore his garments and said: “What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as deserving to die. Some began to spit on him. They blindfolded him and struck him and said to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards greeted him with blows.

While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said: “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” So he went out into the outer court. Then the cock crowed.

The maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders: “This man is one of them.” Once again he denied it.

The Last Supper is recreated in wood carvings, seen in the store of Rimon Kando in Bethlehem.

Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them: “All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed. But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.”

Peter said to him: “Even though all should have their faith shaken, mine will not be.” Then Jesus said to him: “Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.”

But he vehemently replied: “Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all spoke similarly.

A sculpture of Peter’s triple-denial outside the church of St Peter in Gallicantu (“Peter where the cock crowed”).

The Gethsemani cave (as the sign on the door spells it) where the disciples slept before Jesus was arrested.

A little later the bystanders said to Peter once more: “Surely you are one of them; for you too are a Galilean.” He began to curse and to swear: “I do not know this man about whom you are talking.” And immediately a cock crowed a second time.

Then Peter remembered the words that Jesus had said to him, Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times. He broke down and wept.

As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council.

HOLY WEEK

Easter Supplement to The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

III

They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

They brought him to the place of Golgotha, which is translated Place of the Skull. They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take.

Pilgrims pray in the dungeon in which Jesus was incarcerated before he was taken to Pontius Pilate, in the crypt of the church St Peter in Gallicantu.

They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

Pilate questioned him: “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.”

The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him: “Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of.” Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Now on the occasion of the feast, he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed.

Pilate answered: “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.

Pilate again said to them in reply: “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?” They shouted again: “Crucify him!” Pilate said to them: “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder: “Crucify him!” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged.

The courtyard of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was rebuilt in the early 12th-century by the Crusaders.

Below the small dome above the curtained window on the right is Golgotha. The tomb of the Resurrection is just to the left behind the entrance.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, The King of the Jews. With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left.

Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying: “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross.”

Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said: “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.

At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice: “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”, which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said: “Look, he is calling Elijah.” One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying: “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.

Jesus is being scourged in an image in the window of the chapel of the Flagellation at the first station on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.

Pilgrims pray at the Stone of Unction, on the place where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial. The small canopy chapel in the background is where the women traditionally stood as they watched the Lord suffering on the Cross. when he learned of it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.

Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.

Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid.

An authentic first-century tomb in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, just a few metres from the tomb of Christ.

For what happens next, turn to the final chapter in the Gospel of St Mark.

The soldiers led Jesus away inside the palace, that is, the Praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.

They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.

Below the altar is the rock on which the cross stood, in the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Station V on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus.

The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.

When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

When it was already evening, since it was the day of preparation, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a distinguished member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died. And

The tomb of Christ’s Resurrection in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christianity’s holiest place. The stone ledge on which his lifeless body had been placed is directly below the two marble slabs.

IV

Easter Supplement to The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

HOLY WEEK

Holy Thursday walk in Jesus’ footsteps Holy Week in Jerusalem can be very hectic, but one can find fruitful times of reflection.

Fr PADDY NOONAN OFM recalls how he left a liturgical procession to walk in the path Jesus took in his last hours of freedom.

I

T was the millennium year of 2000 when doomsday watchers told us the world was to break up, the final Apocalyptic liturgy was to happen and the last great battle between Good and Evil was to be fought on the plains of Megiddo (Armageddon) in Israel.

Not a man for taking chances, I was in Jerusalem, just in case!

I was in the Holy Land on a journey back in time, back to the place and the culture of Christ.

Coming from neighbouring Africa helped me to make the connection.

I’d been ministering for some months in the wonderful archaeological site of Capernaum, and it came to pass that I went up to Jerusalem for the solemn feast of the Passover. From Galilee I came, on a typically searing hot day, by air-conditioned bus along the Jordan River, and entered Jerusalem on the Saturday before Palm Sunday.

Jerusalem. I wanted to see it, to sense it, to savour it. I wanted to be taken over by it. Overwhelmed by it. This was the week of weeks, of all weeks.

I had checked with the Franciscans where their liturgies would be each day of the week. The church of the Holy Sepulchre, the central shrine of Christianity, was the place to go.

At the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Christ’s burial and Resurrection, there was much officious running to and fro as the friar in charge pushed and shoved pilgrims into line.

There followed the first of many solemn Holy Week processions within the dark, cramped and noisy church. We set off with enthusiasm. I was upbeat. I was in awe of the place itself—in awe of the moment too. This was a physical reminder of the history of salvation.

But the procession was very

much grounded in this world. It was a liturgy to be completed within political and time constraints known only to the organisers. Pilgrims knew little of this strange backdrop governing every service at the tomb of Christ.

Maybe I was tired. I began to find the procession very monotonous and repetitive—singing 50 pages of Latin Gregorian chant at various stations symbolising the life of Christ. It felt like a job to be done, a course to be completed.

Trespassers in procession But these quiet thoughts were interrupted by a sudden unexpected movement.

The solemn processional flow of clerics, me included (and with laity trailing at the end), was shuffling from station to station when, quite suddenly, we were intersecting the service of another Christian community.

We were crossing, uninvited, the liturgical space of another church! We were walking through the “live” liturgical territory of the Coptic Church during their recitation of vespers.

It happened again. We interrupted their liturgy three times— and they could do nothing about it! Their vested bishops and priests duly stood aside while we edged past in rows of four, sometimes stopping in a closeted space just inches from their bishop’s long, patient beard.

The highly-embroidered Coptic clerics wore benign if frozen smiles which lasted the full halfhour of our big-brother type intrusion. It was another local eye-opener.

Later a friar explained that hundreds of years of history are being played out in these liturgies.

How could the passing pilgrim know that the Catholic Church was the original church to have processions around the tomb of Christ? How could the passing pilgrim know that the Coptic Church was then imposed on the Catholic Church by being allowed to occupy property in the sacred space here at the Holy Sepulchre?

All Christian Churches here were subjects of the Ottoman Empire, and were the same in the eyes of the ruling Muslim Turks. The year was 1538. Ever since then, these two Christian communities have met head-on in divided wor-

The ceiling of the church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane evokes the night-time drama of Holy Thursday. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

Clergy and worshippers take part in a procession past the Stone of Unction during the traditional Washing of the Feet ceremony on Holy Thursday, last year at the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, the site of Christ’s crucifixion and Resurrection. This year all Holy Week and Easter services and rites are closed to the public due to the coronavirus crisis. (Photo: Ammar Awad, Reuters/CNS) ship for the ceremonies of Holy Week. And it was Muslim rulers who created the problem as a political solution for that time!

There are delicate and subtle relationships between the Christian communities guarding the holy places which go back hundreds of years and are written in stone, and for the most part are unknown to the visiting pilgrim. These laws are called the status quo and they govern who can do what, and when, and where, around the tomb and other holy places.

This was the first of 11, yes 11, great processions which characterised the normal Holy Week ceremonies (including Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) in Jerusalem. The Greeks and Armenians also had their processions, often simultaneously.

Cloud of incense One evening two different processions raced through the tail end of our procession, five minutes apart, in a cloud of jingling bells, swinging incense and flashing copes. The swish of an elaborate Armenian cope blew out my candle! I stood still, gobsmacked at the speed and timing of it all.

Someone behind nudged me to move on, fearing worse interchurch liturgical skirmishes; God comfort us all!

Poor Jesus, who prayed for unity not far from here, is very patient with the churches scurrying around his tomb, each still claiming their bit after all these years.

But for sheer possessive touchiness the Greek Orthodox monks, when roused, are known to provide the most outrageous spectacle—sometimes even fisticuffs—in defence of their perceived turf.

By Holy Thursday I was beginning to wilt. I needed something else. I wanted Holy Week in the Holy Land to be special, to challenge my biblical imagination. I knew I could have the ritual anywhere, in any country in the world. I needed time for reflection, silence to absorb the proximity, the immediacy and the living history of it all.

This was, after all, the greatest week in the Christian calendar, reliving the greatest story ever told.

And the Holy Land, the site of the Incarnation, was God’s stage props for the history and indeed geography of our salvation. That was big enough for me.

I felt I must go beyond myself to savour this unique time, to grab

the moment. Why had 120 of my semane and see what he saw in Franciscan brothers died as mar- the deadly, deathly gloom. Betyrs over the centuries while min- tween the two olive groves I looked over at the large, shadowy istering in this land? of Absalom and No doubt I needed to connect tombs with these special days in a quiet Zechariah—as Jesus would have place away from the formal cere- that night when he passed, permonies, but without necessarily haps in deepening depression.

Nothing stirred. Directly beexcluding them.

So after supper on Holy Thurs- hind him, and now behind me, day I slipped out of the Franciscan was the towering pinnacle of the monastery and made my way Temple, the pinnacle which the through the dimly-lit alleyways to devil had referred to in his tempthe Upper Room on Mount Zion tation of Jesus in the desert.

That Holy Thursday night, in where the Last Supper took place.

All was quiet and still in that part their churches across the world, countless millions were contemof the city.

From there I retraced the foot- plating this very valley.

Just north of where I was now steps of Jesus as he made his lonely way for the last time down into the sitting at ease, St Stephen was bowels of the dark, silent Kidron stoned to death, in a form of execution still practised in Valley on his way across some Muslim countries to Gethsemane, at the today. foot of the Mount of The delicate But now it was just Olives. I remember that relationships shadows and black stark valley well. crevices, and stillness, I climbed over the what was then a low between the and white boulders—and spiritual energy. Ironiroad-wall (now a huge Christian cally, there is friendliness separartion wall) you pass leaving Jerusalem communities in the darkness, a tranquil presence, a certain for Bethany and immediately was lowering guarding the echo of Christ’s encourmyself carefully down a holy places go agement: “Do not be afraid.” steep rocky incline.

I lingered for some The blue-grey moon- back hundreds time enjoying the living light gave a certain eeriof years stillness, leaning against a ness to the desolate, large rock and savouring rocky surroundings, the sacred silence supercasting shadows of uncertainty and menace. There was a charged with global history.

It was memorable; and it was hint of those bizarre, bluish, fantasy landscapes that you find in right for me.

Then it was time to move on. I the Lord of the Rings films.

I tried to rest my mind, to slow wandered slowly up the far side of it down…I began to feel I was the dark valley, glancing back at somehow in the presence of the times to see something of what ages. A heavy, ominous silence the disciples must have seen on hung over the hollowed-out that devastating night.

I was still thoughtful, and with tombs of the prophets which Jesus passed after his final memorable gratitude for the experience. It was a strangely memorable, joyful and meal with his apostles.

Christ would have passed this peaceful darkness that I was leavpoint with some confused disci- ing behind.

I eventually joined the Francisples at that moment, lost in his own thoughts and terrified about cans and others to celebrate Holy what awaited him in the next few Thursday at the beautiful church days. I could almost hear the in the garden of Gethsemane, the clamour of the soldiers coming to church of All Nations, with its Rock of the Agony. arrest him.

The visual, visceral and meditative walk through the lonely The ‘Place of the Kiss’ The Place of The Kiss. The place Kidron Valley had become the first where Old and New Testaments part of my Holy Thursday liturgy, collide…a place where present followed and enhanced by the time pauses and a premonition of more ritualistic, cerebral celebraeternity is sensed. You let your tion in the church. n Fr Noonan is an author and Franmind drift back in time.

In the enclosing dark, I pon- ciscan priest in the archdiocese of dered the path from here to Geth- Johannesburg.

9

FAITH

Why the earth trembled and all went dark

Pilgrimage 2020

The Gospel writings also refer to the parochet hanging in the Temple being torn in two. This massive curtain was nearly 20m high and 10cm thick. The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus Flavius wrote that it was so heavy that horses tethered to each side couldn’t pull it apart.

The curtain was suspended from a lintel, and it’s likely that the earthquake displaced the lintel and the support pillars, which would have resulted in the curtain being torn.

The timing of the event is extraordinary, as Matthew recorded that it happened at the very moment Jesus died.

There was massive symbolism in this event because the curtain provided a barrier to the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was placed, and the Jews believed that the presence of God on earth existed here.

The curtain showed that man was separated from God due to his sinfulness and only the high priest could pass through the curtain to make atonement for their sins.

Early Christians saw the exposing of the Holy of Holies at the time of Christ’s death as evidence that Jesus had become the new High Priest, and that it was he who now atoned for their sins.

But even if the darkness had been caused by a total solar eclipse, what would the probability be of an eclipse and an earthquake happening on that specific day in history?

Well, let’s turn south-east from Jerusalem into the desert to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is extremely saline and doesn’t have organisms disturbing the sediment, which means that over geological time there has been an excellent preservation of the sedimentary layers.

Much analysis of the upper six metres of the sediments has been

undertaken, representing 4 000 years of deposition.

Earthquakes are easily identified because they produce a band in the core samples in which the minerals are mixed, instead of being separated into their typical distinctive strata.

There’s evidence in the geological record for the earthquake described by Tertullian, Phlegon and the Gospel writers, as well as the earlier Qumran earthquake of 31 BC, which Josephus wrote had killed 30 000.

It’s estimated that 20 major earthquakes have hit Jerusalem in the 1 958 years from the Qumran earthquake to the 1927 Jericho earthquake, which gives a probabil-

S outher n C ross

T

HOMAS refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, despite all the apostles telling him that they had seen Jesus alive again.

Defiantly, he said: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and can put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

When Jesus appeared to the apostles for the second time, Thomas was with them, and said to him: “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

A stunned Thomas could only utter the words: “My Lord and my God!” Now it’s easy to criticise Thomas for his lack of faith, but millions of people like Thomas refuse to accept the Resurrection without hard evidence.

Surprisingly, there is physical evidence from the day of the crucifixion that points to the divinity of Jesus, such as the prolonged period of darkness during which the stars could be seen, and the severe earthquake which struck Jerusalem, damaging the Temple.

From the Gospel accounts you would assume that there must have been a solar eclipse. However, the crucifixion occurred at Passover, which is always celebrated at the time of the first full moon after the vernal equinox. This makes it impossible for the darkness to have been caused by a solar eclipse, as these can only occur when there is a new moon, and not a full moon.

Also, a total solar eclipse cannot exceed seven minutes and 31 seconds, which is the maximum time it can take for the moon to pass over the sun. The records show that the darkness lasted for a few hours.

Total solar eclipses are very rare events, happening at any given location only once in every 360 years.

The darkness couldn’t have been caused by a lunar eclipse either, because the darkness caused by that can be present only on the night side of the planet—and Jerusalem at midday was on the day side of the planet.

This darkness was also described by the historian Tertullian, who clearly didn’t believe that the phenomenon was caused by an eclipse at all.

He wrote: “In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze.

Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no

doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives” ( , chapter 21).

The historian Phlegon also referred to the inexplicable darkness and to the earthquake in his , written about 137 AD. “In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was an eclipse of the sun which was greater than any known before and in the sixth hour of the day it became night; so that stars appeared in the heavens; and a great earthquake that broke out in Bithynia destroyed the greatest part of Nicaea.”

The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad ran from July 32 AD through to the end of June 33.

No explanation for the cause of this darkness has been provided by science, in the same way that no satisfactory explanation for the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima on October 13, 1917—which was witnessed by 70 000 people—has been offered.

ity of there being a major earthquake every 97,9 years. So the probability of one striking Jerusalem on the very day Jesus died would be 1 in 97,9 years x 365,25 days = 1 in 35 758.

The chance of a total solar eclipse happening in Jerusalem on the day of the crucifixion would be 1 in 360 years x 365,25 days = 1 in 131 490.

The probability of there being both a total solar eclipse and a major earthquake in Jerusalem on that day would therefore be 1 in 4,7 billion!

We know that the events of that day were terrifying to witness, with Matthew writing: “When the centurion and those with him who were

guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’” In his Gospel, Luke wrote: “When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.”

The coincidence of this prolonged period of darkness, for which there’s no scientific explanation, and a major earthquake striking Jerusalem on the very day that Jesus was crucified, provides one piece of evidence that he was indeed divine! n Doubt No Longer Lourdes Fatima .

NEW DATES!!! 19-28 October 2020 Led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin

10

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

POPE FRANCIS

Pope: Right now, we’re all in the same boat In a visually and spiritually powerful act, Pope Francis walked out in the rain into a deserted St Peter’s Square to bless the world in these times of the coronavirus.

CINDY WOODEN reports.

T

HE worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God’s judgment on humanity, but God’s call on people to judge what is most important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now on, Pope Francis said.

Addressing God, the pope said that “it is not the time of your judgment, but of our judgment: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others”.

Pope Francis offered his meditation on the meaning of the Covid19 pandemic and its implications for humanity on Friday before raising a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament and giving an extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

Popes usually give their blessing “urbi et orbi” only immediately after their election and on Christmas and Easter.

Pope Francis opened the service—in an empty, rain-drenched St Peter’s Square—praying that the “almighty and merciful God” would see how people are suffering and give them comfort.

He asked to care for the sick and dying, for medical workers exhausted by caring for the sick and for political leaders who bear the burden of making decisions to protect their people.

In a boat with Jesus The service included the reading of the Gospel of Mark’s account of Jesus calming the stormy sea.

“Let us invite Jesus into the boats of our lives,” the pope said.

“Let us hand over our fears to him so that he can conquer them.”

Like the disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee, he said, “we will experience that, with him on board, there will be no shipwreck, because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things.”

The Gospel passage began: “When evening had come,” and

Pope Francis holds the monstrance as he delivers his extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) during a prayer service in the portico of St Peter’s basilica, overlooking a deserted, raindrenched St Peter’s Square. The service was livestreamed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Vatican Media) the pope said that with the pandemic and its sickness and death, and with the lockdowns and closures of schools and workplaces, especially in Italy, it has felt like “for weeks now it has been evening”.

“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void that stops everything as it passes by,” the pope said.

“We feel it in the air, we notice it in people’s gestures; their glances give them away.

“We find ourselves afraid and lost,” he said. “Like the disciples in the Gospel we were caught off-guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm.”

However, the pandemic storm has made most people realise that “we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented”, the pope said. And it has shown how each person has a contribution to make, at least in comforting each other.

“On this boat are all of us,” he said.

The pandemic, the pope said, has exposed “our vulnerability and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities”.

In the midst of the storm, Pope Francis said, God is calling people to faith, which is not just believing God exists, but turning to him and trusting him.

were not shaken awake by wars or A time for decisions As Lent and the pandemic go injustice across the world, nor did on, he said, God continues to call we listen to the cry of the poor or people to “convert” and “return to of our ailing planet,” Pope Francis said. me with all your heart”.

“We carried on regardless, It is a time to decide to live differently, live better, love more and thinking we would stay healthy in care for others, he said. And every a world that was sick,” he said. community is filled with people “Now that we are in a stormy sea, who can be role models—individ- we implore you: ‘Wake up, Lord!’”

The Lord is calling on people to uals, “who, even though fearful, have reacted by giving their lives”. “put into practice that solidarity Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit and hope capable of giving can use the pandemic to “redeem, strength, support and meaning to value and demonstrate how our these hours when everything lives are woven together and sus- seems to be foundering”, the pope tained by ordinary people—often said.

“The Lord awakens so as to forgotten people—who reawaken and revive do not appear in newsour Easter faith,” he paper and magazine the ‘Like said. headlines”, but are serv“We have an aning others and making disciples, we chor: by his cross we life possible during the were caught have been saved. We pandemic. have a rudder: by his The pope listed “doctors, nurses, supermar- off-guard by an cross we have been redeemed. We have a ket employees, cleaners, unexpected, hope: by his cross we caregivers, providers of transport, law and turbulent storm. have been healed and embraced so that nothorder forces, volunteers, We are on the ing and no one can priests, religious men and women and so very same boat, all of separate us from his redeeming love.” many others who have Pope Francis told understood that no one us fragile and people watching reaches salvation by around the world that disoriented’ themselves”. he would “entrust all “How many people of you to the Lord, every day are exercising patience and offering hope, taking through the intercession of Mary, care to sow not panic but a shared health of the people, and star of the stormy sea”. responsibility?” he said.

“May God’s blessing come “How many fathers, mothers, down upon you as a consoling emgrandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small brace,” he said. “Lord, may you everyday gestures, how to face up bless the world, give health to our to and navigate a crisis by adjust- bodies and comfort our hearts. You ing their routines, lifting their gaze ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak, and we are fearful. and fostering prayer?

“How many are praying, offer- But you, Lord, will not leave us at ing and interceding for the good of the mercy of the storm.” all?” he said.

Plenary indulgence “Prayer and quiet service: These Introducing the formal blessare our victorious weapons.” ing, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Lured away by greed, haste archpriest of St Peter’s basilica, anIn the boat, when the disciples nounced that it would include a plead with Jesus to do something, plenary indulgence “in the form Jesus responds: “Why are you established by the Church” to everyone watching on television afraid? Have you no faith?”

“Lord,” Pope Francis said, “your or Internet or listening by radio.

An indulgence is a remission of word this evening strikes us and the temporal punishment a person regards us, all of us.

“In this world that you love is due for sins that have been formore than we do, we have gone given.

Catholics following the pope’s ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do any- blessing could receive the indulgence if they had “a spirit detached thing,” he said.

“Greedy for profit, we let our- from sin”, promised to go to conselves get caught up in things and fession and receive the Eucharist as be lured away by haste. We did not soon as possible, and said a prayer stop at your reproach to us, we for the pope’s intentions.–CNS

Pope thanks those who help, pray

P

People watch television at a home in Cisternino, Italy, as Pope Francis gives his extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” from the atrium of St Peter’s basilica. The blessing was livestreamed because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Alessandro Garofalo, Reuters/CNS)

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OPE Francis has expressed his gratitude to the many men and women who have been inspired to help especially the poor and accompany the sick and the elderly during the coronavirus pandemic.

“These days, news has arrived of how many people are beginning to have a general concern for others—caring about the families who do not have enough to get by, the elderly who are alone, the sick in the hospitals—and who pray and try to give them some help,” the pope said at the beginning of his livestreamed morning Mass.

“This is a good sign,” he said.

“Let us thank the Lord for stirring up these feelings in the hearts of his faithful.”

The papal almoner’s office announced on March 26 that the pope was donating 30 ventilators to “hospitals in the areas most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

On the feast of the Annunciation the pope paid tribute to women religious, especially those caring for the sick during the pandemic.—CNS

Pope Francis arrives to celebrate Mass in the chapel of his Vatican residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae. (Photo: Vatican Media/CNS)

POPE FRANCIS

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

11

Vatican: Pope is free of Covid-19

By CINDy WooDEN

N

Pope Francis arrives for a prayer service in an empty St Peter’s Square at the vatican. At the conclusion of the service the pope held the Eucharist as he gave an extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi”. (All photos: vatican Media/CNS)

EITHER Pope Francis nor any of his closest collaborators have the Covid-19 virus, said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.

Mr Bruni confirmed that a monsignor who works in the Vatican Secretariat of State and lives in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lives, did test positive for the coronavirus and, “as a precaution”, was hospitalised.

The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero and the Jesuit-run America magazine published reports last week about the monsignor testing positive.

Mr Bruni said that the Vatican health service had conducted more than 170 tests for the virus.

No one else who lives at the Domus Sanctae Marthae tested positive.

As soon as the monsignor tested positive, he said, his room and office were sanitised and all the people he had come into contact with over the preceding days were contacted.

“The health authorities carried out tests on the people in closest contact with the positive individual,” Mr Bruni said. “The results confirmed the absence of other positive cases” among the residents of the Vatican guesthouse, but another employee of the Holy See who was in “close contact with the official” did test positive.

That brought to six the number of people in the Vatican who have tested positive, he said.

The Vatican press office had

confirmed the first four cases on March 24. The first, already confirmed by the Vatican on March 6, was a priest from Bergamo who had a routine pre-employment exam at the Vatican health clinic.

After he was discovered with symptoms, the clinic was closed temporarily for special cleaning, and the five people the priest came into contact with were put under a preventive quarantine.

There were reports at the same time that the offices of the Secretariat of State were closed temporarily for a thorough cleaning.

The Vatican did not say when the next three people tested positive, but it said one worked in the Vatican warehouse and two worked at the Vatican Museums.

All four “were placed in precautionary isolation” before their test results came back. “The isolation has already lasted more than 14 days; currently they are receiving care in Italian hospitals or in their own homes.”

Both America magazine and Il Messaggero said Pope Francis was unlikely to have had contact with the monsignor from the Secretariat of State who tested positive. Both reported that Pope Francis has been eating his meals in his room rather than the dining room since coming down with a bad cold after Ash Wednesday.

While the Vatican has cancelled all group meetings, Pope Francis continues to meet with individuals each day.

News reports said the pope and his guests use hand sanitiser before and after the meetings.—CNS

Pope: Life trumps the economy Pope Francis sits beneath a canopy in the rain as he leads his prayer service in an empty St Peter’s Square.

The rain-soaked paving of St Peter’s Square glistens as Pope Francis leads his prayer service in the portico of St Peter’s basilica.

By JuNNo ARoCho ESTEvES

C

OUNTRIES fighting the coronavirus pandemic could face deadly consequences if they focus on protecting their economies more than their own people, Pope Francis has said.

Some governments that have imposed lockdown measures “show the priority of their decisions: people first”, the pope said in a handwritten letter sent to Argentine Judge Roberto Andres Gallardo, president of the Pan-American Committee of Judges for Social Rights and Franciscan Doctrine.

“This is important because we all know that defending the people implies an economic setback,” he said in the letter, which was published by the Argentine newspaper La Nacion.

“It would be sad if they opted for the opposite, which would lead to the deaths of many people, something like a viral genocide,” the pope wrote.

In his letter, the pope said that while he was concerned about the global spread of the Covid-19 virus, he also was “edified by the reaction of so many people—doctors, nurses, volunteers, religious men and women and priests—who risk their lives to heal and defend healthy people from contagion”.

Although lockdown measures implemented in many countries may “annoy” those forced to comply, the pope said that people have realised that it is for the sake of the common good.

In the long run, he said, “most

Cuban doctors are seen inside a bus at Madrid airport on March 29. They will work in Andorra during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a letter, Pope Francis said he was “edified by the reaction of so many people...who risk their lives to heal and defend healthy people from contagion”. (Photo: Juan Medina, Reuters/CNS) people accept them and move forward with a positive attitude”.

Pope Francis said that he recently met with members of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development to discuss “the present situation and what comes after” because “preparing for the aftermath is important”.

“We are already seeing some consequences that need to be confronted,” the pope said.

“Hunger—especially for people without a steady job—violence and the appearance of loan sharks”, whom he described as “the real plague of the social future”, adding that they are “dehumanised criminals”.—CNS

12

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

PATH TO THE PASSION

The two trials of Jesus In the fourth article on Jesus’ last days, GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks at Jesus’ trials in the religious and civil courts.

A

FTER his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is taken back to the area of Jerusalem where just a few hours earlier he had celebrated his Last Supper, on what we now call Mount Zion.

On his way to and from the Upper Room, Jesus and the disciples had taken detours to avoid passing the house of the high priest, Joseph Caiaphas. Now Jesus is led on the shortest route. As they approach the high priest’s house, they take a flight of steps.

These steps date from the 1st century BC, and still exist in our day.

Until a few years ago, one could walk on them. Now they are fenced off, but the custodians have left the top few open, so we can still tread where Jesus walked.

Next to the steps is the church of St Peter in Gallicantu, which means “Peter where the cock crowed”. This is where the high priest’s 12-room palace stood.

But first Jesus is taken to see Annas, Caiaphas’ father-in-law and clearly still a dominant figure in the religious establishment. Meanwhile Caiaphas calls together the 71 members of the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin, the “Council of Sages”, is the highest authority of the Jews. While it oversees all religious tasks, especially those relating to the Temple, it also plays an important political role under the Roman occupation.

It is dominated by the Sadducees (the group that doesn’t believe in the afterlife), with the Pharisees in a minority.

It is headed by the high priest.

That position is being kept in the family. Annas had been high priest from 6-15 AD, followed briefly by his son Elazar, and since 18 AD by his daughter’s husband, Caiaphas (Annas’ family would hold power uninterrupted until 44 AD, seven years after Caiaphas was removed from power).

While the rigorous Annas—the Sadducees generally have a reputation for being stern characters—interrogates Jesus, Peter and an unnamed disciple make their way to the high priest’s palace. The un-

Pilgrims pray in the dungeon where Jesus was held after his interrogation by the Sanhedrin and before his trial by Pontius Pilate. The dungeon—either a disused cistern or unfinished ritual bath—is in the crypt of the church of St Peter in Gallicantu. (Photos: Günther Simmermacher) named disciple is connected and arranges for Peter to access the inner court.

As Peter enters, the young woman staffing the gate recognises him as one of Jesus’ group. Peter denies his association with the Nazarene.

In the courtyard, he is challenged twice more; both times he denies, in his distinct Galilean accent, knowing this Nazarene of whom they speak. The cock has yet to crow—Jesus’ prophecy that Peter would deny him three times has been fulfilled.

Just then, Jesus is led to Caiaphas. He spots Peter and gives him a piercing look. At that, Peter sets off, crying bitterly.

Caiaphas’ show trial We have already discussed the real reasons why the authorities want Jesus executed. He has challenged their authority and constitutes a threat to the fragile peace which Caiaphas is trying to maintain with the thuggish and brutal Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate.

Technically, the show trial Caiaphas is holding here is an interrogation, for the Sanhedrin has no powers to execute anyone (the later lethal stoning of Stephen will be an extrajudicial execution performed by a mob).

But aware that Jesus has an ap-

parently enthusiastic following, Caiaphas needs solid theological grounds for advocating Jesus’ execution. For Pilate, he already has a political justification in hand.

This kangaroo court hears contradictory witness statements and engages in deliberate humiliations of the accused, culminating in Caiaphas—the presider of the court— slapping Jesus.

Eventually Jesus cuts through the farce and declares that he is indeed the Son of God, with allusions from Psalm 110 (“You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One”) and Daniel 7:13 (the Son of Man as a transcendental figure riding on clouds).

Caiaphas and his fellow sages know exactly what Jesus means.

Prompted, Jesus confirms his claim of being the Messiah. His fate is sealed.

Some members of the Sanhedrin, including Joseph of Arimathea, object, but the conviction stands: Guilty of blasphemy.

According to Mark, Jesus is flogged with 39 lashes.

He is then incarcerated, lowered into a dungeon, likely an unfinished purification pool or cistern, inside which pilgrims can still pray in our day.

At daybreak a mandatory second hearing confirms the verdict.

When Judas learns how his plan has gone awry—he didn’t want Jesus to die—he returns to the Sanhedrin and throws those 30 pieces of silver, the blood money, at the feet of the sages. He then goes off to commit suicide.

Pontius Pilate’s dilemma

Christ before Pilate, by Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy in 1881.

The trial was held in the public area outside the praetorium, the seat in Jerusalem of the procurator Pontius Pilate.

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Since the Sanhedrin can’t try capital cases, Jesus has to be condemned by the Romans. For that purpose, he is brought to Pontius Pilate, who is in the city for the Passover period (he usually resides in Caesarea).

We don’t really know where the praetorium of Pilate was located. Archaeology has ruled out the traditional site, Antonia’s Fortress.

Some propose the Herodian Palace in the city’s south-west (at presentday’s Jaffa Gate), but that site has no tradition of Christian veneration.

A third contender is the Royal Palace of the Hasmoneans, but we

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A sculpture outside the church of St Peter in Gallicantu (“Peter where the cock crowed”) on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion depicts Peter’s triple denial of Jesus. On top of the column is a crowing cock. The church stands on the site of the high priest’s palace where Jesus was found guilty of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin.

The walls seen in the background are the south-eastern corners of the Temple Mount; beyond them we can see the Mount of Olives. can only surmise where that was. Fr Bargil Pixner OSB believed it was opposite the south-western area of the Temple (where the Yeshivas Porat Joseph now stands).

The pagans don’t care about Jesus’ supposed blasphemy, but his claim of kingship—remember how he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, in allusion to King Solomon?—is going to interest Pilate.

So the Temple authorities bring the distorted charge to Pilate: “We found this man inciting our people to revolt, opposing payment of the tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, a king.”

Pontius Pilate has been procurator of Palestine since 28 AD. He is a cruel and uncultured character whose brutality eventually will offend even the ruthless Roman rulers. Pilate certainly is not the vaguely sympathetic ditherer we encounter in the Gospels.

This morning Pilate is in a fix.

He has seen that Jesus has fervent enemies, but he evidently also has supporters.

Pilate may be a ruthless man who’ll cheerfully massacre people if it serves his ends, but he is also a pragmatist. With Jerusalem—the city which he hates so much— filled with hundreds of thousands of Passover pilgrims, Pilate is weighing up which decision will cost him less politically.

On the one hand, having talked to him, the accused seems quite harmless, in terms of being a threat to law and order. And that “King of the Jews” business… Well, Jesus of Nazareth is hardly the first messianic figure to be possessed by such grandiose ideas.

On the other hand, Caiaphas, the leader of the local population, is arguing that Jesus is a threat to public order and to Rome itself!

The manipulative Caiaphas issues a severe challenge when he tells Pilate: “If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

This needles Pilate, because “Friend of Caesar” is not just a symbolic term but an important title bestowed upon deserving servants of the emperor, such as himself.

Caiaphas is not merely questioned Pilate’s fidelity to policy; he is challenging Pilate’s political authority itself.

Does Pilate let Jesus go and lose face to his collaborator Caiaphas, or does he execute Jesus and risk an uprising by the people who just a few days earlier had hailed him so exuberantly?

The shrewd politician decides he won’t take any responsibility either way. So he sends him to Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of the accused’s home region of Galilee.

Pragmatic way out Herod is very pleased to finally meet the famous Jesus and instructs him to perform a miracle.

But Jesus doesn’t perform for entertainment like a magician, much less so for the man whom he once called “the fox” and who had executed his cousin John.

Angered by Jesus’ refusal to dance for his life, Herod and his sidekicks mock Jesus, but eventually Herod plays the ball back into Pilate’s court.

Pilate still is intent on evading responsibility for whichever way this affair plays out, and so puts it to a plebiscite among those gathered that early in the morning (possibly a rent-a-mob put into action by the Sanhedrin).

He proposes a compromise: let the accused be flogged for his crime.

But the crowd won’t have it.

Pilate exercises one more option to inure himself from any political fallout: the Passover amnesty for one prisoner.

He offers the crowd the choice between Jesus of Nazareth or BarAbbas, who appears to be a liberation fighter of some kind.

Bar-Abbas means “Son of the Father”, which sounds grand but is a legitimate name at the time. (An old manuscript of Matthew’s Gospel even calls him Yeshua, or Jesus, Bar-Abbas. So the Gospels or reality might have played a little trick of irony on us.)

The crowd calls for Bar-Abbas to be released—and for Jesus to be crucified.

For Pontius Pilate that’s good enough: he convicts Jesus on the grounds of claiming to be the King of the Jews, and sentences him to die by crucifixion Then he washes his hands in innocence. Caiaphas gets his way.

Now, having found Jesus guilty, even though he had leaned towards acquitting him, Pilate orders the most demeaning form of execution, the kind intended to serve as a deterrent, and maybe a warning to the followers of the Jesus movement: Ibis in Crucem—”You will mount the cross”.

A sign, called a titulus, is made in three languages to let the public know why this man will be crucified: for claiming to be the King of the Jews, thus trying to usurp the supremacy of Caesar.

Now the torture begins...

Next week: The Passion of the Lord

The Southern Cross, April 1 to April 7, 2020

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15 Years Ago: April 2005

Special issue for Pope John Paul II

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PRAYERS

AN ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION: My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

Within two days of the death of Pope John Paul II, The Southern Cross brings out a special memorial edition for the pontiff who had led the Catholic Church for 26 years.

Communism? It won’t last long!

Mgr Jan Jaworski of Johannesburg remembers how in 1946 the future pontiff, then Fr Karol Wojtyla, played volleyball with him and his fellow seminarians, before having discreet discussion on the future under communism. “Karol was optimistic; he said not to worry, the communists at some point would fail [in the event, their rule would last for more than 40 years], just as the Nazis were too evil to last.”

Anti-apartheid pope Anglican Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu recalls that when South African Church leaders visited the Vatican seeking support, Pope John Paul II “gave us his unstinting support”.

Who will be the next pope?

Over two pages, Vatican expert John Thavis looks at the men who might be the next pope.

Among the 17 papabile cardinals are Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina. (Ratzinger was elected and took the name Pope Benedict XVI; Bergoglio came second. In 2013 Bergoglio became Pope Francis.)

Sr Mary Illtyd McCarthy CSN

N

AZARETH Sister Illtyd McCarthy died on March 6 in Cape Town aged 84.

Nora Josephine “Josie” McCarthy was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1935, the secondyoungest of eight children.

One of her brothers, Jerome, became a Missionaries of the Sacred Heart priest and served for a short time in Tzaneen diocese.

Another brother, Charles, was a De La Salle Brother and was teaching at St Illtyd’s College in Wales around the time that Josie entered with the Sisters of Nazareth in 1953—hence her religious name.

That name was always a slight cross for her, as very few people outside of Wales had ever heard of St Illtyd and she frequently had to explain who he was and how to spell it.

Sr Illtyd arrived in South Africa in 1960, and went straight to Cape Town, where she was in charge of catering for the many elderly residents and children, as well as a large community of Sisters. In 1961 she made her final vows.

In 1970 she began her nursing

training at Johannesburg Hospital, something she had always prayed for. She won the Professor’s Prize for Surgery, and completed her midwifery course in 1976.

Thereafter she was transferred to Fourteen Streams near Kimberley, where she ran a small clinic for the local people. Often she could be seen riding around the mission area on her bicycle with her medical bag tied on the back.

Sr Illtyd also spent several

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 909. ACROSS: 1 Scrubs, 4 Zephyr, 9 Holy Communion, 10 Regents, 11 Nahum, 12 Sodom, 14 Exult, 18 Oasis, 19 Oblique, 21 Choir of angels, 22 Wasted, 23 Shiner. DOWN: 1 Sphere, 2 Religious vows, 3 Bacon, 5 Equinox, 6 Hail, Holy Queen, 7 Ring me, 8 Amuse, 13 Observe, 15 Moscow, 16 Roofs, 17 Censer, 20 Lunch.

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: April 10: Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg, on the 21st anniversary of his episcopal ordination as archbishop of Bloemfontein

years in the Nazareth Houses in Harare, Pretoria and Kimberley.

In 1986 she was one of the three “pioneer” Sisters in the newly opened Nazareth House in Elsies River, Cape Town, caring for 30 elderly residents.

In 2003 she was appointed superior in Port Elizabeth. She moved to Durban in 2014, and then to Cape Town in 2016—supposedly to retire, but she was fully involved in pastoral care and was greatly loved and respected by all the residents and staff, not least for her joyful smiles and her gentleness.

Three years ago, Sr Illtyd was diagnosed with bone cancer, and as with everything else she accepted this with such faith and resignation as she began her treatment. During the past few months, it became clear that she was beginning to fail physically, but she continued to be as active as possible.

On March 4 she was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. She received the sacrament of the sick and soon afterwards slipped into a coma from which she never woke up.

Word of the Week

Easter Vigil: Also called the Paschal Vigil, this service is the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, on the night before Easter Sunday. The Easter Vigil was initially an allnight vigil that started in the middle of the night and didn’t end until dawn when the celebration of Mass began. It was eventually shortened and pushed back earlier in the evening.

Easter candle: This is lit for the first time from the new fire of the Easter Vigil, is placed in a prominent place in the sanctuary between Easter and Pentecost and should be lit for all liturgical services in this season.

Eastertide: The Easter season begins on Easter Sunday, which initiates Easter Week in Western Christianity, and Bright Week in Eastern Christianity.

13

ST JUDE: 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 depths of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Please help me now in my urgent need and grant my petition. In return I promise to make your name known in distribution of this prayer that never fails. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be forever blessed and glorified. Holy Mary,

Mother of God, pray for us and grant my request (name your request). Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. POPE’S PRAYER TO MARY DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: O Mary, you shine continuously along our journey as a sign of salvation and hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick, who at the Cross were near to the pain of Jesus, keeping your faith firm. You, Salvation of the Roman people, know what we need, and we trust that you will provide for those needs so that, as at Cana of Galilee, joy and celebration may return after this moment of trial. Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform ourselves to the will of the Father and to do what Jesus tells us. He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and took up our sorrows to bring us, through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection, Amen. We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our pleas—we who are put to the test—and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and Blessed Virgin.

HEAR ME, LORD, on behalf of all those who are dear to me, all whom I have in mind at this moment. Be near them in all their anxieties and worries, give them the help of your saving grace. I commend them all with trustful confidence to your merciful love. Remember, Lord, all who are mindful of me: all those who have asked me to pray

for them, all who have been kind to me, all who have wronged me, or whom I have wronged by ill-will or misunderstanding. Give all of us to bear each other’s faults, and to share each other’s burdens. Have mercy on the souls of our loved ones who have gone before us. Grant them peace and happiness.

Amen.

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.

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www. valuelifeabortionisevil.co.za ABORTION: Monthly Sunday Mass bidding prayer: “That Almighty God guide our nation to cease our murders of our unborn infants.”

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Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday April 5, Palm Sunday Isaiah 50:4-7, Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24, Philippians 2:6-11, Matthew 26:14--27:66 Monday April 6, Holy Week Isaiah 42:1-7, Psalm 27:1-3, 13-14, John 12:1-11 Tuesday April 7, Holy Week Isaiah 49:1-6, Psalm 71:1-6, 15, 17, John 13:21-33, 36-38 Wednesday April 8, Holy Week Isaiah 50:4-9, Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22, 31, 33-34, Matthew 26:14-25 Thursday April 9, Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14, Psalms 116:12-13, 15-18, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-15 Friday April 10, Good Friday Isaiah 52:13--53:12, Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-

Pray that AFRICA and THE WORLD may draw closer to the HEART OF CHRIST 2 Chron 7:14 Matthew 7:7-12

13, 15-17, 25, Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9, John 18:1--19:42 Saturday April 11, Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Genesis 1:1--2:2, Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12-14, 24, 35 or Psalm 33:4-7, 12-13, 2022, Genesis 22:1-18, Psalm 16:5, 8-11, Exodus 14:15--15:1, Responsorial psalm Exodus 15:1-6, 17-18, Isaiah 54:5-14, Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13, Isaiah 55:1-11, Responsorial psalm Isaiah 12:2-6, Baruch 3:9-15, 32--4:4, Psalm 19:8-11, Ezekiel 36:16-28, Psalm 42:3, 5; 43:3-4, Romans 6:3-11, Psalm 118:1-2, 15-17, 22-23, Matthew 28:1-10 Sunday April 12, Easter Sunday Resurrection of the Lord Acts 10:34, 37-43, Psalms 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23, Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, John 20:1-9 or Matthew 28:1-10

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the

Easter Sunday: April 12 Readings: Matthew 28:1-10, John 20:1-9

N

EXT Sunday, Lent comes to its glorious end with the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection, the greatest feast of the Church’s year.

We have been for some time now preparing for this great day by way of the riches of the Lenten scriptures, then the deeper purple of Passiontide, and finally the solemn drama of Holy Week. Now we enter the deep joy of Easter Week, followed by its continuation in the rest of the Paschal season, till it ends with the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost.

The readings for today’s Easter liturgy are such, and so rich, that there would not be space here to cover them all (though I suggest that you read each of them carefully in the days leading up to the feast). So it seems good to look just at the two Gospels you might hear, at Midnight Mass and on Easter Sunday morning, from Matthew and John respectively.

On Holy Saturday night, it is Matthew’s Gospel account of the Resurrection we see and hear (streamed on the Internet, perhaps). It is slightly different from Mark; but like all the Gospels, it agrees that it was the women who were brave enough to go to the tomb that Easter Sunday morning.

Then he departs from Mark in that he introduces a “great earthquake”, rather as he

S outher n C ross

did on Good Friday at the moment of Jesus’ death. Here the earthquake is because of the descent of the angel, who rolls the stone of death away and sits triumphantly upon it.

Next, in a nice touch of irony, the guards who had been placed to make sure that Jesus’ corpse was not stolen by the disciples themselves “became like corpses”.

After that, the angel (in Mark it was a “young man”) addresses these brave women and tells them: “Don’t you be afraid, because I know you’re looking for Jesus the Crucified.

He is not here, because he is risen, as he said.”

Then they are told: “Behold he is going before you into the Galilee—and you will see him there (where, of course, the Gospel story had begun).”

And now we see the women doing as they are told, and something of their conflicting emotions: “They went quickly away from the tomb with fear and great joy. And they ran to announce it to his disciples.”

Then there is that precious encounter with Jesus, for which we have been waiting for all this Lenten season: “And they ran and grabbed his feet. And they worshipped him (that word ‘worship’ is of immense impor-

I

Facing the uncertainty of what the chemotherapy would be doing to my body, I was understandably scared.

Moreover, 24 weeks is basically half a year, and contemplating the length of time that I would be undergoing this “abnormal” season in my life, I was also impatient. I wanted this over with, quickly.

So I faced it like I face most setbacks in my life, stoically, with the attitude: “I’ll get through this! I’ll endure it!”

I keep what might euphemistically be termed a journal, though it’s really more a Daybook that simply chronicles what I do each day and who and what enters my life on a given day.

When I stoically began my first chemotherapy session, I began checking off days in my journal: “Day one”, followed the next day by “Day two”.

I had done the math and knew that it would take 168 days to get through the 12 chemo sessions, spaced two weeks apart.

It went on like this for the first 70 days or so, with me checking off a number each day, holding my life and my breath, everything on hold until I could finally write, “Day 168”.

T

Conrad

hen one day, about halfway through the 24 weeks, I had an awakening. I don’t know what specifically triggered it—a grace from above, a gesture of friendship from someone, the sensation of the sun on my body, the wonderful feel of a cold drink, perhaps all of these things—but I woke up.

Peter comes puffing up, “following him, and went into the tomb and saw the grave-cloths lying”. His lack of restraint also enables him to see “the sweat-cloth which had been on [Jesus’] head, lying not with the grave-cloths, but separately, rolled up in a single place”.

This demonstrates that we are not talking about grave-robbers, for they would have taken all Jesus’ clothes along with the corpse.

Only at this point does the “other disciple, who had got there first” enter the tomb. For him (and for us?) it is a moment of faith-enlightenment: “He saw—and he believed.”

Then the evangelist explains: “For they had not yet understood the scriptures, that it was necessary for him to rise from the dead.”

What do these two stories say to us, this week? The Resurrection is right at the heart of our Easter faith; and it is the brave women who first brought us the good news of the Empty Tomb and the appearance of the Lord. The men were not quite up to it then; we pray for the courage to do what we are supposed to do, and preach that “the Lord is risen indeed”.

Southern Crossword #909

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

I woke up to the fact that I was putting my life on hold, that I wasn’t really living but only enduring each day in order to check it off and eventually reach that magical 168th day when I could start living again.

I realised that I was wasting a season of my life. Moreover, I realised that what I was living through was sometimes rich precisely because of the impact of chemotherapy in my life.

That realisation remains one of the special graces in my life. My spirits lifted radically even as the chemotherapy continued to do the same brutal things to my body.

I began to welcome each day for its freshness, its richness, for what it brought into my life. I look back on that now and see those three last months (before day 168) as one of the richest seasons of my life.

I made some lifelong friends, I learned some lessons in patience that I still try to cling to—and, not least, I learned some long-overdue lessons in gratitude and appreciation, in not taking life, health, friendship, and work for granted.

It was a special joy to return to a normal life after those 168 days of conscripted “sabbatical”; but those “sabbatical” days were special too, albeit in a very different way.

The coronavirus has put us all, in effect, on a conscripted sabbatical and it’s subjecting those who have contracted it to their own type of chemotherapy. And the danger is that we will put our lives on hold as we go through this extraordinary time and will just endure rather than let ourselves be graced by what lies within this uninvited season.

Yes, there will be frustration and pain in living this through, but that’s not incompatible with happiness.

The Swiss author Paul Tournier, after he’d lost his wife, did some deep grieving but then integrated that grief into a new life in a way that allowed him to write: “I can truly say that I have a great grief and that I am a happy man.”

Words to ponder as we struggle with this coronavirus.

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Sunday Reflections

tance throughout the Gospel of Matthew).”

Then Jesus also gives them a double mission, first, not to be afraid, and, second, to tell his brothers “that they are to go to Galilee; and they will see me there”.

That is our story, this Easter season; let us look out for him wherever we find our Galilee.

On Easter Sunday morning, by contrast, we hear John’s Gospel account of that first Easter Day. Once again, it is the brave women, in the shape of “Mary Magdalen, while it was still dark”, who are the heroes of the story. To her astonishment: “The stone has been taken away (presumably by God) from the tomb.”

Now there is an outbreak of running.

First, she runs “to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved”, with the message that “they have taken the Lord from the tomb—and we don’t know where they have put him”.

Secondly, “Peter and the other disciple” come to the tomb; and we are informed that “the two were running together; and the other disciple was running quicker than Peter, and got first to the tomb”. However, he shows some restraint: “He stooped down and saw the gravecloths lying, but did not go in.” Then Simon

Live in the coronavirus times N 1985, Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez published a novel entitled Love in the Time of Cholera. It tells a colourful story of how life can still be generative, despite an epidemic.

Well, what’s besetting our world right now is not cholera but the coronavirus, Covid-19.

Nothing in my lifetime has ever affected the whole world as radically as this virus. Whole countries have shut down, virtually all schools and universities have sent their students home and are offering classes online, we’re discouraged from going out of our houses and from inviting others into them, and we’ve been asked not to touch each other and to practise “social distancing”.

Ordinary, normal, time has stopped.

We’re in a season that no generation, perhaps since the “Spanish ’flu” of 1918, has had to undergo. Furthermore, we don’t foresee an end soon to this situation.

No one, neither our government leaders nor our doctors, has an exit strategy.

No one knows when this will end or how.

Hence, like the inhabitants on Noah’s Ark, we’re locked in and don’t know when the flood waters will recede and let us return to our normal lives.

How should we live in this extraordinary time? Well, I had a private tutorial on this some nine years ago.

In the summer of 2011, I was diagnosed with colon cancer, underwent surgery for a resection, and then was subjected to 24 weeks of chemotherapy.

Nicholas King SJ

Christ is gloriously risen

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ACROSS

1. Rubs clean the dirty linen (6) 4. Last letter introduces gentle breeze (6) 9. In church, It could be the child’s first (4,9) 10. E g in the rents there are rulers (7) 11. China humbly conceals the prophet (5) 12. Town that God destroyed (Gn 14) (5) 14. Show your elation (5) 18. Where the Holy Family stopped in Egypt? (5) 19. Inclined to be skew (7) 21. The singing group of Bethlehem (5,2,6) 22. Saw Ted misused (6) 23. Altar server with the torch has a black eye (6)

DOWN

1. He reps the orb (6) 2. Nuns may take them strictly (9,4) 3. It’s cured at the breakfast table, maybe (5) 5. When day time is equal to night time (7) 6. Prayer to Our Lady (4,4,5) 7. Phone my home and propose marriage? (4,2) 8. Entertain from what Adam used (5) 13. Watch and comply with the rule (7) 15. Bishop of Russian Church may be here(6) 16. They cover churches and homes (5) 17. Thurible (6) 20. You may be taken out for it at noon (5) Solutions on page 13

CHURCH CHUCKLE

L

AST year on Palm Sunday little Jacinta missed Mass because she was sick. When her family returned home, they were carrying their palm crosses.

Jacinta asked them what they were for.

“People held palms over Jesus’ head as he walked by,” her slightly distracted father told the girl.

“Oh no,” Jacinta cried. “The one Sunday I don’t go to Mass, and he shows up!”

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